Cherry Blossom Adventures

Well, since it seems some of you don`t mind if I go on about Noah I thought I would post some more photos and a video of him smiling! Although you will have to sit through my singing voice to see it- haha!

I wish I had remembered to hold the camera the right way so that the video would be up the right way but oh well…Oh and when I looked at this I was like “God, my hands look HUGE in comparison to his head” – Noah likes been sung too and I guess he doesn`t care how my voice sounds it seems!

As you know Clare, a highschool friend from Australia stayed with us for a couple of days and it was sad to see her go yesterday. It was great having her around and she is just so easy going all the time.

I only managed to get a couple of photos with her and Noah- a couple when she was reading to him and another of the three of us the morning she left!

Noah is not looking at the camera at all though

Look at the slobber

Noah loves to just stare at Shun…

Shun was proud to see im in this outfit too (which came from Noah`s Nan, my mum)

Oh and for some reason in the last week Noah has been obsessed with his left hand- literally can stare at it for ages. I kind of wonder what is going through his head as he just sits and stares as it- maybe he is trying to figure out how to use it? (Although he is grabbing toys now so he knows how to use it) or whether he is just like “mmm, what does this do?”

Whenever he does it now (and when Clare was here) we would both go “Noah, left hand” whenever he did it. Even when he is in his pram he will pop it in the air to have a good stare! hehe

Shun has been working some crazy hours lately- he leaves every morning about 9am to start work at 10am and hasn`t been getting him most nights til after 12am, sometimes not until after 1am…The project he is working on is coming to an end and will be launched in less than 2 weeks now and I am looking forward to when it will be over (so is he!) although over the next two weekends he will also have work. This Saturday he will go in and then the following week he will be at work from Sunday night til Tuesday night- they will book him a business hotel in the same street as his work so that he can maybe catch a couple hours sleep and have a shower. I think it is a bit ridiculous and personally think that if the project had been better managed then this kind of thing wouldn`t happen but oh well.

I know this is the life of a Japanese salary man and I knew this when I married him- I knew there would be the occasional weekend work and late nights since it was like this on occasion in the years we lived together before we married. It is hard though because it means he sees Noah even less than usual and it means that it is just me and Noah most of the time. Not that he would get home in time to help with dinner or bathtime and sleeptime even if he did finish earlier but still it would mean I might be awake when he gets home so that I could have some adult conversation. I miss him.

Luckily this project has just another couple of weeks left and while Shun is scheduled to move on to another project after that it probably won`t get busy for a couple months meaning we will have a couple of months were we can spend the weekends together and also some nights were he will be home before I go to bed (although not before Noah does)…

Today, since the sun came out a little around lunch time, Noah and I headed out to a closeby 親子カフェ (parent/child cafe)…I have wanted to check it out since I walked past once when I was still pregnant. It is also where Noah & I are scheduled to go for our baby sign class next month (and if we like it then we can sign up for a six month course which would have a lesson once a month)…

I couldn`t believe how packed it was! I am glad I rang and asked whether there would be space because I doubt there would of been otherwise. It is not a very big place but it is a lovely little set up! Lots of kiddie chairs, kid friendly foods for those starting solids (like pureed fruit and tofu/cheese patties) and for older kids like mild curry rice. Plus the lunch sets for the mama`s were nice too! One of the waitresses was really lovely and I told her I was looking to make some Japanese mama friends that lived in the area and she introduced me to a couple of the other mums that were there. Everyone`s bubs were older than Noah but she suggested I try a baby massage class next month or in May because the babies would be a similar age to Noah…

After lunch Noah and I sat on the playmat and had a bit of a play- he enjoyed the interaction I think and the other kids enjoyed handing him things (well handing me things) and saying “hai doozo noah” (Here you go Noah)…kind of cute really! I will definitely be going back! It is nice to have somewhere like that so close by too- it is on my street about 1km away so an easy walk!

Since I am also hoping to pick up some private lessons OR possibly teaching a mama/baby english class I am going to ask next time whether they would be interested. They do an English book reading time once a month but I asked and it is not a native speaker that does it…I am looking for work where I can take Noah with me though of course and somewhere like that would be perfect!

I missed doing “Two for Tuesday” yesterday but I made an awesome beef stew today in the slow cooker (had a bit of a taste when I got home since it was already done. YUMMO! When I got off our floor when coming home I smelt something really nice and thought our neighbours must have been cooking but when I opened our door I realized it was coming from OUR apartment!) – I tweaked the recipe a little and added mushrooms instead of celery and carrot (since I didn`t have any in the fridge) and also I added a pack of gravox (approx 2 tablespoons I guess) and it turned out great. The recipe (apart from what I tweaked) is this one which I found here. I didn`t use as much meat either (it was like 1kg worth for 6 people, i used about half of that but I kept the vegetable amounts the same) but I kept the spices the same since we like flavoursome stew- the beef turned out so tender!

