Cherry Blossom Adventures

Well it is already 2nd of September so I guess posting everyday in September is out.

In the last two days my morning sickness has kicked back in pretty bad. Yesterday I was sick 4 times and today already 3 times and I just feel like crap. When I was pregnant with Noah most of my morning sickness was gone by about now except when I caught the train or rode in a car (and that stopped around 18 weeks). I am hoping that morning sickness with edamame-chan comes to an end soon.

I have my mummy class today here at home. It has been 6 weeks because the August class got postponed until today because I went to Australia. I would usually bake something for afterwards but it didn`t happen and I have felt too sick to do a proper clean up. I vaccuumed and mopped and cleaned up the kitchen and bathroom but it definitely is not as clean as it usually is. If I felt a bit better (and the smell of cleaning products or almost anything didn`t make me want to be sick) then I would of done a better job but I am over it.

I had my doctor`s appointment for edamame-chan on Tuesday. He/she is going well (I still think another boy- I swear I saw a penis too but It is probably too early to tell!), growing well and the doctor laughed about how genki he looked swimming around in there. I will be 14 weeks on Sunday and more than a 3rd of the pregnancy is over. Wow! I got the scan on dvd and I will upload it eventually so that others can have a guess of the sex. I will be able to find out for sure in my appointment in about 8 weeks (I will have another in 4 weeks but it will probably be too early) and then I will be off to Australia again soon after that.

He/she is good size, looks healthy and all seems fine. My blood tests from previous appointment came back and everything is fine (although the doctor said ” You are still A- blood type”- um yeah, that wasn`t going to change was it? lol) and just my iron is a bit low but that is normal for me anyway.

Yesterday we had baby sign class- our fourth one (plus a trial before that)- next month is Halloween themed class and I have to dress Noah in a costume. Any ideas? We don`t really celebrate Halloween in Australia and the only time I have done anything for it has been when I have been in Japan. I might dress him up as a pirate or something….. put a parrot on his shoulder?! hehe

He is starting to react more to the signing I do with him- he has done the “more” sign once or twice (at least I think he is), he has started to wave bye bye (although not always at the right times) and he will bring his hands together but he won`t actually clap yet. If I say “kiss” though he makes the same noise I do! Very cute. I think over the next month he will start signing some of the other things we use everyday like milk, yummy, book, more, drink, water, bath and others… The teacher said he does sign babble- like yesterday in class when we were signing he would sit and move his arms around and hands together and touch his head and stuff and she said this is his way of trying to “copy”- I don`t really see it but maybe.

He is understanding some of what I say more too. If I ask “Where`s daddy” he will look around for Shun, he knows drink and more (and always opens his mouth when he hears either word), he responds to his name and he knows what “no” means although doesn`t like the word.

Back to signing class- Noah is the youngest there at 8 months and the 3 oldest are 13 and 14 months (plus some others in between- class of 9 I think it is). I was watching the 14 month olds and thinking FUCK, I will have one of them and a newborn in six months. They are still not really talking and they are all running around like crazy. I am definitely going to have my hands full.

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I am so slack with the blogging lately!

I have 2 months of letters to finish writing and posting for Noah (7 months and 8 months) and I am late on doing my 101 things in 1001 days  updates also.

Maybe I should try to blog everyday in September in order to make up for my recent slackness?

I have less than 4 months to go on my 101 things in 1001 days list and I am kind of over it- in the beginning it was great! A fantastic motivator for getting things ready for the wedding, and experiencing Australia with Shun and other things too but now as I near the deadline knowing I won`t get everything crossed off I am a little disappointed in myself. I know I shouldn`t be because I have crossed the majority of things off already but I am one of those people that doesn`t like to do things half baked (well at least not usually!) but have lacked the motivation in recent months to get things done…

78. Do a monthly update for 101 things on blog (29/33)

Crossing off another 2 months here!

96. Go camping with Shun

Done! We went camping last month (although seems like so long ago) with friends in Gunma. It was in cabin type things but that is still camping in my book PLUS we got to take Noah along!

