Before I Forget

Before I forget, I cried when you were brought into my arms.
Tears of relief you've arrived, safe and sound, without harm.
Before I forget, you were both colicky,
Making a straight night's sleep impossible as can be.
Before I forget, nursing you was rather tricky,
One boob was not what you sought initially.
Before I forget, my favourite thing to do was inhaling your scent continuously,
even though grandma said that'd make you naughty.
Before I forget, my heart sings when told by daddy,
how hearing my voice would make you more than happy,
I was the cow whom you chose gladly.
I won't want to forget the days of having you with me as I went to work;
I don't want to forget how you squirmed inside my tummy,
Your hiccups inside made me laugh crazily.
Long after you've said your farewell, don't forget how much you matter to me.
Because I've forgotten everything but the perfect you, one arriving two weeks late,
and the other two weeks early.
I won't forget,
the joy I've had,
not once, but twice in this lifetime -- lucky me.

(Dedicated to my lovely girls)

Where Are My Biwas?

In June 2011, coming home from Tokyo, I had brought with me half a dozen Biwa fruits. They were so delicious that I wanted to share them with Kayrin and SF.
They weren't keen so I ate them. The seeds, I figured, could be germinated.
They did sprout in a pot in the old house and I was planning to move them to bigger space.
Sadly, they never came along when we moved home in February.
Awake at 1:07 a.m., with a sweet little girl asleep in my arms and a thunderstorm brewing outside, I longed for Biwa, the sweet, juicy orange-coloured fruits that remind me of early summer in Tokyo, when the rains made it too cold to walk to Bic Camera from Marunouchi.

I Bake

Make me climb the roof to fix an antenna, make me clean a car engine, make me polish my VW, and I wouldn't protest too much.
Make me stitch, or cook, and I want to cry.
But hey, I baked my first loaf of bread today. I baked my first anything, to confess.
It's all with the help of the Noxxa oven and plenty of advice from good friend Jacqie.