Settling . . . .sort of

Well, folks, I'm still writing from a coffee shop (closing in 10 minutes!), still with a backlog of hundreds of e-mails and a hankering every day to be in better touch with you who are far away . . . so here's my super fast update.
The move went well thanks to help from my parents and our friends. We love our house. Ellie's elated because her stuff has suddenly appeared and she seems to believe we may stay here for a while. It's wonderful to watch her be gregarious and so into playing again. We're still not completely settled, but amazed at how much got done last weekend. A major setback--because we're not getting the big cable/phone/internet package from the provider, they've decided that they can't get to our house to turn on the internet until next Wednesday, so I'm settling without being in touch, which is getting harder.
Ryan's enjoying his work. We're watching him return home worn out but excited about what he's doing, so it's gratifying.
Ellie has strep throat (too much moving, not enough rest, etc. etc.) and her pediatrician is strongly recommending that we look into removing her tonsils and adenoids. Yikes. We're getting ready for a lot of things, but this isn't one we'd anticipated and of course we're worried about her. She seems fine, though . . . no fever and in good spirits, so that's a relief. More about that once we figure out where that's going.
I'm big and it's really hot. I'll spare you the details of the end of pregnancy in 90+ degree weather, but I'll say that I have cankles (that's when one's calf goes directly to one's foot without much of an indentation at the ankle), sausage fingers and toes and, of course, a seriously protruding stomach that I literally have to push in for it not to hurt as though it's splitting in two if I start to laugh, which makes me laugh harder at how ridiculous it all is. And you know you look imminent when the bank teller asks not when the baby is due but actually how dilated I am. Is it normal to ask strangers about their cervixes? I didn't think so. But that's where we're at. No one believes we're waiting until July 20. We'll see.
We really miss you all out there, so give us a call/drop a line . . . even if we're not able to get back to you right away, we appreciate it!
Love from us!

Getting ready for Germantown, baby

I'm writing from a funky coffee shop (for you readers in the Netherlands, that's a cafe selling coffee rather than a Dutch "coffee" shop offering marijuana) in our old neighborhood in the middle of Memphis. Midtown Memphis is where one can find such coffee shops full of artists and musicians, streets full of quaint old bungalows with lots of light and Obama yard signs, folks whose values and tastes are often like ours. Indeed about 90% of our friends live here. And yet, this isn't where the house we will get keys to on Friday is. We've gone and bought ourselves a home in the suburbs, in Germantown (of all names) Tennessee. This is a pretty radical shift for us, and one that we're at times pretty uncertain about. Without trying to lay out all the pros/cons that we considered (the list was extensive), the big pluses for Germantown came down to proximity to nature (a river, a greenway and many parks close by) being able to bike around, a home with a lot of trees, little maintenance and a big screened in porch and extra room for visitors and a great public school just around the corner. So we're both hopeful and a bit reluctant in this move. Are we going to find any kindred spirits out there or will we always be driving into midtown for companionship, and will we get enough opportunity to see our midtown friends? The list goes on.

But we can't worry too too much, we've got a baby to get ready for, a three-year old daughter to get ready to be a big sister, Ryan's got a new job to adjust to and, oh yeah, a house to move into. We need to find our camera and get pictures up of this belly. I want to throw out there that public commentary from strangers on one's physique while pregnant is generally not welcome and, though it may be tempting, neither is reaching out to touch a pregnant woman's belly (unless you know her, and then, depending, it may be a good policy to ask first). Getting my coffee just now two men gawked asked each other what they'd do if I went into labor here, talked about how I was going to fall over forward, that I needed a table to rest that thing on, etc etc. Are folks not used to seeing 8 month along pregnant women out and about? I suppose my belly is rather, shall we say, projecting straight out forward, but a little consideration towards one who lives with such a belly every minute may give one pause enough to just smile and keep one's interior dialogue interior. Being in public now is all about running the gauntlet of stares and comments from strangers, none of which at this point are original. It's enough to make a Minnesota nice girl weary of being nice. My sister Emily, who is now able to cuddle that sweet little Franny girl on the outside, warned me about this. I think I maybe missed it a little bit as with Ellie my pregnancy came to an end with a coat on.

Speaking of Ellie--she is doing well and loving seeing Memphis folks, but she really misses Maastricht. She often asks to see her neighborhood and school friends, to go have waffles or croissants or nougat, to ride our bike around and she protests about getting into the car. "This isn't far, why can't we just bike?" she asks--I look around and agree with her while gasping at how dangerous biking is in the United States compared to the Netherlands. The good news is that the shipment with Pancake bike from Maastricht arrives in a week and so we hope to add that important component to our lives again soon. Ellie's been really resilient--she's moved from Minneapolis to Memphis to Maastricht and back to Memphis in her short three years--there must be some life lessons sinking in somehow.

So all shall be well--we're settling in, getting ready, enjoying the good folks around here while being thankful for all the other good folks in all the other corners of the world. Thinking of you and hoping to be more in touch when we're more internet connected and more settled.

out of touch

Hey y'all. Another brief update from our temporary digs in Memphis. We bought a house. We bought two cars. It's dizzying how quickly you become an American. We're finally connected to the internet, but the catch is that it's not wireless and the place in the temporary apartment that holds the modem is in a cramped corner where no modifying makes it possible for me to sit in a chair and be online--so I'm limited by my really big belly to five minutes at the most of hunching over a laptop on the floor before this baby and my body protest me swiftly off-line. But we're doing fine. We close on the house on June 20th and hope to quickly settle in before the babe arrives. This shouldn't be too difficult as our stuff, once scattered around this continent and in-transit from Europe, is starting to collect here in Memphis, and family and friends have plans to pitch in as soon as we get the keys to our place. Other than becoming frustrated with not being able to do e-mail (my inbox is burgeoning, I'm sorry to anyone who wrote in the past few weeks and I'm also you missing friends in far corners), we like where we're staying temporarily--there's a pool and a small lake with a path around it that is home to ducks, geese, turtles, fish and even the occasional raccoon visitor. Memphis is absolutely sweltering--scorching sun, incredible temperatures (upper 90's, for Celsius friends we're nearing 40) and oppressive humidity that wilts everything by mid-morning. I woke up around 6:30 and walked around the lake a couple times to get some exercise, but it was almost too hot to be outside by the time I finished. Maybe some of my heat intolerance is due to the pregnancy--I could see the shadow I cast this morning as I walked and it there was a definite likeness to those waddling ducks all around me. But the weather is supposed to break this week, we've loved re-connecting with friends in Memphis, Ellie's doing fine, Ryan's really enjoying his job and all is well. Miss those of you who are far away and know that even if I'm not e-mailing these days I'm thinking about you a whole lot.
Cheers!