Library Support

Rowan and Niamh show their support for the Noel Wien Library.

Anyone need a Muriel fix?

A 21st century birthday

This morning Rowan opened his presents from Grammie and Bumpa while they watched via Skype. Thank goodness for free video conferencing.

Niamh and the cupcakes

Big bite!

Cupcake death grip

Into the mouth

Making sure it is all in

Look at that mess

Attempting to tidy up a bit

Licking the wrapper

Can't get the sippy cup dirty

Moving on to Rowan's unfinished cupcake

"Nya-Nya make big mess!"

4 years ago...

Rowan turns 4 today. He says he is now 4 going on 5.

Birth Certificate Update

About a week after submitting all of the requested data we received a letter that more information was required. Our marriage certificate did not have enough detail about where we were born, so we had to provide our birth certificates. I submitted that information and about a week later I received a letter saying I could order a copy of Muriel's birth certificate.

The birth certificate arrived about two days after I ordered it. It had incorrect data for our marriage date, so we had to send it back. We received a corrected copy about a week later. We could now focus on the other required documents (US Passport, US Report of Birth Abroad, Social Security Card, Swiss Residence Permit)

Snow!

There isn't any accumulation yet, but it has been snowing for a several hours. Rowan is outside in his hat, coat, crocs, and Emily's mittens watching the snow come down. He announced that winter has started and wanted to know when it would be spring.

Muriel and I were out for our evening/early morning walk when the snow started. Neither of us had the correct clothing and she did not like the snow on her face. At least I think she didn't like it. I cannot be positive that there was more screaming after the snow started landing on her face, but I think so.

Current temp: 2.2°C

We have separation!

Muriel's umbilical cord has fallen off. This is about 3 weeks longer than it took for either Rowan or Niamh's cord to fall off. In Switzerland it is common to put alcohol on the cord each time the diaper is changed. We didn't do that in the US, so I'm wondering if that accounts for part of the time difference.

Stupid

Rowan has been referring to things as stupid all day. I asked him where he learned it and he said "Linus."

He watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" a few times around Halloween and it must have made an impact on him. Here is part of the show for those who are interested.

I may have been banned from dressing my daughters.

The downside of no Thanksgiving...

... is that the Christmas decorations go up right after Halloween. I'm not sure if I can handle two full months of Christmas cheer.

1 Month Old

Muriel is one month old today and had her first visit to the doctor. All is well. Our main concern was that the umbilical cord had not fallen off. The doctor looked and said it was still too thick for him to cut it off and that this isn't too unusual.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 4,920 grams (10.8 pounds)
Height: 55 centimeters (21.6 inches)
Head circumference:38.3 centimeters (15 inches)

Halloween

We didn't get any pictures of Niamh in her costume, but here is a picture of them all dressed up. Rowan's pants were a bit long for Niamh, so she didn't bother to put them on. Muriel did not get a costume

Swiss live beyond their ecological means

Another interesting article on Switzerland and the environment.

"New baby sad"

Niamh saw this picture and said "New baby sad." Muriel is receiving her vitamin D supplements and isn't a big fan off them. Good thing we only have 49 more weeks until she doesn't need them anymore.

Pork!

We found these at Migros today. Each one is made of two pork patties with a piece of cheese in the middle and wrapped in bacon. We're leaning towards using the oven to cook them, as they might be to big to fry.

There seem to be many more thing wrapped in bacon here than in the US.

Not much weight gain

Emily took Muriel to the public health center to get weighed on Wednesday. Muriel now weighs 4390 grams (9.67 pounds), so she is 20 grams more than when she was born.

Climate Change

I found this article about Switzerland and climate change interesting.

Muriel Pics

I have received a number of requests for photos of Muriel, so here is my attempt to satisfy those demands.

We recently replaced our bed (mattress and frame), because the frame was taking up too much space . The new bed was purchased from Pfister and can be seen below. I think it is the European equivalent of a queen, but it is a little narrower and longer than a US queen. Just different enough so that the sheets don't fit well. The old bed set was sold to an expat family in Lausanne.

