Culinary Adventures

Living here has definitely changed the way I eat. Recently, I've had at least two new things. The other day, I made okra. I had never had okra before (that I can think of) and I know I've never cooked it. On Allrecipes.com, I read some comments that said a way to make it not slimy is to soak it in vinegar for about half an hour before cooking it. I did that but when it came time to rise it, it was encased in a ton of slime. I was kind of freaked out and worried, this was supposed to cut down on the slime. I decided that since the rest of the dish was ready for the okra, I would go ahead and cook it and see how it turns out. Other than a slight vinegary taste (I need to remember to rinse it better) it wasn't slimy at all and I kind of liked it. Something else to add to my repertoire.

Then this weekend, Grace invited all of the Americans over for dinner. It was a lot of fun and the food was fabulous. Anna wasn't at her best but Grace and her two daughters helped and she was able to sleep for a little bit while we were there. She had made a lot of yummy things but the one that I wanted to talk about was the liver. I had never had liver before and was a bit apprehensive of it, especially the texture. I was pleasantly surprised. It was julienne cut and I have no idea how it was cooked but it was good and kind of reminded me of beef which I have been missing. I doubt I will ever make it myself but I enjoyed it there.

My expectations have changed too. Now a meal doesn't have to have meat to feel complete, it needs roti. And if my mouth doesn't have a little bit of a burn to it after eating, the meal was too mild. I am so glad Anna doesn't have a problem with me eating spicy food or "this would be reeeeally difficult" (The Emperor's New Groove).

Anna has also been enjoying new foods. Other than the rice cereal, she has had lentils (they call it dal here), carrots, and some foccacia bread. I wasn't too sure about the bread but she did really well with her two teeth and quite enjoyed it (what's not to love about foccacia bread). We're kind of amazed that she seems to just know how to chew things and to use her teeth. So far, she likes everything we give her, even spicy stuff. The other day we made vegetable biryani and as it's rice based I figured she could have some. So I mashed up the rice and little bit of the carrot and started feeding her. She really liked it for about 3-4 bites but then she started screaming. It occurred to me that it might be too spicy for her so after trying water and having that just not cut it, I nursed her and she was ok after that. Foolishly, I tried it again and had the same result (I was thrown off with how readily she starts eating it). So I tossed the rest of the food and will stick to much milder things from now on.

Protection

I love it when I can look back on things and see where the Lord, with His greater knowledge, has protected me and/or my family. Last week, there was a possibility that we were going to be able to go to Bangalore (in the south) for the weekend. A project that Jason is working on is down there and they thought he would be a part of a group that would go down and present what they have so far. It wasn't for sure but I REALLY wanted to go. We kept talking about traveling around the country while were are here and so far, none of it has worked out. We've barely even been able to explore Ahmedabad.

The weekend came and we didn't go anywhere. I was surprisingly not as bummed as I thought I would be. I just kind of took it in stride. Then on Saturday I got an email from the US state department (we registered our trip with them so they know we are here and they send us emails occasionally) talking about bombings in Bangalore on Friday afternoon. This was the first I heard about them but if we had been there, that is exactly when we would have been out sightseeing and probably right where the blasts were.

Then on Saturday after Jason got off work, we were interested in driving around a bit either before or after grocery shopping. Unfortunately, the driver had other commitments and we were only able to go to the store and home. We thought about getting a rickshaw but decided to wait until it got cooler with the evening but then it was dinner time and Anna had to go to bed so yet again we didn't get out. As we were eating dinner, John from work came over and asked if we had heard about the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad. We didn't know anything about it. Apparently there were a number of blasts in Old City that killed and injured a number of people. Fortunately, we were safely at home and far away from Old City.

These two experiences remind me that not only is Heavenly Father protecting us from danger but from disappointment. I could have been really upset about staying at home in both of these instances but I wasn't. And I have renewed faith in His willingness to protect me so that in the future, when I don't know why things happen, I do know that they aren't just happening and that helps me accept them.

Couch Potato

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Unfortunately I don't have a good reason, I'm ashamed to admit I have been watching TV online. Because I'm outside of the US, I can't watch the shows on the websites for the networks like I did in the States. I tried and they all just say they are unavailable from my location. At first I was really bummed because with the move and Jason being done with school, I missed the season finales from almost all of my shows. Then, a friend told me about the coolest website ever. It's called Surf the Channel and they have tv shows and movies. They don't actually have the content on their site, when you choose something to watch, it opens a player that gets the information from another site and streams it from them. There are whole seasons of all kinds of things from new shows to old.

Then there are the movies. The quality isn't always the best (some movies are obviously from a camera that was sneaked into the theater) but there are a lot of options. Sometimes too many. There are nights we take too much time choosing something so that we never actually get to the movie because by then it's too late to start something.

Another down side is the amount of time it takes. While our internet connection is pretty good, some of the sites that it takes the content from stream kind of slowly. Sometimes we have to pause the movie or show and let it stream a little so we can watch it without catching up and having it stop.

