Ahoy, mates!

So, do tell:

Where’s the best place to live in Seattle? Which are the best schools (public or private (for the children under 18))? Is it really so very rainy or is that just an urban legend?

I have reason to believe this may be in my (relatively) distant future:

http://depts.washington.edu/bioe/programs/phd/phd.html

I was tinkering around my apartment today and as will happen the mind will do it’s thing. I found myself thinking about my cousins across the state, which began my quest.

I’ve never understood the cousinology lingo (e.g. - 2nd & 3rd cousins, once or twice removed). I’ve never known, or bothered to find out, where to look that information up. Then a light bulb went off: Wikipedia!

One click ater entering the search query “Second Cousin” into my browser I was looking at the desired information. What I found after a short bit of reading was a bit startling:

The system can handle kinships going back many generations. In 2004, genealogists discovered that U.S. Presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry shared a common ancestral couple in the 1500s. It was reported that the two men are sixteenth cousins, three times removed.^[1] However, the two are in fact ninth cousins, two times removed.^[2] Also, in 2007, it was revealed that U.S. vice president Dick Cheney and senator Barack Obama are eighth cousins.^[3]

It had to be shared.

Here’s the reference URLs:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4286105/

http://msn.ancestry.com/landing/strange/bush4/tree.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21340764/

Kuiper Sophie Smith was born on 1/13 weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. and standing 20 inches tall. She’s perfect and we’re all on a babymoon.

And for inquiring minds and their wanting to know…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt

Well, I am finally feeling up to posting.

As you may or may not know, Greg and I are expecting. A baby. And to win the lottery, because, like the man says, you can’t win if you don’t play. Anyhow, some background: we decided we wanted more children about six months ago and when I went in for a pre-conception visit, I was sidelined by the whole “having cancer” thing. Well, six weeks after my successful treatment, my OB gave me clearance for take-off and I immediately got pregnant. I also knew immediately because — and I am not kidding here — I started having pregnancy symptoms TWO DAYS after conception. And, unlike my prior pregnancies, I have symtoms of every stripe — sick sick sick, sore and growing boobies, being worn out from taking naps, emotional to the point of absurdity, and others that I’m sure I’ve now acclimated to and hardly notice.

I am, as of today, five weeks pregnant. I go in for my first appointment with my OB on May 22nd, the day before I leave for an extended holiday. I feel compelled to tell you about my OB: I love him. And I don’t mean like, “I respect his work,” or “he is highly competent and has a wonderful bedside manner.” I mean, like love love. He makes me have cartoon hearts in my eyes. His name is Tommy and he is a personal friend of mine (I interned for him when I was in school and thought I wanted to be a doctor. Kids, huh?) I think Greg may love him, too, because, when he came back into the recovery area after I had my surgery, he hugged Tommy and said, “Thank you for taking care of her. You’re my hero.” And I’m pretty sure I saw cartoon hearts in his eyes, too.

Here’s some other interesting bits:

We have already picked out names for girls and boys.

Girls: 1st place: Xiaolin

2nd place: Ella

Boys: 1st place: Finn

2nd place: Carroll

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I will be delivering at this hospital and this will be my room. I will opt for the suite if it is available because I am a hedonist and none of my pleasures are guilty.

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My due date (per my last period) is January 11, 2008. The ultrasound I will have on the 22nd will either confirm this date or set a new one based on the fetal development.

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We’ve told all of our friends and family and everyone is positively giddy.

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It is momentous, friends, making a child with a person that you adore.

Yours In Puke,
Mel

Today I buried my grandmother. She died April 28th. It was a hard and long day and I couldn’t get through it with out the support of my family and friends. Dupree suggested I talk about why my grandma was so special since he had never met her. Here it goes. I think I’m going to make a list since that is the easiest way.

1.Grandma would do anything she could for anyone she knew.

2.She was a wonderful cook, everyone usually got a special meal for their birthday of their favorite foods

3.She would call weekly just to check up on me and see how I was doing

4.When I was little we would play Uno and still played even when I was older.

5. Family was very important to her. She talked to her sisters in Mississippi every day and she always kept in touch with people.

6.She would still ask about how people were doing that I went to high school with and whom she had met only once.

7.She’s probably the only person on earth that I knew truly liked everyone. She never said a bad thing about anyone.

8.I loved to hear my grandma sing. She would sing in church all the time. On our birthday’s she would call and sing to us.

9.She loved the food network. She was always telling me the newest shows and having mom download some recipe she saw on Paula Deene’s show.

10.She was very supportive no matter what.

There are tons more reasons why grandma was so special to me. I thought I would stop at 10 as to not go on and on.

I will miss her very much!

It’s finally happened. I’ve become what I never thought I’d be. Once upon a time I used to scoff at women who were looking for a husband and hoping to start a family. Women who wanted the nice house with a two car garage, the handsome successful husband, and 2 healthy children. I always thought I would be moving and traveling too much for that. I looked at the men I had dated and thought, “Thank frackin’ god I didn’t marry that” (disclaimer: if I’ve dated anyone reading this, of course I don’t mean you But mostly I just couldn’t see myself married. My parents have never been the stellar example of a good marriage and I just thought that didn’t sound fun or even logical.

