Cherry Blossom Adventures

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Noah is down for a morning nap so thought I should try and get a blog post in before he wakes up and needs my attention (Read: More boob)- after a bit of a shocker of a weekend he is now back in a routine and taking naps, usually 3 a day, and in a happier mood. I think Saturday might of been a peak of a growth spurt which is why he was so grumpy/hungry/unsettled.

I have my first lesson today since Noah was born- we will be going to Myoden this afternoon to do English conversation with MIchiko. Was meant to be last week but because he was sick I switched it to this week. Michiko has her own little girl, Yuna, who just turned one, so she has no problems with me bringing Noah to the lessons especially since we only meet once a week anyway (and I go to her house)

Yesterday, a friend, Darlene, took me to a craft shop to pick up some scrapbooking supplies- Amanda also put me in touch with a lovely lady named Kirsten who sells imported supplies so I am all set now to start work on Noah`s baby scrapbook. I am really excited to get started on this new project even though I know my time will be limted I hope to do a little bit each day til I am up to date and then continue from there. I have the photos printed and ready to go and have already semi-mocked up a first page draft so hopefully all will go according to plan and I will be able to start tonight or this afternoon. I promise to upload photos of my progress as I go!

Noah slept from 6:30pm til 1am last night but then was up at 3:30am and 6:45am- Shun took him until 8am so that i could get a bit of extra sleep. When I say took him I mean took him into the living room, changed his diaper, put him in his bouncer and I think Noah just sat there while Shun fell asleep again! But hey, Noah wasn`t complaining and I got an extra hour of sleep! Since Shun gets home from work so late (has been after 10pm the last two nights anyway) I am usually in bed (even if I am awake reading for a bit) and he doesn`t get to see Noah until he wakes up for his feed (which is between 10:30pm-1am) and so we usually catch up while I am feeding Noah and talk about our days. Last night we talked a lot about buying a house- not that it is going to happen anytime soon but I was under the impression that if we bought our own place we would stop getting rent allowance from Shun`s company (They pay 3man of our rent a month and we pay the other 7man) but he said that we still would get it would just be paid half yearly instead of each month. I would love our own place, although we are happy where we are for at least another year or two, it would still be nice. While buying an apartment would be cheaper we still have our heart set on a house as I know Shun would love a dog, and I would love a small garden. We are not sure if we would ever be able to afford to buy land and build our own place though (which would be my dream!) and think we would have to settle for a place already built that would be a couple of years old or more. I guess it would make sense for us to buy though, especially if our mortgage was around the same amount we already pay monthly at the moment although I imagine it would be a little more- we decided we definitely wouldn`t be able to buy until I had some more regular part-time work as we are only managing to save a little bit each month at the moment on one salary. I think I also need to learn to be more frugal (Who am I kidding, I definitely need to learn to be a bit more frugal) and while we are sticking to our budget each month I know there are places we could save  more money- for example on groceries and probably our keitai bills too (as I call home a lot!). This is why I have enjoyed Kel`s recent post on their budget and how they save money each month. I am definitely going to buy a budget book and start writing everything down- I tried to do it in excel but I know I would have more luck if I physically wrote everything down at the end of the day instead. The excel budget is good and I refer to it each month to make sure we are meeting our budget and to see how much money I need to take out on the 25th (pay day) and also how much I need to transfer. I also record how much the bills were for each month but that is about all!

We need to start saving for a down payment on a house and also for a car- which we will eventually need to buy. At the moment we really don`t need one but it is on our “want” list- there is parking where we live for an extra 1man a month (about $100) but at this stage since we can use Shun`s parents car or grandmothers car whenever we want we haven`t bothered looking into buying on yet. Truth is though. I have my license but have only driven in Japan a handful of times (and most were before I even had my Japanese license) but would like to start driving more.

Also, on my 101 things list I have read a Japanese newspaper/magazine and understand it- and Kel has mentioned a couple of magazines about saving money and budgets that are in Japanese so I think I will make that my challenge for February- even if it takes me the entire month to read the magazine and understand it!!!