So the past few days I have been watching NCIS. This is a show that I started watching and had to catch up on the end of the season which was sad and I'm not really sure where they are going to go starting next season. Then I started watching the beginning of the series starting with the pilot. I'm telling myself that now that I have seen until the current team is assembled, I'm going to stop. Although if I stop watching it, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. Hopefully I'll start actually doing things like laundry and dishes.

Musical Apartments

We've had a few changes in the living arrangements of late. Last Sunday Fran came to stay in our third bedroom. She is from the Pittsburg office and is here for about ten days. She's really nice but not here very much. Between work and having her meals upstairs, she wouldn't see Anna for days at a time.

Then, in the middle of last week, Grace told us that another girl was going to come so she wanted to move Fran upstairs and move John down into our third bedroom and have the new girl be upstairs with Fran. Then when Fran leaves, we were going to have the new girl and John switch back. So on Thursday I think it was, Grace and Kiran (the houseboy who comes and picks up lunch everyday and returns the bowls at night) came to move Fran's things upstairs. But then John never came down. It turns out that they decided to have him stay where he was and just share an apartment with Fran for a few days and have the new girl come straight here.

So yesterday morning, Varnell came to stay with us. She is younger and from the DC office but is origionally from Trinidad. She pretty much hung out at home yesterday. It was a lot of fun having her here, I'm kind of bummed she will have to go to work. She's never been to India before but has signed on for a year. She seems cool and wants to do lots of things, particularly sports. Yesterday at lunch she, along with John's help, was explaining cricket to us. It's starting to make sense.

It's India

India is a funny place. It's interesting to see the difference in a society when people don't sue one another. For example, safety is all but thrown out the window. We see motor scooters going down the street with a whole family of five on it. Or I saw a car pass me and it looked like a baby was driving (I'm guessing it was just sitting on the driver's lap). Then there are the autorickshaws. I'm often amazed at how many people they cram into one of those. Someday I'll have to get a picture.

A building going up near us. Note the bamboo scaffolding. Without the big equipment we are used to in the States, construction sites are really quiet. I almost forget it's there.

Construction is another area. They don't have any big, earthmoving equipment at all. It's all done by hand and whole families work on the site. There will be women in saris carrying bowls of dirt on their heads. They build scaffolding out of bamboo and the kids run amok. When we first got here, Jason was asked at work to draw a stairway on the side of a building. In drawing it, he put on a handrail. The people in the office were like "Woah! This is India, you don't need a handrail. We built a building that had a stairway up several stories with glass steps and we didn't use a handrail." At this point, Jeremy ( another American) piped up "Yeah, I was on that stairway the other day and it was raining and I thought I was going to die."

Looking out our back door we saw this kid (late teens) walking along this precarious ledge. We were shocked when he started welding.

In spite of this casual attitude about safety, there is lurking under the surface a mob mentality. We read in our travel book that if you are in a car that hits a person or a cow, get out of the car and flee the scene, even if you are not the driver. Apparently if you don't, a mob will form and they will beat you. I have a hard time seeing the people I have met doing this though because they are all really nice. I guess that explains why everywhere has a security guard and they all have guns.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

I understand being concerned about your baby's health and wanting them to be happy. I understand being upset when they cry and doing all you can so that they don't cry. That being said, I don't understand some of the questions people have with regards to raising children. I understand that I have had a lot of experience being around babies and was pretty comfortable with them when Anna was born but it is VERY different when the baby is your own and while I may not have worried I was going to break her when I picked her up, I still didn't know what to do in a lot of respects and still don't. Let's face it, we are all winging it with our first ones especially and even with subsequent ones because every baby is different.

Let me explain where this is coming from. I get weekly emails about parenting and child development and the like from babycenter.com. There are also occasional other emails about the other articles they have on the site. Generally I don't read them because I'm not really interested in what they say. They have headlines like "Parenting do's and don'ts" or "Is (blank) really safe" or stuff like that. When I do read the articles they consist of a question and then a professional answers it along with other moms who have commented on it. Any time I read the other mom's answers I get either freaked out (like when I read about how turbulence can kill your baby if you take them on the plane as a lap child) and or just think they are all idiots (happens often).

Today I read this :

When can I put my baby down without worrying about him crying?

"Some newborn babies don't like to be put down ever and cry the moment they leave their mother's arms, others are fine from day one," says Lyuba Konopasek, assistant professor of pediatrics a the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. In general, Konopasek says, a baby who is younger than 5 months old should not be left alone to cry for more than five minutes, at which point you need to pick him up and try to comfort him.

After 5 months, you can let your baby cry a little longer, if necessary, before you go to him. "This is also about the age when you can start to condition a baby to sleep," says Konopasek. Also keep in mind that babies go through phases when they'll be more or less content to be left alone. Your 6-month-old may be happy to sit in a swing, bouncer seat, or portable crib by himself, but then as his first birthday approaches he screams whenever you're out of sight. This is often the result of separation anxiety, a normal stage of development that often kicks in around 8 to 12 months, says Konopasek.

Granted, I only have one baby and she has been easy (I fully acknowledge that) but I feel like their time line is a little on the late side. I guess they have to go with the lowest common denominator, so to speak but I think it's almost never too early to let your baby learn to play/entertain themselves. Plus, I think babies learn more and better if you let them do it at their own pace which requires letting them do things on their own. That is acknowledged once they get to schools (look at Montessori schools) but doesn't seem to be carried over into early learning.

