Cherry Blossom Adventures

Noah had his first smile at 3 weeks 6 days but they were few and far between but now we can`t stop him from smiling and grinning away.

My mum saw him smiling on Skype for the first time yesterday and Shun`s parents were here today and couldn`t get over how much he was smiling- it was hard to catch on camera at first as he would stop as soon as I put the DSLR to my eye which is why a lot of them are at funny angles since I rested the camera on my lap a lot of the time to get the shots below.

Here are some smiley shots of our beautiful boy (I can say that cos even though I might be biased I truly believe he is gorgeous!)- He is definitely at his “smiliest” in the mornings…

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• Chocolate. I just ate some meiji chocolate and it was great.
• Watching Shun get so excited yesterday morning when Noah smiled at him when he did “Inai inai baaa” (or peek a boo in Japanese)
• Catching up with three different friends  this week who I hadn`t seen since before Noah was born.
• Reading- I am making an effort to read a little bit each day because while I used to read a lot lately I haven`t seem to be doing much of it. Not just because of the baby but because of the internet/computer more than anything. So I am reading for at least 30 minutes a day at the moment and loving it. Currently reading “It sucked and then I cried” by Heather Armstong author of dooce.com.
• Getting a start on Noah`s scrapbook- still haven`t actually “glued” anything yet but the first page is coming together nicely and I have lots of notes written down for pages to come.
• Japanese recipe book that I bought- inspiring me to make more Japanese food (and hope that we can save a bit of extra money by doing so)- plan to make some things from the book this weekend.
• Breastfeeding- it may sound weird but I love breastfeeding Noah and I am so glad that we have had no issues with it.
• Having Noah go down to sleep tonight with no issues- he was awake when I put him down in his cot but he went off to sleep by himself within 10 minutes (and with no crying!)
• Everwood- Nay recommended this show to me (although it is a few years old) and I am working my way through it. There is not much else I can do while feeding Noah but watch tv or read so it is keeping me entertained.
• That it is almost the weekend again because it means Shun will be home. He has worked late every night this week not coming in before 10:30pm most nights.
• Making plans for the future.
• Loving that Noah`s cold is completely gone now.

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Noah is down for a morning nap so thought I should try and get a blog post in before he wakes up and needs my attention (Read: More boob)- after a bit of a shocker of a weekend he is now back in a routine and taking naps, usually 3 a day, and in a happier mood. I think Saturday might of been a peak of a growth spurt which is why he was so grumpy/hungry/unsettled.

I have my first lesson today since Noah was born- we will be going to Myoden this afternoon to do English conversation with MIchiko. Was meant to be last week but because he was sick I switched it to this week. Michiko has her own little girl, Yuna, who just turned one, so she has no problems with me bringing Noah to the lessons especially since we only meet once a week anyway (and I go to her house)

Yesterday, a friend, Darlene, took me to a craft shop to pick up some scrapbooking supplies- Amanda also put me in touch with a lovely lady named Kirsten who sells imported supplies so I am all set now to start work on Noah`s baby scrapbook. I am really excited to get started on this new project even though I know my time will be limted I hope to do a little bit each day til I am up to date and then continue from there. I have the photos printed and ready to go and have already semi-mocked up a first page draft so hopefully all will go according to plan and I will be able to start tonight or this afternoon. I promise to upload photos of my progress as I go!