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Have finally uploaded photos from Australia trip here! Most are from Australia anyway since we were there for most of the month of August. There are even more on facebook for those who are friends with me there.

A couple of favourites though…. (will embed more when I write Noah`s letters!)

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Books read recently

Finally finished “The girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and started the second book. Have also read “The Better Woman” by Ber Carroll (Nay you will like this so I will keep it for you! While you are in Australia if you see any books by her check her out- this is the second or third book I have read by her in the last couple of years and I enjoy her writing style and the books are always at least half set in Australia) and a V.C Andrews book which was part of a series too.

Also read the relevant parts (for us) of “How to raise an amazing child- the montessori way” about using the montessori methods in your own home.

Let`s not forget I have probably read at least 30 different pictures books to Noah in the last couple of months too!

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Noah will turn one in December and we will be in Australia. He is getting christened on December 26th so friends and family will be joining us for that ( I wanted it to be while Shun was in Australia and he is only there from 24th to Jan 3rd) so I think I will just have some cake and stuff and a little party back at my mum`s house after that so that Shun will also be there for his “1st birthday celebrations”.

Noah`s friends are all in Japan though and so I am wondering if I should have a little something when we come back to Japan in January too. We have so far missed 2 different 1st birthday parties due to illness (Noah`s first fever) and then been in Australia (Sorry Sakura and Missha ) but I think we will be able to make Misora`s later in this year (assuming we get an invite- Melanie, we are invited right? haha) Earlier this year we also made it to Nanami`s 2nd birthday party and I am sure Noah would enjoy having friends over to play with and of course MORE cake.

I will be in my 3rd trimester by then with edamame-chan (about 33 weeks along I think?) and am not sure if I would be up for planning it especially since we will be in Australia for the time leading up to it! Something to think about anyway! Noah might be too little to remember the festivities but I want him to know we celebrated his birthday when he gets older (and sees the pictures!)

It would be pretty cold around then too but I think I would probably hold it at our place or at the local oyako cafe (about 500m away)!

I have to look into dairy free cake! (and then real cake for those that can eat dairy- because really who wants to eat cake made with soy butter and soy milk. yuk!)…..

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Noah officially is a baby that sleeps through the night. He has continued the good sleeping since we have been back in Japan and it is amazing how nice it is to wake up at  6 or 7am and think “Wow, I got 6-8 hours SOLID sleep” – that said, still pregnant and running after a child though so still pretty damn tired!

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I have my baby doctor`s appointment tomorrow for edamame-chan. I hope he/she is growing well!

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We have just three more nights in Australia and then Noah, edamame-chan and I will be on our way back to Chiba.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. I have been a very bad blogger. I can not believe 50 people sent well wishes regarding the news that I was pregnant again.

I have definitely become more well adjusted to the idea since been in Australia. I think full night sleeps will do that for you.

Noah is fully weaned onto a bottle (soy formula)- he has 4 bottles a day, goes to bed about 8:30pm and has slept through the night most nights this week (10 hours or more) except for last night (which I am hoping was a one off, or at least an occasional off!). He is also ADORING his solid food and eating stacks. He will have a huge amount of porridge with fruit for breakfast (or oatmeal or a weetbix with hot water) and then sometimes munch on a piece of toast after that with avocado or vegemite. For lunch he will have pasta with  tomato and veggies, or mixed vegie puree or a lentil and veggie mix then he will have some fruit with jelly (no sugar jelly that I made) and then for dinner he will have a main dish with fish or meat (I have been using rafferty`s garden packs while in Australia instead of making his food) and then fruit for desert. He is still opening his mouth for food when it is all gone!!!

He wakes up, has a play, then he has breakfast and then later on a bottle and then later on a nap. He has been napping really well in Australia usually having 2 x 90-120 min naps and maybe a 40 minute cat nap about 5:30pm.

Weaning him was difficult- I tossed and turned about it a bit as well thinking I might continue breastfeeding him for last feed. I spoke with my doctor in Australia though and decided weaning him completely would be for the best for us. He had a couple of rough days but now is fine with the bottle. My mum has been a great help and will even take Noah most mornings (when he wake up between 6-7am) so I can get a bit of extra sleep.

