100th day Celebration

We held a "OKUIZOME" celebration last weekend. Okuizome is a ceremony held either on the 100th or 120th day after the birth.

This is an old Shinto belief where you symbolically put food in front of the baby's mouth wishing that they will have enough food to eat throughout life.


I prepared the sekihan (festive red bean rice), tai (grilled sea bream), hamaguri soup (clam clear soup), nimono (stewed chicken with vegetables), tako & kuri ( octopus and cucumber) and umeboshi(pickled plums).

A small stone is also placed next to the food to wish for the baby to have strong, healthy teeth.

Shun can't eat any of the food yet so the whole thing seemed bizarre to him. Moreover he was sleepy and in a grumpy mood throughout.

We put him to sleep after pretending to feed him and ate up all the food by ourselves.

October - a new beginning of new challenges

First day of October. Start of another new month. Time passes so fast. July, August and Sept flew by. More than half of 2007 is gone!

Shun turned 3 months last week and started to develop a fixed sleeping pattern. Followed the baby whisperer`s recommended day routine and he is sleeping 4 hours in the day, 7-9 hours at night now. Hope I am not jinxing myself by saying this here.

Finally have time to sit down, enjoy dinner together with husband, catch up on daily happenings, less quarrels, feel less insecurities, sleep better at night and most importantly inhale fresh air. Summer is gone. I hardly have time to step out of the house and is oblivious of what happened during summer.


Motherhood starts at the birth and will never end till the day of a mother`s last breath. Motherhood is all about making sacrifices for your little one. Sacrificing your time, sleep, changes in the body, hair. Both physically and mentally challenged.

I started losing hair 2 weeks ago. According to the Internet resources, hair loss is due to hormone changes, is temporary and should stop about 6 months after birth. Nothing much can be done to prevent hair loss during this period.

Nevertheless I got myself a new haircut last week. Spent 3 hours at the salon giving a new color and shine to my dying strands. Felt rejuvenated and ready to face the world again with a new mother`s confidence.

When can I sleep through the night again ?

As the title mentions, long hours of uninterrupted sleep has become a luxury since Shun arrived on this earth. You can imagine how impressed and full of envy I was when my friend Jayne told me about her little boy who can sleep through almost 10 hours every night.

Her secret to success is a book called "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby", by Tracy Hogg.

`Read this book` Jayne said. `Its my all time baby bible`.

Immediately, I got my hands on this book from Amazon Japan. The book focuses on newborns and parenthood introducing all the tips in establishing a fixed routine, understanding and communicating with a new baby.


In order `train` a new baby to sleep well at night, I am supposed to devote myself to Hogg`s E.A.S.Y routine and create a structured daily routine for myself and baby. This routine is composed of repetitive cycles of each letter. The E, A and S are interrelated - changes in one usually affect the other two.

E - Eat
A - Activity
S - Sleeping
Y - Time for Yourself

It takes time and lots of patience for baby to fully follow mummy`s desired routine. I am still in the midst of adjusting Shun`s habits and biological clock. Hopefully I will be able to post my success story very soon.

Quiet Moments

I am enjoying some quiet moments now. No screaming to be fed, no fussing to be carried.

Typhoon No 9 is blowing with heavy rain but I don`t care even if it is flooding outside. My little brat is sleeping. Allow me to enjoy the rest of this evening in peace with a cup of hot milo.

Shun`s 2nd Month

Shun turns two months old today.
Here`s a short update of his latest happenings.

☆　he can no longer fit into newborn nappies. Changed to S size nappies last week.

☆　he has grown eyelashes.

☆　he is losing his baby hair.

☆　he drinks about 800ml of milk per day.

☆　he now responses to our calls with his collection of cooing sounds and smiles.

☆ he can focus better, eyes following our movements.

☆　he starts sucking his fingers.

☆　he likes to go to supermarkets. It’s cool and he can sleep soundly
throughout the trip.

☆ he loves taking baths. The best time to capture his big smile is after
his bath time.

☆ he likes to snuggle with his daddy like a little koala

☆ he hates to have his nappy changed and face wiped.

☆ he screams when he is hungry.

☆ he can sleep 3-5 hours at night.

He is not an Angel baby (the Perfect Baby) but definitely our little angel - a precious gift sent to us.

Summer Delights

Its freaking hot in Japan now. This year is probably the hottest summer on record with temperature in some places hitting 40 degrees. Matsumoto has recorded a highest of 38 degrees.


Though I have lived in a tropical country for more than 20 years, this heat is unbearable.






Delishing in cool desserts is one way to take my mind off the crazy heat. Jellies are such great summer desserts - light, refreshing and perfect with all the fresh fruits.

Just looking at the vivid colours of these sweet yummies should cool you down and make you drool.

A Day with Shun

Today I managed to put together a short clip for my relatives in Singapore who can`t wait to hold Shun. If everything goes smoothly, Shun will make his debut in Singapore this December.