Noah slept from 6:30pm til 1am last night but then was up at 3:30am and 6:45am- Shun took him until 8am so that i could get a bit of extra sleep. When I say took him I mean took him into the living room, changed his diaper, put him in his bouncer and I think Noah just sat there while Shun fell asleep again! But hey, Noah wasn`t complaining and I got an extra hour of sleep! Since Shun gets home from work so late (has been after 10pm the last two nights anyway) I am usually in bed (even if I am awake reading for a bit) and he doesn`t get to see Noah until he wakes up for his feed (which is between 10:30pm-1am) and so we usually catch up while I am feeding Noah and talk about our days. Last night we talked a lot about buying a house- not that it is going to happen anytime soon but I was under the impression that if we bought our own place we would stop getting rent allowance from Shun`s company (They pay 3man of our rent a month and we pay the other 7man) but he said that we still would get it would just be paid half yearly instead of each month. I would love our own place, although we are happy where we are for at least another year or two, it would still be nice. While buying an apartment would be cheaper we still have our heart set on a house as I know Shun would love a dog, and I would love a small garden. We are not sure if we would ever be able to afford to buy land and build our own place though (which would be my dream!) and think we would have to settle for a place already built that would be a couple of years old or more. I guess it would make sense for us to buy though, especially if our mortgage was around the same amount we already pay monthly at the moment although I imagine it would be a little more- we decided we definitely wouldn`t be able to buy until I had some more regular part-time work as we are only managing to save a little bit each month at the moment on one salary. I think I also need to learn to be more frugal (Who am I kidding, I definitely need to learn to be a bit more frugal) and while we are sticking to our budget each month I know there are places we could save  more money- for example on groceries and probably our keitai bills too (as I call home a lot!). This is why I have enjoyed Kel`s recent post on their budget and how they save money each month. I am definitely going to buy a budget book and start writing everything down- I tried to do it in excel but I know I would have more luck if I physically wrote everything down at the end of the day instead. The excel budget is good and I refer to it each month to make sure we are meeting our budget and to see how much money I need to take out on the 25th (pay day) and also how much I need to transfer. I also record how much the bills were for each month but that is about all!

We need to start saving for a down payment on a house and also for a car- which we will eventually need to buy. At the moment we really don`t need one but it is on our “want” list- there is parking where we live for an extra 1man a month (about $100) but at this stage since we can use Shun`s parents car or grandmothers car whenever we want we haven`t bothered looking into buying on yet. Truth is though. I have my license but have only driven in Japan a handful of times (and most were before I even had my Japanese license) but would like to start driving more.

Also, on my 101 things list I have read a Japanese newspaper/magazine and understand it- and Kel has mentioned a couple of magazines about saving money and budgets that are in Japanese so I think I will make that my challenge for February- even if it takes me the entire month to read the magazine and understand it!!!

For those of you in Japan that have your own place- please feel free to share your experiences! I know where we live is a bit more expensive than some of you (since it is so close to Tokyo and we would still want to buy our own place in Chiba somewhere)- what were your considerations when you did buy? For those that have an apartment over a house- why did you go that way? If it is not to personal and you are happy to answer- how did you budget for a down payment? I have no idea how things work in Japan or how much a downpayment needs to be but I am guessing it is a fair bit- to tell you the truth I really have no idea how much a hosue costs either- although I have a bit of an idea of how much land costs as we have looked into it before.

Talking about buying our own place is definitely exciting though and funnily enough we also talked about when we would like to start trying for baby number 2- I would like to have bub number 2 around the time Noah is 2 or 2 and a half but am I crazy to think having another baby while he is going through the throughs of “terrible 2″ is a good idea?

Well Noah has stirred and now on my lap feeding so I better go!

Oh and if anyone knows of some private lessons/work that I could take my baby too please let me know!

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Noah of late…

More at flickr for those inclined! He has started smiling but we have not managed to catch it properly on camera yet- this one below is probably the closest we have got!

Or this one

He looks so peaceful asleep

Last photo taken with Nan before she went home to Australia

He can hold his head up for a long time now, especially when he has something interesting to look at (like the sock octopus from Melanie!)

This one is for my mum- “colour ordinated socks” haha

He likes the mirror on his playmat

“Banzai” sleeping

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Noah has had a bad day today. That said, he slept last night from 6pm until 1am then woke again at 4:30am and 7:30am so he had a good night so perhaps the bad day was to be expected? He basically refused to nap ALL DAY- only sleeping on me for half an hour (after he had fallen asleep several times but as soon as I put him down he was awake again), and then fell asleep on Shun just before 5pm and we put him on his playmat to continue sleeping and he stayed that way for an hour.

