101 things finalized and random dots…

Remember how I was doing 101 things in 1001 days? Yeah well my time was up just after Christmas last year. And now we are in April. What can I say? I was still in Australia when the time was up, came back, got Noro Virus, had a baby 2 months early and kind of lost track of time so at final count I completed 88/101 things.

Some of the things I didn`t complete (but would still like to- one day)

- Pass Level 1 of JLPT

- Take a Japanese cooking Class

- Get paid to write something

- Go to the cinema 20 times ( I went 9 times in 2.75 years. Lame!)

- Perfect one piano piece. (For those who don`t know I took lessons for 14 years. I was quite good- but I pretty much had reached my peak when I quit at 17. I think it had been a few years since I had improved much. I can still read music though and I would love to play again for enjoyment. Someday)

My 101st (101th?) thing was to donate $10 to charity for every uncompleted task and I actually did this BEFORE the date was even over. I donated to World Vision while I was in Australia last year and then I also donated to Red Cross Japan recently after the earthquake.

I enjoyed doing the list- I think my “desires” changed a lot though after I got married and had Noah (and then Shion)- the things I wanted to achieve changed. That said, this list was a HUGE motivator for me and I doubt I would of done half the things on it if I had not been keeping a record of it and if I hadn`t written the list in the first place. I think I might do this, or something similar again in the future.

Maybe next year I will do 27 things for the year I turn 27 or something like that. I am undecided if I will remove 101 things from my tabs at the top of my page or not yet. I think I will keep the list there for awhile as a reminder of what I achieved and also a reminder of things I wanted to do when I wrote the list 3+ years ago.

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• Shion was weighed today at his doctor`s appointment at the university hospital where he spent his first 6 weeks. He came in at 4530grams and 52.4cm long. He had his final synagist vaccine (he might have more come Winter) and so now I have to start looking into his regular vaccines. He is 3.5 months old (6 weeks corrected) so he is doing well! He is smiling up a storm now and coos a lot- especially in the mornings.
• Noah has decided he hates showers. Most nights he just has a shower with me and then after our shower we sometimes hop in the bath depending on whether or not I have remembered to fill it( it takes about 20 minutes to fill halfway) and whether or not Shion has settled for the night. For the last three nights he has SCREAMED the entire time. Some of it has to do with washing his hair so I have stopped doing that every night and instead just wipe his hair with a wet face washer and do the shampoo battle every 2nd or 3rd night but still he screams. We have lots of toys, I am always with him and I always remind him we can brush his teeth after the shower (which he loves to do!). I wrote about this on facebook and have got some good advice which I will try out tomorrow. Playing music during bathtime (taking laptop into bathroom) and letting him brush his teeth in the shower- hopefully he stops screaming.
• Noah tried to “sing” incy wincy spider today. He failed. But it was still cute.
• Shion is starting to show an interest in toys (and Noah) and Noah is starting to show more of an interest in Shion and is even attempting to be gentle at least 50% of the time. Shion also likes it when I read to Noah if his bouncer is close to us- he likes the sound of my reading voice I think and the sounds that Noah makes while we read (by pointing at objects and saying “bah” “gooo” at different objects- he thinks he is saying the words I guess?)
• House plans- Shun, Shion & I went to a model house display area on Sunday while MIL watched Noah for the day. We saw three different house makers (and as my mother pointed out “house maker” is not an expression used in English- so we saw three building companies?)- Sweden House, Mitsui House and Kinoshita Home. I liked the first two- Sweden House might be above our budget though (since we need to build house for in-laws too) but it was beautiful- I liked the wooden floors and cabinets and the windows were amazing (keeping heat/cool in, sound proof etc) and the guy we spoke to was great. A bit too much “wood” for my taste though. I would like a bit more “modern” look though I think- that said though it was beautiful and the decks built on were fantastic- definitely something to think about. Mitsui Home is one of the big house makers here- I liked the options etc and they seem to be pretty accomodating. I liked them  and the layout, especially the kitchen in the house we went to and the guy we spoke to was great – got a lot of brochures to steal ideas from. I should mention that last year when we started looking we spoke with Misawa House, Hebel Haus and Daiwa House- I still have all of the information from them as well. So far nothing has been “OH I MUST USE THIS HOUSEMAKER” but we are meeting with some others in Golden Week and possibly meeting with Sweden House and Mitsui Home to get some more ideas and a possible mock up of what we COULD do.
• We have another decision to make and it will need to be made relatively soon. This coming July we will have been in our current apartment for 2 years and if we decide to stay we have to pay 1 month (or 2 months- I still have to find out contract) gift money to the landlord if we decide to stay. If we do renew and stay on (and there is no official contract with how long you stay but usually if you don`t see out the 2 years you don`t get back all of your bond) then we will be here for a further 10 months TOPS. Now, Shun`s grandmother, who lives behind his parents (and that is the land we will build on) lives in a town house with two other town houses next to hers (which she owns) and one of them is currently open to be rented out. It is 64m2 (I think- It is a 2SLDK- so two rooms and a small storage area upstairs and a living/dining kitchen downstairs with the bathroom) and it has been offered to Shun & I if we want to take it- this will mean we will be close by when the house is getting built, I will have Shun`s parents to help me with the boys when I need it, and we will save a ton of money leading up to moving into our house (we would still pay rent but it would be a fraction of what we are paying now- plus no bond or key money). The thing is it is smaller than we currently are (but I saw inside recently and it bigger than I thought it was) and it would involve me packing everything up soonish and unpacking and then doing the same 6-10 months later. The plus`s are closer to Shun`s work, we could save money (and therefore furnish our new house with the money we save during the time), have Shun`s parents to help, Noah could play in the in-laws garden everyday and I am sure I am missing some. The cons would be the packing/unpacking and the smaller space. The other thing is since we are going to be knocking down Shumpei`s parents house his parents will have no where to live while the house is been built- the idea of them moving into one of grandma`s town houses was tossed up as well as the option of dead uncles other house (I know that sounds weird- but basically grandma`s younger brother died 2 years ago and his wife lives in a house 50m away and on the same land she lives is another house that has not been lived in for 20 years) but they have not yet spoken with Auntie about this and we think that even if they could live there that it might not have a very good water system- probably enough to cook/clean with but not enough to shower/bathe.)- I am not sure of the entire story here but it seems they do not want to ask Auntie yet about the house but to me, it would make sense to ask now before Shun & I make a decision about Grandma`s open town house because if MIL & FIL (and the dog) can`t go to Auntie`s house then I think we should stay in Funabashi. Anyway- it is something else we are thinking about.
• Golden Week starts Friday week- can`t wait. A whole week of having Shun around to help with everything. Yay! I am sure by the end of it though I will be BEGGING him to go back to work- we will be having a lot of house related meeting/things during the week though.
• After the earthquake I lost a bit of weight- 4kg in a week actually. Happy to report that I gained 2kg back (it wasn`t exactly a great way to lose weight) and seem to be now at a steady weight. Let me just say though, the weight I am, well, I weigh less than Shun for the first time EVER- since we got married we have been about the same (except when I have been pregnant) but now I am a good 3-4kg lighter than him! I am also 4kg less than what I was when I got pregnant with Shion (and 6kg less than when I got pregnant with Noah)- I am pretty sure, from memory, that this is what I weighed when I finished high school actually. So that is pretty damn good!

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