In Pursuit of Perfection

This is a long post because, well, it was a very long process...

Back on May 23rd I lost one of my contact lenses. I wear rigid gas permeable lenses and they last longer than soft lenses. This set has lasted about 10 years or so. I have worn contacts for so long that I can no longer see very well with glasses and get terrible headaches, so I was a little concerned about how long it would take me to get new contacts here.

So on Monday, May 25th I went into an optician's office and made an appointment. Two days later I went back for my exam.

I guess I should have known at that stage that this would be a long, drawn out affair. As I was waiting for my appointment (I had to wait nearly an hour! Very un-Swiss!), an older man came in to purchase plastic clip-on sunglasses for his prescription glasses.

Keep in mind, these are the plastic things you can purchase off a rack for about $5 at any Wal-Mart in the United States without the need for assistance from a sales clerk.

But the sales clerk first removed his glasses and studied them to make certain they were appropriate for plastic clip-ons. Then she went into the back and returned with some plastic clip-ons. Still holding the man's glasses in her hands, she put the plastic clip-ons on the glasses and studied them to make certain all was correct. She took them off and put them back on a few times. Then she flipped them up and down to verify all was in working condition.

She next placed the man's glasses, with the clip-ons, on his face and studied them. She removed the glasses and made some adjustments on fit, then put them back on. Now satisfied that the plastic clip-on lenses were acceptable, it was time to instruct the man in the use of the clip-ons. She showed him how to attach the clip-ons and then watched him do it himself a couple of times. Then she showed him how to flip the sunglasses up and again he had to prove he knew how to do it.

Finally she was done. She escorted him to the cash register and charged him, and I am not making this up, 49 chf (about $45 USD) for plastic clip-on sunglasses! And the entire transaction took about 30 minutes.

So I shouldn't be surprised that it is now July 8th, I have had 7 appointments for exams & fittings and I still don't have my contacts lenses.

Oh, I have contacts in my eyes. At first they gave me disposable soft lenses to use until the trial pair of rigid gas permeable lenses could arrive. Then I had to wear the trial pair for a week and come back to see how they fit. Even though the lenses felt fine and I had no problem with them, they determined the fit could be better. And so a second pair of trial lenses were ordered. I wore them for a week and this time the fit was deemed acceptable. So finally my permanent lenses have been ordered.

But don't think my appointments have ended. Oh no, not yet. I will need at least two more. The first to get the lenses and check the fit. And then another appointment a week later to make certain all is still ok.

You know, sometimes good enough is fine. I really don't have time to wait for perfection.

Especially not when I have to figure out child care for all these appointments. Each one takes at least 30-45 minutes and Global Baby does not have the patience to wait in his stroller next to me for all of that.

And I'm still trying not to think about the fact that the trial lenses have been worn by others before me and will be sent back to whomever to be worn by someone else after me. Yeech!

Lost in Translation

We've been working on the incredibly long and complicated process for the second adoption. For the Swiss, everything must be filled out in German. (Or French or Italian, but our best bet for help is German!)

GLH purchased a translation software program to help us. He was convinced we could just write everything in English, run it through the translation program and send it in as is. "May not be perfect," he said, "but it should be close enough."

I decided to have my German tutor help us on it. Am I glad I did!

Otherwise, I would not have discovered that the software program translated "Bachelor's Degree" to the German language equivalent of "degree in bachelor's parties." Or that my statement that I am a "stay at home mother of a 9 month old baby" would become an "uncaring mother who looks old."

Languages have many subtleties that require human interpretation. Preferably by a native speaker...

Parenting Styles

For the first several months of parenthood I was a pretty laid-back mom. Global Baby went with us everywhere and we took him all over the place. Everything went very smoothly until he was about 5 months old. Then it quickly spiraled out of control.

Global Baby required holding and/or movement to sleep. I held him or pushed him in the stroller for every nap. At night I held him all night long. His sleep patterns were all over the place. He was cranky and he cried more as an older baby than he ever did as a newborn. GLH and I got almost no sleep.

By the time he was 7 months old I was barely functioning due to sleep deprivation. Very confused and completely exhausted, I did what I always do when presented with a difficulty. Research and reading.

I found my answer in a book I like to call "Baby Voodoo." It's published title is Sleepeasy Solution. Within 3 days of following the program, Global Baby was sleeping in his own crib, going down for naps and bedtime on a predictable schedule and a much happier baby. Which makes for a much happier Mama. Which also makes for a much happier Daddy.

Within a week he no longer had dark circles under his eyes and there was a nonstop smile on his face. He also had a huge surge in developmental milestones. Although it is just as likely it was coincidence rather than finally getting adequate sleep, I'm not going to experiment with that theory.

I immediately stopped being a Laid-Back Mother and became a Schedule Mother.

