Things I love Thursday…
I missed my list last week so here are my things I am loving Thursday for the past two weeks…
- My new rocking chair- it arrived on Tuesday and Shun put it together Tuesday night when he got home (which was after midnight by the way) and it was waiting for me all together in the living room on Wednesday morning.
- Getting Noah to take naps in his cot- we have no problems getting him to sleep there at night (after he gets settled for the night I mean although he has been taking a couple hours to settle the last couple of nights making for a very exhausted mama) but during the day he would always wake up straight away so it was easier to get him to nap in his bouncer (when he would fuss before his nap, I would pick him up, pat his back and within 5 mins he would be asleep and then I would just put him in his bouncer at my feet and cover him with a blanket) – he is starting to move around a lot more now though so sleeping him in his bouncer would have involved strapping him in which hasn`t been necessary up to this point so I knew I would have to train him to nap in his cot. So far so good with the cot napping!! At least for most of his naps…
- Birthday cake! It is my birthday today but on Sunday when we were at the in-laws they had a lovely birthday cake for me which even had my name on it!!!
- Polaroid camera- yep, that is right, I finally got one after years of wanting one!!! Shun mentioned to his parents that I wanted one so that is what they got me for my birthday!!! I also got a lovely scarf from my BIL and SIL!
- Getting a couple of nice photos of Noah and his poppy.
- Smiles from my baby boy- they always make me laugh especially when he does giant gummy smiles! Sometimes I hear him wake up from his naps and go in to get him before he cries out and when he sees me he gets so happy! I love that!
- Lunch and coffee dates with friends.
- Life Unexpected- a new American drama. Quite liking it!!
- Weekend plans- this weekend we are going to see my old student Shion and his family and then on Sunday afternoon we are off to an engagement party for our friends Gen & Alice (who live in Melbourne but are in Japan for 10 days this week)- a lot of my old uni friends have met Noah already but he has changed so much in the last month so I am looking forward to showing him off and seeing Gen & Alice for the first time since our wedding! Then the following weekend Sarah & Nay will be in town, we also have a 2 year old`s birthday party and a lunch date out with some of the Tokyo bloggers on Monday March 1st! Then the following week my friend Clare arrives from Australia and will be able to meet Noah. (Clare was one of my bridemaids!)
- Noah`s 2 month birthday approaching tomorrow! I can not believe he is almost 2 months already and what a little personality he is developing!
- Reading spot books!
- Crossing things off my to do list! Even if they are boring cleaning related things like dusting and cleaning the oven and cleaning out the pantry
- Shopping for baby girl things for a certain friend expecting a little one in about 6-8 weeks!
- Salads for lunch- there is something so refreshing about eating salads with lots of yummy veggies plus some cheese and protein! Had a great one out the other day actually which had beans (not usually a beans fan but loved them), tuna and strangely enough strawberries! Plus I made one for myself yesterday!
- Shun coming home early tonight (arrived home at 8:10) and we ate dinner together (Although Noah still wasn`t asleep and cried the whole time)
- Phone calls from Australia and from friends in Japan for my birthday- plus lots of birthday messages.
On another note- we used to bathe Noah between 5:30pm and 6pm then feed him and put him down for the night. Sometimes it would take a couple of tries to get him settled in his cot but usually by 7pm he was down for good. The last week though it has taken up sometimes 4 hours to get him completely settled for the night. Tonight I bathed him at 6:10pm, fed him at 6:30pm in the rocking chair while listening to a lullaby cd in his room (and then again at 8:00pm since he still hadnt settled and seemed hungry again) and he has only settled in his cot asleep in the last 10 minutes (so 9:35pm or so) and we had to leave the light on as he seemed to scream a lot more when the lights were off.
Could he be afraid of the dark at this age? I will switch his light off soon when I go into bed. A couple of weeks ago the crying it out method worked for us (for two nights in a row at least) in which we would let him cry for no more than 10 minutes and he was always fast asleep before those 10 minutes were up….but that is not working now and he just gets himself into a tizzy so I would rather not do it.
During the night he rarely has trouble re-settling after waking up for a feed…in fact usually I feed him, burp him and he is asleep before I even put him back in the cot. Even if he is awake he will usually settle by himself…
Usually during the day he wouldnt go for more than 2 hours without a nap which is why I am not sure why it takes him so long to settle at night.
Tonight Shun was home by just after 8pm so he has been here to help me but most nights I am on my own and while he doesn`t cry the entire time he can not make up his mind whether he wants to be held or put down or rocked or fed or changed. I try everything. If he doesn`t settle though it means that while I may have prepared dinner earlier in the day I won`t usually have cooked it yet and unless he goes down properly I can`t- but by the time I do have him down for the night I am too exhausted to cook (or do anything) and usually I would go to bed about 9:30pm anyway ( have been since he has been born anyway)- obviously this is getting a bit stressful for me especially as it is just me most nights as I said(but I have some great friends who have offered advice and guidance and also just listened to me when I need to have a groan about it- you know who you are girls, and thanks).