The trip to Australia has been great- I miss Shun and Japan though and am looking forward to going back. I will miss the extra help with Noah and I think he will miss the extra company- back to days of just me will be a bit dull for him I am sure. He is a happier baby recently though because he is sleeping better, eating better and he is moving around by himself with ease (getting into all kinds of nooks and crannies and mischief!)….I am hoping he continues to be the happy bub we have seen in Australia.

I am behind in blogging for 101 things and also haven`t written up Noah`s 7 month letter yet OR his 8 month one (he turned 8 months yesterday!)- when I get home I will upload photos and hopefully be able to do all those updates then.

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The three of us are heading to Australia on Friday. That`s right, I said three of us, and nope, I don`t mean Shun.

Noah, me and edamame-chan (almost 10 weeks) are heading to Australia for 2.5 weeks for a bit of a break (we are still going in November for 2 months also!)

There seems to be no way I can turn the image around even though it is saved the right way.

So yeah, we are expecting baby #2 late February or early March next year (First due date was February 27th but has since been changed to March 6th). It was a surprise/shock to ALL concerned and I only discovered I was pregnant when I was almost 8 weeks along after almost a week of feeling crappy- nauseous and tired.I guess I should of guessed huh? Two pregnancy tests later, a visit to a local clinic (and then to the clinic where I gave birth to Noah) to have it confirmed and now we are here getting ready to welcome edamame-chan into the family.

Morning sickness is a bitch and some days I throw up upwards of 4 times. Some days only once (but you know the morning sickness is bad when you wake up at 2am to be sick!). Noah is still breastfeeding 7-8 times a day and the doctors keep telling me I have to quit and I am trying but he refuses a bottle even though we try everyday- he just screams and screams until he falls asleep from exhaustion from fighting the bottle. I have tried it in a sippy cup, in different bottles, different people feeding him (in-laws took him for 5 hours last week and he didn`t want the bottle then either. Just did without milk),

It is not the flavour as I have started mixing formula into his breakfast with his fruit and he scoffs that down. I know that you can continue to breasfteed while pregnant although the doctors here keep advising me against it due to the pre-term labor issues I had when I was pregnant with Noah.

So thanks to my brother who forfeited his ticket to Japan so that Noah and I could travel back to Australia to get a bit of a break and hopefully with the extra hands (ie, mum!) I will be able to get Noah drinking from a bottle and have a bit of a rest and hopefully some extra sleep. And some extra hands to hold Noah while I run to vomit. Sorry for TMI.

There will be 14.5 months between Noah and edamame-chan and they will be just one school year apart (based on the Japanese school system). We always wanted a second child but I had planned to breastfeed Noah til he was about 1, then wean him and perhaps start trying- we were thinking a 2 year age gap or so but oh well, while the next couple of years will be tough with two babies in 3-4 years time I will probably be glad it worked out this way. Right?

Hopefully they will be good friends.

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I have a lot going on right now and am feeling more than a little overwhelmed.

Going to take a mini blogging break. I still have Noah`s 7 month letter to post and I might get to that this week but don`t expect any posts for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy your summer.

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Does anyone else have trouble coming up with titles for their blog posts? Unless it is about something in particular I have no idea. Hot seems like a good one though since it is pretty damn hot although on the good side if I get my washing out by 7:30am it is dry by 9am!!

I worked on Saturday for 2 hours and then had a meeting about another job in my area which will be 2 hours a month. Plus I had my mummy class yesterday and have work again tomorrow in Nishi-Tokyo. Some of the work I do requires prep but usually it is minimal and takes me less than an hour the night before. Sometimes it is just printing some stuff out, other times I write up my lesson plans for my own aid. I worked out that this month I had just 7 hours of work but next month I will have more. It is reasonably easy to juggle with Noah since I can do the prep when he is asleep at night and it is not like I need to work on it everyday. The extra income is nice and I am trying to save as much as I can of it to use on the trip in Australia. SHOPPING! WOO!

