We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 AM 4/18 to begin the induction. The night leading up to the induction was not as restful as we had hopped– Ofelia apparently got a stomach bug and woke several times during the night to empty her stomach over her bedding and pajamas! That, was not what we had planned! I guess this is foreshadowing of what things can be like with more than one child…
By 11AM the contractions were getting a little stronger, but not yet painful.
3PM: Consistent contractions, but still not painful. Lots of waiting. Weylin has completed 2 Sudoko puzzles on the G-phone (I’m trying to stay sharp for the big push!).
4PM: The pain has arrived!!! Here comes the intensity…
9:09PM: Mateo is Born!!! We have a new son! The newest and youngest subscriber to this blog! 21 inches; 9 pounds 1 ounce.
Mateo and his mother are happy and healthy. Katherine did a great job and made it all the way through labor without pain meds! What a trooper she is!
On this eve of adding another member to our family I though this would be a good time to let Ofelia have her last moment of solitude in the spotlight. After today she will be faced with the reality that, despite her life-long experiences to the contrary, she is not the center of the universe. It has also been a while since we put up some photos so here they are. Most are from the winter here in Cleveland and we want to get these up quickly as we’re past the point of being ready for springtime here in Cleveland! Out with the snow and in with the green!
The video is of the grand snow cave that I ostensibly built for Ofelia. In truth, it was the tunnel I’ve always dreamed of making! Building something like this is always 90% of the fun– this cave was no exception. If you can believe it, I had plans for even more extensions and additions to the cave. Maybe next year…
Until then be well. We’ll be posting soon with news and photos about the newest Mortingame!
Katherine and I listen virtually all the time and know commentators by ear and have a sense for their journalistic personalities. To put it bluntly, we’re self-admitted NPR dorks– and proud of it! It has been a long-time dream of mine to be interviewed on NPR.Well my dream has finally come true… The cliche says to be careful what you ask for because you might just get it. I now understand that trite bit of wisdom.
Recently I got a call from Ira Glass of the NPR program This American Life. He introduced himself and said he’d like to record our phone conversation for his show. I couldn’t believe it, I had finally made it to the big time, and with Ira Glass no less! As he began talking I was racking my brain trying to get ahead of him to figure out how he got my name and what important things we had to discuss for the benefit of a national radio audience. That mystery was revealed soon enough.
It appears that my loving wife saw fit to write a letter to Ira and This American Life pleading for “Pledge Drive Justice,” a.k.a. turning in your loved ones for never pledging to NPR despite being avid listeners. Right, so you get the picture. I’ve finally made it to be interviewed on NPR, and its about my lame-itude as a NPR fan.
I won’t bother with the details of the interview, you can listen for yourself during the next local NPR pledge drive, or, you can click on the link below and stream it.
I will tell you that I have now pledged to WHYY, our Philly station, and WCPN, our Cleveland station. I called into WCPN right after they played this piece and mentioned that I was the guy Ira had just interviewed. The volunteer seemed unimpressed but took my information and pledge none the less. Then, during the next pledge break the hosts mentioned that a guy “claiming to be Weylin” called in to pledge, and then they stated that “of course we cannot verify that it was actually Weylin.” I couldn’t believe it, not only had I been publicly exposed as a lazy freeloader, I was now also being accused of being an impostor!
Update: I’ve gotten word from This American Life producer Seth; he tells me that the show has been playing well on the air and they’ve been able to raise lots of money.
Parting Words: Don’t be like I was. Donate a few measly bucks to your local NPR. Their news programming blows television out of the water- and they really do have to rely on public funding to get it done. If that’s not democracy then I don’t know what is.
UPDATE #2: I recently got a call from WCPN notifying me that I have won prize! It appears that they entered recent pledge drive contributors into a drawing and one of the prizes goes to this new member! I have won 4 season passes to the Cleveland Playhouse. That means I’ll be getting 4 tickets to each of the 6 shows for the next season! Cha-Ching! I’m starting to wonder why I waited all those years to contribute. Yet another reason to support independent news and creative programing.
