Ithaca bound

Moving house is always difficult. Managing an overseas move while caring for Oliver, with all his special needs, seemed next to impossible. As much as we hated the idea, Shami and I decided that it made sense for me and Oliver to return to Ithaca ahead of him. I'd get a head start on settling in, paper work, medical care, and getting services for Oliver up and running. Shami would stay behind to tie up loose ends in Australia, not the least of which was emptying our place of two and a half years of stuff. He could manage much more easily without appliances or furniture (or an overnight feeding pump!) by himself than we could with Oliver.

But there was just no way I could travel alone with Ollie... the three of us barely survived our last trip to the US. This plan only became a real possibility because our good friend Fernando came to our rescue. Fernando had been observing at the Parkes telescope, and he was returning to New York City at roughly the same time. He offered to rearrange his travel plans in order to escort me and Oliver from Rozelle to Ithaca, door to door. It was a tremendous undertaking, and we are forever grateful to him. Chivalry is not dead!

It felt like a whirlwind, saying goodbye to people and places, and packing and planning. But before we knew it was time for us to leave. The task ahead was not made any easier by starting out on a 40 hour trip with only 2 hours of sleep. But we were off nonetheless.

The taxi was packed and waiting. Our friend and neighbor Abi and her son Felix saw us off.
Saying goodbye to Shami was very hard.

Shami spent as much time with Oliver as he could, and worried that Oliver would forget who he was.

Our United Airlines 747 taxis away from the gate. (Shami says: And in the foreground, the new Airbus A380 in Qantas colors.)

On the long flight from Sydney to LA we got lucky with bulkhead seats and a bassinet. Oliver barely fit, but I made a little nest for him, and to my relief he was actually able to sleep off and on for a portion of the flight, giving our arms a bit of a rest. And finally, we made it to California!

Our flight out of LA wasn't until evening, so we booked into a hotel room to regroup, clean up, wash feeding tubes, and rest as best as we could.

Fernando, Bag Rambo! Don't mess with him, he'll carry all your bags whether you like it or not!
Oliver enjoyed spreading out and watching his favorite Wiggles DVD.

We had two more flights to go. From LA to Philadelphia, and then on to Ithaca. It was not easy... and I won't even go into the problems we encountered with the airlines losing our luggage in LA. I kept reminding myself that every minute that passed brought us one minute closer to Ithaca. And finally we arrived!

Ithaca was very COLD. When we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac the temperature was 7°F (-14°C), and the wind whipped icy snow in our faces. But it felt so good to be home, I didn't mind.

It was wonderful to have my family greet us at the airport.

Ollie on the drive home, looking out at the snow and wondering what happened to the sun and the Iron Cove Bridge.

Ollie and Mum in front of our new house, "The Garage Mahal."
And finally, Ollie asleep in his new crib. What a long trip...

A big decision

We made a big decision in January. We decided to leave Australia. It was both an extremely easy and an extremely difficult decision to make. Easy because it was clearly the best thing for us, but it was difficult to say goodbye to the hopes and dreams we brought with us to Australia, not to mention the special people we had met, and the places we'd enjoyed so much. Shami had to give up a wonderful job and decline a fellowship he had worked very hard for. But we were tired of struggling on and on by ourselves. In Ithaca we would be close to family, and Oliver would be eligible for a top notch Early Intervention program without having to worry about residency status. Yes, it was a very easy and a very difficult decision.


Before we left, we managed to get out for a few "last hurrahs" ...

We finally managed to go to the Sydney Aquarium, and we all enjoyed the fish.


Though we put on our smiles, it was sad to say goodbye to the Botanic Gardens, and especially to the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.




Some of the hardest things to say goodbye to were all the wonderful places we used to explore on our daily walks. We enjoyed so many strolls by the water on the Bay Run, and through Callan park and the grounds of the abandoned Rozelle Psychiatric Hospital.

Goodbye Callan park, and goodbye stray cats.

Goodbye Bay Run, and Iron Cove Bridge.

The easiest thing to say goodbye to was Sydney Children's Hospital!
And we will always remember fondly sitting our deck, and enjoying the view and that wonderful Sydney weather.

Goodbye Darling Street and goodbye to the Rozelle market.

I haven't mentioned the many people we had to say goodbye to. Too many to acknowledge here, but hopefully later. It is always the most difficult to say goodbye to friends.

