There will be blood

This is a story written for my wonderful sister-in-law, who recently wrote a post about giving stickers to her toddler’s classmates as an Easter gift. To her, the point of the post was actually about succeeding in giving the gifts, to me, it was a story of destruction and death. The story struck me as horrifying, because I have a specific memory of being a very small child that relates directly to the subject...

To Dress Is Human

Roughly one hundred million years ago, I took Jessica to Paris for the entire month of April to celebrate her 30th birthday. It was a magical trip in many ways, but lately, one aspect stands out in particular: Dress. In Paris, we dressed. I don’t mean that in the sense that we covered our bodies in cloth, for surely– despite anything you may have heard– everyone did that in Paris. No, I mean that we spent...

Social Security Numbers: The Future Is Now

Here’s an interesting situation: My daughter’s social security number is invalid. Well, I’m not actually sure of that. I mean, since I got it from the Social Security Administration at the same time as my son’s SS#– which is valid– I’m assuming they haven’t completely screwed up and that it is, indeed, valid. Still, the number doesn’t seem to work in any HTML form. Every...

Seeing the Music

About a week before the twins were born, Jessica and I were talking about all the fun things we were going to do with our kids. One topic was music, and I looked across the living room to our piano and said “We’re going to put them in piano lessons, because they should know how to play the piano.” The thought was in my head for about thirty seconds before I realized what was going on. Did I really...

Scenes From Five Days In Heaven

I wanted to write about our birth experience, after finding time to emotionally digest the experience. It’s five days since our birth and I’ve done neither. I wanted to at least post some images before the little ones wake back up, so here you go. [Show as slideshow] [View with PicLens]

Introducing TeamMetta!

The waiting is over! Today– right now, in fact– as you are reading this post– TeamMetta is officially expanding. You’ve all been waiting for some time. We have too. Lovely Jessica has been waiting longer than anyone.1 A while ago, we were worried that we’d have wee small premies. More recently, we’ve been worried that we wouldn’t have babies at all. It seemed like the wee little...

The Waiting

I’m at an interesting period in my life. One that I never realized I’d be in because I never knew that it existed. It’s the transitional period between “Your babies can be born safely now” and “You’re babies are born.” I sort of thought that the transition between those two states would be instantaneous. Not really a period at all. More like “Your babies can be...

Babies are safe!!

Hurray! Today starts week 35, when babies are mature enough to stay healthy outside of mommy! We don’t have to go to the neonatal intensive care unit if they arrive now. Although, they’re not showing any signs of coming early. Jessica, proud mother to be, is carrying them as if she was designed to have multiple babies inside her. Tired for sure, but not in any to deliver them until the little buns are...

The Key Number Here Is 35

The number 35 has some interesting properties. It’s the atomic number of bromine, for instance. It’s the sum of the first five triangular numbers, making it a tetrahedral number. It’s also is a centered cube number, a pentagonal number and a pentatope number, which is pretty cool. Of course, these are purely impersonal properties, unless you are a mathematician or a chemist or a pool...

¡¡ The Last Baby-less Birthday Party !!

The last party. The last hurrah. The last time I can get trashed with no responsibilities. From here on out, it’s all work and worry. From here on out I can’t get drunk and naked at a party because I have to worry about things like Oh my god! Where is my child? and Oh my god! Is my child playing with a butcher’s knife? and even Oh my god, I forgot that I had twins! Where’s the other...

Vaccinations (did you say “Polarized Invective?”)

Here’s the question I had: Should I get my children vaccinated? As a person who now fits squarely into the “expecting father” category, I’m already starting to freak out about the choices I make for my children, and this one seems to divide a lot of people. Sometimes, we ask (or get, whether we ask or not) advice. One topic has come up a few times. Vaccinations. I personally think that...