Cherry Blossom Adventures

We have just three more nights in Australia and then Noah, edamame-chan and I will be on our way back to Chiba.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. I have been a very bad blogger. I can not believe 50 people sent well wishes regarding the news that I was pregnant again.

I have definitely become more well adjusted to the idea since been in Australia. I think full night sleeps will do that for you.

Noah is fully weaned onto a bottle (soy formula)- he has 4 bottles a day, goes to bed about 8:30pm and has slept through the night most nights this week (10 hours or more) except for last night (which I am hoping was a one off, or at least an occasional off!). He is also ADORING his solid food and eating stacks. He will have a huge amount of porridge with fruit for breakfast (or oatmeal or a weetbix with hot water) and then sometimes munch on a piece of toast after that with avocado or vegemite. For lunch he will have pasta with  tomato and veggies, or mixed vegie puree or a lentil and veggie mix then he will have some fruit with jelly (no sugar jelly that I made) and then for dinner he will have a main dish with fish or meat (I have been using rafferty`s garden packs while in Australia instead of making his food) and then fruit for desert. He is still opening his mouth for food when it is all gone!!!

He wakes up, has a play, then he has breakfast and then later on a bottle and then later on a nap. He has been napping really well in Australia usually having 2 x 90-120 min naps and maybe a 40 minute cat nap about 5:30pm.

Weaning him was difficult- I tossed and turned about it a bit as well thinking I might continue breastfeeding him for last feed. I spoke with my doctor in Australia though and decided weaning him completely would be for the best for us. He had a couple of rough days but now is fine with the bottle. My mum has been a great help and will even take Noah most mornings (when he wake up between 6-7am) so I can get a bit of extra sleep.

The trip to Australia has been great- I miss Shun and Japan though and am looking forward to going back. I will miss the extra help with Noah and I think he will miss the extra company- back to days of just me will be a bit dull for him I am sure. He is a happier baby recently though because he is sleeping better, eating better and he is moving around by himself with ease (getting into all kinds of nooks and crannies and mischief!)….I am hoping he continues to be the happy bub we have seen in Australia.

I am behind in blogging for 101 things and also haven`t written up Noah`s 7 month letter yet OR his 8 month one (he turned 8 months yesterday!)- when I get home I will upload photos and hopefully be able to do all those updates then.

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I have a lot going on right now and am feeling more than a little overwhelmed.

Going to take a mini blogging break. I still have Noah`s 7 month letter to post and I might get to that this week but don`t expect any posts for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy your summer.

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Does anyone else have trouble coming up with titles for their blog posts? Unless it is about something in particular I have no idea. Hot seems like a good one though since it is pretty damn hot although on the good side if I get my washing out by 7:30am it is dry by 9am!!

I worked on Saturday for 2 hours and then had a meeting about another job in my area which will be 2 hours a month. Plus I had my mummy class yesterday and have work again tomorrow in Nishi-Tokyo. Some of the work I do requires prep but usually it is minimal and takes me less than an hour the night before. Sometimes it is just printing some stuff out, other times I write up my lesson plans for my own aid. I worked out that this month I had just 7 hours of work but next month I will have more. It is reasonably easy to juggle with Noah since I can do the prep when he is asleep at night and it is not like I need to work on it everyday. The extra income is nice and I am trying to save as much as I can of it to use on the trip in Australia. SHOPPING! WOO!

This weekend though I have no work BUT we are going camping. It is not real camping since we will be staying in cabins but it is a bit of a road trip to Gunma where we will meet 14-15 others. I forget the name of the place but it is actually an adventure camp so there is white water rafting and paragliding. We will arrive in the afternoon so Shun will join in the paragliding. That should be interesting since he is deathly afraid of heights but when I asked if he wanted to do it he said yes so, we will see. He can`t even handle looking over our balcony and we are only on the 7th floor (and his feet are on solid ground!). Will be interesting to see how Noah goes. He has slept away from home before but I a not sure if the other will appreciate his possible 5am or 5:30am wake up call (plus once before that for some milk probably!)