I know it's hard to listen to your baby cry but before you pick them up, you have to ask yourself are you truly helping in the long run. As parents, our job is to teach and prepare for life. Of course we don't want to ignore them if something it really wrong but it is also important to realize that something that may be hard in the short-term is better for them in the long run. This applies to so many things. Take sleep, for example. There are almost as many opinions on it as there are parents. The bottom line is that a person needs to know how to sleep and, I would add, on their own. I know it's hard to listen to your baby cry when you are trying to teach them to sleep but if they never learn, it's harder on you and them in the long run.

Too often women think that they need to put their baby's needs above their own. What they don't realize is that they need to take care of themselves if they are going to be the best mom they can be. If you can't function without sleep, then come up with a system where you get as much as you can. It's like when you are in an airplane. In the video at the beginning, it talks about what to do if the oxygen masks come down and you are traveling with a child: put your own on first and then help the child. This does not mean you can keep them in a wet diaper all day because you are too busy doing your nails but it does mean there is no harm in putting them down while you go to the bathroom for a few minutes, even if they fuss a little bit while they are waiting.

I know it may have been hard to follow my ramblings and I hope I haven't offended anyone. As I said, I only have one baby and she has been easy but I seriously think that with parenting it's like the song says "you gotta be cruel (in the short term) to be kind (in the long term)".

Laundry

I have a new sympathy for people who did laundry before washers and dryers. We have a washer but no dryer so I hang our clothes out on the line. I'm amazed at how much longer I have to plan to do laundry this way. Not only does it take longer for the clothes to dry (even after a second spin cycle to get out as much water as I can) but I feel like it takes forever to hang them up and get them down. Then because it takes so long to dry, unless I start a load first thing in the morning I can only do one load a day. Plus, I have to limit the size of the loads so be sure I have room to hang all the clothes. I have had problems with Anna's laundry and running out of rod space.

Another frustrating thing is the state of our clothes when they come off the line. I knew the dryer shrunk clothes but I didn't realize how much. It is especially noticeable with Anna's onesies and nightgowns, the necks are all stretched out. One nightgown in particular is so bad she looks like she could be in Flashdance. On the plus side, Anna will take longer to grow out of her clothes because they just keep getting bigger with her. I don't really notice it so much with my clothes, mostly I pretend I'm losing weight (which I may also be doing, there's no way to tell). The clothes also come out a little bit crunchy with the hard water. I haven't seen any fabric softener but the dryer sheets are right out for obvious reasons.

I guess after this experience I will just enjoy my dryer that much more. The mere hour and a half or so (depending on the dryer) it will take to dry the clothes will seem like such a luxury along with the warmth and softness that only a dryer can bring.

Monsoon Wedding

The people from work with the bride and groom who are in the middle in red and black, respectively. Grace is in the back in teal and her daughter and husband are in front of and next to her.

Last Thursday we went to a wedding reception for a girl that Jason works with. Naturally I forgot the camera but some other people from work took some pictures so we have a couple. Apparently the girl is Muslim and her husband is Hindu. I can only guess neither of them are really strict about it. The guy that we got a ride with said that they had a Muslim ceremony one day and a Hindu one the next. We went to neither of these. What we went to was more low-key. It was at a hotel in a banquet hall type place. There were chairs set up on either sides of the room with a few chairs for the bride and groom at the front. They didn't have a receiving line quite like we would think of it but people would go up to them at their chairs and say hi and get their picture taken with them.

Dhara (works with Jason) and her fiancee with Anna. They both love Anna and she seems to like them too. Dhara took her practically when she arrived and had her most of the time. The pigtails were a request from Grace.

When we got there, there were candles lining the walkway to the door which was really pretty. We got there before the bride and groom and the hotel had people walking around passing out some kind of drink. I'm not sure what it was but it was white and had a foam layer on the top and was good. After the room filled up a bit and we had our picture taken with the couple, they served soup. There were two different kinds so Jason and I each got one and shared. One was a tomato but with sweetish spices in it and we don't remember what the other one was but it was broth based, a little bit spicy and pretty good. They had different chutneys that we could have added to our soups for more spice. Naturally we felt they were spicy enough as they were.

Anna reaching for the flowers while we were waiting for the group shot above. It seems that at weddings, you bring flowers with glitter for the couple. It even said no gifts on the invitation.

After the soup, they opened up another room with a full dinner buffet. There were lots of different things and I had a little bit ot everything. I didn't think anything was really that spicy and it was all good. There weren't any tables set up but there was a bar along the wall where we ate. Not everyone sat at the bar though, a lot of people just stood and ate. One thing that struck me when we were eating was how quiet the room was. There were a lot of people there and either no one was talking or people just talked quietly. After we ate, our ride was ready to go home which was good because Anna was getting tired. It was fun but as I said, low key. I admit I was a little disappointed.