I know all babies are different but any advice or hints on what worked with your children would be greatly appreciated? I am trying to stick with the same routine every night so that he recognizes that it is sleep time but it definitely isn`t working for us now. Tonight he screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour straight (8:30-9:30pm) and then fell asleep in Shun`s arms so sudden- he just stopped crying and was asleep and he didn`t wake up again when Shun put him in his cot (although light was on)…
Hopefully something I will be loving next Thursday is having discovered a sleeping routine that works for Noah! haha!
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Happy Birthday Lulu! And to Noah tomorrow for his two months.
Obviously I have not advice on good sleep routines. Good luck – when you figure it out let me know
Yikes sounds like not the best birthday gift (crying for a straight hour) Unfortunately most babies don’t seem to get most of the kinks worked out until around 3 months or so.. so don’t stress too hard if he’s still having a couple of “THOSE” nights now and again. He’ll get a routine eventually!!!
I honestly can NOT tell you how much I am looking forward to April on, you are going to be sick of me ;P
Enjoy your rocking chair! I’m sure it will come in handy, I can’t wait to see it and you and Noah and Shun – next week
Happy birthday!
It sounds like Noah has discovered cranky hour(s). Lots of babies that are really settled during the day seem to get grumpy in the evening around bedtime. It could be that as he’s getting older and stronger he has more energy, but still isn’t big enough to move around and burn it off… I hope you find something that works for you both, it’s so hard when they’re crying and you don’t know what the reason is. Luckily all these stages don’t last too long, so hopefully in a week or so he’ll have settled back into a routine.
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a great day and hope Noah goes back into a routine soon!
Happy Birthday! I don’t know much about kids, except that the parents of my nephew keep a little light on in his room while he goes to sleep.
Happy Birthday!!! Sounds like you had a great one. Here’s to Noah throwing in a good night’s sleep as an extra pressie.
Happy Birthday! For both of you
As for baby sleeps, same here, what works for one sometimes doesn`t work for another..we ended up wearing Alex (in a harness) in the evenings so we could actually get some cooking done and through the day some cleaning done..
Hope it all works out and you arent too stressed..
No advice on the sleep thing. We (Misora and I) used to do the same thing go to bed before 10pm but then she started getting really cranky and since Taka would still be up for awhile he would take her and I would go to bed then. Now we tend to bathe her around 10pm, feed her after her bath (which usually takes her an hour, not sure if she is a slow eater or she just likes to suck), and then by 12 we are all usually asleep in our beds. Except for the past 2 nights (1 where she wouldn`t go to sleep until 2am, and then last night when she woke up at 4am) she has been pretty good and sleeping from 12-8am.
But that 8 hours of sleep came on pretty gradually, she would slowly slept 4 hours at night instead of 3 and then that moved to 5 hours and so forth. Noah will do it on his own also, just give him time and in the mean time, lots of coffee?
Can`t wait to meet Noah on the first!!
All four of my kids had a cranky hour around 7pm. I just got used it and eventually it went away. 6pm might be too early to go down for the night at this age (even if he’s waking up to feed again). I’d try letting him fuss, then start his bedtime routine and try to have him asleep by 9pm. Fussing is not the end of the world even though it seems like it the first time around!! You’re doing great! You seem so upbeat and positive. I’m sure that is reflect in Noah and why he’s such a sweetie!
haha, I think everything has already been said….This is one of those things you just sort of have to endure….I think after your baby gets some sort of sleep routine down, a sempai mum should pin a badge on your chest saying you made it through without killing anyone, and with a happy healthy child. Maybe I’ll start some sort of ceremony…heheheh
Anyway, can’t wait to see you monday dear!
Hope you have a good weekend!
Happy Birthday you two! I don’t have any kids so I can’t offer any advice but you seem to be doing an awesome job nonetheless. I know where to go for advice when I start my family!
Not much to offer in the way of advice for sleep issues – K was a shocker, I hardly slept her first year (seriously!!) she was hopeless with naps, and she would wake every other hour during the night to nurse (or for her human pacifier, more likely). I am kinda dreading what is gonna happen once TJ-baby comes along.
But one thing I found was to try all different things and methods that people suggested, in the hope that something worked (getting her to nap in the ergo while I did the dishes was one of the best things I ever tried!!!). And while it took me SEVERAL months to work this out, I realised that the more I stressed about the sleep issues, the more it took over my life and made me more miserable and resentful. When I finally just gave in to it, and did “whatever it takes” to get K to sleep then she slept, I slept and J slept better.
FWIW, I looked into the no-cry-sleep-solution, but did not follow it religiously by any means. Maybe if I had have, she might have slept better. But that being said, a friend is currently trying the NCSS and while it looks to be working in some ways, I can see it has really taken hold of her and almost taken “over her”. Again, my best advice is to try to just go with it, and try to get through the tough days one sleep/nap/day at a time.
Oh, and I did everything with K alone for the first year – J never got home before midnight – so I know how tough it can be. Ganbatte!