Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

Moving to England on our budget will mean leaving many of our things behind in storage.  So as I move around the house I’m compiling lists of things to donate, store, ship, or give to either sets of our parents.  It’s a strange way to live.

Of much interest is our rather extensive pantry.  We need to eat our cupboard full of potatoes (somewhere between 50 and 150 pounds of them), a deep freezer full of peppers, tomatoes, and the like, a couple of shelves of canned goods . . . and that’s just the stuff that we store outside our normal kitchen.  So I made Sydney three quarts of potato salad today, and we’ll just keep eating.  We’ve already made a pretty good dent in the stores.

We haven’t taken as many pictures of Katherine recently because the times when we’re together as a family tend to be after the sun goes down (terrible light), and when you’re 1-on-1 with her she drops whatever she’s doing and heads for the parents who is not only sitting on her level for once, but also holding a shiny new object.  Most pictures I have gotten are of Katherine rushing me, stretching pudgy arms toward the camera.

She is also walking.  Not much, but in the last several days she’s made numerous trips to the center of the carpet after leaving a piece of furniture, and she is learning to hold her stance longer and longer before she sinks down to a crawl.  So now nothing’s safe!

Erin

Apparently we’re unwittingly fashionable:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/fashion/11BABY.html?hp

Who knew?

No, I do not collect baby carriers like other women collect handbags.  I do have to wonder that nobody mentions how quickly babies get heavy.  I mean, at 23 pounds or so Katherine is a bit of  a load to be hauling very far in the backpack (unless we’re just really up for a sweaty, slightly back-breaking outing).  Or are these pricey handbags only for the infant stage?

Erin

Although my plan is to do research at Oxford (like Sydney, but without the pay, the colleagues, and the free meals!), I find myself continually tempted by non-academic job openings.  How cool to be one of two librarians in one of the biggest colleges at Oxford?  It’s the library jobs that really get me.  So tempting.  But a full-time job would mean lots of daycare for Katherine, and we’re not keen on that idea.  And forget about taking off for weeks at a time to see family.  So for now I’ll plan on doing my independent work and keeping an eye out for faculty positions.  I’m not about to give up the flexibility of academic life now that I have a baby!

Erin

This is the first time I put “3”!

Erin

I see a lot of open positions at Oxford with application deadlines in mid-March, so I’m doing a bit of scrambling over here to get my foot in the door for possible jobs next fall.  Which leads me to understand that I have a whole new language to learn:

“The salary is aligned to band 4 of the college pay spine.”

Really?

Erin

We learned today that Sydney was selected for the research fellowship at Oxford.  We have a lot (a LOT) of details to sort out, but for now we’re simply happy that he landed such a great position and that we’ll be able to call Oxford home for three years.

Katherine and I returned home to Ithaca today.  I’m already missing the help from the grandparents, though I am glad to be back to my husband and the rest of my life.

Erin

Katherine’s been up to interesting sleep antics again.  We know what this looks like, having done it for seven weeks in the fall: no more than a couple of hours at a time at night, very reluctant to sleep alone, frequent stirrings and wakings and feedings.  I will be very glad when she has all of her teeth!  She’s been particularly restless the last few nights, which was wearing me thin, so Mom and Dad scooped her up last night.  She apparently seemed perfectly happy to snuggle up with them, with regular bouts of waking and wiggling.  And I got to sleep six whole hours before Dad brought her in to share her wiggling with me.  Apparently Mom and Dad have been parents so long that they couldn’t stand to simply get a full night’s rest and leave me to it.  Thank you!

Erin

I arrived in Oxford yesterday morning, was shown to my room in Merton College, spent the remainder of yesterday and last night alternating between dozing and sleeping, and now feel much refreshed. I’m in a room above the T. S. Eliot Room; on one side of the room I can look out over the Fellows’ Quad, on the other side I can look at crocuses blooming beneath the large tree behind the library.

At the moment, it’s nice and sunny outside, so I’m planning to venture into town shortly and see if I remember my way about. According to the weather forecast, there’s supposed to be heavy rain for the rest of my stay here. Perhaps that will encourage me to get some work done before my interview.

Sydney

After an unexpected drive to Syracuse this morning (our flight in Ithaca was canceled due to weather), Katherine and I arrived safely in Iowa.  She is tired and somewhat cranky after such a long day, but she’s already starting to leave her mark on the house: no “stuff” on low surfaces and lots of fingerprints on the glass table and fireplace front.  I have no doubt that a fearful housecat will be next on her list.

She also took her first run at stairs!  When I went upstairs to get something, leaving her with Mom and Dad in the livingroom, it was clear that Katherine had no intentions of being left behind.  So she started climbing after me, and it is now her new favorite activity.  We are now always on the watch for a climbing Katherine!

Erin