Paulette and Allan Rousselle (and their son, Alexander) are proud to announce the birth of their son (and Alexander's brother):

Mother and child are doing well and will be coming home from the hospital in a few days.

Pictures will be posted here in a day or two. Or three. Definitely by Friday.

Thank you all for your support, kindness, and well wishes.

Let me begin by posting a photo of our much loved Nolan Theodore, taken just hours after he was born. I will point out that, in this photo, he looks an awful lot like Alexander did at the age of one or two months. Amazing what a couple of extra pounds will do:

Once we knew that Baby 2.0 would be a boy, we had to get serious about picking a name.

Paulette and I have a long list of names that we'd like to use for a daughter or daughters. But coming up with boys names, for some reason, has proven to be harder.

We did not know before our first was born whether he would turn out to be a boy or a girl, so we had to prepare for both contingencies. We knew that if we had a girl, our first choice was a family name from Paulette's side in the family that would, in effect, be naming the girl after her mother (and mother's mother, and mother's mother's mother). It was Paulette's idea that if we had a boy, we should name him after his father, in a similarly derivative fashion.

The story goes like this: while growing up, I'd look in various dictionaries to see what my name meant, and typically came across an entry that would say that Allan/Alan/Allen was derived from Alexander/Alexandra. My sister Sandra's name, likewise, is derived from Alexandra.

This was a coincidence that my parents neither knew of beforehand, nor expected, nor intended. But there it was, and I always thought that was an interesting coincidence.

On the basis of my telling Paulette this story, she suggested that we pick Alexander as the first name of our first born, if he should prove to be a boy (which he did). This way, Alex would be named after his father (and aunt) without having *exactly* the same name. In case you're wondering, his second name came down to a choice between Ivan and Benjamin. In the end, we decided to honor one of the more interesting thinkers and tinkerers involved with the American Revolution rather than paying homage to my interest and background in Russian studies.

(Names are to be picked at least as much on the basis of how they sound as by what they mean. "Alexander Ivan" would work well, and sounds very Russian, while "Alexander Benjamin" also sounds good and is decidedly American in tone. I'm interested in Russian history, but I am very much an American....)

With the second child on the way, we learned his gender before he was born and took quite a bit of the available time to come up with a name. We started by making a list of names we wouldn't use:

• first names of immediate family members
  
• names in the top 20 or so of the most commonly given boy names in the US in the past few years
  
• names of obvious religious significance
  
• and names that would be difficult to spell right the first time

Paulette has three brothers and we both have many male cousins. We wanted to avoid the problem of "Hey, why'd they name their kid after so-and-so instead of me?" I had, at one point, thought about naming our second child after my cousin who had died a few years ago in a car accident, which also happens to be the name of one of Paulette's brothers, but we eventually decided to defer that idea. Likewise, the recent death of my maternal grandfather almost made me ask to reopen the decision we had finally made, but I chose not to.

We've run into an odd situation where every group of toddlers where we take Alex, there is at least one other Alex. So, we decided to avoid super-common names. (Alexander was the 16th most common name the year he was born, but we didn't expect that to be the case at the time.)

As for religiously significant names... there are a dozen reasons for us to avoid them, many having to do with not wanting to saddle the child with too many loaded messages in his name.

Then there's the spelling issue. Paulette and I both grew up with having both our first and last names mercilessly mangled by anyone we needed to give our names to, and since we are giving my last name to the child, we may as well give him a first name that's easier to spell correctly on the first try.

Now then: with these stipulations (only four of them!), we found it nearly impossible to come up with a name.

For a while, Andrew was at the top of our list, until we discovered its religious significance. Theodore was also at the top of our list at one point, but we simply didn't like any of the common nicknames for Theodore.

Nolan is a family name on Paulette's side, particularly drawing from Irish family members. We both have Irish grandparents, so going with an Irish theme felt right to both of us. It's easy to spell right on the first try, even though it's not one of the most common names in the US. It's meaning, in Irish, is "noble; faithful." Those are virtues we can happily endorse. (Most other Irish names mean "stout warrior" or "brave warrior" or "fearless warrior" or "drinks too much".) We are unaware of any religious significance attached to the name. And neither of us have any immediate family members who share that first name (although, alas, one brother does have it as a middle name -- we let that slide).

His middle name? Well, since Abraham was out of the running this time (rule number three), we opted to pay homage to another stand-out American president: Theodore Roosevelt. In other words, a name synonymous with "bold warrior".

If there should be a Baby 3.0, we will use a different set of rules for picking the name, just as the rules for Name 2.0 were different from the previous time. But that's an if for another time. Right now, we are very happy and very blessed to welcome Nolan Theodore into our lives.

There is, however, a postscript to this naming story...