Folk Wisdom

On Friday Grace came over to get the third bedroom prepared for a woman named Fran who will be coming to stay with us for a while. I don't know exactly how long she will be here but she is coming from the Pittsburgh office and will be having her meals upstairs. So Grace came over with the cleaning guy to check out the room and see how things are. She ended up staying the whole time the cleaning guy was here so we had some time to chat.

She was giving me advice on care and feeding for babies. She said that when a new baby is born, the mom stays in one room for a month afterwards and a nurse comes in to help. The nurse massages the baby and wraps them up tight and them massages the mom. This is supposed to help the mom get better and the baby grow big and strong. She said if I should Anna's legs and give her lots of floor time, it will help her learn to crawl and grow strong.

Then we started talking about food and what to feed her. Some of it seemed like a good idea like making potato and mashing it up or feeding her dal (what they call things like lentils). Some of them I'm not likely to go for like cooking an apple and mashing it up with some honey. I think my favorite was the egg. She said I should boil an egg and mix it with some salt and pepper and give her that. What gets me is she said I shouldn't hard boil it. She never said to make it runny but that was implied and I thought, ain't no way.

When we went to the store yesterday I looked for a different kind of cereal but didn't see any. So I guess if Anna is going to get anything to eat other than rice cereal, I'm going to have to start making baby food.

Relatively Solid

Before we came here I had said that I would wait to start Anna on solids until we got to London. She will be 7 months old when we get there and while that is a little on the older side, there is no real harm in starting then. I decided this because I didn't know if we could get baby food here or what it would be like if we could. I also wasn't sure about hygiene and I felt like we were coming to a third world country and for some reason had a picture of us living in a village even though I knew that wouldn't be the case.

Then, at the grocery store one day, I saw baby rice cereal and started thinking about starting solids. I realized that we were still/again giving her tastes of things we were eating including things like mango (she loved it) and some of the Indian food we were eating (she does pretty well with the spicy stuff). She had even started to eye my plate while I was eating and look expectantly at me as if wondering why I wasn't giving her some. Then I noticed she wasn't pushing out her medicine anymore, just drinking it down in a much cleaner fashion. So I decided to go ahead and start the solids.

So on Saturday we got the cereal and we tried it on Monday. I made it up with a little bit of breast milk. We started with a really small amount, just to see how it would go. It was a hit. She seemed to enjoy it and didn't have problems with pushing it out of her mouth with her tongue. We have given her some almost every day since (she was pretty fussy yesterday so I wondered if she was having a reaction to the food. I tried going a day without and I'm not sure if she was less fussy today because I was giving her more of my undivided attention and we were going out and about or if it was the food. I fed her the cereal again today so we will see how tomorrow goes). She can put away a goodly amount.

Her poop has already shown the effects of her change in diet. It it more formed and smellier. Not my favorite by-product but it had to happen some time.

I'm not sure what direction we are going to go in next. I only saw the rice cereal so I don't know if the store has other cereals but was sold out (a distinct possibility) or if rice is all there is. I also didn't really see the jars of fruits and veggies so I may be making my own. We will just have to look around a little bit more and see what is available. For now, she is liking the rice.

New Furniture

On Sunday we tried to go to the Calico Museum. It's a museum for textiles (Gujarat is known for it's textiles) and is world renowned. Getting there was a little tricky but we finally found it and were in time for the tour. Then I pulled Anna out of the car and the guard said that children were not allowed in. We had checked their web site which said that no children under 10 are allowed on the tour but the people at work said it was just the scholars tour with the age restriction (the formatting on the website was tricky). Apparently that wasn't the case after all. Our driver was more than willing to watch her for us but we decided against it as the tour is two hours and we weren't really prepared to leave her with anyone (she would need a nap and food before we would be done). We'll have to try again armed with this new knowledge.

Our new crib complete with mobile. This was before I put on the sheet.

With that not working and as we still had the car, we decided to try to get a crib. We tried on Saturday by looking at this little hole in the wall store that had a lot of cool toys but no cribs. The people there recommended we try a mall but we didn't have time on Saturday to look. So we went on Sunday. When we went to the mall, it must have recently opened (it was before noon) because not many people were there and a number of the stores weren't opened at all. We tried the directory but of course we didn't recognize any of the stores.

We found a big store that looked like a department store and we figured if they didn't have any cribs, maybe they could tell us where we could fine a store that did. As it turned out, they have a large baby department complete with cribs. After ascertaining that they accept international credit cards and deliver, we chose a bed. Then we had to find sheets and the sales people talked me into a mobile.

While I was deciding which mobile I liked, the sales people checked in the back to get the crib we chose and discovered they were out and could only offer us the display. Jason checked it out and saw that other than a little bit of worn off lettering on the chew guard, it was is good shape so we agreed. Then while we were paying for it, they took it apart and boxed it up.

Here is a close up of the sheet we got. This is just a small design at the end of the bed, most of it is the floral pattern you can see at the top.

To deliver it, they said they would follow us. The mattress (which is really just a cloth covered foam pad) fit in our car but the box would not so they would have to transport it. Interestingly enough, they had a motorcycle with which to do that. So we were followed by a motorcycle with the driver and a guy behind him with a very tall box on his lap. It was easy to spot but we were a little bit concerned about the safety of the guy holding the box. They made it just fine and we even all fit in the elevator (which is not very big). Then they set it up for us in Anna's room. Oddly enough, the bed that was already in her room was built in so I was a mite worried about the crib fitting but it does so shwewsh.

