I'm having flashbacks to this

It's more than seven years (and five houses) later, the baby involved is much smaller (and a boy), and I don't think my hair is anywhere near that shiny anymore. But you get the idea.

Owen Charles Friloux

Well, Laura got her wish that the baby was a boy. She's not getting her wish that we name the baby Andrew. We decided it just wouldn't work with Friloux.

It's a boy!

We haven't named him yet, but he was born at 11:20 a.m. today at Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Va. He weighs 8 pounds, 2 ounces. So far he cries less than Laura did.

What do YOU think we should name the baby?

Over the past few weeks, I've been asked countless times whether I'm having a boy or a girl. When I respond that I don't know, about half of those people have asked, rather incredulously, "You mean you have to pick out boy and girl names?" As if this is the first time in history a woman has made it to 39-weeks-plus pregnant without knowing.
Kevin and I have been discussing names for months now. No, we still haven't decided. (There is a precedent here. We knew Laura was a girl for months before she was born, but we didn't settle on her name until a hospital staffer appeared with the birth certificate/Social Security card paperwork that needed to be completed that day.)
So, I'm curious as to whether people have suggestions we maybe haven't thought of. No, I'm not going to tell you which names we're considering. That would ruin the fun. But it goes without saying that with a last name like Friloux, the first name has to be somewhat easy to write/spell. And if it's a boy name, it can't sound wimpy. And it's unlikely we'll use any of the most popular names out there. And we're not naming the baby after my sister Jennifer regardless of what she might think.
So, suggest away. He/she will be born Thursday (if not before), so time's running out.

See, I also read books not about Italy

I should preface this by mentioning I've never read Anne Frank's diary. I haven't avoided it but just never have thought to check it out of the library.
But a couple of weeks ago I noticed Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival in the new-book section. Clara's story is similar to Anne's in that she and family members (and other Jews) were sheltered in a basement in their then-Polish town during World War II. Clara survived the war -- she's still alive today and wrote the book with help -- and the things she has to say about the family who sheltered her and 17 others truly are touching.
I also found it interesting that in some ways the story of what her family dealt with after the war is just as compelling as the 18 months they spent in an underground bunker, and it's unfortunate she probably won't have time to write the book she says it deserves.
I wouldn't call it a beautifully written book, but memoirs -- at least real ones -- rarely are. But it's a wonderful story of survival and humanity.

All food processors are not created equal

At home -- that would be Port of Spain as long as Kevin and most of our belongings are there -- I have one of these:

It's pretty much the greatest food processor ever. It's heavy (and big) enough I couldn't fit it in my luggage to come on medevac, but it's great for doing pretty much every food-processing task.
When I got to D.C. and decided to get a (much cheaper) replacement for the time we'll be living here, I bought one of these:

Despite its somewhat low cost, I don't recommend it. Every time I use it I wonder whether it's going to die, and it's not like I'm asking it to do much. (Laura points out its motor smells funny.) And that's after less than a month.
Thus is the saga of a very pregnant and grumpy woman and her love affair with kitchen power tools.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (part of the National Air and Space Museum)

Laura and I made a trek out to Chantilly to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Saturday. It's part of the National Air and Space Museum, and we'd never been there. It's really cool. Personally, I think it's cooler than the main one -- except there's no aircraft carrier.
But there is the space shuttle Enterprise:

and the Enola Gay (hard to get a good photo of):

and other cool planes and helicopters from various wars and branches of the military:

It's definitely worth the drive and $15 it costs to park. (Like all the other Smithsonian museums, admission is free.)

There's never a shortage of books about Italy to be read

And I tended to read them even before we knew we were moving there. I've finished two recently.

The Bellini Card is set in 1840 and is split between Venice and Istanbul. It's a Yashim the Eunoch mystery, and although I haven't read the previous books, I thought it was pretty good. There's a lot of fascinating discussion of paintings, traditions and food. There are all kinds of details about things Yashim is cooking, and just thinking about it made me hungry.



The Ancient Shore is about Naples. The author, Shirley Hazzard, moved there in the 1950s and has some interesting insights about the city. The chapter I found the most compelling, though, was written by her husband. He tells the story of being attacked by street bandits in 1983 and gives details of his treatment in Naples' public hospitals -- and later follow-ups in New York. Maybe this struck me because of the medical treatment I've received in Trinidad and later in suburban D.C.

