Resolutions
I’ve been thinking for at least 2 months now about how 2009 is going to be an improvement over 2008. I won’t lie: I’ll be very glad to put 2008 behind me. Aside from Navab’s birth and subsequent happy times, 2008 has not been a good year. I won’t go into those details–instead, I’d like to focus on how 2009 will be better.
- I want to recycle more, recycle everything possible. Ideally, it would be great to start a compost heap, but since we live in a townhome with no yard and a mini back patio, it’s not a good idea (we don’t even have room for our three bicycles, tons of potted plants, and chairs–let alone a composting thing). I have a feeling that if we were to have a compost heap, though, we wouldn’t really produce very much garbage (with diapers being our splurge). So yes, that’s my first resolution: make less garbage, recycle everything possible. Make the compost a far-off goal for when we have our own real yard.
- Make some quilts. Take some quilting classes and make some friends in the process.
- Make our house homey. It needs new paint (which is a shame really, because the current paint job was executed pretty well–the colors are just not “us”) and I have a bad habit of leaving the last bits of things sitting around forever undone. Pictures need to be hung. DIY projects need to be done. My office/our den needs to have some life breathed into it before it drives my husband insane. And we need rugs. Lots of rugs.
- Develop a plan and start this internet business I’ve been thinking about for a while. I had the idea about 5 months ago, so it’s time to do something about it already. If anyone wants to coach me through writing a business plan, that would be great.
- Take the stairs more often. At work, I take the elevator up and down ONE FLOOR. This isn’t because I’m lazy–it’s because I never have my ID required to open the doors in the stairwells. No really. That’s my reason.
- This is one I’ve only been toying with for the past few …well, hours. But I’ve been seriously considering giving up soda completely for a year. I don’t really think I’ll miss it because I drink it rarely now, but I think I’d rather just drink Pellegrino (or whatever). I think this is probably a good idea.
I’m sure there will be more, but those are the big ones (I think). What are your resolutions?
November/December Recap (I know, I suck)
Wow, I apologize: it’s been a crazy long time since I last posted! I do have a good reason for not posting, though: there was a lot happening. And since it’s been a while since I’ve had a nice listy post (and since Navab is asleep right now, sure to wake up any moment wanting mama), I will share with you what’s been happening the past month:
- Went to Dallas for Artemis and Josh’s’ baby shower
- Went to Dallas a second time for Thanksigiving (we flew both times, it was easier)
- Visited friends and family in Tennessee
- Zabi, Artemis and Josh’s baby from aforementioned baby shower (and Navab’s new BFF), was born earlier this month
- Both Myk and I got the stomach flu from Navab, who graciously brought it home from daycare for us to enjoy. Did she actually get really sick? Of course not. Did we? Oh heck yes.
- We have also enjoyed a cold that has spanned 2.5 weeks and caused Myk and I to have messed-up voices, and now Navab has it and has had a fever the past 3 days…ugh…
- We went to the movies together–to see “Twilight”
My bro, Gavin, and Navab @ 7.5 months
In Navab news, she’s VERY mobile right now and will likely be walking in a matter of weeks (though she’s pretty wobbley, so who knows). That’s much earlier than I’m prepared for, but she’s wanted to walk for a few months now, so I am not surprised. I’ve done a crappy job of childproofing our house beyond putting those plastic things in the wall sockets, so I will have to tackle that this weekend. Earlier this week she learned how to open cabinets, and that really freaks me out, so I need to put those latch things all over the place.
She’s CRAZY about taking baths, and is constantly trying to stand up in the tub which scares the crap out of me. Oh! And the big one: she’s on solid foods (in addition to breastmilk as well). Banana, avocado, applesauce, pears (her favorite), carrots, winter vegetables, squash, corn, grapes (under supervision and assistance of course), tomato, peaches, barley cereal… It’s been so fun! As much as I enjoy breastfeeding, it is comforting to know that she is not solely dependent on me.
Another realization I’ve had is that we might have a high-need baby. She doesn’t sleep for more than a couple of hours before waking up and wanting someone to feed and snuggle her. She doesn’t really play by herself for very long. She wants to crawl all over me when I’m around. I guess I didn’t think she was high need because that was all we knew and we respond to her needs pretty quickly, but I hear about people who’s babies sleep through the night and who are fine with playing by themselves at this age, and I really can’t relate. I don’t mind Navab’s habits at all, but that’s the same reason why I haven’t blogged in over a month.
