lollardfish

By the way, her birthday is actually tomorrow. But she's so pleasant that I think she deserves more than one day.

Shannon and I got married two weeks ago or so, on 3/29/07. We will be celebrating with many people this summer, but we did the actual legal bit with just my parents, her parents, her sister and partner, and four close friends - Bruce and Karen, David and Laura.

The ceremony was simple, short, beautiful, and shockingly moving. The judge, a family-court judge, seemed very pleasant, and happy to be bringing people together rather than arbitrating child custody, divorce, or less pleasant subjects. She was witty and funny, formal where appropriate, and informal enough to take our cameras and snap lots of photos of the wedding party.

My eyes leaked a lot.

We don't really have all of our pictures yet, but here's a single one of the whole group.

( Photo )

We followed the ceremony with a drink at Kierans (it was right next door to the courthouse!), then a fabulous cassoulet dinner at Vincent's, the good French restaurant in town. Cassoulet is French "beanie-weanie," so very accessibly to those who haven't had much gourmet French food (some of the wedding party), and delicious to everyone!

Beyond that, the emotions are still too lively to really articulate, yet not so tumultuous to force me to do so (when writing about Nico's medical issues, our feelings, blogging was a form of therapy. This is just a happy fun glow kind of emotion, and I don't want to be cloying). I'm glad Shannon and I are legally a family now. I love being her husband, and her being "the wife." Life is good.

But I really need this semester to be over, because I am very, very, tired and I miss my son while I'm at work.

My son has a stuffed toy he loves to cuddle and sleep with. This just happened yesterday, and it makes me very happy.

We've learned a lot about Nico over the weekend. The most interesting moment, for me, was Saturday night. We were all tired and he started to fuss, fuss, fuss. We thought he might need to eat or be changed, but the minute that Shannon and I took him into a private room (we were at a hotel, a gathering of many friends), he relaxed and started to giggle and be happy. So we went back out again to the party and the fussing returned. He just was tired of the stimulae, I guess. We went home, gave him a bottle (of formula), and he slept for 7-8 hours.

Yesterday, it was clear that his gross motor skills and cognitive connections between his hands, objects, and mouth have nade a big leap (or many small unnoticed leaps). Our friend, dreamshark, noted that she was convinced that whenever her children had been exceptionally fussy as infants, some big developmental leap followed. Well, maybe she's right! Nico is so much more object-focused, especially with his "doggie." The Doggie (I'll get pictures up soon, maybe in Nico's buttonfish journal) is a combination soft silky blanket and stuffed animal. We got a couple of these during the baby shower and, frankly, had no idea what to make of them. But he loves to sink his hands into the soft blanket, he can, and does, squeeze it against his body, and then he likes to mouth the doggie head a lot. He's currently sleeping with his arms wrapped around the doggie right now.

It's a happy morning.

I require coffee.

We are hosting a music party at Minicon on Friday Night, and would like to invite you all to come.

Details:

Suite 118, 9-late

There will be snacks.
There will be drinks.
There will be music by invited musicians only.

If you are not attending Minicon, you are welcome to come to our party and meet buttonfish and otherwise make merry. Minicon does have, for the first time in a long time, one-day badges available though, and I'd encourage you to get one.

I know it's a little early in the day for the working folks out there, but Bruce Schneier is giving a talk at Macalester on April 3rd (a week from Tuesday) at 5:00. Free and open to the public.

The URL announcing the event is - Bruce Schneier Lecture.

My son, currently asleep on my belly, laughed for the first time (for me) yesterday when I came home. He's been trying to giggle for a few days, especially when we play the game where I push his tongue back into his mouth (recommended for children with Down's Syndrome). He loves the game, and yesterday he let out a very clear, three-beat, staccato laugh.

When you're smilin ...
When you're smilin ...
The whole world smiles with you

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Lord help me. I have put my son in a sailor suit this morning (not pictured yet). It's adorable.

Friends,

I have accepted a tenure-track job offer at Dominican University. I'll be moving at the end of July, teaching a 3/3 course load (typical for such institutions), and be one of two Europeanists in a small history department.

Dominican is a great place with a strong sense of purpose, a beautiful facility, and a lot of great people. I'm thrilled to be about to become a part of it - although very sad about leaving Minnesota. Still, this is a great day, a milestone towards which I have been working a very long time.

More Nicholas pictures have been posted. Like (my sister's visit) ...

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I haven't written much about how we are doing because there really isn't too much to write - the usual parenting mishaps and delights consume us, as they do all new parents I'm sure. Nicholas is a delight in every way, although like all babies sometimes he's determined that none of us should get much sleep.

He's manifested no medical issues so far in these first 7 weeks, other than the fact that every cell has that pesky extra chromosome. He's sweet, strong, healthy, and perhaps just a touch quieter than many other babies I've known.

We're lucky and happy.

Goats, the new cows.