One week old!!

Well...we continue to feel blessed by having a very easy going baby! She feeds like a champ, poops like a machine, and does all the other normal baby stuff she's supposed to do!

Yesterday we had our "first big outing" and went to base for her doctor's appointment/ weight check and to run some other errands. When we came home, our friend Maia had already delivered a delicious hot meal and we were able to sit right down to eat. Yum!!

Now we're busy getting the house ready for my mom and sister Lydia, who arrive tomorrow! Fortunatly, I cleaned for about 7 straight hours last Wednesday when I was in labor...so things are in pretty good shape! Alright - enough chatting...I know everyone really just wants the pictures! :)


Monkey outfit - courtesy of Uncle Grant!!


Elise was covered with ooey gooey vitamins, so Jenna helped me give her a sponge bath.


Silly songs with Dad...guess I already used up Josh's monthly quota of normal smiles for photos!


Gotta run...nap time for everyone!

Welcome Home, Elise!

After driving mom and dad bonkers by crying inconsolably through our first full night in the hospital, Elise's demeanor improved remarkably on day #2 as Rebecca's milk came in and we all benefited from her food coma. We were grateful for the constant stream of guests, flowers and gifts during our two days in the hospital; Rebecca especially appreciated it while I was at work during the day.

This morning, after about 60 hours in the hospital, we were ready to go home. The timing was perfect, since before then, Rebecca hadn't really been able to walk very well. I spent the morning trying to decipher the blueprints for our stroller/car seat combo and then we set off for home. The picture below is Elise arriving at our home for the first time!

Since we've gotten home, we've slept a lot, cleaned a little, taken lots of not very candid photographs and video (to be posted when I get the energy to do so) eaten a small fraction of the multiple meals that Kelley Gilbert made for us (yum!) and fed and changed Elise a lot.

Oh yeah, here is our mailing address for all of those who have requested it:

Josh, Rebecca and Elise Arthur
PSC 473 Box 1541
FPO, AP 96349

You can mail us things just like you would in the US - except that slower mail options (Parcel Post, Media Mail) can take over a month to arrive. Usually, Priority Mail and First Class take about a week. Also, you should probably insure your packages since we've lost a few. You will have to use USPS - other services will not mail to FPO boxes, which is very sad when we try to order things online.

By the way, don't worry about that little finger gesture Elise is making in the picture to the right. She doesn't mean anything by it; we are working with her on being a little more ladylike!

We've really enjoyed everyone's emails and comments. We'll do our best to reply as soon as we can. We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends!

Bilda Aremis Arthur!!!

. . .was one of many possible names for our little girl. However, after much debate and consulting of the magic 8-ball, we decided on Elise Amani Arthur, who was born on July 25th, Carousel Day, at 11:20 pm.

Yesterday morning (the 25th) around 2 am, Rebecca woke up with intermittent back pains. She walked around for about 90 minutes and then went back to sleep. That morning, I suggested that she may be in labor – however she didn’t believe me until Stacy told her the same thing hours later. Typical.

That afternoon at 4:30 pm, as our friends slammed their car door in the driveway, Rebecca suddenly realized that her water had broken. However, ever the hostess, she was too embarrassed to say anything. An hour and a half later into the dinner party when I finally got home late from work, she disclosed to me that her water had broken. This set into motion an additional hour of packing and cleaning as we gathered our things for a stay in the hospital.

After around 5:30 pm, Rebecca’s contractions became steadily stronger. By the time we arrived at the hospital, her cervix was dilated to 8 cm (for you boys, that means that she had been in labor for a while and was about to deliver). A couple hours later, she was ready to push; it was about that time that she began to question her “natural birth” plan and asked for some medication to help with the pain. However, it was too late, because an hour later, Elise Amani entered the world – chemical free (except for antibiotics, fluid and a few other things).

Since then Elise has been breast-feeding well and (we think) enjoying her special time with her parents (except for the time when the mean nurses poked her with needles). Today we are having lots of visitors, so if you’re in the hemisphere – stop on by!

Oh, and for you math geeks - here are the critical numbers: 7 lbs 11 oz (I won the guessing game with 7 lbs 8 oz) and 19 inches (my guess of 46 inches was way off). And for the grammar geeks – Elise is a derivative of Elizabeth, “consecrated to God” and Amani is Swahili for “peace.” Arthur means "bear," but we didn't have much of a choice with that one.

Thanks so much for your gifts and prayers!

Love,

Josh, Rebecca and Elise

Well...

Not much new to report here from Japan! We've been staying pretty close to home IN CASE baby Arthur decides to make her big debut into the world...but no news on that yet! (though her due date isn't until this Friday...it's still hard not to picture myself being pregnant for the rest of my life...it's getting harder and harder to be patient!!)

We have been enjoying some little ventures and activities close to home...Dinner dates with friends, picnics at the beach, game nights, and getting things ready for our families to arrive...

Josh is keeping busy with worship team (at Lighthouse and filling in for the leaders from church who are back in the States for the summer). He's also writing and recording a new song, so he enjoys getting to work on that in the evenings as well.

I, then, keep busy with cleaning and reading and resting and working on little projects around the house. I'm finished with all of my English lessons until the fall, so I also have plenty of time to meet up with friends for walks and coffee and other fun things. :)

Hopefully...we'll be back to our grand sightseeing adventures in no time at all! But first...the grand adventure of welcoming a baby into the world...we'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday to....Josh!

Several family birthdays came and went this past week, without much notice from our little one inside! Josh's dad and my grandmother celebrated on the 12th and Josh turned 28 on the 14th. We also have several other relatives birthdays coming in the next few weeks...but we're still waiting to see if our little girl will join the July or August birthday team! My mom would probably love a birthday buddy on August 1st, but my grandmother is really holding out for one of her "descendants" to be born in the month of July!

