For awhile, Ellie actually went to sleep pretty easily. But after our trip to Japan to visit Aya’s parents last year, our system fell apart. I tried re-aligning her sleep methods shortly after our return, but in the end, I had failed miserably. Since then, we’ve just accepted the situation. Between Ellie’s ups and downs during the day, and Aya’s pregnant hormonal ups and downs during the night, sitting quietly in Ellie’s room for an hour until she fell asleep seemed much easier than fighting the battle.
GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!
Sleep has always been Ellie’s biggest challenge. (Well, my biggest challenge.) She is an extremely independent little girl, “I do it myself!” except when it comes to sleep. When it comes to sleep all of a sudden she turns into the biggest staller that requires a whole lot of hand holding. Literally and figuratively.
Soba Noodles (蕎麦)
You can find a lot of innovative pasta recipes now using soba noodles, but traditionally, it’s eaten plain with a dipping broth. We had two broths, one being the typical soy sauce based “men-tsuyu”(麺ã¤ã‚†) and the other a walnut and miso based one Aya’s mom bought to try. She topped the noodles with sesame seeds and nori seaweed. This was so simple and delicious.
RECIPES:
Soba Noodles
All you do is boil the noodles according the directions on the package, and then dip them in the sauce. (The sauce we had came with the noodles).
POSTPARTUM JEALOUSY
After sharing how sweet and cute Ellie has been with Chloe so far, I know what you’re probably thinking. “See, I told you the jealousy would set in. The rainbows and unicorns wouldn’t last forever. She’s two and half years old, what did you expect?”
I’d like to say you are right. But I’m not talking about Ellie’s jealously, I’m talking about mine.
ELLIE MEETS SISTER BEAR
We had the baby with no complications and twelve hours later we were back home resting. We were overwhelmed with happiness and awe for our new bundle of joy Chloe. But our family was incomplete. Ellie was at my mom’s house and would be coming home to meet Chloe really soon.