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!

setting up in memphis

Hey y'all. We've been out of e-contact for a week as our internet in our temporary apartment wasn't set up until this morning . . . a lot has happened since we checked in but highlights include arriving in Memphis and buying a house (if the inspection goes through ok) and two cars in a few days. Ryan's folks generously came down with us and wore Ellie out with stories and swimming while we frantically made those major life purchases before Ryan started work on Wednesday. Then our friend Sara graciously jumped in-- she and her son Alex played with Ellie while we completed putting the offer down on the house and while I got to meet the woman who will deliver Owen. So we've had a lot of help and it feels like if this baby isn't too early we may even be sort of settled when he arrives. So much more to do, but the momentum seems to be going in the right direction. Cheers and more soon!

made it

Hey all--writing from our hotel in Minneapolis where we're here for a short but sweet stopover on our way to Memphis. All went well with the flights, baggage (11 check ins, 5 carry ones!), customs, etc. and we are bleary and jetlagged and so happy to be home. Sadly, I don't think we'll have time to catch up with folks while here in Minneapolis--that will have to wait until this fall when Owen is here and we're settled in Memphis and can take a trip up for fall colors. But for you Memphis friends, it's ready or not! And Maastricht friends, we already miss you. As we packed up our last tidbits the morning of our departure, Ellie walked around the apartment forlornly saying, "good-bye Maastricht, good-bye Maastricht". What a great ten+ months that was for us. More from Memphis . . .

trying not to go into labor while moving . . . the good, the bad and the funny

Good morning all. We leave tomorrow and it's been a complete and utter circus. I'm up early again after not being able to sleep and thought perhaps that rather than look at this mound of stuff to do, I would take some time with my tea and cereal and write a little bit. So here's a little of the good, the bad and the funny of Maastricht and our saying good-bye to it to go to Memphis.

Starting with a couple bad things (getting it over with). Obviously, our time line has been a little crunched as we found out 5 days before we leave just where we'll be moving. There are a b-jillion things to do, but for me the biggest priority has been finding health care as I'll be 33 weeks when we arrive in Memphis. I had the same fabulous midwives who delivered Ellie all lined up in Minneapolis and was a little frantic when call after call to Memphis area Ob/Gyn providers (midwives can't deliver in hospitals in Memphis!) found me rejected because I was past the 20 week mark. What?!?!? And this is with health insurance! More about this in the next section.

One more "bad" . . . mostly because it's comically indicative of our week in that it ends fine but with so much hoo-haw in getting there. When we shipped out from Memphis we were given a 500 pound weight shipment that we were WAY under (the sweet Memphis movers asked us if we wanted to go shopping or something before they sent it!). We recently sent home 4 suitcases of stuff with guests going before us and haven't bought hardly anything here (well, I guess we're adding a bike!) , so we were confident that we'd have no problem. Well . . . on this end the shipment is measured by cubic meters, not weight. Hmmmm. So the packers arrive yesterday, find we have gone over our allotment, their boss says take it anyway, they drive away with our boxes, then the moving company in the States talks to their boss who says don't take it, who calls Ryan to come pick up the extra boxes when they arrive in Amsterdam (that's hours away and practically impossible to drive to and we leave tomorrow morning!), who begs the Dutch boss to have the movers pull over, the movers pull over an hour north of Maastricht and wait for Ryan who's frantically driving to catch up with them, and finally everyone meets in some parking lot in the middle of the Dutch nowhere and Ryan grabs boxes off the truck and we'll just have to pay the overage at the airport to get them home. Whew. Can you hear the background music playing in this bad comedy movie?

Now for the good. I don't mean to be a cheese ball, but there are such fabulous good eggs everywhere. We've had a lot of support from folks here in Maastricht--good friends and neighbors, co-workers of Ryan's, my Dutch midwives, merchants whose businesses we've supported while in Maastricht, it'll be with mixed feelings that we get on the plane tomorrow and say good-bye to all of this. More comedy this week in that I have neither a working phone or transportation (bike's shipped, Ryan's got the car at work . . .) so folks have stepped in with rides, making sure we're eating, bringing us great bags of baby boy clothes, keeping us laughing etc. etc. Ellie's school graciously accepted her two days this week so we could get some stuff done even though they were over their numbers and she wasn't registered for May. Ellie's been doing fabulously herself, even amidst all her toys suddenly disappearing--the unseasonably warm and dry weather has meant that every evening she's been out playing with the neighbor children while I fast throw something else in a suitcase. We'll miss this life, these friends.