I Love Fireworks

Just want to share this spectacular show that we watched from our window last night.

Summer with Shun

August is the hottest month and it was blazing hot outside at 34 degrees today. With little Shun around, I hardly have a chance to step out of the house and experience summer.

While Shun was in dreamland this afternoon, I meddled with photoshop and imagined that we visited the sunflower fields. Next summer, we will bring him to the fields and show him how big and gorgeous real summer sunflowers are.

Homemade Summer Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce is one of my favourite sauces to make in Summer.

I usually buy a carton of fresh summer tomatoes and freeze my handmade sauce in order to make a quick meal at a later date. This sauce is simple to make, healthy and great for spaghetti or served over grilled pork/chicken.


Here are the ingredients for my tomato sauce:
8 riped tomatoes
2 tbs of olive oil
2 medium onion peeled and diced
2 laurel leaves
1 tbs basil
5 tbs ketchup
4 tbs tonkatsu bulldog sauce
2 tbs worcestershire sauce
Salt and ground black pepper


I no longer have time to cook fancy dinners while tending to baby`s needs. For tonight`s dinner, I took out a packet of my premade tomato sauce and made a quick meal with spaghetti. Served within 20 mins.

First Month Updates

How time flies, Shun turns one month old today. I have no idea how this happened so quickly.

Looking after a newborn requires much more energy and attention than we thought. Luckily my mother in law came to help us throughout this one month which enabled us to catch some sleep.

It's been amazing to watch Shun grow and change though I think he wails too much. He weighs a healthy 3.6kg now and is 5cm taller. He is getting very active - swings his arms and kicks violently when he is hungry or feeling upset. He even scratched his father`s face last weekend.

Despite pre reading tonnes of information available to prepare us for baby`s arrival, there is nothing like the real thing. We are still trying to adapt ourselves as new parents and get to know baby better, figuring out what the different noises and cries mean.

Nevertheless, this little brat has already become an important part in our lives and we are looking forward to seeing him grow in the days, months and years to come.

Shun`s (俊) 2nd week @ Home

Sweet Dreams

Date : June 29 2007
Time : 1:09am
Venue : Hospital Bed

My Labour Story

24 June (Sun)
5am
I felt some diarrhea like pains in the early morning. Told my husband about it but brushed it off since it was bearable. Went back to sleep with the pains coming on and off.

9am
Felt the pains coming in more frequent coming once every 10-15mins. Wondered whether it was due to the sushi I ate for dinner on Sat night. Brushed the pain off again since due date is 2 weeks later. Husband started to get nervous and kept asking whether he should call the hospital. I continued to sleep while he start to pack in case I needed to be hospitalized.

11am
Woke up and ate breakfast. Felt the pains coming once every 7-8mins. Decided to call the hospital at 1130am.

12:20pm
Doc said I was already 7cm dilated! I couldn`t believe it and felt excited about baby arriving soon.

13:00pm
Changed into hospital gown and strapped on to CTG machine for 30mins. Husband proceeded with the admission procedures.



14:00pm
Transferred to another room to wait for full dilation. Lunch was served.
Drank a bottle of chicken essence to replenish energy.

15:00pm
Nurse came in at regular intervals to monitor baby`s heartbeat and my contractions.

16:00pm
8cm dilated. Contractions becoming worse but still bearable. Husband kept massaging my spine area and lead me to control my breathing method.

21:00pm
Was fully dilated. Moved to delivery room. Nurse said that baby will be delivered by midnight if everything goes smoothly,

23:00pm
Doc said baby`s head is not moving low enough for delivery. I was told to release my bladder to ease baby`s passage down. Went to toilet with the help of nurse and husband but can`t feel the urge to urine.

23:20pm
When I opened the toilet door, my waterbag burst suddenly and splattered all over the floor. The colour of the water was brown which showed that baby was in distress.

25 June (Monday)
12:10am
Doc came and told the nurse to insert urine tube. PAINFUL! I bited on to my husband`s hand.

12:30am
Put on drip and antibiotics to prevent any infection.

2:00am
Doc explained that I might have to go through C-section as baby is showing signs of distress. Made preparations for C-section (X-ray, blood test, electrocardiogram). I kept praying very hard that I do not have to go through any more trauma.

2:30am
Urine tube inserted for second time. Bited on to my husband`s hand again.

3:30am
Contractions became worse and I was screaming every time it came. Told my husband I want to give up and go ahead with C section. Husband was calm and kept encouraging me.

4:30am
Was told by the nurse that she can see the baby`s head moving down a little.

4:50am
Another doctor was called in for further discussions on how to deliver my baby.

5:10am
Doctors decided to proceed with assisted natural delivery by using the vacuum. I was injected with medicine to speed up contractions.

5:20am
One doctor climbed on a chair and instructed me to push hard when I feel the next contraction. I see the other doctor down there with a pair of scissors giving me episiotomy.

