We’re in to that almost-fall part of summer, where you almost want time to stand still, but not quite, because fall is just so delicious. We’re big failures on the camera-toting front, so very few pictures to be had, but, a few wonderful things of late: *Running in to friends at the farmer’s market early [...]

Maren is what you might call “spirited”. She’s many wonderful things, and most of the things that drive me absolutely INSANE are awesome traits for a person to have. They’re just a bit of a challenge for a parent. Like, she’s really, really persistent and intensely focused on what she wants. Someday, she’ll be the [...]

We try to eat food. Real food. Sometimes we have sweet potato fries for lunch, and I often have a stash of chocolate hidden in the cupboard, and we have resorted to gummy bear bribery in the potty learning realm, but mostly we do pretty well. So, when the time comes to start feeding our [...]

We have a swing in our kitchen. A few years ago, I read about someone who had a swing in her kitchen (lex, over at totallysmittenmama.blogspot.com), and was immediately taken with the idea. It wasn’t until we moved in to our apartment here that we had the space to implement said stolen idea. Jonathan thought [...]

My mom gave Maren this book for her birthday this year. It’s a sweet little book, and Maren loves the repetitiveness of it as well as seeing familiar animals do slightly off kilter things. The enthusiastic HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! at the end is also much-loved. What kid doesn’t like to shout? Maren also has a doll. On [...]

And, curiosity satisfied. http://www.donorsiblingregistry.com/members/ListRegistry.php?dpIdentityNumber=BFM+9898 Clearly, donor 9898 and his 40% motility are QUITE sufficient. Given that he’s an ID release donor (when the offspring are 18, further info/contact is a possibility), I’m guessing that more parents are inclined to register with the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) than with a completely anonymous donor. All the same, [...]

We were really lucky to get a family doctor here. There’s a 2+ year waiting list for a gp here, and I managed to circumvent it by hearing a random interview and then google-stalking a clinic and taking full advantage of my mother (ok, technically it’s my father) tongue: French. She’s, well, a doctor, a [...]

I’m a reader. In fact, that very phrase is a family joke. I dropped that bombshell during a game of boggle one night after a particularly brilliant find, very smugly, in fact. And then I misspelled something ridiculously ordinary, like “dog” or “house”. I can’t remember exactly, but it was funny. Dumb announcements and mistakes aside, [...]

There was an unfortunate incident involving downloading some video editing software and then deleting some essential system files while uninstalling said video editing software, which culminated in my computer dying a rapid, definite death. Bummer. Fortunately, my birthday (today!) provided a good excuse for a new computer. Or, well, my birthday present got wasted on a [...]

So. My kids are still donor-conceived. Maren has his strong, able body-type. Nate still has his wonderful dimples. Who knows what else they have inherited from their donor. Who knows how they will deal with their conception stories as they grow. Who knows. This is now. Now, we occasionally read “Maren’s Story”, a little photo [...]