The many faces of Erasmus

Erasmus is five weeks old and becoming more expressive. Here are a few of his faces...

And a sweet smile 

Our little family at Thanksgiving 

Three weeks!

Erasmus is three weeks old today! To mark this milestone, he rolled over from his tummy to his back today during tummy time. He also weighed almost 2 pounds over his birth weight at the doctor on Friday. Here we come athletic scholarship! Heh.

Here is my latest favorite picture of Era and Dad. 

And here is Era and Mom getting ready to go for a walk.

And our sweet boy smiling in his sleep.

Faux-hawk

When you newborn son has a full head of hair, it is almost a requirement to give him a faux-hawk after bath time. 

But don't worry, he returned to his "my parents are boring" haircut shortly thereafter.

Era photos, 12 days old

A few recent photos of Era. We had our newborn check up yesterday and he did great. Almost 8 pounds! Mommy's big boy!

Nap time.

Nathan got Era a few classic superheroes for his 1 week "birthday." Not sure who was more excited about the purchase, Era or Dad. (And, yes, he is wearing one of his girl onesies from our pre-birth collection. However, Aunt Heather recently sent us Soren's NB and 0-3 clothes, so now we can always dress like a boy! Thanks, Aunt Heather!)

Era and Superman.

Bright-eyed Era

Sunny nap.

Announcing Erasmus Nathan French

Just a quick note to announce the birth of our son, Erasmus Nathan French! Era was born October 27th at 5:56pm, weighing in at 7lb 9.7oz and 20.5 inches long. He has a full head of hair and is very chatty. Mom and dad are tired but doing well. 

And just in case you are wondering, yes, we were to.d we were having a girl at our 19 week ultrasound, so Era was quite a surprise. Possibly the most talked about baby in the hospital last week!

A few photos of our boy...

Home from the hospital in time for Halloween! Cutest skeleton ever.

First family photo

Happy boy!

Daddy likes close ups

As I type this post, Era sleeps to celebrate his one week of life.

Pants!

My mom is visiting from California this week, and during her stay she is teaching me how to use her old sewing machine, which she gifted to me several years ago.

My mother has been sewing for ages and knows all the right ways to do things (and the time-saving "wrong" ways to do things too). We have gone over all the basics from types of fabrics to pattern reading. I've gotten a little more comfortable with the machine, and am starting to view it as a more of a friend than an enemy.

My first project was a pair of pants for Baby French. Starting with baby clothes is a great idea (I think) because you are able to finish a project in a day and work through all the steps in sequence. It is great for the spirits to be able to start a project in the morning and be done before you go to bed (including the several hours in the middle of the day when you are mad at the sewing machine and need to take a break). 

The evidence:

The finished product:

The pants are flannel, but they have a jean design. Nathan thinks they look like baby yoga pants.

In other news, Nathan brought the Nintendo home from his folk's house. Now we've got some sweet eight-bit Russian folk songs jamming in the background.

Cardboard and tape

We arrived in Oxford, OH on Sunday night and have been in our new home since Tuesday night. Most of our time has been business these past few days: setting up utilities (wireless is now working!), setting up furniture (a huge thank you to Steve and Tessy French!), and getting our library cards at Lane Public Library and touring the local produce co-op, of course. So far we are enjoying Oxford; it is a cute little town, nested in the middle of rural farmland. To give you an idea, all highways leading to and from Oxford and two-lane roads. Farewell 101!

Our second of two PODS arrived today, and since I am in my current "condition," as Nathan and I like to jokingly call it, Nathan was pretty much on his own to start the unloading. To my credit, I did carry in a few pillows and bags of hangers.

The POD is about 3/4 empty now and our house is a maze of boxes. I gave up helping Nathan outside about halfway into the work and started unpacking boxes. The process is almost as much fun as packing boxes for a move. We should probably be all unpacked by the time we are ready to move out.