This weekend though I have no work BUT we are going camping. It is not real camping since we will be staying in cabins but it is a bit of a road trip to Gunma where we will meet 14-15 others. I forget the name of the place but it is actually an adventure camp so there is white water rafting and paragliding. We will arrive in the afternoon so Shun will join in the paragliding. That should be interesting since he is deathly afraid of heights but when I asked if he wanted to do it he said yes so, we will see. He can`t even handle looking over our balcony and we are only on the 7th floor (and his feet are on solid ground!). Will be interesting to see how Noah goes. He has slept away from home before but I a not sure if the other will appreciate his possible 5am or 5:30am wake up call (plus once before that for some milk probably!)

I have been a bit under the weather recently and with the heat it has been easier to stay inside most of the time. We have had mid 30 degree weather all week and Noah is like me and does not handle the heat well. We did venture out on Tuesday to go to the doctor`s (Noah`s runny nose and eczema) and run some other errands- bank, conbini to pay bills, pharmacy, supermarket, shiyakusho (city hall), other shopping and then home. I was ready for a nap after that though after been out in the heat!

Noah is FINALLY eating more solids (although no cutting down on breastfeeds yet) and actually enjoying eating more. He actually opens his mouth for almost all of his food and enjoys trying to feed himself. We have started 3 meals a day from yesterday. I am trying, yet again, to get him to drink from a bottle but he won`t have a bar of it. I am losing hope of having him EVER take a bottle but any hints or tricks are appreciated. Shun gave it ago on the weekend but he screamed a lot then too and of course is even less interested when I try.

His sleep though- well he goes down at about 7:00pm or 7:30pm (I can not stretch this any longer because he usually wakes up from his last nap about 3:30 if he only has 3 naps) but is up between 5-6am. SO EARLY! (up 2-3 times a night for 1-2 feeds) Luckily Shun (although not readily) takes him one morning til 7:00 or 7:30am then I take him the next. Shun is not so good at STAYING awake to watch him though and at the moment he doesn`t move much so this is fine but in a month or so I am not sure this will be viable. I hope Noah learns to hit daddy and pull his hair soon the same way he does me when I play with him on the floor. hehe. 3 naps of 30-45 minutes a day. Such short naps He has always been a cat napper though- once a week or twice a week he will nap more than an hour…

It is less than 4 months til I head to Australia! EXCITED! And yes, I am already counting down!!!! Although the idea of 2 summers in one year is not exactly thrilling (especially since I had 2 last year as well!)

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My friend Nicole was staying with us for a couple of days before she headed back to Australia (after 2 years in London). We have been friends since high school but she actually lived in Japan for a year in 2004 so it was her second time.

Noah of course loved the extra attention.

Nic said good bye to her fiance in England and they are trying to work out some visa stuff before he joins her in Australia (he is Colombian) so leaving England was bitter sweet for her. While she is excited to be heading back to Australia I think she is nervous all the same. Anyway, I wish her the best of luck and am looking forward to catching up again in November and December.

Yesterday we went to look at 5 properties in our house/land hunt. Two were blocks of land, one was a block of land with an old house on it (that will be torn down) and two were new houses built in the last couple of months. It definitely made us realize what size things were. I originally was thinking land of about 35 Tsubo but my MIL kept telling me she thought that would be too small and to only look at places 40 tsubo or bigger. I am glad she did- we looked at one block that was 37 tsubo and it just seemed so tiny and I couldn`t imagine a house even fitting on there but that said there are plenty of properties bought on land even SMALLER than that here. My MIL has been great- she went to the bank for us to get some estimates on loans, and sussed out some places for us to look on Sunday. My FIL watched Noah for the 2 hours it took us to look around. It was just our first weekend of looking (and now the next two weekends are busy with camping and then with Benay and her family staying and Sakura`s birthday party) but one was a possibility (the one with the old house on it currently) although we are not in any hurry and will look again in a couple of weeks. Nice to know what is out there though, what the prices range from and also what some new houses looked like on the inside.