I have been a bit under the weather recently and with the heat it has been easier to stay inside most of the time. We have had mid 30 degree weather all week and Noah is like me and does not handle the heat well. We did venture out on Tuesday to go to the doctor`s (Noah`s runny nose and eczema) and run some other errands- bank, conbini to pay bills, pharmacy, supermarket, shiyakusho (city hall), other shopping and then home. I was ready for a nap after that though after been out in the heat!

Noah is FINALLY eating more solids (although no cutting down on breastfeeds yet) and actually enjoying eating more. He actually opens his mouth for almost all of his food and enjoys trying to feed himself. We have started 3 meals a day from yesterday. I am trying, yet again, to get him to drink from a bottle but he won`t have a bar of it. I am losing hope of having him EVER take a bottle but any hints or tricks are appreciated. Shun gave it ago on the weekend but he screamed a lot then too and of course is even less interested when I try.

His sleep though- well he goes down at about 7:00pm or 7:30pm (I can not stretch this any longer because he usually wakes up from his last nap about 3:30 if he only has 3 naps) but is up between 5-6am. SO EARLY! (up 2-3 times a night for 1-2 feeds) Luckily Shun (although not readily) takes him one morning til 7:00 or 7:30am then I take him the next. Shun is not so good at STAYING awake to watch him though and at the moment he doesn`t move much so this is fine but in a month or so I am not sure this will be viable. I hope Noah learns to hit daddy and pull his hair soon the same way he does me when I play with him on the floor. hehe. 3 naps of 30-45 minutes a day. Such short naps He has always been a cat napper though- once a week or twice a week he will nap more than an hour…

It is less than 4 months til I head to Australia! EXCITED! And yes, I am already counting down!!!! Although the idea of 2 summers in one year is not exactly thrilling (especially since I had 2 last year as well!)

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I feel so behind on blogging lately- I have had some movies to upload of Noah for ages- some are recent and some are from a couple of weeks ago and yet I am only now getting around to posting them. Some are long- so if you skip them I won`t mind- they are more for my mum anyway. Whenever I take movies too I promptly forget that they will not display up the right way once I upload them to the computer- oh well, those who want to watch might need to turn their heads a little…oh and excuse my commentary- it isn`t like he is up to talking for himself yet!

I put some wiggles on while I did some cleaning and came back to him bopping away…

He squeels a lot now- I tried to catch in on camera but he went strangely quiet and then got grumpy because he wanted to grab my camera.

Playing

I have a good one of him eating too but I guess it is still on the camera…

Back to been behind on blogging. I follow too many blogs- I loved into my reader today for the first time in 5 or 6 days and had over 1000 posts to read- not that I read them all. I have crafty blogs, news sites and cooking blogs come into my reader too so they add up to a lot (sometimes I skim, sometimes I just say “mark as read”) but even then, I still have a lot of other stuff to get through and now, since Noah sleeps less during the day and I have other stuff I need to do at night, I don`t really get much time to read blogs. I still love it though. I still love the community I am apart of through blogging and the friends I have made I just don`t have hours each day to sit reading everything- so my favourites go to the top of the pile and if I have time for others later then I check them as well. Anyway- to those of you who used to get comments from me all the time, but now don`t I`m sorry- I still read but sometimes by the time I read your posts I am probably a couple days late or the baby wakes up before I get to comment.