If we still lived in Seattle....

we would probably have gone to a pumpkin patch like this. Since we live in Morges we went to a pumpkin patch like this:

The pumpkins come boxed for easy carrying.

I think we might have a birth certificate by the end of the week.

Here is a history of what has been done to get Muriel a birth certificate.

• All available documents (4 passports, 4 birth certificates, 4 residence permits, and 1 marriage certificate) were taken to the hospital
• The hospital made copies of my passport, Emily's passport, and our marriage certificate.
• Two days later I get a note from the canton(state) that they need a certified copy of the marriage certificate. This is very annoying as that is what the hospital made a copy from. In addition, they want copies of Niamh and Rowan's birth certificates.
  
• I go to the office that I think sent me the letter.
• I get directed to another office in another building.
  
• I cannot find that office, so I have to ask a police officer for directions
• The police officer does not speak English, but does give me good directions to the correct building.
• I find the office and notice multiple signs that indicate that they only see individuals with appointments.
• I go in and stand in a deserted office.
• After a few minutes someone comes out and asks if I need help. I give her the letter that I was sent and the necessary documents. She makes photo copies and I leave.
• A week later I get another message that the office needs to see Emily and my birth certificates because they need to know where we were born. This is frustrating, as all of this information was submitted when we applied for our residence permits.
  
• I go back to the office and provide the necessary documents.
• Less than 18 hours later I receive another message, but this one has good news. In addition to returning all of the documents I submitted, they indicated that the birth certificate is available for ordering.
  
• I ordered a copy online today, but had issues paying. I couldn't figure out how to submit my credit card info, so I had to pay by account transfer.
  

In theory we should get a copy in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday. If that happens and I ordered the correct document, I can fill in all of the paperwork for the US government and get that sent to the consulate.

Just a reminder for those who like to call...

Summer (daylight savings) time ends in Europe tonight. This means that Morges will be 8 hours ahead of the west coast and 9 hours ahead of Palinland until the US changes back to standard time

Expats for Obama?

Niamh and I went to a recent expat fair and there were three booths related to the US election. Two were related to the Democratic party/Obama and one was for the Republican party. The Obama related booths were very crowded and it seemed like people were tossing money down as fast as they could to buy stickers, signs and shirts. The Republican booth was not quite as busy. In fact, I didn't see anyone walk up to the booth the entire time I was at the fair.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

A while back I decided I liked chicken salad. I'm not sure why, but for the longest time I wouldn't even try it. I guess I'm not very adventurous.

Circus!

Emily, Rowan, and Grammie went to the circus on the 12th. Rowan got part way up the stairs into the tent before he got scared and started to freak out. They ended up watching about 10 minutes of the circus before leaving the tent and heading over to look at the animals.

I don't feel too bad now.

I no longer feel bad about reading books intended for teenage girls. If they are good enough for my mother-in-law, they are good enough for me.

Ready to help!

Niamh wanted to help nurse Muriel, but things didn't work out like she wanted.

Apgar

I don't remember who asked about Muriel's Apgar scores, but here they are:

1 min: 9
5 min: 10
10 min: 10

I believe she lost a point in the first minute for her color. I'm not sure what she was supposed to look like, but she was purple.

An important introduction!

One of the first things Rowan did with Muriel...

Hearing is fine

Muriel had a hearing test before we left the hospital. It worked more or less the same as in Seattle. The technician comes in right before we are about to leave and needs about 5 minutes of absolute silence. Muriel did fine, but I was worried about Rowan (he came with me to take them home). He normally isn't real happy when strange people show up, but he did fine.

The tests indicated that Muriel's hearing is fine and they gave us a document to take to the pediatrician.

Maybe not as different as I thought

In an earlier blog entry I commented that children don't go to the pediatrician until they are one month old. That is true, but at the time I didn't know/understand the role of the midwife. A midwife came to the house on Friday afternoon. She weighed Muriel (she has started to gain weight), gave her a vitamin K supplement, and took blood.

