Five things that don't suck about our short-term rental

5. The kids' room. They have plenty of space for their beds and a large play area in between them. Most importantly, they can both cry out in the night and not wake each other up. This feature is actually undergoing rigorous testing this week.

4. Instant Hot. Heather has been telling me how wonderful it is for about a year, but now, thanks to our landlord's Japanese water heater, we have 200-degree water on demand. Effortless tea all day long and warm baby food in a jiffy.

3. Proximity to our home and preschool. While we're not exactly in our own neighborhood, it could have been much worse. We talked about San Rafael. It takes about 10 minutes to drive to our house from this condo.

2. The shower. When I saw the clawfoot tub and not-new showerhead, I knew it was likely to deliver a less-than satisfying stream of water. To my delight, the water is forceful and hot for plenty of time. Again, what I'm after is for it not to suck. I'll head over to the Claremont when I need a real spa day.

1. The view. We could not ask for more. I took this picture from the deck of our rental the other night. A clear night reveals even more detail.

Picture of the day

Shameless self-promotion

If you are as anxious to get your hands on a copy of my book as thousands of first-time moms must be (ha!), go ahead and pre-order it on Amazon!

Heather and I got our advanced copies in the mail yesterday and we are super duper excited! The illustrations, by Amy Saidens who we have never met, are really cute, and Ryan even has a credit as the photographer of the author photo in the back jacket.

Wish us luck with sales!

Quiz: Name that swinging baby

Study the pictures below. Use the comments link to identify which baby (Julian or Scarlett) is in each picture A-D.
More new pictures are posted from this holiday season. (click here.)

Having a daughter means...

...dressing her however I want.



See Scarlett in action.

Eight Crazy Nights

Lighting the candles.
Opening presents.
Monkey slippers for everyone!
Sweater for me!

Note that we spent the fifth night of Hanukkah putting up our tree.

The one where Julian has just returned from Mardi Gras

Little green lies

Ryan has just popped a few Jelly Bellies into his mouth. Enter Julian, stage right.

Julian: Daddy, what are you eating?
Ryan: Asparagus.

Paci, RIP

Do you know about Halloween Magic? Well, I'll tell you. You put your candy right outside your bedroom door on Halloween night. In the morning, your candy will have magically disappeared and turned into a present! Perhaps it will be a Fisher-Price medical kit. Or maybe a child-sized musical instrument. You don't know yet because it's a surprise!

This lie is the first of many that we'll be telling Julian. It feels wrong to me, but I know we'll be talking all about Santa over the next couple of months, so I decided we should just jump in and get started with all the myth-making.

Halloween was a big hit at our house. We put decorations in the window that provided hours and hours of discussion and entertainment for the three talking members of the household. Julian was perfectly happy with his hand-me-down skeleton costume. He kept telling me that although it came from Lucas, Grandma Marilyn was the one who gave it to Lucas. I don't know where he got such an idea, but I went with it.


Scarlett celebrated her first Halloween as a Jazzercise queen. When we showed her off to our friends, instead of "That's so cute," we heard, "That's just wrong." If dressing my daughter as a Flashdance extra is wrong, I don't want to be right.



And final news for the month: We acknowledged Birthday 3.0 with a small party in our backyard and then we said goodbye to Julian's pacifiers. There was no myth involved. "Paci", as it was known, did not get taken by the Easter Bunny or mailed off to a new baby, nor did it "break". It is simply sitting on a shelf unused. Perhaps it is me or Ryan who is mourning the loss and unable to just throw them away. Paci, you were a good friend. We miss you already.

I'm a pirate! With bad teeth! Wearing Arrrrgh-yle!