One Step, Two Step

I told myself months ago that I would set aside time every Saturday to blog. Oops. Oh well.

Here we are just a few short weeks (one and a half to be exact), away from Noah's first birthday. I was putting together some photos from his birth to now it's pretty amazing how much he has changed. Especially because he was so tiny at birth.

Now, just shy of his first birthday he's very verbal and making lots of sounds from mas and mums to das and bas to grunts (my personal favorite), he's also starting to high five, clap more, climb more (my least favorite) and is taking steps cautiously. He's kind of cautious and doesn't want to take on too much too fast, he wanted to master standing before attempting steps and he's very careful when he's on high furniture and knows how to get down 'gracefully.'

It's definitely a more fun time with him. His 'conversations,' playfulness and expressions, all make for such enjoyment. Plus he really is just a happy funny kid, so quick to laugh and smile. Though, we have found him to be more reactive too. Take a toy away and he'll cry, try to feed him and he'll push your hand away, redirect him and he'll go right back to what he was trying to do. Stubborn, just like his mommy and daddy.

To Japan and Back

Noah survived his flight, his first trip overseas, his first visit with his Japan grandparents, and his first time eating natto. It was a great trip with lots of family -- all of Akira's family visited with us and my family came to Japan, too.

Prior to the trip I definitely over-packed and over-prepared, but better to have things just in case when it comes to traveling with a baby. Diapers, four different kinds of wipes, bottles, food, blankets, clothes, toys, burp cloths, medicine....and that was all just in the hand carry. Fortunately, there were no major meltdowns on the flight going or coming back. Although he didn't sleep on either flight as much as we would have liked.

Traveling to Japan, well, Tokyo more specifically, was definitely challenging. It is not the most baby friendly city. It's hard to find the elevators at many of the stations if you are using a stroller, and there are tons of staircases, many of the restaurants don't have high chairs, and the ones that do don't have a buckle to secure the child down.

To anyone who is going to travel to Japan with a young child, what pointers would I give -- I would probably say, unless you are going to visit someone or need to go, choose another destination and/or wait until your child is older. I wouldn't do it again with Noah if his grandparents weren't there. Don't get me wrong, I love Japan and Tokyo. I lived there for five years, I just didn't love going there with my baby.

We were able to enjoy the cherry blossoms with Noah though. And took this great picture with him. The real purpose of our trip was for Noah's baba and jiji to spend time with him though, so the purpose was served. Akira's parents really enjoyed their happy smiley grandson and already miss him. We are hoping this will convince them to come down to Hawaii in June for Noah's FIRST BIRTHDAY! Just a few months away....

Moving on Up

At seven and a half months, my little monkey hasn't quite mastered crawling, but appears to be ready to walk. He has pulled himself up and can slowly go from one end of the couch to the other taking deliberate steps. This is a learning process for him, so he is learning how to fall/get down without getting hurt.

We haven't totally child-proofed the house yet. But I think we may be able to get away with limited child-proofing. We'll see though. He still moves slowly, so those are my thoughts for now. Once he's quicker, I may have to reconsider.

He's eating all kinds of fun stuff now too. I give him whatever basically, but so far the only thing he doesn't seem to really care for is meat. Mainly beef. But it is a strong taste for babies, so we'll just try again later. Not that he's wanting in the food area though. He is a solid baby and a little bit of a chunky monkey. I think it's also because he's kind of short. He's in the 15 percentile in height and the 60 percentile in weight. So he's a little teapot -- short and stout.

Lucky 13, A New Year

Whoops, if my New Year's resolution was to blog more then I have already failed. And in my head, I had thought to myself that I would try to blog more this year. I also thought I would study Japanese (still haven't done) and get to yoga more (it took my three weeks into January to get to my first class). FAIL! Oh well, I blame Noah and motherhood.

Noah is almost seven months and is "worming" his way around. I say worming because that is what he looks like when he "crawls" around the house. He hasn't quite figured out the one arm in front of the other with the legs to follow. It's his method of getting around and it works. He sees things around the house and will go after it.

He is so smiley, giggly and happy. I love it. And of course, I think he's the cutest baby.

His first Christmas was good. Very busy, as the holidays are, but good. We had to take a break from opening presents after half an hour though because he was getting cranky and needed a nap, then continued after he was rested. My brother and his family was home, so it was fun to have the cousins meet again and enjoy each other's company.

With our upcoming trip to Japan in spring Noah will have the opportunity to meet his Japanese family and also see my brother and his family along with my mom, too. It will be a great first family trip for our little dual citizen (who just got both his passports!).

A note on his sleep, I really think Babywise has made a difference for Noah. He continues to nap well (even better since he can sleep on his tummy since he rolls all over the place) and sleeps through the night at six, almost seven, months. And I continue to hear these "horror" stories from parents of babies of varying ages whose babies still don't sleep through the night or take good naps. I wasn't sure if I was a believer, but now I think I am...