I had my mummy English class here again today- it went well. It is hard though because the mummies want to learn but they have to of course jump up and follow their kids around. I really need a gate I think. I block off the three rooms but our living room/dining room/kitchen is all one big room (with the kitchen off to the side) and one boy in particular is just a little nuts. He was obsessed with opening and closing our rice cooker today as well as opening and closing the fish grill under the stove. Oh and opening and closing our bins in the kitchen. So pretty much anything that opened and closed had him running around the apartment. I originally thought the mums wanted their KIDS to be exposed to English but it is actually themselves that want to learn which is fine- I just feel bad because of the noise of the kids and their been 5 or 6 people (there was 5 today) they don`t get much chance to practice. That said I charge for an hour but they usually stay for almost 2 hours by the time we do coffee and cake at the end…

I have fun though. And I do like the extra money. I might separate the class into 2 groups of 3 though…if they would be okay with that. One mum said she might want to do private lessons as she is more interested in learning basic vocabulary and stuff she can use with her son.

For July I am also working on Friday`s for a couple of hours in West Tokyo- bit of a commute but transport is paid and I can take Noah. So that will be nice. Not sure if anything will come of it from August but that is okay as it is a bit far anyway. If something did come of it, and the money was worth it and Noah travelled well for July then I would definitely consider doing a couple of hours there each week too.

Any work where I can take Noah with me is great! I don`t really want to return to full-time work anytime soon but part-time stuff is great for now. Bit of extra cash and gets us out of the house (or gets me to clean the house since people come here! HAHA! Ideally I need a bit more though- I have the once a month mummy class, once a month private student and then for July I have the classes out in West Tokyo. If the West Tokyo classes don`t go anywhere ( I am subbing for July but if they get more students who want classes they might start some more) then I will definitely need something else, preferably out this way. I am not opposed to putting Noah into part time daycare once a week or having my MIL watch him- Shun looked into the daycare for me and there are a couple places within 15 minutes walk that charge 2500yen a day ($30) – although Noah still will not take a bottle so at the moment it isn`t an option but definitely something to think about when I come back from Australia.

For us it is definitely more a financial thing than me actually wanting to go back to work. Not that I am against working I just think that the more time Noah (and future children) spend with me then the better their English will be. But if I want to go back to Australia each year or at least once every 18 months then I have to make some money, even if it is just a little.

We are also trying to save for a house. We want to buy in the next couple of years (probably in the next 3 years) and we are readjusting out budget this weekend. I have to update all the bank books on Friday and do some money transferring (to pay off the credit card which I put the Australia tickets on!) so that we can sit down and make a plan. We have been making some decisions about houses lately actually- we have decided we definitely want a house either new or less than 10 years old, we want to stay in Chiba either in Funabashi or Ichikawa and Shun would prefer we stay on the Sobu line but that is not a 100% definite. It is fun thinking about houses though!

Noah still has no teeth. I keep thinking they will pop up since he has really grumpy periods, chews on anything, drools on everything, and I give him approximately 3 or 4 frozen teethers or facewashers to chew on each day. But, alas, still no teeth. Not that I am complaining- I just kind of wish he would stop TEETHING if he is not actually going to get teeth. Maybe we will have 3 or 4 pop out at a time?

I had to take Noah to the doctor last week because he got constipated- I guess from eating more solids lately.
So if you get quesy stop reading cos I am going to write about poo! The doctor was at the new clinic but he was old Dr M – it seems that the clinic is run by young Dr M and old Dr M- a father and son team but the older doctor only works 2 days a week (Tues and Sat) where as the younger doctor works mon, wed,fri and sat. Anyway old Dr M was just as nice as young Dr M so all good there. He gave me some medicine for Noah and said not to be too concerned (Noah had not pooed in 4 and a half days by this time and was sleeping CRAP because of it and constantly TRYING to poo I thought) – anyway long story short, as well as the medicine I got some home enemas. Yeah, something you really should never have to give your child is an enema. But I did it. And it wasn`t so bad and Noah didn`t cry and I have 6 more in case it happens again. Holy crap (excuse the pun!) there was a lot of poo 30 minutes afterwards though!