Once he woke up we bathed him, fed him and put him in bed and usually he is pretty much asleep when I put him in his cot and they he just stays that way til his next feed which can be anywhere from 3-7 hours later. He usually has his bath between 5:30pm and 6:00pm and is in bed by 6:30pm. Tonight, I put him down for the first time at 6:30pm and it took us 2 hours to settle him for sleep- he kept waking up screaming after we put him down.

I think he was just overtired but I am not sure. He has been asleep now for almost 40 minutes and I am hoping he stays that way for at least another hour or two.

Shumpei thinks maybe Noah had a headache (how could we tell?) because I have had a headache all day and I almost thought I was getting a migraine earlier today so Shun watched Noah for awhile so that I could have a 2 hour nap- I still woke up with a headache but it wasn`t as bad- as soon as I finish posting this though I am off to bed again. I am thankful it wasn`t a migraine (I didn`t vomit or lose vision in one eye like I usually would which is why I know it wasn`t a migraine- good thing too since it has been more than 2 years since my last one)

Yesterday we had our one month check up at the doctors. Since it was a Friday I got to see the doctor who I saw for pretty much the first 3/4 of my pregnancy until I had to switch to a different day and see the main doctor. I hadn`t seen Shimura-sensei for months and had forgotten how funny his English is- he speaks very little English but I think he likes to practice on me and I think it is cute so I just let him. He checked me over and said “all fine- you can do exercise, take bath, make love” except it sounded like “make ruv” – I found it very hard not to giggle! Oh and I didn`t even realize I wasn`t supposed to have had a bath because I have been…Whoops!!!

Noah was also very genki and well- he had gained almost 1.4kg in 5 weeks since birth!!!!!! I was as surprised as anyone- I knew he had put on weight but had no idea it was so much- I was thinking maybe half of that. They were very surprised that he was only breast fed and the nurse kept commenting on how much milk I must have- they also asked how often I fed him and when I said every 2.5-3 hours during the day and sometimes at night every 3-6 hours or so depending on when he waked up they were surprised I wasn`t feeding him more considering how much weight he had gained. He also grew 2.5cm in length!! So he now weighs almost 4.6kg and is 52.5cm or so. They said he was very strong and couldn`t believe his head control and how “awake” he was….

Oh and we had our first train trip- Shun`s dad picked me and Noah up and dropped us off at the clinic but I had told him I didn`t know how long the appointment would take so we would just catch the train home since I needed to do some shopping anyway and let me just say I am so glad we invested in a “light” pram because it was actually quite easy to manoever and lift by myself onto the train etc. Luckily all our stops (we had to change trains) had an elevator as well! So yes, first train trip successful!

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Things I love Thursday, inspired by Gala Darling!

