London Calling ...

If you don't know the reference from the title you're probably too old - or these days maybe too young. Ask your more hip friends (or these days you can just Google it).

Anyway, I'm off to Old Blighty tomorrow so the Clash was on my mind. I thought I'd do a quick update to the blog before I left. I just spoke to Monsieur Lapter in London today who told me that his daughter Maya turns into a popsicle every time she goes out. Seems they are getting a cold snap from Russia again this year as the winds are blowing West. Meanwhile I went running in Palo Alto last night with Stefan at 9:30 PM in shorts and a long sleeve shirt and no gloves, ear covers or any of the stuff I used to wear training for the London Marathon. And I never wear a jacket to work. I have really enjoyed the temperate weather out here - just puts you in a better mood.

Kay (Tania's mom) is finally out of the hospital and it is wonderful to have her "home". It really adds to the atmosphere around the Waverley house. She seems in very good spirits for having been in the hospital for a week with no food. She'll be home for 2 more weeks with us and then she has to go back to the hospital for surgery. I'm sure it won't be easy for her - we hope we can make Chez Suster as comfy as possible and that she'll want to stay until she's fully recovered.


As you can see Jacob is recovering well from his break. He now has on his "walking" cast, which isn't getting much traction. He has reverted into nappies (diapers) and being carried everywhere. Lots of fun for Daddy going up and down the stairs but that's the least you can do when you break your kid's leg - right? Turns out his leg was only broken in one place (not two) but it is called a "spiral" fracture because the break goes around the bone like a candy cane. First doctor read the xray incorrectly. Very reassuring. The intern who set his cast didn't even remember which bone the tibia was, which even I remembered from 7th grade zoology. One of Jacob's fellow classmates, Mathias, broke his leg the same way going down the slide with his mom. It is so common that her doctor guessed how Mathias broke his leg without the mom even needing to tell him. Anyway, Jacob is being very sweet and it has been a good bonding experience to hang out with him so much. Another thing I notice from his picture is how bad his haircut is! Our wonderful nanny Bella in London took him for his final London coif before coming to California and they botched it. Not quite as bad as the haircut my mom gave me as a kid (the LAST time she ever cut my hair) but he will nonetheless cringe when he sees some of these photos.

We have been really impressed by the generousity of people in suburbia. They are far from the anonymous urban neighbours that live next door to you for 2 years and you don't even know their names. You can all too easily fall into the urban trap. Since we have been pretty stretched with our family situation BOTH of Jacob's preschools got together a list of parents to bring by dinners for us for the next few weeks. People we don't even know have dropped by with full dinners with enough for leftovers. I was even tempted to call one of the ladies and ask for her recipes - look out Tania! I understand that they actually do this for all new mothers - we will definitely play this one forward.

And finally there is Baby Andy (said in Jacob's very cute, high-pitched, elongated way). He is no longer in that newborn state of having his arms and legs curled into balls and his eyes closed 23 hours a day. He is putting on weight very nicely and turned 4 weeks old on Wednesday. It is too early to call the light at the end of the tunnel but I do see him growing stronger and more baby like every day. He is very different than we remember Jake to be. He seems to have wavy hair where Jake's was as straight as it gets. He poops 10x day (no joke) where Jake was 1x every three days. And he could easily star in the remake for Blazzing Saddles without the need for sound effects. But we love him and are enjoying watching him grow and the pleasure it gives Jacob to be a big brother.

Thank you to those that dropped off comments on your last visits. Always nice to hear from you. Back in 10 days or so.