For those of you in Japan that have your own place- please feel free to share your experiences! I know where we live is a bit more expensive than some of you (since it is so close to Tokyo and we would still want to buy our own place in Chiba somewhere)- what were your considerations when you did buy? For those that have an apartment over a house- why did you go that way? If it is not to personal and you are happy to answer- how did you budget for a down payment? I have no idea how things work in Japan or how much a downpayment needs to be but I am guessing it is a fair bit- to tell you the truth I really have no idea how much a hosue costs either- although I have a bit of an idea of how much land costs as we have looked into it before.

Talking about buying our own place is definitely exciting though and funnily enough we also talked about when we would like to start trying for baby number 2- I would like to have bub number 2 around the time Noah is 2 or 2 and a half but am I crazy to think having another baby while he is going through the throughs of “terrible 2″ is a good idea?

Well Noah has stirred and now on my lap feeding so I better go!

Oh and if anyone knows of some private lessons/work that I could take my baby too please let me know!

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Noah has had a bad day today. That said, he slept last night from 6pm until 1am then woke again at 4:30am and 7:30am so he had a good night so perhaps the bad day was to be expected? He basically refused to nap ALL DAY- only sleeping on me for half an hour (after he had fallen asleep several times but as soon as I put him down he was awake again), and then fell asleep on Shun just before 5pm and we put him on his playmat to continue sleeping and he stayed that way for an hour.

Once he woke up we bathed him, fed him and put him in bed and usually he is pretty much asleep when I put him in his cot and they he just stays that way til his next feed which can be anywhere from 3-7 hours later. He usually has his bath between 5:30pm and 6:00pm and is in bed by 6:30pm. Tonight, I put him down for the first time at 6:30pm and it took us 2 hours to settle him for sleep- he kept waking up screaming after we put him down.

I think he was just overtired but I am not sure. He has been asleep now for almost 40 minutes and I am hoping he stays that way for at least another hour or two.

Shumpei thinks maybe Noah had a headache (how could we tell?) because I have had a headache all day and I almost thought I was getting a migraine earlier today so Shun watched Noah for awhile so that I could have a 2 hour nap- I still woke up with a headache but it wasn`t as bad- as soon as I finish posting this though I am off to bed again. I am thankful it wasn`t a migraine (I didn`t vomit or lose vision in one eye like I usually would which is why I know it wasn`t a migraine- good thing too since it has been more than 2 years since my last one)

Yesterday we had our one month check up at the doctors. Since it was a Friday I got to see the doctor who I saw for pretty much the first 3/4 of my pregnancy until I had to switch to a different day and see the main doctor. I hadn`t seen Shimura-sensei for months and had forgotten how funny his English is- he speaks very little English but I think he likes to practice on me and I think it is cute so I just let him. He checked me over and said “all fine- you can do exercise, take bath, make love” except it sounded like “make ruv” – I found it very hard not to giggle! Oh and I didn`t even realize I wasn`t supposed to have had a bath because I have been…Whoops!!!

Noah was also very genki and well- he had gained almost 1.4kg in 5 weeks since birth!!!!!! I was as surprised as anyone- I knew he had put on weight but had no idea it was so much- I was thinking maybe half of that. They were very surprised that he was only breast fed and the nurse kept commenting on how much milk I must have- they also asked how often I fed him and when I said every 2.5-3 hours during the day and sometimes at night every 3-6 hours or so depending on when he waked up they were surprised I wasn`t feeding him more considering how much weight he had gained. He also grew 2.5cm in length!! So he now weighs almost 4.6kg and is 52.5cm or so. They said he was very strong and couldn`t believe his head control and how “awake” he was….

Oh and we had our first train trip- Shun`s dad picked me and Noah up and dropped us off at the clinic but I had told him I didn`t know how long the appointment would take so we would just catch the train home since I needed to do some shopping anyway and let me just say I am so glad we invested in a “light” pram because it was actually quite easy to manoever and lift by myself onto the train etc. Luckily all our stops (we had to change trains) had an elevator as well! So yes, first train trip successful!

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Flicking through my journal (which has been sadly left to the wayside in recent months) I found my resolutions for 2009. I make resolutions most years and enjoy writing down my goals for different things. I am a huge list maker and resolutions are no different…

I sometimes even write resolutions for the week kind of like a to do list- some of which have to be done (like the shopping!) and others which are more for me (like finish a book or journal 2 times etc)

Even though we are now more than half way through the first month of 2010 I sat down today and wrote some resolutions for this year but first here are the resolutions I wrote in my journal on the 1st January 2009.