• Yakiniku at home- my mum bought us a electric nabe (hot pot)/hot plate set while she was here and on the weekend Shun & I enjoyed some yakiniku (Korean BBQ) together. It was kind of like going on a date without even leaving the house (and since I was busy with Noah, Shun did all the prep and then did all the clean up too)- Shun had bought way too much meat and veggies so we plan to do it again this coming weekend.
• Skype chats with Sarah. It was great catching up on Monday for a much overdue chat. Next time, Nay, you will have to join us (It was an impromptu chat, next time I will mail you!)
• My mum`s homemade chocolate slice- mentioned this last week but finished it off this week. Will have to try and make some more soon now that I know where to get shredded coconut. This was my kiwi nana`s recipe, and now my mum makes it and I know how to make it so eventually I will have to teach Noah- I guess it is a “family” recipe!
• Homemade vegetable minestrone soup- I have never made vegetable soup before but with all of us having come down with a cold of some sort over the last week Shun requested it and I figured why not, I could give it ago. I kind of made up the recipe after looking at a couple online and I have posted what I did below for anyone that is interested. I am not usually a huge soup fan but this was great and perfect for winter.
• Shun coming home super early (for him anyway, he got in at 7:30pm!) on Monday night- we actually got to eat dinner together on a week night and this very rarely happens!
• Finding a kids clinic near our house about a 10 minute walk away- not that I had wanted to visit a doctor while Noah was so young but it is good to know there is one so close by and the staff and doctor seemed really nice. When we arrived (Shun walked with us there on the way to work and filled in the forms for me- you try filling in forms while holding a newborn!) they put us in a back room with a bed so that Noah didn`t have to be around other sick children cos he was so little- I thought that was nice. Plus when I had to go back there yesterday they were really good again.
• Making cupcakes- made 18 little cupcakes from a recipe by Mandy`s mum that I have known forever. Thanks Jan! Problem is now I will probably eat them all.
• Noah having a 3 hour nap during the day- I know it is probably because he has been unwell and taking medicine but I got so much stuff done in that time (including the cupcakes, some tidy up, dinner prep and sorting through some of Noah`s clothes) – what finally got him to sleep (after he battled it all morning) was singing Jon Bon Jovi and laying him down on his tummy and taking his legs out of his jumpsuit so that he could move them more freely. I worry about sleeping babies on their tummy as I know they say you shouldn`t but he has been asleep on his play mat in front on me the whole time so I have been able to keep an eye on him. He is still sleeping now (as I wrote that he woke up- will finish list later)
• Getting great advice from blog friends about having a sick baby and about Shun`s potential snowboard trip. We actually spoke a bit about it last night and he said that he doesn`t have to go and that he will pass this time but maybe spend some time with his uni friends some time in February as they have not all caught up for a shinnenkai yet. He had pretty much decided himself not to go which I am happy about- I told him if he wanted to though that I would be fine and would invite Cat to stay in case Noah or I had any problems but he said he was fine with not going. He has asked if he can go to Book Off to buy manga on the weekend and I said “OF COURSE” – having him go out for an hour or two on the weekend is more than fine by me- although should I be worried that my almost 29 year old husband still loves to read comics? hehe
• Easy oven dinners- I love dinners were you can throw everything in the dish, pop it in the oven and 30 minutes later or so it is done! Tonights dinner was pizza chicken and it is in the oven as I write- basically you grab a chicken breast each and pound it flat (or cut it thinner and open it up), smother it in pizza sauce (I used tomato pesto), add chopped pizza ingredients like ham, mushroom, mini tomatos, capsicum and red onion, top with cheese and pop in the oven for 30 minutes. Does anyone have any other easy oven dinners they can share? They are great with a baby because I can prepare earlier in the day if I want to!
• Two spring-esqe days in a row- yesterday and the day before were beautiful days both with tops of 17! February isn`t even here yet and we are already experiencing spring like weather- I love it! Hopefully we get some more days like that in the coming weeks.
• Plans to meet up with Sarah, Nay, Melanie, Cassie and Khea next month! Can not wait! I haven`t met Melanie`s little one yet and haven`t seen Khea`s Missha in a couple of months!!!
• My brother booked my dad`s tickets to Japan for early next month! He will be here for five days and it is only a couple of weeks away. I can not wait for him to meet Noah.
• Discovering things about my son like the fact he has no little toenail on either of his little toes- just like me, my mum and my grandma (we all have them, they are just reasonably non-existent, and mine are the smallest, just like little holes where the toenail should be- it is weird I know but true)
• Having him smile at me and poke his tongue out at me especially when I do it to him first.

What are you loving this Thursday? And remember also to share your favourite easy oven recipes- or any other easy to prepare and cook meals!

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Lulu`s vegetable minestrone soup

Ingredients

1 x large carrot

1 x large potato (or three small ones)

1 x celery stalk

1 x large onion

1 x bunch of spinach

2 x leeks

1 x packet of shitake mushrooms

2 x green piman/little capsicums (This was an afterthought, I just had them in the fridge)

2 x tins of diced tomatos

4 x cups of beef stock

200 grams of pork mince

4 x bacon rashers

5 tsp of minced garlic (you can use less- we just love garlic)

60ml of red wine

Large pinches of oregano, parsley and thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook the mince, onion, leeks and bacon in the pot, add the garlic half way through.