In my personal opinion...the sooner the better!! I'm getting tired of having "labor nightmares" every night! (They're just as bizarre as the ones I used to get every year during the last week of summer when my brain was trying to get ready to go back to teaching.) Plus, the actual fact is that we're quite ready to meet this little person!!

We did have a fun time celebrating Josh's birthday on Saturday. Enjoyed sleeping in and then had a birthday breakfast of smoothies and monkey bread, followed by present and card opening. (Thanks to everyone who sent cards or packages and called!!) Then we did some things around the house for the afternoon and had friends over for cake and games in the evening.

In other news...our "big" typhoon turned out to be a whole lot of nothing! I think our area here is similar to the mid-Atlantic area of the East Coast. We tend to track really big storms that come up from the south, but they usually weaken and/or go out to sea before they actually reach us. That being said, we were in the "category one" warning zone yesterday and everything on base shut down for the day...but we ended up only getting some tiny showers and had blue sky by the afternoon - weird!

Interesting!

So, I got a call from the hospital today and they offered for me to come and spend the weekend at the hospital!!!! Just like an all expense paid vacation!! Yippee!

As it turns out, our area is currently under level 3 warning conditions for a typhoon so they have to call everyone who is 38 weeks pregnant or further and offer for them to stay at the hospital or the Stork's Nest. Since we've never lived in a big storm area before, it was a little bit of a surprise - although Josh has been tracking the storm for a few days because of the ships he works with.

Anyway, we're going to stay put for now...but we'll see what the weather brings the next few days and see if we need to go camp out at the hospital until the storm passes OR...better yet...until the baby comes!!!!!

Counting Down...

Well, our little lady is now between her 37th and 38th week of "incubation" and we are anxiously awaiting her arrival!! It's pretty hard to believe that she could arrive any day now!

I guess I'm getting the "nesting" bug a little bit now, just in time! So far our house is still in the "getting worse before it gets better stage" since we have soooo much to organize and throw away. (mostly multiples of all my teaching materials and memory-type things that are not-so-sentimental anymore!) I've also "hired" our two friends Hope and Jenna (who are 11 and 10) to come and help me clean and dust all the hard to reach places around the house. They are coming over for cleaning and lunch AND to earn money towards some of their summer activities!

Here's hoping our baby comes before my belly button bursts open...that, too, could happen any day now!



Oh yeah, and here's a current "belly shot" for those of you who have been asking!!

Tanabata (Star Festival)

Tanabata is a summer holiday based on a Chinese myth about a princess and a peasant shepherd who were forbidden to meet. The two "star-crossed lovers" were only able to meet once a year on the night when the stars Vega and Altair came together in the Milky Way. The Japanese celebrate this day by decorating bamboo branches with paper ornaments and prayer cards.

Happy 4th of July!

Hooray!! Josh had off from work today so we had a nice slow morning and then hopped on a train and headed to Kamakura to walk around and enjoy lunch and some sightseeing. Rainy season is upon us now, so most days are either overcast and muggy or damp and muggy or it's raining like crazy AND muggy! This day was a combination of all of these weather conditions, but it was fun anyway.

Kamakura was the capitol of Japan from 1185 - 1333. It is filled with small shops and hiking paths and many Buddhist temples and shrines. We started off with some window shopping and lunch at the "sushi-go-round."
I stuck to miso soup and mostly cooked things while Josh enjoyed some of our favorites and even gave some raw crab sushi a try. (which, he would NOT recommend!)

After lunch we continued down the pedestrian shopping street (Komachi-Dori) and headed for the Tsurugoako-Hachimangu shrine (that's a mouthful!). The shrine and surrounding grounds were decorated for the Star Festival (Tanabata) which they will celebrate on July 7th, so it was very colorful and festive - even with the overcast and misty weather.

The rain started to pick up, so we decided to head home and rest a bit before heading off the Lighthouse for a 4th of July luau (which unfortunately had to be indoors) and some fireworks that were set off over over the bay. Out of almost 50 people at the barb-b-q, only 7 of us faced the elements and climbed to the top of Chuo hill to watch the fireworks. It was very wet, but kind of interesting to see fireworks in and amongst the clouds. (AND...I'm a sucker for fireworks, so it would have taken a lot more rain to dissuade me from watching them!)

Weekend Adventures!

Well, we're staying closer to home these days, but still enjoying some fun adventures around town! On Saturday we took a short ferry ride to Sarushima Island, just off the coast of Yokosuka. It's affectionately called "Monkey Island" by most foreigners and it's the only natural island in Tokyo Bay. Before WWII it was an ammunition depot for the Japanese military, so there are paths and caves and shelters all over the island that you can explore. It's also a favorite spot for locals to have cook-outs and picnics on the beach. (we'll have to write more about Japanese picnics later - they're amazing!)

Later that evening we went to a going away party for a wonderful family who are moving back to the States and then met up with some friends to set off fireworks on the beach. Summer fireworks are very popular in Japan and go along with several of the summer holidays that they celebrate here. During the summer you can purchase fireworks at the local convenience stores. (Wouldn't my brothers be in their glory?!?!) We all enjoyed a small, but fun (and mostly safe!) display at Kannonzaki Beach.

On Sunday, we headed for the lighthouse at the end of our peninsula. It's just a short drive from our house and then a pretty easy hike through a wooded park and up to the lighthouse. Right near the lighthouse there is also a radar station which helps to patrol the ship traffic for all of Tokyo Bay, so that was also pretty cool to see. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse and enjoyed the views of the harbor - along with a host of sea hawks who were enjoying the views as well!