I did it. Labored from 3-10 am and pushed for 2 hours. I did it without an epidural and it hurt SO MUCH. The pushing at the end took a little longer because the little stinker had her hand by her face and it came out with her head.
Kumquat’s official name is Kaylee Jane Lao. She arrived on April 20th at 12:14 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and measured 20 inches.
Everyone is doing great. UCSF is awesome so far.
Ever since we moved to SF, we’ve been going out to a nice restaurant once a week. It’s great to live in a city with so many good restaurants and this is how we were able to try some of the best over the past 5 years. It used to be Wednesdays but at one point it migrated to Tuesdays. Well, with the baby countdown in our midst, we made sure to continue this tradition and we’ve been to some pretty good places. In the past three weeks, we’ve been to places that all start with “Chez”: Chez Spencer, Chez Papa Resto, and last night we went to Chez Panisse Cafe. It wasn’t on purpose but turned out to be a funny coincidence.
Anyway, last night was considered possibly one of our last nights out to dinner and it was appropriate that we had dinner at a place that we first visited over 10 years ago. This time we ate upstairs in the more casual cafe and we had a nice time. 
We enjoyed the Duck a l’Orange with blood oranges and a garlic souffle and the handmade pasta with trumpet mushrooms and fava beans.
The best part of the night was the dessert. We usually share one but we splurged and had two! Both were so yummy: ginger cake with candied kumquat and chantilly creme and the meyer lemon and pink lady apple galette with vanilla ice cream. Yum.
Hopefully we’ll be able to have some nights out after Kumquat arrives but I know that it won’t be as frequent. I’m just glad that we had the last five years to indulge. Cheers!!
Back in January, we canceled our cable service. It’s a little experiment that Jes has wanted to try for quite some time and so far it hasn’t been that bad. I’ve always been the type of person who liked to turn the TV on for background noise so that was probably the only thing I had to get used to. The silence in the house is really weird. Not only do we have the TV off most of the day but the constant hum of the cable box is also missing. Now I can hear everything that that goes on in the house and outside. The neighbors upstairs walking in their shoes, the shower running in the next unit, and the occasional dump of ice in our freezer are new sounds that I didn’t know existed before.
So, how have I been keeping up with my favorite TV shows? Well, first of all, we have AppleTV. I buy all the episodes I want to watch at about $2.99 per episode. If I want an entire season, it ranges between $30-60 depending on its popularity and demand. Since we started this mid-season, the only full seasons that I’ve purchased are those that started after January: “Top Chef” and “MadMen”. All others I’ve been just downloading individually. It seems like a lot of money initially but our cable bill was almost $90/month. We also have Netflix Streaming (under $10/month) and it plays on our TV as well. We play both movies and old seasons of “How I Met Your Mother”, “Futurama”, “MadMen”, and “Arrested Development”.
I also use the free account on Hulu. It’s useful for watching current network TV shows but you have to watch on your computer. It’s the paid account, Hulu+, that allows you to stream to your TV but we have enough computers in the house that one can be used for watching shows while another is used for surfing at the same time. Each show is on for about 8 days after the initial showing so if you have been keeping up, it’s actually a really inexpensive way to watch some of your favorites. I started watching the new season of “Dancing with the Stars” and some Food Network shows like “Giada at Home” and “Good Eats”. Just yesterday, I got back into watching an old favorite of mine: “Days of Our Lives”. Heh heh. The farthest back episode aired on March 12th so I’ve got about 2 weeks of catching up to do, which is easy when you have an afternoon of nothing to do. Yesterday, I watched 3 in a row while I tidied up the house. What fun! I like this option for watching shows that aren’t really worth $2.99.
Now, the only bummer is that I haven’t been able to watch any sports or specials like the Academy Awards at home. So, I’ve had to rely on my friend the Internet for tracking March Madness and how the Lakers are doing. You can, however, buy a season pass for all the major sports teams. I can’t remember how much a season costs but I know it’s an option. I may also need to figure out how I’m going to watch the Summer Olympics. I’m a sucker for the Olympics.
