Fit For A King

Last night we had the Tidmans over our house for dinner. The menu for the evening was Persian food!

I believe it was Ray and Lee's first taste of Persian cuisine (?? not sure) and Kelly did not disappoint.

Kelly cooked a rice dish called Javaher polow or Jeweled Rice, considered to be the "King of Persian dishes"! It is made of orange peel, almonds, sugar, barberries (zereshk) and pistachios -- usually cooked for weddings with the ingredients representing rubies and emeralds!

Uh, yea... YUM!

And Kelly also cooked Khoresh-e-bademjan (eggplant stew) in vegetarian and non-vegetarian (contains chicken) forms -- Ray is a disciplined vegetarian of 30 years or more! This is my favourite Persian dish, though I still prefer the way my mom makes it to anyone elses. Sorry, Honey. But Kelly makes absolutely mean (aka delicious) Persian RICE dishes!

How is this?

Having never cooked Persian food before we got together, really, and then buying this one cookbook -- New Food of Life, by Najmieh Batmanglij -- her rice dishes can rival that of any multi-generational-cooking-secrets-passed-down-the-family cook. :-D (how's THAT for a compliment, Honey).

Nush-e-Jan!

Kelly also made a regular garden tossed salad with pear and baby greens. And Mast-e-khiar (yoghurt and cucumber) with dill.

The evening was pleasant, and Ray and Lee loved the food.

Our first dinner with company at home.

Looking forward to many more to come.

PS. I helped Kelly too, in case anyone was wondering... I did not just twiddle my thumbs until food was ready :-)

PPS. Not quite sure what "Nush-e-Jan" means though I've been told I believe it means "Bon-apetite"?? (persians out there please correct me)

Old Friends & Friends Of Old

Sometimes, it requires the right person at the right time to really instill that positivity.

You know who you are (ahem, Shannan Ho Sui).

And thanks, Shar. Your call was timely too.

Nanny 911!

OK, so we're not exactly a dysfunctional family with undisciplined children waiting for Nanny 911 to rescue us. Though I think we've come to a decision -- out with daycare and in with a nanny!

Kelly and I have mulled over this issue for a long time now, some many months ago in fact, ever before moving to Blue Ridge. Some days, especially after spending several being the only person Ethan is in contact with, the idea of him being in a daycare with plenty of other children/infants around him sounded pretty darn appealing.

Then again, there are the reasons (the "cons") that include: (1) getting sick and often, (2) no real one on one time with caregiver/educator, (3) did I mention getting sick far too often?

And so we can say, "been there, done that" having had Ethan in Kaleidoscope for one week plus, and only just now deciding, nope, not for him. Not for us.

Starting tomorrow we will be actively searching for a nanny. We already have one that we interviewed a while back (in April actually) that we are hoping to meet up with again, and see what her situation is now job-wise. Cost was always an issue, since as everyone may know, nannies are far more expensive an option for childcare than daycare. And there are all those worries of hiring the wrong person, and children being harmed in some way -- ok, negative thoughts, get out, but you have to be real and consider everything and interview the person thoroughly.

If only I was the type that could stay home and care for and raise my son indefinitely, until he is older. But I have realized, I am able, but only for a short, finite, period. Kelly's income alone will be more than sufficient for our family to live on. But I simply cannot do it (being a stay-at-home dad for long). Hmm.. this is kinda a sad realization actually.

Hot & HOT

I am so glad we live in the mountains where the temperature is 96F (36C) instead of 104F (40C, in Durham, NC). Hey, every degree cooler is a huge relief!

Walk In Clinic

I am currently waiting for Kelly to finish work at the walk-in clinic at Riverstone. I picked up Ethan from daycare and he is snoring away in this office. I am glad he is sleeping, since he only napped for 15 minutes all day today. I am regretting ever putting him in daycare. The facility in general is said to be the best in the area, but it is downright dirty in my opinion. In the infants section especially, when you expect babies to be crawling on the floor and at best standing and cruising you would think this area would be kept particularly clean. Ethan did not eat very well today either, and the reason is, a "new" person was caring for him in the afternoon and Ethan would not have a stranger feed him. This person has been working at K for a while, and was just placed on with the Pre-K group for the summer. The caregiver that Ethan had finally gotten used to this past week is going back to school. And so, Ethan ate little today. My frustration is not that Ethan did not eat well today, though I am not happy for this either. Though, it is because I have now witnessed a few caregivers holding or carrying Ethan, each time I am expecting these people to be the current's replacement (we were told she would be going back to school come August). But todays person apparently is the replacement, and will be for a while (at least until Ethan graduates to the next stage - 1 year olds). But his eating could be well assisted if not so many people were taking over and being strangers to my Noomz. I am so frustrated. Perhaps it's time to just go with my gut feeling and take him out of K. As if infants get anything at all from being in daycare this early anyways. Developing social skills? Yea, tell that to the next parent. Not me.

