Cherry Blossom Adventures

I missed my list last week so here are my things I am loving Thursday for the past two weeks…

• My new rocking chair- it arrived on Tuesday and Shun put it together Tuesday night when he got home (which was after midnight by the way) and it was waiting for me all together in the living room on Wednesday morning.
• Getting Noah to take naps in his cot- we have no problems getting him to sleep there at night (after he gets settled for the night I mean although he has been taking a couple hours to settle the last couple of nights making for a very exhausted mama) but during the day he would always wake up straight away so it was easier to get him to nap in his bouncer (when he would fuss before his nap, I would pick him up, pat his back and within 5 mins he would be asleep and then I would just put him in his bouncer at my feet and cover him with a blanket) – he is starting to move around a lot more now though so sleeping him in his bouncer would have involved strapping him in which hasn`t been necessary up to this point so I knew I would have to train him to nap in his cot. So far so good with the cot napping!! At least for most of his naps…
• Birthday cake! It is my birthday today but on Sunday when we were at the in-laws they had a lovely birthday cake for me which even had my name on it!!!
• Polaroid camera- yep, that is right, I finally got one after years of wanting one!!! Shun mentioned to his parents that I wanted one so that is what they got me for my birthday!!! I also got a lovely scarf from my BIL and SIL!
• Getting a couple of nice photos of Noah and his poppy.
• Smiles from my baby boy- they always make me laugh especially when he does giant gummy smiles! Sometimes I hear him wake up from his naps and go in to get him before he cries out and when he sees me he gets so happy! I love that!
• Lunch and coffee dates with friends.
• Life Unexpected- a new American drama. Quite liking it!!
• Weekend plans- this weekend we are going to see my old student Shion and his family and then on Sunday afternoon we are off to an engagement party for our friends Gen & Alice (who live in Melbourne but are in Japan for 10 days this week)- a lot of my old uni friends have met Noah already but he has changed so much in the last month so I am looking forward to showing him off and seeing Gen & Alice for the first time since our wedding! Then the following weekend Sarah & Nay will be in town, we also have a 2 year old`s birthday party and a lunch date out with some of the Tokyo bloggers on Monday March 1st! Then the following week my friend Clare arrives from Australia and will be able to meet Noah. (Clare was one of my bridemaids!)
• Noah`s 2 month birthday approaching tomorrow! I can not believe he is almost 2 months already and what a little personality he is developing!
• Reading spot books!
• Crossing things off my to do list! Even if they are boring cleaning related things like dusting and cleaning the oven and cleaning out the pantry
• Shopping for baby girl things for a certain friend expecting a little one in about  6-8 weeks!
• Salads for lunch- there is something so refreshing about eating salads with lots of yummy veggies plus some cheese and protein! Had a great one out the other day actually which had beans (not usually a beans fan but loved them), tuna and strangely enough strawberries! Plus I made one for myself yesterday!
• Shun coming home early tonight (arrived home at 8:10) and we ate dinner together (Although Noah still wasn`t asleep and cried the whole time)
• Phone calls from Australia and from friends in Japan for my birthday- plus lots of birthday messages.

On another note- we used to bathe Noah between 5:30pm and 6pm then feed him and put him down for the night. Sometimes it would take a couple of tries to get him settled in his cot but usually by 7pm he was down for good. The last week though it has taken up sometimes 4 hours to get him completely settled for the night. Tonight I bathed him at 6:10pm, fed him at 6:30pm in the rocking chair while listening to a lullaby cd in his room (and then again at 8:00pm since he still hadnt settled and seemed hungry again) and he has only settled in his cot asleep in the last 10 minutes (so 9:35pm or so) and we had to leave the light on as he seemed to scream a lot more when the lights were off.

Could he be afraid of the dark at this age? I will switch his light off soon when I go into bed. A couple of weeks ago the crying it out method worked for us (for two nights in a row at least) in which we would let him cry for no more than 10 minutes and he was always fast asleep before those 10 minutes were up….but that is not working now and he just gets himself into a tizzy so I would rather not do it.