I am now only giving rice cereal every second day for breakfast usually mixed with some fruit. I am trying to limit banana`s and pureed apple as apparently they don`t help with constipation either. So he has had rice cereal with prunes or plums lately. Or mango or papaya by itself. His dinners this week (since I made heaps yesterday) are peas, brocolli, avacado, carrots, spinach or pumpkin (the spinach and pumpkin were still in the freezer)…I don`t think he actually likes eating much yet though. He will usually do the first couple of bites no problem but gets bored and frustrated after 15 minutes or so and has not usually eaten so much by then. I mix some of the veggies together sometimes like tonight he had peas and brocolli mixed together and last night was spinach and pumpkin. He still breastfeeds 8 times a day though so I guess he is not actually eating much “real food” yet…

As for sleep. Well at least I had a couple months of him been a good sleeper. Now I feed him 2 sometimes 3 times overnight (in a 12 hour period) and gone are the days where his first sleep of the night would be 7-9 straight hours. I often have to resettle him 2 other times on top of the 2 or 3 feeds so I look like a bit of a raccoon from so much uninterupted sleep…Sassymoo was kind enough to send up a safe cot bumper that breathes as a lot of resettling him was coming from him rolling over and getting stuck in his cot or bumping into the bars. At least he is usually fairly easy to resettle (and even feed and resettle) and usually only takes 5 minutes or so.

Naps are also not so great- he is back to three short naps a day instead of 2 long ones. So today for example he took 1 1 hour nap and then 1 30 minute nap and 1 40 minute nap. He is a lot genkier if he has 2 90 minute naps or even 1 90 minute nap and 1 2 hour nap but he wakes up and once he is awake he will NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP. It is as if his nap clock gets reset…

Shun`s first father`s day went well- he got a new wallet (badly needed) and a world cup japan key ring (I let Noah help me pick that one out- ie, he grabbed at it when we were looking so that is the one “daddy” got!) and we went out for lunch to Shun`s favourite yakiniku place. Noah “gave” the presents to his daddy but he had a chew first. Of course.

Okay so this is a bit of a random post of random bits of info- it definitely sounds as if has come form someone sleep deprived. I feel like I haven`t even written coherent sentences. I am sure I planned to write other stuff but the thoughts have definitely escaped me and while is only just after 9pm I might call it a night soon…

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• I seem to spend so much time on the internet or in front of the computer that time flies by and before I know it nap time for Noah is over and he wants to play or it is my bedtime and often I still haven`t gotten around to blogging myself. So easy to spend hours searching the net, skyping, twittering, facebooking and reading blogs- I might need to start limiting my time on here. And actually turning the computer off (it is pretty much on 100% of the time). Have discovered so many great new blogs lately though and have also spent a lot of time studying up on signing to do with Noah and also reading baby development and activities.
• In case anyone missed my facebook or twitter update. Papaya + lemon juice = YUM! Cassie introduced me to this gem last summer. I have saved the other half (minus the lemon juice) to give to Noah for breakfast tomorrow. Just have to mash it up a bit. I have been doing some baby led weaning techniques with Noah but I am still concerned about the choking. I might give him a piece of papaya to munch on instead of mashing it though to see how he goes. He is fine with bits of banana but they are kind of slimy and hard for him to hold.
• A password protected post should come before the end of the week. Anyone that reads often and thinks they deserve the password or have misplaced it please contact me via the contact me page above. I very rarely do password protected posts but occasionally they are needed.
• A package arrived from Australia today- it was from my mum but my mum had gotten my dad to send it. It contained some more organic rice cereal, 2 squeeze packs of baby food (these will be awesome when we go camping next month) that have just veggies and fruit and no additives, baby panadol and a book of nursery rhymes. Oh and a card from my dad (since he sent the package)- the card was actually my mum`s birthday card which he bought before going to the post office but then used it to write  a message to me as an afterthought. He also bought the book while waiting in line at the post office. Very cute book actually- I love the pictures in it and has some nursery rhymes that I know but had forgotten so far to introduce to Noah so spent the day reciting some of them to him.
• I have some videos of Noah from recently that I will try to get up this week as well.
• I am wondering if I will regret staying up to watch Japan world cup game tonight. Shun is not home from work yet (It is 9:30pm) but I think the game starts at 11. Maybe I can manage to stay up for the first half?? There was no way I was waking up to watch the Aussie game last night- probably a good thing since they got slammed and I would of wanted to cry. Noah had a bad night (for him) last night so I guess I will wait and see if he wakes up between now and when the game starts…if not, then I might watch a bit.
• Rainy season has well and truly begun with rain now scheduled til Thursday I think. Noah heard the song “Rain rain go away” a lot today. Oh and also “It`s raining men”, “It`s raining, it`s pouring” and “Incy Wincy Spider” – you know, rain themed music! We did head out though to go to the supermarket to get supplies for the next three days.
• 2nd Chiba Peanuts Multicultural Playgroup meeting this Wednesday! Am excited. Reminds me I need to ring the venue tomorrow. Okay, post it written (my computer gets covered in post-its…yeah, the original kind and not the notes you can type.) – Noah is getting much more interested in other children so this should be fun!!!