And what about the local news? Well, I wasn’t much of a news watcher in the first place but the other day I discovered that there’s a live feed of the morning news on KTVU.com. It’s just like watching the TV only it’s on your computer with the up-to-the-minute weather and traffic report. Nice!
So there you have it. I haven’t actually done the math to see if we’re spending more or less on television but it’s definitely given me a new perspective on my TV-watching habits. Let’s just see what happens when my mom stays here with us for a month. This roundabout way of watching TV might drive her nuts.
Saturday morning started out in the usual way:
That was a good start to the day.
However, by about 1:00 pm, I was getting antsy and Jes was hungry. So, we ventured into the rain (it rained ALL DAY) and had a late lunch at Hukilau, a Hawaiian place I’ve wanted to try for quite some time. We’ve been going out to eat a lot more frequently lately since it’s so easy now and we don’t know how often we’ll get to do things on the fly once Kumquat arrives. After our tasty plate lunches and Jes’ two pints of Longboard (on draft!), we were stuffed and ready to move on.
We decided to actually go to see a movie – in a theater! It’s one of those things that people have been telling me to do before the baby comes. Sorta like it’s on a Baby Bucket List or something. So that’s what we did. I think the last movie I saw in the theater was “Kungfu Panda 2” with my family and I seriously don’t remember the last time Jes and I went to see a movie together. So, we went to the Westfield Shopping Center to check out what they were showing. I’ve been carrying these Costco tickets in my wallet for about 4 years now and finally used them. At first, we would see Hunger Games but was turned off by the crazy line that was forming 2 hours prior to each showing. So, we settled for “Friends with Kids”, which was an appropriate movie for the occasion. We had some time to kill so we went to a bar nearby for a drink. In the spirit of my Hawaiian lunch, I ordered a strawberry lemonade that was made to look like a lava flow. It was good but I can’t wait for my next lava flow in a few months from now.
The movie itself was cute but definitely something that I would have normally just put on my Netflix queue. Jes also bought me popcorn and an ICEE and he got a box of chewy sweet tarts, which costed an arm and a leg but I guess it’s all part of the experience.
We got home around 9:00 pm and I was tuckered. I pretty much passed out in bed and Jes ended up having to walk the dog in the rain and we skipped dinner. Good times…
So, now that we’ve gone to a movie, go out to eat about every other day, and I’ve got the random naps through the day mastered, what else should we have on the bucket list? Only 3 more weeks to go!
On Saturday morning, Michelle arranged for us to get some pedicures and then a pizza lunch afterward. It was fun to be pampered and the company was nice too. Thanks for planning such a fun morning, Michelle!
Later that night, we had what we considered our “Last Hurrah”. We won’t have many opportunities left to eat and drink freely with friends at our house until whenever we want so we invited our friends over for dinner. Jes barbequed and there was Scotch and beer for everyone to enjoy. Dayantha, Krissy, and Huy even came up from Southern CA to hang out with us!
Michelle brought the kids and Jack got a quick lesson on how to fight and defend himself. That seems to be Victor’s specialty when he hangs out with kids lately. First Cole and Brandon and now Jack. *sigh* Maybe Jack will have some extra courage the next time he comes over and has to encounter the scary statue in our elevator lobby.
It was fun to catch up with everyone and we had a really nice time.
Only 6 more weeks of this kind of freedom!! What else should we do before Kumquat takes over our lives??
Here are the rest of the photos from the evening.
Last night (11/9/11 @ 11 am Bangkok time), while I was out at dinner, I got two calls; first my mom called and then my brother called. It was to tell me that my Grandma in Thailand just passed away. It sounds like she was in the hospital for some time already and she was struggling to breathe and being fed by a G-tube. My dad had just arrived in Thailand over the weekend and I’m so glad that he made it in time to see her on her last days. He said that she left us peacefully.
She was my last living grandparent and I’m glad that I was able to see her in 2006 on my last trip to Thailand and she also walked down the aisle with my cousin Kenneth in our wedding in 2002.
She was 94 years old and lived a long fulfilling life leaving 2 sons, 1 daughter, 6 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren, and one more on the way. Rest in Peace, Grandma.
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