During the night he rarely has trouble re-settling after waking up for a feed…in fact usually I feed him, burp him and he is asleep before I even put him back in the cot. Even if he is awake he will usually settle by himself…

Usually during the day he wouldnt go for more than 2 hours without a nap which is why I am not sure why it takes him so long to settle at night.

Tonight Shun was home by just after 8pm so he has been here to help me but most nights I am on my own and while he doesn`t cry the entire time he can not make up his mind whether he wants to be held or put down or rocked or fed or changed. I try everything. If he doesn`t settle though it means that while I may have prepared dinner earlier in the day I won`t usually have cooked it yet and unless he goes down properly I can`t- but by the time I do have him down for the night I am too exhausted to cook (or do anything) and usually I would go to bed about 9:30pm anyway ( have been since he has been born anyway)- obviously this is getting a bit stressful for me especially as it is just me most nights as I said(but I have some great friends who have offered advice and guidance and also just listened to me when I need to have a groan about it- you know who you are girls, and thanks).

I know all babies are different but any advice or hints on what worked with your children would be greatly appreciated? I am trying to stick with the same routine every night so that he recognizes that it is sleep time but it definitely isn`t working for us now. Tonight he screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour straight (8:30-9:30pm) and then fell asleep in Shun`s arms so sudden- he just stopped crying and was asleep and he didn`t wake up again when Shun put him in his cot (although light was on)…

Hopefully something I will be loving next Thursday is having discovered a sleeping routine that works for Noah! haha!

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Two recent videos of Noah during play time…

In the magic chair- seriously this chair has been a lifesaver and he will literally sit in it for an hour if I let him.

Mat time play is still something that is a bit short- we do a couple sessions a day but he gets a bit fed up with the lack of moving he can do after about 10-15 minutes. He likes the music though!

I can`t believe I am managing to blog everyday this week so far!! Tomorrow will be Things I Love Thursday too and on Friday it is Noah`s second month birthday so a new monthly letter to him!!

Hope everyone is having a good week- I wish I could get videos of Noah smiling a bit more, so maybe that will be something I can try next week!

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Originally Nay started Two for Tuesday in which she shares two recipes that she has used recently and this week I am going to join in (plus I purchased a slow cooker on amazon today with birthday money with two recipe books- one in English and one in Japanese with more Japanesey recipes so maybe I will be using a lot of new recipes in the future and hopefully be able to share them on here)…

In recent weeks I have actually tried a lot of new recipes, for two reasons. One, I have been looking for quick things that I can prepare earlier in the day or things that only take 10-15 minutes to prepare and cook so that if Noah is playing up then I don`t have to stress about when I will have time to make dinner and two because we are trying to save more money each month so I have been trying more Japanese cooking which pleases my husband and is better for our budget.

Bruchetta Chicken Bake
(Original recipe from All recipes but I had to change a few things- I made this today for the second time as it was a hit with Shun and great for making bento)

500-600grams of chicken breast (This is for the two of us, plus bento, plus probably a little extra for my lunch the next day)
Minced garlic (as much as you like)
1 x tin of diced tomatos
1 x red onion
1.5 cups of bread crumbs (original recipe calls for a box of chicken flavoured stuffing mix, and cup of water which is why I changed it to chicken stock below)
1 cup of chicken stock
Italian seasoning (I used what I had which was some all spice, basil, thyme and oregano)
grated cheese (original recipe calls for Mozerella)
parmasen cheese

Steps
(Calls for oven, pre-heat to 180 degrees and cook for 35 minutes)
1. Cut the chicken up into bite size pieces and dice the onion and chuck together with minced garlic, salt & pepper. Put in a baking dish.
2. Sprinkle with cheese (about half of what you want to use)
3. Put the breadcrumbs, diced tomato, chicken stock and spices in a bowl and mix- leave to sit for at least a minute so that the bread crumbs soak it all up.
4. Spread the bread crumb mixture over top of the chicken and sprinkle some more cheese over top as well as a little parmasen cheese.
5. Put in the oven. I serve it with a green salad and rice but you could forgo the rice if you wanted to (I just do it to appease the hub!)