I hope everyone has a happy holiday season. We’ll be here in Houston enjoying some R&R, and then Delara and Steve are coming to visit to celebrate the new year. January hopefully my parents will come visit and also my brother, and maybe we’ll get to see Myk’s mom as well (I will admit that January in Michigan is a daunting thought though). At the end of February I’ll turn 30 (!) and I hope to celebrate that by us all going to DC for a weekend of national sightseeing and spending time with friends. And that’s that.
November 4: election day!
First, let me just state how glad I am that campaigning is over as of 7pm tonight. I’m so, so tired of being pummeled with election crap. I’ve done my best to stay impartial and make rational decisions based on facts, but because I listen to an hour and a half of NPR every day and then have developed this habit of watching Jon Stewart and then Colbert…well…I’m cooked on politics. And I don’t mean hooked. COOKED.
That being said, though, I have to tell you guys that when I went to vote today, I actually felt giddy! I was so proud and honored to be an American and be able to vote for who I want to represent me for the next term. Let me paint you the picture: I am registered to vote in a precinct where the polling location is an elementary school. That is, in itself, adorable. I parked across the street and lugged my copy of The Historian with me, fully expecting to wait in line for an hour. When I walked in, there were kids in line carrying their styrofoam lunch trays looking bewildered at the strangers in their school. I turned the corner and…no line! I walked right up, handed some very nice ladies my voter registration card and driver’s license, and signed my name. Ticket in hand, I then walked to the back of the cafeteria where I handed another extremely nice person (he greeted me with “Hello young lady!,” which I love) my ticket and he told me to go to one of the fancy electronic foldey booths and if I needed a receipt for my boss or for Starbucks, to come back and see him when I finish.
Really, the big moment of pride for me was when the first page of electronic checkboxes met my eyes. The boxes were all equally unchecked, no candidate being able to market themselves more than any other. Once I entered that school to vote, it was like the advertising voices were all hushed and waiting to hear what I wanted. As I marked that first selection, I felt so proud and honored that someone would ask me what I thought, that someone would even care what I cared about. This feeling is something I don’t think I could ever forget.
I was listening to the talking heads one day in this past week (don’t remember what…maybe NPR, maybe something else?), and this political analyst was saying how for the first time in history, citizens said they couldn’t IMAGINE living in a country that was run by the guy they didn’t vote for. This analyst also said something that really stuck with me: she said that no matter who wins, that person will need the support and confidence of the American people for them to be a successful President. So people being so polarized could/will really pose a problem. That made me consider my own point of view: I decide who to vote for, but if that person doesn’t win, can/will I support the other guy? The answer as a Baha’i is that I must. But honestly, I’m going to be a happy supporter of whoever wins. They need me. More importantly, I need them to make smart decisions and to steer the US in a better direction.
With that fantastic feeling, I completed my ballot, went back to the ticket guy, and headed off to Starbucks for a free decaf Pike’s Place. Yeah. I feel good.
Rainn Wilson, Quilts, and Life
Last weekend, Myk, Navab and I went to the Baha’i Center in downtown Houston to see and meet Rainn Wilson. He is a Baha’i and was in town doing some fundraising for the Mona Foundation and got wrangled into chatting with the Baha’i youth (and their friends) who live in and around Houston. It was pretty cool because we Baha’is don’t have a lot of celebrities, so when we do it’s especially special when they come to town to hang out.
We did get to meet him, which was neat. I am a fan of The Office myself (my favorite episode was the one that involved “gaydar”), and because the audience was primarily composed of youth (median age of 16, I am guessing), I was probably one of the few people there who actually worked IN an office. Anyways, we got a picture of him about to eat Navab because he threatened to do so during his talk. She was being chatty and I guess he didn’t really appreciate that ;)
My parents are in town this weekend and so my Mom and I decided to leave Navab with my Dad and Myk and we went to the International Quilt Festival at the convention center here in Houston. For those of you not from around here, it’s a huge deal–this thing is some 6 blocks of exhibits and exhibitors. It’s really amazing. And today, I’m a convert to this thing. I’m going every year for…however long it goes.
