Joseph is a delight to have around. He is curious about everything and much more responsive. Now if I don’t take him down with me to do laundry I have to strap him in his car seat because he can wriggle out of it if he’s not tied in. He can now reach up and grab stuff off the edge of the coffee table. His babbling has more variation and it seems like he says “mama” in not a wholly unconscious way. He still likes watching his hands occasionally though now he can wriggle his fingers independently. He can pass a toy from hand to hand, though I never saw him fascinated by the ability. He just does it. He can get at the end of a toy he wants and rotate it and move it to the part he wants to chew on. He chews on everything so that plus the added fussiness and we’re pretty convinced he’s teething. He has a wooden car whose wheels power a music box and he knows how to push it back and forth in order to make music. He knew this before, which I know because I’d see him trying to get it to sound by moving it around, but he would often push it sideways so the wheels wouldn’t turn and no sound would come, but now he’s an expert at it. Look forward to cute videos of it when we get around to posting them on Stephan’s blog.
When standing with assistance he can pick up one leg or the other and move it forward. If I place his chest on my torso while in bed he can “cruise” up to my face and loves “kissing” me or biting my nose. Basically he loves opening his mouth and placing it anywhere on my face . . .
He loves action and people. He doesn’t think eating and sleeping are worth doing while there is something going on. That means some days (like today) he only naps a total of 45 minutes and then others he’s forced to make up for it by sleeping two or three hours. He is at the moment rather consistent about going to bed in the evening when he’s tired (between 7 and 10ish) and staying there until 7:30 or 8 (of course with plenty of requests for food). That makes life rather swell for me. I can be fairly confident when I put him down in the evening that he’ll stay there and then I can sleep in in the morning! Constantly having my sleep interrupted is now par for the course and it hardly bothers me. Maybe I’m just used to my state of tiredness. I still do plenty of spacey things!
We’d have a great few days with my Dad here and Mom comes tomorrow! Merry Christmas!
Having found that beets overwhelm any vegetable soup I looked for expert help when we received beets again in our vegetable coop. I turned to a cookbook by Jamie Oliver that Stephan had before we married and we both found the result so delightful that we ate the whole beet in one meal despite the fact that the rest of the meal was a very tasty hunk of beef. I don’t feel right publishing the recipe in full, but I’ll advertise his cookbook and give you a hint. It’s The Return of the Naked Chef (Kochen für Freunde in German) and the idea is simple: bake the beets in tin foil with a secret green, a bunch of smashed garlic, and a good bit of balsamic vinegar. It’s tender and tasty and goes down easily! Plus, it’s super easy to make. I’m not sure I’ll ever do anything else with my beets again.
I used the Swiss Care international student health insurance for the 3 ½ years I was a student in Switzerland and couldn’t be more pleased. At first I was disappointed that I couldn’t continue my cost-sharing insurance substitute that I had in the states because of Switzerland’s laws that all must have basic insurance, but Swiss Care made life much easier practically and financially. I didn’t understand how it could be so cheap. I thought there must be a catch, like that they never pay up, but after some internet research they seemed to be legitimate and I signed up. I write this post to help other people searching about Swiss Care. It’s a good organization! They might not have the best of customer service in that they don’t speak the best English and sometimes don’t fully understand a question, but they certainly aren’t the worst in that they welcome your questions and are happy to work with you until you are satisfied. Most importantly, it was easy to submit claims and I always got the money without any fuss. I had a 300 Franc deductible and it cost about 1000 Francs a year. Most of my expenses were pregnancy related, and as stipulated by Swiss law, pregnancy is out of the deductible, meaning there is a 0 deductible for pregnancy. If you are a student planning on staying in Switzerland longer than three months (you don’t officially need insurance if you stay less than three months) then I recommend Swiss Care. They have options for non-students, too, but I don’t have experience with that. I am in no way affiliated with Swiss Care. I just used their services for a few years and would like to help other students have peace of mind when choosing their health insurance.