Well enough of my mid week ramblings I guess- Noah is about to stir from is nap anyway!

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Another lovely weekend was had in which we met up with Sarah & Nay, attended a 2nd birthday party for Cassie`s daughter Nanami, and had a lovely bloggy girl catch-up on Monday with the girls (Sarah, Nay, Cassie, Melanie & Khea- although unfortunately Sarah, Ryohei & Sakura could not stay very long) and the kiddies. A few favourite photos from the weekend…

The birthday girl

Noah`s first birthday party ever

Opening presents- her first doll

Yummy yummy cheese fondue

What a difference 4.5 months makes- Noah & Sakura make friends with each other!

Grown-ups talk and the kiddies play

Noah meets Missha

The bubs try walking

Noah sitting with me

Was such a lovely weekend as I said but we were exhausted after it was over so today we just chilled out at home and caught up on some play time just the two of us (Noah & I) while mama (me) caught up on some laundry and some chill out time! The good news is that Noah has been a bit of a champion sleeper most nights this past week waking up only once usually during the night (anywhere between 1-4am)…He is bathed and fed and put to bed between 7:30pm an 8:30pm and then sleeps for 5-8 hours usually and then goes down for another couple hours- today he slept in until 8:30am (after a 4am wake up, change and feed) but that could of been because of the busy busy days we have had lately.

My friend Clare (bridesmaid from wedding) arrives from Australia Thursday morning and will be with us for one night before heading down to Kyoto and then back with us from Sunday for two more nights and then she is off on an adventure to England for a couple of years. She of course hasn`t met Noah yet but is excited to meet him and I am so excited to see her!!! We have been friends since the first day of highschool where we met when we were 12!

So tomorrow will be another day spent cleaning up, cooking up a storm (want to cook lasange and soup so that on Thursday and Friday nights I can just heat up food and perhaps make a salad- plus I meant to make brownies today but didn`t get to it so will try them tomorrow!) and making sure everything is ready for my next visitor!

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My Aussie grandfather when he was alive was always referred to as “Poppy” by all of his grandchildren (and at that time there were 27 of us…now 29) and my dad decided that he also wanted to be a “Poppy” so that is what we call him in front of Noah…

Here are some photos from his brief stay with us in Chiba…

Shun also took a couple of photos of me and Noah yesterday- most of the time I am behind the camera so it was nice to get a couple of the two of us! Noah even has a faint smile on his face in this one

Oh, and this is a recent favourite- I gave him a mohawk and stuck him in his bumbo which for some reason he found hilarious…

Putting things in his mouth (mainly his hands but also toys) is a new thing and this is him trying to suck on “Tako Tako`s” nose….

He is definitely one of the most photographed children on the planet!!!

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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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Noah James (aka Goma-chan!) arrived on Saturday 19th December 2009 at 10:52am Japan time an hour and ten minutes after we arrived at the birthing clinic. The kanji for Noah is 希明.

Weight: 3278grams

Length: 50cm

All is well and we were released from the clinic today. More photos can be found here and a birth story will follow soon! For now we are chilling at home and getting used to our new surroundings and lives!

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At the in-laws yesterday FIL kindly scanned in some photos for me and put them on CD. I don`t have that many baby photos of myself here in Japan and I only have a couple of Shun when he was younger that his mum gave me but it was fun looking through them and I am glad I have them digitally now…

Will be interesting which of us Goma-chan takes after when he makes his arrival…

Here is baby Shun- I am not sure how old he is in this photo but this is the youngest photo I have of him.

Here is baby Lulu- doing a similar pose to Shun above- I think I look like a boy!

Oh and lets not forget siblings
My brother & I- eating iceblocks. I still think I look like a boy, oh and yeah my brother had white hair. he was born with it. Shun thinks this might mean Goma-chan has white hair- I told him I do not like his chances (he is also praying on blue eyes but that is unlikely also!)

Shun & his brother (Shun is the younger one, there is 5 years between them)

This is my favourite photo of Shun- I think it might have been near New Years which could explain the outfit.

Here is a favourite photo of mine, of me, from when I was younger as it shows 4 generations. Left to right is my grandmother, great grandmother, my mum & me. I was 10 months old when this was taken and it was my first trip to NZ. I learnt to walk while in NZ that first time….

