Kokochi

Due Date

Today is the official due date...but we know it's just a suggestion of when she might show up. Tis very strange that our lives will change so much ANY time now...

It's a nice occasion, however, to take note of these 2 items. The first is a picture of 2 daruma that Dav and I have had since last Burning Man. I brought these from Japan; you fill in one eye to make a wish, and when the wish comes true, you fill in the other. Last year at a particular snuggly moment with Dav, I brought them out and proposed we each make a wish. After we each filled out an eye, we shared our wish. Mine was to get pregnant. His was to have a baby safely born. I practically burst into tears at how in sync our wishes were. My daruma's 2nd eye is already filled in as I did get pregnant (duh). I'm looking forward to Dav completing his daruma dude.

The other picture is of an anzan (安産) lucky charm for safe delivery that Ian and Izumi gave me at my birthday. At the time, it seemed far away, but I like saying "hi" to it everyday now.

showing off the Yaginuma Moving Castle

Ian and fam stopped by, so we took them on a short ride in our new moving castle...well, it's *so* not new, but to us it is ; )

We got it for the next few years at Burning Man, since we'll have a little one with us. Man, never thought I'd even step foot in an RV! Julia and Tyler got a huge kick out of it though.

sign-up for a baby announcement

Dav, being the true geek that he is, created an automatic baby arrival email announcement system that uses a landline phone since we might not be able to use cell phones. If you'd like to receive an announcement, sign up here: http://newbaby.akuaku.org/

In Dav's words:

If you put in a cell phone number and select your correct provider,

you'll also get the message via SMS (for you eager beavers). If you're not sure which provider is the right one, just try sending an email to yourself using the address listed. It'll be your 10 digit number @ whatever. Example: [email protected]

The system is kind of cool, it's Ruby on Rails on the server side, but the phone call uses Tellme Studio VXML voice activation to collect the birth data and format the email.

Don't forget to look for the validation email after signing up.

お母さん

Lovely Elida took this picture. Thanks for capturing this moment!!

Mom cooks a feast

Taking advantage of these last moments, and my mom being around, several friends gathered to sample my mom's amazing cooking, and for hanging out. I made coroquettes (or actually, made Elida make them and Rachel cook them as I was beat tired), and my mom made hamachi kama (provided by Rachel), sole (provided by Toni), pickled gobo, daikon salad, rice with cooked celery and seasoning, and miso soup. Delicious!

I was a bit stressed at first after spending the last few days cleaning and preparing, and overdoing it physically. I just didn't have it in me to cook for a group, but my mom graciously stepped in. I enjoyed the evening, and it was great to see all, but now am ready for some quiet time.

p.s. see the cute baby outfit Rachel gave us? Perfect!!

And now the waiting begins

I need to update Kokochi so I don't keep giving folks heart attacks with the last title. I got a lot of "oh my god" messages/voicemails. Sorry, but it was fun! ; )

I'm on maternity leave now. I honestly felt like I could continue working, but now that I'm off, I'm realizing I really do need this downtime. I think that working as normal was a distraction for me that was good for my mental stability, but not so good for "welcoming" her (see how I'm avoiding 'Gargle' to give her a chance to shake that?).

I've still got lots to do - steam clean our carpets, wash her baby clothes, dress the crib, get a dresser to put her clothes in, etc. And I will now walk everywhere, do my yoga exercises, have Dav massage my upper ankles (some secret labor inducing spot, apparently) in an effort to coax her out soon. My mom has been here almost a week, and now we're worried she'll be late, thus leaving me with less time during which my mom can help once baby is here.

On a deeper level, I realize I need this downtime to acknowledge this transition. To be honest, I've got some mourning to do about changing my life with Dav that I love - as is -. What is going to happen to our relationship, to my identity, to life as we know it? I know we're not pioneering anything new, but to us, this is huge. So I'm glad to feel this now and sit with it, instead of such feelings hitting me when I haven't slept for days and we've got a new human life on our hands.

Overall, I'm confident we'll do fine. We're pretty go-with-the-flow, and my gosh, we have an incredible group of friends and family all waiting to welcome her and support us! I'm grateful to know we won't be lonely :) It's just so mind-boggling about what is about to happen. And the fact that we can't know/control when she'll come is a good reminder that "she" will be her own individual being doing what she needs to do. I am excited to finally meet her, and peer into her face to see what features are whose. A little Dav and Mie...wow!!

She's here!

Not the baby...but my mom! Which for me is another concrete step towards 'her' arrival.

My mom brought a bunch of Japanese food (yay!!), and an old-school baby wobbly doll that I totally recognized from the sound it makes even before unwrapping it. It's a remake of a toy that must be from the 60s. We then went to Nijiya and bought fish, and she made a lovely dinner of cold somen noodles, miso-ni saba, and gomae veges. Mom's food can't be beat no matter where ; )

Elida came over too, and my mom gave our whole family history to her. It was kinda funny where my mom got tearful, and I got tearful too. What a scene! Now she's here to share this grand moment, and I'm very grateful. Elida had a backache, so post-dinner my mom massaged her and got her doing yoga. It was pretty funny to see them together twisted on the floor...

Everyware

Last Tuesday, Dav and I went to see Adam Greenfield speak about his book Everyware. I first met Adam in Tokyo, and he's the one who explained to me back then that I was "moblogging," putting it into a context I had not been aware of.

He put together the First International Moblogging Conference, where I met a lot people I continue to bump into at conferences. And he participated in Dav and my side-show; the First International Love Hotel Moblogging Conference. That was fun!

But what I remember most is Adam's closing remarks in which he questioned what happens to serendipity when we start having technology at our fingertips at all times giving us information instantaneously. His example of how he discovered a whole new genre of music as a teenager by accidentally finding a dusty old box in the back of his favorite record shop haunts me. With so much digital information to guide ourselves around our world, we lose random events, meetings, and new discoveries. At the time of the IMC, I was enthralled by all the technology and fun I was being introduced to. And I deeply appreciated Adam's words that made me take a step back.

I wasn't disappointed with his talk about his book either. Dav already knew about the technology that Adam spoke of, but for me, Adam posed questions about what it means to have technology embedded all around us in an increasingly invisible way, recording all sorts of information about us. I suspect his words will provide food for thought for a while.

But also, it was just good to see Adam!! I loved hanging out in Tokyo, and even got to see him and his wife Nurri at Burning Man, yet haven't been able to see them for quite some time. Thanks, Adam!

I'm going to miss Six Apart

I definitely plan to return to work, but will be taking time off to properly welcome you-know-who. It'll be very weird since I've been here so long (well, in Six Apart's company history, 2.5 years is very long!), and feel so much a part of the company that I'm having a hard time letting go. In recent meetings, upon hearing of new projects, my desire is to say, "I'll do it!" I don't want to be left out of the excitement...Plus, it's just fun to work here and I'll miss my group.

That's probably why I'm still working, and actually plan to work a bit into next week too, granted Gargle stays put in my belly. But I am preparing to cut out. And today, my colleagues kindly gathered for lunch together, and presented me with the fanciest stroller ever! I'll be very happy to use it knowing it's from my Six Apart group. A cute mobile thingy, and a bear hat (that I squeezed my head into to try on) was included too. Thank you, thank you! It means a lot to me.

It was very strange to have the stroller by my desk for Dav to pick up later...

Props to my bro

Congrats to my brother Ian: sounds like he and his team made a nice splash at Yahoo's Hack Day.