Nagoya Grampus Soccer

We had the opportunity to go to a Nagoya Grampus soccer game this week. They are a professional soccer team, located right here in Nagoya. Joe has been to a couple other games, but this was my first time. We went with friends, Sara & Kyle, and had a great time.

Toyota Stadium holds over 40,000 people. The team mascot is a "grampus" which is apparently a killer whale; and their color is red which I read represents the "four ideals of enthusiasm, strength, aggressiveness, and dynamism."

The fans didn't stop cheering the ENTIRE game! Bands were playing, and fans were singing, chanting, yelling, jumping around and waving their flags. A very fun atmosphere.

With friends Sara & Kyle, and their friend Nancy after the game. It was a great game, and they won 5-1!

36 Weeks

I had my 36 week appointment on Tuesday, and it went well. Baby's head and abdomen are still measuring right on average, and her leg is still measuring quite a bit ahead - 39.5 weeks! According to these measurements, she is weighing in at about 5.5 pounds. The doctor also measured the amniotic fluid, and it is within normal range. So everything looks good! She is still head down, and a bit lower now - but hasn't officially "dropped" yet. He is going to do a pelvic x-ray next week to make sure the baby will fit through my pelvis. I was a little hesitant about this at first, thinking it was unnecessary and just overall not something that I want to do, but after hearing my sister-in-law Rachel's experience, I'm ready and willing to get the exam!

Speaking of Rachel, she just had a beautiful baby girl! Haley Lynn was born on August 30th, weighing 10.3 pounds and 19.5 inches long. After being induced and in labor for several hours, the doctor determined that the baby was just too big to fit through her pelvis... so she had a c-section. Mom & baby Haley are both healthy!!! :)

We are so excited for Rachel & Alex and can't wait to meet our new niece. Their experience is certainly getting us even more excited to meet our own little girl. 4 weeks to go! I'm getting bigger by the day, and my appetite has certainly increased. Everything I've read says that, "it'll be more difficult to eat large meals because of lack of space, so make sure to eat frequent snacks throughout the day." But I have had NO problem eating large meals AND still snacking throughout the day. I haven't really experienced the pregnancy hunger & increased appetite that people talk about until now... I feel like I'm eating all the time!! Anyway, here is my 36 week picture:

Japan Baby Shower!

My wonderful friends Mimi and Anna planned and organized an amazing baby shower for me on Wednesday! Everything turned out perfect - the food and drinks were fantastic, the decorations were super cute, the games were fun, and it was special to spend the day with my good friends here in Japan. The theme was PINK! :)

Delicious cupcakes - not only were they absolutely adorable, but they tasted amazing too! Chocolate with vanilla frosting - yummy!

Very cute and creative stroller made out of a watermelon, made by Anna. They also prepared homemade quiche, salad, cheesy potatoes, scones, banana bread, & pasta dishes.

We played a few games - one of which everyone had to cut a piece of string that they believed would fit around my belly. A lot of good guesses, but Penny was the winner... she was only off by about a cm! Anna also prepared a trivia game, which turned out great! A couple of my favorite questions included: 1) Everyone had to guess which baby picture was Joe and which one was me out of several other baby pics. 2) They also had to guess which one of us locked our sibling in a toy oven, and which one "wasted their money buying a present for mom." Almost everyone guessed that Joe was the one who locked their sibling in a toy oven... I guess I seem too shy and innocent to do something like that ;)

My preggo partner, Louise! She is due 3 weeks before me. We live in the same building and go to the same doctor, so it's been really great to go through the pregnancy with another friend & foreigner! I'm just over 35 weeks in this picture, and she is 38.

Some of the most amazing girlfriends I could ever ask for. From left to right: Marian, Mio, Louise, me, Penny, Anna, Yumi, & Sara. I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful support group here in Nagoya.

Take 2! This time with Mimi in the photo. Such a fun group :)

Baby Schreurs is certainly spoiled already! She received so many incredible gifts, including: numerous board books, teething toys & rattles, stuffed animals, a homemade pink & green blanket, soft toys and blankets, a Japanese yukata/kimono outfit, a pink bunny ikebana vase, training chopsticks, tons of baby clothes, socks, and booties. Thank you to everyone for being so generous and thoughtful!