When we first put Anna down for her nap in it, I think she was a little bit freaked. It was totally new and like nowhere she had ever slept before. It even smelled funny (like the store). To help ease her into the transition, we put a blanket along the side that she was used to sleeping next to. That seemed to help. Of course they always say not to put blankets in the bed with babies but we figure this one is so lacy (crocheted) that it wouldn't be likely to suffocate her. Of course, it can be distractingly fun to play with and the other day it was stuck over her face at nap time so I had to move it before she would go to sleep.

Here is what the mattress looked like without the sheet. I noticed that not everything was new to her in sleeping here, the last bed she slept on was orange and red too.

So now she is sleeping in a safe, confined place and I feel so much better. The first night she slept in the crib, I was able to not feed her and while she did wake up a couple of times, simply putting her binkie back in her mouth put her back to sleep. I found that I do much better with not picking her up when she cries if she is in a crib. There is something about that line of bars that is a really good barrier, at least mentally. Then there is the peace of mind in knowing that she is not going to roll off or push off a pillow and then roll off or anything like that. She is down to one wake-up, no feedings a night and I have high hopes that those too will cease.

Ironically, now that I am getting more sleep, I sometimes have a hard time sleeping in the mornings. One day, she woke up at 5:30 and I couldn't go back to sleep. I tried but after laying in bed for an hour I decided to get up. Also, the past couple of nights, I have dreamed that she is awake and crying. This is really disorienting because then I wake up thinking I need to get her but she is sound asleep. All in all, I'm really glad she is now safe and in her crib.

The wayward stroller

When we came here, almost all of our luggage made it with us. The one thing that decided to take it's own vacation was our stroller. We did have the car seat though so we figured if we had to lose one of the two the stroller was the better one to lose. Before we left the airport we filed a claim and they gave us a number to call. This past week I finally got around to calling the airline to see if they had any idea about where it might be. They said that they had a tagless stroller at the airport and we could go see if it was ours. I did try to call back to see if we could get any more particulars as to what it looked like so if it was obviously not ours we wouldn't have to go out there but to no avail.

So on Saturday, when we had a car and driver for our shopping trip, we went to the airport to investigate. Since all flights seem to come in in the middle of the night, there was no one there except workers, a couple of guards at the door and couple of employees. Because Jason's name was the only one on the baggage slip, he was the only one who could go in the airport. I didn't really get that but I don't argue with a guard who has a gun over his shoulder so I waited outside. The guards were very nice as I waited and offered me some chai (I think) and enjoyed Anna.

After a while Jason came out with a pad of paper and some questions. He said that our stroller wasn't there and he was filling out a claim form. Later, when he was done, he said that there were a ton of strollers that they had him check them all a couple of times, just to make sure. Most of them were umbrella strollers and none of them were ours (one good thing about our stroller is it is unique). So he filed a claim and said it seemed to be approved and they said they would send a check for the cost of the stroller in rupees to his work within 10 days.

So while we are sad to lose the stroller, we're glad they are replacing it without us having to show them the receipt or anything (I've heard of airlines doing that for the contents of lost luggage) and now we will be able to have the stroller's seat with us in London (we left the seat in Philly because we didn't really have room to take it with us and while we have the car seat to use for the seat, she will probably want to face forward and sit up more before we are back in Philly).

An Ensign to the Nations

My church has a lot of online resources. This is something I have known for a while but had never really taken advantage of. This was partly because I had what I needed in hard copy and partly because the main website is not very easy to navigate if you don't already know where you're going. Now that we are in India, however, I have been forced to know where I am going because we don't have the hard copies. This has proved to be a great blessing to us while we are here.

Before we left the US, I was sure to bring some church materials with us: our Joseph Smith manual, a Sunday School study guide, the conference edition of the Ensign, our mini hymn book, scriptures, and the Doctrine and Covenants BYU study guide. These things have helped us remain connected to the church even though we are not able to attend any organized meetings (while the LDS church is in India, it is not in Ahmedabad. We have been holding classes by ourselves where we trade off teaching a Sunday School and a Relief Society/Priesthood lesson each week).

In preparing these lessons, I remembered that the Sunday School lessons are online, not just the study guide. So lately I have been spending more time with the main Church website and gotten to know it better. Recently I discovered that the magazine The Ensign is available in it's entirety online. I was thrilled. We didn't renew our subscription because we knew we would be traveling and out of the country and I have been missing it (ironically, when we got it every month I had gotten behind in reading it, it seems it means more to me now). Yesterday, I read the entire July edition in one sitting. Fortunately I haven't had a chance to read the June one yet so I have something else to read while I wait for August to be available. I'll have to work on pacing myself.

We also use the online music resources. Jason and I have always enjoyed singing the hymns together. We have even, at times, worked on memorizing all the verses for some of them (I can sing all the verses for a Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, although not necessarily in the right order). Now, however, we can use the interactive music player and have accompaniment.

