around the house

Lots is going on around here, packing things away and preparing for the move to Norway. We really got started after I heard from the Nansen Fund last week, that I've been awarded the John Dana Archbold Fellowship. The thing is, I have to leave for Oslo on June 19 to attend the University of Oslo International Summer School (required of the Fellowship recipient). That would give us very little time (the birth date can be as late as 42 weeks, that is June 18) to file the appropriate paperwork to obtain for the baby 1) a birth certificate, and 2) a passport (both of which are required for an infant to travel) after the baby is born. Meaning: Anne and the baby will in all likelihood have to leave after me, arriving in Oslo as late as July 30. This, of course, won't do; I don't want to miss out on the summer with Anne and our new baby. So I've put in a plea to the Nansen Fund, asking if I could possibly attend the summer school next summer, given the circumstance. (I've not heard back; so keep your fingers crossed.) But I've accepted the fellowship and will do what's necessary to keep it. So that's why we're getting busy around the house, assuming that I will have to leave in what is now two months.

Now we feel like there is too much to do, too little time. So Anne started clearing the closets and shelves, and organizing her office and paperwork. I've a few house chores to do, and I want to do some yard work before we move. Plus I have to apply for a resident permit, so I can live in Norway. We also need to rent the house; and we want to find a tenant before the baby is born (especially if I have to leave in June) because we don't want that to be an issue, causing any stress at the birth and afterwards. So lots is going on around here, like I said.

The house is shaping up, and I think this is all a good nesting exercise for Anne and me. Since we're moving to Norway, there's no nursery or baby area to put together. And the apartment in Norway won't exactly be homey. So this is our chance to nest. It's fun to look at the piles of baby clothes, ascending in sizes from age newborn to nine plus months; the playpen is up and the stroller is assembled. So it certainly looks like we are proud, expecting parents. We like to take inventory to remind ourselves what we have to look forward to. We are also spending quality time together, the three of us: every night before bed I rub Shea butter on Anne's belly, when we can interact with the baby. Last night the baby was responding to "Peanut Butter" but not "Jelly." (We amuse ourselves.) Actually, there's hardly a moment when we don't interact with (touch and talk), or at least think of (nearly incessantly), our little baby; the house and the packing and the preparing are all just distractions from what really matters most to us...