Fried Pork and Vegetable rolls
(I am translating this recipe out of a book, so excuse the strange wording at times- my MIL makes something very similar which I have always enjoyed)

300grams pork pieces (ロース切り）
A little minced ginger
1 carrot
12 beans
1 stick of celery (I used leeks & asparagus instead since that is what I had, plus Shun doesn`t eat celery)
Some salad oil
soy sauce
Mirin
Japanese cooking sake

1. Cut the pork pieces into smaller pieces (I cut each piece in half)- leave in a bowl with the minced ginger to soak a little.
2. Cut the veggies into 6cm pieces- and then into quarters. (not necessary for the beans, the quarters anyway)
3. Roll bits of pork around the veggies
4. Put one tablespoon of oil in a fry pan and cook the pork/veggie rolls, as the pork begins to cook and change colour turn down the heat.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, mirin and sake to the pan and continue to cook on low heat for a couple minutes.

We at this with rice, gomae spinich and I can`t remember what else….

I also think this would make a great vegetarian recipe if you could make vegetable stock…

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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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Sometimes you just have a great day and for me, today was one of them!!!

Noah had a reasonable sleep last night and while i woke up for the day a little tired I soon recovered (as my body is certainly getting used to!). We set out at 10am to do a bit of shopping (Got Noah so jeans from gap for 9ooyen on sale) before heading to Kinshicho to meet Cassie & Nana for lunch. We hadn`t met up since September due to schedule conflicts, sickness, baby births and overseas travel so it was a long awaited catch up and it didn`t disappoint!

It was so nice to have lunch with a friend, talk about bubs and just catch up in general. Cassie & I have similar outlooks on life and it is always nice to catch up and while we live kind of far from each other it is still a doable lunch date!!!

We said goodbye about 3:30pm and Noah and I headed back to Funabashi to do some food shopping before heading home. Noah went down tonight quite well after his bath and feed and while he woke up once about 10 minutes after I put him down (so I went in and gave him a cuddle) he cried again when I put him down again but not a hysterical cry so I let him cry and within 5 minutes he was asleep. I never thought I could be one of those “let them cry it out” parents but for Noah it works- he is much better at settling himself than having me settle him. If I go in and settle him he falls asleep but wakes up again within 5 minutes of me putting him down and after a couple of horror nights last week and over the weekend in which it took me 2-4 hours to get him settled as he cried within 10 minutes of putting him down every time,  I decided to take my mum`s advice and the first time he cried after putting him down went in to cuddle him and say “shush, shush” and make sure he wasn`t crying because he was hungry or had gas but would then put him back down (usually asleep) and if he cried again I would let him cry it out- I made a deal with myself that if he cried for more than 10 minutes I would go in and comfort him again but I have done it twice now and he has always stopped well before 10 minutes and settles himself to sleep.

Some may say that letting him cry it out is cruel but I always make sure he is not hungry, gassy or cold so really he just wants to be held. In fact when I pick him up he always sleeps within one minute of me picking him up but will wake soon after putting him down again so this way is actually working well for us both. I know that the “letting them cry it out” method does not work for some but considering I do the bedtime routine alone it definitely works for us (and a sometimes he doesn`t cry at all but when he wakes up just chats to himself and soothes himself back to sleep.)

Anyway, continuing on with my great day. After Noah had settled for the night I got a phonecall from an unknown number and when I answered it I repeated “moshi moshi” several times before I heard a little voice say “Is this Teacher Laura?”- it was one of my old international preschool students Shion (from my old job in Kichijoji). His mum emailed me just before Christmas to say merry Christmas and a happy new year and say that she hadn`t heard from me in awhile. I wrote back saying I was back in Japan and expecting a baby in the next couple of weeks and she wrote back showing me some photos of her boys- I finally got around to emailing her again about a week ago to say that I had had my baby and that I hoped we could catch up soon and I included my keitai number and email.