I hope Kelly's done soon.

Keeping On

With Tot Loks now all secure in the kitchen cabinets and drawers that are reachable by Ethan, it is time to move on to the next item for repair.

The past week has been exhausting because as soon as something is accomplished in the house, another malfunction or breakdown occurs that require your attention. Our closet shelving system suddenly collapsed some time during this past week. I recall actually thinking how flimsy the wire mesh shelf was compared to our previous one in Durham. And, I suppose not surprisingly, the collapse happened and all of our hung clothes came down swiftly.

We have bought new materials that are beefier, from Home Depot, and hopefully the new closet system will be put up today -- at least this is my goal.

There are other more worrisome problems that require more urgent attention but that also require professionals to fix. And unfortunately for me, this process cannot be hurried or expedited, and your time and problem is literally at the convenience of those who are maybe able to fix them. (and with the pace of life here much slower than in a big city, you wait a lot) I say maybe, because at this point, I feel I have lost a lot of faith and trust in certain professionals who work in the housing field (contractors, builders, plumbers...) which is an unfortunate byproduct of my experiences thus far.

Still, trying to keep positive and looking forward, Ethan seems to be doing better in general. He is eating better, after a bit of a lull with his solids. He enjoys yoghurt and even with fruit mixed into his yoghurt. He's never been very good at eating his fruits, and always prefered veggies since we started him on solids. But now, he seems to be developing a taste for things sweet (and sour?) and eats his pear, peach, applesauce and bananas when mixed with yoghurt.

Also, it appears he has two more teeth coming in. His top right tooth seems to be poking out a little bit, possibly breaking the gum line already, and I think I see his top left not far behind. So that makes the total count of teeth to 3, and possibly 4.

I am hoping today will go well at K. Noomz improved so much during the course of last week, eating better as the week went on, and crying less, though not really sleeping any more during that span. He improved so much that on Friday of last week, he did not cry when he saw me come to pick him up at the end of the day (he usually cries when I drop him off, and pick him up). Today, having had the weekend to forget about K and his caregivers there, he cried as usual when I dropped him off this morning. We'll see if this week starts out better and if we notice any more improvements in his confidence with others.

Anyways, I think I am ready to start my day now. Nothing like a good bit o' blogging to get you motivated and in the right mindset.

Now, where did I put my tape measure, pencil and electric drill....

Blur

The past month has been a blur. Now that I have my laptop going, here are some pictures from our last week in Durham. Jessica, Elyse, Nahal, Rob and Susan, and Moni and Susanna - THANK YOU all for helping with cleaning 801 Turmeric Lane. You are all great friends, neighbors, and we hope you will all come down to visit us in Blue Ridge. We miss you all terribly, and not only was our Turmeric home our first home, but you all made living there very enjoyable and comforting - especially just knowing you all looked out for our well-being. We look forward to seeing you all soon, and possibly, if you all can make it, for Ethan's 1-year birthday celebration later in September (his birthday is on the 21st, though we may hold a party on the nearest weekend, don't know off the top of my head what date that is, if the 21st).

Oh, and I've updated my blog entry of July 10th with pictures that seemed to not open. I hope they work this time around.

And the pictures I post here will be a continuation from then, when we met with several friends before saying goodbye to Durham, and the house cleaning and final photos in our front yard.

Oh right, I am remembering events of those last few days in Durham... and also a heartfelt thanks to the James, Nourani and Mostaghimi families, for not only organizing farewell dinners in your homes on our behalf, but for all the prayers, love and encouragement you've all showered upon our small and growing family these past four years. We love you all!

Kaleidoscope: Day Two

Ethan started daycare yesterday for the first time. We had put him on the wait list for infants (0-12months) back in February, and his spot came up just in time. Kaleidoscope is a popular and well-run daycare and learning center in Blue Ridge, and they have wait lists for all of their age groups (1yr old, 2, etc..). The infants group is especially hard to find spots for, so we are glad that we had put Ethan's name early.

