October 4th: Will the Heat Ever End??

 Here I am in our garden.  I had just returned from an ultrasound where the doctor estimated our baby to be about 4.5 pounds already!  He said, "Oh, I love seeing such fat babies."  Since I was nearly 9.5 pounds myself at birth it looks like I might be having an equally giant baby myself!

This is a neighborhood friend- the daughter of another WB family here in our colony.  She and her brother often come over to romp with Topher and to play Monopoly with me.

Would this "truck" pass your state's inspection? We passed this mangled contraption on the road this morning.  Only in India!

The heat continues without an end in sight- no fun when you are wearing a fur coat or "baking" a baby in your belly, so both Topher and I are sneaking naps in the air-conditioned bedroom whenever possible.  October has arrived with great revelry as this is the month of holidays and festivals here in India.  Gandhi Day was celebrated on the 2nd and Diwali, the Festival of Lights, will be rung in with bursts of fireworks on the 27th.  In between there are many other feasts and celebrations.  Tourists have also begun to arrive in Delhi once again now that the weather is (supposedly) more pleasant.  We have had quite a few house guests ourselves though now with the nursery in place we are reduced to only one guest room.  Topher enjoys the visitors, especially our last one who brought a beef bone from the US.  He was in heaven!

Paolo is travelling again- this time in Sri Lanka for 10 days.  He will return on Friday, October 10th.  This coming week marks the first anniversary of our wedding (October 7th) so we will have some celebrating to do this weekend when he returns! He will be in town for two weeks before heading to Italy and the US. For our DC friends and family, I hope you get a chance to see him when he is in town Nov 2-12th.

As for me, all is going well though I do spend an inordinate amount of time checking the Weather Channel website hoping to see numbers lower than 97 for daily highs.  As you read above I seem to be "baking" a rather large baby boy, which I suppose is not too surprising considering the size of his parents.  This makes me a tiny bit anxious about the actual birth but for now I continue to feel great and have developed only a slight waddle when I walk.   I am enjoying the prenatal yoga and Italian classes and am also busy with school and three volunteer projects.  The nursery is coming along and I am currently on the hunt for  a diaper pail- yet another elusive baby product here in India.  At least we get our trash collected everyday, so maybe this will not be such a necessary item.  Mom and Dad are proving to be excellent grandparents-to-be, busily shopping at Costco and everywhere else I send them in search of baby must haves and then filling out endless customs forms to get the boxes to me.  I am so grateful for their enthusiasm and patience and cannot wait for their visit here this winter to meet their first grandchild!  

I promise another posting soon- if and when the temperature falls below 90 there will be a celebratory posting and picture of me in my "cool weather" maternity clothing!  A hug to all of you, Clara