All the pictures are in an album on shutterfly: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/

Maternity Photos

Joe's friend and co-worker, Jon, was nice enough to take some maternity photos of us. :) He did a fantastic job and we're really happy with how the pictures turned out! Below are a few of our favorites, but you can see all of the photos on our shutterfly page: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/babyschreurs

34 Weeks

Baby Schreurs is now weighing in at a little over 5 pounds. Her head and abdomen size are right on average - but when it comes to measuring her femur, the doctor always laughs at how long her legs are! I'm only 34 weeks, and her leg size is measuring 38 weeks. It'll be interesting to see how long she really is at birth.

I'm always a little nervous when I go to the doctor that he's going to yell at me about my weight gain. Even though I'm right on track for the average "American" weight gain (25-35 lbs) - the Japanese don't like you to gain that much weight. And yes, I have heard stories about Japanese doctor's yelling at foreign women for gaining too much weight. But he said that both baby and I are gaining weight consistently and are right on track. So that was a sigh of relief!

I feel like I'm growing every day! I had a pretty bad pain in my side last week, to the point where I could barely move - which I'm assuming is due to my growing belly and ligament stretching. My belly button has officially popped and I'm starting to even outgrow some of my maternity shirts.

No 3D image again this week on the ultrasound, as she was hiding her face. She's still head down and even had a foot way down there next to her head - I guess she's running out of room for her long legs!

6 weeks to go!

Nagoya - World's 3rd Most Expensive City

According to a recent MSN Money report (see link below) Nagoya, our home town, has moved up to the 3rd most expensive city in the world. Actually 4 cities out of the top 10 are cities from Japan including Tokyo at #1. So that tells you just how expensive it is to live anywhere in Japan right now.

http://money.msn.com/how-to-budget/worlds-most-expensive-cities-2011-bloomberg.aspx?cp-documentid=6835129&GT1=33006

The article presents just a few items for cost comparison to put things in relative terms.

• Quick lunch: $19
• Beer at a bar: $11.37
• Pound of rice: $3.85
• Dozen eggs: $3.60
• Movie theater ticket: $21.80

Beyond that I've created my own list below of some things we typically buy using the current exchange rate:

• 1 Gallon of Milk: $7.81
• 1 Ear of Corn: $1.95
• 1 12oz Can of Pop: $1.56
• 1 Tall Starbucks Latte: $4.95
• 1 14oz Box of Frosted Flakes: $7.75
• 1 Apple: $1.63
• 1 Gallon Gas: $7.39
• 110 Mile Round Trip Road Trip to Osaka (Tolls): $106.76

Many of you have inquired about how expensive it is to live in Japan. So hopefully this article and blog post answers some of your questions.

Noritake

My friend Mimi and I have been wanting to make our own plate at Noritake for quite some time. Now that she is moving to Paris next month, we are on a time crunch to fit everything in on our list to do before she leaves. So we headed to Noritake for the adventure of painting a china plate. We were disappointed when we got there and discovered that they don't have patterns to follow except for a couple that weren't really our style - instead, they expect you to be artistic and do all of the hand-painting by yourself! A challenge that neither of us are crafty enough to accomplish!! Considering the price of the painting workshop, we decided we could more easily walk over to the gift shop and buy a nice piece for a less expensive price than it would cost to make our own. So that's what we did! :) I found the cutest little clear & blue glass soy sauce container - with the brown sauce in it, it matches my blue/brown Japanese dishes perfectly.

We also ventured into the museum, and saw quite a few impressive pieces. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Many teacups & saucers

Mt. Fuji signed by Arnold Palmer

Osaka Weekend Trip

We ventured over to Osaka for the weekend for our last "babymoon" trip. It was about a 2.5 hour drive from Nagoya. Our main reason for going was to check out Costco, but decided to take the weekend and also check out the aquarium and Ikea.