What color will his hair be? What color eyes will he have? Will he get along with his older brother? Will he have his mother's eyesight or mine? Will he be athletic? Will he be an extrovert? What kind of temperment will he have? How can I be the best possible father I can be for him? How can I help him to become the best person he can be?

All in good time, grasshopper. All in good time.

One of my clients remarked to me that she was a second child, and therefore had many fewer photos of her as a kid than her older sibling had. Now that we have our second child, I can see how that happens.

But if we don't take snapshots anywhere as near as often with Nolan as we did with Alex at this age, Nolan nonetheless has no complaints about his home life. When he's hungry, he's fed. When he's uncomfortable, he gets changed. And when he's sleepy, he sleeps. He gets lots of hugs and kisses from his mommy, his daddy, and his very affectionate big brother.

Nolan sleeps a great deal more than our previous experience led us to expect, but for all that, he's still a generally happy guy when he's awake. At two months, he has just started to show more inquisitiveness about his surroundings. I took these photos during my lunch break today, and you can see that he's an alert and curious little guy. (In the full version of the first photo, you can see my reflection in his right eye. Wacky.)

Like everyone else in his immediate family, Nolan loves music. His favorite toy right now is the mobile that hangs over his crib that plays Mozart and Bach while little stuffed animals circle about. He's learning to smile and coo now, which is a joy for his parents. And big brother Alex loves to pat him on the head and give him kisses.

When Alexander was born, Paulette and I were both equally underemployed (we were both working from home, but neither of us had a full work load), so we took turns changing diapers and bathing and holding and lulling to sleep, and generally had an equal distribution of the work. Now, however, I have a more than full workload, while Paulette's workload has remained about the same. As a result, she's been picking up the slack while I'm attending to clients. She changes the majority of the diapers, gives the baths and the cuddling, and all that with Nolan.

When I'm available, I often find myself taking Alex out for walks or giving him his bath, etc., so that Paulette can enjoy some down time. Remember, Nolan sleeps a *lot*. This means, however, that Nolan's quality time is primarily spent with his mother, while Alex is getting pretty equal time between mom and dad. I don't mind saying that I'm a little bummed by this -- with regard to Nolan, that is.

I shouldn't be bothered by it -- Paulette and I are great partners in parenting, and it's become clear that everything will even out over time. It's only natural that Nolan would be soothed more quickly by mom when she is his exclusive source of food and the primary source of his comfort these days. That said, though, I look forward to being able to spend more time with the little guy and for the two of us to get to know each other better.

As I've commented on other occasions about Alex, it's clear to me that Nolan is an intelligent and playful little guy. He likewise has a very pleasant disposition.

Paulette and I are so amazingly blessed to have such wonderful children.

Earlier this month (July 10th, to be exact), Nolan turned three months old.

He had a doctor visit. The doctor says he's healthy. Very healthy. The kid remains a very happy, healthy, and all-around mild-mannered baby. Here is a photo of him taken just a few days prior to the big 3 MO:

His next doctor check up will be his four-month visit, which we scheduled for the same time as Alexander's three-year-old visit. We'll be asking the doctor if we should be worried that Nolan never gets sick. :-)

Now, I don't mention it often on this site, but I was not an only child. The reason I am generally vague about siblingness is that there are members of my family who prefer not to have any information posted about them on the internet. This is completely reasonable in this crazy world, but I obviously have made different choices. In an effort to respect the wishes of said family members, however, while still discussing issues of import to myself, I tend to be vague about these family members and only mention what little might be necessary to make my point.

I had noted earlier on these pages that a client of mine was (is) a second child and lamented the lack of photos of her childhood. When I mentioned this to a sibling of mine (who, as you might surmise, is younger than me), I was greeted with similar concern. Second children, it would appear, may be made to feel as if they were not quite as big a deal in their parents' lives as their elder sibs.

[Let's leave for another day the discussion as to whether these feelings are justified because hey -- people feel the way they do regardless of any objective "truth."]

Nolan may not be quite as well documented yet as his brother was at this age, but he's doing quite well, nonetheless. He continues to enjoy a very pleasant disposition, which means that if his cries of discomfort are more rare, they are also responded to a bit more quickly than his brother's were at this age.

He still loves to smile at anyone who smiles at him, and his eyes remain the most fascinating shade of blue. True, Alexander's eyes were still blue at this age (they are currently fluctuating between a kind of grey-blue and a greeny-grey hue), but not like this. These are, as any silk-screen printer would recognize, an uncompromising "reflex blue". Nolan has a strong neck and holds his head up high. He remains proportionally large for his age -- something like 97th percentile for height and weight and 95th for head circumference.

As with anybody, these physical attributes are highly subject to rapid change (they certainly did change for Alex between four months and one year), but they remain the first things you notice when you meet him.