I am so grateful that I am a member of a world-wide church that knows the needs of it's members and makes it's resources as accessible as possible. I know that no matter where I go in the world, the teachings are the same, the lessons are the same and the spirit is the same. And while it has been hard to keep the Sabbath day holy, it has been made easier by everything the church has available for us online.

Wierd Night

This was in Arizona for Tasanee's wedding with Amber's baby AnaElizabeth. Those seats must be pretty comfy.

After Anna's two nights of sleeping through, I think she started teething more because it all fell apart. She was fussy during the day and one night woke up every 2 hours. I had every intention that night of not feeding her but it's hard to be firm when you're that tired and you know that if you just feed her, you will both be able to go back to sleep. Since then, she is back to waking up. We have thought of just closing the doors and letting her get through the night on her own (sound does not travel at all in this place so we have to keep our doors open a little bit so I can hear her) but are wary to do that before she is in a crib. I believe I have secured her bed enough so she is less likely to roll off but I'm still nervous. We are going to see if we can get a crib today while we are out shopping.

I have also thought that I would rather just gradually stop feeding her at night but having her eat less each night rather than just go cold turkey. My concern with that is that the two times that I have tried to feed her less (one night I just fed her on one side and last night I timed her and switched sides after 5 minutes) she wakes up a second time that same night. Of course I don't know if she would still have woken up the second time if I had fed her fully or not but it makes me wonder. I don't think she still needs the food, she probably just thinks she does right?

Then last night was strange. Not only did she wake up the second time, she woke up early the first time and for some reason I couldn't really hear her. The first time she woke up was when we were just going to bed (quite late, stupid movie) and Jason was actually the one that heard her. Even after he told me she was screaming (even with the doors cracked, sound doesn't travel too well) I could barely hear it. So when I went back to bed I left the doors open a little more. The second time I assume her crying is what woke me up but it was still really hard to hear even though she was at full volume.

At this point you may wonder about our baby monitor. We did bring it with us and even got plug adapters so we could plug it in. The problem is that the voltage here is 240 while in the US it's 120 so it didn't take long for our transmitter to get burned out (at least I assume that's why it stopped working). There is a way to get something that changed the voltage but we haven't gotten one yet and that is a conversation for another day.

Back to sleeping. So we are going to try to get a crib today and I'm going to work on her sleeping schedule (I have been good at waking her up in the morning so she doesn't sleep in too late in the morning. While that is nice for when I stay up too late, it messes with her naps) and gradually stop the night feedings and we will see how this all goes. Once I get he down to no eating at night, if she still wakes up we are going to send in Jason because he has no food. Somehow I thought/hoped that with her being able to fall asleep on her own (not needing to be fed or rocked to sleep) this wouldn't be such a pain.

Lunch

In India, it's very common for people to have hot, home made lunches brought to them at work in these really cool lunch box type things called tiffin boxes. They are metal and compartmentalized. I want to get some before we leave here. In fact, in Mumbai, there is this whole big thing where people pick up the tiffins at homes and deliver them to the various offices.

Here, Jason has been having lunch brought to him by a couple of different people's cooks. A few people in the office would all share what the cooks brought. It was really nice not having to worry about having something for him for lunch everyday. Then this week, Bindu asked that I join the lunch pot. It was kind of sprung on us on Monday but I have so far been able to come up with something every day. Since I know I can't compete with Indian cooks' Indian food, I have taken it upon myself to be the non-Indian food contribution. The first day I made pasta and then next it was fried rice. That was a huge hit because it had meat in it. It seems I will also be the only one to provide anything non-veg. Yesterday it was fruit salad.

So what I do is I make something and package it up in a bowl with foil over it (we don't have much in the way of tupperware and we haven't gotten any tiffins yet). Then a boy from the office named Kiren picks it up along with the other cooks' food. Then in the evening I get the empty bowl back all clean. I have been having to figure out amounts. It's a little tricky because the bowl always comes back empty no matter how much I make so I rely on Jason to let me know when it's too much.

Having to make lunch and have it ready by 12:30 when Kiren usually comes by to pick it up has added a whole new dimension to my mornings. The time really goes by quickly and usually Anna is between naps so it's like dinner but earlier and without the knowledge that Jason will be home soon.

There is only one man who would dare give me the raspberry

(Spaceballs) Anna is discovering what she can do with her mouth other than eat and cry. It is so cute watching her explore her body. Here she is buzzing with her lips. The first sound is me trying to prompt her to start again. It seems when she sees the camera, she stops whatever she was doing to just stare at it.

Big Weekend

Anna had a big weekend. After the party on the 4th, there was another work party on Saturday night. This one was bigger, catered and had a lot more people with their families. There were games and it was outside. Again Anna did great. I almost didn't go because she fell off the bed again and had a shorter late nap. I wasn't sure she would cooperate. We went anyway and were prepared to leave if necessary. It wasn't. She was passed around and did great with all the new people. There would be times when I would look for her with the person who had her last and she wouldn't be there but wouldn't be far off with someone else. Such the social butterfly. Must be from her daddy because it is sure not from me.

