Teething baby, helping a friend, high heat and humidity

That's what's been going on here. Linton has at least one tooth (a molar) coming through, and I think (and hope, at least) that this is what's causing the fever he's had on and off (but mostly on) for 48 hours. He's also nursing a lot, not eating much, and very, very clingy and whiny. I guess we just need to hang in there, Stella's mami :)

I've also been helping this Brazilian friend we met at a local playground almost a year ago. She has twins, a boy and a girl, only 5 months older (but MUCH taller :) than Kelvin (my 3 year old). She can't speak much English, can't drive, doesn't know any other Brazilians in the area and now that her(American) husband has to be 6 weeks away working (alternating with 6 weeks at home) she needs a lot of help. Her husband's relatives and her neighbor often give her a hand, but this week I bought groceries for her, and took her and her kids to the store -- it was "fun", 4 kids (running and screaming) and two moms. Today we also spent part of the day together. It's good for Kelvin, since he doesn't have many friends, and even better for the twins, since they just spent 6 months in Brazil and miss their friends and school from there.

It continues to be TERRIBLY hot here, and we haven't been outside very often, only late in the evening (right when the mosquitoes want to eat us alive :) The good thing is the delicious tomatoes we're getting from our garden! Once in a while we do get to go out. This evening, for example, we went to the Scott Arboretum, at the Swarthmore College, which is not very far from us. We often go to the beautiful Longwood Gardens, since we have a season pass (one of the best "investments" we made in our tight budget this year, because it's a gorgeous place to go with the kids, and it even has concerts free thoroughout the year, not that we've been able to catch many of them :) The other great thing about Longwood is the chance to take tons of beautiful pictures, one of which you've seen below . (if any of you would like to see a lot of pictures of our family, you can email me and I'll send you the links) Putting pictures online for family and friends to see is one of the most addictive things in my life -- of course now reading blogs is another, perhaps even "worse" addiction. There is a good post about this problem here. Academic coach also has a recent post about the "Voyeuristic Intimacy" experienced in blogging -- very interesting.


Last but not least, hubby's been working hard due to prospective applications. He's not feeling very confident, though, which is OK -- both are very long shots anyway. Conversely, I've been feeling highly motivated with my dissertation. I've recently found out other academics in Brazil working with the same subject, and we're getting in touch through email. Very encouraging! I'll keep you posted.

I'm still working on the promised "fun post", and I've been thinking of writing a bit about "social class and blogging", or doing one of those "list posts." I will soon update my blogroll -- I'm thinking of adding categories, this time. Will definitely have one for "Expatriate and/or Multicultural Family Mamas" -- any suggestions for a more fun "name" for this category? Speak quickly, because I think I'll do it soon! (I can always change it later, though :)