5:34am
The biggest contraction in my life came and I used all the remaining strength I had to push as told. The doctor who was on the chair pushed my stomach hard and the other doctor attached a rounded cup to baby's head in the birth canal. I gave out a loud scream. Husband told me he can see baby`s head.

5:35am
Baby Shun finally arrived after 23 hours 50 mins of hard and long labour without epidural or any pain reliever !No more energy to shed any tears of happiness. Finally, was given anesthetic injection and was stitched up.

Our Baby

Baby Shun has arrived in our arms on June 25 2007, 535am, weighing at 2806g.

I will update on my birth story later when I have time.

A Day at the Art Museum

On Sunday, we visited the Chihiro Art Museum located at Azumino city, about 40mins drive away from home. Our kind neighbour gave us two free entrance tickets to this highly recommended art museum.

This museum displays mainly works by Chihiro Iwasaki (1918-1974), one of Japan's best-known children picture book illustrators.


As many of her works were painted in watercolours or pencil sketched more than 40 years ago, some of the exhibits are replicas printed with the help of high technology printers to prevent further deterioration of the originals. I wouldn`t have noticed if the museum didn`t indicate the replicas as they look almost exactly like the original works.



I never knew much about this talented illustrator until visiting the museum today. Her style is beautiful in its simplicity and the soft innocence of the children portrayed in her works do charm my heart more than I have ever known.

The museum has a second location in Tokyo. I hope that we can visit it someday.

37 weeks

This week I'm officially 37 weeks pregnant which is considered full term. As I near the end of my pregnancy and my body is getting bigger than ever, (41kg --> 49.7kg!), I am getting excited to be so close to meeting our little one.

During the last checkup, the midwife advised me to walk for at least 2 hours every day for an easier labor. At this stage, I feel too heavy and uncomfortable to do much by myself so I really appreciate my husband for offering to walk an hour with me every night after dinner.


Next week at my appointment, the doctor will see how dilated and effaced my cervix is. Apparently it is not a very comfortable check but I have to deal with that somehow.

We've finished all our to-do things like cleaning the house, attended all the prenatal classes, and packed the hospital bag. We're almost ready. We're just waiting for our little baby now.

Wish us lots of luck!

Sunday lunch

Takashi and I dine out at least twice a week and have always been up for trying new restaurants. However with a baby arriving soon, we probably won`t have time or the extra cash for fine dining.

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to a Japanese-French bistro restaurant recommended by Takashi`s colleague. French cuisines are usually formal and expensive, but this restaurant was casual with no fancy truffles or fois gras. It was not exactly `French` because
1) food was served in Japanese pottery
2) we were supposed to eat with chopsticks only
3) we sat on a traditional tatami mat

Nevertheless, the dishes did not disappoint. Being heavily pregnant, I had the privilege of selecting the most expensive lunch course menu which had both the meat and fish options. Here`s a glimpse of what I`ve enjoyed.

Appetizer - Chicken pate rolled in ham


Seafood avocado salad


Carrot and onion cold soup


Pan Fried Suzuki Fish with vegetables


Grilled Japanese Beef


Banana ice cream with custard cream sponge cake & Green Tea Mousse


English Tea served in Japanese pottery

Cross-stitch

I have stopped baking breads recently due to water retention in my hands. My fingers are slightly swollen and I`ve lost the strength to knead the dough. It seems like there`s nothing much I can do about it except reduce salt intake and maintain a healthy diet.

Besides baking, I have been busy stitching since March and glad that I managed to complete before my fingers started aching.


Since I am stuck at home more often due to the cold weather and pregnancy insomnia, I was stitching during the day and every evening, to the point where I almost feel like I’m churning things out.

This one is for my kitchen. The border stitches were more tedious than expected. I spent 2 weeks on the borders alone. phew..


I stitched this Suzy Zoo picture for our new baby`s room. Love the cute design and the bright coloured threads used.

Egg Tarts

My craving for egg tarts started when I found out that the KFCs in Matsumoto were unable to obtain the stock from HQ due to over popularity. This afternoon, I went through my recipe book and decided to bake since I had all the ingredients required in my fridge.


INGREDIENTS: (8 tarts)
Pastry:
110g flour
50g non salted butter
20g sugar
2 tablespoon of egg mixture

Custard Filling:
3 egg yolks
110cc water
15cc evaporated milk
20g fine sugar

Pastry : Rub in butter into the sifted flour,sugar,egg mixture until it forms into a dough. Roll the dough into a large ball, cover with wax paper and refrigerate while preparing the custard filling.

Custard : Heat 100cc water in saucepan and add the fine sugar. Cook until the sugar has melted and allow to cool. Lightly beat in the eggs and stir in the evaporated milk.

Roll out the dough and cut out circles. Fit the circles into the tart shells.
Pour the custard filling into the greased shells.

Bake at 220 degrees in preheated oven for 8-9 mins until the crust turns slightly brown. Cover the tarts with aluminium foil and continue baking for another 5-6 mins. Cool before removing the tarts from the shells else the custard will sink. ENJOY!