Name Game Addendum

The Germans have conspired to make my parents rest easy and save their poor grandson from his weirdo parents. To wit, you have to get your name approved here. That's right. I actually don't know if they have a separate office of baby names or what, but I guess we will find out when the time comes.

My friend already told me that Voltaire was definitely not allowed. "You crazy Americans! You can't name a kid Voltaire!"

It's (probably) a boy!

Here's the latest ultrasound-- looking more baby-like. Just look at that spine! And the wee pelvis! I haven't felt any moving yet, so I think he is still maxing and relaxing a while longer.

I'm still feeling pretty good, except for the major nasal congestion. I won't detail that any further because it's gross-- I'll just say it's my payback for not having morning sickness. I've also been feeling great in ballet class. Oddly enough, this little guy is helpfully shifting my weight lower and making my dancing more precise with less effort. Score!

Jeremy and I are now in the throes of the baby name game. Our loose criteria:
1. Interesting, but not too weird
2. meaningful culturally or ethnically to us
3. euphonious-- also, either an alliteration or consonance with Lynch

The name that really jumped out at me yesterday was "Elijah Emmanuel Lynch", but I think it might be a teensy bit too religious. Although we could throw Mohammed Vishnu in there for extra protection. Somehow we are both pretty taken with Elijah, not least because you always have to save a seat for him. In Germany they will pronounce it "El-ee-yah" which I can't decide if I like or not.

Don't worry, we are building a big list. It will probably take us the rest of the time to figure out. Unfortunately, our favorite dance and science guys have booooring names. Or too French. We're not going to name the poor thing Jean-Philippe Lynch.

a couple grainy photos

for your viewing pleasure...



Bumpy goes to ballet

(I wish I looked as cool as that Andean Mama Jeremy posted! Later... maybe I should start cultivating my scowl now.)



Almost-finished (needs the border) lap quilty-knitted thing. I have to already fight Heidi for it.

chile chile sauce

So, yeah, I am in Chile. Santiago is a huge city, and I have so far only seen only a little bit, due to my course obligations, and some stronger than expected jetlag. I did manage to go into the center and see some things, and one Sunday we had a free day, and we went white water rafting on the Maipo river. Of course I forgot my camera.

Some impressions in no particular order:

• My extremely limited German is screwing up my non-existent Spanish skills. I know how to say the basic stuff (si, gracias, por favor, beunos dias, etc...) but I can't stop saying ja and danke. Last night a waiter asked if the meal was good (Bien?), and I replied "sehr bien". A shameful display.
• They love sandwiches here. From my experience it is well justified. The best had charcoal grilled steak sliced super thin, topped with a generous dollop of fresh avocado. I guess it is normal to eat these sandwiches with a knife and a fork. At first I thought to myself "C'mon, it's a freakin sandwich, use your hands" (which is also my reaction to Germans who eat Pizza with silverware), but in the end it was impossible, and I had to give in before coated myself in avocado and meat juice.
• They hate the letter "s" here. Go ahead and try to order an Austral (beer) pronouncing all of the consonants in the word---they will look at you like you are crazy, until you point to the menu---"Ohhh "Ott-ral"". Si, I guess.
• The ride to the rafting was cool, once we got out of the city the side of the road was packed with small shacks with their own clay, woodfired ovens cooking empanadas---why couldn't we stop!
• I climbed the St Lucia Hill, I guess Darwin was there on his Beagle voyage, so that was cool, but it's a bit smoggy in Santiago. I also saw a bunch of these sweet lizards:

• I saw this drink being sold on the street, and thought I had to try it:
• 
• It seems to consist of dried peaches, reconstituted in peach nectar, poured over some kind of grain. Interesting, but I think I might have diabetes now.
• Sarah sent me a picture of how her baby belly is coming along, but was too shy to put it up herself, so I will:
• 
• Why does blogging take so long? I guess I will leave it at that.

More stuff for the baby

You all have really inspired me! I was goofing around on the internet looking for a tardigrade pattern or a stuffed toy, and I found this! Those internets have everything.



Weird Bug Lady on Flicker


Weird Bug Lady on Etsy


It is going to be hard not to buy her entire stock... She's on break while taking her finals, though.

It just might be a monkey theme, folks.

It's tough because I was imagining a weird sea-creatures theme based on this:



Prehistoric nautiloids!

and this:



But now a second monkey item has appeared! A little early Christmas fairy has given me a gift certificate to Knitpicks, so the yarn will be waiting for me when I get to my parents' house! (Oh, um, Mom and Dad, I am having some yarn delivered to the house.)



Maybe the theme is evolution!! I should knit something for every Phylum.

The Apartment Hunt

Hello, Faithful Readers!

While Jeremy is in Chile stuffing himself with avocados, rafting (kayaking? canoeing?), and occasionally teaching some people about his special little bugs, I have been racing around Cologne trying to find an apartment for us to share with the little monkey/munchkin/Puppe. You know, maybe an extra bedroom, not so many stairs to climb (currently we are living in a 5th floor walk-up), not such a tiny kitchen, etc. I always remember the giant pain that the actual moving entails-- I hate the packing and the unpacking, the endless cleaning, and here you have to paint as well (well, I don't have to paint. HAHAHAHAHA), but I forgot how terrible looking for the apartment is. All the possiblities, each with their own charm and problems, swimming in front of me. And I can't neccessarily just choose the one I like best. Nooooo, you have to jump through the hoops and be CHOSEN.

Sidenote: just in case you are thinking that I am doing this in English, think again! It's German all the way, baby. I think my hearty American accent even works in our favor to make us stand out as applicants, and I've even learned some new boring words. Well, I can recognize them on the forms. I'm not going to bother to really learn the word for "secured income".

I am now waiting to hear back today or tomorrow from our favorite place. It's in our favorite neighborhood where I also always perform and rehearse. There is a backyard with a terrace! We're not allowed to put in our chicken coop and beehive or turn the whole thing into a tomato patch, but grass is nice, too, I guess. The kitchen is also kind of small, but everything is there already (NOT a given in German apartments!). The rooms are also a little small, and the heating is a weird expensive system, but even with that, it is still very affordable.

My second choice apartment is in the same neighborhood. It only has one bedroom, but the living room is so big that it can be easily split into two rooms, eventually. It is freshly renovated (new wires, new tile, all new bathroom stuff), BUT we would need to put in the floor in most of the rooms and install the kitchen. There is no garden or balcony, but it is right by the big park.

I've also started to get the ol' unsolicited pregnancy advice. First, this crazy guy that I hardly know (I met him through the baroque stuff), was telling me that German should be the baby's Muttersprache (mother tongue-- first language) because if not, it will have such a hard time on the playground and in the kindergarten. Like, no one will play with the poor 2 year-old that doesn't speak German. He thinks that kids can't learn 2 languages at once. And he knows so many immigrants whose kids have so many problems in school. Barf. It's called Muttersprache for a reason, and that reason is that it is the language that I speak. The Mutter.

I know families that are teaching their kids FOUR languages simultaneously! Of course, the baby will have a great opportunity to get a head-start on being bilingual here. It might be hard to keep it up when we move back to America (how many German/English schools are there???), but it's worth a try, anyway. Young children being able to learn languages is such a fact that I was just mostly annoyed that I had to listen to this blabbermouth out of politeness.