” 2009 will be the year I get married, become more responsible with money, make another international move and hopefully get pregnant. It is set to be a very big year and I am going to be happy, a good wife and pro-active in what I want and what I need to do. My resolutions

- Lose at least 5 more kilos thought healthier eating, more regular exercise etc. Preferably before the wedding.

- Be more responsible with money, combine our finances and work at saving a little bit each month.

- Get pregnant

- Learn to use photoshop, at least the basics

- Find an apartment in Tokyo/Chiba and make us a home we both love. ”

I succeeded in completing 4 out of 5. I did lose 5 more kilos before I got married. I weighed 78kg on new years day and reached 73kg before I got pregnant, we are definitely more responsible with money now and have combined our finances and are working to save a little each month. I got pregnant (and even had the baby!), I worked on photoshop but sadly this is the one I did not complete as I still know very little about it but will hopefully try to work more with it this year and we found a great apartment in Funabashi which we both love.

Some of my goals/resolutions for this year are similar to those i had last year, a little like an extension of what I already achieved.

1. Cross as many things off my 101 things in 1001 days list as possible- do not beat myself up if some remain unfinished on the deadline, donate $10 to charity for each uncompleted task and move on. Write another list to start on Jan 1 2011. (This will incorporate learning to use photoshop which I did not complete in 2009)

2. Make a scrapbook for Noah of his first year of life, write monthly letters to him to read when he is older (Blog these and print to put in the scrapbook), and be diligent about filling in his baby book with his milestones and accomplishments.

3. Have $10,000 (AUD) or more in our savings account by the end of the year (we almost have this now with the baby bonus set to come in soon but I mean that we STILL have to have this much in our savings account even with a trip back to Australia for the three of us)

4. Get back to pre-baby weight and maintain my weight- preferably lose a couple more kilos or more. Try to exercise three times a week (walking to the train station and back does not count)

5. Find some more part-time work or lessons or a way to earn some money.

Do you believe in resolutions? Did you make some for 2010? Share if you like!

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Noah is approaching three weeks old and is changing all the time- we seem to have gotten into a bit of a routine which is nice. He has his bath about 5:30pm then I feed him and put him down for the night- his first sleep of the night (6:30pm or so) is for 4-5 hours and then he is up every 3-4 hours after that which is not bad for a newborn- some nights he is up more often but most nights he is pretty good. Touch wood he continues to be an okay night sleeper!!! Usually at night after I change him, feed him and burp him he is already asleep again so I just need to put him back in his cot and he is fine. We were using a basket next to the bed for the first two weeks but he was a very noisy sleeper and I wasn`t getting any sleep even though he was so we have moved him to his big cot in his own room and just leave the doors between our room and his room open.

He is usually wakes up for the day anywhere from 6:30am to 8am and has his longest awake time for the day, usually an hour and a half or two hours. Since Shun is getting ready for work around this time he usually has cuddles with daddy and watches some tv before having some play time on his tummy and back. He also loves his rainforest bouncer and often if he can`t get to sleep I pop him in there with or without the music and he drops off to sleep by himself (thanks Cassie!)- if he doesn`t have any wind then he will usually drop off to sleep for his naps by himself if I put him in his bouncer or cot or be asleep by the time I finish feeding him.

Breastfeeding is going really well too- I was really worried before I gave birth that I would have issues but he has been a good feeder since birth and we have had no problems. I expressed milk the other day when we left Noah for a couple of hours with Shun so that mum & I could go to Funabashi to do a bit of shopping but Noah slept the entire time so mum ended up feeding him the next morning so I could get some extra sleep. He takes to the bottle okay as well which is good to know although breastfeeding him is much easier (and less time consuming, since boiling bottles etc is a bit of  a pain in the bum!)

I think I have lucked out (so far at least) because Noah is a pretty easy baby and is usually easily calmed down if he does get upset. Having my mum here also has been great since she is happy to help out with the baby, cleaning and cooking! She loves Noah so much and is already dreading going back to Australia. Noah does get a bit windy though and sometimes his belly gets sore but he calms down a lot if you rub his back.

I am a bit tired but try to get to bed reasonably early and will have a nap during the day if I am really exhausted- sometimes mum will take Noah in the morning and let me get a bit of extra sleep. I will definitely miss that when she goes home!!!

