The Past 365 Days

At 10:49am this morning, we've been parents for exactly 1 year now.

Let's see how my life's been for the last 365 days.

I've been struggling with my identity as a semi-work-at-home, almost stay-at-home and non-income-generating parent. With my almost non-income, I've been quickly emptying out my savings account(s) for the condo. Thank goodness one of my savings account is a bit difficult to access, or that would have been long gone too.

I've been contemplating between looking for a minimum wage job (like cashiering at F*mima or M*tsuwa), looking at part-time accounting work on Craigslist, thinking about working full-time, wondering how much I'd be able to pay my mom to look after Popo, realizing she probably doesn't have the capacity to look after her full-time.

It's all hard to coordinate!
But I figure things will fall into place somehow, so I'm not too worried about it too much.

I started out thinking my kid will just grow up as a kid surrounded by adults. I don't know any kids, so we'll just hang w/ the adult friends. And she seems to enjoy them a lot.

But the cheapskate Asian woman in me had to look up free things to do... and boy, did I find them. And with my eagerness to share this newfound knowledge, I ended up joining a MOM'S GROUP. Yeah, mom's group. Crazy, eh!? (I still like to call them parent groups, tho)

I didn't just join one group too. I joined two online groups, made friends(?) in some classes... exchanged emails & cell numbers!? I NEVER answer my cellphone! And here I am, texting people I've only met once or twice.

We still go to sleep around 2am. Wake up at 8:30am. That's probably not enough sleep, but we got by before & it's not too bad right now. Some parents think we're crazy allowing Popo to be on a similar schedule (12am - 8am), but it works for us & I don't feel the need to change it yet. Maybe when she goes to daycare that'll change (or not, sinceじゅるる can take her in the morning).

I still have no interest in cooking. And Popo seems to like my mom's food over what I make. I'm glad she's okay nibbling on frozen veggie mix boiled w/ a bit of soy sauce & tiny amount of sugar.

My manga consumption is a lot less than before, but that's been the overall trend between me & Sat for the last 2 years. No access to cheaper manga, less series to follow after some ended, and the rising yen keeps us to 4-5 new manga per month. Sometimes we go through major withdrawals, then cry over the cost of a 400yen manga (and we don't even bother buying the 505yen ones anymore).

I still bite my nails when I'm bored/hungry.
I cut my hair twice.

And I didn't expect it, but I'm comfortable w/ this little creature attached to me all the time. Altho it's probably not that different than having Koge around. Just a little needier for now.

And we have at least another 17 years to go?
Oh boy. I didn't need to think that.