My sphere of existence has shrunk. During the week I rarely go further than a 20 minute walking distance from the house. I save our times when we change his schedule slightly to days when we are all together as a family. I am very focused on keeping Global Baby on his schedule, especially with a Maybe Baby #2 potentially coming in October. Otherwise I have no idea how I am going to handle two babies at once.

Fortunately it is all made bearable by the fact that I am also meeting other mothers of similarly aged babies. All within a few minutes walk of me. So I have new social outlets. And I reason it is only for a few years. Once Global Baby and Maybe Baby #2 are old enough to drop their morning naps (generally at 12-18 months old), I can once again go further afield. The older they get, the further my sphere will expand.

The only question has been how we will be able to continue traveling?

Well, obviously for at least a few years we will not do as much traveling as we have done in the past. Neither of us have any issue with that as Global Baby is more than worth a little less freedom to travel at whim.

And when we are traveling I become militant about Global Baby's schedule. Even more so than at home because everything else is different. We are limited in how much we can see, but we still are able to see and do enough. And more importantly, Global Baby's routine is maintained. Which means he remains a happy, smiling baby.

Although after our recent trip to France, it also likely means we will limit our travel to child-friendly places. Italy, for instance, was extremely child-friendly. France? Not so much. (Why is it that in many smaller French towns the only restaurant open before 7 pm is McDonald's? 7 pm is Global Baby's bedtime.)

Pretty sure France will still be there when Global Baby and his potential sibling are a little older...

Road Tripping France

On Sunday we returned from a road trip through France. On this trip, with the extra baby help provided by my parents, I managed to take a few photographs!

We began our trip with three days in Paris.

Our favorite Paris moment from this trip? Watching a man in a 3-piece suit, listening to headphones and singing at the top of his lungs while riding a rental bike down the middle of a busy street during rush hour. Unfortunately it happened too quickly to get a photo!

We also met Paris-based blogger and fellow Minnesotan, Ksam. But I won't link to her blog because I'm not sure how she feels about it. It was fun speaking Minnesotan in a teahouse owned by a Kansan in the heart of Paris!

After Paris we headed for Normandy.

The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach was sobering...

Followed by a very cold & windy trip to Utah Beach. We are still trying to figure out why the two young men with clearly British accents were dressed in full vintage US army uniforms. It was a little odd.
Leave the battlefields behind we went to the playground of the French Renaissance. The Loire Valley has chateau after chateau, each more extravagant than the last. Pictured below is Chambord, perhaps the most famous of them all.

We have no photos of Lyon. I forgot to turn off my camera before putting it away after touring Chambord (Baby hungry now!) and the battery died. But it also was a lovely visit!

It was a great trip, but after 9 straight days of driving through the French countryside and trying to maintain a semblance of a routine with a 9 month old baby, I think we were all happy to head home.

Almost a week later, I am still trying to get caught up on laundry. It just keeps accumulating!

Teaching Early Independence

Now that we have Global Baby, we are starting to meet our neighbors. (Apparently friendliness is not allowed unless you have a child.)

There is one neighbor whom I have met a handful of times.

Each time she has told me that it is time to let Global Baby play in the street with the other children.

I thought she was joking, laughed at her joke and the conversation moved on.

However, each time I have seen her, she has repeated herself. In fact, she practically chastised me.

She said I should leave Global Baby with the other children and come in for coffee. After all, the little girls love babies. And Global Baby will never learn independence if I keep him too close for too long. (Yes, she actually said that!)

There is no way I am leaving my 9 month old child in the care of a group of children ranging from 3 - 8 years old while I go have coffee and a chat! Even if we do live on a quiet street in a small town.

Do the Swiss really do this? I guess thinking back I have seen very young children playing on the street. But I just assumed the parent was somewhere within sight and they were with their older siblings.

What is up with that?

Heavenly!

We decided we have lived in Switzerland long enough, and are going to live here for the foreseeable future, so it was time to upgrade our Ikea bed.

We looked at several different options and debated this for several weeks (almost several months!) before deciding on the spur of the moment.

On our recent trip to Florence we stayed in a Westin Hotel. It made us remember how unbelievably comfortable the Westin beds are. In fact, it's their schtick. They call it the "Westin Heavenly Bed." And heavenly it is!

I did a bit of research and discovered you can actually order the Westin Heavenly Bed and have it delivered to your home!

We called the number for European orders and now, 8 weeks later, our new bed has arrived!

I think what I enjoyed the most about the delivery was the Swiss delivery men, looking with puzzlement at the pillow-top mattress. They eventually decided the pillow-top was for extra warmth in winter and you used the other side during the summer. They didn't quite believe me when I assured them the pillow-top was for year-round usage, but put the pillowy side up just to humor me.

But my favorite part will be sleeping on it tonight!

One Easy Lesson...

...in How to Freak Out Your German Housecleaner.

On a hot day, hold your baby in front of a fan to cool him off and make him giggle.

Apparently this can result in dire consequences. I'm not sure what. But she was very upset.