2. Add the wine, beef stock and tinned tomatoes and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes- add the oregano, parsley and thyme as well as the salt and pepper.

3. Add all the rest of the vegetables and leave to simmer for 20 minutes or so (or as long as you would like)

4. That is it! Simple! Oh and if you are going to add pasta in as well then I suggest leaving out the mince- I just didn`t have any little pasta on hand!

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Last night Shun asked me if I would mind if he went snowboarding for the day on Saturday at the end of this month. I told him I would think about it… (It would mean he would leave the house early morning or maybe even drive overnight, and then not come back til very late Saturday night- it is with some work people)

Would it be unreasonable to say no and that I want him to stay here? The following weekend after that he has to work on the Saturday and we have known about that for awhile so it will just be Noah & I that day too.

I am thinking I will tell him that if he really wants to go then he should but if he feels like he could miss it then perhaps he should stay here. Shun is home late most nights and doesn`t get to see Noah awake much so I think he should want to stay home but I don`t want to force him to. I don`t want to be one of those people that says “no, you have to stay here and help me with the baby” because while he grumbles about getting up early he does get up when Noah gets up every second day so that I can get an extra hour of sleep (and I let him sleep on the alternative days) and on the weekends if I express milk he will feed Noah a bottle or two so that I can get a solid block of sleep. So really he is being helpful when he can be…

Last weekend Shun watched Noah so I could have a nap (for 2 hours) and after I woke up I told him he could go out if he wanted so he went to Pachinko with a friend for 2 hours so it is not like I make him stay home with us all weekend. I know if he didn`t have some free time it wouldn`t be fair since I get free-time at home while Noah is napping- even if during that time I usually have to prepare dinner and clean-up but he is still sleeping a lot at the moment so I get time to spend on the internet and watch tv as well. I also hope to start on his scrapbook next week- so I do get to do things I want to do.

I know if I ask him not to go he will not put up a fight at all, he will just say okay and tell the guys at work he can`t go- he is really easy going like that which Is why I don`t want to take advantage of his good nature. But is it wrong that I want to spend time together as a family on the weekends since we don`t get to do it much during the week…(even things like eating dinner together on the weekends make me happy as Shun is never home early enough during the week for us to eat together and now that the bub is here I am usually in bed by the time he gets home- even if I am still awake and reading)

What do you think?

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In other news Noah and I had an eventful day- we went out by ourselves for the first time (up until now either Shun, or my mum, or both of them have been with us when we have gone into town or out)- all went well and I got to Loft and the grocery store and to pick up a frame that I had ordered. If I am buying nappies though I really can`t buy more than a day or two worth of food since there is only so much I can hang on the pram.

Then we got home, Noah sat in his bouncer while I cleaned up quickly and put the groceries away and then I fed him and then all of a sudden, before he was even finished, he started to spit up and cough so I sat him up and he vomitted about 300ml-400ml of milk which is probably three of his feeds. There was milk EVERYWHERE! All over the sofa, all over me, all over him, all over the blankets that he was wrapped in and all over the floor. Literally my jeans were soaked through to my undies!!! I quickly stripped his clothes and mopped him down and then my own, then rang the hospital to see if I should bring him in and they said yes and so I wrapped him up and just walked to the clinic with him in my arms. The doctor checked him over and said he was constipated from his cold (I didn`t even know this could happen?) and asked me if he had been pooing (and he had, as much as normal anyway) so they gave him an enema and I waited there for awhile while he pooed, then the doctor saw him again and  then fed him a little again to see if he would be sick again but he wasn`t  so we came home with some other medicine to help with his stomach apparently.

The doctor showed me Noah`s legs before the enema and tapped his tummy and showed me how to tell if he is constipated- I don`t really understand the legs thing. I think he was showing me that in a certain part they were a different colour which indicates constipation- does anyone know anything about this?

