2004-09-18, 7:52 p.m.

We're not dead, we're just in Michigan.

Finally we have DSL in the new apartment! I still don't have my own computer - I'm using C's law school laptop - but just getting on line is a vast improvement. I will have to wait 60-90 days, apparently, before Con-Ed sends me a check to replace my computer. Which they fried with a power surge, sent through the ground to our apartment, the night before we left to get married. I'm still too annoyed about that whole incident to even be able to write about it, so enough said for now.

However, I can honestly say that I love being in Ann Arbor. There are lot of really weird things still to adjust to, like the fact that I'm living in a Big-10 football town, with lots of fraternities, and that I have to drive all the time, and that it has taken me six shopping trips to figure out where to buy the non-organic, plain old Sunmaid raisins. But the mama-baby scene here is really great, and the people are very nice, and of course this time of year is absolutely beautiful (sneaky, sneaky Michigan - check back with me in February...). The various branches of the public library have free play hours for little babies, so last Thursday we tried our first one. I was a little nervous, to be honest - I actually found myself putting on mascara and some pale lipstick - I wanted to looked nice, approachable, though not like I was trying too hard... So I was a bit overwhelmed when we arrived, 10 minutes late, or course, to find the room full of small children and mothers, already engaged in serious conversation and interaction. But I reminded myself that this was about Leon, not me, and chose a vaguely free spot on the toy-strewn floor. I sat Leon down between my legs - he can almost stay upright on his own now - and waited to see what would happen next. Leon, grinning and drooling, was completely fascinated by the other babies - it was like baby-in-the-mirror, only more of them! And by the end of the hour I had talked to two other mothers, both of whom expressed the hope that they would see us there again. Either they were being ridiculously polite, or I made a good impression. Whew.

On the down side, Leon has a mysterious cough that we're worried about. He doesn't have a cold, his breathing is fine - no wheezing, no congestion, nothing. Just this random, hacking cough, for the past 2 weeks. We've taken him to the new pediatrician's twice - the second time at 9 this morning, because the first time it was just me talking to the doc, and C wanted to ask more questions. I never seem to ask all the questions he needs answers to - I get a bit 'deer in the headlights' with doctors, and just want everything to be okay. Not so useful, when you're worried about your kid's health. But I'm working on it.

What worries us, really, is that sometimes Leon seems to choke at the end or a coughing fit, and of course a not-breathing baby is our worst parental-nightmare. It may be a virus, they docs say. His cough and breathing are not consistent with having something lodged in his throat, heart issues, allergies, or an undeveloped digestive system. So for now we're just supposed to watch him. The pediatrician today reassured us that, since Leon has always recovered from the potential choking, there's no reason to think he won't continue to do so, which is fairly of comforting. And we've got the phone number of a pediatric cardiologist, so now we can make an appointment to have his heart stuff checked - he was due for a 6 month check-up back in NYC - and then the new docs can rule out any connection there.

But after this morning's appointment, we talked to C's sister, who thinks the cough could be asthma. That's what she has, and she coughs a lot and doesn't have congestion or fluid in her lungs, just inflamed bronchi. This is definitely not an implausible concept, but we're reluctant to pursue it, for now - maybe this is just a virus and it will fade in a few weeks. Of course, if it doesn't fade, we will certainly have to look into asthma. As C says, there's a thin line between following your parental intuition and becoming the classic paranoid parents... We hope we're managing to stay on the sane side.

I did have a disgusting/humorous vomiting baby episode worth mentioning, as a result of the aforementioned cough. We were standing in line at A2's famed Blimpy Burger for lunch, and I had Leon in the sling, as I had been nursing him. He had finished eating, and I was just shifting him to over my shoulder in order to burp, when suddenly a coughing fit hit, and he projectile spit-up ALL OVER the table and chairs directly behind me. Thank god, no one was sitting there, and it was before the lunch rush so that the place was fairly empty. But I still felt terrible, especially for the guy sitting just beyond the table where Leon spewed...

Yeah, babies are not always cute.