Some other recent snaps:

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Am late getting this posted. Whenever Noah goes down for a nap I think “I should blog” or once he is asleep at night but I just don`t. I guess my blogging mojo has gone down hill a little bit recently…

Update 101 things is 1001 days for June 2010

33. Maintain the weight loss for at least six months  (abandoned June 2009 due to pregnancy, to restart after birth. Managed 4 months before getting pregnant and started again Jan 2010) 6/6.
DONE! Since losing my pregnancy weight by the time Noah was a month old and actually losing a further couple of kilos I came out 3kg less than my pre-pregnancy weight AND means that since I started the 1001 days challenge I lost 10kg, put on 12kg, lost 15kg! That is a lot of yo-yo weight loss/gain in a short amount of time but hopefully I can maintain it now for awhile!

50. Learn how to use photoshop.

This has been a long time coming, and to be honest I can`t see myself using the program much but I know my way around (slightly!) and can do some touch ups if I want. I found it all very time consuming though and I would rather just take photos and upload as is unless I was making something special as a gift or something. But that is just me! It is an amazing program though and the things you can do with it (of which I only know a small amount) is incredible.

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Books read in June

I am still working on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – This is without a doubt the longest it has taken me to read a novel before. I guess I just haven`t really gotten into it. I like it enough but all the Swedish names make it confusing and I think after caring for Noah all day my brain is just mush and makes it a bit hard to follow sometimes. Once I am done, while I own the next two in the series, I will probably hold off on reading them until I go to Australia later in the year. I am looking forward to reading a different novel but definitely something that doesn`t require me to concentrate so much (How bad does that sound. Honestly though, I think other mums out there probably understand at least those with under 3s)

Reading Magic- Mem Fox (more on this later)

Top 100 Baby Purees- Annabel Karmel

Oh and in June I probably read over 30 different pictures books (some more than 2 or 3 times!).

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Mem Fox is an author of Australian children`s books and also works on children`s literacy. I recently picked up her book “Reading Magic” which focuses on reading aloud to your children from birth or a young age and the impact it will have on their ability to read later on. I have read to Noah almost everyday since he was born- I usually have a little book in my bag in case we get bored on a train or while out, I read before bath time and at other times of the day and on the weekends I encourage Shun to read Japanese picture books to Noah and I always take books to my in-laws house so that they can read to Noah too (in Japanese)

Noah is not even 7 months old and has approximately 100 picture books in English (and only about 10 in Japanese), We haven`t read all the books we own but have read most of them. Some of the golden books I have though are a bit long so I am leaving them for when he is older.

I love to read. I have always loved to read and apparently I taught myself to read before I even went to kindy. How? Well my parents read to me everyday and I guess that helped.

Reading through Mem`s book I began to realize why I was able to teach myself to read really young. All the things she encouraged parents/teachers etc to do are things my parents did with me and a lot of the case studies in her books were of children reading younger than usual or those that struggled with reading were ONLY trying to learn from a phonics base focus instead of concentrating on the whole words and stories (which you do when reading aloud to children)

Anyway I found the book fantastic. Noah only has 3 of Mem Fox`s children`s books but I will definitely try to pick up some others when we are back in Australia.

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Noah`s napping has turned to crap. He still naps but a couple of weeks ago when his schedule changes (yet again!) and he started waking up  for the day around 6am every morning I would feed him at 6am, do his breakfast about 8am, feed him again at 9am and he would get drowsy or fall asleep while feeding and I would put him down for a nap and he would sleep for about an hour and then at 12 or so when I would feed him again he would fall asleep again.

This meant that he was no longer putting HIMSELF to sleep in his cot because he was pretty much asleep when I put him in the cot. The problem with this is that I spent so much time ensuring he was able to put himself to sleep previously that I knew if I didn`t break him of the habit we would be in trouble and he would start needing me to fall asleep.

When we were out and about he would still just sleep when he was ready in his pram or ergo- not necessarily after feeds but over the weekend and today I have tried to switch it up so that he naps without feeding first (He is not hungry or anything- he would usually have had a feed within 1hr30 mins) and it has been a nightmare.