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or which doctor, as the case may be.

Several weeks ago I wrote about an issue I was having with the city government town nurse and also the issues I was having with the clinic I had been going to when sick and where I had been taking Noah for his immunizations. I was unhappy with the clinic in general even before these issues came up so I was on the hunt for a new one.

Shun had already contacted a different clinic (one that was recommended to me by a Japanese friend in the area) and scheduled Noah`s next immunization but late last week I got another throat infection and I knew it wasn`t going to go away without antibiotics so I made an appointment for Saturday morning.

I had the same thing about 2.5 months ago and the doctor I went to said it was strep. I am not sure if it was or not though since they didn`t take a swab to test it or anything. It came back though so off to the doctors I went. This time to inspect the new clinic.

Overall I was very happy. Although I did have the song “Witch doctor” in my head the entire time.

Shun came with me and he had Noah in the carrier but he spent most of the time outside walking around because we didn`t want Noah to get sick from others in the waiting room (all kids by the way, I was the only adult patient- I guess they don`t see many adults either because when they called me in they called me by my surname then first name-chan as opposed to -san and then the receptionist yelled at the nurse- “no, no, m***-san, m***san” which was kind of funny.

The doctor I saw was very nice. He took a look at my throat and said “sugoi” (WOW!) and claimed it the worst throat infection he had ever seen. He even called in the other doctor, an older doctor (maybe in his late 50s), to have a look too. Kind of weird because it is not even the sorest throat I have had but anyway- It is pretty sore though and very red with white spots all over it (so gross!). Anyway they dosed me up on some drugs and said that since I had been sick a couple times since Noah was born that I might be lacking vitamins because I am breastfeeding so recommended I start taking some vitamins of mainly vitamin c and b. This is the second throat infection I have had and I have also had 2 or 3 colds?

The doctor asked if I had stopped eating because my throat was so sore and I said it took more than a sore throat to stop me eating. If only!!! I wish I was one of those people that when sick lost appetite and didn`t eat- I would be so skinny of that was the case! Instead I think I might even eat MORE when I am sick.

Both doctors seemed lovely, and the nurse on staff that day was a younger lady (not like the old nosy biddies at my other clinic!) and the receptionists seemed nice too. It was a pretty small place and packed on Sunday and I waited for 40 minutes to be seen. I had an appointment though and most others who arrived before me were still waiting when I left because those with appointments get seen first.

I think taking Noah there for his immunizations and eczema will be fine. And of course any other time he get sick or needs to see the doctor.

