Tuesday, May 23, 2017

{ Taking a 4 Month Old To Japan }


We took Scottie to Japan! It was the craziest, but we survived. I think I stressed out about the travel and flight over to Japan probably a week before it all went down. My milk supply shot down...surprise surprise...and I was an absolute stress case. Traveling international is hard as it is.

Add a four month old to the mix! I had to make sure I had every little thing for her. Just in case she needed something. In case she got sick, had gas, got a rash, was cold, was warm, three blankets of course--it felt like half of our bag was just for Scottie.

I brought the dockatot on the plane and that SAVED MY LIFE! It was the best thing ever because we had a seat between us on every single flight. I wonder if they did it that way because they know we have a baby and no one wants to sit by a rvyign baby? Haha either way. Stoked. We were able to put the dockatot between us on the seat and let Scottie sleep.

She did awesome on our 12 hr flight! We even had a lady come up to us and say "you had a baby with you?! I didn't even hear her". Scottie didn't make a peep. She actually talked quite a bit but there's so much white noise from the plane you couldn't really hear her.

Once we got to Japan, we. Were. Exhausted! I felt so disgusting after 18+ hrs of travel so I had to take a bath. I brought Scottie with me and she screamed like I've never heard before. I don't blame her. It was the longest day ever and then I'm dowsing her with water?! Poor girl. I couldn't not let her go without a shower though I felt like she had been laid down on every airport floor (even tho she was on a diaper changing mat on a chair).

Airports are just gross, you know?

Scottie slept pretty well over our vacation too! That's one thing I was concerned about going into the trip. I knew that this trip wouldn't be a vacation for me because I had a four month old baby that was going to be jet lagged. Well she surprised us and slept for majority of the night! Woke up a few times to eat but never wide awake. It was awesome. (Coming home was a different story. VERY opposite. She would be up until 4 am jusybwide awake and chgaytjng and moving around and playing with her toes. Dang girl. She took a week to get over that jet lag coming back.)

It was so fun seeing ojiichan and obaachan with Scottie. Ojiichan thought she was so cute and still thinks it's hilarious that her name is Scottie. There's a tissue brand in Japan called Scottie and my ojiichan has boxes everywhere in his house. Kinda funny. Scotties everywhere! He loved playing with her and Scottie would smile and laugh back. It was the best.

This trip was mainly to spend time with family and that was just about my favorite thing ever! My family in Japan has always meant so much to me. I've always regretted not being able to speak Japanese and have a relationship with them. 

SO. Cam did something crazy. We'd always talked about how cool it would be if he were to transfer to the Tokyo Goldman Sachs office. Well. Since we were traveling over there anyways, he thought why not. He setup several meetings with high up VP's to introduce himself and talk about the possibility of transferring to the Tokyo office. 

Things are happening! 

Cam met with so many VP's that were excited and positive about the possibility, however, they got back to him once we got back to the states and told him that there's not much available right now. But that doesn't mean that there won't be an opening in the future. It's hard to wrap my brain around the thought, but what an amazing adventure it would be! To pick up and go to Japan. Live in the city, just me, Cam, and Scottie girl. It's scary to think that it could happen still because I'm a planner. I like to know. I like to color code my calendar...yes. I do that. I like to know when things are happening and on a note where we're talking about planning. My next baby. Would I get pregnant and deliver my second baby in Japan? It scares me to think they could come to us and say....ok guys! Here's a position. Now see you in a few weeks. 

WHAAAAT.

It's hard to live day to day thinking this may happen. So what I've decided is that I need to continue to live my life normally and keep this idea in the back of my head. Tucked away, but also readily available if it happens.

It would be a dream but a scary dream come true I think. Why does it scare me? Well. It would be me and Scottie alone in the tiny apartment. I won't have friends. I won;t have family. I won't have my community. BUT again, I've always regretted not learning Japanese and this would be my chance. Every time I think about my regret, it makes me cry. I cry because it's important to me. It's a huge part of my life and yet I don't know the language well enough to know my mom's family well.This would allow me to finally be able to truly tell my Ojiichan how I feel about him and his love. He's the most selfless, humble, happy man and I always want to thank him for everything he's done for us. My mom said when we left the train station this trip, he started to cry because he was so happy to have us all together. It makes me so sad to wave goodbye to him from the Tahara train station.I love him and his example he's set for his posterity. Not a day goes by that I miss him! He's continuing to see Obaachan at her elderly home and it is such an example of true love. They're the best and I always pray they are happy and healthy.We ate lots of delicious food in Japan! Cam and I tend to do that...haha we sound like little piggies. We look forward to meals when we travel. We're foodies alright?! I mean the food in Japan is just so incredible, we eat at the gas station half the time. I made sure to get enough Melon Soda while I saw there.It was so fun to have the entiiiiiire family there. Mom, dad, Sachi, Mari, DJ, Airi, Misa, Tanner, Oliver, Me, Cam, Scottie. Phew. Just typing that made me tired! Haha what an adventure it was. Babies. Crying. Laughing. Lots of people in a tiny house. And when I say a tiny house, it's a HUGE house in Japan.

All in all it was so great to have all the siblings together and we enjoyed talking and spending quality time together.We were in ofuro's about 1/2 of the trip. Haha I asked Cam, why are we not taking more pictures? And then I realized...well, we're naked and in bath's half the time! It truly was an ofuro almost every day it felt like. It was so amazing though. It truly feels like you're at a spa and for SO much cheaper than it would be for a spa day in the US. They're so relaxing and Scottie LLOVED it. She would just sit on my lap and looked like she was in heaven.I'll always want to visit Japan and hope that I can take all of my kids to Japan one day. The Melon soda, Katsu, DisneySea, Ofuro's, Candy, Family mart karage. All of it.

Until next time,

KRR

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