He's increasingly alert, and he loves to be around people. As I think I may have mentioned before, he also loves music. He kicks and gurgles and coos whenever something's playing. He has recently started to practice with his voice -- every once in a while, I catch him making different sounds in a very experimental fashion. "Ahhhhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhh? Ahhhhhhhh. Gheeeeeeeeeeeee. Ahhhhhhhhhh." If his talkative older brother ever lets him get a word in, edgewise, I think he'll be quite a talker, himself.

Today, Nolan spent much of the day trying to roll over from being on his back to being on his belly. He didn't succeed, but I think I learned a valuable lesson from his attempts: no matter what your goals in life, no matter how trivial they may seem, you may as well give up now because you are doomed to failure.

Paulette and I had a little bit of trepidation at first over how Alexander might receive his baby brother. Nolan arrived a mere three weeks after we moved into the new house, and Alex had already had to adapt to quite a bit of upheaval.

Fortunately, Alex took to his brother much more easily than he took to the new house. He is very affectionate and gentle with Nolan. He loves to make sure Nolan has a toy to play with, and he often goes up to Nolan and announces "Smiles! Smiles!" Whenever Paulette and the kids leave and I kiss Alex goodbye, he insists that I make sure to kiss Nolan goodbye, too. That kind of thing.

Perhaps the transition has worked easily with Alex, in part, because we make sure to spend a little bit of quality time just with him. When we go for our evening walks each day, Nolan (and Paulette) may or may not join us, but Alex leads the delegation. The bed time ritual, with reading and tooth brushing and changing clothes and all that, is one-on-one time between Daddy and Alex. Paulette, likewise, has a number of activities that are very much Alex-focused.

Nolan, to be sure, gets his own time with Mommy and Daddy. Nursing aside, Nolan gets Paulette's exclusive attention at bath time and in the early mornings and late evenings before Alex gets up and after Alex goes to bed. Nolan gets tummy time and air time and time to enjoy the mobile in his crib. He also ends up sleeping in our big bed most mornings after his 5am feeding. I don't get as much exclusive time with Nolan as I do with Alex -- very much to my chagrin -- but as my schedule gets a little more sane (which *is* happening), that, too, shall improve.

And as far as brotherhood goes, Nolan is absolutely fascinated by Alex. I'll often catch Nolan staring at me or at his mother intently, but even more frequently he'll focus all of his attention upon his older brother. When the television happens to be on for Alex (we're not really putting anything on for Nolan just now), Nolan studies Alex, not the TV.

I realize that what is happening now has no real bearing on how the future will play out. Paulette and I both grew up with siblings and our respective relationships with the sibs have varied wildly over time. Continue to vary. I'd like to think that we both currently enjoy good, healthy relationships with our sibs as adults, but there've certainly been some interesting rough patches along the way. I harbor no illusion that today's affection means that Alex will never have any issues with his younger brother, and visa versa. But we'll continue to encourage Alex's being a good big brother, and we'll continue to give both of them attention separately as well as together.

I'm fascinated to watch how all of these dynamics develop.

One of the most amazing things that I am noticing about our boys is that they are always growing. A little taller here, a little more facial definition there, a little better coordination the next. All the time.

Lately, the big thing for both Nolan and Alexander has been how much taller they've been getting lately, and how much their cognitive abilities are shaping up.

Monday marked Nolan's six month birthday, and Wednesday he gets his check-up at the pediatrician's office. We had intended to give him his first taste of "solid" food (rice cereal, oh that's solid, ho, ho) on Monday, but the pace at Casa Rousselle has been way too hectic for us to introduce this radical change into our lives. What's that, you say? How radical is letting the kid slurp a few spoonfuls of powdered rice in milk? Feeding him in a high chair, while new for Nolan, wouldn't be the problem. Dealing with the changes at the other end of his digestive tract is another matter.

But while we have staved off Nolan's encounters with new and exciting cuisine, his life is no less full of change. He has begun to not only roll over, but roll over and over and over in both directions. He pivots. He's gotten into crawling position just a couple of days ago, and we won't be surprised if he begins crawling at a much younger age than Alexander had.

At six months, Alex's hair was thin, but it looked like he might end up with possibly red or possibly brown hair. Of course, he's about as blond as blond can be these days. Nolan's hair is just now starting to come in, and very early indications are that he looks very blond. We'll see how that works out. Paulette says that his hair will probably darken as he gets older, even if he does start out a blond. She may be right (it happened to my maternal grandmother in her late teens, and even to me to a lesser extent), but then again, maybe she just doesn't want to be stuck in a house full of blonds.

