~3 years ago, my wife Cathy and I stopped preventing. I got laid off a shit job(wanted to be laid off, got severance, job market was still booming). Cathy woke me up by sticking this white stick in my face that had 2 blue lines.

WEnt to doctor, they did the _expensive_ preg test, was positive. First Daddy moment: the nurse was just matter of factly explaining what will happen in the next 2 weeks or so, and schedule this, and consider that, and I wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her and yell in her face, "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? SHE'S PREGNANT! This is SERIOUS!" Over thai wraps at the Mercado in Santa Clara, we discussed whether or not I should teach the class that I'd contracted that night, or if I should call in wife-pregnant. Could happen any time you know, and 9 months is so short, right?

Constant theme of first-time parent: It sucks that there is still pollution, and my relatives aren't all here, and people still don't know how to merge. I've noticed that it takes a special kind of asshole to leave a broken beer bottle on a playground, or a cigarette butt in the sand by the swings.

Original plan was Cathy take maternity leave for 6 months while I work, then I take 6 months while she works, then evaluate.

Second theme of first-time parent: The medical establishment is fantastic if you're bleeding or in 2 pieces or broken. They're also fairly good at dispensing the dope-of-the-week for depression, like the kind that they think you must have if you say your baby is colliky at 10 months because everybody knows that collic ends in {3|6|9} months. They're not so good with colicky babies. Rowan was colicy for 11 months, which ended up being reflux that responded to 3 days of Zantac.

During colic phase, dot bomb happened, and I'm a bit of a database programmer and a bit of an ASP programmer (never quite made the leap to OSS, kept turning the same crank...'nother topic).

Cathy's company shrunk and cut pay. Cathy got a contract with Microsoft. We moved to Seattle. I've learned some utterly fascinating things about Microsoft since being here.

1 year olds are great. 2 year olds are better. I think the phrase "terrible 2s" is because a)parents try to maintain a tight schedule with a 2-year old, which is tough b)the 2-year old isn't so bad, but the 2-year-old in addition to the newborn is very bad c)parents expect a 2 year old to act like a 3 or 4 year old (very different beasts).

I"m half-heartedly thinking about preparing to study the possibility of evaluating a potential job search. I don't really want to go back to work though. I've done great things being a dad, and done great things making our home (note: homemaker!=maid, it's a honorable vocation IMO). But my baby girl is in day care once a week, and even though I used to beat myself up with things like, "What's more important than your kid today?" I got over that particular mindfuck, and Rowan loves day care. She needs the contact with other kids; the 1-on-1 that a baby needs is not appropriate or healthy for a toddler.

Does this ring true for anybody?

not by her name, most people think Rowan is a boys name (Rowan Atkinson, for example)

Boys do seem tougher. I sort of pictured a boy, unti the amnio doc told us it was a girl (impressive, considering what they have to look at). Now I'm glad of a girl.

No telling me about teens and needing shotguns, I already know...

When people asked me what it was like having a 1-year-old, I told them to get a cat. The difference is that you can't kick the cat out the backdoor or leave them to their own devices (to wit, the litter box, the plants, the food dish, the toilet, and any woven fabric) while you go on vacation. In terms of independence, intelligence, and mannerisms though a 1-year old is comparable to a cat.


See my review about the Summit backpack.

Only if you leave the cat with the kid's grandparents.