Noah didn`t even cry when they gave him the enema (or when he was sick earlier)- he just started to get grizzly while we were waiting to see the doctor again and rightfully so as he had thrown up all of his milk and was STARVING! We got home and I did his bath, fed him a little more and have put him down for the night now- just writing this up while the rice is cooking as all the prep for the beef and asparagus oyster sauce stirfry is ready- I just need to chuck it in the pan.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful!

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Dear Noah,

Today you are one month old- it is hard to believe because the time seems to have flown by!!! You have changed so much since you were born both in the way you look and the way you act. When you were born, and I held you for the first time you were so much smaller than I had anticipated but you have definitely grown and put on weight this past month. We have your one month check-up on Friday and it will be interesting to see how much you now weigh.

We were lucky to have your nan from Australia here for three weeks following your birth and I am so glad you got to spend that special time with her. You also had many visitors this month as many friends of your daddy & I wanted to come and meet you. Everyone loves you and most people think you look like me but what I think they are saying is that you don`t look very Japanese yet- well at least we don`t think so.

You are a really good baby. You sleep well most of the time, you feed well and you are quite content to sit in your bouncer even when awake (Your rainforest bouncer has been a godsend and a lot of time the vibrating seat will put you to sleep- we have Cassie & Nana to thank for that!). You also LOVE your bath time although you hate getting undressed for it- I think you would be happier if we popped you in fully clothed. You like to kick your legs and love when we flip you over to float on your tummy- I have only dunked your head in by accident once!

You are very strong- much stronger than we thought you would be at this age. You can already hold you head up when you have tummy time and you also like to arch your back when we are holding you and put your head up so you can get a better look around.We usually put you one your tummy for 10 minutes a day at the moment- sometimes longer and sometimes shorter- it depends since sometimes you crack up after only a couple of minutes but other times you will lay there moving your head from side to side, checking out the toys we have laid down for you for a good 20 minutes. You follow things with your eyes, in particular our faces or your colourful rattles (your favourite one came from uncle Hiro!). You also showed us your first smile on the 15th of January at 3 weeks, 6 days old which was a special day as it also marked 5 years since I met your daddy- we haven`t managed to catch it on camera yet though. Whenever we went out with you in your pram or in your car seat you tended to drop off to sleep within a few minutes even if you had just woken up from a nap- I think, at times in the future when you won`t sleep, I will be pulling out the pram and taking you for a walk to see if that works!!! Oh and you also like to push up on your legs if we are holding you upright on our laps-not sure if that is such a good thing at only a month old as I am worried you might be pushing yourself but you seem to like it!

You slept in a basket next to our bed for the first week after coming home from the hospital but I soon moved you into your cot because you would have to be the noisiest sleeper on the face of the planet and I could not sleep at all. I can still hear you from our bed when you are in your cot in the next room but not as much so I am sleeping much better now (as well as someone with a newborn sleeps anyway) and you seem to be fine in your cot. You flail about when you are sleeping too, often hitting yourself in the face with your own hands- you are now getting a bit stronger too so even when we swaddle you to go to sleep your hands manage to escape!

Watching your daddy with you this past month has been a fun experience for me. He talks to you in English a lot of the time and he copies many of the word that he has heard me say to you like “good boy”, “Oh, stinky”, “That`s it”, “nearly finished” and “Oh, fish face” (Which we say when you make your fish face- usually meaning you are in the middle of doing a poo!), “daddy is here” or sometimes he says “Otousan is here”- another one he seems to have picked up on in the last couple of days is “cranky bum” which I think he must have also picked up from nan- he tells me also that I should ask him all the time if he wants to hold you because he will always say yes. The first couple of days we were home whenever you cried (which was not often although you are building up your crying now a little!) he would pick you up and run around the room- when I asked him why he said he thought it would shock you and make you stop crying. He is a strange one your daddy! He also tends to call you “Goma” most of the time although he is starting to use “Noah” a lot more- Goma-chan was a nickname you had before birth.