Anyway Shion`s English was still awesome- we were always in awe of this little boy whose English was so great despite having no English outside of school. He is now 7 (I met him when he had just turned 4) and at elementary school but still taking advanced English classes twice a week outside of school and returnee English twice a week at school. He talked to me about his elementary school and said that his teacher was “kind of nice but a little mean” and also said congratulations for baby Noah. It was so cute and hearing him talk brought tears to my eyes. This is a little boy who was one of my favourite EVER students who I had not spoken to in almost 2 years yet he still remembers me!

We have plans to meet up in a couple of weeks!!! I have to speak to Shun about which weekend/holiday suits but I think we will drive out to his parents house sometime soon. I spoke to Shion`s mum for awhile after talking to Shion and I can not wait to meet up again in person. They have another little boy Kannon (who was 3 months old or so when I met him!) and he is now 3 and going to a different international school.

Soon after I hung up I got a call from my mum and we chatted for a bit too- we spoke last night and I was a bit down so she was ringing to check how my day was today. I just feel like today was such a lovely day and I just have such a positive vibe! Dinner is all prepared and in the oven and Shun mailed before to say he shouldn`t be too late and will probably be home by 9:30pm (I might already be in bed however)…

Anyway to conclude my gushy post, here are a couple photos of Noah & Shun from last week in which Noah experienced his first “big bath”…

How was everyone else`s day?

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I have been working on Noah`s scrapbook- I am not very good at scrapbooking but I am enjoying putting it together…

A post about Noah`s recent developments to come soon, but to be honest I am too exhausted to write it all down now. Hopefully I will find some time in the next couple of days… (but if he is as unsettled as he has been most nights during the last week for the next couple of days then the post might have to wait. I am seriously beginning to think that people can actually die from sleep deprivation.)

Also anyone that had been having issues with my site recently (mainly those using internet explorer as a browser) should no longer be having issues as my server host updated some things- if you are still having any issues loading the page or commenting please let me know or comment on the post below this one and my server host will look into it. Thanks to Radans & Snos, my host provider people (that is definitely the technical term, hehe) for helping me sort out the issues so quickly!!!

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Noah & I went to our first English playgroup today with Tokyo North East team- today`s meeting was at a play area in Nishi-Ojima. The group meets once a week on Thursday`s or Friday`s either in Nishi-Ojima, Ryogoku or Akihabara. The last two places are a lot easier for me to get to with Noah as it is only one train (and there are elevators).

The people I met were lovely (and a couple of them read this blog, strange to have people recognize me and me not know them. Although I guess now I know them!)- Noah was by far the youngest there today (the next youngest was almost 9 months or so) however one of the members is pregnant and will be having her baby in about 2 months. I won`t be able to go again now for a couple of weeks because my dad will be here but I definitely look forward to going back. Plus, Noah slept in his pram the entire way there and on the way back (and had two other short naps today as well)…

I have to upload some new photos of Noah- it has only been a week since I put some up but he is changing so much everyday! He has already outgrown all his 0000 clothes (except the two outfits from Nay, which luckily still fit!).

Also some of you have mentioned having issues accessing my blog and commenting on my blog- were the issues only on the day before yesterday? If so, this is because one of the other sites on the server where my blog is kept (In Australia) had a huge influx of traffic which is why my site was also slow. If you are still having problems (like with commenting) could you please let me know. Also, if you receive an error message could you please let me know what the error message is (either in the comments or email me). My host will try to solve the issue, we just need to figure out exactly what it is. Sorry for the problems you have been having.

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Very short list tonight as it has been a horror night so far and Noah has only just settled in the last 20 minutes and I am exhausted… plus I have a feeling he is probably going to stir again very soon.

• New recipes, mostly Japanese.
• Dad coming next week (Thursday in fact)
• cheap blueberries
• sleep
• Watching Noah trying to roll over and failing (I love this because it is so funny to watch- not because he is failing so much)
• Comments on my last post
• Getting chocolate cake, strawberries and steak from MIL when they came on Sunday
• Shun taking the day off work yesterday

And Noah has stirred yet again so the list must be cut short…

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