The closest I came to a vision of family was the idea that I would have kids on my own or with the nice gay couple next door. A nice new urban famly. So I, more than anyone else, was surprised to find myself suddenly wanting…cough…ahem…even looking…oh god…to settle down. When I bought my house a year and a half ago I actually thought it was my big statement of independence. Okay, maybe I’ve stopped traveling and married Seattle, but it’s still just me and MY home. I didn’t need some husband to afford it or to even believe I could have it. It’s mine and I worked hard for it.

Then I started hanging around with friends of mine who have kids. You know what I realized? There is no fracking way someone can do that alone. At least I wouldn’t do it by choice and I bow down before single mothers who brave that world everyday. I also noticed how amazing the partnerships were between the couples. How wonderful would that be to have someone who really gets you and makes fun of you in that endearing way and then they equally support you and help raise a child with you. I am in awe of the relationships I’ve seen and it’s managed to almost erase the image of marriage I grew up with.

And holy shit are my ovaries aching. I’m 31 and it turns out the fracking shit they say about women in their 30’s is true (not the one about their sexual prime, although that’s true too and thank god for multiple orgasms, but the one about your clock…and the ticking…oh god, the constant clanging…make it stop!).

So while I’m still enjoying my single life and I am in no real rush to have kids (I tell myself against my body’s urgings) I found myself buying a new car yesterday. I was so excited. A big new car purchase all on my own. I now own a Honda! A real non-American car that won’t break down on me like all my other cars have and will even retain value better than other cars. Oh happy day!!! And then I realized as I showed someone a picture of it that I bought a car made for a family. I’ve always been a wagon girl and realized the stigma attached to this, but it actually crossed my mind this time that getting leather would be a better idea because if my water broke in the car at least we could clean it up.

Who thinks like that? Who the fuck thinks like that? Apparently my uterus. And it bought a Honda CR-V with leather seats.

Hey y’all.. My kid is one years old today! Woo-Hoo! As usual, he’s got a big day of crawling, making dinosaur noises, smiling and clapping ahead of him

Of course this is a total cliche, but this year has been a blur.. We’ve gone from this to this… Wow.

Howdy, Gangstas!

I’ll be out in Seattle without Amy and Jack the weekend of November 10th. I’m coming out for the Seahawks/Rams game on the 12th, and I’d love to get some kind of get together going for the afternoon or evening of Saturday Nov. 11.

We also just made our reservations to fly out to Seattle right after the New Year. Here’s what we have lined up:

Jan. 2-4 Seattle

Jan. 5-12 Tri-Cities

Jan 13-15 Seattle

Hopefully we can see y’all at some point. Who’s in? Don’t be shy about dropping me an e-mail about all this.

My mom is a tutor and has a new website. To help Google along, here’s a shameless plug/link thingie:

Karen’s In-Home Tutoring is the best tutoring business in all of Washougal, Camas, and SW Washington.

Do your work, oh search engine overlord.

Those of you who are avid viewers of The Colbert Report may have seen the episode last week where Linda Hirschbaum came on to promote her book “Get to Work.”

Listening to her talk about how “stay-at-home” Moms are making the wrong choice and basically retarding the progress of women, I had a reaction that made me wonder if I need to turn in my Lefty Shield and Piece:

“Fuck You, Lady!”

Of course, I reacted that way because Amy has chosen to stay home with Jack for the time being while I work, and I just generally get spittin’ pissed at the assumptions and tsk-tsking this choice elicits from otherwise progressive-minded folks. It makes me think of this exchange in The Matrix Reloaded:

Commander Lock: Dammit, Morpheus. Not everyone believes what you believe.

Morpheus: My beliefs do not require them to.

My Mom worked, and I turned out generally fine. Other people who are royally frakked-up had Mom at home with them. The quality of parenting is what is crucial, not the mere fact that the warm bodies of parents are present. For Amy and I, the right choice now is for one of us to be home with Jack full-time. Honestly, I’d love to take care of Jack all the time, but one of us needs to go out and bring home the snausages.. If Amy goes stir-crazy, she’ll get a job, and we’ll make it work. It just burns my ass that anyone would have the temerity to suggest she’s been brainwashed by society into wanting to care for our child full time rather than be a worker bee at Inatrobe…

What say you all? What was your experience growing up? Any other latch key kids like me? Anyone have Mom home full time?

Also, what the crap is happening to me? I’m in a very traditional nuclear family situation, I was frustrated as hell by Seattle as usual during my last visit, and the idea of moving back home to the Tri-Cities isn’t sounding too bad.. Am I turning into a suburban Republican zombie?

Hmm.. Not yet.. still no urge for an SUV covered in “These Colors Don’t Run” stickers, and my critical thinking skills still lead me to the conclusion that the majority of Republicans are deeply selfish and sorta evil.

Side note: I took Jack for his check-up this AM, and this lady in the waiting room complimented me for being such an “attentive father.” What are other Dads like? I can’t imagine acting any other way with my boy. Do other Dads just hook a feed bag over the kid’s ears while they play Halo 2 online?