Nolan remains a very pleasant fellow, with generally little to complain about and plenty of coy smiles and coos to go around. He enjoys studying his toys, and likes to sit at the dinner table with us even though we haven't introduced him to steak, yet.

It should come as no surprise that he's a social kid. He loves to hang out with his parents and with his big brother. He particularly loves to watch Alex dance and sing and run around, and big brother is all to happy to ham it up for his young, captive audience.

I've mentioned how hectic things are around the house lately. Paulette's work situation and my job situation and Alex starting a pre-school program have all been combining to create a bit of a scheduling burden. We still mostly manage to have a family dinner toward the end of the day, but usually I don't get much other time with the kids during the weekdays (although I do have a routine putting Alexander to bed, which is nice). The fact that job and certain volunteer activities and family life are all tugging at my calendar leaves no time for other worthwhile pursuits (like exercising, writing, or sleeping). I guess this is part of the current American situation: working more to make more but enjoying it less. Bust butts to afford the bigger house in the suburbs, then spend hardly any time there, etc., etc. Weh, weh, weh, and all that.

But I will say that all of this frenetic activity forces one to prioritize and get clear on what's important. And for me, it's obvious not only that family has to rank number one, but it has to assume some *urgency* on the priority list. Our children are growing up so fast! I need to be with them as much as I can manage now, because their childhood won't come this way again.

For what it's worth, Alexander still enjoys being a big brother. Nolan still enjoys having Alex to play with him.

...but, where *do* they get their excellent taste in shirts?

Nolan is simply amazing. He has already started crawling forward (at the same age as Alexander did -- which is no mean feat, given that Nolan is carrying around quite a few more pounds than his older brother did at that age) and his new favorite pastime is pulling himself up into a standing position, walking around the edge of the table or couch he's holding onto, and then falling down and bonking his head on the nearest piece of furniture. If he is unable to find a good solid piece of furniture to bonk his head on, he just whacks his head on the floor with as loud a ]thunk[ as he can manage.

He smiles all the time (except when he falls and hits his head), and is gurgling and cooing all kinds of sounds. His upper front teeth are breaking through, which has involved some degree of teething discomfort, but he's doing okay.

These past few mornings, Paulette has been getting up early to do some of her freelance graphic design work before it's my turn to head to the office to start my own work day. Thus, I am taking care of the kids from the time they wake up until Paulette is done with whatever she needs to do that morning. Nolan has been getting me up at roughly 5:30 or 6:00 each morning, but he's going back to sleep faster and faster each time I try to sooth him back to sleep. By 7:30am, he's just not interested in sleep, so he and I will typically go downstairs to play until his big brother comes down to join us.

As a late night person, I hate getting up early. But I'm loving spending these morning hours with my boys. They're happy to see me, we have a great time going through the morning routine (getting them fed and dressed is a game we all like to play, not a chore), and it gives me a chance to connect with them with no distractions. The work day arrives soon enough, and the evenings are too little time with too much that has to get done before they go to bed.

All that said, as Nolan's personality becomes more and more pronounced, interacting with him in the morning is increasingly special. He's just so delightful. Inquisitive and smart, definitely, but also pleasant and laid back -- all while showing a certain amount of determination. I've used these same words to describe Alexander, and both guys are about as easy as I can imagine children their age to be. Sure, their poop still stinks... but it's still easy to clean them up, too.

But while both boys have a sunny disposition, it's clear that Nolan and Alexander are shaping up a little bit differently. It's hard to put my finger on, just yet, but it's there. Some differences are probably just situational -- Nolan is still at a stage of discovery where little bothers him because everything is still new.

Nolan is taking to solid food more easily than his big brother did at the same age, and this surprises us not at all. Nolan has always been a bit bigger than Alex at the same age, and it wouldn't surprise me if Nolan outweighs Alexander within a couple of years. Nolan isn't constantly hungry, but neither does he completely refuse solid food when offered. His favorite right now is sweet potatoes. Must get that from his mother's side.

Happily, though, as he practices standing and side-walking and crawling, he's also turning that baby fat into muscle. This kid is solidifying quite nicely. (Unlike dumpy Dad.)

I have to admit that I get rather irritated at the general impression that our society has about the incompetence of fathers. Movies and other entertainment media reinforce the idea that dads are only good for teaching baseball (if that) and offering bad dating advice to their boys. Horse shit.

I change diapers, feed with bottle or spoon, rearrange rooms to make a safe play area, and supervise as much or as little as needed, depending upon the situation. I enjoy it all. I wish I could spend more time raising our sons than I'm currently able to do. I've offered to swap the workload (child-rearing versus job) with Paulette, but she's not going for that.

