Aching for Life

Ryan was known as Mr. T when he taught middle school one summer during college.  After I got married, I was called Mrs. Takasugi by my students for about one month, and then after that it was Mrs. T.  So it's only apt that our as-of-yet unnamed child be called "Baby T" for now. This is a post I've been meaning to put up for a while - a picture-history of the growing baby T. It all started last August, when we were busy saying goodbye in Hong Kong, making as many fun trips with friends and family as possible, eating out a lot, and trying to pack here and there. "2 weeks"  (Don't ask me why in the world when one conceives one is considered "2-weeks pregnant." Beats me, but this is how the doctors count it!)  This is our first "family" picture, taken when Baby T was a mere zygote (or possibly morula?).  We had no idea. We were busy having fun at our junk boat farewell party that church friends had organized for us. Great day

Blurry hummingbird Well, we haven't written since we left Hong Kong! So much has happened since - we've gone on several adventures, and there's a major life update.  Those will be longer write-ups, so for now, let me use "bird-spotting" as a transition from our life in Hong Kong and our life at Stanford. I've always loved spotting birds, and when I was still living in Sheung Shui with my parents in Hong Kong, I would sometimes get distracted from my weekend morning quiet times looking out the window for little white egrets. I would watch them a while, admiring their wings when they flew or the curve of their necks as they stood in the water. At Stanford, we live in an area of graduate student housing called Escondido Village. For the first (fall) quarter, we were living in an apartment in a midrise building, on the 4th floor. A tall tree stood in front of our apartment building, and I would be surprised to look out the window at times to see little je