Irish eyes are smiling

In my continued adventures visiting with my friends' children, I went to Dorchester this morning to spend time with Safety First and her two toddlers. Even though it is a 10-minute drive away, it was my first visit to Dorchester, which some claim is Boston's new gay mecca.

Well, instead of rainbow flags, shamrocks and leprechauns adorned all the homes! It seems the city is home to a very large, proud and visible Irish population. After breakfast, "jumping practice," and various other activities with the kiddos, we took a walk to a nearby Irish bakery which featured genuine Irish workers!

We enjoyed cupcakes, some more coffee, then we walked back home, the kids singing most of the way...

Babies everywhere

Alternate Title: Anne Geddes is a menace to society

Last night I went to dinner with a good friend from grad school who was unfortunate enough to spend this very frigid week working in her Boston office. We used to live blocks away from each other in San Francisco, yet I rarely saw her - especially after she birthed a baby.

Catching up over delicious fried foods and burgers, we basically spent 30 minutes talking about work and 2 hours talking about babies, parenting techniques, her knocked-up nanny, the controversial Ms. Chua, the priviledges of being born into the upper-middle class and "16 and Pregnant". Now, I don't have any kids, so I'm no expert on any of these topics, but since when did my whole life become about babies?

I guess I'm just at that stage of life where all my friends are starting families and it's become the topic du jour. Fortunately, I have enough friends with babies so I understand the concept of the Pack N Play, the Hooter Hider and the complications associated with selecting child care options. I've heard about how trying it can be to "sleep train" an infant and how weekends are scheduled around nap times. And after you see a few friends completely frazzled by sleepless nights and worrying about newly mobile toddlers, all the glamour associated with newborns seriously loses its luster.

So, Anne Geddes, with your posters of "cute" babies in various flower or animal costumes, maybe you're doing the world a disservice by perpetuating an image of peaceful, clean, sleeping angels. But fortunately for me, I've always found these images to be so creepy and so disturbing that I was never bamboozled by your horrific photos.

Feline toddler of terror

Jillian and her family came over yesterday morning so we could all brunch together and we introduced her adorable 2-year-old son to the cats.

Per usual, Victor Kiriakis freaked out and hid under an ottoman, then ran upstairs to hide under the bed. Stefano DiMera, meanwhile, took instantly to the newcomers and seemed very intrigued by the little human. He followed the toddler around, chased after the little nerf football he tossed and sniffed him from head to toe.

His interest waned, however, when the nerf football accidentally bonked him on the head and he ran under the table.

Even ones shaped like wrestlers

When I returned from my most recent trip abroad, I found myself in a conversation where Puppy and DJ Mother Nature were discussing the Silly Bandz phenomenon. And I had no idea what they were talking about. I figured this was an East Coast deal, but it turns out I'd missed an entire trend while traveling.

I'm now accustomed to spotting these little, colorful rubber bracelets on hipster-types and homo-types alike, but I still don't understand what the big deal is. I've noticed packages of Silly Bandz for sale at the drug store and other shopping establishments, and I guess the appeal is that they come in different shapes. You can buy a princess-themed package with bracelets shaped like crowns and castles and high heels. Or you can opt for a more traditional package of animals.

On Sunday, one of Shotgun's boys was wearing one and I asked to see what shape it was. When placed on the table, it looked like a ... dog? Small country? Computer server? I had no idea.

It's an interesting fad and I guess I'm too old and/or too "corporate" to appreciate it. I wonder how long it will last.

Backyard baby barbeque

At six o'clock yesterday evening, I arrived at Flabs's house, bearing two pies - my contribution to a backyard barbeque in honor of Shotgun's visit to Boston. Shotgun and her family have been driving around the East Coast, so Jillian and I jumped at the chance to have dinner with some old friends.

Everyone started to eat just as I arrived - the chicken had been grilled, the corn cooked and the pasta salad dished out. Why, one might wonder, were we beginning our meal at such an early hour? Well, because there were five children there, the oldest of whom was four years old!

It was pretty chaotic, trying to watch all the kids, encourage them to eat and prevent them from playing with the gas grill. They screamed for more corn and chicken, ran away from the bees and splashed water all over the place.

I'm still getting used to the idea that all my friends have kids and realizing you simply cannot plan for a calm meal when the munchkins are running about. You also cannot plan for clean clothes, as evidenced by Jillian's chalk-covered black dress!