First things first - we headed straight to the Hard Rock on Friday night for some good ol' American food. The Hard Rock in Nagoya closed last December, and I desperately miss it! It was the only place to get "good" American food besides Outback in Nagoya. I had my typical grilled chicken sandwich and Joe of course got a burger. Topped it off with their drink "special" for celebrating 40 years, which was a drink for 1200 yen = $15.50.... yeah not so much of a special if you ask me! But they were good nonetheless, and then we ended the evening with their delicious apple cobbler - my favorite!!!

On Saturday we went to the Osaka aquarium. It's known for being one of the largest aquariums in the world and the best in Japan, so we had pretty high expectations. The theme focuses on the Ring of Fire, and the exhibits displayed were exceptional. However, we were somewhat disappointed - despite the large and extensive exhibits, there were not any shows (at least the Nagoya aquarium has a dolphin show!). It was very crowded, and people were pushy, which made the experience even more disappointing. On the plus side, their shark exhibit was fantastic - there was a giant whale shark, a few hammerhead sharks, and tons of manta rays. We also got to see a baby penguin up close and watch him being fed. We were also impressed with the touching area, Joe was able to touch a few sharks and sting rays. I attempted to touch a sting ray, but he wasn't too fond of me and scared me a bit... so no shark touching for me after that! Overall it was a fun experience, and we're glad we went.

After the aquarium we decided to get some fresh air and hike the smallest mountain in Japan. Mt. Tempozan stands next to the aquarium and is right next to the bay. It's summit is 4.53 meters above sea level, and it took all of about 2 minutes to walk over there. ;)

On Sunday we headed over to Costco. It was super crowded and stressful - but we made it fun and managed to find all of our American goods, including: tortilla chips & salsa, variety of cereals, muffins & bagels, tuna, pop, TP, paper towels, laundry detergent, Pampers diapers & wipes, pasta sauce, and snacks: raisins, trail mix, nuts, etc. just to name a few! I also splurged and bought a huge container of blueberries & cherries... which are normally hard to find in Japan and/or ridiculously expensive - but being from Michigan, these are 2 essential summer fruits I need!! We also stocked up on pre-made quick meals (burritos, burgers, crab cakes, etc) for when the baby arrives and American beef since there was a beef scare recently in Japan with the meat containing radiation - so now we don't have to worry about eating contaminated meat for a while. A very expensive but successful trip!! We also bought a few things at Ikea: picture frames, an end table, candles, vases, etc. Joe has some pretty talented packing skills, I don't know how we managed to fit everything into our tiny car.

Preggo Partners & Nagoya Girls

Louise is due exactly 3 weeks before me. I'm just over 32 weeks in this picture, and she is 35 weeks. It's been so nice to compare stories and share concerns with a good friend. We are also going to the same doctor and delivering at the same clinic. We just moved into her building too, so it's great to have a close friend just upstairs. It's been wonderful to go through this pregnancy with a friend, and I'm sure it'll be just as helpful when the babies are here!

My Nagoya girl friends! We do weekly ikebana class, as well as lunch and numerous outings. Pictured from left to right: Sara from Kentucky, Louise from Scotland, and Anna from Seattle. Unfortunately Mio and Penny aren't in this photo, I'll have to take another one soon. I adore these girls and don't know how I would survive without them! :) This past week we've tried a Vietnamese restaurant, which had delicious fresh food; and an organic vegetarian buffet downtown, which also had quite a variety of fresh & healthy foods.

Ikebana this week: shoka free style. This type of arrangement uses 3 different flowers, all in a single file line.

32 Weeks

32 weeks down, only 8 more to go! This is one of my favorite non-maternity tank tops. I took a picture in the same shirt at 15 weeks and 22 weeks, which you can see on our shutterfly site: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/babyschreurs - it's amazing to see how much I've grown.

I had a doctor's appointment last night, and it went well. The ultrasound video is below, although sorry to disappoint - no 4D this time since she was hiding her face. He measured her head size, which is about spot on for the average. But when he went to measure her femur, he started laughing!! Apparently she is going to have really long legs, currently measuring about a week and half (33 weeks 4 days) ahead of schedule for the average. She is weighing in at around 4.5 pounds, which is above the average but still within normal range. Other than that, he said baby is positioned head down and is doing well - but I am slightly anemic, so I need to eat more iron foods. If I can't get my levels up enough just by diet he is going to put me on an additional supplement.