When Alex was born, I was underemployed. Most of my work was free-lance, and I did it at my home office, much like Paulette's work situation. Thus, Paulette and I split the efforts of raising Alexander pretty much fifty-fifty. I'm not capable of breast feeding, but Paulette wasn't capable of waking up in the middle of the night to take care of a crying baby, so we had a balance that worked out pretty well. For the record, I changed almost all of Alex's diapers for the first several months. Not that I'm keeping score -- I'm just trying to refute the "Cheaper By the Dozen" and "Daddy Day Care" presentation of fathers as being completely out of touch with taking care of children.

By the time Nolan came around, I was back to being fully employed and working out of an office away from the house. I'm therefore not getting as much quality time with Nolan as I did with Alexander at this age. (And, for the record, Paulette has arguably changed substantially more of Nolan's diapers than I have changed.)

As a result, this current arrangement where I take care of the kids in the morning is proving to be extra special. I'm getting that time with Nolan that I wouldn't otherwise get. At night, the ritual involves me putting Alexander to bed -- reading, teeth brushing, etc. Paulette takes care of Nolan in the evening. Now, finally, I get to spend that time with Nolan in the morning that I don't get at any other time of the day.

So why am I babbling so much about this? Because now I get to see more smiles from our little guy. When he smiles, it just lights up the world. It starts my day off on the best possible footing.

I'm starting to see the person Nolan is becoming, and I love what I see.

Alexander: Where's Mommy?

Me: She's at work. She'll be home soon.

Alexander: Where's Nolan?

Me: He's here in bed. Let him sleep.

Alexander: NOLAN, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!

Nolan: WAHHHH!

Me: Shhh. Maybe we can still get him back to sleep.

Alexander: (jumping up and down on bed) NO! LAN! NO! LAN! NO! LAN!

Me: Thank you for making the world a better place through your cooperation.

Alexander: Nolan gave me the train!

Me: No he didn't. You took it from him.

Alexander: He gave me.

Me: I watched you take it from him. You reached over and grabbed it.

Alexander: He gave it to me!

Nolan Theodore Rousselle, as photographed February 14th, 2006.

Alexander Benjamin Rousselle, as photographed February 17th, 2003.

Brothers. Definitely Brothers.

At ten and a half months, Nolan is getting ready to walk. What he does these days is pull himself or lean himself into a standing position against any neighboring wall or furniture or toy that will support his weight, and then try his best to side-step walk his way as far as he can go and still have support. He might occasionally take one or two steps to get to the next object that he can hold onto, but more often if he gets to a gap, he'll gently lower down into a crawling position, scoot over to the next object, and stand back up. Tonight (when this photo to the right was taken), Nolan lapped the living room several times while Paulette and I wound down for the evening watching the box de l'idiot.

I recently acquired a brand new camera, which has much cooler features and boots up much faster than our previous dealy. So far, I have yet to figure out if I can make this thing work any better in low light settings than I could manage with the previous camera, but I'm still getting some decent shots. Alas, alack, Nolan doesn't seem to be smiling in as many of the good shots as he does in the slightly blurry ones.

The fact is, Nolan is rather a smiley guy. When he's not recovering from a cold -- as he has been these past few days -- he smiles every bit as much as Alexander ever did (and still does). His favorite activity these days, it seems to me, is to convince his daddy to hold him upside down and shake him for loose change. Boy, does that bring out the giggles. He's also just starting to be ticklish, which is providing no end of fun for his big brother to exploit.

Nolan is starting to sign to us now. We haven't been as diligent about using signs with Nolan as we had been with Alexander at this age, yet he's picking up on our feeble attempts, nonetheless. He's signing for "all done" (arms straight up), "hello" (waving -- he uses both hands, which is durn cute), and he may possibly be getting the idea for how to sign for "more" and/or "eat". He claps, too, which is more of a programmed behavior for his age than a genuine sign, but we love to clap back and it just brings out more smiles. He likes to mimic us shaking our heads for "No", but hasn't quite gotten the hang of nodding for "Yes."

A couple of days ago, when I posted an entry about how Alexander is doing, it occurred to me to worry about short-changing Nolan. He is the second child, and I don't want to give anyone the impression that he's any less important to me or Paulette than Alex is. I also knew while I was preparing Alex's entry that I'd be posting about the little guy with an entry all his own, soon enough. But it remains a concern. Are we giving him enough quality time and attention? Are we letting Alex hog the show? And, for that matter, are we being unfair to Alex when we have to drop what we're doing with the older child to make sure the younger child is okay? I think about it, and I do what I can to address it, but that doesn't mean that I'm managing to get the balance exactly right.

Nolan chews stuff. He puts stuff in his mouth all the time. Not vegetables... he knows better than to try gnawing on a soft veggie we put before him. But newspapers? Clothing? I'm well aware that this is normal behavior, but it means we have to child proof some things differently from the way we had to for Alex at the same age. The only non-food that Alex ever made a habit of putting in his mouth was any foam toys -- nerf balls, bathtub letters, that sort of thing.