A good 45 minutes each time of him screaming when I put him in the cot. I would pat him for a bit and he would settle but he would whimper for awhile and then start screaming again. It is not like me hoding him helps as he just gets frustrated. His first 2 naps today he has while we were out at the embassy. Both were very short though- only 25 minutes or so each so he was still pretty tired so I ave just managed to settle him again for another nap. I put him in the cot at 12:30pm and he FINALLY fell asleep at 1:20pm although he was exhausted. He would self settle for a bit but then scream again so I was in and out of his room non-stop.

Any advice? I don`t want him to be reliant on breastfeeding for sleep but I am happy to pat him until he settles or continue to go into his room to let him know I am close by.  Previously though I would just put him in his cot and he would play a bit and then fall asleep. At night he would often be asleep after his bath and feed before I put him down but if he was still awake I would put him in his cot anyway and he would chat” for a it then fall asleep by himself. I very rarely had to go back into his room once I had put him in the cot.

I think part of it might also be separation anxiety setting in because now if he is playing in the living room and I get up to go to the kitchen or soomething he will often turn on the water works.

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I have piles of photos piling up and lots to write about but as more and more things happen and more and more photos accumulate it just gets even more overwhelming.

So a bit of an update. Finally.

But first, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post about house hunting. We went to look at some model houses last weekend. The kitchens in those places always make me so excited to have our own place- actual bench space, a real pantry, a dish washer and more. OH MY! We have not made any firm decisions or anything but we might end up buying land and building our own place… There is some land (2 different lots) available in Moto Yawata near Shun`s parents house (A 5 minute walk and a 15 or 20 minute walk- but by bike both are super close) which sound great. MIL is going to check them out for me and see if it is worth going to look at them. With Noah, it is hard to go look at everywhere we want to see and we have discussed with MIL the sorts of things we are looking for and don`t want. She is also a pretty good negotiator so nice to have someone like that on our side. Living in Moto Yawata would be ideal but we thought it would end up too expensive for us but maybe not…

So, Noah is crawling. But only backwards. He scoots around in circles forwards but when he is actually on all fours he only goes backwards. It is so cute because he is trying to move forward to get stuff but only can go backwards. Is it cruel that I put toys in front of him, just out of reach just so I can watch him crawl backwards and laugh? It is so cute though and I do encourage him and after a couple minutes put the toys within reach.

We might be over our recent sleep regression too. He woke up only once last night between 7:30pm and 6:00am (He woke up and fed at 4:00am)- I hope he is over it. It sure will make me a happier camper!!!

Noah also met his first cousin Rina chan

Chiba Peanuts Multicutural Playgroup met almost a month ago and we had lots of fun.

Father`s Day went well. Noah only tried to eat the present a couple of times. We went to Yakiniku (Shun`s favourite) and spent the day together. Shun`s friend Ishi joined us (he was over the night before to watch the soccer…and he just kind of stuck around. Not that I mind he is lovely to have around. Last time he stayed he vacuumed when he saw I was going to do it. What is not to love about a guy that vacuums?)

Noah still loves to read-

And chew on stuff

Just a final photo I took last night because I love his expression

We found out last week that it seems Noah has an allergy to dairy. The second time he ate yogurt he got very itchy and a bit blotchy and the third time he broke out in hives on one side of his face, ear and neck. It was the day after his final DPT immunization so when I rang the clinic they told me to bring him in as soon as possible in case it was a reaction to this. It seems though that the most likely cause is dairy or cow`s milk protein and we will hold off on giving any more diary now til he is tested at about age one. The doctor said to start him on tofu to see if we had any issues there and he had it for the third time this morning (mixed with banana this morning) and luckily no reaction so it looks as if soy products might be okay which is a relief because if he still has dairy issues after age one (a lot of children grow out of it) then he can at least drink soy milk, continue to eat tofu and have soy yogurt maybe (although I can`t seem to find soy yogurt in Japan?).

I have been very diligent about monitoring him for allergies since starting him on solid foods and so far dairy seems to be the only issues but the doctor advised to hold off on wheat til 9 months or so and of course stay away from the other high risk allergy foods like strawberries, tomatoes, seasame, nuts etc for as long as possible.