98 days. That is how long I have been away from Katherine and Ofelia. Since mid-August I have been back in the US, living in Cleveland OH and working on getting my PhD in Organizational Behavior. 98 days is a very long time to be away from one’s wife and daughter. It feels even longer when that distance is from Cleveland to Paraguay! So many frustrating Skype conversations with digitized pixelated video and choppy unintelligible conversation. And how exactly are you supposed to carry on a conversation when there is a 30+ second delay? We have had to adapt and adjust, and in general make the best of a difficult situation. We have done well with it, found ways to remain close and connected, and most importantly– it is about to end!
Tomorrow I board a plane and begin the long journey into the world that is Paraguay. It will take about 24 hours to complete the journey (provided I don’t get waylaid in Panama or Bolivia!), and it will be worth every minute. We will have the pleasure of reuniting as a family in Paraguay before returning as a family to Cleveland. Having already made the re-entry transition, I know that temperature is the least of the differences that must be adjusted for. It is an extreme culture shift traveling between these two worlds. The beautiful thing is that we will now do it as a family– as it should be.
So before I embark on this journey I’m posting up a video of Ofe that Katherine sent to me. This is the type of thing that has kept my spirits up and focused on making it to our reuniting. I cannot wait to see them both. We have a lot of catching up to do. What a wonderful Thanksgiving this will be.
I’ve been back in the states for nearly 2 months now. All this time I’ve had this video and these pictures ready and waiting to be posted. Why the wait? Sure, I’ve been busy, like every other American who puts too many plans into any given day. But that’s not why it’s taken me two months.
When I left Paraguay, I left 2 very important parts of my life there, Katherine and Ofelia. Being back here without them has been very difficult, and very lonely at times. I realized that by not posting these pictures and this video about our trip to the Jesuit Ruins, I was avoiding a piece of having left Paraguay, and my family there.
Things are going very well for me in my graduate program, but I deeply miss many things about Paraguay and my time there. I still drink terere every day (my colleagues have gotten accustomed to me and my termo) and I’m even studying Español every day– and still I miss Paraguay.
I’ll soon be going to Paraguay to bring my beautiful wife and daughter back to Cleveland. So now I can share this video and these pictures with all of you. We can all stop waiting for Jesus!
We shot these great photos and this video back in late June when Kate and my mom and Kamilah were visiting. We took a weekend road trip with Gladys, Roberta and Francisco to Encarnación. The video is from the Jesuit Ruins at the town of Jesus– about 12km off of the paved road, and about 45 minutes drive from Encarnación. Translation: the middle of nowhere, but unbelievably beautiful and impressive. Some of the photos are from another Jesuit ruin site also in the Encarnación area.
Not long ago, Mac asked me if I drink terere or mate. Do I?! I have been called a terere fanatic. I drink terere every day, for much of the day, and on cooler mornings I drink mate before the day warms and I prepare my guampa and termo for terere.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been taking daily classes to learn Castillano. I have learned a lot, but not only about a language. I’ve also learned and shared a great deal about the history and culture of Paraguay. Terere is a very important cultural ritual here in Paraguay. During all of my lessons, Carlos and I share terere while we
I love this stuff!
talk and work– while we share languages and cultures. A while back I asked Carlos to assist me in making a video so that I could explain and share this part of Paraguayan culture that I’ve fallen in love with.
Grateful Termo & Guampa
Rather than simply demonstrating how to make terere or presenting some encyclopedia style explanation, we decided to have some fun. In the video Carlos speaks using his 3rd language, English, and I use my second, Español. My vocabulary is basic enough that you should be able to understand the gist of things. In many ways this video is a culmination of 8 months living here in Paraguay. It is about my adaptation to this foreign place and my efforts to integrate and appreciate.
The video is about 15 minutes long so sit back and relax. Enjoy the friendship, the terere, and the language development process!
Thanks for joining us in our Process. We're back from the beyond and settling into Cleveland, 2 PhD efforts, a new house, and 1.5 children-- no boredom here! Our foreign adventure has passed but "domestic" adventures are emerging. Stay tuned for anecdotes and updates.
Trust the Process.
We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 AM 4/18 to begin the induction. The night leading up to the induction was not as restful as we had hopped– Ofelia apparently got a stomach bug and woke several times during the night to empty her stomach over her bedding and pajamas! That, was not what we had planned! I guess this is foreshadowing of what things can be like with more than one child…
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