So consider the following picture, with which I shall close today's entry. This is from tonight, and we see Alex and Nolan playing in their playroom. Alex has a jingle bell toy, which he was playing with but is now putting into his mouth, while Alexander considers a bite mark in one of his nerf footballs. I love the juxtaposition. And yet... who put that bite mark there? There is no guarantee that it was Nolan. Alex has chewed on foam toys that we know of as recently as a couple of months ago.

As the two get older, I fear that knowing just who did what damage is going to become increasingly difficult.

I am told that late this afternoon, Nolan walked his first few steps without holding onto anything.

Yay, Nolan!

A few days ago, Nolan turned one year old.

Things have been rather hectic at Casa Rousselle lately. I had a major project due at work, and my resulting long hours at the office have created a time pinch at home. (Notice there've been no blog entries for a little while, as well.) At least one significant birthday at the end of March went completely unobserved, and Paulette had to work without any help from me to pull together a birthday celebration for Nolan this past Monday.

It's amazing how much more quickly time seems to be passing with Nolan than it did with Alexander. I'm sure that a big part of that is simply the issue of novelty: Alex was the first, so every new thing (and every new worry) was amplified by our inexperience. With Nolan, time is not slowing down for us to marvel at each new milestone.

This does not mean we are not marvelling. Quite the contrary. Nolan walks with more confidence each time I see him, his vocalization is increasingly distinct (I wonder what his first actual word will be!), and he becomes more beautiful every day.

His eyes remain a stunning blue, and his hair is slowly coming in fine and blond, just like dear old dad (and older brother). Funny thing about appearances: lately, whenever the four of us go somewhere together, the universal observation is that Alex mostly takes after his mom while Nolan looks more like his dad. I still think both kids take quite a bit of their appearance from both of us, but why quibble? They're both adorable.

(Translation: YOU MUST ADORE THEM NOW! ADORE THEM!)

Nolan's birthday started off with a trip to the doctor's office. It's important, I think, to start a kid's special day with Big Honking Shots in both legs that are painful, itchy, and full of disease.

After a day packed full of swimming and museums and some clandestine birthday prepping, Nolan was treated to seeing Dad come home sometime before bedtime. Dinner was followed by chocolate birthday cake -- Nolan's first exposure to chocolate... and I'm not so sure that he liked it -- and Alex helped him to blow out the candle.

Alex also helped his little brother open the Big Present for the day: a huuuge bag of a couple hundred colorful plastic balls. We opened up the bag in Alex's room (where we had the kid's pop-up tent set up) and the rest of the evening was spent smacking around the buckets o' balls.

For me, it remains great fun to watch the kids figure things out. The joy of discovery is contagious. One of the most beautiful things about the kids at their current ages is that discovery is almost always play. I must have had at least as much fun watching the kids play with Nolan's big birthday present(s) as they did playing with them.

When Alexander was born, Paulette and I had the situation (what we saw as a problem) of being equally underemployed and the two of us were handling our freelance work from out of the home. This meant that we shared about as equally as any two parents can in the child-rearing duties. As I believe I've commented elsewhere on this blog, that is no longer the case, nor has it been for a couple of years. I am now over-employed, which has resulted in Paulette assuming the bulk of the responsibility for taking care of the kids.

This is proving to be problematic for both of us. Paulette needs more time to work for her graphic design clients, and the constant attention that the children require can sometimes wear her out. I, on the other hand, miss having more quality time with both of my sons, and I'm further bummed that I'm missing quite a bit of Nolan's infancy and now toddlerhood.

Striking a good work/life balance is difficult, and it seems to be quite the rallying cry in the high-tech sector these days. I'm still not sure how I'm going to resolve it for myself. Gotta pay the bills, true. But I need to be a parent to my children, as well, not to mention a husband to my wife.

Which brings us back to Nolan's birthday, the joy of discovery, and trying to figure things out. Before I can show Nolan how to juggle all those balls, I'm going to have to practice getting a little bit better at it myself, first.

A little while ago, I picked up a new digital camera. A year or two ago, when our friend Adrien came to visit, she brought along a camera and took some pictures that were just phenomenal. While having a skilled photographer and good lighting and a cooperative subject all come into play, having the right tool does help to get the job done. So, I eventually picked up a better camera, and the result has been that my occasional good shots are now better than they used to be.

When I get those really good quality shots, though, I hate to dumb them down by saving them in "economy mode" just so that my web page will load faster. So, thanks to my vanity of wanting to share these photos and my belief that increasingly, y'all are getting faster connections to the internet, I've decided to allow myself to post photos that run higher than 40K.