Here we a few photos of the process:

 

Finally, here is a belly picture for those interested. Since coming to the Midwest I have had a lot more people ask if I am pregnant or comment on my pregnancy. Either I have gotten bigger or it is more acceptable to ask a woman if she is pregnant out here. It is a fascinating phenomenon. Enjoy!

Like a good neighbor

We made it into Louisville, Kentucky today and will be staying with Nathan's folks for a few nights before heading to Oxford, OH on Monday to move into our new town home (...and see it for the first time.) 

The trip has been pretty uneventful thus far, with the exception of a few summer storms. Summer rain is certainly a new experience for me; spending the last 29 summers in California, I've come to understand rain as a special occurrence that only happens between November and May. Nathan had a bit of a chuckle when, in Nebraska at our hotel, I pulled a chair up to the window to watch the rain. I look forward to learning more about the joy of a summer storm in the coming years.

Not everyone on the road had our same luck in regard to uneventful travel. We met a couple at a rest stop in Wyoming, between Rawlins and Laramie, who had locked themselves out of their car. The couple was around our age, from India, and were in the process of moving from California to Denver. As we walked back to our car from the restrooms, the man approached us and said, "We've locked our keys in the car, can you help us?" We paused for a moment, and I asked the obvious question: "Is your phone in the car?" The response, "Yes, it is." Now I understood why we were being asked for help. 

The next question came from the man, "Can you pull up the number for Geiko on your phone?" A simple question that speaks to the widespread use of smartphones across our country. Unfortunately for this situation, Nathan and I do not have internet-enabled phones, due in part to our status as a graduate student family (read penny-pinching) and in-part to my stubbornness to avoid becoming constantly connected (I enjoy the moments when we have to wait until we get home to find out "who was in that movie?" or "what does the singer actually say during that part of the song?"). After exposing our circa 2001 lifestyle to this couple, we stood around for a few moments thinking: "what does one do without Internet?" First, Nathan made a call to AAA to see if they could give us the number for a locksmith in the area. This first strategy failed, as the representative could not find a AAA locksmith in the region and the one number she gave us went to voicemail.

Next, thinking back to the 90s, Nathan suggested their might be a phone book somewhere at the rest stop. "Brilliant!" I thought. Unfortunately, my search around the grounds revealed no pay phone, much less a phone book. Failed attempt number two.

Finally, Nathan asked, "Is there anyone else we can call?" And, again, the 1990s came rushing back to us: "4-1-1"--a service that I had no idea if it even still existed. Nathan called, got connected to the operator, was transferred to a locksmith in Rawlins, and suddenly help was on the way. It was quite magical really.

After being ensured that the locksmith was headed in their direction, we left the couple with the information we had gathered, along with our phone number, and we got back on the road. After about an hour, we received a text from an unknown number that said, "Thank you for your help. The locksmith came and we are back on the road. Best luck with your move." We were glad that everything worked out for the couple, and also happily satisfied that we were able to navigate being a good neighbor in the middle of nowhere without the help of a smartphone.  I will note, however, that I find it a bit alarming that not all interstate rest stops have pay phones. Sure, pay phones are a bit antiquated, but cell phones die, and get bad reception, and get locked in cars. Pay phones would seem a good resource when traveling through stretches of uninhabited terrain. Regardless, the day was saved by less-than-modern technology, and we still made it to the hotel in good time (thanks in part to our trusty AAA paper Trip Tic--another tool that will probably be retired in a few years).

Somewhere Pretty, Wyoming

 

On the road

Dear Friends,

Welcome to The Quail and the Cardinal. 

As you may know, Nathan and I are facing some big life changes in the next few months. We are currently en route to Oxford, OH, where Nathan will be teaching in the fall, and we are expecting a baby girl in early November. This blog is intended to keep friends and family updated on our life outside of California, so please stay tuned to join us on our adventure! 

Because the first post of a blog is always the hardest, I am going to keep my writing brief and leave you with some photos of our adventure thus far.

Packing up some of our treasures

We found the last In n Out on our trip in Salt Lake City. See you again at Christmas double-double!