I was wondering though, what you used to get when you went to the doctors as a kid? We always got jelly beans. This clinic gives out stickers to the kids- INCLUDING keroppi stickers. I love keroppi!!! I kind of wanted to ask for some for myself…

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This past weekend I taught Shun the word slob (In English). Because he called me a neat freak. I am not really a neat freak (like for example I didn`t vacuum my floors this weekend- I did them last Wednesday though and mopped too!) although certain things have their own places. Where as Shun just leaves his crap everywhere and I pick up after him or tell him to put his stuff away over and over until he does.  Shun leaves his clothes wherever he takes them off which could be anywhere from our bedroom to the bathroom to the computer room or in the living room. Yeah, literally WHEREVER he takes them off. It drives me insane but I got used to it and now just put everything in the washing basket.

The neat freak conversation came about when I was in the computer room (the back room of our apartment/spare room is where Shun has his desktop) and I was lying on the floor talking to him after he came home on Friday night from work and was talking about the cleaning I needed to do the next day because we had visitors coming for dinner last night. Then I noticed that while there was a bin literally less than 1m from his computer desk there was rubbish ON HIS DESK. So he told me I was a neatfreak and that he was going to clean up his stuff and when I asked him when he said eventually.
For those wanting to learn some Japanese- I translate the word だらしがない人 as slob and the word  きれい好き　as neatfreak.

The good thing about Shun is when he learns a new word in English he makes and effort to use it a lot in the next couple of days so that he remembers so this past weekend I have been called a neat freak on at least 5 different occasions.

I on the other hand when I learn a new word in Japanese promptly forget it 80% of the time.

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Remember the doctor/clinic I don`t really like? Well I ended up having to go back on Saturday to get the doctor to sign Noah`s Australian citizenship papers and photo. Shun rang Friday to ask and the doctor said fine and to come in the next day in the morning. So we got up, went in and one of the receptionists told us it was too busy and to come back at 6pm so we did. The doctor signed the papers etc etc and THEN said “I am going to charge you  5000yen for this ($65 dollars)” AFTER he signed them.

So glad I don`t have to go back there. We have found a new clinic and Noah will have his 3rd DPT shot there in a couple of weeks. Even Shun was pissed off and said the doctor was an idiot.

Oh and the nurse that visited a couple weeks back? Yeah well she rang me last week and went on and on about crap so Shun rang and told them to stop harrasing me. She said that next time she wanted to come she would ring him first and he said fine and to ring him if there is any issues but that if she decided to come to the apartment again that he couldn`t make me open the door to her and most likely I wouldn`t.

I think she was in a bit of a state of shock….

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Tomorrow I am off the Australian Embassy to apply for citizenship for Noah. I will have to go back again in about 3-4 weeks to pick it up and apply for his passport but I SHOULD be able to get the passport sent to us when it is done so hopefully it will just be 2 trips to the embassy (I could apply for his citizenship by mail but decided would be easier to just go)

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Does anyone use twitter? I have an account but I barely use it. I don`t know if I really see the point and to tell you the truth I am not very concise so it is hard to fit what I want to say in such a small character limit.

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Friday I hadn`t planned to do anything but on Thursday a new Japanese friend that lives up the road messaged me to say that the next day was going to be sunny and did I want to go to a community play centre (自動ホーム）with her and her son and meet up with another lady I know from baby sign class. Basically it was an event for people with babies under 1 year old and I swear there was like 70 babies and 70 mummies or daddies in one giant room. Quite nosiy actually. It was at a place a bit far from my apartment but I walked with the friend and it took us about 35 minutes (she lives 3 minute up the road from me)

Noah had fun and so did I and my Japanese is not as crap as I thought it was as everyone understood what I was trying to say (I use Japanese with Shun most of the time but he gets what I am saying even if I totally muck up the grammar and switch in English vocab) and I understood 95% of what was said to me.

A couple of the other mums plus my friend Miwa and I (and the bubs) went to a local bakery for lunch after. It is nice to have made some Japanese mummy friends in the area.

I did  have one of the older volunteer helpers tell me that Noah`s toy giraffe looked like a foreign giraffe though!