But Memphis is full of good eggs, too! Friends have really stepped up with offers of places to stay or babysit Ellie while we house-hunt, sneaky ways to get me in at a good doctor, etc. etc. . . . one couple even created the Friends and Family of the Crunchy Granola Relocation Front in Conservative Tennessee (or FFCGRFCT for short!) that has promised to quickly put us on the "right path" after we arrive from "one those god-forsaken liberal countries". These FFCGRFCT folks have helped us find a quality school for Ellie for the fall (most places are full already!), a realtor we've just contacted but so far love, and so many more things. The most recent bit of good moving news arrived last night--one of the very highly recommended doctors has agreed to take me on as a patient. Yahoo! I can't tell you what a relief that is. So we still don't know where we'll be staying in Memphis (Medtronic's coming with that), what we'll be driving, etc. etc. but suddenly all those things feel like peanuts because at least we have good folks there and a good doctor in case this babe decides to come early. Oh--and after all the circus with the movers, the Pancake bike is on its way! OH--and our sweet families in Minnesota and Iowa have agreed to step in with respective large vehicles to haul a trailer relay style to Memphis so that we can have, soon enough, all our belongings in one spot. All really shall be well!

Maastricht is so funny, the Dutch here in Maastricht are generally quite fun--amidst this all we've been laughing often. On Monday morning as we sipped our cappuccinos and ate our French breakfasts (2 croissants with jam and butter) outside in the sun at Coffeelovers, worried about where we'd land and how life would go from here, a music video was being shot just feet away on steps of the elevator bridge, for those of you who know Maastricht. It was a total eighties flashback. There was a singer who looked truly pained with emotion as she sang, a guitar player backing her up, and six dancers in matching outfits (men with spiky Euro-mullets in black "wife-beater" t-shirts and long black shorts, women in color-coordinated halter tops and long shorts). They were really really getting into it. It was all done so earnestly and they were working so hard at it--but it was so funny that I honestly couldn't watch and had to look at the items for sale in the Blokker next door to try to ease some of the discomfort of being embarrassed for them. After three dancers non-chalantly walking down the bridge and three walking up discovered the others in the middle of the bridge, they all turned toward the camera to dance--spinning, shaking, clapping, waving hands in the air and then ending with, disco flashback!, fingers pointing up to the sky. Just like John Travolta in Greece at the end of "Those Summer Nights". It was such a snapshot of the Netherlands . . . while these antics were going on with complete seriousness, the rest of the Dutch folks just kept on going up and down the bridge, pushing bikes laden with children and groceries and only rarely stopping to stare at the dancers next to them, and those of us at Coffeelovers sipped our coffee and ate our pastries while looking on passively. We will miss this place!

There are more things to share, but now my tea is cold and my cereal eaten, I should get to work. I'll get back to individual e-mailing soon, but for now know we'll make it to that plane tomorrow and hope to connect with all y'all, whether via phone, e-mail or in person, quite soon. Love from us--love from (and to!) Maastricht!

And this week we'll be moving to . . .

Memphis. It has been a really long process, not always easy, but as of yesterday it's official that we are moving to Memphis. We still land in Minneapolis this weekend and will spend a couple days there before driving down via Austin and Pella, hoping to arrive Memorial Day weekend to our new home where we'll feverishly find a house, buy a couple cars, gather things scattered in three states and shipping from the Netherlands and do what we can do to get settled before this baby arrives. So, lots of mixed emotions here amidst good-byes in Maastricht and the let-down of not going home to Minnesota and excitement for what Memphis holds for us. The good news is that we have great friends in Memphis and Ryan's job will be one that we anticipate he'll really be challenged by and enjoy. I wish I had time to write more and e-mail folks individually, but as you can imagine it's a little crazy right now so thanks for your e-mails, thoughts, prayers, etc. More when we catch our breath. Love from us!