Finally, we’re all just trying to keep up with Navab, who has been crawling all over the place full speed. She crawled off the bed this afternoon which was no good, so we’re going to need to figure out a solution there. We really like the baby in the bed setup, but if it’s not safe for her we might have to figure something else out. But that’s for another blog entry some other time…
Hooray for Austin
This past weekend, Navab and I drove 3 hours to Austin and stayed with our friends Diane and Raj so that we could attend Maker Faire, something I’ve been looking forward to for months. Diane and Raj like the babies, so it was very much fun. Getting up there took us a while because Navab being a baby and all, she needs to be fed, changed, etc at regular intervals…so it really took us about 4.5 hours to get there. But oh well! It was a pretty drive and I didn’t mind. And Navab did O-K in the car seat. She’s getting better all the time!
The Faire was really neat! There were a bunch of geektastic robot and circut booths. I was really interested in the crafters–I really wanted to get inspired (and oh, I am!). Honestly, there was so much going on, I was a little shocked, and didn’t take in as much as I would have liked. Also, I was trying to multitask a bit too much, and figure out how to work a stroller at the same time. I’m not used to a stroller, Navab certainly isn’t, but I didn’t want to break my back carrying her around. Now I realize, I should have just sucked it up and carried her. She didn’t want to sit in the stroller very long.
Anyways, after Maker Faire, I said my goodbyes to Diane and Raj and headed back to Austin where I met up with my good Baha’i friends Jay, Amanda, and Milan. Amanda and Milan have twin 4-month-old girls, so it was really fun to have a lot of babies around. We met up at the “flagship world headquarters” Whole Foods store, which was pretty fantastic I will admit, and had dinner there. For as many babies that were involved in this meetup, everything went REALLY well. Navab was very occupied by napkins and receipts and the lid to my iced tea and the twins just chilled in their stroller. AMAZING!
Anyways, it was great to see everyone and have such a fun weekend. I really like Austin and look forward to spending more time there when Khaleh Atoosa moves there permanently to open her pediatric practice, which hopefully won’t be too long from now (wink, wink)!
And here’s your gratuitous shot of Navab for the week. 6 months old, I can’t believe it!
New Developments
As Navab gets older, she gets more and more hilarious. Like, when Myk told me that she said “hi!” out of nowhere in the carseat the other day. Or when we put our finger on her lips and she tries to talk (think blubbermouth…I need to get video of this). Or when we help her stand up and she opens her mouth in a smile so big I wonder if she could smile that big the day before…these are what must be the glory days of parenthood–before the kid gets mobile and after the annoying crying phase.
Because she’s nearing 6 months, we’ve given her tastes of ripe banana and avocado. I tried using a spoon for the avocado once, and that wasn’t as successful as just using the tip of my finger. Feeding her up until now has been a breeze (with the exception of that milk production fiasco) because she’s only breastfed, but now there’s this new challenge of feeding her. I didn’t consider it until I was looking at going to this conference in NYC in November and realized that I might need to feed her more than breastmilk. And being in a big city, and taking her to the conference with me, and not wanting to schlep everything across town…I just got nervous. So I cancelled my trip. Maybe I wimped out, but it felt like the right thing to do.
Hm, what else. Navab is sitting like a pro and enjoys examining our carpet as she does so. She is about to actually sit up by herself and even more exciting, she’s on the verge of crawling. Interestingly, she can crawl BACKWARDS but not forwards so much.
She’s been fun in the evenings and has been going to sleep more predictably, which is nice. She’s still in our bed which makes things easier overall (despite the fact that our only functioning cable box is in our bedroom…so we do a lot of tv-watching in there), but my back has started to become stiff because of the positions I have to sleep in to accomodate her. So, I’m not sure what we’ll do about that…I can’t think about her being in a whole other room, but the crib may be able to move into our room, which is a start.
I accidentally deleted a slew of new pictures and videos (I was tired and wasn’t paying attention), but I’ll try to get more soon! Next weekend Navab and I are taking a ladies’ road trip to Austin for the Maker Faire so that will also be a good photo op. Until then!
Malfunction
Caveat: I’ve been sick since Thursday and I haven’t left my house in 3 days. So if conditions have improved since then, I apologize and ignore this.
I guess Hurricane Ike is pretty old by now, as it’s not longer front page news and everyone seems to have moved on to talk about Sarah Palin again and the ginormous bailout of Wall Street (coulda seen that coming a mile away, right?). It’s good to know that we’re back to caring about the same ol’ stuff again. However, I have to, for the record, say that Houston is still really messed up.
