This morning, Kumquat and I made an impromptu trip down to San Jose to see the Chammys. Pish and the family flew up for July 4th and Ishya and Billy came over too. I was also there in time for lunch, which was my aunt’s home cooking. Awesome.
Ishya and Billy didn’t bring the twins but Katie and Kyle got to hang out with Kumquat for a bit.
It was nice to just hang out in my uncle’s house for the afternoon and catch up with the family. Wish I could do it more often.
Last Friday, it was announced that Jes got a promotion at work! He’s worked especially hard this past year and all the around-the-clock meetings paid off! So, last night we celebrated by going out to dinner and took a really nice bottle of wine to Hillstone where they don’t charge a corkage fee. Yay! We used to get wine shipments from Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel but stopped last year when I got pregnant. Now we have a bunch of nice bottles stored up and finally opened this bottle from 2007. It was so yummy and was a perfect compliment to my prime rib!
Also, congratulations to Jimmy, who also got promoted!! Yay!
Yesterday, Kumquat and I spent most of the day in Oakland.
For lunch, we met up with the girls at the usual spot and got to do some catching up. Then once they went back to work, we hung out at Peet’s Coffee. I got to sip my decaf iced coffee and read while Kumquat napped on my lap.
Once she woke up, we headed to Bakesale Betty to pick up a dozen cookies to bring to my co-workers.
At the hospital, everyone was very good about washing their hands or not touching Kumquat if they felt they weren’t clean enough. Kumquat got to play with Sue (my manager), who informally checked her upper body and oral motor skills. KM held her in the classic “Lois Bly” hold too.
I also made a splint for my left wrist to help prevent a strain from picking up a 13-pound (and growing) baby all day. It’s for wearing at night so that I’m not over stretching it while I sleep. I have a tendency sleep with my wrists curled under me, then wake up sore while having to tend to a baby without giving it a chance to warm up. I’ve gotta make sure I don’t end up on disability again from my last “disability”.
After everyone was ready to go, we headed out for Happy Hour to celebrate Teresa’s birthday. I was prepared and brought a bottle for Kumquat to drink for her 7 pm feeding so I was able to enjoy a glass of wine (or two). 😉
Having these girls with me is so nice. They love holding, feeding, and playing with her so I got some “time off” and enjoyed the evening with less to worry about.
To finish the evening, we walked down the street to Fenton’s and got some ice cream. My scoop looks so big next to Kumquat. One day I’ll take her back here for her very own sundae. Can’t wait!
This past weekend was our first trip home with Kumquat. The drive down started out smoothly with Dog in the front seat and Kumquat in the back with me. Unfortunately we hit construction traffic in Buttonwillow and then super traffic starting in Burbank. Our trip ended up taking 10.5 hours that day! Ouch. Thankfully, Kumquat was on her best behavior and was an eating and sleeping machine.
As soon as we got to Cerritos, we dropped of Kumquat and Koa and got some tasty Mexican food and margaritas at Don Jose. That really hit the spot.
On Saturday, it was filled with family festivities. For lunch, we had dim sum at Capital Seafood in Irvine. Kumquat was the star of the show and got to wear her purple dress again.
While we waited for our tables, we went next door to 85 degrees bakery to try their famous iced salted coffee and it was pretty good! There was a good turnout and we took up two huge tables in the middle of the restaurant.
For dinner, we had a Thai feast with the cousins at Thai Nakorn as we always do when we’re in town.
Marie and the gang got to meet Kumquat for the first time and so did Pish and his clan.
We all stuffed ourselves silly and even got to snack on Peking Duck-flavored Lays potato chips.
Later that evening, we stopped at Ti and Thilan’s house to visit our “third family”, The Tranandos. They were having a party for Elise’s birthday and they invited us over to join them. All the kids got to meet Kumquat and Makenzie still remembered her friend Jesse. It was so cute when they all swarmed the baby.
I also forgot how fun it is the sing the second verse of the “Happy Birthday” song.
Off the Grid came to my backyard last night. They set up camp across the bridge near the other park that Koa goes to and we had dinner there last night. Of all the choices, I wanted to try Sam’s ChowderMobile.
We ordered a clam chowder and ate it while we waited for the rest of our food and it was DElicious!
I got a Maine lobster roll, which was tasty and LOADED with lobster.
Jes got a shrimp po’boy and it really good too. He’s pretty picky about his po’boys and this one passed. It also came with seasoned fries. Mmmm…
Jes also worked hard to not drop any shrimp on Kumquat’s head since she was bundled up in the front carrier.
Here she is in the carrier. Looks comfy. She has a good life.
Last Friday, Kumquat turned 6 weeks old and on Tuesday I went to see my doctor for my postpartum visit. She cleared me for all physical activity and I’m officially done with the Disability portion of my leave. I counted the weeks and it’s weird to think that I’ve been off work for 11 weeks now. I don’t think I’ve been off work for this long since finishing grad school. I just turned in my Paid Family Leave form so I have another 6 weeks of pay coming my way and I’m supposed to go back to work on August 6th. Boo.
The days go by so quickly lately since chores and other errands need to get done while Kumquat naps. It seems like the list of things to do is never-ending and the thought of napping while she’s napping seems like a waste of precious productive time. It’s a good thing that my recovery went smoothly and I’m starting to feel like myself again.
This week I’ve been going out more to take care of some errands and to do a little shopping in preparation for the wedding in Santa Cruz this coming weekend. Kumquat loves to go out for walks and seems to have a happy grin on her face if she’s not sleeping. She looks around and seems to enjoy the sounds and movement.
Jason and Jia were also in town this past weekend so we were out and about with them too. Kumquat has been a trooper out in the big world. She rode in the carrier all afternoon on Sunday and we also took her on her first Muni ride.
Yesterday I took her in the stroller and walked to Union Square where we spent about 5 straight hours outside. It was also a fun challenge trying to negotiate the city with a stroller. Kumquat did great the whole time and despite her size and age, it was nice to have the company. The only hiccup was on our way home. It was as if she knew we were only 2 blocks from home and started screaming. She didn’t stop crying until 20 minutes after we got home and after I changed her, fed her, and rocked her to sleep. Poor baby had a long outing and was just pooped.
Here are some of the things we saw along the way.
UNIQLO is coming to SF. It’s one of my favorite stores in NYC and it’s going to be here in the fall!!
Saw this T-Rex in the store front of the Museum of Craft and Folk Art Store. That T-Rex was almost my height!
I picked up a “snoball” cupcake (chocolate cake with buttercream and coconut) and asked to take it “To-Go”. The girl packed it so nicely in a plastic cupcake holder and cellophane bag like it was a museum piece. Fancy.
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