Primary activity at the Washington Temple

Saturday the primary kids from our ward took a tour around the exterior of the temple. The primary president talked a lot about what the temple means, the bishop talked about recommends, and an overly perky sister missionary in the visitors center showed a video.
I also got this shot of a pink dogwood blossom in the parking lot at the stake center beside the temple. I'd forgotten how much I like dogwoods.

I learn new things about myself every day

With yesterday being Mother's Day, the primary kids in our ward filled out questionnaires about their moms. These were Laura's answers:

1. What is your mom's favorite color?
Yellow. (This is true, although there are other colors I like almost as much.)
2. What is your mom's favorite food?
Salmon fillets. (I have NO IDEA why she said that. Yes, I do eat salmon, but not very often.)
3. What is your mom's most frequent expression?
"I'm going to do laundry." (This cracked me up. I only do laundry once a week here. When we still were in Trinidad I did it a lot more often, but I don't think I talked about it.)
4. What did your mom like to do when she was your age?
Play with balls. (I'm not sure where she got that idea, although I guess I did play some sports involving balls when I was 8.)

She either ran out of time or didn't have ready answers to:
When and where was your mom baptized? (It was in Gastonia, N.C., on Nov. 8, 1980, but I don't know we've ever really talked about that in terms that specific.)
What does your mom do well? (What is she good at?) (I would have liked to see an answer for this one.)
What do you and your mom like to do together? (She could have answered this lots of ways; go to museums and read would have been obvious choices.)

The moms in our ward got cupcakes and Dove chocolates as our gift, and Kevin sent me flowers. I didn't get to talk to my own mom, unfortunately, but today is another day -- providing someone at their house answers the phone.

I don't think being pregnant is a handicap, but people still should be nice

My friend Amy -- who lives in New York and is almost as pregnant as I am -- used her Facebook status Thursday to complain about how no one ever offers her their seat on the subway.
That night, Laura and I were on our way home from hanging out with our friend Stephanie (another Port of Spain escapee who's now in Swahili training for her next assignment, Dar es Salaam), and the Metro was somewhat crowded. (There also was a leak from the ceiling of the car we were on that had soaked a couple of seats and the floor.) A guy sitting by himself got up so we could have the seats where he was, but I told him he could stay there; we weren't going far, and I wasn't too bothered at that moment by the overstuffed sausage effect plaguing my toes. (OK, so I didn't actually vocalize that last part.)
But it was nice of him to offer.
Speaking of the Metro, here's a photo of Laura I took Wednesday as we were waiting for a train into town so we could visit the National Museum of Natural History. Yes, she has just as much attitude as it suggests.

One way to teach your kids their lives aren't as horrible as they think

Laura and I recently read Iqbal, the story of a boy in Pakistan who was sold into slavery by his financially overburdened family. It's based on a true story, although I'm not sure if all of the details in it are real. At the very least, though, it's a somewhat age-appropriate way to introduce kids to the reality that their lives are quite privledged.
Oddly enough, it also got Laura started asking questions about looms and weaving (the main characters make carpets). I guess the next time we're somewhere with a woven carpet, I'll attempt to show her the evidence of someone's hard work.

How Laura entertains herself -- and prepares for the baby

I ordered an infant car seat -- a Graco SnugRide 32 -- in preparation for the baby's arrival. As soon as we received it, Laura wanted to get it out of the box. I was afraid she might try to sit in it herself, but no, she wanted to test it with the closest thing to a baby we have in the house right now.
Luckily, even if our baby was born right now, he/she would be bigger than this.

A comfy bed in the hospital of my choice

It's been busy, medical-wise, since Laura and I got back to the States all of 18 days ago. I've been to the ob/gyn twice -- and will go again tomorrow. And Friday I had to go to a radiologist to have ultrasounds on my kidneys as a follow-up to my hospitalization for kidney stones in January.
The good news: There's no evidence I currently have kidney stones on either side. The bad news: There's something wrong with my right kidney, but we'll have to wait until after the baby's born to figure out whether it's pregnancy-related.
Speaking of ultrasounds, my ob/gyn's plan to do no further fetal ones makes it pretty likely we won't know whether the baby's a boy or a girl until the birth. Which I've been saying for a while, of course, but now that it's three weeks or so away, I figure it doesn't really matter anyway.
I also have completed the preadmission paperwork at Inova Fairfax Hospital, where I'll be giving birth sometime around May 30. Once I chose a doctor the hospital choice was pretty much automatic because it's the only one where my ob/gyn delivers. But now that I've been there -- even though it was only to the reception area -- I'm feeling even better about the choice.