For the last two months, I have been bemoaning to anyone who wanders too closely that my weight is spiraling out of control. In non-pregnancy circumstances, I find staying shape easy, the problem is I find *getting* in shape a darn-near miracle. I've been known to be temporarily out of shape for years as a result of this.

Still, my first trimester went ok and I only gained 3lbs. I figured I was on track for 20lb gain, similar to… Read More

Like most members of middle and senior management these days, my husband and I are often found with a laptop dangling off the ends of our wrists. We've both seriously considered, with our respective boss's encouragement, buying smart phones, but then there would go all our free-from-the-office time, like when we are stopped at traffic lights.

Our seeming reverence and dedication to our laptops has not gone unnoticed by Jack, who can only figure that laptops must be THE… Read More

One of the things that I've loved over the last year or so is how Jack has become increasingly self-sufficient. I miss his various baby stages of course, but it's nice to be able to give him a command and watch him actually follow through with it. I feel like I created some delightful new invention!

However, It's not quite the utopia I envisioned as a disgruntled teen when I would rant at my chore-insisting parents, "I cant wait to… Read More

I thought it would be fun to start a blog series on Pet Peeves. I've tried to run this series with my husband in real life, but I've found that saying "Do you want to know a Pet Peeve of mine?" is just another way of saying "Do you want to get into a really big fight?". It seems that a lot of Pet Peeves center around things that the people you live with in close quarters do and… Read More

My sister stopped by last weekend. Although she moved to the area last year, traffic and schedules still make visits rare. My sister is a very nice person, so though I caught her looking at my girth a few times, she didn't say anything. Finally I said, "I see you looking. I know, I'm huge." "Well, you do seem a little bigger this time." she admitted. We pulled out Jack's baby book with month-by-month pregnancy shots for comparison and found… Read More

When Jack was 13 months old he started to walk. That very week, he weaned himself and took his first steps literally, figuratively, and in every other way, towards his father. Its not clear mommy even got a backwards glance.

For months, Jack showed a clear preference for his father. Having read extensively on child development, I knew these phases were a natural part of growing up and I worked to keep a stiff upper lip. Even when, while widely saying… Read More