Just a couple more-

How 80`s is this couch?

I liked dogs even then

Shun`s grandmother (Baba) did a lot of travelling and here is Shun in an outfit she bought back from Mongolia…Can`t wait to dress Goma-chan up in ridiculous outfits and take photos of him. Shame they don`t have this one anymore!

And lastly, check out the carpet WITH the couches in this photo- Gotta love the orange and brown!

Oh and nobody guessed at the random stuff that we could possibly bring home from the in-laws (see end of last post) but here is the answer anyway and actually it was not so random this time. We came home with 2 2L bottles of water (they worry that I drink tap water because we live in an apartment meaning it is tank water but I do not want to lug mineral water home or pay for it really- eventually we will get a purifier put on the tap but honestly water is water), 2 leeks, 2 pieces or sirloin steak, some mail and Shun`s mum made him a bento for today because we were eating there meaning I wouldn`t have leftovers to make him a bento for today (and there was no way I would make something from scratch!). Anyway it was all things I will use so YAY!!!!!!

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Christmas seems to have come early in the Cherry Blossom Adventures household with a HUGE package arriving from my mum and family in Australia yesterday.

Most of the stuff was for Goma-chan as you can see above but Shun also got some early christmas presents- 2 sweaters, pair of pants, pair of shoes and a hooded jumper. He was in desperate need for some new work clothes so mum sent him some stuff over! They all fit great! You can`t see very well in the photo above but there is a grey sweater for me too that will be great for feeding bub after he is born. It is also very roomy meaning I can wear it now as long as my bump doesn`t get much bigger (I have it on now!)

There was lots of jump suits (Sara & Sakura`s favourite Bonds wondersuits!), socks, singlets and a couple of other outfits. Also a cloth christmas book from my dad and a “my first soccer ball” from my brother and his girlfriend Gem.

You might be wondering WHY there is a purple jumpsuit for a little boy? Well that is actually on Shun`s behalf since his favourite colour is purple and I would say 25% of the things in his wardrobe are purple or have purple in them- so it is so I can match him and little Goma-chan later on! haha! They are not in the photos but mum also sent the rest of my “bum genius” cloth diapers that I had ordered to her house in Australia.

Also in the package (I told you it was a big one!) was a gift from my godmother Kate. Kate lives down south but was up in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and spent the night at my mum`s and dropped off the package then!

Here is the present from Kate for Goma-chan

Singlets, socks, clothes, bibs (hand-made), and a face towel for the bath!

Goma-chan is seriously going to overtake me soon with the amount of clothes he has- Shun has already commented that he has WAY more clothes than he does. His chest of drawers is almost full and I only have stuff in there for him until six months (anything I got that was bigger I have put in a box for safe keeping!) and I haven`t even started on collecting much “new” summer stuff.

In other news I do not shake as much when I take the medicine anymore and the braxton hicks contractions do not come as frequently and are rarely painful so I am hoping the medicine is working and that I will not have effaced or dilated any further when I see the doctor next time. He wanted me to come in on Friday but I explained to him that I would need to walk 15 minutes to the station and then catch the train (changing once!) and then walk the 2 minutes to the clinic and he said “fine, stay home and just come if there is problems but from next appointment you will need to come every week” – I might start making my appointments on Tuesday and getting my MIL to take me since she does not work that day (She works mornings and afternoons for 2 hours each time at a Hoikuen) or changing it to Saturday and still going by train but Shun will be with me then- the waiting time on a Saturday is SOOOOOO long though! Will have to wait and see. I could take a taxi to the clinic but it would be about 2500 or 3000yen I think – it is probably about 12km away from my house (could be totally off there though)

I was supposed to go to Design Festa today with Cassie but since walking a lot brings the braxton hicks contractions on and they hurt (which is why I am supposed to rest I guess) we cancelled earlier in the week. Such a shame as I was really looking forward to it and it would of been great fun. I went a couple of year`s ago and had a blast although spent WAY too much money on goods. So now instead my FIL is coming to pick us up soon and we are going to the in-laws for the day so Shun can help him with his computer and I can just lay around and read- plus we will stay for dinner and get dropped home later meaning I do not have to cook which is always nice!

I always get lots of random things (although sometimes they are awesome, especially all the fruit and sometimes cheese) from my MIL to bring home so feel free to guess away at what I will be bringing home tonight- last time was just grapes, some veggie things in a jar for Shun and some mail so not so strange but the time before that we got a month`s supply of toilet paper, tissues, meat, fruit, moroheya, nato, apple pie,  2 bottles of water, new blankets and lots more!