Well, okay. The one above is substantially more than 40K. I hope you'll forgive me.

I was taking care of the kids this past Thursday morning before heading into work, and Alex picked out the clothes he wanted to wear. Alex is into "matching" these days -- pointing out when the color of his socks match the color of his shirt, or of Nolan's shirt. or of my clothing, etc.

We make it easy on him, of course, by sticking pretty much to standard color themes. His shirts tend to be reds or blues, with a couple of outliers available for good measure. His pants and shorts are either blue or khaki. Socks similarly fall within a narrow color band, so it would be hard for him to pick clothes that clash.

But all that said, he does like to point out when things match. There is one shirt -- a blue "fish" hawaiian -- that we have in both his and in Nolan's sizes. On this particular Thursday, since Alex picked the shirt, I went ahead and put Nolan into a matching outfit. And then I felt like taking pictures.

The brothers remain good buddies. Nolan is a little bit crabby lately, as he copes with four molars coming in at once, but otherwise, we remain blessed with two beautiful, happy, healthy boys.

In my next post -- our first family movie outing since "Finding Nemo":

"Cars."

The secret to success in comedy, according to Steve Martin, is

timing. Now, I've been meaning for years to remark upon Seattle's self-proclaimed number one television newscast and their penchant for always leading the news with something weather related. I first moved to the area sometime in -- oh, I don't know, 1995?

And I first started maintaining my blog (originally known as an "online journal", since the term "blog" hadn't yet been pimped at the time) a year or three after that. All the while, I've been kicking around the idea of pointing out this silly habit of the Seattle infotainers to lead off their alleged news broadcasts with talk about the weather.

And here it is, years later, and I finally get around to mocking these guys, and what happens? Their silly report about snow just south of Canada actually presages an actual weather emergency for the area. Okay, it's a minor weather emergency compared to many that I've been through (blizzards, cold snaps, tornados, etc.), but it's still relatively nasty. The entire Puget Sound area has been pretty much shut down for this entire week so far, and there have been a few weather-related fatalities.

While we were only hit with a dusting of snow both where I live and where I work, the hilly roads and the dearth of any kind of heavy equipment to clear the roads has left a treacherous ice field between home and office. That doesn't stop me, of course -- I grew up in Buffalo, NY, where winter driving is one long, controlled skid, and besides, my current vehicle is an All Wheel Drive minivan (I'm *so* Seattle Yuppie) -- but it nonetheless means I actually have to pay attention while I drive. And that's tres un-Seattle.

Luckily for me, everyone else is afraid of the weather, so they stay at home altogether. That means I get to skid my way down the ridge without having to worry too much that there'll be another car at the bottom to block my path. Whee!

The kids are already blase about the whole deal. Oh, sure, the first morning, they wanted to get out and play in the snow. But when Alex learned that there wasn't enough snow to even make so much as one lame snowball, he was pretty much done. Nolan seemed to enjoy the change in scenery, but otherwise didn't know what to make of it all.

But while the kids have put it all into perspective by getting on with their lives, I'm happy to report that the local news station of record has not been so enlightened. Every single news story for the past week has been weather-related, and every single forecast has warned us that "things are going to get worse before they get better."

How many ways can you say, "Major employers in Seattle have decided to close their campuses?" Or, "People who drive too fast on the ice are getting into accidents?"

Watch the local news and count the ways.

Our children continue to amaze me. At a little over a year and a half, Nolan is as mobile as mobile can be. He walks and runs and dances with amazing grace, and climbs with abandon up, onto, and over every piece of furniture in the house (including many pieces that simply can't support him, like a Lego table we were given by friends).

His smile (and yes, I know I've said this about Alex, as well, and its true for both of them), simply lights up the room. And while he is generally sweet-natured and even-tempered like Alex, his personality is nonetheless very different from older brother's.

He is not particularly talkative, but he is very good at letting you know what's on his mind. His favorite morning routine is to wake up before me, try to pull me out of bed (by the forefinger), point in the direction of the stairs, and say a word that sounds something like "Down!"

He loves to read, with his two favorites being the Sandra Boynton books and a couple of young readers we have about the space shuttle. (Shhh. Don't tell him, but he'll be getting a toy space shuttle for Christmas.) He can't get enough of these books. With the Boyton books, he loves to point at the animals and imitate the sounds they make. Likewise, he loves to carry around toy dinosaurs and roar. It's ridiculously cute. While he's not as talkative as Alex was at this age, he's sure to let us know that he can be vocal when he wants to be.

Now that he's over a year old, he seems to be getting more out of the holiday season. He appeared to enjoy his trick-or-treating with big brother and mom, and he's done an admirable job of not fussing with the decorations on the Christmas tree this year. (Last year, of course, he couldn't even walk yet during the holiday season, so we've done okay in that department.)