No 911 in Switzerland

Switzerland doesn't have a 911 system, so you need to know what number to call for different issues. The good news is that the numbers are consistent across the country. Here are some:

Ambulance: 143
Police: 117
Fire: 118
Air Rescue (www.rega.ch): 1414
Air Rescue (www.air-glaciers.ch): 1415
Poison Control: 145

More Vitamin D

Children in Switzerland take Vitamin D supplements from the time they are 2 weeks until they are 1 year old. That means Muriel will take 1404 drops (4 a day) of a vitamin D supplement before the age of 1. Here is a related article from the New York Times.

More differences between the US and Swiss medical systems

1. Per the Swiss process Muriel does not go to the pediatrician until she is 1 month old. I believe Rowan and Niamh visited the pediatrician on day 4.
2. Mothers in the US are generally wheeled to the car in a wheelchair. Emily was told she could leave and the nurse walked out. That was the last we saw of anyone, so Emily walked out to the car.

Rowan and Muriel

Rowen enjoyed holding Muriel at the hospital.

They're home!

Emily and Muriel came home about noon today. We'll be available via Skype if anyone is interested in seeing Muriel via web cam.

Muriel and Niamh

Here is a video of Niamh and Muriel. Be sure to have the volume up so that you can hear Rowan's comments.

Muriel Update

Muriel and Emily are both doing well. The doctors won't let them come home until Thursday morning, so they have another fun filled day in the Morges Hospital. Staying in the hospital for 3-4 days is normal here. We all went to visit today and the kids had a good time. Rowan was very sad at the end because he wanted Emily and Muriel to come home with us. 90 minutes of watching Smurfs cheered him up.

Pictures have been posted at www.famillemccann.net.

Our votes have been cast!

We received our absentee ballots today and have filled them out. They'll be mailed back on Tuesday. I'll have to figure out how to vote via email prior to the next election, so I can avoid a trip to the post office.

Differences between having a baby in US and Switzerland

Here are a few of the differences I noticed between having a baby in the US and Switzerland.

• The staff in Switzerland is close, but not fluent in English.
• In Switzerland there are only three people (doctor, mid-wife, nurse?)in the room. There were many more in the US
  
• Doctors/nurses don't come in and out of the room as often in Switzerland
• The rooms aren't as father friendly - no space for the father to sleep
• Security isn't as tight or at least doesn't seem that way. In Seattle babies are required to have a band on them that matches the parent's band and sets off an alarm if the baby is taken outside the maternity ward. No parents for the bands or alarms in Morges
  

Muriel Catherine McCann has arrived!

Muriel has arrived. We decided to skip the traditional spelling and the silent gh. Here are the stats:

Date: Oct 13,2008
Time: 16:45 C.E.S.T
Weight: 4370 grams (9.6 pounds)
Length: 52cm (20.47 inches)

Melamine in Switzerland

From Yahoo:

GENEVA - Swiss authorities say they have found high concentrations of
melamine in biscuits from Thailand and Sri Lanka and have called on other
European countries to withdraw the products.
Authorities in the canton (state) of Geneva say tests have shown high melamine levels in the Thai biscuits Milk Cookies S&P and the Sri Lankan candies LemonPuff Munchee.
Melamine in milk has been blamed for the deaths of four infants and for sickening more than 54,000 others in mainland China. The authorities said in a statement
Monday that the European distribution channels for the two biscuits have been
identified. They say tests on a dozen baby milk products have shown no
melamine contamination.

The ideal process

In an ideal world the contractions would have been followed by a baby. That doesn't seem to have happened here. The contractions are down to about 1 an hour. I guess I'll be going back to the office after lunch.

Contractions have arrived

Emily started having contractions around 5AM this morning. It didn't seem to imminent, so I went to work. I was there for about 10 minutes before Emily called and asked me to come home. The contractions are currently about 6.5 minutes apart lasting 35-45 seconds.