But Ethan did not enjoy his first day so much. He cried when I dropped him off. I did not stay too long or else I would have made things worse for him. I stopped by once, around lunch time, to see how he was doing. The caregiver had just put Ethan to sleep for his nap and while placing him in his crib, Ethan woke, and started to cry again. Good thing I was there, though, since he was glad to see me, and I played with him some, to try and get him used to his new surroundings.

I stayed for about 30 minutes and left to run some errands and to not have Ethan then get used to me always being there in the daycare with him. He cried when I left.

So his first day at daycare, a day that started around 9:30 am and ended when Kelly and I picked him up at 4:45pm or so, did not really go so well (as expected). He ate nothing, slept but 30 minutes, and cried for hours probably.

Today was day two. He cried almost immediately when we got there, though I am not sure it was because he recognized I was soon going to leave him there, or that other babies were crying around him. I did not stay long and just left. Poor Noomz was crying.

I will check on him again soon. I hope he eats something today. It is quite a challenge even for Kelly and I these days to get Ethan to eat anything, so I am not expecting miracles here, and I know it will take a long time before he will trust a stranger to feed him. It is unfortunate that Noomz will have to lose weight before he starts eating in daycare, with all our worries about his weight not increasing since around his 6 month doctor's visit. But there is some hope. Just last night, after not eating all day at K, we fed him his usual dinner and then some yoghurt. He ate a little bit of his solids, but not enough I thought, since he should have been starving. So we tried feeding him yoghurt and to our surprise, Ethan loved it! Needless to say we packed him a yoghurt to go along with his milk and solids in his meal bag.

Just heart-wrenching.

As if moving and re-establishing one's life is not difficult enough.

Pictures As Promised

Finally, my laptop is back in working order and digital camera and blogging may thus commence as before. I took a ton of pictures of all various angles and places in our house in Blue Ridge. They are not in any order and just random, and you can see the mess from our unpacking and such, but if only I had my gadgets working earlier, I could have shown all just how crazy and disorganized we were a week back (i.e. the pictures actually show a much better situation now). I will take some lake pictures next too though we've not had any time at all to go down to the lake (except drive by it on our way to/from the city downtown area). But as promised. Sorry it took so long! Now you can expect entries with more pictures than text hopefully. Love to everyone! And PLEASE come and visit us :-)

Getting Settled A Bit

It has been nearly two weeks now since we relocated to the mountains in Blue Ridge, GA, and we have unpacked nearly all of our things. A few generous house warming gifts from Kelly's parents have meant some extra work for me (assembly work etc..) but the house is looking now more and more personal and soon will feel like home, hopefully.

This past Wednesday, July 25th, was Kelly's birthday. We celebrated with dinner at Longhorns Steakhouse in Ellijay. Dinner was fantastic, but dessert was really really good. Not announcing that it was Kelly's birthday or anything -- just doodling a large "note" that read "Happy Birthday, Honey" on a napkin with some crayons provided for Ethan (subtle hint, I know) -- our server got the message and brought Kelly a huge slice of cake (can't imagine how huge the entire cake must be) with some 7 (no kidding) layers of chocolate. You'd think it was probably too rich (too sweet) or at least I did, but it was heavenly, smooth, and really easy to take in, even after a heavy dinner. It certainly made our cake back home (that we purchased to eat once we got home from the restaurant) pale in comparison.

Ah ha... but how wrong was I again... because the chocolate ice cream cake that we bought was just spot-hitting perfect the-night-after-Kelly's-birthday night celebration night. Yup, we even put a candle and sang Happy Birthday and took pictures. It was fun.

We've been shuttling our trash down to the local dumpster since we don't have any garbage service (to start next Thursday) as of yet. Not many people hire this service either. Many content with simply driving to the dumpsters with a few bags of trash and paying far less than local pick-up service. This is one of a few new things we are having to get used to, living in a rural location.

But after sorting through a mountain of trash from packing material and cardboard boxes and such, we can final see the main floor of our house from our driveway. Words simply do not do justice what work I had to go through to sort it all out. Should've taken some pics. But who takes pics of trash? Right, nevermind.

