"Breast is Best!"

Although all the infant development books swear she's at least a month early, it looks as though Shirley has started teething. Suddenly, I feel no urge to breastfeed her.

Why? Because even at the best of times this whole breastfeeding thing has been as though Society is pressuring me to allow a small rabid woverine to bite my nipples off several times daily. And when I've expressed reservations about this practice, Society has begun lecturing me on how vitally important it is that I do what's best for the wolverine.

Thank God for my breastpump. It allows me to give Shirley most of the benefits of breastfeeding while avoiding the puncture wounds.

Roadtrips and Relatives

It's been a bit since my last post, for a variety of reasons. (One of them has been fussing nonstop for the last hour.)

Also, visitors who came to admire both the city and the baby.

This is Kara and Caitlin, who are from Nome. Kara and her two other sisters visited us at the Bed and Breakfast last year during their spring break. This year, Caitlin was able to come, but Meghan and Hayley weren't. They'd been planning to visit us March 22-29th since before we knew we were expecting Shirley. And once we knew we were moving here to San Francisco, that just meant that they'd be coming here rather than to Overland Park.

So we took them to Golden Gate Park, etc. (Here's a picture of them in front of the DeYoung museum.)

Then Mom came to visit the next week. She spent most of the time cuddling with Shirley, which meant that I was able to get caught up on laundry for the first time in a decade or so.


And the obligatory stalking the baby for pictures photo.

And my latest pair of socks (finished last night!) and the offspring. Brian says I'm "forcing my hobbies" on our daughter, but I just think the sock wanted its picture taken with the most beautiful thing in the house.


Wednesday, we went on "Baby's First Road Trip" to Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

California might not be so bad after all.

Culture shock in California

I grew up in Whitman County, Washington. (population 42000.) If you check out the county's website, not only are there many pictures of scenic rolling hills and serene wheat fields, there's also this important disclaimer about rural life. It points out useful facts that outsiders should know before they consider moving to Whitman County, such as there are about 200 miles of paved roads and about 1200 miles of gravel and dirt roads. (Should you live on one of the latter two categories of road, your road will not be plowed until it accumulates at least six inches of snow. Good to know!)

Because so much of the area is rural (the largest city, Pullman, has a population of 25000) you see a lot of wildlife. And as in many rural areas, "varmint huntin' " is an important form of entertainment. (Brian once laughed at me when I became upset because one of the gun shops in the Boise area was advertising a sale on "varmint guns" and didn't specify the caliber.) Especially coyotes.

Why coyotes? Partly because they're available and not endangered. But mostly because they're obnoxious. While their tendency to eat anything and everything does mean that roadkill disappears fairly quickly, they also prey on livestock, garbage, and pets. (Average life expectancy of a barn cat: 18 months.)

Hunting coyotes is so entrenched in our collective consciousness that during a discussion last year on the political situation in Iraq, my brother described Anbar province as "It's like hunting coyotes--except you're the coyote."

And then I saw this sign as we were driving through Golden Gate National Recreational Area last week:


Definitely not in Whitman County any more.