After having Shun home for 4 days for a long weekend I am not really looking forward to having him return to work tomorrow- it was nice having him around so much. Friday he was out most of the day running errends and yesterday he was out again but we went with him to watch the soccer but still nice having time to spend all together.
I posted on facebook the status update “happy” because that is how I feel. Not unbelievably happy or anything like that so perhaps content is a better word.
Thursday we went house hunting- nothing stood out from the crowd but still nice to know we are still looking and hunting for a nice place to live. We will go again this Saturday- it is really tiring and I wish we could find somewhere we both like but I know we will eventually so I keep telling myself and reminding myself of that. My MIL watched Noah and she came by train but of course had stuff to stock in my fridge- earlier last week when I was with her I said I hadn`t bought much pork recently because it was the same price as beef at my supermarket which seemed expensive to me so she came with several packs of pork, a cabbage, some apples, some home made seasame/ponzu dressing to go on the cabbage and pork dish I could make and some other foods that Shun likes that I can put out with meals. Oh and a sock that Shun had left there the weekend before. hahahaha!
Friday, Noah and I stayed home and Shun went out for a couple hours- Noah now has a special bank account for his education (He has another one too that my mother in law has for him that Shun`s grandma set up when he was born or at least put a lump sum of money into it- I have never seen the bank book so not exactly sure how that one works). WE will set one up for the next baby too once he (yeah I am convinced about 98% that the next bub is a boy) is born also.
Saturday, despite the early morning crappy weather, we set out about 8am to go to Seikei uni in Kichijoji (where Shun & I are ex-students) so that Shun`s old uni team could play against the current students. Quite hilarious to watch the 30 year olds play against the much fitter 20 and 21 year olds- they were so young! The boys had fun though (and his uni friends FINALLY met Noah) and we watched half the game before I walked back into town to meet Cassie who unfortunately I had not seen in months. We had a lovely time catching up (and Noah had a lovely time chewing on the restaurant menus and eating his tortilla and lunch) and then met up with her hub and daughter for a bit of a play in the park. Haven`t uploaded the photos yet but a couple cute ones of Nana and Noah on the rolly slide in Inokashira Koen. A quick meet up with Shun and his friends who were eating yakitori and drinking beer before heading back to Chiba (left Shun with his friends- he was home just after midnight and up this morning to watch Noah since it was my turn for a sleep in)- he was feeling a little worse for wear but I commend him on not complaining about it. He watched Noah almost all day today (even took him out for a walk this afternoon) while I cleaned up the house (which is already a mess) and made a whole bunch of food for Noah.
The freezer is now stocked with fruit cubes to mix in Noah`s breakfast (and usually he will have some at lunch or dinner too- some kind of fruit at least) and a big batch of pasta bolognase chocked full of veggies, a chicken, brocolli and cous cous dish, pumpkin risotto and a batch of apricot chicken. Also made up some rice cubes to mix in with other meals he has. I swear our kid eats better than us 
So for some our weekend might not seem to exciting but for me it was great- I especially enjoyed the sleep in until almost 11:30 today (I woke up a couple times but mainly I was sleeping) as Noah took a 2 hour nap from 9:30am and Shun hopped back into bed for a 2 hour kip as well.
In other news- theme for Noah`s birthday party has been decided and the party will be in January when we are back form Australia. It is just over six weeks til we go to Australia so I have to make the invitations and decorations before then- also research milk free cakes and normal cake too as I can make the cake so Noah`s part is milk free and the rest is normal (and probably easier to make)….
Quick question: Can babies under one have night terrors? Sometimes (maybe twice a week) Noah wakes up screaming usually within an hour of putting him to bed but he is not actually awake and picking him up usually makes him worse. It is not wind pain and he really is still asleep so I was wondering if he could be having night terrors? Anyone with experience with this- I have heard it is best just to leave them, maybe pat their back but I am not sure. Up until now I have always picked him up but he never calms down while I am holding him and instead goes straight back into a quiet sleep usually when I put him back in his cot.
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
Hello, found you on Warsaw Mommy.
Yes, babies can have night terrors. I actually help care for my friend’s baby (he is half too and we live in Japan!) and he has been having night terrors on and off since her was about 10 months old.
It seemed to be a phase since he hasnt had one in a while.
It is best not to wake them up in the middle but let him wake himself up.
i have a couple dairy-free cake recipes (a basic yellow, and a chocolate) if you’d like them, but honestly with all the baked-goods recipes i’ve used from the internet i’ve had no problems with just subbing milk for soymilk and butter for margarine. Turns out the same and i honestly can’t taste any difference
KT- thanks for the info. Last night he didn`t have one but next time, if he does, I am going to go for a different approach.
phx- Thanks- I have found a good dairy free one but need to test it out. My brothers gf would like to make Noah`s birthday cake in Australia (we are there for his real birthday) and I have sent her a couple links and she is going to try.
If the work then I will use one for his cake when we come back too.
Doesn`t margarine have milk product in it? I use soy butter for Noah currently and I used something else in Australia (lots more options) but maybe it is just in Japan that most of them still have dairy.
Thanks
Alex had dreams (night terrors?) whenever she learned something new, from standing to walking, walking to running and now it`s if she has encountered something new that day that was surprising or frighening. We just leave her to it, she can reach out and touch us if she needs contact, but sometimes she is so overwhelmed she cries til she almost vomits and of course by then she has woken herself up. Have to cuddle her back to sleep then or give her some milk and then she settles down.
Good luck with the cake, I had a friend who made tofu chocolate cake, turned out more like a truffle cake, was really yum but I don`t have the recipe..might be too sloppy for little kids though.
Hope the cake turns out good then
The particular margarine i get is vegan, just vegetable oils, but yeah most mainstream margarine does have dairy in it still i believe. i’m sure whatever butter substitute you use though would work.
It’s great to get that time together, helps strengthen , but then it CAN be hard to then be apart again…
I hope you aren’t too lonely now that Shun is back to work. I always find that after having Naoki at home for a longer than normal period of time the house feels awfully quiet when he goes back to work!
Hey Lulu,
Glad you had a fab weekend! My younger sister (she’s 10 years younger than me) used to have night terrors when she was a baby. My mum used to just leave her be and generally she woke herself up and when back to sleep. It was quite scary when she had one as she screamed and screamed but she only did it for a few months and was fine after that. Noah’s birthday! How exciting. I look forward to seeing the pictures!