A lot of children with dairy allergies or cows milk protein allergy have reactions and issues before they even start on solid food (like blood or mucus in poo, lots of belly pain, or blood in spit up) but Noah had none of that so it seems his allergy might be mild. I am concerned that the dairy he receives through my breastmilk though might not be helping his eczema at all but when I tried to talk to the doctor about this he said it wasn`t an issue. I am still thinking I might eliminate dairy for a couple of weeks to see what happens though. I did eliminate for a week when his eczema first appeared but it seem to make no difference so I went back to eating dairy but now that I know he appears to have an allergy I should do it again. It might mean the end of ice coffees and chocolate for awhile. Not to mention cheese!

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Well it seems we are going to start house hunting sooner rather than later.

Up until now no firm decision had been made for 2 reasons- 1. We didn`t have quite enough saved up for a down payment and 2. We were not 100% sure we would still be in Japan in 5-10 years time. Shun had I did a lot of talking a couple weeks back about his career, what he wanted to do, whether he wanted to stay in Japan or think about going to Australia and also about what I wanted which was a place of our own. Either in Japan or Australia. When I married Shun I already knew that there was a 95% chance we would be in Japan forever and I was okay with this. I have good friends here, a nice life and I like my life here most of the time. I am far away from my family and this is hard but I can visit and they can also visit us here.

We have decided that living here is probably better for us financially if I don`t want to return to full-time work while Noah, or our next child, is young. I can do part-time work and earn decent money. Shun would also be unable to get work in his desired field in Australia with his current English language skills.

As for the down payment- we had about 1-2% saved but recently found out there is a chunk of money in Shun`s name for when he decided to buy property (him and his brother, and his three cousins all had these “trust funds” i guess you could call them which were set up by Shun`s grandma when they were born or very young) and we now have 5-10% of the down payment saved (it depends on the price of the house we decide on and the loan) and while we are in no hurry to find a place we have decided to start doing some research and looking around.

This Saturday we are going to look at some model homes in this area. We have also spoken with Shun`s parents and they really want us to live closer to them (at the moment it is only about 12km but it is a 30 min or more drive), like within a bike ride distance and I am happy with this. I have always maintained with Shun that living close to his parents would not be a problem for me. But that living with them or next door might be. I would be happy to be close though. They see Noah currently about once a fortnight but I would be happy if it was more often than this especially since Noah is so far from his other grandparents. So this weekend we are looking at some model houses in Funabashi but my MIL plans to keep any info she gets about property in Moto Yawata or Ichikawa and give us when she sees us next time (things show up in letterboxes, newspapers etc).
We are not 100% set on a new house although I think it would be my choice since houses here only have a 25 year shelf life anyway ( I read that somewhere? Shun`s parents house was built before he was born so it is at least 30 years old though and is still standing although there has been recent talk of reforms now that it is just Shun`s parents that live there so I am not sure if this figure means that after that time you are just paying for the land and not the house)

We have got some other wants and of course the list just keeps growing although until we start looking around some more none of these are definites.

We would prefer to be on the JR sobu line within a 30 minute walk of one of the stations between Ichikawa-Tsudanuma. We are looking for 38 tsubo or more (I think 1 tsubo is about 3m2? Sounds tiny right? But yeah, that is the norm in this area or even a bit bigger than the norm for a new place. My PILs land though is 79 Tsubo) of land, there must be a small garden or enough space outside for kids to play, within a 15 minute walk to the local elementary school (This is Shun`s requirement- he lived a 1 minute walk from his elementary school and his brother, father and grandfather went to the same one), the house needs to be 100m2 or bigger (4LDK or more) (This is my requirement) and there must be room for one car at least. Pretty loose guidelines at the moment- we have a maximum price in mind too although will have to wait and see what sort of loan we would be eligible from the bank.

Again, like I said, we are in no hurry (although paying rent each month is looking less and less appealing especially when our mortgage would be the same or less a month than what we pay in rent. The timeline is to have bought and be living in a place within 2 years and I doubt anything of interest will happen until I get back from Australia in January but for now we are having fun looking online and around and crunching some numbers.

So any advice?

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