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Tomorrow I am off to Shizuoka to spend a couple of days with Nay (and Naoki & Milo of course!)- of course because I am pedantic I am already packed and ready to go! I have not been to Shizuoka to visit with Nay before- I have been to her house in Australia many times (well her mum`s house!) and Nay has been to my place in Funabashi twice (and once when I was still at the in-laws) so it is certainly well due that I visit her in Shizuoka. I am excited about it for two reasons- one of course is that I will get to see Nay & Naoki and meet Milo and two, this will be my last trip before Goma-chan arrives and my last trip by myself for the foreseeable future so it is kind of one of those milestones that needs to be crossed off.

My bus leaves at 9am tomorrow morning and I will be back in Tokyo/Chiba on Wednesday night. Thank god the bus has a toilet since I am starting to feel like I need to live in one with the amount of times I need to pee. I have my most comfty maternity pants ready to put on tomorrow morning and my ipod charged and journal and books ready to go in my handbag.

Last night Shun painted my toenails for me- I can get the nailpolish off but can not stay in the crouched over position long enough to paint them without Goma-chan kicking and hurting me- not that I blame him. I am a little claustrophobic myself and I am sure he is feeling a little like he has no room- more so when I bend over and try to paint my toenails. Shun was not impressed with having to do it but I traded him a smoke on the veranda in exchange (he is supposed to quit smoking by the time the baby arrives- he is doing really badly. For the month of October we made a deal that he would not smoke at home except for the last one before bed until the 15th of the month and then none at home after that. Not that he ever smokes inside, it is always on the veranda but he is still supposed to quit by the start of December.) – so yeah he got to have a cigarette in exchange for painting my toenails. If he hadn`t done it, Nay would of in Shizuoka I am sure. I told him he will need to do it at least once more before the baby comes and he said he can probably handle that….Oh and he did a pretty good job- no better than I would of done.

Yesterday we went out for lunch to try the local yakiniku place which is always PACKED. It is also absurdly expensive for dinner so we knew we were never going to get to go there for dinner anytime soon but they do have nice little lunch sets which are not too badly priced- 1580yen for a plate of “karubi” beef (probably about 300g or 400g), rice, salad, soup (I had spicy Korean soup, i forget the name but it had egg and pork in it too with vegies and kimichi, Shun had the wakame soup), side dishes (kimichi and moyashi bean sprouts with seasame oil and soy sauce), dessert (little tiny piece of chocolate cake with chestnut flavoured icing) and hot green tea. It was REALLY yummy! I can tell why it is always constantly packed with people (we went at almost 2pm and still needed to wait 15 minutes for a table) and there is often even cars lined up outside waiting for a park. Shun was happy he could try it and we both agreed that for a special occasion we would go back for dinner…

I have some stuff going on back home in Australia that is getting me down a little bit. I am hoping that by the end of this week I will know more about what is going on there and what, if anything, I can do from here. I am getting too close to the end of my pregnancy to make a trip back to Australia (just checked and Jetstar allows me to travel internationally up until the end of my 36th week with a letter from the doctor stating the pregnancy is normal. Qantas seems to have similar rules. Good to know) and even if I needed to fly back I am not sure where we would find the extra cash. It is sometimes really hard to be far away from family…

I am 31 weeks pregnant today and it is hard to believe that sometime in the next 8-10 weeks or so we will be welcoming Goma-chan into the world. We have a couple of favourite front-runner names picked out but until I see his face I can not make a decision. At least the kanji for them is also decided though. Hopefully one of the names we have picked out will suit him…

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Several weeks back Shun & I went up the Sunshine Coast with mum (and in the end Dad too!) to babysit my Auntie`s doggy, Ziggy while they were away for a wedding. It was a lovely weekend and on the way back to Brisbane we got to stop off at Montville and Maleny!!! It was our much anticipated trip the country- some would say “That is not the country” but for city dwellers like Shun & myself it seemed pretty country to me.

It was a beautiful beautiful place and while the weather wasn`t the best I think it added to the charm.
Here are some pics from the trip plus more can be found here on flickr.

View from Montville at lunch time!

The magpie in Montville while we were eating lunch!

A tractor- That is how I KNEW it was the country!

Montville and Maleny had a lot of crafty shops!! So Shun was trying out the merchandise!

Cow!

Shun & I after lunch in Montville!

Glass House Mountains shot on the way home to Brisbane.

Day before country trip- Shun & I after lunch at Mooloolaba!

Ziggy the dog- our babysitting charge!

It was a lovely weekend!!! Plus we got to cross going to the country off my 101 list!!!

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