Kokochi

Ooooo!

And now it's just us five

Three humans plus 2 kitties, that is. My mom went back to Tokyo last Thursday (it's taken me this much time to catch up on blogging). My dad had been sending love postcards to her everyday, so I'm sure he's thrilled to have her back. I cried as Dav pulled out of the driveway with her waving out of the window. The realization that the blissful month - where we shared my pregnant belly, then delivery, then the first weeks of Tesla's life - has past made me sad. Like I said before, there is so much going on yet life is zooming by. I can't hold onto anything and it's hard because I very much want to. I'm so grateful for having shared this time with her. Plus, she totally helped. Now that I can't wake up, plop Tes down with my mom while I eat breakfast, or have my mom cook a yummy dinner or vaccum, everyday is a lot of work! Luckily Dav is a huge help. He will be doing some work in August though, so my real challenge begins then. My mom had some fun too though. She rode on Dav's motorcycle, went sailing, visited the De Young museum, ate at Green's, had a sunset dinner in our RV, and had a beautiful Mexican bayside dinner in Tiburon. I'm very happy that we already have tickets to visit Tokyo in September, so my dad and the rest of my Japanese family can meet Tesla, and so my mom can see her grown. I don't look forward to the plane ride, but I do look forward to being in Tokyo. Thank you, mom. And thanks dad for letting me have her : )

Tesla is a Campalicious baby

Toni had a gathering of our Campalicious BM friends for Elida's early b-day celebration. It's not until next week, but it was perfect so my mom could attend. It's so nice to be able bring Tes along, have her held by her various aunties, and for all of us to enjoy hanging out with friends. It's so necessary to know our social life doesn't have to end. But having my mom join was the best. We discussed how visiting for one week is one thing, but living here for a month gives a much better view of our lifestyle, and daily rhythm here. I'm so happy my mom has had the chance to see how Dav and I live ... and how Tes is part of such a great community. Kudos to our friends for welcoming her to various gatherings.

Tesla visits Six Apart

Now I understand. When you have a baby, you wanna introduce them to everyone! At least for me...so I was quite pleased to be able to stop by Six Apart and show off whom everyone watched grow in my belly. Of course, she was blogged. Mena lovingly held her and gave us pooh the bear socks and a bib : ) Although I hadn't been in for 3 weeks or so, the office felt a world away. It was great to see everyone, but my life is so focused on diapers, feedings, and laundry! I'm loving it though. After Six Apart, my mom and I went to South Park for a nice French lunch. It feels good to get out and about.

Our video attempts

	Click to see video.
Click to see video.

When Tesla wakes up, if she isn't instantly howling for a feeding, she has a pretty funny routine of 101 expressions. It's a ton of fun to watch and very cute. So Dav got out his video cam, and set it up running while she was about to wake up. Of course, she fussed for like a second, then went back to sleeping several times, so Dav has to edit a long-ass video down to the cute parts. In the meantime, I made my own video attempts with my phone. I didn't get her most hilarious expressions, but still it's nice to see her kick around in action.

Kats, the big brother

So the cats are still pretty bummed that we have a new "pet" who takes all our time, leaving very little kitty attention. But we've let them on the bed now, and they take turns cuddling up. Once Tes cries, however, they give up and leave. I think they've resigned to the fact that she won't be going away. When I have a moment without Tes, they come for attention. I do my best to let them know they still are my #1 kitties. I was pleased that recently, when I left Tes to nap on our bed, Kats decided to hang around her a bit.

Tes makes me laugh

Here are some bonus pics I just took. One yawning, one sorta winking at me, one with her eyes open. Ain't she just adorable?

sleeping Tesla

For the first week, Tesla's activities were literally sleep, wake up, cry, feed, poop, then sleep. Really, that was it (and boy did that keep us busy). So, many of my pics so far are of her sleeping. But, we have definitely noticed that she's opening her eyes more, looking around. She reacts to sounds too, as Uncle Sean demonstrated by jiggling his keys during a recent visit. Even today, Dav danced with Tesla to some new beats he downloaded. Her eyes were wide open, eyebrows raised high, as if she was bewildered but also loving it. Later, Dav said Tes laughed! My favorite is the 2nd down on the right. It's her blissful post-boob expression, completely drunk on milk with slight suction cup-like marks around her mouth. I love the one below it too. She grinned during one of her dreams...

First celebratory dinner

I forgot to post these pictures from our first home dinner after the hospital. I suppose forgetting to post will happen a lot now with Tes on my hands. But I wanted to document this special dinner for Tes so she can later see how her grandmother loves her, and how we enjoyed this meal. My mom made Tai (Red Snapper) for good luck, sekihan for happiness, and lotus root symbolic for long living. A very special moment to commemorate Tesla's homecoming : )

One week

The previous 3 posts were from while Kokochi was down due to server issues. What timing! I was definitely very emotional the first few days home, and really needed to share. Now my hormones are stable and I'm more chill. But initially, I was overwhelmed with so many emotions - totally at awe at birth and meeting Tesla, physically exhausted and wondering how much my body could take, completely in love with Dav and appreciative at how he stepped up to do so much for me/us, mourning and missing my pregnant belly, processing the whole c-section ordeal, and just deeply grateful for every moment of this experience (no matter how tired I was). We've achieved a rhythm of sorts - even though each day and night still brings new lessons and surprises - and we're settling into family home life. Tesla is one week old. And she is already changing and growing. She has more chubbiness, her hands are more coordinated, she stares longer, and she is experimenting more with different body movements. It's a pleasure on one hand to see changes everyday, but I also want to stop time. She's so precious and tiny! A friend with a 3 month old came by the other day, and I couldn't believe how big she was. I remember how tiny she was too when I saw her as a newborn. The biggest lesson so far is Letting Go. Life is flowing over us, and I'm super aware of its energy at the moment. I'm a part of it, but can't control or hold onto it. It goes... Tesla has consistently given us about 5 hours of sleep each night...which is generous! I'm tired for sure, but this is doable. I'm getting the knack of breast feeding so the sometimes hourly suckling during the day is no longer a painful ordeal. The cats seem to more or less accept Tesla's presence and understand she is very important to us and won't be going away. They hang around us constantly to get any attention they can get, and I try to hug/pet them as often as I can. To me, they are handling this transition quite well, bless their little hearts.