New Baby Addition Edition

He's here. And ahead of schedule.

Friday night, around 11:00pm, Sumie and I were planning out our last weekend without baby. We'd head up to the cute downtown in Novato for some Indian food, perhaps look at some antiques, and then take Mimi to the park. Sunday would be spent in quiet anticipation and luxurious relaxation, both of us knowing that we didn't have to wake up early for work on Monday.

Plans have a way of being just that - plans. By 12:15am Saturday morning, Sumie and I were in the car, with a very groggy Mimi in the backseat, heading for San Francisco and the Labor and Delivery ward. Someone wanted to take part in our weekend.

But he wasn't going to join us right away. By 2:00am it was apparent that our little man was going to take his time, so Mimi and I trudged back to the car to finish the night's sleep up in Marin while Sumie stayed behind to sleep between the occasional contraction (she's hard core). By 7:00am Grandma had arrived and I was on my way back down the hill to the hospital.

Reunited at the hospital, Sumie and I began the waiting game. We watched our son's heartbeat on the monitor, as well as the progress of other mothers and their soon-to-be sons and daughters. We'd see them come in, we'd see them come out. Our boy, however, was methodical. He'd planned a late afternoon arrival and he'd be damned if he'd see it any other way.

Things really took off around 3:30 or so and by 4:00, on the dot, Christopher Yoshinobu Kemp made his appearance. At 6lbs 9ozs he was light, but also a lanky 21inches.  He immediately took to his Mama, who, somehow, looked as fresh and bright as ever despite being up for nearly 36 hours and undergoing labor.

I, however, despite a shower that morning, was not nearly so photogenic.  Kuri (our nickname for Christopher) thankfully didn't mind.

Later that evening I headed back up to Marin (my third trip that Saturday) to fetch Mimi and Grandma. Mimi had been an amazing girl for Grandma all day. We were all so proud of her. And we were even more proud when she smiled at her little brother for the first time.

We were both a little worried about how Mimi would respond, but on the whole, she's really taken to him.

Grandma also got some time in with Kuri. From what I've heard of my own behavior as an infant, he was a welcome change to hold.

By the end of the evening, Mimi was beginning to have a few second thoughts about this new addition to the family. As someone who is used to being the absolute center of attention, regardless of the venue, I think Mimi handled it pretty well. She's still adjusting here at home (that's a future post, for sure), but she always has a smile for her little brother. It's Mama and Papa she's a little annoyed with, I think.

Unlike his big sister, Kuri has so far been a quiet crier and a consistent sleeper. 9 times out of 10, if you look for Kuri, you'll find him like this.

During the day, he really loves his rocker.

But at night, he's attached to Mama. We're still working on our sleep schedules (Kuri's not a big fan of sleeping away from Mama, particularly at night), but we're getting there.

We don't know what the future will hold for this new addition to our family, but we are certain that we're glad he's finally here.

From the Headlands to Headers and Hemis

Every four or five weeks my wife takes call at the hospital on Saturday and Sunday. These "call weekends," for Mimi and Papa at least, are really our "adventure weekends," with most of the adventuring occurring on Saturday (Sunday is for recovery). We don't generally have a plan, but most outings begin with a seed of some kind, be it running an errand for Mama, going to a new park for Mimi, or seeking out a pinball for Papa.

Two weekends ago Mimi had a request: find tampopo (dandelions). I decided to take the challenge, little knowing where the next 4 to 6 hours would take us.

On her way to work, Mama had called us to say that there were several good garage sales that she'd passed on her way to the freeway. Never wanting to pass up a chance at a good deal, we jumped in the car around 8:45 and drove the neighborhoods of northern San Rafael, looking for bargains as I considered where to seek out tampopo.

The last time I'd seen anything like dandelions was up in the Marin Headlands. Sure, we probably could've found some in our neighborhood - at the park or perhaps even along the street - but had we simply gone for a walk, we would've missed the view!

I've been up to the headlands countless times, but I never tire of the view. Mimi, however, being a three year old, simply looked out through the railings, yelled out, "Golden Gate Bridge!", and then went back sifting gravel from the dirt walkway to throw over the picturesque headlands.

We walked through the abandoned batteries of cliffs: the remnants of the pacific defenses fully manned following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It still astounds me that today I can now walk these empty corridors, their massive cannon removed, with my half Japanese-half American daughter looking for dandelions. With all the contention in the world today, it's a nice reminder just how short-lived conflict with current enemies can be.

On the back side of the installation we failed to find dandelions proper, but did come across some plants that produced cotton-like puffs perfect for setting free on the bay breeze.

Mimi had been talking about finding dandelions almost constantly for the past 3 or 4 days, but she spent only a few minutes with the tampopo we found before she was ready to head back to the car. As is the case most of the time with toddlers, the thought of something can hold their attention for hours, even days, but once they have it, the magic quickly fades.

Back in the car, we headed further west toward the Point Bonita lighthouse. I have been wanting to take Mimi out here since we moved to the Bay Area but, once again, I realized that she's still a bit young for the walk, especially given that I had forgotten the stroller. Putting off the hike to the lighthouse once again, we headed back to San Rafael. En route, we stopped off at a furniture store, a thrift shop, and a recycled computer shop (Papa would like a new [to me] monitor for his home office). Mimi was a trooper, at least until the last stop. By then she was chanting "Koen! Koen! Koen!" That's Japanese for "park."

We headed over to the park and community center in Marinwood. We had a spot of lunch that we'd picked up earlier (that's right, we'd also gone shopping that morning) and then Mimi hit the slides.

In a stroke of luck for Papa, there just happened to be a neighborhood car show at the park that day! That stroke of luck was tremendously short-lived. By the time we reached the star of the show, a pristine 1963 Split-Window Corvette Stingray, it was 2:00pm and Mimi was ready to head for home. She tolerated the first picture...

made her displeasure known for the second...

and just completely rejected Papa on the third. Yeah, it was time to go home.

Call weekends can be challenging - it's sometimes hard to find the energy to keep up with a toddler, by yourself, all weekend after a full work-week - but I think I'm pretty lucky to have them. Once a month or so I have a built-in Daddy-Daughter weekend: a weekend filled with tiny discoveries, small adventures, big fun, and, occasionally, even bigger tantrums when nap time comes too late. Mimi may not remember these outings in the years to come. But I certainly will.