It was nice having Shun around so much too until Monday when he went back to work- he didn`t want to go back and every morning when he hugs and kisses Noah goodbye he always says he doesn`t want to go. He is already looking forward to the weekend. Next Monday we will also be doing Noah`s Omiyamaeri (first shrine visit for blessing?) so that my mum can also be there.

Now for some cute photos (maybe I am biased but I think he is pretty damn cute!)

New Years Day 2010- first family shot of the new year!

Mat time!

Tummy time at night! Pretty good head control already and getting stronger every day!

He loves his bath time and likes to kick away!

Getting aquainted with Spot (A gift from my brother and his gf)

Wink!

Before the new year, Sarah & Sakura came to visit! Sakura is a lot bigger than him now but in a couple of months he will be catching up!

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Noah`s first Christmas- he was six days old.

Shun had to work so on the 25th it was just Noah & I- I took a photo of him with his stocking though even though the only christmassy things we did all day was listen to Christmas carols and eat leg ham on toast.

We opened up presents on the 27th after mum arrived- here is Noah with his stash (mainly books!)

It is great having my mum here to help out as she is doing the majority of the cooking and helping out with the cleaning (so is Shun!) and of course enjoys holding baby and even likes to offer to change him and who am I to say no. She is still here for another 2 weeks and I am very grateful for the extra help (and her offers to watch Noah so I can grab some extra sleep).

Tomorrow we are off to the in-laws for the new years day celebrations- mum & I baked cookies and some fudge today to take with us while Noah was napping. It will be Noah`s second outing as we took him out yesterday when we went to the supermarket- he was all rugged up and slept the entire time in his pram. (Thanks to Mel who sent the little jacket for him!)

Wishing everyone a very happy new year that is filled with fun, laughter & love! Bring on the new decade!!!

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Basically I am blogging to get rid of the belly shot that was sitting at the top of my blog. HAHA.

I still have a cough from the chest infection- it is getting better but I had to go and get more medicine from the chemist yesterday. I am not sure if it is reaction from the medicine but since last Friday I have been itchy all over my arms, legs, back and stomach. There is no rash of any kind and we didn`t start using different detergent or anything so I have no idea why. It is very annoying though.

Shun has been working really late these last couple of weeks so I am home alone for a lot longer- he leaves here at about 8:45am (starts work at 10am in Tokyo) and hasn`t been coming home til about 11pm. It wouldn`t be so bad if I wasn`t home pretty much EVERY day alone….I am so bored. He wants to work late now on the project so that when the baby comes he doesn`t have to work as late and also so that he could take a couple days off without getting worried about getting called into work.

There are actually heaps of things I could be doing at home but I don`t have the energy/motivation but here is a list anyway (cos who doesn`t love a good list!)

- Writing

-Sewing

-Knitting

-Cleaning

-Baking

- Studying

Oh and there is heaps more. Instead I sleep, watch TV, spend time on the internet, cook dinner and then go back to watching TV. Sometimes I have skype chats with friends! I either want the baby to arrive OR I want some motivation to fall from the sky!

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MIL rang me at 10:30am this morning to see if she could stop by our apartment to drop off some pants for Shun (that my mum sent- but I wasn`t sure I could take them up myself so she got someone to do it for us) and some other things that she forgot on the weekend.

I said not a problem.

She rang again when she arrived at Funabashi station saying that she had come by train (I thought she would of driven) and could she stop and get anything for us from the supermarket. I had plans to go out today and pick up a couple of things and update our bank book and pick up the drycleaning but it looked freezing outside so I gave her a couple of things to pick up for me (veggies and OJ)- I figured the dry cleaning and bank book can wait another day!

When she arrived I invited her in (of course!) but she said she was not going to stay long- she had the groceries, some mail, the pants and some smoked cheese that she bought somewhere recently (I guess she went on a day trip? Somewhere famous for smoked cheese?)…we were still chatting 5 minutes later so I invited her in for a drink but she said no it was fine. We continued chatting about my family and SILs pregnancy and other things and must have talked for almost 20 minutes standing in the entrance to our apartment before she said she needed to go because she had to do her own shopping before she went for her afternoon shift at the hoikuen (she works early mornings and then afternoons at a local hoikuen/daycare centre)- she told me to tell Shun that she would ring him on the weekend to discuss having dinner together sometime soon with BIL & SIL as well and that I should wear lots of warm clothes because it was cold!

