A Color of Your Own

It is vernal equinox today. It is said winter cold doesn't last after equinox. However, we had a very cold weather and untimely snow today in the Tokyo and its suburban area. In my city, it was showering in the early morning and changed to snowing before noon. It came starting raining afternoon. Snow didn't pile up in the flat area. I stayed at home all day. I feel want to go out as I have plenty of free time now.

Sansai is an edible vegetable grown in a mountain. In this season of a year in Japan, you can find it in a mountain and see it at a local farmer's store. Sansai is good for health. I watched TV program featuring Sansai this evening. It says Yomogi is good for blood vessel. Fukinoto is good for intestine. The most popular way for eating Sansai is Tempura. I do not cook Tempura at home because it needs to take care of a large amount of oil after cooking. But I was thinking of beginning to cook tempura and other fried foods as we are welcoming a new addition to our family.

Pregnancy yoga is gentle exercise for pregnant woman. I used to do yoga at  a fitness gym and my home sometimes. After pregnancy, I brought a pregnancy yoga book with DVD and do yoga at home following its instruction. Once I attended a pregnancy yoga class at Mellow-Yoga studio in Yamato-shi. I have a plenty of time for myself until the delivery, so pregnancy yoga is good a way for me to keep my health in good balance.

Prenatal classes are divided into three days in my local city. The first class taught about nutrition for pregnant woman. The second class taught about delivery and prenatal exercise. Becoming a father had an experience of pregnant woman wearing a big-belly-shaped bag. The third class, which we took today, taught about after childbirth. It includes baby care, mother's body change and how to give a newborn a bath. In the end of the class, we experienced bathing baby. Newborn baby doll was 3kg. I felt heavy to hold him only withy by left hand. It was difficult to wash him well for the first time.

Our private car, Fiona, which is Honda Fit 3 had regular inspection at a car dealer today. There was no issued found. In half a year, she will have ministry of transportation test which is obliged to undergo by law. While my husband and I were waiting for the inspection done, we visited to a library building which also has a health improvement space where you can measure blood circulation, bone density and so on. My results were so so. Good thing is figures of bone density has improved than last time.

It was my last working day, today. I could have a good experience working for elementary school students. I am relieved that no accident and trouble happened all the way through, like flu catching, running kids' strike, and slipping on snow on commuting. I am grateful to my colleagues that they supported me to work safe with my baby in my belly. There are three months until the expected day of the birth, and one more month until returning to my hometown. The most important thing is to live healthy, physically and mentally. I will have some exercise like walking and pregnancy yoga. And more, I would like to do what I want to do before child-care-life. One of them is learning English. In that study areas, pronunciation, writing knowledge and reading skills are to be focused.

The weather forecast says it is peak season of pollen fever this week. It refers cedar pollen in Japan. In winter, many people wear cold preventive mask to prevent or not to spread virus. In spring, it becomes for pollen prevention. In these seasons, I was more careful about my condition than usual as I am pregnant. I've been wearing preventive mask whenever I go out. I know it looks weird to foreigners. It might be a part of Japanese culture in which we are very careful about hygiene and there are many cedar trees.

I've worked for Terakoya Yamato where an elementary school student does self learning after school. I was an assistant instructor this academic year. My contract was not extended because of my baby delivery this coming summer. Next working day on the day after tomorrow will be the last time for me to work there. It was my first time to work in an educational area. It was a good experience overall. When my baby's care is settled down, I want to teach English.

It's my birthday, today. My husband took a day off so we hanged out together. This morning, I went to see a obstetrician for a check-up. It seems our baby is making good progress. After the clinic, we headed to Shonan. We had lunch at Bills which is known for the world's best breakfast. I ordered Wagyu (Japanese beaf) hamburger, and my husband ordered shrimp burger. I drank home-made lemonade and he drank non-alcohol beer. We shared ricotta pancake. The dishes were all delicious and I was satisfied with it although it costed about 7,500 yen. I convinced myself that it was my birthday lunch!! ;) And then, we drove to Enoshima. The island has a hill. An observation deck is on the top of the hill, so we used "escar" which is one-way-escalator on the way up. We could see beautiful view of Pacific ocean and Miura coast from the deck. It was our first time to eat Octopus chips although we have been to Enoshima some times because usually there was a long waiting line f...

In the United Kingdom, Mother Goose is well known and it is a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. I didn't know about it until I got to learn about it on a high school's English textbook. Actually, I said that those nursery rhyme are well organized with rhyme and interesting at an interview for university exam, and it went well. So the collection is something special for me. After I got pregnant, my husband and I had a practice singing songs like "Humpty Dumpty" with an English book which he bought it in UK since I asked it because I thought that would be good for our future baby. Yesterday, my mother-in-law gave us a Mother Goose nursery rhyme book which includes CD and instruction for physical movement with lyrics. Now I will listen and learn those songs and our baby can enjoy it in my tummy. I hope he will like English.