Happy New Year again

It's official: 2008 is finally over, after dragging on for an extra leap second (2008/12/31, 23:59:60). Happy New Year to everyone, and let's hope the year ahead is a better one.

Although we didn't have the iconic backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Opera house, we saw spectacular fireworks over the Iron Cove from the comfort of our own deck. (A brief 19 second video clip below.)

(Our previous New Year's eve posts are here for 2008, and here and here for 2007.)

Merry Christmas!

At the end of a hard year - much harder than we'd anticipated, in many ways - we weren't really feeling the Christmas spirit. Going into the summer solstice didn't really help with that either. But we finally got our act together, unpacked the Christmas tree, opened the box of lights and ornaments, put on some holiday music, and settled in to read How the Grinch stole Christmas.

On Christmas eve, we put a collection of gifts from family and friends under the tree, turned on the lights, and it looked quite cheery after all.



Christmas day was quite laid back and relaxed, a chance for us to catch our breaths a little. One thing it was not: a white Christmas. It was bright and warm and very sunny, a typical Aussie Christmas.

We hope all our readers had a pleasant and very merry Christmas: best wishes for the holidays and the New Year ahead.

Looking back, part 2: Grandparents visit

(October – November, 2007)

We want to take a moment once again to look back and acknowledge some special visitors we've had since Oliver's birth.

Less than a week after we brought Oliver home from the hospital, Oliver's grandparents, his Thamma and his Dadu, arrived from India. It was such a difficult time (they could tell you some stories!) that those early weeks at home have become a bit of a blur for us. Having Shami's parents here was a tremendous help, and in fact we're not sure we would have survived without them.

Notice how the lovely sari Ollie's Thamma is wearing on the left miraculously turns into a special heirloom blanket, complete with an embroidered "OA" for Oliver Akash! Thank you Thamma!

Although we were mostly housebound and too exhausted to do much of anything beyond what was absolutely necessary, we did manage to get out a few times to show them some of Sydney's sights, including a couple of walks along the coast and a stop at Bondi beach. Ollie even dipped his toes into the Tasman sea for the first time, but he was not impressed.




It was not just their help with meals, cleaning and caring for Oliver we are grateful for, but their boundless love and emotional support. We are so glad they were able to come and meet their first grandchild early on, even if the circumstances were far from the happy ones we'd envisioned.

All dressed up: three generations of Chatterjee men. And Oliver with his mum and Thamma too.

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

We took advantage of good weather and a little extra energy over the weekend to drive to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. This park dates back to 1894, the second oldest in Australia, and the Sydney metropolitan area has expanded right up to its edge - it was only an hour's drive for us. We drove through the park all the way to West Head, where we enjoyed gorgeous sweeping views of the Hawkesbury river meeting the ocean.

You can see Barrenjoey Head, with its lighthouse, behind Meghan, and Lion Island behind Shami. The entire area is a nature preserve and has recently been designated a National Heritage area.

Alas, we didn't have much time to spend here before we had to drive back, but we did run into a goanna, an Australian monitor lizard. It was big! And don't miss the forked tongue in the (very short) video clip below.

Obama!

After Meghan donated money and sent in her absentee ballot, there wasn't much else for us to do about the US elections besides obsessively following the twists and turns of the campaign. On November 5th (late night 4th in the US), we all watched with an overwhelming sense of relief as the results came in. Here's Oliver congratulating President-Elect Obama as he gives his victory speech!



Throughout the election campaign, the news coverage was dominated by trivia like flag pins, tire gauges, and wardrobes, but did you know that the candidates had actual positions on policy issues such as disability? As this post on the blog Crooked Timber says,

Disability policy never swings an election. And why should it? Unless you yourself have a disability, or unless you know someone with a disability, or unless you’re concerned about things like employment or health care, or unless you might get sick or injured someday, or unless you’re planning on aging, disability policy is irrelevant to you.

Well, it turns out that Senator Obama had some really comprehensive and smart disability policies. On the other hand, Senator McCain merely wanted to cut costs, so his policy could be summarized, more or less, as "Don't become disabled." (Again, if you're interested, this post is worth reading.) I guess we'll see how President Obama's plans survive the ongoing economic crisis.

Happy Halloween!

Ahoy there, matey! Oliver wears a patch on his right eye for a couple of hours every day to strengthen his weaker left eye. Inspired by what we call his "pirate time", Meghan dressed Ollie up as a pirate for Halloween. Avast! Shiver me timbers! Happy Halloween to all of our readers.