I got to weigh Noah (7.6kg with clothes and nappy on) and measure his length (64.5cm I think?) and basically sit around on mats with other mummies while the kids played and earlier on in the class (meeting?) we did some “dancing” with the babies (I was feeding Noah at this time so didn`t get to do much “dancing”)

By the way, for those not in Japan, this event was completely free. These community centres have play areas set up and run by the city government- but they are almost always completely free.

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Mummy and me English class at my place went REALLY well last week. They are scheduled to come again next month and 2 of the students have asked if they can bring friends. I might end up having to separate the group in half since now I have 7 students and I am not really sure my place is big enough. I have said we will do one with the 7 people and see how it goes and if it is too many then we will either find another place to do the lesson (rent a room at the community centre for 500yen for 3 hours or so) or separate it into 2 groups. I am hoping to have another couple classes too- it is great money for not much time/effort on my part. The prep takes me an hour tops and they are here for an hour plus 30 minutes of regular chatting and some tea/coffee. Even if everyone only wants to do it once a month if I had one group each week it would be about $100 a week plus my other regular private lessons.

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Have been doing some research into baby led weaning (and also this article which got me started ) and think I might try a mix of that and the more traditional weaning approach (purees etc) and will see what he prefers. At the moment we are still giving him rice cereal once a day and it is going well- he likes to eat it and I have given him pureed apples once before too which he enjoyed.

Does anyone know WHY it is called weaning though? I see weaning as stopping breastfeeding which I have no intention of doing just yet- I see Noah`s start to eating as introducing solids

That said that I am concerned about the choking etc but I like the idea of Noah deciding for himself how much he wants to eat and for him to learn to feed himself (no matter how messy it is- me been a bit of a neat freak though will be investing in a big plastic mat to go under his highchair!). He already tries to grab for anything I am eating/drinking, has started to enjoy drinking from his sippy cup (water though, not breastmilk and he doesn`t drink much just enjoys putting it in his mouth more than anything so I give it to him while he is eating his rice cereal but on average drinks only 10-30ml a day). I was thinking of boiling (or baking) some carrots next week or the week after and trying a pureed version and then the next day trying some pieces to see what he prefers. He definitely likes to feed himself the rice cereal but misses his mouth more often than not the first time meaning rice cereal ends up all over him and very little ends up in his mouth- finger food pieces might bring him more luck!

From my post a couple of weeks back on solids I got some great advice and ideas but feel free to share your opinion on baby led weaning vs traditional weaning as well. I realize that if you do BLW (baby led weaning) strictly then it means no purees or spoon food (apart from cereal/yogurt) but I think I would prefer to do both as opposed to limiting myself (and Noah) to one.

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Some recent photos of the little koala munchkin…

In the food pictures I tend to think he takes more after Shun in the “slob” department than me in the “neat freak” department!!!

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I had heard about mummy guilt long before I had Noah. I just never realized how real an emotion it was.

I`m out doing the shopping and Noah starts crying- I am trying to balance an overflowing shopping basket on one arm, my handbag on the other and push the pram with the screaming baby at the same time and people are staring at me because the baby is crying (and possibly because they are trying to grab a look at the “gaijin” baby)…some people even feel the need to point out the baby is crying. As if I haven`t realized.

I talk to him to try and calm him down but of course that doesn`t work with a 4 month old (usually) and I can`t exactly stop what I am doing since leaving the basket on the floor with the overflowing groceries is not going to help things because I still am going to need the food in there even if I leave the shop to try and calm Noah. I feel bad leaving him cry so it is best to just try and get everything done really fast and hope he quietens down by himself (which after a couple of minutes he usually does. Of course those couple of minutes seem like hours in my mind!)

I feel pangs of guilt whenever he cries. It is not like when he was first born and those first 4 weeks, every time he cried, I felt like someone was stabbing me in the heart. Now when he cries and I know it isn`t because he is hungry, tired or in pain then I don`t feel so bad- I just try to calm him as fast as possible and give lots of cuddles and usually all he needed was a cuddle and a funny face from me to make him happy again. I still feel guilty though.