I'm not sure what the Swiss recommend for timing prior to going to the hospital, but we'll probably wait until our fear that the baby could arrive at our house out weight the fear of a hospital where the employees may not speak English.

More train video from Uncle Mike

Here is another train video from Uncle Mike. Even Uncle Ryon admits that Uncle Mike has pulled into the lead for Uncle of the Year.

An excellent gift from Uncle Mike

This arrived in my inbox today.

This!

Niamh now refers to Grammie Krista as "this." Here is a recent example: "This help Niamh brush teeth."

I guess this is an improvement, as she hasn't referred to either grandmother by name or title in the past.

Niamh!

We tried to get Niamh into jardin d'enfants with Rowan, but the classes are full. We thought we had to wait until she was 2.5, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Here is some other Niamh related news:

• She can get into and out of the tub without our help. She is a bit wobbly, but hasn't lost her balance yet.
• She responds with "I don't know." to almost all questions. This is due to her mother getting tired of all Niamh's questions and responding with "I don't know." to her.
• She can put on most of her clothes.
• She loves squash, green beans, carrots.
  

Grammie Krista has arrived

Grammie Krista arrived on Thursday with suitcases full of loot that Emily had ordered. She was able to bring 3 50 pound bags, one very large carry-on, and one personal bag without being charged any fees. Once the crib arrives we should have everything we need for #3.

Breast Milk Anyone?

A Swiss restaurant has been banned from using human breast milk as an ingredient because it does not come from an approved source. Details can be found here.

My understanding from a different article is that milk from humans is neither approved nor banned, so it was in the legal grey area.

Pictures have been posted!

I realize I am a bit behind in the picture posting department, but I did manage to post the pictures from this weekend. They can be found at http://www.famillemccann.net/ by pressing the Cows 2008 link.

Here is an older picture of Rowan and one of his new favorite books.

Preparing for #3

We've started getting ready for #3's arrival. Here's what we've accomplished in the last week:

• figured out how the infant adapter for the stroller works
• found the numbers for the local taxi companies and input them into them into my cell phone
• Figured out what paperwork needs to go the hospital (I think our permits will be good enough to start)
• Ordered replacement parts for the breast pump
• Ordered some sort of German crib that can attach to the bed
• Ordered two suitcases worth of stuff for Emily's mom to bring over this week.
• Almost agreed on a name
• Purchased the Swiss version of a bouncy seat

Scary faces

The kids practiced their scary faces today. I think they need to work on them a little.

Rowan: Where is the pig in the fire?

We went to St Cergue to see the cows come down from the mountains for the winter. We went last year and Rowan remembered a few things. As soon as we got off the train Rowan asked "where is the pig in the fire?" This is the closest thing we could find:

The cow bells made a lot of noise and Niamh was scared. Here is a picture of a cow bell:

My homework assignment

Part of my homework assignment for Monday is to be prepared to discuss the article below. I'm a little worried because my memory doesn't work to well in french. The rest of the homework is doing exercises dealing with the subjunctive. I hear it used a lot, but my tutor indicated that almost half of native french speakers don't correctly follow the grammar rules related to the subjunctive.

The downside of having two full walls of windows.

This morning I discovered that one of the windows was cracked. I'm not positive when it happened, but I think I would have noticed it fairly quickly. I don't remember any loud bangs recently so I'm not sure what caused the crack. I'm hoping it is a problem that other tenants have experienced, as I'd rather not have to replace an 8x10 window.

How to make Emily twitch

It was easier to make her twitch than I had thought. Emily came out from her morning nap to find Rowan and I sitting on the couch playing Mario Cart Wii . That is all it took.

We were playing over the internet with Uncle Mike, so there was some family bonding. Rowan was much more talkative than he normally is on the phone, so it was a good experience.

Rowan's skills are improving. I think he completed a quarter lap before Mike an I finished.

Just in case anyone want to play, my friend code is 4081-8234-0723.

A waste of paper, ink, and space

I hate dust jackets. Laws should be enacted to outlaw them. I don't understand why they exist. Are they really necessary? The kids rip them and they end up in pile on a shelf.