As the dust starts to settle with regard to my work situation (I've been putting in rather long hours for the past couple of years, but that should start to stabilize with the new year), I look forward to spending more one-on-one time with both of my kids. For the first year and a half of Alex's life, I was working from home, and so enjoyed the opportunity to spend a great deal of time with him when he was very young. I haven't had the same opportunities with Nolan, and I very much want to make sure that we both get the chance to spend that quality time together. Like his older brother, he's growing very quickly, and I don't want to miss it.

Nolan turned two years old this past April.

Today, he received his first solicitation for a credit card.

Oh, sure, Paulette and I ran through the obvious questions:

• How did he get on a list to get a card?
• Given how our USPS mail carrier keeps misdelivering our mail to our neighbors, does that mean an unscrupulous neighbor could order a card in his name?
• How can he sign for purchases, insofar as he can't write, yet?
• What would he buy if he knew how to use a credit card?

How did Nolan get a credit card offer before Alex?

And... will Alex be jealous?

We're coming up on Nolan's third birthday, and it occurs to me that a little gratuitous facetime with Nolan might be in order.

As I may have mentioned recently, we moved our office from one end of town to the other. Circumstances conspired to bring me back to our old neighborhood a couple of days ago, and I went into my favorite sushi joint for some lunch.

The woman behind the counter remembered me. I'd been a semi-regular since they opened, and I would frequently bring in Nolan, who, because of quirks in our schedules, would often be visiting me during lunch time while Paulette attended to issues at work. According to the lady who always takes my order (a large California roll, fwiw), the "kitchen staff" simply loves Nolan, and they would often throw in some extra (small) California roll for him, as well. (I suspect that the kitchen staff in question is actually the owner of the joint, but I've never confirmed.)

Sure enough, on this recent trip, even though Nolan wasn't with me, they remembered him and after my meal, they sent me away with a takeaway order for him, as well, no charge.

This kind of affection for either of my kids truly warms the cockles of my heart. [I just looked up "cockle", which turns out to be either a kind of clam or a weedy plant. I didn't know my heart had clams or weeds, but there's always some truth to proverbs, no?]

Nolan is at that age right now where he freely shows me signs of affection, as well, and I enjoy them every chance I get. When I come home, he runs to the door, announcing "Daddy's here!" and gives me a welcome hug. Often, in the middle of the night, he calls out for one reason or another, and after I attend to the issue at hand (blankets need to be fixed, or he wants water, whatever), he snuggles himself back to sleep with an "I love you" for me on the way. I simply melt. (Then again, if you're an insomniac like me, and are further having your sleep interrupted by kids calling out in the middle of the night, you might be emotionally susceptible, too.)

His speech is improving by leaps and bound, and he has had to be moved up to the next size in clothes and sneakers, which combines to make a formidable impression of a kid on the grow. He has a delightfully serious manner of speaking, with an innocent smile and open good humor.

His so-called "terrible twos" haven't been all that much of a problem, and he appears to have already left them behind. He's a bit more reserved than his older brother, and definitely more of a climber. Paulette thinks he's likely to be more athletic than Alex (who is pretty athletic as it is), and I agree. That's one thing I'm particularly enjoying about our kids; they both generally have a pleasant disposition, but they nonetheless have different personalities.

His eyes have remained blue thus far (even though that isn't obvious in the photo I'm attaching to this entry), and he's as blond as I ever was at that age. He's looking forward to becoming a "big brother," and he's made a friend or two in the neighborhood independently of Alex, which is also good to see.

I have no experience with middle siblings, insofar as I've never been one nor had any, but it's important to me to make sure that Nolan continues to get attention and encouragement as an individual as well as part of the clan. As it is, it's exciting to see him come into his own.

I'm so behind. I still haven't responded to the many e-mails y'all have sent since the birth of baby Andrew. Please forgive me! I'm working on getting caught up! In the meantime, here are some photos that were taken during the first week or two since Andrew's arrival.

Here's Nolan, Alex, and Andrew. Alex loves to hold his baby brother. We've been encouraging him to provide more support for Andrew's neck, but when the camera is rolling, he sometimes forgets.

... in fact, Alex will often spend very long stretches of time holding Andrew, which not only give them bonding time, and makes Alex feel like he's being a good big brother, but also gives their mom a chance to do things other than attending to the baby non-stop.

Here's a shot of Andrew's maternal grandfather holding him at less than one-week-old.

In this one, Andrew looks almost exactly like Alex did in a similar shot almost six years ago. (I may eventually pull up some of those older photos and format them for the web to provide compare-and-contrast opportunities on this page....)

Mostly, the little guy sleeps. But hey, he does it beautifully!