SUPERWOMEN HOME EARLIER THAN EXPECTED

Hi-ho, and hi there! It's me, Maya E. Kahn, on assignment from Planet EARTH!!! Today I wanted to share with you my first journey home to Mirror Village, and today's story inevitably begins with my mom. Here's a picture of my mom about five hours after I was delivered:


See how good she looks? Well, after a couple days in the midwife house, mommy was itching to GO HOME! And Mrs. Higashigawa, the 95 year old midwife, had taken notice of how quickly mom seemed to recover. Usually, new mom's stay under supervision for a week before they can go home, but we got the OK to go home Friday morning (Aug 24th), just a couple days after I was born!



One of my first baths in the midwife house. The water temperature was a little too hot for me, and mommy told the midwife not to make it so hot anymore, cause I don't like it . . .









This is Mrs. Nakagoshi, the Mrs. Higashigawa's granddaughter (delivered by Mrs. Higashigawa years ago) who helps out around the house. "Most women stay here until the baby's umbillical cord completely falls off, but since you guys are going home, you're going to want this . . ."




"What's this?" we asked.
"This is a Japanese custom where one puts the fallen umbillical cord segment into this box, and keep it with them for the rest of their life. It is said that in time of sickness, this umbillical cord, when dried and ground into a powder, has the ability to cure anything. So make sure and use it!"
"OK," we said, and kept the box for later.



Mommy finds that using a pacifier helps to keep me busy . . .



Oh, and this is my friend Tommy, the sheep.




















Here is a picture of us ready to go home! We're in our special baby basket, ready for Daddy to take me downstairs and put me in the car. This is my first time out of this house! Hope I look OK . . .






Here's a nice photo of mommy and me in the car. Mommy can't wait to go home! I wonder what it's like, this "Mirror Village . . ."?







Oh, the car started moving . . . !




Here we go down the road, toward the village! Nice day . . .


Mommy watching over me in the back seat. Daddy's all by himself up front . . .






Wow, what kind of a place is this? Lots of mountains and stuff . . .













Oh hey! This must be the sign that says we're in the village now!! "Mirror," in Japanese in "Kagami," and that funny character in parenthesis in the top middle means "former," because actually the village merged with Kochi City a few years back (you may think its funny that I know all this stuff already, but Daddy explained it to me in the car while he was driving).



And wait a minute . . . just by this sign we see these guys jumping in the Mirror River, just hopping over the guardrail. What daredevils! Daddy stops the car to takea look . . .










"Hey man, take my picture! I'll jump in the river for ya!"









BOMBS AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









(splash)











"Hi Maya!!! Congrats on being born!! You'll have a great time here in Mirror Village!! Gotta get back to the river now!"









So the road winded up and up into the mountains . . . up and up we went. I was beginning to get carsick. Daddy explained that he'd been here all these years and so many things happened that he couldn't even remember. But he seemed happy. I was happy too!

"FINALLY, WE'RE HERE!!!" said Daddy and Mommy, and I looked out the window and saw this mountain:


RRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHH!! The breaks brought the car to a halt. The engine turned off and sounds of Daddy opening and closing doors. Here he is taking me out of the car . . .















. . . and setting me down on the porch for the first time!!! I'm home!










"Who's this?" says Choki the cat. "She smells kinda funny."












And so it went. The first week at home was busy, busy. Lots of breastfeeding, lots of baths, lots of laundry, and most of all, lots of SLEEPING!!! Here's me sleeping next to the laundry hanging:










































Daddy's tired, Mommy's tired, and I'm tired!!! So there's lots of shots of us sleeping in between the eating and bathing and sleeping and all that. Here's the last two shots of me and mommy sleeping, and then we'll sign off from Planet Earth today. But you can all know that we've reached home safe and sound!