A Journey That Began at the End of the World

We found out we were pregnant right after returning from a trip to Antarctica.

Yes—Antarctica. Penguins, glaciers, the ends of the earth. So naturally, we named her Tica, short for Antarctica. Because if your life starts with a surprise in the southernmost part of the planet, it’s only right that it be filled with wild stories, uncharted journeys, and maybe a few icebergs to dodge along the way.

That moment—the test, the two lines, the realization—flipped our world. The usual wave of first-time parent emotions hit like a freight train: joy, excitement, excitement, anxiety… And also, gratitude, we feel sooo luck to start this new journey with you.

And then came the second layer: We’re not just bringing a baby into the world—we’re raising a Kenyan-Chinese-American girl in a world that still hasn’t fully figured out what to do with hyphenated identities.

Questions filled our heads:
What will she look like?
What parts of us will she carry?
Will she have Nono’s forhead? FIFI’s stubbornness?
Will she speak with a Californian chill, a Jinan accents, and mix her vocabularies with some Swahili slang?

What we do know: She’s going to grow up with all three cultures. She’ll overstuff herself with nyama choma and eat dumplings with chopsticks. She’ll learn to dance to Swahili songs the and sing karaoke in Mandarin. She will feel she can belong everywhere, she’ll feel that multi-cultures is her superpower.

And then came The Name. A true cross-cultural cage match.

Nono proposed “Karimi”—a Meru name meaning:

Hardworking farmer
Cheeky, mischievous one who breaks the rules

FIFI heard definition #1 and immediately said, “Absolutely f***ing not.”
But when she heard #2, her eyes lit up. Because that? That’s the kind of chaos we endorse—until, of course, Karimi lives up to her name and over-smart us with her mess.

Her Chinese name, Yichen (艺辰), means art or talent, and all the stars combined in the universe. It’s a name full of creativity, wonder, and cosmic possibility. If Karimi is the mischievous part, Yichen is her stardust soul.

Meanwhile, FIFI had a smooth pregnancy (don’t hate her). We didn’t slow down—we traveled, ate all the “forbidden” foods, ignored half the “rules,” and even hit six concerts in the third trimester. So technically, Tica has already been to more live music events than a lot of adults.

By the time she was ready to enter the world, she had already listened to Beyonce and Ed Sheeran (and many many more artists), flown across continents, and stolen our hearts without even trying.

Now, we wait. Counting down days. Stocking up on diapers we don’t know how to use. Researching stroller features we don’t understand. Dreaming about who she will become.

We’re beyond excited to meet her. But more than that—we’re ready to raise a girl whose story started at the end of the world, and who we hope will feel at home in every corner of it.