And we fiiiiiiinally made it out to see some friends. We drove down to Jasper to visit the Teskes. They live about 45 minutes to an hour away from us, and they have two kids (Isabella - 3 and Adib - 1) -- same ages as Carmel and Ellie Nur and Junnoske and Ryunoske!! They know Kelly's parents from serving at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel, and also know my sister, Sharon, from when she was on pilgrimage in Haifa or one of other visits to the BWC maybe. Small world the Baha'i world. And so we hope to join them for Feast on Wednesday and other activities in the future.

Tomorrow, we are going to the big city (Atlanta) for the first time since we moved here. I have not posted any pictures since we've moved because my laptop (or the power cable for my laptop) needs repair, and the closest Apple Store is in Atlanta (Lennox Place??) and will get this fixed once we are there tomorrow -- likely to leave my laptop for a whole week. So, soon, hopefully, I shall post pictures.

Ethan starts daycare at Kaleidoscope on Monday, when Kelly starts work also. I plan to finish up things in the house and start reading/preparing for my own work (while I can when Ethan is at daycare) and join Kelly at work a week or so later.

We'll see how Ethan does at K. Both Kelly and I are mildly optimistic his first week will go ok, though likely he will have no problems adapting and playing with the other infants and catching an illness from some of them and being asked to be taken home. Yea, that's probably the most likely actually.

Mountain Living

Hi Everyone! It's been exactly a week now -- I can't believe how time flies! -- since we moved to Blue Ridge, Georgia. We have been unpacking all this time, going out of the house a few times, most of those times to go to Home Depot, the others, to buy groceries. Otherwise, we've been cooped up at home organizing our things and throwing boxes and packing material out. We have only managed to take a walk or two around our new "neighborhood" and managed to walk up to the lake briefly. I am sure we will have many more opportunities to truly enjoy our location. But for now, I jokingly tell Kelly, I am getting "cabin fever" from being stuck at home for long periods at a time, but there's just so much to do, and it has not been easy since with Ethan, only either Kelly or myself can really do any of the unpacking. And so I write this entry to say I will be posting another one very soon -- hopefully this coming week -- with pictures of our new house once everything is more or less in place. Tired and exhausted wishing we had family over (more for the extra hands than company to be totally honest) I sign off for now. Love to all!

PS. not sure what happened to the pictures in my previous post, but will try and get those uploaded again

PPS. Ethan is 10-months old today (Yipee!)

Waiting For Kelly...

Ok, so maybe I wasn't actually going to wait until we moved to Blue Ridge to post another entry. Well, I am just waiting for Kelly who is a few minutes away from home, stuck in traffic, and Ethan's asleep, and we are all going to the Nouranis home for dinner. I believe every night this week until we leave on Sunday we have something (dinner) pencilled in our calendar. Tonight, the Nouranis. Tomorrow, Moni and Susanna (and the Rengels too?? not sure). Thursday, Merlion with Jessica. Friday, last 19-day Feast. Saturday, dinner at the Mostaghimis (official goodbye dinner with lots of folks). Sunday, off to Blue Ridge. Oh Kelly's home... here's some pics... :-D

One Week To Go!

We have one week left in Durham. We've been so busy with making "changes of address" with everything, doing some packing/planning, and meeting with friends for final dinners. Will write more soon. Oh, and did anyone watch the Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal? Repeat of last year's final, but MUCH more competitive. Probably the best Wimbledon final ever. And Roger won. Yay! OK, here are some recent pictures and not so recent pictures I forgot to post. Possibly my next blog entry will be once we are moved and settled in Blue Ridge.

Happy Canada Day!!

To all my fellow Canadians -- HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

Grandfather Mountain, NC

[photo: rain storm approaching in the distance, blue ridge mountain range]

Friday night and all day Saturday we went to Grandfather Mountain with Jessica, her sister Rebecca, and her best friend, Shashi. What a fun hiking/outdoorsy trip! We bought this cool back pack carrier for Ethan for which we got plenty of compliments everywhere we hiked. Long drive back home though, and still we've not caught up on sleep... and so this entry will be short. Check out pictures by clicking link above.

