the many faces of waking up

Blurry Babushka

Alma has begun to gaze with intent at her parent's faces -- a developmental milestone! Hopefully she is having an easier focusing than our camera did in this shot.

We also had our first family outing today -- a picnic at China Camp. It was really bright and hot out (hence the dorky hats), but Alma seemed pretty content in the Moby wrap. It felt really good to be out in the fresh air.

Two Journeys

My dear friend Robin is leaving for Thailand today for two years -- she and her husband are going to teach art at an international school in Changmai. For those of you who don't know, Robin and I have lived in proximity for nearly seven years -- we both moved from Brooklyn to Asheville, NC in 2001 where we met, moved to Concord, MA independently a year later, and then to Somerville, MA and finally to the Bay Area two years ago. We also both got married this past fall. I've always said that our souls wanted to make sure we connected, so they made sure we had a lot of chances to meet. Anyway, Sohrob and I don't have any immediate plans to move to Thailand with Alma, so this is goodbye for a while...it's amazing to think how much Alma will have grown when she sees Robin next.

Meanwhile, I continue on this transformative journey into motherhood, right here in our living room. I feel like I've never spent so much time in one place (one chair!), but this is where all the action is for us these days. Quiet moments outside of time. Thank God for the different ways in which we learn.

We slept!

Hello friends, it's been an exciting couple of days for the new family. Where to begin: most importantly, we figured out if we keep baby up during the day, she sleeps better during the night. So the last couple of nights we've enjoyed a new level of sleep, which sort of makes everything easier. ("You won't sleep and your life will be totally different" is something I heard countless times before Alma arrived, but it's the kind of thing you can't know until you know.)

Big step in Alma's gradually increasing incarnation: her existence is now acknowledged by the state!! Alma experienced her first dose of bureaucracy in a tiny county office with awful fluorescent lighting as we signed off to the state of California that our baby is real. Next door people applied for medical marijuana licenses (gotta love CA). The birth certificate is coming in the mail... and even as Hannah and I tried to cast a spell of protection from the bad lighting and atmosphere of office drudgery, we were thankful we can so easily obtain this paper which will make a lot of things easy in her life. Lots of people work their whole lives for papers that she is born with. Next step: registering her with Canada!

Another big step: first doctor's appointment!! In short, everything seems to work properly, she is gaining weight nicely, and our doctor is a nice lady with funny hair.

What else, here's a picture of us on the porch, I bought Hannah these earrings. Ok, maybe not but this strange state of new family-ness does feel quite holy, and to me Alma's smile looks like an elephant's smile. BTW she definitely does smile, and she has even flashed us a few very self-aware "I know I'm cute" looks which really took us by surprise.

The transformative journey of fatherhood is moving along. I notice my brain is still occupied with the same predispositions: arcane kitchen projects (e.g. making plum jam), superhero movies, the standard range of anxieties and whatnot. What is different is that my heart has grown a size or two like the Grinch who stole Christmas. Mostly I'm too sleepy to notice but in the moments of alertness it's pretty amazing to look down and find my heart expanded. Many thanks to the power that expands hearts!! Love and good wishes to all,

- Papa Sohrob

84 degrees and sleepy

Our Baby is Tired

Or maybe that's us. Hard to say. New pictures to follow after adult sleep.

alma's first bath

Meet the (Grand)parents

Yesterday, Alma met her first set of grandparents: Grandpapa (Hannah's Dad) and Memi (her step-mother Emily). A fine time was had by all. Today we pretty much napped.

Sunday

Today, we got worried because Alma had a weird cough. Turns out it's no big deal, so we returned to perfecting the art of snuggly-being. Our teacher, Alma was in top form as usual.

Alma mostly looks 3 feet above our heads at something mysterious - we think it's a portal to other worlds. We mostly look at her. But we're all happy so it seems to be working.
-S.

new roles as parents...

sohrob training in the jedi art of baby wearing

mama's first day out on the front porch
(yes, that's a bag of dirty diapers in the back)

what are you looking at?

too tired for a title

highlights from the day with alma

- she gained her birthweight back!
- her umbilical cord fell off
- ran out of diapers all ready...
- enjoyed california fruits (us)

yippee!

The Name and the Named

Some of you have asked about Alma's name. Her full name is Alma Noor Nabatian. Hannah first found the name Alma in a great book called The History of Love. While she's not named after the character in the book per se, the name really resonated with us both.

We love that it has so many profound meanings in so many different languages. Here's what we know: in Spanish, Alma means "soul," in Latin, it means "nourishing," (originally a title for Roman goddesses!).

It is also a Hebrew word from the Torah meaning "young woman;" it is used in the New Testament to describe Mary; and in Arabic it means "learned." Oh, and apparently it also means "apple" in Kazakhstan. Cute!

Noor is an Arabic word also found in Persian, Urdu, and Turkish, which means Divine Light. The birth of a child, as my aunt Farzaneh sometimes says, is Noor ala Noor, Light upon Light.

As for Nabatian, family lore tells me it is the name for someone who made sugar candy in Iran. But it's also the name of a village in Israel, and could refer to agriculture since "Nabat" can also mean 'greens' in the sense of food.

With love from the nest,

- Sohrob

Awake Alma

Four Days Old!

sleepy alma

bears in heaven

Day After Photos

Here's some photos of us the day after Alma arrived. Love-stoned new parents!!

welcome alma

alma was born at home on saturday, july 12th at 2:32 pm
8 lbs, 6 oz
21 1/4 inches
healthy and happy
we are overjoyed
thanks to everyone for good wishes and prayers








our midwives after the birth

first blog post

happy birthday sohrob!