I feel bad that she came all this way and still didn`t want to come inside. I was still in bed when she had called at 10:30am (I didn`t get to sleep last night til 4:30am but that is a whole different story!) and so I jumped up did a quick tidy up and cleaned the dishes and got changed into something OTHER than my PJs.

She has never been to our place before when Shun hasn`t been home- I wonder if that is why she didn`t want to come in? Usually even if she comes to pick us up (or FIL does) to take us back to their place usually they will not come in. I find it a bit strange… I was thinking maybe it is because she invited herself but perhaps if I invited her around then she would be more comfortable? I don`t know…

My MIL is quite a shy person but we get on quite well- sometimes we clash over things but I learnt very early on to nod and smile instead of causing waves and she does the same with me (I can tell! hehe!)- as usually any difference of opinion we have is more to do with age and or cultural differences. She has said she would like to come over and help when the baby arrives and I have told her of course and that she is welcome anytime….I hope she knows that I am not just saying that and that if she wants to come over and bring groceries to help me out or what not, especially before my mum arrives from Australia, then she should. Hopefully she won`t just want to stand in the genkan though (entrance) because it is freezing there…

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Boring day today due to the rain. I was supposed to meet a friend for coffee at Funabashi station since she would be passing through (she lives way out past Chiba station) but I decided going out in the rain would not be a great idea since I am still coughing a little with the chest infection- bit disappointed really because I have no other plans now for awhile meaning I will be stuck at home.

Shun has been working later and later these last couple of weeks with things getting busier on the project he is working on. He has come home around 11pm the last 2 nights. I did ring him at work yesterday to tell him to keep his phone on him though because I was having regular braxton hicks with some pain from 2pm onwards- they didn`t stop until I went to sleep last night but the pain didn`t intensify at all so didn`t think too much of it. Today they haven`t really returned so am guessing all is okay! I have a doctor`s appointment on Saturday anyway so I am sure they will check to see if the baby is on his way or not. I rang Shun again about 9pm to tell him something else and he was like “akachan kiteiru? daijyoubu” (Is the baby coming? Are you okay) and I was like “oh no sorry to scare you, I am ringing about something else now…” hahaha. I guess he is starting to get worried.

Me, I am not so worried yet about giving birth. In fact my biggest fear is actually having my water break in public and looking like I peed myself. I know the chances of this are slim but still I am scared. Plus Shun said Japanese people will just ignore me if this happens which I think is worse and scaring me more!!!

I should of done the washing yesterday because now it looks as if the rain is sticking around til the weekend meaning I will need to wash tomorrow but hang everything up inside the house which is just not as nice. Plus it takes so much longer for things to dry. Melanie talked about how she had to go buy some disposable diapers for her new bub because of the weather and no access to a dryer down at her in-laws place- I have some cloth diapers to use with Goma-chan but haven`t bought that many yet because I want to make sure I will use them before investing too much money in them and we have a pack and a half of newborn disposable diapers ready to go as well (the half pack came from a friend, her little boy grew out of them before she used the whole pack). Not sure how I will do with cloth diapers since we do not have a dryer either yet I know drying them in sunlight is the best thing for them. Anyone else use cloth diapers? I have bumgenius ones but debating whether I should buy more before baby comes or not- thinking it will be best to hold off for now! I have no idea why I said diapers throughout that whole paragraph considering I am Australian and we say nappies….

I did work on Goma-chan`s quilt today. I did the actual quilting so now all of the parts are sewn together and it has turned out okay I think (ie, the backing, quilting inside part and the front patchwork part are now all sewn together). I have pinned the binding on but just need to sew it all on tomorrow or Friday and will then be done- I cheated and ended up buying ready made binding because the thought of having to cut it all up was enough to give me a headache. I like the idea of doing it myself but knew I lacked patience!!! Might need to go back to working on the knitted hat for the baby after that since I have no other craft projects on the go at the moment apart from the baby hat and the quilt.

Spent the rest of the day surfing the net, watching American dramas (The Good Wife, NCIS, CSI Miami, Gossip Girl) and reading. Quite dull actually! Attempting to blog everyday leaves me with not much to say when I do blog I guess.

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