Back in the UK

We made it and the flights were pretty good and easy all considering.Annie was on her best behaviour for most of the long flight and slept for the last couple of hours .Millie slept and woke as all babies do but only cried fleetingly a few times and was complimented by all the surrounding people as we were arriving at Heathrow;the same passengers had,of course,avoided all eye contact with us as we boarded,obviously not at all happy that they were seated next to not only a child but also a baby;).


Jet lag has been and gone and we only had one "bad" night when Annie woke at 3am.Apart from that ,it has been so easy probably because I am feeding Millie every 3 or so hours anyway so haven't felt any change in my pace of life! Hooray for babies!

Annie has slipped into life here with great ease which I do think has a lot to do with the fact that she is so confident in English.She remembers a lot from our visit in 2007 when she was 2 and a half and she and my mum are loving being together and its a joy to watch them.Millie is just being herself and cooing ,chuckling ,sleeping,crying and feeding as ever.

Highlights of the last 4 days for Annie include a very exciting visit to Santa's Grotto to meet the man himself,going to buy a Christmas tree with Oma and decorating it with our help,talking to her cousin Dominic on the phone,eating Heinz tomato soup,baked beans and spaghetti hoops,a visit to the local library to borrow a pile of books,watching new episodes of Charlie and Lola on TV ,snuggling under the new "In the Night Garden "duvet that Oma bought,playing with the toys Oma has or has borrowed from the neighbours and seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations in the shops and houses.

Highlights of the last 4 days for me,include seeing mum meet Millie for the first time(hankies out),walking around in a centrally heated house,eating proper bread,smelling the frosty air,watching Annie experience a real Christmas,going to the supermarket(something which will mean a lot to everyone living in Japan!),listen to Annie chatting away to mum and listening to mum and Annie giggling away, actually remembering the security code for my credit card without having to get a new card and number for the first time in 10 years and knowing that my retail therapy will help the UK out of recession.

A busy few days to come and my sister and family arrive on December 23rd for Christmas.We will have 4 under 5s in the house and they will rule......Cant wait !

Off we go!

It's now just before 9am on Sunday morning and we are about to leave.The car is packed,Annie is in the car and Kenichi is putting Millie in her hated child seat as I type.I did 99% of the packing last night and this morning and it was much easier than I had expected.I wasn't sure quite what we will need on the flight(apart from obvious) so have thrown a few things i and hope that 11 nappies are enough for Millie,eleven being my lucky number;)We will stay the night in Fukuoka so have a 5 hours drive ahead of us now and on Monday morning we will go to the airport,say goodbye to Kenichi and off we go! We are flying via the fancy schamnsty Incheon Airport in Korea as there are no direct UK flights from Fukuoka.Korean Air offers the best deals and flights to suit us and hopefully the will be wonderful service for mothers travelling with kids;)

So,hoping to check-in again(ho ho) when we are at my mum's in the UK.Getting rather excited now helped by Annie's escalating excitement (hysteria??!)And we both like flying so let's hope we enjoy the flight as well as the other passengers;)

In Limbo

I am in that strange "in between countries" state many of you who live in a foreign country probably know well.On Monday,I will be going to the UK for nearly 3 months with the girls.There are still things to be done,bags to be packed etc and I have a mental checklist of everything I want to get done before the weekend.

Transcending cultures is such an odd experience; after 16 years of life in Japan,so much here is now the norm so when I leave it all behind,I feel some sense of loss,angst and even regret.However,the familiarity of my childhood home awaits which is exciting and I feel so very comfortable back in the UK .

Hopping from one culture and one language to another isn't easy.And I find that this "in between"time seems to be one of self preservation; physically I am still in Japan but mentally,I am already in England.It is a strange feeling and hard to explain but I find that I can only really relax now if I am thinking about the upcoming trip and getting ready for it in some way or another.Once the final suitcase is packed,I will be able to sit down and just focus on the flight and look forward to everything that awaits us.And try to ignore that horrible feeling I get when I think about being away (and taking the girls away from) Kenichi for so long.

Wordless Wednesday

I dedicate this photo to the few people I have met who think that the girls don't bare any resemblance to each other at all...