One Less Hurdle

What a relief. I had nothing really to worry about, yet the inspection of our house was probably the most nerve wracking 2 hours I've experienced in a while. Just completed a few minutes ago, there were two inspectors, the buyers (husband and wife), my agent, and Ethan and I, in our house while everything that had a switch was turned on, and everything moveable moved, and every dark corner illuminated with a hand-held light device, and all the while instruction on how to upkeep the house being offered to the first-time homebuyers. The buyers receive the official report from the inspectors tomorrow (since they ordered the inspection) and we get a list of things that need to be repaired or replaced. However, I am comforted in knowing that this list may be very short indeed, since the inspectors told us our house was in great shape and very well maintained, and only a window that does not stay up (something to do with a balance needing replacing) and a vinyl siding on the outside that needs to be moved a centimeter or so to "overlap" (currently it has moved and is not overlapping to protect the wall underneath it) were mentioned were things we needed to do. We'll see how the official repair list pans out, but I am relieved it is over with for now. Poor Noomz, fell asleep in my arms, since I could not really put him down anywhere.

Microsoft Surface: Simply Amazing

With our world already so fascinating and technologically "advanced", I can only imagine the tools and gadgets that Ethan and his generation will be using in their everyday.

9 - M - O

Noomie Noomz is 9-months old today! Ok, so this picture is not the best and is quite blurred. Ethan won't "stand" still long enough for me to take a clear picture without using the flash. He is such a busy body now and wants to get at everything and crawls and pulls to stand and is curious for new things every minute. Will try to get a better one later today/tonight. I wish you were all here with us :-D

Movers

I am barely cracking the list of things that we have to accomplish before (or by the time) we move, which seems to be getting longer rather than shorter. Today's task was to do some research on moving companies and estimates of costs etc.. Some charge you by weight, while others by space (cubic feet), and yet others by room number (e.g. $1000/room) -- the latter of which I thought was perhaps not that clever since could you not just pile all your furniture into your living room or garage? I guess that's where their "fine print" covers them (which I almost NEVER read).

And so I think I've managed to find the best rate, though I am not certain the company who has offered the lowest price is necessarily the most reliable. How do you find this out? Apparently, like with most anything in sales, there are "brokers" who sell you the move (or the quote for your move), but then outsource or sell your business to a third party moving company or truck company or whatever, and so the folks who end up at your door waiting to load all your possessions into their trucks may not be the same as the person you spoke to on the phone! Pretty crazy, eh? This is similar to the idea of having a loan or mortgage with one bank or lender, and having it "sold" to another, and you end up paying your monthly payments to a different person each time. Of all things to sell, to sell money? Seemed paradoxical, though it became clear to me that this is precisely what banking is all about, and selling money is actually probably the biggest "business" there is.

I stray...

And so as I was saying, hopefully I have narrowed down my options for moving and will make a final decision by this week. It is a relief to know that our employer will be paying for our relocation, but I am still trying to find the best possible deal in the event that we actually have more "inventory" than we quoted and go over the cost estimate.

And of this "list" the many things still outstanding you ask?

(1) change of address - USPS
(2) end services with Durham utilities (electricity, water, cable/internet/phone, home security system...)
(3) begin services with Blue Ridge utilities (electricity/gas, water, cable/internet/phone, home security system...)
(4) change of address - credit cards, professional memberships, Baha'i/National...
(5) inspection/repairs/closing on our Durham house
(6) release of medical information for family (Kelly, Ethan, Max)
(7) find new pediatrician for Ethan/primary physician for Kelly/Max
(8) hire movers
(9) final garage sale for stuff we don't want to move
(10) close bank accounts - Durham (unless we can find the same bank in Blue Ridge)
(11) open bank accounts - Blue Ridge
(12) Georgia driver's license
(13) contact daycare for Ethan
.
.
.

With approximately 4 weeks until we have to move, we've got our work cut out for us. However, with Kelly and Ethan by my side, I've not looked more forward to and been more excited about moving/relocating in my life.

9-Month Visit

Ethan had his 9-month well child visit. It was a short visit, with no vaccinations administered, and it was also Ethan's last with his pediatrician, Dr. Susan Owens. His next doctor's appointment will be for 12 months (1-year old) and we will be in Blue Ridge, Georgia, then.

Noomz' weight had not increased much since his 6-month visit. He now weighs 16lbs 4oz (7665g) which puts him only in the 5th percentile (5%) for boys 9-months old -- quite a significant "decrease" since he was in the 50th percentile (50%) at 6 months (15lbs 3oz). However, Dr. Owens is not worried, since Ethan is burning more calories these days since having learned to crawl, pull to stand, and cruise (walking while holding on to furniture etc..). He is doing fantastic developmental-wise.

But mom and dad would feel better if he were putting on more weight...