The Professor and Mary Ann

First off, I am required by my executive board to explain exactly what it is when I say that Rob hates babies. He doesn't really. He's extremely good with them and after ample experience, he can stave them off and keep them quiet and reasonably happy for hours at a time (better than I could if I couldn't nurse them, which is an unfair advantage). He just finds the newborn stage not so much fun. He thinks they're much more interesting when they can interact with other people. He wishes they'd be born at about four months old. I remind him that my babies are closer to four-month-olds than just about anyone's. And if we're shooting for honesty here, I loathe the age from about 18 months to 3 or so when my prime job is to socialize the kid. I think that all children should come with the Germ Theory of Disease in their bundled-from-Microsoft software; it creeps me out the way they want to caress toilets and lick garbage cans and the like. As for the name, we cho

and any others who come after is significant. Rob and I were talking about it last night as we left on our dinner date, which had just been crashed by Joss since he was in a foul mood. (We decided we'd rather take him with us and be serene than leave him at home and feel like we needed to rush back and relieve everyone.) We were just remarking that when Maddie had screamed, we were certain that we had done something wrong (buckled her incorrectly in the car seat, put her clothes on backwards, given her a mild case of SIDS, etc.). Because of that, we took every scream as an advertisement of our bad parenting -- a complaint against us personally. By this child, we don't take anything he does personally. A quote that my brother John sent me explains the difference perfectly, although this is talking about the meaning of East coast vs. West coast honking from Cory Doctorow's "Eastern Standard Tribe": "This business of being an agent-provocateur was complicated i

Look who came on Monday! I was induced, so I was guessing that this might happen. As was recently pointed out, when I was having Maddie, I didn't want any sort of drug or medical intervention at all, so the full-on embrace of induction was seen as somewhat hypocritical of me. All I can say is, if you have ever delivered a 10 lb, 10 oz baby naturally (Will), you might think about your options too! My OB practice is happy to schedule an induction for any subsequent pregnancies if you're doing well, and I thought I might get a smaller baby and go back to sleeping on my stomach a week or so earlier too. I was right on the first proposition, but I'm not sleeping yet. I got hooked up to pitocin at around 9, but didn't really do much until around noon. I drove all the nurses crazy because the monitors lose the baby at the least wiggle from either of us. It was the same way with Sebastian, and I think I just don't transmit well. I got to more active labor around two (I

My honey turned 40 on Thursday. In honor of the milestone, I came up with 40 Things I Love About Rob. You, dear readers, can see an abridged version: 4. there is no housework he feels is beneath him 7. he is willing to come with me to Spanish Sunday School and even reads scriptures 14. he's willing and supportive of my vegetarian cooking 17. he is a charismatic and creative professor (see above) 19. Rob's a fabulous brainstormer -- Mr. Idea Man 22. whenever he is by water, he will get wet 24. he makes up original bedtime stories for the kids each night about Kyle and Pablo (last night's was about ex-Smokin' Roaches band member who had become a plumber and was guided to Monterey Dunes unit 194 when he heard the band's one hit "Miss Jennie Jones" (which Rob also wrote) being sung out back) 26. he has opinions on things from clothes to the house to crystal goblets 30. he takes care of himself so he can be there for his family 32. he won 4th place statewide i