Normally, Houston is kind of a funny place. I think the major good points of living here are cost-efficiency, healthy job market, and 2 major airports (for easy escape). The downside includes a heavy reliance on cars and general lack of beauty. So really what Hurricane Ike came in and did was screw up what beauty Houston had (trees) thus causing all the roads to be jacked up.
Traffic lights continue to be in all kinds of interesting configurations: facing the wrong way, dangling from wires, laying in the street (this one is lessening, thank goodness), and bent so that you don’t know what direction is getting the signal. And about half the lights are blinking red or not working at all, so there are a billion 4 way stops now in the city. It’s complete chaos at rush hours, and it takes forever to get anywhere at any other time. My 30 minute commute last Monday turned into a ulcer-inducing 2.5 hour stop-and-go drive of doom.
I don’t mean to complain so much because I know that experts have been working very hard to restore power to millions of people living here…but surely city officials would have known ahead of time that this kind of service would be needed. I mean, this is America, our motto is that we can have what we want, when we want it, right? So why, in a city of millions of people–a city known for its energy connections–is anyone living without electricity weeks after a storm hits? Where are the traffic cops and the energy workers? Surely backup technicians would have already been on their way to Houston before the storm even hit. Surely Houston Police (and their backups? Couldn’t Dallas or Austin spare a few?) could think of something better to do than enforce a curfew (which felt like Marshall Law, btw), like manage some of the bazillion intersections without a functioning light?
Anyways, I’m done complaining, I just had to put this out there.
Tangent: There are big perks for living in America for all the griping we do about it. We have reliable electricty service, clean water coming out of the tap, and pretty much whatever you want 24-7. While there are many things to complain about like lack of nationalized health care, high taxes that pay for stuff we don’t want to pay for, and a crippling interest in partisan politics (maybe I’ll just complain about that), we can count on the lights to come on and the water to be clean. So, that’s good.
A guest entry by Naseem, aka “more fun with Persian ladies”
So, recently, my family and I have had some fantastic interactions with old Persian ladies – similar to the kind I alluded to here (long ago), but a bit different in quality these days, since both my sister and I are now married.
Ah, these are the times when I wish I still blogged – because, truly, such things should not go undocumented. Lucky for me, my blog-mom Lacey is letting me do a guest entry where I can excerpt these little gems for the blogosphere to see. Sometimes, I feel that these dialogues are like pieces of some kind of longitudinal, informal field study in cultural anthropology, perhaps called ”the dynamics of inter-cohort social interactions within the Iranian diaspora.” Sometimes, I think they’re just good for sheer entertainment value.
(in English)
Khanum Estefroghi #1***: Vow, your vife has gotten very fat lately.
Josh (my brother-in-law): She’s pregnant.
Khanum Estefroghi #1: Oh.
(in Persian)
Khanum Estefroghi #2: I knew your baby would be a boy.
Artemis: Oh really? How did you know?
Khanum Estefroghi #2: Because you got ugly, and people who are pregnant with boys always get ugly.
(in Persian)
Khanum Estefroghi #3: (putting her hand on my stomach) So, any news to report?
Me: Haha, no, sorry.
Khanum Estefroghi #3: Well, my daughter has already had two kids. When are you gonna have some?
Me: Actually, I don’t really know, but probably not anytime soon. Congratulations to your daughter, though.
(in Persian)
Khanum Estefroghi #4: Naseem joon, marriage has done wonders for you.
Me: Oh, really?
Khanum Estefroghi #4: Yes, you’ve really gotten so much better looking since you got married. You’re pretty now.
Me: Um, thanks?
(in Persian)
Khanum Estefroghi #5: Oh wow, you’ve lost so much weight.
Me: I’m sorry, have we met? Hello, I’m Naseem – what was your name?
Khanum Estefroghi #5: Oh no, I know you, and you were really much heavier before.
Me: No, I’m quite sure this the first time we’ve met – and I definitely haven’t lost any weight. Maybe you’re confusing me with one of my sisters? Anyway, nice to meet you. Goodbye.
*** All names of old Persian ladies have been changed to protect my family and I from further harassment by said ladies (or their family members who may be reading this). Please note that “estefrogh” means puke in Persian – and Khanum, of course, means “lady” or “Ms.” Hence, my sister Artemis has dubbed all annoying old Persian ladies Khanum Estefroghi.