With these two late nights in a row, I think it broke her of the habit of waking up in the night to eat. She has been waking up once in the night around 2 or 3 or 4 ish to eat and on Sunday night I was all ready to start cutting down on how much I feed her each time so we could gradually stop eating (I didn't think I could just let her cry). But then she didn't wake up until Monday morning. Granted it was a little bit earlier than usualy but it was morning. She did it again Monday night so I'm hopeful that the habit has broken without any effort on my part.

Then on Sunday, I was reading through What to Expect the Frist Year at the list of developmental accomplishments. One thing it said she "may possibly be able to do" by five months is sit without support. This is something she has been working on and can sit really well with something behind her. She has started sitting on my lap without something behind her so I thought I would check to see if she could sit on the floor all by herself and she did! It generally wasn't for too long before she would start to reach for something and start to topple a little bit but still.

And since she showed she was such a big girl with her sitting up all by herself, I decided to cut her hair. This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time but just haven't gotten around to it but since she was sitting there all by herself I figured I would try. So I cut off her baby mullet and around her ears. It was a little bit tricky, even with a toy to distract, because holding one's head still is boring but I got it all in the end. She looks so different. Jason pointed out that she looks like a boy and she does a little bit but now her neck is bare which has to feel good. I decided to keep the hair in a baggie. I was going to just throw it away because I didn't have an envelope but when the time came to toss it, I couldn't. So, it's in a ziplock baggie labeled with her name and the date of the cut.

Stop being so silly

(Veggie Tales) I never would have thought of myself as an alarmist. Nor would people who know me. I'm sure I always come across as so even keeled. What people don' t know is what goes on inside my head. Whenever something little happens, I have a habit of taking it to the extreme. Such as my thought that Jason had malaria when he had a fever (a common occurrence for him). Another example is when Anna falls, I'm immediately worried that she has cracked her skull or has some kind of brain damage. In my defense, we do have tile floors.

So while I have these fears, I recognize that they are usually unfounded and don't get too outwardly worked up about things. Outwardly being the key word here. I can keep these fears alive in my head for days. The concern I have about that is, what if something were to actually be wrong? Would I be able to tell the difference and act accordingly or would I just try to write it off as me overreacting again and not get the proper medical attention and thereby making the situation worse?

I also suffer from the fear that when I do get medical attention that it won't be anything and I will look/sound silly to the professional. Who knows why I have such a fear of looking/sounding silly but it drives a surprisingly amount of what I do. Fortunately Jason doesn't seem to have that fear. He'll ask people almost anything. I would quasi-jokingly say I'll stand back and act like I'm not with him when I send him to ask.

This is where I rely heavily on prayer. I pray that my family will be protected, that I will know when to act and (most importantly) that I will be able to stop dwelling on things that are not as big a deal as I want to make them out to be.

Taken Care Of

Last week when Grace came by with the doctor, she noticed that there were some things that we could use some help with. Naturally we had noticed that we needed help with these things too and were going to ask but just hadn't gotten around to it. Namely, getting out to go shopping and cleaning our house. So when Jason went back to work on Thursday (he is feeling much better now) she instigated arranging to have one of the work drivers take us out to the grocery store and the meat store once a week. We decided on Saturday afternoons so Jason could go too. (When Grace came over, we were shockingly out of food. We had arranged to go shopping with someone from work on Sunday but then he never called us to let us know when he was going so we didn't go. As frustrating as that was, I was glad that we didn't go shopping on Sunday.)

Then she arranged to have someone come by once a week and clean our place. This is something that I had decided I would like. People kept asking to make sure we didn't want someone to cook for us. My thought was that the cooking I can do, it's the cleaning that I would rather not. So on Friday, a nice guy whose name I never did catch came by to clean. He was here for a couple of hours and did the whole place top to bottom. It was wonderful even if he did keep laughing at how dirty the place was.

Here is the guy who came to clean. He thought Anna was great and wanted a picture with her. She is wearing her 4th of July outfit that is actually size 12 months and was a little bit big but was doable.

When he first came it was a little funny. I had already started sweeping the floor when he came by with lunch (Grace sent lunch to me for a couple of days while Jason was still recuperating). I thought he was just the lunch guy (I hadn't turned on the computer yet so Jason couldn't tell me he was coming) and was a little confused when he wanted to continue with the cleaning I had started. We were finally able to figure out what was going on and that Grace had sent him.

So now we have someone to clean and a weekly ride to the grocery store. I'm sure this will keep us in food and hope it will help me keep the place cleaner. I find it's always much easier to maintain.

4th of July

This was my first 4th of July out of the country. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like the 4th. Jason went to work and I dressed Anna and I in quasi-patriotic outfits (we don't actually own any stars and stripes gear so Anna wore red and white and I was all about blue). The Americans from work then all got together and had a bar-be-que with some of the Indians. Jeremy marinated some pork in mango puree with chili powder and grilled it. Bindu also had a bunch of veggies that she grilled and had things like chips and a salad and Indian rice. They also had some so-so corn on the cob, watermelon, peaches and mango. I tried to make a potato salad. We were able to get mayonnaise without eggs in it for the vegetarians, the problem came with the pickles. We had some homemade pickles but when I opened the jar, they were sweet. I was totally bummed so the salad just had the potatoes, mayo and garlic that I had sauteed in butter ( I didn't have garlic powder or salt). Unfortunately, I kind of overcooked the potatoes so they were more mashed than I would have liked. They were still good but it wasn't like potato salad. Oh well.