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We are all home safely after an almost pleasurable trip to the emergency room as these trips go. Joseph came down with a bit of a cold Tuesday night but was getting progressively better and playing, drinking and functioning rather normally so we were just riding it out until at 5am this morning his cough woke him up and he wouldn’t nurse and he spiraled into a crying/coughing/wheezing fit. After determining that his nose was clear I realized he was having trouble breathing and remember that at one point my Mom had used steam from the shower to help me breath when I was a baby so I decided to give it a try. It helped a bit, but it didn’t calm him down and I started to worry since he was heaving so heavily and sounded so terrible and he couldn’t be consoled. I made Stephan call the health insurance 24 hour number and the lady suggested rather firmly that we go to the emergency room. Of course as things often go, even during the call Joseph calmed down and fell asleep (until turning the water off with my foot caused the shower head to fall down and clang in the tub). I think Joseph sensed my tension and wasn’t able to relax until I started to relax because we were seeking help. Anyway, we all got dressed and took a Mobility car to the emergency room, which turned out to not take children because there’s a children’s hospital – who knew? I suppose I should have . . .
The regular doctor at the ER checked out Joseph, who was of course sleeping peacefully when we arrived, and sent us to the children’s hospital just to be safe. I was quite impressed with the children’s emergency services, but of course it helped my nerves that Joseph was still sleeping. We were seen right away and the doctor on call was friendly, clear, and obviously enjoyed children. It turns out my steam solution was a good idea because they treated him the same way, only with a more sophisticated steam making machine. I need a confirmation from Mom that Pseudo-croup is what I had as a baby, too. At least croup sounds vaguely familiar. Joseph woke up and was clearly better after his rest but dutifully displayed his cough and wheezing for the doctor to confirm the diagnosis. Soon after he was playing and smiling and loving the morning time. We decided to go for the baby cortisone anyway to help him recover and by the time we got home at around 7:30 he was sleeping almost silently. We all got a good two hour nap before Joseph finally woke up hungry. It hadn’t nurse since before 5am and the last time I remember nursing him was 1am! My mind and my body were grateful for that feed and the whole family was grateful for the nap. Joseph then played normally and happily, though he’s still wheezing. I’m happy we saw the doctor even though my diagnosis was correct in the first place. It confirmed my intuition and gives me confidence for dealing with it should it happen again. I’ve left God out of the write-up but he was never far from us. We are very grateful for a “healthy sick-boy” as Stephan called it, and for the relatively pain-free ordeal. Joseph is such a little fighter still! Praise God!
Saturday was a long day, but Joseph did tremendously well. I did the baby swim course with him this time as Stephan still had a cough. It’s so much fun and also very nice to be in the warm water. This time Joseph stayed awake and active the whole class. He was very active “swimming” after objects in the pool. He’s really just trying to crawl, and he’s hard to hang on to, but I tried to encourage him by moving him faster when he moved his arms and legs. Next week is the last class. I’m not sure how much he’s learned, but it’s been fun doing it anyway.
After lunch we drove out to visit some of Stephan’s old university friends in Bremgarten. Joseph slept almost the whole two hour drive. We enjoyed the time and Joseph tasted his first snow. He seemed pleased enough. We couldn’t stay too long because Diana was hosting her annual Thanksgiving pot luck and I didn’t want to miss it. Joseph was a champ and slept again on the drive. We’re spoiled. At one point we drove past Etinhard. Stephan said that’s what we’re about to do . . .
Though we arrived only in time for dessert desert they had saved each of us a plate of dinner. Yum, yum! Joseph started to get a little tired, but he did well enough being with people and crawling around.
Sunday some friends from church showed me how African moms carry their babies on their backs. It’s simple, so a bit scary (no knots, just tucks!) but it gave me the currage to try the Moby wrap on my back though the instructions say not to do it before 12 months. Joseph liked it and I got SO much more done! I even vacuumed with him in it. I’ve yet to get totally comfortable with it and Joseph needs time to adjust as well, but it is so much more practical to carry him on the back than the front and I’m excited to get better.
One funny anectdote: Stephan was holding Joseph while we were eating dinner when Joseph neatly grabbed the napkin in front of him, brough it to his mouth and spit up – catching all of it on the napkin. It looked for all the world like it was politely on purpose.
