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open letters

Dear Owen-

It is not a good long-term strategy to try to survive on so little sleep. Believe me. It is making you nuts. It's making me nuts.

Don't roll your eyes at me!

Dear Fancy Baby Swing-

You are supposed to be the answer. You are supposed to be lulling this kid into the starry dreamland so that I can finally take a shower, so that I don't show up at the polls looking like I'm still wearing my Halloween hobo costume. Instead, he screams the minute I get him near you.

I don't think you're trying hard enough.

Dear Wonderful Neighbor Who Gave Us This Big Purple Exercise Ball-

THANK YOU. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.

It is the only thing that works.

Dear Organic Fake Pop-Tarts-

You are not very good. And you are not very good for me. But you contain calories, and I can prepare and eat you with one hand.

For this I salute you.

Dear Whoever It Is That Decided That Drinking Coffee While Breastfeeding Is OK (in moderation)-

*sob* Marry me. *sob*

In other news:

I am currently avoiding eye contact with a December grant deadline.

I have made eye contact with two sets of manuscript edits, but they are still mingling on the other side of the party, so I'm going to just hang out over here by the hours de vours table hoping they don't make the trek across the room and try to engage me in conversation.

Nearly a month with this baby! Good thing he's so amazing in all other ways beside sleeping.

Don't be fooled. It looks like sleep BUT I ASSURE YOU IT IS NOT!

two weeks in

So in case you missed the rockets, the bullhorns, the tickertape parade, the airplanes toting banners o'er the sky: We had a baby!

His name is Owen and he is awesome.

Turns out it hurts a lot to birth a baby. Before & after. Maybe you knew that? I did, but not really. I made some cazy jungle noises & some words not fit to print. But in the end, totally worth every last unmedicated minute of it.

He is, of course, a complete genius and totally precocious. Today he rolled over-- twice! He is two weeks old! He came out of the womb with muscle definition in his legs and arms --which explains all the insane kicking that was going on in utero. Pretty soon he's going to be pulling those monster truck tires across our backyard, and tossing the girls over his shoulder at recess and running off with them like his Viking ancestors.

Like all intellectuals, he also enjoys a bit of light reading before bed. A true renaissance man, this kid.

Likes:

+nursing

+his owl

+family

+sunshine

Dislikes:

+wet diapers

+waking up hungry

+having boogers sucked out of his nose.

We've decided to keep him.

40 weeks. 31 years.

granite city, il

What do you do with your antsy pregnant wife on a cool dreary day?
First, feed her coconut cake.
Then take her to sneak into the scrapyards where the trains go to die.



Quote of the day, as we hurried back to the car before someone came to yell at us:
"Be careful, watch your step. If you fall here I'm not sure how we'll explain this to the doctor."

the perfect man

Things that are hot on dudes:

1. Black gingham dress shirts

2. Rolled up sleeves

3. Nice forearms

4. Leather cuff

Adam meets all of these criteria. Also, he buys candy for me.

classy or a clusterf*@k?

Adam: This QT is the JFK of gas stations.

Me: ... ... wait... the president or the airport?

35 weeks!

Well, we're moving right along on this whole baby growing escapade. Five or so more weeks (I'm banking on 6) to go. I'd add a melodramatic "...and then our life as we know it changes!" but to be honest it has already changed. I am not exactly out painting the town red these days.

(Because I totally used to. Paint the town, I mean. Really.)

I have lost perspective on how I look to others, but a pal just described me as "extremely pregnant". This makes me think it is time for a list or two...

Surprising things I can still do with relative ease:

• ride a bike (no great distances being covered these days, though)
• entertain dinner guests
• touch my toes

Things that I'm pretending I can still do but I'm going to need to give up the game pretty soon here:

• wear shoes that require me to lace or buckle them
• work for more than three hours in a row without a nap
• wear pants

from my brain to yours

demographics

People my age are not nearly as into Jell-o as I feel they should be.

#6 no mayo. I said NO MAYO!

To the lady who is huffing around about how "this place is just chaos!" ---

You are in a Jimmy John's at noon. What were you expecting?!

I kept hoping the prep guy would try to toss her sandwich to her, the way they do when they're feeling especially saucy.

let us embrace the homely cupcake

For the record, any cupcake is better than no cupcake. But can we have a brief discussion about the style v. substance issue? The world is getting cluttered with these towering confections, adorned with bows & ribbons and cocktail umbrellas. If I can figure out how to cram them into my mouth without getting it all over my face they are always too dry, too flavorless. Is it too much to ask for my margarita cupcake to actually taste like lime & tequila? Gimme a plate of crooked, hand frosted scrumptious cupcakes over those flashy status symbols any day. I want the working man's cupcake.

things I never thought I'd be into, but ... it turns out they are kind of rad:

*South Beach bars

*Hats with ears for babies

*Statistics

cursory inspection

Thoughts I have upon walking through my house in the morning:

• Why is this cookbook on the floor?
• Apparently the dishes fairy did not come.
• It looks like that closet is throwing up shoes.
• Ugh, 7:30 already?
• Wait, that clock says 7:28. Nice.
• Didn't I mop this yesterday?

eco science nerd fest 2010

I'm back in the sweltering STL after a week in Pittsburgh communing with my fellow eco science nerds. I know that the only thing more boring that attending a week long conference is reading someone's recap of it, but there are a few things that I feel I must note about the meetings, the venue, and the host city itself. I'll be brief.

Which way to the conference? Follow the throngs of sport sandals and hiking backpacks.

No one knows how to dress-down the already dressed-down business casual of conference attire like biologists.

How can you tell you're at a ecology meeting? When you're asking yourself "are these flip-flops too dressy?"

Also: I cannot remember the last time I was surround by so many super fit white people. It is making me wonder about the demographic breakdown across scientific disciplines. Is ecology the whitest science?

I was happy to notice that the upward trend in female graduate students and young faculty that I've noticed in my own city seems to carry across the field. But the senior scientists are still largely male. Is it only a matter of time until we all move through the ranks or are we dropping out before we get there? There are books and theses that delve into this topic, so I won't attempt to parse it here, but I remain optimistic.

***UPDATE*** I almost forgot to mention that I got to meet an internet pal in the flesh. Here's to putting faces to pseudonyms!

Pittsburgh? I salute you.

Who knew that Pittsburgh is actually kind of interesting? While I didn't get to explore very much at all, I was lucky to be staying in a B&B in a neighborhood (Lawrenceville) outside of the downtown conference-center area, so I got a small glimpse of the city on my route in. It's like an entire city made out of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In a good way. In an 1800s-houses-with-1950s-awnings sort of way.

The best part was all of the really excellent murals and street art. Dear St. Louis-- why can't we make this happen here?

Some of my favorites:

This awesome mural is by artist John Pena. lovelovelovelovelove this. passed it every day on the bus.

This one is so excellent in person:

(mural by Brian Holderman, pic via Cardboard Sea)

And there was Shepard Fairey stuff everywhere. Maybe a little played out if you live in LA or NY, but unexpected in Pittsburgh, if you ask me.

(pic via justseeds.org)

ALSO? It was not 105 degrees there. So, that was nice too.