Omiyamairi/お宮参り

Yesterday we took Yul to Fukashi Shrine in Matsumoto (built 1339) for his Omiyamairi. Literally meaning "a visit to a shrine", Omiyamairi is a Shinto ritual similar to the Christian baptism ceremony. It occurs when the baby is about one month old. They wear a special white clothes for the ceremony, and have a special kimono draped over them. As Yul's grandmother held him, the priest presented the news of the birth to the guardian spirit of the shrine, and offered thanks. He then asked the spirit to protect Yul and keep him healthy. He blessed some sake for us, and at the end of the ceremony we put some on Yul's cheek and each took a sip.
On the same day, we went to a photo studio and took pictures with Yul in the special kimono. At various times it was difficult to get him to look towards the camera, stop crying, or wake up. We were at the studio for over three hours, and over an hour at the shrine, which made for a very long day of carrying Yul and sweating through the thirty plus degree weather when outside.
I hope you enjoy the video of the ceremony. Don't worry about understanding what he's saying. Even Japanese people don't understand everything that he says, and all I really caught was parts about asking spirits for protection, and when he called out Yuki and my names and our address.
１２日に松本市にある深志神社にお宮参りに行きました。すごく暑かったし、神社に行く前に３時間以上写真館で記念撮影をしていたとのでとても疲れました。悠流は頑張っていたけどなかなかカメラに向かないし、泣くことや寝ることも多かったです。日本に来てから神社に何回か観光として行ったことはあるけど、今度は初めて中に入って、式に参加しました。キリスト教の洗礼と結構似ていたけど、一番違ったのは神主が全てのことをするところです。洗礼だと、親や他に参加してる人も祈ったり、赤ちゃんを守るように神様の前で誓います。悠流の初めての長い外出ということもあって、とても楽しかったです。

One month old/１ヶ月になった

In some ways it's hard to believe that it's already been a month living with Yul. The time has flown by so fast, and we definitely have not had much time to ourselves in the last month. On the other hand, we're so used to having him around now, and it feels so natural to be a family of three rather than two, that it seems like he has been around for longer.
It's definitely been interesting, and we've been through so many phases already that I can't even imagine what is in store in the future. He was in the hospital for the first week. He stayed in the nursery for three days or so while Yuki recovered from the operation. After that, he stayed in the room with her. Although I've been told he wasn't always that way, he seemed very quiet when I was there visiting. He would be awake, but just look around quietly, and he slept well at night. He was mostly like that his first week at home as well, but the third week brought changes, as he seemed to learn how to cry for extended periods of time. There were some nights that he did not sleep at all, and for days at a time would only sleep while being held. And being held by a sitting person was often not sufficient, either. He would usually be quiet, or even sleep, while we carried him around the house, but would start crying as soon as we put him down, or sat down. He was like that on and off for a couple of weeks, and we we started to worry about various things, wondering if he was crying in pain or if any of the vatrious spots we noticed were something bad, but were completely reassured at his first doctor's check-up, when we were told that everything was fine. He had gained almost two pounds in three weeks and a bit since being born, which is above normal and perfectly healthy, and all the varous spots are normal baby things. The crying? Well, "crying is a baby's job".
We're back to a bit of a better routine now. Yul usually sleeps for about five hours in a row every night, which gives us a chance for some rest, and he's often content to lie in his chair-swing in the kitchen during the day. Sometimes he cries and wants to be picked up, but for the most part, we're able to eat, watch TV, and do other things in the two hours between ending one feeding and starting the next.
We took Yul to a local park today to celebrate his month birthday (one day late because yesterday was way too hot). It was only a short visit, but it was great to get out of the house and do something as a family.
P.S.-> I was writing this in the evening two days ago when Yul started to cry. He cried most of that night, and has been crying a lot the last two days. It seems like he might be back to only sleeping a couple hours at a time at night. During the day he only sleeps for thirty minutes at a time, which is tough on Yuki especially because I'm away at work and she has to do everything herself. I'm not going to go back and change the rest of the post, though, hopefully this is just a blip and he'll be back to being calm again soon.

すでに悠流が１ヶ月になったことはかなり信じられないことだ。この１ヶ月は今までの人生で一番早い１ヶ月というのは間違いないし、自分たちの時間はほとんどなかった。でもそう言っても、３人家族になったことはすごく当然であって、もうなれてきたのでこの１ヶ月は長かった気もする。
この１ヶ月はかなり面白くて、すでに色んなことがあったのでこれから何が起こるか本当に想像も出来ない。生まれてから１週間は入院していて、最初の３日間は由紀と別室で過ごし、その後はママと同室だったけど、僕が一緒にいた時は殆ど静かで部屋の中を見てたか寝てた。帰ってきてからは、最初の一週間は静かで夜もよく眠れた。でも産後３週目にそれが変わった。ある夜は全く寝なかったりして、数日間も抱っこしていないと泣き止まなかった時もあったし、抱っこするだけじゃなく、抱っこしながら歩いて回らないと泣きやまない日も多かった。２、３週間はこんな感じで、泣き止まないことと、色んな所にできていたぶつぶつで少し心配になってたが１ヶ月検診に行った時は全く心配ないと言われた。体重は１ヶ月で１キロぐらい増えたし、全体的に順調で、ぶつぶつはよくあることだと言われた。なぜ泣くのかと聞くと？泣くことは赤ちゃんの仕事だという。
今はまたいいパターンになってきた。毎晩はだいたい５時間連続で寝てくれて、夜中に一回ミルクを飲ませたらまた朝まで寝るし、昼間にはみんなのいる部屋で抱っこされなくても平気でいられることは多くなった。たまには抱っこしてほしくて泣き出す時もあるけど授乳の間の２時間に少し休むことはできている。
今日は１ヶ月の誕生日の為に近所の公園にみんなで行った。病院に行くこと以外に初めて外に出たのでとても楽しかった。
Ｐ．Ｓ．これは一昨日に書き始めたが途中で悠流が泣き出して、それからの４８時間はかなり調子悪いよう。夜は連続で３時間ぐらい寝るけど昼間は寝ても３０分で起きるし、また前みたいに抱っこされないと泣き止まないことは多い。昼間は僕は仕事に行ってるから由紀が全部一人でやらなくてはいけなく、かなりつらい。でも明日からまたいい調子になっているようにすでに書いたことは変えないでおこうと思う。