That's not my name

Yesterday, Puppy and I went to a celebratory lunch for Flabs's daughter, who received her Hebrew name in a ceremony the prior evening. I hadn't been to Flabs's parents' house in probably a decade, but it was comforting to see that little had changed, including the family portraiture with creative poses and the maternity series.

Anyhoo, it was a lovely brunch with lots of little kids running around. Flabs and her husband gave their six-week old daughter some kind of lovely name which I cannot remember, pronounce or spell. I had hoped she would receive a name derived from the designer of Flabs's bat mitzvah dress. Something like ... Yessica McClintach!

Baby barfy

After freshening up this afternoon, I made my way to Policy Wonkette's house and had a lovely early dinner with her and her new baby. According to plan, I'll be seeing three more babies over the course of my DC weekend, which means I will have to get used to the squirming and the wiggling.

This baby, while cute and generally very tame, is apparently afflicted with acid reflux and was doing his best Niagra Falls impression for about an hour after I arrived. Just when we thought everything was cool, I took a turn holding him and received quite the spit-up present in my lap! Hopefully, the rest of the babies I visit during this trip (and the rest of my life) won't be as generous with their fluids.

Aside from the waterworks, I had a great time catching up with Policy Wonkette and her husband, whose house made me very jealous of real estate outside of San Francisco. And driving to their home, I saw just how much 14th Street has changed since I lived here seven years ago. Neighborhoods are all gentrified!

Eagerly expecting

First, Celine Dion announces that she's pregnant with her second child. A child that is due in approximately nine months. That's the entire gestation period! What happened to waiting until after the first trimester before announcing the blessed event?

And yesterday, my co-worker started planning around her maternity leave. And she's due in April. Eight months away!

I mean, I guess I'm excited for them, but shouldn't we exercise a bit more caution with these announcements?

Spawn of

Satyana? When I read this morning that Alyson Hannigan named her baby daughter Satyana, I did a double-take because I originally read "Satan."

But it kind of made sense. The erstwhile Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was, after all, a witch. And a lesbian. According to my friends the Christians, she probably isn't too far removed from Beelzebub himself.

Breeding

My life has become overrun by babies! I received news that both Jillian and Wang gave birth to their little sons this past week and I'm thrilled for them both.

But recently, babies have become the focal point of all my discussions! From the little Swerve-lings at Franny's wedding celebration to Reebs pressuring me to produce offspring for her daughter to play with to an interesting discussion with Puppy the other night about infertile friends and siblings, it seems like the whole world is obsessed with baby-making!

Sunday suburbia

It's not often that I spend time outside of the city, but yesterday I made a special trip to visit Gigi, whose kid count went from 0 to 3 in the blink of an eye. Since we finished graduate school, Gigi has been blessed by the arrival of a 3-year-old daughter and twin 6-month-old sons.

Seeing as how she was responsible for three kids and a sick husband, I traveled out to the East Bay to spend some quality family time. And I brought a cake!

The kids are adorable. So cute and so congenial and easygoing. Gigi is truly lucky that she has such agreeable kids who don't seem fussy at all. Plus, she was able to nonchalantly nurse the babes whilst carrying on a conversation, thanks to her hooter hider.

But it was such a different environment for me. I'm not often around young children (let alone three!) and it was kind of overwhelming! Most interesting to me was how Gigi and her husband just let them go and the kids minded themselves, playing with toys, falling asleep, crying a bit, etc. Meanwhile, the adults ate a lovely risotto and caught up on old times. I couldn't keep my eyes off the little ones, but the parents seemed sort of oblivious to them unless they started to really make a fuss. I guess you get used to kids if you're around them 24-7.

I also decided that if I ever wanted to have kids, I'd have to become more diligent about vacuuming. And cleaning my house.

Welcome little A!

I'm thrilled that we have another Swerve baby on the planet! I hope someday soon to meet Flabs's little baby girl who arrived a few days ago.

I understand that Flabs's water broke while she was at the gym. If someone's water broke near me while I was working out, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't react too kindly.

A visit from the stork

I learned through the corporate grapevine that, after 27 hours of labor, Gleemonex gave birth to an unnamed baby gal! I suggest the name "Pandarina." Congrats, Gleemonex!