The spot toy you got from Uncle Paul & Auntie Gem seems to be a favourite of yours which we love- I think we may have been pushing for that a little bit!!! We like to put him where you can see him even when you are in your bouncer and you are quite happy to look at him. We are definitely pushing for him to be one of your favourite toys and I have already started reading some spot books to you!!! They were a favourite of mine when I was little too!!!

This month you also did your omiyamairi, or first shrine visit. You were only three weeks old but we decided to do it a little earlier so that my mum, your nan, could be here to witness it. You wore a big frilly dress that you got from your Japanese Baba & Jiji and you kind of looked a bit girly but you pulled it off well! You also behaved immaculately during the shrine visit and once you were fed you went to sleep in your bouncer while we all had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

You also had your first visit, of many, to Narita airport to say goodbye to Nan. You will be visiting this airport a lot in the future since we plan to pick up lots of relatives visiting and also head out there whenever we are going to Australia ourselves! You will probably be out there again next month when poppy comes to visit from Australia.

Your first Christmas and New Years also came and went in the first month of your life- December is ALWAYS going to be a busy month for us it seems with your birthday, Christmas and New Years all so close together. We went to your Japanese grandparents house to celebrate new years and you were a good boy all day, charming everyone! Christmas day you spent at home with me and we listened to some Christmas carols and I ate ham- not very Christmassy but overall not to bad! Next year, when we will be in Australia, it will be much better! We opened up all the presents on the 27th after nan arrived from Australia- you got a lot of books, a couple of toys (a spiky sassy ball), a photo album, play rings, a gundam figurine (from daddy- he is slightly crazy and didn`t know what an age appropriate gift was I guess!) and more.

You like music and I will often sing to you- so far our favourites are Puff the Magic Dragon, Beautiful Boy (John Lennon), Give me a home among the gum trees & There is a kind of Hush- well these are the ones I seemed to sing the most in the past month and you haven`t complained.

Unfortunately during the first month of your life you also caught your first cold and had your first visit to the doctor when you started to run a slight fever. It is so hard to watch you with a stuffy nose and cough so much when I can`t do anything to help you except hold you. We got some medicine from the doctor (syrup) yesterday so hopefully you will be as good as new in a couple of days. I am hoping it will mean you will go back to sleeping better at night too since at the moment you are waking up a lot by your own stuffy nose and sneezing and coughing noises.

You don`t have many crying fits and usually if you do cry you are usually easily calmed down once whatever you are crying about is rectified (like wind pain, if you are hungry or wet or once your clothes are back on)- however if you are not tended to quickly you get in quite a little huff and have tears streaming down your face. You have had tears since birth and this surprised me because I always thought newborns did not have tears although you have proved me wrong here and have an abundance of them!!!

In the last couple of days you have also discovered your hands- you kind of found them when you were first born but it is much more obvious now and you enjoy sucking on your own hands and will hold something if I place it in your hand and you also like to grip to my shirt when you are lying on my chest. You have not yet discovered your feet- personally I think it because your legs are so long and there is no way you can reach them since your arms seem so short but that could just be me. The long legs thing you definitely inherited from me and not your father as despite the fact your daddy is about an inch taller than me my legs are about 5 inches longer than his!!! I place you on your playmat for a bit of time each day and you stare off at the lights above- in fact that is where you are now staring at the flashing lights and the monkey that hangs down but you are starting to crack up now so I better sign off.

Love Mama

xoxo

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Flicking through my journal (which has been sadly left to the wayside in recent months) I found my resolutions for 2009. I make resolutions most years and enjoy writing down my goals for different things. I am a huge list maker and resolutions are no different…

I sometimes even write resolutions for the week kind of like a to do list- some of which have to be done (like the shopping!) and others which are more for me (like finish a book or journal 2 times etc)

Even though we are now more than half way through the first month of 2010 I sat down today and wrote some resolutions for this year but first here are the resolutions I wrote in my journal on the 1st January 2009.

