Laissez-Faire

Oh wait, you're not familiar with the economic ideology, Laissez-Faire? Here, let me enlighten you. Ha. My high horse is not too high, because you should see the way I originally spelled the phrase. And the fact that I recently read the phrase in a teen novel, which reminded me that I learned about it in high school. Anyway, Laissez-Faire refers to an economic market completely free from government intervention. It's kind of a "let it be" situation.

The point is, I am currently practicing Laissez-Faire parenting. Basically, Adam is a toddler and I am pregnant and we've reached an agreement that he will still grow up to be a productive member of society even though I've been allowing him to dance on the coffee table while I lay down on the couch. Only time will tell if he'll hold up his end of the bargain, but I've sure been letting him coffee-table dance as much as he wants. And bang things with spoons. And watch oodles of TV. And eat non-nutritious food. The main point is that most of these events have occurred near the couch.

I am tired, so very tired.

I am fine, though. A little bit off the grid, due to my computer breaking down about a month ago and Jeff's computer being pretty often worthless (I'd say it was completely worthless, but I'm using it right now and so far it is saving my post.) I get my basic Internet needs completed on the Kindle, but it's just not the same as a computer for me and I am just behind on life. I've got loads of emails and Facebook messages and celebrity knowledge to catch up on. You know, all of the important things in life.

On Wednesday I will be 30 weeks pregnant, which means that we're about a month and half away from when I had Adam. But though I'm not betting that the baby will actually be born in May, I'm not really sure that she'll be born at 36 weeks either. I can't really compare the two pregnancies because by 30 weeks with Adam I had gone into labor twice and I'm feeling pretty labor-free these days. I do have contractions, don't get me wrong, and I do take constant anti-contraction medicine, but said contractions don't appear to actually be doing anything. Really, I think the progesterone shots have been super-effective in my case. Which is good- although I really do hate getting a 2-minute-long shot in the barm every week.

Adam is doing well. He says probably about 30 words, but quite a few of those are ones that only Jeff and I can really discern. Some classic Adam words are: "I want that" (Ah-dat!) "book" (book a book a book a book) "all done" (Ah-mah. Doesn't really sound like the actual words he's trying to say, but he does the accompanying sign when he says it.) He has recently started saying "please" which goes nice with his "thank you." I'm glad to see him learning new things, but it's hard to see him grow up. Every night when we sneak into his room to watch him sleep, I'm stunned to see how close he is to outgrowing his crib. A big-boy bed seems like a giant nail in Adam's baby-hood coffin.

Jeff is busy- too busy. In fact, his workload has been so large that 8 hours doesn't seem to cut it so he's been working a lot when he gets home, and because of that he's earned quite a bit of time off. We were hoping to use this time around baby girl's arrival, but there's a chance that he might be required to use it sooner, which is both lame/exciting. Luckily, Stanford does give paternity leave, but it's not paid, and we really can't survive long with out Jeff working. I wish we lived in a Scandinavian country where they give both parents like 3 months of paid leave. That'd be cool. Granted, I'd have to have a job to actually make that dream scenario come true- less cool.

The big thing Jeff has been working on is a web magazine that launched last month. Basically, the point of it is that the information and analyses that the West has/makes about the Former Soviet Union is often way off, so the magazine seeks submissions from scholars in the region about current events happening there. It's a weekly effort that results in Jeff and his co-workers having to screen and translate articles.  A big portion of what Jeff does is not only translating articles from Russian to English, but making sure that the finished English product is written up to Stanford's academic standards. And Stanford's standards- they be high. Anyway, every Tuesday when the new edition launches, he tells me he might die of stress and I think he means it. But he's doing a great job and the higher-ups are definitely noticing. You can check out the Post-Soviet Post here. And please do check it out- it is draining the life-force out of my husband, but extra hits are always nice.

Also, we enjoyed a fine President's Day weekend in Reno. Jeff's parents drove and met us there and we certainly tore up the town. Well, mostly we stayed in the hotel and visited, but it was a great time. And Jeff and I got a night out, which means that it was an epic trip.

We said farewell to the teeny car Jeff bought after his mission and swapped it with Steve and Cindy's SUV. Not a lot of logic in that trade for them, but they did a good job convincing us that we were doing them a favor. I'm constantly overwhelmed by how loving and supportive our families are.

Grandpa and Grandma Carr brought Adam's Christmas balance bike. He actually is big enough to ride it now!

Swimming at the hotel pool. Adam loves loves loves swimming.

That's all for now. The Boy is up from his nap and not happy with me being on the computer. I'll try to update you all again soon!