[Disclaimer: neither this entry, nor the previous one to which I linked, are intended as an indictment of all Persian ladies in general, as clearly not all of them are annoying or estefroghi. Indeed, I myself will be an old Persian lady someday, and I thus do not wish to seem as if I am mocking all old Persian ladies collectively. I only wish to share the antics of old Persian ladies of the annoying/estefroghi variety, as I find them to be particularly amusing.]
Makin’ it after Ike
Hello from Dallas!
We’re here because after living for 4 days without power in Houston, we decided to leave. I had some breastmilk that was slowly spoiling in the “freezer,” and it was also starting to feel a little strange to have a mandatory curfew. Police rolling around all the time strangely makes me feel more unsettled that safe. But we are safe and sound here and are enjoying some creature comforts that we may not have otherwise. Like, hot showers and stuff.
About 11pm on Friday night, things started gettin crazy. We lost cable, then power.
We rode out the storm sleeping on a mattress which we pulled into our upstairs hallway. Myk and I were afraid that our bedroom window was going to blow out and we hadn’t boarded it, so we decided instead to just sleep in a different place. While I was attempting to sleep normally with Navab and Myk, the storm was so intense it sounded like someone was beating on the window for 6 hours straight. I was worried that water was coming in through the front door and under the windows. As a matter of fact, I woke up at 5 and noticed Myk wasn’t there. The storm was still going like crazy and I went downstairs to see where he was. I saw him by the front door and he said to come look. He opened the front door and it was so crazy…we could already see broken and blowing trees and debris everywhere in the pre-dawn. Rain was going crazy. It was all sideways so it didn’t get in the house, but we were still really awed by the power of the storm.
I went back to bed and by 8, the beating on the window had calmed down enough that I pulled Navab back into our bedroom to continue to sleep. The windows all held and no water came in the house. It’s all good.
Of course, we didn’t have power so we couldn’t watch the news. And we didn’t have a radio that wasn’t in a car, so we still didn’t really know how widespread the damage was or what was happening. But over the next couple of days we found out just how many people were without power and more devastatingly, how entire swaths of land were just totally washed away near Galveston. Like, here’s a house and a pool, and now here’s just a stretch of sand where that once was. So wild. I am praying that most people evacuated.
Speaking of which, we evacuated, only about 4 days late. Thursday morning would have been the ideal time to leave, but I had a meeting from 4-5pm on Thurs that I couldn’t miss (it got cancelled after lunch) and Myk had to teach that day. So we missed our window of opportunity. I got freaked out by watching the news and seeing the miles of brake lights on I-45 up to Dallas, and I started to worry about not finding gas or getting stuck on the interstate during the hurricane with Navab in the car. After the storm, we tried to leave on Sunday only to find out that I-45 was flooded and there was no way out of Houston. We started to feel like trapped rats at that point. Fortunately we found out that chinatown was powered up and accepting customers, so we ate at restaurants and tried to feel normal. That was when we saw a tv and noticed the devistation. So horrible.
Anyways, we’ll be heading back to Houston this weekend and are crossing our fingers that power will have been restored by then. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!
Whew
I’m tired so let me give you a quick recap, a la list:
- We packed. At 3am before the movers came at 7am.
- We moved. And movers are worth every penny, don’t you forget it.
- I regretfully forgot to set up the electricity, so we didn’t actually live in our house the first 5 days we lived in our house.
- We stayed with some friends in Bellaire and it really wasn’t so bad. At all.
- Then my mother-in-law came to town. I was really quite worried we wouldn’t have electricity when she was here. But it was all good.
- Navab had her 4 month checkup (even though she was 20 weeks old…tangent: babies’ ages aren’t measured in weeks, they’re measured in months. So since she was born on April 17, that makes her about 4.5 months old instead of 4 weeks equalling a month, which would make her 5 months old. Strange eh?) and got a bunch of vaccines. She wasn’t herself for 2 days afterwards and made us kind of miserable. Poor gal…in a new house, feeling crappy, out of her element.
- And, I am certain some teeth are trying to pop out because she is biting. Me. Ow.
- We are unpacking and I’m surprised by how much space our house has. WIth the exception of the kitchen, which is kinda small. BUT we have a fantastic refrigerator!
- I love our house. It’s finally OUR HOUSE. Pictures in the not-too-distant future.
- And I love Battlestar Galactica and am sad it’s really too violent to watch with Navab around.
And that’s about it!