Today, my husband and I went shopping at Akachanhompo in Kohoku, Yokohama with my parents-in-law. We were looking for a stroller and a child safety seat for our coming baby. We had collected information about them before, so we had almost decided what type of stroller we want. That is auto-4-wheel and light weight named "mechakaru auto four cas" from Combi. We hadn't been sure about a child safety seat. My father-in-law were willing to buy those two baby goods for his coming first grand child. My husband and I picked Combi stroller and Combi child safety seat, and my father-in-law bought us them as a little bit early baby birth gift.

My husband and I had a relaxing weekend today. After lunch, we went out and strolled at a park. There were a lot of elementary school kids playing soccer at  a tournament. Then we visited Starbucks Shobusawa which was newly opened in Fujisawa-shi. The shop was spacious and cozy atmosphere. We chatted and read the books, which I borrowed from a library, for two hours. When we left there, the coffee shop was filled with customers.

I borrowed three books from Fujisawa-shi library yesterday. Two of them are about childcare. One of them is regarding real estate. I want to learn important things to bring up our baby. And I need to collect information about purchasing our own house. It takes time to find a good house, so we need to start preparation now even if we have three years time limit on moving out from our current house.

My sister's family is spending their holiday in Hawaii now. I asked her to buy baby boy's clothes at carter's if they offer at reasonable price. I had checked their website and found cute clothes like this 3-piece set: https://www.carters.com/carters-baby-boy-sets/V_126H181.html?navid=carters-xsellCATYMAL#start=1 and this 2 piece set: http://www.carters.com/carters-baby-boy-sets/V_127H023.html?dwvar_V__127H023_size=12M&cgid=carters-baby-boy-sets&dwvar_V__127H023_color=Color#prefn1=filterNavLevel2&prefv1=Short+Sets%7CPant+Sets&navID=left&start=1&cgid=carters-baby-boy-sets Luckily, she could buy exactly the same ones at a discount price. The clothes is to be wore in the next year's summer when our baby turns 1 year old. Can't wait to see him wearing those clothes!

The first trimester started at the beginning of January and is ending in less than two weeks. It is called Golden Period which means stable and comfortable condition than the first and third trimester. I had a bloated stomach in January but have been in good condition over all during this period comparing to the first trimester when I had morning sickness and couldn't eat well. Now I feel fetal movement everyday. During this period, expecting mom needs to be carful not to gain too much weight of course not excepting me.

In Japan, school year starts in April and ends in March. School year 2017 is coming to an end. I work at educational service for after school elementary school students. My contracts ends this month and I didn't extend it as I am going to give a birth in June. There are only four more working days to go. I will miss the students and the coworkers.

I have tried taking R-1 yogurt which is said it is good for enhancing your immunity. To be honest, before reaching two weeks I had to stop eating it in the middle because I got to have diarrhea. I reconfirmed that I am lactose intolerance. Unfortunately, it turned out that yogurt is not good for me, although I wanted to improve my intestinal condition. I need to find other foods which is good for my intestine.

A survey showed that Japanese and Singaporean passport holders have the most free access to travel in the world with 180 countries. Comparing to that, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan only have least visa free access to 28, 27 and 24 countries respectively. When I was a college student, I didn't know some people need to acquire a travel visa. A Chinese friend of mine applied to it for traveling to US, and I realized Japanese passport is very powerful and useful. I am proud of my country has a good reputation worldwide.

We are in the beginning of March and a season of Pollen Fever has come since cedar pollen started flying. It is a modern Japanese disease. Some research shows about 30 percent of Japanese have symptoms of hay fever. Some have a running nose. Some have itchy eyes. Some can't help sneezing. My husband started sneezing and having a running nose. I hope the symptoms ease.

I want to take fermented foods for my health. It is very good for your intestine. We eat Natto for breakfast. Now I want to take Amazake on regular basis. There are two types of it. One contains sake less which includes alcohol. The other is made from malted rice. I want the latter one. It contains ingredient to make skin beautiful, recover from fatigue and so on. You can make it at home easily. I made it by using rice cooker. Now I want to buy a fermentation appliance with which you can make not only Amazake but yogurt and other fermented foods.

My sister's family is visiting Hawaii next week. She asked me what I want as souvenirs. I ordered "Island Vintage Coffee" for my husband and baby wears for our coming baby boy. I'm thinking what I want for myself. They may go to Whole Foods Market if their baby is not suffering from jet lag. So I will ask my sister to buy me some healthy sweets or dried fruit. I LOVE Whole Foods Market. Just thinking and remembering the store make me excited :) I have never been to Hawaii yet. Someday, I want to spend a holiday relaxing with my family there. That's sweet.