Cold Spaghetti

Will had his first day back to University Montessori today — but for only an hour and a half! Our good friend, Bela Singh, was in town for a short weekend visit. (Bela lives in New Delhi, India, so this is a Big. Deal.) We spoke with her husband, Mano, last week and made arrangements with Bela over the weekend to get together today. So, I dropped Will off at preschool, went out to Kenner to pick up Bela and visit with her wonderful brother, Deepak, and then Bela and I picked up Will at school and came back to the house to hang out. It was wonderful to catch up with her. I also got to talk to Chiya (Bela’s daughter) and hear all the news of all our beloved friends. We plotted for how we can get out there for Diwali next year (my ultimate dream). Bela also helped me make chai from loose tea leaves… finally, I know what I am doing wrong. (Putting the spices in too late and boiling too long.) We filled her up with our favorite Whole Foods cheeses, Louisiana strawberries, and Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Kettle Chips before bringing her back to Kenner to catch her flight home. Will was his basic monkey-self and had a great time running around and playing with us through it all. I am SO happy that we were able to spend some time with her!!! (Now we just need to get Raja to visit!!!!)

“Push, por favor!” Will says so persistently that we must oblige. Will climbs into my desk chair and we rotate him around.

We never seem to start off strongly enough. “BIIIIIIGGGG Push!!!” Will commands in a deep, determined voice. We assume the voce alto is to convince us that he can handle the speed. So we comply: he goes around faster.

Then we stop the chair. Will’s eyes adjust, he looks glazed.

Perhaps too soon, Will starts to climb down. “Whoooaaa….” he says over and over. We do our best to brace him as he tumbles about trying to walk. Will understands the silliness of his gait and joins us in laughter. We all agree: what a crazy monkey!

Will, in his *new* booster seat — high chair has been put away until Baby Sister arrives — get very excited by the prospect of using a purple crayon on his Masterpiece.

…yet. And it looks like we did the right thing by getting seen yesterday to head it off. I’m on amoxicillin and heavy decongestants and already feeling better. Another plus is that we used the Oschner hospital and were very pleasantly surprised by the facility and staff. They pumped me up with fluids, checked baby and I out, and kept us informed of what was going on during our wait (a huge plus that rarely ever happens in any hospital!)

The bad news is that Paul and my Dad didn’t get to finish the lights in the two bedrooms that need them; my Mom and Dad were in town for a banquet Friday night and came over yesterday morning to see Will and help with the lights before going back to Mobile for another function on Saturday. Instead, they provided daycare while Paul brought me to Oschner (our previous clinic no longer has Saturday morning hours, although their voicemail insists that they do, and after waiting for two hours to speak to the on-call doctor we decided to just go to Oschner while we had free daycare available to us). It was a very good choice. We think we will use Oschner for now on for our Primary Care. Paul ended up leaving me there for a little while when my parents had to leave and then came to pick me up when I was discharged. So, while we are behind (as usual) with our many projects, I am feeling better and we are okay.

1. When starting a dissertation, meet with no one until you have firmly determined a specific research question. This is a very important and serious lesson. If you decide to be talkative about your process while you figure out your question, you’ll just royally confuse yourself.
2. Walking up 6 flights of stairs because you don’t want to wait for the only working elevator that goes to the 22nd floor may not be a good idea on a day that started with heaving.
3. Throwing up during the last trimester of pregnancy could be morning sickness… or perhaps that aching soreness means that this could be a case of the flu.

Morning sickness is not welcome at 31 weeks. There is no need to relive breakfast, no matter how splendid a chef Paul is with eggs and toast. The added touch of bringing on morning sickness right before a meeting with a member of my committee was noted. My apologies if I’ve upset you with lack of sleep (I will do my part to control the snoring husband and annoying cat). Please, let’s work together to find another way of working out our issues. Preferably one that doesn’t involving hurling in the sink.

Respectfully,
Me

Now that Mardi Gras is behind us, the city of New Orleans is in Lent and all us sinners are back to the grindstone.

