(By Lazlo)

Kate's health problems (alluded to below) turned out to be gallstones. Over the weekend, she was in severe pain and we decided to go to the hospital on Monday morning. Like, writhing-on-the-floor-moaning pain. And vomiting. So, I figured out the insurance stuff (we borrowed some money to pay the exorbitant cost for COBRA) and we left the girls in the capable hands of Stands With A Fist (and later Baby's Aunt Pam) and went to Seton. (That's a hospital for you non-Austinites.) She was seen relatively quickly and got an ultrasound confirming that she had gallstones, saw a surgeon, and was admitted. Yesterday the doctors did an endoscopy (with lasers!) to dislodge one particularly out-of-place stone, and this morning Baby went under the laproscope and got her gallbladder removed. Baby is feeling like a car ran over her midsection -- which is to say much better than she felt on Sunday. Otherwise, she's doing really well. The surgery went off without a hitch. The lasers did what they were supposed to do. Baby should come home sometime tomorrow.

The timing on this whole thing could have been better -- it could have happened in two weeks, when we'll have insurance through my job. Wren could have not come down with a serious cold yesterday. I could have had some accumulated sick time instead of having to pay for my time off. It could have even happened when my parents were in town so they could watch the girls a little bit. However, right now I just feel incredibly blessed. Our families have provided so much for us in the last four days: childcare, stew, lots of money, and so much of their time. Also sympathy, good advice, and diagnoses (some false, some accurate.) Baby's surgeries have gone as well as possible, and we've been able to use the COBRA with no problems so far. (I've been told that we'll be fighting bills for the next two months to get Baby's hospital stay covered, but nothing so far has prevented her or Wren from getting care quickly.)

So, to all of you have have helped us out this week, thank you. We'll be leaning on you a little while longer, but you have made our lives so much better than they could have been. Now I've got to go to bed early so I can start making up for some of this time lost off work.

jane smiling, originally uploaded by chase+kate.

Sorry we've been so lame with the pictures. We lost our picture jazz. Seriously- like 5 good pictures since we moved.

I think Lazlo covered the basics of the move, so on to the inessentials-

- our house/apt/townhome/condo thing is cozy (read 'cavelike') but the neighbors are bizarre and awesome. Ramona has become an escape artist in her middle age, and every day devises a new way to get out of our little fence. I don't blame her, really, with Wren holding her Dr. Bag waiting on the other side. Ramona has had her tem-a-ture taken more times than any other lab on earth. And I still haven't gotten all the bandaids off her belly.

- Lazlo's heart was broken by the false advertising that is "Dollar Bowling Night" at Dart Bowl, but with much encouragement, I think he's going to get back on the bowling horse that threw him. or something.

- My classes have started for the semester, and if you want to come distract me while I'm studying Technical Services and Collection Development, I will be at the Dart Bowl cafe, or at Thunderbird Coffee (2 great places within like 50 ft of our house. Hurray Austin!)

- Also in the Pro Austin Column, lots of old friends and family, lots of wonderful restaurants at which we can almost most of the time afford to eat, and lots of really weathery weather. Not accidentally ending up in San Bernadino before I even knew I was going in the wrong direction.

- Cons include: no Dudes, no Bodies of Water, no No Little Kindness (including Finn), our non-banded friends, "Smef" and Xie, pretty much all of Wren's closest friends, and ours too of course. It's a pretty flippin' big Con.

- Also Con, Austin gave me an ulcer. Or something. Probably Gallbladder disease it turns out. Either way, it's gross and very painful and involves bile and that's really all I should say to an audience that didn't do anything to deserve specifics. If you want to volunteer to come hold my hair back or something, give me a call. Our insurance doesn't kick in for another two weeks, so basically, I'm on my own.

Thanks to a truly wonderful guy (Lazlo's octogenarian triathalon friend) I got in to see a family doctor, who said that lots of pregnant and recently pregnant women get gallbladder disease, and basically I just have to have surgery to get it taken out, but that obviously I'll want to wait for some insurance to do that. So that's the story on that. I'm eating white rice and skim milk and bananas until we get insured.

- Hurray for insurance gaps! Manpower sucks.

- This list has degenerated and isn't making sense anymore. Look at the beautiful picture of Jane! Isn't she awesome!!!!!11

There's a lot more to say, but I'm too scatterbrained and malnourished to think of it now. We miss everyone in LA. Come see us! And maybe buy houses here...? It'll be like pocket change, guys. Seriously, turn your couch cushions over and come check us out! Austin! Not quite as hot in the summer as you thought! Now with more Bile! Hurray!

(by Lazlo)

We made it to Austin. Our stuff didn't break. Chet/Barton and I went on an epic voyage of the road while Baby and the girls flew to Austin. Our friends (Chet, Rupert, David and Meredith, Jessie, and others) were amazing in helping us pack our stuff. There were only a few minor hitches, such as discovering on the morning of the move that our front tires both needed to be replaced, and not finding Baby's ID.

Two things I learned from this move: (1) It's not that hard to fly with no photo ID, and (2) it's also not that hard to get a security pass to escort somebody to the gate.

Living in Austin is actually really good. I kind of thought we were going to hate it here -- that it wasn't going to live up to the hype of five years' anticipation. But it's good. I like the weather, specifically the variation: the humidity, clouds, and rain. There are still days and windy days, and when it rains, it doesn't ruin the roads, and people have some vague idea how to drive over 25 mph without fishtailing all over and ramming other cars. (Unlike LA, where a slight mist would cause all traffic to grind to a halt.) My job is good but not great. I enjoy the work and the organization has a mission I like being a part of, but I'm thinking pretty seriously about getting stuff together to apply for teaching jobs, with the goal of starting in the fall. Of course, it's also great to be back around our family and our Austin friends.

The girls have done really well with the move. Wren loves being around all our Austin family, especially her four- and seven-year-old cousins. Her favorite activities since Christmas have been (1) playing with her doctor kit (she's learned the words stethoscope, otoscope, and sphygmomanometer) and (2) playing with her new kitty cat tent. She's also been making up songs lately. Her most recent one goes like this (to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star):

Jane is doing well, too. She hasn't seemed to notice that we moved. She likes looking at things (especially Wren, who really cracks her up), laughing, grabbing things, holding onto things with her tiny death grip, and (as of this week) turning over. She doesn't like being put down or having her diaper changed.

Our new apartment is nice. It's on a bus line that goes to my office, and I'm really enjoying the daily bus ride. I have time to read that I would probably otherwise just sleep through. The bus and being out of school are very good for my reading habits -- I'm mostly through three or four non-fiction books and I just started That Hideous Strength on Baby's recommendation. One of my two new year's resolutions was to read one non-fiction book and one novel per month. The other one is proving difficult to keep, so I'm embarrassed to even mention it. Let's just say it's supposed to help me keep my Greek reading skills up, but I'm going to need to find another system. I digress.

Last night, Baby and the girls and I had dinner with some old friends of ours, along with Chet/Barton. It was a nice evening, but by the end of the night I had consented to doing a triathlon with my favorite octogenarian. I've always wanted to do a triathlon, and I thought Dr. Koenig (not his real name) would be a good person to do my first race with, being three times my age and all. After I had already committed myself, the details of his training regimen started to come out, and I'm starting to get worried. He has a Navy SEAL for a trainer, and the routine involves swimming and running with a SIX-FOOT LOG. Apparently he trains in the icy waters of Barton Springs. He was also recently edged out of some shotput competition by the 1952 Olympic gold medal winner. I am man enough to admit that I'm afraid.

There are other things going on -- Baby is sick, for instance -- but I've rambled enough here already. I'll make Baby write about all that.