Like when he cries because I go to the kitchen to make my lunch (or even just heat it up). Or when I leave him in his chair to hang out the washing. He is quite needy (what 4 month old isn`t?) but they are things I have to do. And things I can not usually do while holding him. I still talk to him while I do them (or sing) so he knows I am close by…

Sometimes I feel guilty for leaving him in his jolly jumper even though he loves it and I take him out as soon as he starts to grizzle- usually before (sometimes he gets unhappy when I TRY to take him out of it). He has developed quite a whine too- and sometimes even if I am holding him and playing with him he still continues to whine and again I feel mummy guilt because there is obviously something missing, something that he wants that I am not giving him.

Letting him watch Wiggles or Baby Einstein while I cook dinner is another time I feel mummy guilt. I try to do it with him playing at my feet in the kitchen but he usually doesn`t last more than 5 minutes where as Wiggles and a toy can keep him occupied for 20 minutes (in which I check on him every 2 mins or so- I strap him into his chair though or lie him on his blanket). I know TV shouldn`t be used as a babysitter, hence the mummy guilt, but it is something he loves (he giggles at the tv…)…Should i still be feeling guilty over this?

I also can`t “play” with him every waking moment. I try to keep music on all the time (mainly kiddie stuff or classical but sometimes some stuff for mama too), and make sure he is entertained or has something to play with. He likes to sit on my lap while I read blogs sometimes and we also do airplane and tickle games as well as playing together on his mat, reading several stories a day, singing, lying on a blanket for tummy time and he also sits in his bumbo while I do chores like cleaning up the kitchen/bathroom if he is awake when I do them.

I still feel guilty though. As if I am not doing enough to satisfy his curiosity and help him develop…

I am not sure what else I could do though. Is the mummy guilt I feel even warranted? I try to get most things done while he is sleeping as he still naps 3-4 times a day and MOST of them are in his cot if we are home. What other things can I do to help him develop? Am I doing enough? Are these questions that all new mummies ask themselves?

He seems happier when we are not home all day. I think he quite likes to get out and “see” people…he loved the aquarium the other day. Was quite taken with the fish swimming around!

When do you feel mummy guilt? Is it warranted? Should I be “playing” with Noah every waking moment? Do these mummy guilt feelings ever end or am I stuck with them forever now?

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Noah is in the jolly jumper and I am eating a piece of toast to see if I am going to throw it back up again. Nice picture for you on a Tuesday morning huh?

Last night (after a really fun day out at Shinagawa aquarium with Cassie & Nana!) I got home, felt sick and then proceeded to vomit twice. Then I thought I was feeling a bit better, gave Noah a bath and then vomited on him (which meant having to do another bath)…I don`t think he even noticed. Maybe he thought I was just showering him with love? Love which looked like brownies and raspberry iced tea. Sorry for the imagery again there…just can`t help myself.

Ring Shun, tell him to come home as soon as he can, put Noah to bed and then go to bed myself at 8pm. Noah, been the little angel that he is proceeded to wake up 3 times before midnight but then slept til 5am then again until 9am. Shun dealt with the three times before midnight trying to get him back down to sleep and only bought him to me close to midnight to feed so that he could put him back down. I was only sick one more time but then haven`t been sick since then.

I think it was something I ate since I had no fever and today I am feeling better but just still really tired and have a really bad headache which I assume is probably dehydration. Noah seems okay too and if it was a bug I figured he would of gotten sick by now. Hopefully the toast I just ate stays down and by tomorrow I will be 100% again.

Honestly felt a bit like morning sickness. Which is a scary thought. Mum asked if I could be pregnant too. I guess if I am sick again I will be sending Shun to the drugstore on his way home…

Trying to take care of an infant when you feel like utter crap is hard.

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