How am I feeling?

So most of my readers are already aware that I am with child from my announcement on Facebook. For those of you that missed it... SURPRISE!
On to the next item of business, many of my friends have been asking me how I am feeling and I have avoided the question like the plague. I can't avoid forever, though, so here it is short and sweet. I have been diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum with this pregnancy. I should have been with Lilia too. I don't want to complain because Cliff and I are extremely grateful to be pregnant and are thrilled to be parents again... I just wouldn't wish this method on my worst enemy. Now fortunately I have not had to be hospitalized like many women with HG. I am on the lower end of the spectrum. I did have to go to the E.R. for I.V. fluids when I couldn't keep even water down, but that has only happened once and I am now on some medication that is... sometimes a little helpful. I still throw up frequently and I have trouble eating and drinking enough, but I know that at the very least this will end with the birth of a baby and at best may go away in a month or so (with Lilia I started to feel better around 20 weeks.) My heart truly goes out to women that have it worse than me and there ARE women that have it much worse than I do.

Cliff and I were aware of the possibility of me being extremely sick again so we tried our best to plan the bulk of the pregnancy during times when he would not be deployed and could help me out with Lilia. We have been very blessed that he has only deployed twice since we discovered I was pregnant and for the most part he has been home and a TREMENDOUS help to me. He wins the father of the year award for tirelessly cleaning, cooking, shopping, working, and caring for Lilia. Honestly, he deserves the mother of the year award too. I have only changed a handful of messy diapers since he has been home and he has been waking up with Lilia, feeding her, taking her to the park, playing with her, bathing her, and putting her to bed while I sit on the couch with my spittoon and try not to barf. I am sooooooo grateful for him and all that he does for us. I am also grateful for the blessing of him being here and how flexible his work schedule has been of late. Tender mercies of the Lord for SURE!
In other news, Lilia is practicing away at her new role. She has no idea what that role is... but she is practicing whether she realizes it or not!
She is such a sweetie bear and on days where I just want to cry and give up... but I can't afford to spare the moisture, she makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.
I love this little munchkin and can't imagine life without her. Having Lilia was the best decision that I have ever made and I have never regretted it. She is without a doubt the very reason I was willing to have another one.
So my due date is August 5th. We are supposed to be PCSing in August... whoops! This just means that I will most likely be returning to the States in May or June and will probably deliver the baby in Atlanta. Hopefully Cliff will make it back in time! It wouldn't be a May baby without a little excitement and drama, right??
Here is the link for HG. Please tell your friends and family. It's heartbreaking how many doctors don't treat for this disease and how many women are brushed aside because of ignorance.

http://helpher.org/index.php

A Few Christmas Pictures

I will catch up on blogging at some point, but not tonight. For now, here are some pictures of Lilia's FAVORITE Christmas gift.

The Water Wheel - Fabulous Japanese Dining

Alright, so my camera doesn't really do "night shots," but you get the idea. This little restaurant is tucked away on a tiny side street off of Route 51 and the Japanese name translates to "The Water Wheel." Our friends Dan and Yumiko wanted to take us here and I am SOOOO glad that we found a babysitter and took them up on it! The restaurant is an old house converted and is located very close to both Camp Zama and the Army's Sagamihara Housing. Dan and Yumiko explained to us that because of the remarkable collection of Samurai and turn of the century armor and weapons housed here, the big wigs of the military and American government are often entertained at this restaurant. I have to admit that even with my limited interest in armor and guns, I was super impressed! The places is both a restaurant and a MUSEUM! After one of the servers, (robed in full kimono,) showed us to our private room, we slipped out to view the armor and weapons collections. Below is the room of armor.
Almost all of the guns were well over 100 years old. Every one of them was uniquely decorated and carved.
Not sure how old these guns were...
Cliff amidst the armor. Again, every suit was unique and interesting.

We all liked this one a lot.
Detail of a dragon.
And what samurai collection would be complete without some swords? The rusty thing on the bottom was apparently a sword dating back 1,000's? of years?
And onto the food! Equally if not more impressive than the weapons was the FOOD! I am an artist and thus a sucker for presentation. The Japanese do presentation like no other country on earth. Everything that was served to us had it's own place, edible flowery counterpart, and seasonal story. Everything was fresh. Most importantly, everything was was mind blowingly delicious. We ate crab, squid, season fish, roe, Japanese vegetables that I have never heard of... It was such an adventure! The salad in the bottom right corner had crab and squid and fried squash and POMEGRANATE! Who comes up with these combinations? It was spectacular of course.
This might have been my favorite dish. It was the best sashimi I have ever had in my life. It was fresh and cool and firm and fantastic. The lemon was a nice touch too. YUM! There were at least 6 different kinds of fish.
The sukiyaki was the main course. They brought over the marbled beef and cabbage with mushrooms and noodles and cooked it right in front of us. It was awesome. Just awesome.
Fish and flowers! Lovely!
Scroll in our room.
Our table.

Here we are outside by the wheel. The place is also open for lunch. I can't wait to go back!

Hakone: Owakudani (In Search of the Black Eggs)

Cliff and Lilia and I recently took a day trip to Hakone. We had been meaning to go for a long time and with the fall leaves changing into such gorgeous colors we decided there was no better time then the present! Ironically our favorite place in Hakone was actually the nearly barren wasteland of Owakudani! Hakone is famous for its hot springs and in Owakudani the water is so hot and sulfuric that they actually boil eggs until they turn black for the tourists! Supposedly eating a black egg from Owakudani adds seven years to one's life. We had to try it out! Off we go!
Not many trees here!


I made sound like a major goobery dork here, but I just loved hiking around Owakudani. It felt so otherworldly to me - like maybe I had stepped back in time or crossed over into middle earth or something. Owakudani reminded me of the outskirts of Mordor. Rather than the one ring to draw us deeper into the realm, though, we had visions of hard boiled eggy goodness.


Beautiful!
I think if I had a nice camera these pictures would have been even more amazing. I thought the lighting was great!



We're getting closer!


Don't touch the water!

I love the contrast of colors in this photo.

Looking back at the ropeway house where we came from.
At last! We are so close! Let's go buy our eggs!

This lucky man's job is to lower and remove the baskets of boiled eggs from the springs.
Success! This little bag of eggs was HOT! I hat to keep switching hands! Rather than eat them at the top of the hill we decided to trek back down the path before eating these.



This area reminded me so much of Yellowstone and my little brother. The sulfur smell bothered him so much as a child when we visited that park that my parents had to buy him an air freshener to carry with him.... ha ha!


Here we go!
Oooohh ahhh! I think mine looks like a picture from the Hubble Telescope. I see a few nebulas... some solar systems....
All Lilia saw was LUNCH! Yum! I think between the three of us we tacked on about 35 extra years to our lives!!