” 2009 will be the year I get married, become more responsible with money, make another international move and hopefully get pregnant. It is set to be a very big year and I am going to be happy, a good wife and pro-active in what I want and what I need to do. My resolutions

- Lose at least 5 more kilos thought healthier eating, more regular exercise etc. Preferably before the wedding.

- Be more responsible with money, combine our finances and work at saving a little bit each month.

- Get pregnant

- Learn to use photoshop, at least the basics

- Find an apartment in Tokyo/Chiba and make us a home we both love. ”

I succeeded in completing 4 out of 5. I did lose 5 more kilos before I got married. I weighed 78kg on new years day and reached 73kg before I got pregnant, we are definitely more responsible with money now and have combined our finances and are working to save a little each month. I got pregnant (and even had the baby!), I worked on photoshop but sadly this is the one I did not complete as I still know very little about it but will hopefully try to work more with it this year and we found a great apartment in Funabashi which we both love.

Some of my goals/resolutions for this year are similar to those i had last year, a little like an extension of what I already achieved.

1. Cross as many things off my 101 things in 1001 days list as possible- do not beat myself up if some remain unfinished on the deadline, donate $10 to charity for each uncompleted task and move on. Write another list to start on Jan 1 2011. (This will incorporate learning to use photoshop which I did not complete in 2009)

2. Make a scrapbook for Noah of his first year of life, write monthly letters to him to read when he is older (Blog these and print to put in the scrapbook), and be diligent about filling in his baby book with his milestones and accomplishments.

3. Have $10,000 (AUD) or more in our savings account by the end of the year (we almost have this now with the baby bonus set to come in soon but I mean that we STILL have to have this much in our savings account even with a trip back to Australia for the three of us)

4. Get back to pre-baby weight and maintain my weight- preferably lose a couple more kilos or more. Try to exercise three times a week (walking to the train station and back does not count)

5. Find some more part-time work or lessons or a way to earn some money.

Do you believe in resolutions? Did you make some for 2010? Share if you like!

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Yes, I realize I am two days late with my list BUT this is the first time I have had to blog since then so here goes (I wanted to start doing my lists again too, I had missed them since Noah was born)

• Saying goodbye to my mum last night was hard but I am so thankful that she was here these last three weeks helping me out with Noah & around the house. She will be very missed!!!
• Red & brown fuzzy blanket mum made for us- lovely having it on the sofa to rug up in!
• Gravy. Need I say more?
• Having no issues at the Japanese passport office yesterday- Noah`s Japanese passport can be picked up in 10 days and his name with have a “h” on the end like it should. YAY!
• Seeing Noah smile for the first time- he smiled twice yesterday (3 weeks, 6 days old), once at his daddy and once at me! We are hoping for more today!!!
• Home made lasange in the fridge. Thanks mum!
• Chocolate slice in the fridge- again, thanks mum!
• Nabe parties with friends- last Sunday Cat, Koki, Erika, Sumi, & Hiro came over to see Noah (for some, it was the second or even third time!) and we had kimichi nabe hot pot for dinner.
• My husband Shun- I fed Noah at 9:30pm last night when we got home and had some milk expressed for Noah`s next feed so I got to sleep from 10:30pm til 4am when Shun woke me up for Noah`s next feed.  5.5 hours sleep in a row! BLISS!
• Our five year anniversary- Shun & I met five years ago yesterday!!!
• Recent visits from lots of friends- Sarah & Sakura in late December, James & Shizuka, those that came for the nabe party, Benay & her mum, Elizabeth & Tatsuya and more!!!
• The promises a new year brings- I know we are now at the 16th of January but there is something about a new year that always brings new hope and promise. I have some goals for the year but I have yet to write them out.
• Approaching Noah`s one month birthday! Only a couple of days to go! Can`t believe he will be a month old so soon!!!
• My dad (FINALLY!) making plans to come to Japan. If all goes according to plan and he stays healthy then he will come next month. I can`t wait for him to meet little Noah.

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