In our household, childcare searching went up a notch. I found several local students interested in sitting (unfortunately, none are available all mornings and several who have worked as full-time nannies are asking $12/hour pay). One student (who gets extra points as a native spanish speaker and seems very sweet) is coming tomorrow morning to babysit for a few hours. Thursday is her only available morning during the week but we want to get to know her so that we may have the possibility of calling on her in the future. I think the last time went out leaving Will with a babysitter was last Mardi Gras when we hit the Quarter with Eli and Wyatt… just to give a sense of what a rare event it is.

But there are other exciting babysitting fronts coming available. One is that University Montessori, where Will was before the storm, is going to have an opening and we are welcome to go back there starting in a few weeks. Will actually has seen several of the kids from this program out at the park and clearly remembers and gets along with them. We love the staff and Will gets along well with everyone, so this is a good option. Another option (and more affordable) is that the Abeona House, a center using Reggio-Emilia teaching (of which I am a fan), is opening April 1st. Some additional benefits of Abeona House: awesome, like-minded parents with cool kids and the fact that children as young as 6 weeks are accepted — so, in the fall, I could bring the baby there for a few hours a day/week as well. And finally, yet another option is an in-home based provider. I found a woman over Craig’s List, a K-8 teacher, who lost her job post-Katrina and is starting an in-home program to help her stay at home with her kids (ages 2 and 7 months). She is bi-lingual (spanish-english), seems very well-spoken and friendly, and would take Will from 8-12 M-F for a mere $100/week. (This is literally hundreds less than any other option.) We’re going to meet with her on Friday and check everything out. In the event that we like what we see, Will could start there on Monday. My gut instinct on her is very positive (I’ve loved our emails) and we’re excited about the idea of Will being in a bi-lingual household for a few hours a day.

Mostly, it is very exciting to have choices!!! The bummer is that we are going to be in Mobile for about a month or so around Baby Number Two’s birth, so any childcare we start will be interrupted. We could either re-start the same program when we return or start a different one. But at least we have some options.

Which leads us to the next point: where we are living for the next few months. We decided to hold off on selling for a few months. With all the work I have to do, the cost of moving, and the time of re-finding everything from housing to daycare, it makes sense to stick around until after I am officially approved for a prospectus and hear back from some funders. Then we can make decisions about what to do with the house when we go back to Peru. And by having the house a little longer, we’ll get through the 2-year window and not get hit with the under 2-year taxes at sale. So staying through the summer is today’s plan. The power of acceptable daycare options on a parents’ psyche should not be underestimated.

Our prenatal visit with Vicki and consultation with Dr. Maher (a high-risk delivery specialist) went very well! My iron levels, glucose test, and weight are all fabulous and the baby is great. I am officially okay-ed to deliver as a VBAC at Mama’s Cradle Birth Center! Hooray!! (Provided that I don’t suddenly gain an enormous amount of weight, become hypertensive, or start true labor before 37 weeks.)

Ultrasound #2 showed conclusively that while the placenta is low, it is NOT on my scar. Phew! It was worth bothering little Baby Number Two with the distress of an ultrasound to get that piece of information confirmed. From a voyueristic perspective, it was also fun to see her jumping around — playing with her toes and even putting her toes in her mouth! (See pictures below.) Her current weight estimate is 4 lbs (a little above the median at 30 weeks) and her foot measured 2 1/2 inches in length.

Anderson Cooper is not a reporter that I look to for informative and insightful journalism. Maybe I’m being harsh, but in the days leading up to and following the storm, his reporting seemed sensational, seeking to exploit the terror and trauma of the situation and giving little back to the city and people. It turned me off and I tuned him out.

Like many reporters and celebrities, Anderson joined New Orleanians for Mardi Gras last week. His blog entry regarding the celebration and his rolling with the Endymion Krewe has made me turn the other cheek. I truly feel that he “got” what Mardi Gras is about in these parts and wrote what I found to be a touching and respectful reflection on it. It’s well worth a read to gain an understanding of what it is really like to be a part of the Mardi Gras holiday in New Orleans.