Anna had a blast and was a hit (naturally, especially with the pig tails). She took a late nap so she was able to stay awake late and still be happy (I'm very glad that she is flexible with her naps. At one point I was trying to get her on more of a schedule but I decided that with our life at this point, a little flexibility is better). Later in the evening, she started talking a lot. It was hilarious. Everyone there was saying how impressed they are with her disposition. Apparently they were really worried about us coming out here, particularly about the flight. There were numerous lunch time conversations about us. Jeremy said he knew we would be ok when she was awake and happy as we came out of the airport. He was afraid we would come out with a screaming child and just be wiped out. We have definitely been blessed with Anna's ability to go with the flow and observe the world around her. She even doesn't mind going to other people yet. With her cooperation, this trip has been possible; without it and I would probably have had to stay in the States.

Will you look at that!

Yesterday morning I happened to look in Anna's mouth and this is what I saw:
I felt around and sure enough, she has teeth! The two bottom ones seemed to have come in at the same time. I have no idea when that happened. Other than drooling and chewing on things (which she has been doing for a while now) I hadn't really noticed any extra fussiness. The previous two nights she did start fussing but wasn't really waking up so we just put her binkie back in her mouth and she went right back out. Wether that was related to the teeth or not I can't say but that seemed to be the only indication that there was any trouble at all.

This morning they are bigger and can kind of bite. Jason's response was that feeding her will never be the same again.

The rains came down

Not here but a cool picture that could be here.

Well it looks like the monsoons have come. It's rained at least once every day this week. And I'm not just saying little showers. It will be a full on deluge. I'm amazed at how well it cools thins down. Generally the temperature will be in the nineties but last night after the rain but before the sun went down it was in the 70s! Jason even put on pants.

This would be a great time to leave the doors open and keep things cool except that we have no screens. The first night after it rained we left the doors open while we were up and were inundated with bugs. They weren't really big bugs but there were lots of them and they were kind of creepy and annoying. So since then we have learned that when the sun goes down, the doors need to be closed. Unfortunately this still doesn't keep all the bugs out. We still have some coming in through the bathroom windows (which don't really close all the way) and under the non-sliding doors. The past couple of nights I have seen a cricket on the floor.

With all of this rain, we don't have it as bad as Mumbai. Before Jason got sick we were thinking about going there this weekend what with the holiday and all (even though the 4th of July isn't a holiday in India, we think Jason gets the day off because it's an American company). Naturally with his recovering we have decided to stay home. I was looking online yesterday and it said that Mumbai was flooded with water up to people's knees. Lookes like we dodged a bullet. Of course I don't know when we will be able to go to Mumbai now. I don't know if it will just get worse or if there we will be a less wet time or if we will just have to go and be wet. We'll have to see.

Be a man, take some Pepto Bismol and get over here.

(Ferris Bueller's Day Off) If only it were that easy. Jason has been sick this week (hence the lack of post yesterday). It started on Sunday night he started feeling achy and his tummy was unhappy. Then came the fever with more stomach upset. So he stayed home from work on Monday and slept all day. That night he had chills and I was a little worried he might have gotten malaria. This was not an unrealistic fear. While the rains haven't really started yet, and there is at least a week incubation time, the risk is low but I know I have had some bug bites already. Also, while he does have an anti-malarial (we wouldn't dream of coming in the country without it) he has been known to forget it. So I was worried. Also that night came the diarrhea. In the morning, he called Jeremy from work and Jeremy said he would talk to Grace once he got in the office.

Around 10:30, Grace came over with the doctor. That's right, a house call. I was surprised. I thought we would have to go to the hospital and was really glad that we didn't (it sounded like quite an expedition with a sick husband and a baby who was running low on diapers again). The doctor listened to his symptoms and took his blood pressure which was apparently low. He wrote us out some perscriptions and gave some instructions for keeping him hydrated and nourished and went. Grace then went to the store for us and bought some fruit and bread (we were going to go shopping but didn't get a chance) and the medicines. She told me how he needed to take the drugs and gave some advice on feeding him and made us some soup before going to work.

Jason then slept for a lot of yesterday. When he was awake I made sure he ate little bits of things like bananas and bread and rice to "bind his stomach" (as Grace put it) and got lots of fluids. Then last night, his fever broke while we were watching a movie. The diarrhea has slowed but I don't think it has completely stopped. He is feeling better but is still weak so is staying home today. Last night when Grace brought over some food for us she said he wasn't to come into work today so he could build his strength.

So it looks like we have gotten through our first set of illnesses (I was sick briefly the first week we were here). While I'm glad it wasn't malaria, I'm resolved to be more consistant with reminding Jason to take his medicine (even if I do sound like I'm nagging, it's better than malaria). We really appreciate all the help and I guess we can just keep being careful with what we eat.