I can maybe understand having them on an adult book, but why would anyone think putting them on a book for a toddler is a good idea?

A sad day for Switzerland

The Swiss national soccer team to Luxembourg on Thursday. I know the Swiss soccer team isn't all that great, but I descriptions of the Luxembourg team came just short of saying that Niamh and Rowan could make the team.

More details on the game can be found here.

I just checked the FIFA site and 35% of the people who voted indicated that his game was the biggest surprise of the four options.

On a related note, as of right now there are only 635 days 6hours 33 minutes and 8 seconds until the World Cup starts.

Board Game Recommendation

I was recently told I need to play St Petersburg. I've been told it is similar to Settlers, so I'm interested. Has anyone played this game or have any other board game recommendations?

Out of Space!

The international schools in Switzerland are running out of space. Will this be the end of short (2-3 year) assignments or will more schools be built?

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/School_places_at_premium_for_expat_children.html?siteSect=105&sid=9687421&rss=true&ty=st

Swiss School Info

Here is an excerpt from the Exapt Moms listserv regarding school. It looks like Niamh and Rowan will be a year apart in school.

In Morges (Vaud) the cut-off date is June 30th (i.e. they have to have turned 4 before that date in order to enter ecole enfantine that same year). School here normally starts the last week of August. The first two years ("ecole enfantine") are non-obligatory (although this will likely change in the future) and obligatory school - "ecole primaire" - starts when children are 6/7 (i.e. two years later).

In Morges there is flexibility with regards to admission if the child is born between May 1st and August 31st (you can present a request to have your child put 1 year ahead or behind) although rules are likely to become stricter in the future - in fact, this option may already no longer exist (I am not sure). On very rare occasions, children who do extremely well may go on to "proper" primary school after just one year, whilst those who don't do so well may be kept in ecole enfantine for a third
year.

In Morges, the fist two years of ecole enfantine have no real syllabus, and no formal assessments are made. The education of the children seems to be at the discretion of their teacher. They are quite reticent to teach reading & writing skills because, in the light of the small minority of children that do not attend school until it is compulsory, they want to avoid their pupils becoming "ahead" of the peers that will join them later on. However, in the view that in Morges, at least, virtually all children attend the first two non-compulsory years, they do seem to teach these skills.

Children have the same teacher for the two initial years. In Morges (and probably elsewhere) children from the first year share the class with those of the second.

Underwear!

Rowan has progressed to being able to sleep in underwear at night. I was happy for the temporary reduction in diaper usage, but Niamh compensated by having a leaky diaper last night.

Rowan's thoughts on the election

Rowan and I were walking back from the bakery when he announced that Hillary Clinton wasn't going to be the president. He says that Barack Obama and John McCain will be.

He can't identify Palin yet, which seems odd because she is on CNN every time I turn the TV on.

Will I be qualified to help with homework?

Here is an excerpt from an email from the expat Yahoo group. I read it multiple times and still was still confused by the assignment. I guess I have a lot to learn before Rowan goes to school.

My son is in the 1st Klasse of Swiss school. He is learning letter sounds
by cutting out pictures of mouth shapes which represent the sounds. His homework
today consists of two words which are shown as 4 different faces, with different
mouth shapes. He has to draw a picture of the word.He can't figure out one mouth
shape, and I've gone through the letters of the alphabet with him, but we are
still nowhere nearer to working it out. It has a slightly open mouth, showing
the teeth and lines coming out of the nose. I thought it might be n, but he
insists that it isn't.

Bumpa Mike?

Niamh has been very interested in The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR for the past few days. She screams "BUMPA!" as soon as she sees this page.

First day back

Today was Rowan's first day back at preschool. He was very excited. One of his friends from last year is back, so that made him happy.

Swiss Radio

Here is a link to Swiss radio stations that broadcast over the internet. I tried to listen to one at work today and discovered that trying to translate from french and writing SQL is a bit too difficult for my brain.

The rights of 'social' animals

Interesting news from Switzerland.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3818457.ece