Thanks to Erin, we’ve got more pictures from moving day! The link goes to a slide show, mostly of pics of relaxing after the big work has been accomplished.
P.S. No sign of the baby yet but the countdown continues.
Just a quickie to say we slept in the new house last night for the first time, and complete credit goes to our moving crew — part of which is pictured here hanging out by the chimenea in the back yard after a hard day’s work. Unfortunately, Erin and Debby had to depart before I managed to take out the cameraphone, but they were also critical to the success of the big effort. Many many many thanks to all!!
What lies ahead is digging ourselves out of the masses of boxes and figuring out where to put everything. Of course we have way more stuff than we remembered. It’s so great to be in the new place, though, so we can begin the process of settling in.
New life is burgeoning in the Caird universe. The picture is our little bio-dome, with tomato seedlings front and center, and other little sprouts coming up all around them. We’ll keep tending this little hatchery, then transplant to our new garden once they build up a little strength.
Meanwhile, the little human baby is still growing inside and squirming away (and hiccupping) on a regular basis. On Sunday it’ll be 38 weeks — 2 weeks from the due date. What with all the swelling and itching, I’ll be glad when he’s on the outside, but it would be nice to get moved first. We are planning to do the big stuff on Sunday. We’ll probably pick up the crib on Saturday.
The house is starting to come alive with our things. We’ve put Pamela’s favorite “New Yorker” lithograph on the mantelpiece and it’s already made it feel more like home. We’ve been tending to the plants’ needs — weeding, trimming the lemon tree, watering, etc. Our lovely new neighbors (on one side) have already introduced themselves and brought over a housewarming box of chocolates. Wonder how little Nigel (the cat) willl adjust to his new surroundings. Hard to believe, but it’s all happening.
Another one (4.9) struck today in Southern California, after the previous one (7.2) occurred yesterday North of us (and off the coast, prompting a tsunami warning). Anyway, I personally have felt nothing, thus far, but it’s kind of wild to be in the middle of it all.
UPDATE: Oops. Make that four quakes. Neither Michael or I have felt any shaking.
As I’ve mentioned before, I go in Tuesdays and Fridays (typically) to get the baby, me, and the amniotic fluid monitored. The picture here is the output of the non-stress test administered yesterday. (Click on picture to make it bigger.)
The top line is the baby’s heartbeat (typically 140-170 bpm and thereabouts) and the second indicator (black dots) shows when the baby moves. Basically, the nurses are looking to make sure his heartbeat accelerates whenever he’s moving… and to make sure there are a certain number of movements/accelerations in a 20 minute period. The bottom line is contractions, which aren’t showing up yet. On the test shown here, everything’s A-OK and the nurse pronounced him a “happy baby.” My blood pressure is fine, too.
The day we’ve been waiting for has nearly arrived. We got the loan approved Monday, signed papers Wednesday, and — we’re told by our agent — will get the keys to the new house tomorrow, Friday. Yippee!! On Wednesday after work, we drove by the place and snuck into the back yard.
Since we got the accepted offer, there’s apparently been no attention paid to the yard or garden, and things are looking quite overgrown. The “lawn” is 6 inch high in weeds, and some of the garden plants are fading fast. On the positive side, a mystery tree, which was flowering when we last looked at the place, has revealed itself to be some sort of apple. So we’ve got a lemon and an apple tree in the back yard. And we’ve got lots of work ahead! Luckily we’re very excited about it.
Last weekend, we placed an online order for some seeds and a little seed incubator “bio dome,” so we’re looking forward to starting to cultivate our own new stuff. This California climate is so amazing for flowers and fruit, and we expect to spend as much time as possible out in the garden. Hopefully the little one will enjoy it, too.
You see my darling wife has one of these camera phones, and she snaps happily away with it so often, I hardly take notice these days. Little did I know as I relaxed in rehab, she had snapped, scurried inside, and blogged about the ugliest looking hobbit like foot I’ve ever seen!!! Now I know she is an editor during her day job, but I think after hours I should take over as editor of the Caird Family Blog. I mean, this is an international blog after all, and what big professional football/soccer clubs going to sign a new star player with hobbit feet??!!
When Michael came home from playing squash Thursday night with a bit of a limp, I wasn’t concerned. He’d won — so he said — and few bumps and bruises are par for the course.
It wasn’t until the next morning, when he started telling me about this “sprained ankle” that I started to worry. It started with a twinge here and a twinge there, and didn’t really start to hurt until he was on his way home on the BART train. Still, he gamely went into work on the Friday, then decided to pop ’round to the doctor’s office at lunchtime. Our suspicions were confirmed — it was a fracture in his right leg just above the ankle.
So, he’s just keeping it elevated (the picture is taken in our sunny back yard, where he’s kicking his feet up and sipping on a beer — really tough….) and we’re waiting until Monday when we can get him an “air cast” in a medical supply store. (Yes, our U.S. health care system sucks. I won’t argue that for a second.)
Here’s a close-up of the baby’s face in utero — taken just yesterday when I went for my regular twice-weekly check-up. If you look closely you can see the big eyes and nose and a little arm. Amazing to think that he’s pretty much all developed in there, except for his lungs. Only 2 more weeks before he’ll be considered full-term.
We’re very excited but not ready. It’s just one of those challenges you probably can’t prepare yourself for, so we’ll probably never be ready until I’m so uncomfortable I can’t stand it anymore.
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We are still waiting by the phone to hear news from our mortgage broker about whether the loan for the house will come through. Seems the slow pace of our immigration service, which has failed to get Michael a green card after 2.5 years of marriage to an American citizen, is a bad match for the bureaucracy of a mortgage lending firm. Alas.
Anyway, just waiting on pins and needles for that. Otherwise, all’s going well. We had a glorious Memorial Day long weekend. We hung out in Golden Gate Park on Saturday and went to Tilden Park in Berkeley on Sunday. Generally, it was very relaxing — just what we’ve needed with all of the house and baby stuff keeping us busy most other times.