Shijimizuka and Santa`s Bath

After our first day visit to see Mona, we headed over to Shijimizuka ruins, which I thought may prove to be a bit interesting. Unfortunately the day was cold and there wasn't much to see, so we only stayed for a few moments.
We could see a few thatch homes constructed around the site. By the name, I thought it would be some old ruins, but I tend to wonder if they weren't built more recently to support tourism to the museum there.
The next day, we headed back to the hospital to visit Mona and Ritsy again.
The following day, I came downstairs to find Santa bathing himself.
In the bath- very crazy cat!

Visiting the hospital the next day

The next day, with my mom- also known as `Canada baba`, so that we all could see a bit more rested Ritsy and baby. Here Ken is showing his ticklish spots to Canadababa.
A nice picture of grandma and grandson.
Mona was doing what I have learned is her favorite thing, sleeping.
We could all take a look with Ken-kun who was not exactly sure what was happening.
But he was interested.
She woke up long enough to express her compliments to the delicious palette that Ritsy had assembled for her.
Ken ventured to touch her (thought it was a bit coached at that time).
Chris was there checking his wife in, and stopped by to say hi.
And we had a great family picture opportunity with Chris helming the camera.

Congratulations to Chris

I think I neglected to mention the official birthday for Mona, it was the 13th of January. Ritsy stayed in hospital for only 4 days, and left on the Sunday. That week`s Friday my friend Chris` wife checked in to the same ward and they induced labour on the 18th. As it is isn`t really my business to report, there were some complications but in the end Ashley was born. Again, congrats man, and welcome to the life of fatherhood! It is a bumpy ride but the payoff is great! Indeed, they have had some more complications, so I hope that everything that is going on will sort itself out soon and the whole family will be together and happy in no time!

A break to reality- Mona

Well, I have had a bit of a break from blog space. But I have some big memories from when Ken was little and I want to get motivated to post a bit more and share our life with our new addition and Ken, of course.

We had a bit of drama at the end of last year, let me try to summarize as concisely as possible. At around December 20th- the doctor`s at Ritsy`s clinic devined that her umbilical chord only had one artery, where there is usually 2. They suggested we use the hospital instead of clinic and the doctors scanned the baby for any defects. She was deemed fine, but was already over 3.5 kgs, so they said we should try to induce labour ASAP. So we booked in on December 24th and Ritsy tried to induce for 2 days to no avail. Apparently in Japan they don`t do 3 days, so Ritsy came home the next day. We enjoyed some time with our friend Steve who is visiting from Canada for 3 months (more on that later!).
The due date for the baby was January 5th, which passed quietly. After one week late, the doctor suggested we hop back on the inducing wagon, and so we did! This time things worked out. Ritsy checked in at 10 o`clock and she started having real contractions around 1PM. I was at home waiting with Ken and was called at 2 o`clock. Before I arrived at the hospital, she already had the baby at 2:16.
Mona Bridget Lowrey Takasugi weighed in at 4.28 kgs and was in good health.
I found Ritsy very tired and was told how very painful induced labour is.
But we are both happy to welcome this new beautiful baby into our lives now!
Sadly, on the first day- Ken was not allowed in to meet her, but we would come out the next day and meet them- with my mom too, who was arriving from Vancouver the same evening that Mona was born.

Busy times!

Adventure World in Wakayama pt. 2

Thomas was prominently sucking money throughout the park. First Ken enjoyed a ride with James.
Then Percy.
and Percy again with Mommy..
And the grand finale of Thomas
And with mommy too...
One would think this would have satiated his appetite, but there was still more demands for riding Thomas throughout the day.