Senbazuru for Hudson Part II

Hudson with Ayumi's bird.

I announced a few weeks back that we were going to Asia! And indeed we are! This will be extremely exciting for all of us. Hudson will get to meet her great-grandmother and many of her great-aunts, great-uncles and cousins. She will also get to spend some times with her grand-parents and aunt. The second part of the trip will be very different. My husband, my daughter and I will be flying over to Japan for a two weeks holiday (finally our honey moon) .

It will be my fourth time in Japan and the second time for my husband. I am so excited to be able to bring him to all the cool places (mostly restaurants) I have discovered through all my travel there. We will be staying with Ayumi for a week and then we are of to FTO (Osaka) for a week!

I am so thrilled to be bringing my daughter there! Through out the pregnancy, I use to bribe her in staying put with the likes of "I can't wait for you to come out so I can show you Osaka"

But more importantly, during this trip, we will be making our way to Hiroshima to deposit the 1000 paper cranes folded following my MC at the Children Peace Memorial. (We are keeping Ayumi's bird and the 1000 birds I folded during the pregnancy wishing for a healthy Hudson. When she is older, she can decide if she wants to bring them there).

Hudson with the birds that will be going to Hiroshima

Now who's up for a little anecdote? As some of you might be aware, the monument in Hiroshima was built in memory of Sadako (you can click on the link for the full story). Well I just recently found out that Sadako died on October 25th (yes! that was Hudson's due date) after spending 8 months fighting leukemia. It is during that time she folded her paper cranes. It hits close to home, as I remember spending my whole pregnancy (roughly 7-8 months) folding my paper cranes hoping with all my heart that Hudson would make it to term and be healthy. Sadako's prayer were not answered, but mine were. And it is with a very heavy heart that I will be going to her monument, to surrender the birds.

Off course, you will be able to follow all of our On the road adventure as I will up date through this blog. Also, don't forget to "like" my facebook page, to make sure you don't miss a beat.

Children Peace Memorial in Hiroshima

To my dear cat Ucchi

Today should have been a happy post about Hudson being 7 months. I had lot's a great things to talk about such as how she started eating food, and made a mess at a Sushi restaurant (yes, Hudson had her first maki-avocado roll). But that will have to wait. Today, instead, I would like to talk to you about Ucchi, my cat. Ucchi died last night at 11:25. Ucchi was sick. She was not eating and she was not drinking. Ucchi left us 2 weeks ago to go live with Marie. Everything was going well until two days ago when she started throwing up and stopped eating and drinking. I am heart broken. I was heart broken to see her go away. I am even more heart broken now.

A few years ago, after buying our house, Tristan and I drove down to the Human Society in Toronto wanting to pick up their two oldest cats (because no one ever wants older cats). Unfortunately on that day, they would only let us adopt one. We had to pick between Bean and Soho. We took Bean (Subachan) because not only was she older but she had already been at the facility for just over two years. But we made a promise to come back for Soho. Time passed and we forgot about it until almost a year later we got a phone call from one of the volunteer there. She asked us to come and pick up Soho (Ucchi) ASAP if we still wanted her. I thought it was really odd that we would receive this phone call. Anyway, the next day we drove the 2 hours back and forth and picked up a cat that looked nothing like the cat we had once considered. She was almost lethargic. Lifeless. We brought her home with very little expectation and gave her lots of love. It took her a LONG time to adjust. In a way, she never really fully adjusted. Yet she was the cuddliest cat I had ever met. Through out the painful miscarriage months, she never left my side. During my bedrest pregnancy, she never left my side. She was not the perfect cat but she loved us. As I sent her away with my sister, I was heart broken that we could not be the perfect family. And as I write this, I am heart broken that I cannot give her all the love she gave me in her hard time. I am afraid. I am afraid she will die alone. Because, no one deserves to die alone. Please keep her in your thoughts.

I wrote this post yesterday evening. Last night, Marie went to the emergency vet at around 11 pm. BY then it was already too late. We opted to have her be put down as oppose to let her suffer. There was nothing else that could be done. She did not die alone, She was with my sister as they euthanized her. She will be buried in our garden. We have yet to decide which plan we should plant over her.   

Will my car seat survive?

As we are getting closer to our 6 weeks trip to Asia, I am starting to find out how complicated traveling with a baby can be. I have to admit, it is very fortunate that I LOVE planning, because we could have been in for some major surprises!!! If you are planing on flying with your baby this summer make sure to read on!

Most airline company will let you gatecheck your car seat. But not Air Canada. With Air Canada you have to check in your car seat. They will gladly let you know that it is free and more convenient (yes, it does not count towards your luggage allowance). End of story, right? Sure, if you trust that you will get to your destination and be handed back your car seat on a golden plateau. But the reality is this :

You don't have to go very far into the video to see what happens to the car seat. After researching it a bit more, I found out that 1. Airline will not to responsibility for your car seat (No liability if damaged) 2. There is no guarantee that your car seat will make your flight (same as luggage) 3. In many cases, the car seat ends up being crushed by other luggage which results in visible or non-visible damage which leads to number 4. Even if your car seat comes back looking fine, there is no way to tell if it really is (hairline fracture....) in other words, checking a car seat = a crash car seat. 

And here's another bad news for you... even if you gatecheck it, there is no guarantee it will be treated fairly. Off course, most people don't care. I mean, if the seat looks ok, it's good enough... ... ...

So what to do then? Well you do have option. Some people will rent a car seat once they reach their destination (but even there do you really know where the car seat has been?) Other people will purchase a car seat upon arrival (very common if you are off to visit family). Some people will decide to buy a One-time car seat and use it for the purpose of that trip only. If you decide to do so, your best bet is to keep the car seat it the original box (as this will offer the most protection). Another option is for you to buy a seat for your baby, in which case they will be able to ride in their car seat (but beware, certain airline have restriction of which car seat).

So here it is... as for us, we are still debating which way to go. As it stands, we are looking in possibly buying a new car seat to bring and leave behind. But only time will tell us!

To find out more, visit this link for great information about flying with children