Preschools and Schedules

Finally both kids are sleeping, and amazingly I am alert enough to get some blogging done. Joseph is upstairs and Tommy is downstairs with me, in the bennewein (or baby carriage.) Actually I decided to not sleep today so that I could call my sister, and also call a preschool that I have been looking into for Joseph for next fall. I am waiting for a call from a preschool that is non-academic and has a nice gym for them to run around in on cold, snowy days, and next week I have an appointment at a Montessori school.

Well, things have been pretty good here. I have been trying to get a good schedule now that we have two kids. We finally have a good evening schedule, and we now are going to bed at the same time every night, though Joseph still doesn't fall asleep until an hour and half or so until after he is in bed. But I'm not complaining, because it is nice just to have a schedule at night.

Moby Wrap

Ahh, finally a moment to blog, which at the moment is due to this great thing called a Moby Wrap. Tommy has been crying quite a bit the past few evenings, but I didn't try the Moby Wrap much because I couldn't quite figure out how to get it to fit him comfortably. Today he started to get fussy around 4 pm, and this evening we finally figured out how the wrap is supposed to be for the baby to be comfortable. He was in it for three hours, and it really seemed to help with his fussiness; actually he slept the whole time that he was in it. He was usually fussy the past few days from around 7 until 11 pm, but this evening, not a peep! My Mom even tried it on later in the evening. The photo of me and Joseph is actually from the first time I wore the Moby Wrap, so it is not exactly how it is supposed to be. Joseph also wanted a Moby Wrap for his baby, so I used one of my scarves for him.

Tsjomme Garlan Liebgott-Osinga

Here he is!!! Tsjomme was born at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, January 13th. He was 7lbs6oz, and was 20.5 inches long. He arrived 9 days after the dute date, which was not a moment too late. He still had a little bit of vernix in his wrinkles, and the crooks of his elbows. As for his name, Tsjomme was the name of my grandfather on my father's side, and Garlan was the name of Jim's grandfather on his mother's side. Because Tsjomme is so difficult for english speakers, we will call him Tommy. As you can see, we are very happy that he is here!

Suite Française

For Christmas I got a copy of Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky. I was shopping with my mom (who is visiting from the Netherlands) just before Christmas, and while in Barnes & Noble this book caught my eye. She got it for me, and it was a good choice.

The book takes place in France during WWII. The title includes 'Suite' because the author intended for there to be five distinct parts, like a musical composition. She only survived long enough to complete two parts. She was a Russian Jew, and so she died in a concentration camp in 1942.

The first part of the book, called Storm in June is about the invasion of Paris by the Germans. This section flips back and forth between about five different groups of characters, each group having a different point of view on what is happening to them as French citizens. There is even one chapter that discusses the event from point of view of one family's cat. Overall Storm in June was interesting, but not as good as the second part.

The second part, called Dolce, is about the occupation of a French village by German troops. Some of the characters are the same as in Storm, but it mostly felt like I was reading a completely different book. This story was more deeply emotional, and I felt much more like I could relate to the characters. However, perhaps this was due to me, because when I visited France I felt more drawn to the country people than the city people. Regardless of this, the characters in this part of the book were more fleshed out and it seemed like the author spent more time with this part of the book. There also seemed to be more descriptive passages, whereas in the first part it felt like flashes of impressions. I think Némirovsky did this intentionally to give an impression of the invasion verses occupation. I personally more enjoyed getting to know the characters and reading about their reflections on the war, rather than about lots of impressions of the invasion and evacuation of Paris.

The end of the book includes two appendices and also the preface to the French addition. I was almost going to skip this part, but am really glad that I didn't because this was the best part of the book. The first appendix is the author's notes about her plans for the book. After reading the two stories I could really see a glimpse of her intentions, and they were indeed grand. It would have been magnificent. The second appendix is a series of letters that she and her family wrote during the war. They showed how the situation in France was changing for the Jews and 'Stateless' people. It was particularly sad to read her husbands letters in which he tried to find where she was after she had gone to the concentration camp. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in WWII history; it is a great combination of fiction and biography.

Waiting...

Lately it is difficult for me to do any blogging; I guess I am just waiting for the baby to come. My due date is next Friday, but I don't feel like the baby is in any hurry to get here.

So, in the mean time I will tell a cute thing about Joseph. I was taking him to bed and told him we could read one book since it was quite late. He is used to getting at least three stories before bed, so he told me two books that he wanted to read. I said, "No Joseph, you have to pick one or the other." So he said to me "the other."

All I want for Christmas is...

A Jackhammer!

This morning during breakfast, when we were both quietly eating, Joseph suddenly said "Maybe Santa Claus will bring me a Jackhammer." I'm not making this stuff up, and we haven't influenced him in either direction either. He is just so very much, and very naturally, a boy. Before I had a boy I thought that a lot of external conditioning went into kids' interests, and with some kids maybe that is true. But Joseph is just heavily predispositioned to being a very masculine boy, at least so far. He likes his stuffed animals, but he Loves his trucks.

Hanging in there...

but just barely. I hate to be so negative, but things have been really hard lately. We had a good trip to California for Thanksgiving, but when we got back all of us were sick. We seem to be pretty much over it now, but I have been having quite a time with Joseph. He has been acting up a lot, not listening, and just being generally destructive and laughing about it when I try to discipline him. Poor Spot, as he has been taking the brunt of a lot of it. I have been thinking about the whole situation and I think that it is because we were traveling, and he does much better when he knows what to expect. He was quite fussy the last half week of the trip whenever I was visiting anyone. Also, he has been very demanding of my time since we got back, and I think that that is probably due to having lots of people around all day, everyday for two weeks. It was clear that he missed everyone when he got back because he would say things about going back to California. Well, hopefully it won't take long for us to adjust to being home.

As far as my pregnancy is going, it is quite different than with Joseph. My indigestion became so unbearable that I am finally taking a medication for it, and that has helped a lot. It has been very difficult to sleep overall, but the medicine is helping. I am finally sorting through all of the baby clothes. I have to wash everything, because since we packed them in Humboldt everything has a moldy smell. I have lots and lots of clothes, but many of them I won't be able to use because Joseph was born in the spring, and so some of the the smallest clothes are for much warmer weather. However, it still seems that we will have enough warmer things. I should know by the end of the week when I have rewashed and sorted everything.