Sunny Morning

It was a sunny morning so Hiro and I went outside for a short stroll.

It’s nice to go out!  It wasn’t too cold.  If it’s raining or snowing, we can’t probably go walking like this in the morning.  In Perth, going for a walk around 8AM had been our routine because while walking he always fell asleep and take nap for 1hour or so.  If he doesn’t take this morning nap around 8am (before his 10AM solid feed) he gets cranky.  So, walking using a baby carrier was a great help.  He loves the bouncy feeling, I think.

We walked pass the neighbourhood temple.  People were already working.

I can’t believe I used to swim in this river when I was a kid!  It’s all covered with grass now.

After this walk, he fell asleep as usual.  Already looks sleepy in this photo…

Free Baby Session Night at MotherCare

Yesterday night, sister-in-law and I went down to MotherCare in Melville to attend a free demonstration and information session for mothers and mothers-to-be. Sister-in-law is due on November

It’s a 2-hour session and we had to register our names in advance. There’re information talk for breastfeeding by a midwife, and also demonstrations and information guide for car seats and strollers by a representative from Britax and MotherCare staff.

The session started at 6pm, so I asked D to feed Hiro as we normally bathe and feed him at 6pm. There’re about 20 people attending the session. First, a midwife talked about breastfeeding, how to use breast pumps, and what to bring to the hospital. It was luckily that sister-in-law attended this because she didn’t know she’ll need maternity pads after having a baby!

Next, a guy from Britax talked about different type of car seats and their pros/cons. I thought the information was very useful. He pointed at the good thing on having a capsule (which I wrote about mine here), as well as its bad side which is that babies may get too hot in the capsule if stayed inside for too long. When he said that there’ll be no second chance if an accident happen and the car seat is not properly fitted, I started to worry if mine is properly fitted as we didn’t ask any specialist to install it. When it comes to a baby’s life, I think it’s worth going down to a store I bought the car seat from and ask them if it’s been installed properly. Good to know that Australian standard for car seats is the best in the world.

Then a midwife talked about safety including SIDS and using a baby monitor. She also did a quick demonstration of CPR. It was good to know that there’s actually a change in CPR guideline for babies.

After the talk, staff at MotherCare picked a couple of strollers and showed us how to use them. We could get 15% off any items purchased on the day (yesterday), and the strollers they showed us were pretty good, I thought. There was also some prizes gave away (which was kind of our main purpose of going there) but we didn’t win.   Two lucky ladies won Medela pumps and a $600 worth stroller!  We all got a free bounty bag which includes baby wipe, disposable changing mats and maternity pads, so it was nice.

It was a great session overall, and I really liked that MotherCare doing this kind of free information session for expectant mothers. I love their products anyway, reasonable prices and wide range of clothes and toys.  Plus they do sales and promotions quite often, and give away discount vouchers through few websites (e.g.http://parenting.thetest.com.au/thetest)

When I got home, D told me that it had been a disaster after I left… Hiro started crying during the feed, and didn’t even finish drinking 40ml of milk. He continued crying, didn’t take a dummy, and fell asleep after D tried settling him down for 45 minutes. It was a first time that I left him at night, so it might be the reason? But how did he know that I left? I gave him lots of cuddle and kisses when he woke up for feed at 11pm. )

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Bagelier is Closed

First, I’d like to say sorry to people who left messages on Bagelier website!  I put the message “close of business” on the website quite long time ago, and didn’t check the message box since then.  Recently, I just opened the website casually to check the admin page and I found so many people had left messages and placed orders since November! (><)

Bagelier is currently closed, and I’m not sure when I will re-open the business, as I’m still working full-time and do something else at home…  It’s bit too much now with my big tummy.   I can arrange some orders depending on the size and my conditions etc though, so if anyone has a question you can directly write to me at me@umeboss.com

Thank you very much for your support and also reading Umeboss

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe New Years … from UME xoxo

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Ceedee Soaps

There’re many web companies providing the service where you can create your own websites, and when I was browsing yola I came across this handmade soap bar website Ceedee Soaps.

 The story is, the owner of this natural, non chemical handmade soap business is a 11-year-old girl, Clair.  This industrious girl was interested in online-selling business and built this website with the help of her father.  Together, they have became a team of hand making natural soaps at home.

Clair didn’t want to use any chemical and artificial things in the soaps from the beginning, and their soaps are made by all natural ingredients.  The soaps are avaliable in a variety of scents, and I love the natural looking website and packaging.  Each soap is very reasonably priced ($4.00 each free shipping in US).

I wish this young business much continued success, and can’t wait to see what Clair’s next adventure would be

Cream Bath and Furikake

It was just like heaven…  I mean, my husband gave me cream bath last night.

I had cream bath while in Jakarta few times. It’s a head treatment session with some kind of white hair treatment cream.  At the salon they spread the cream on the hair, and they massage it into the skin and hair.  The massage continues to the shoulders, arms and hand too.  It’s really relaxing…

We bought a tub of “cream bath cream” from Jakarta on our last visit, and he gave me the head bath last night…  It was really good.  It was another chilling night, but I was wrapped in blanket and surrounded by heaters.  It was warm, and he gave me massage for about 45 minutes.  It was so good that I fell asleep after washing the hair –  like, I passed out completely.  I couldn’t keep my eyes open!  I think, my head and body were so tired and stiff, then the massage did something to push out the bad stuff from my body.  I had a good sleep, then this morning I noticed there are some red spots on my face. (not pimples)  They banished after I showed.  I think it was also some bad stuff coming out from my deep skin..

(image photos)

Anyway,

As you know, Japanese people eat rice a lot.  Even though many young people consume bread, pasta and potato nowadays, rice is still the most important food in Japan.  And, a bowl of rice, miso soup and some side dish (or even pickles) can be a great meal for me.

When I have such simple meal, I often add some kinds of condiments to the rice.  The easy option for it is “furikake”.  Furikake is a dry Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on top of rice.  There are many different kinds and flavours in furikake; some of them consists of dried fish, seaweed, egg, vegetables etc.

I like shiso furikake, which is a dried shiso leaves and normally red/dark pink colour.  It has a sour, salty flavours, and it may tastes very new to foreign people. But, I love it!  I can eat many bowls of rice with just shiso furikake…

If you find furikake, and you think “well, it’s only to be eaten with steamed rice”, you are wrong!  You can also use furikake as a topping on okonomiyaki, yakisoba, (depends on the flavour of furikake) and also seasoning of pasta dish.  Shiso furikake, for example, can be used to season cooked pasta and served as “shiso pasta”.  Or, if you have bonito, salmon, egg furikake (or any flavours you like), you can add to croquette or meat patty to give a hidden flavour.  You can mix furikake and make rice balls for kids lunch too.

It’s shame that some kinds of furikake can’t be imported from Japan because of the custom regulation, but you can still find few flavours of furikake at Asian grocery shops.  ;)

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(image photos from http://www.balivillas.com/spa/cream_bath.html)