Firsts

This goes without saying. New state, new home, new-to-parenthood (when DOESN'T it feel like that?), new people and places. The first first to top the list: surviving Natalie's first real illness. What makes it real? The debate about when and where to take her in for treatment. New felt like a serious detriment to this process. We made some calls, sweated some insurance details, and made our way to a clinic. Not the clinic across the street from us or one of the stellar university and/or Scripps clinics. No, one about 15 miles away (is it only us that sees something wrong with that?). This time, the NP was able to identify the issue immediately, with adding some sweet information (Natalie was also getting her first tooth) to the bitter (it's a virus, she'll sweat it out for the next several days). Things are much better.
We also hosted our first get-together at our apartment. We invited Nate's CILAS colleagues over for Weaver Olson-style burritos. The commiseration on the application process, class registration and the sharing of what brought everyone to the program was great. Ethan joined us, a voice of local knowledge and general good company.
Natalie exhibited her more demonstrative side at the playground by promptly retrieving the ping-pong ball from the grip of the other baby after it was given to the poor kid.
Nate officially began classes. As he keeps meeting professors and classmates some interesting opportunities and relationships are beginning to materialize. So is the exponentially growing amount of reading he has to do, which seems to have a inverse relationship to the amount of time he has to do it.
I'm continuing to slog through the DMV and MediCal/Healthy Families applications. I do have an I.D. from California with my name on it: a library card. (The crowd goes wild!) I'm also still looking for part-time employment, trying to exploit opportunities through UCSD and their medical centers (including Scripps) first, via my Nursing Assistant certification (still pending for California). Pickings are surprisingly slim. Maybe Starbucks wouldn't be so bad.