Hey Jakey,

Ever since you were born, I've been trying to see your daddy's features in you. My dark, foreign demeanor is stamped indelibly upon you in your dark brown hair, your dark brown eyes. You have my flat little nose, my almond eyes. I thought my Occidental had all but obliterated your daddy's Caucasian.

But this morning I snuck up on you and daddy sleeping in the bed, and the cover was pulled up to about your navel. You were wearing a simple, white onesie, and the sleeves were rumpled up to around your armpits. The onesie resembled a white t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, like maybe you had a tiny pack of cigarettes in there. No, daddy has never worn his t-shirt like that, he doesn't even smoke, but you looked so ... masculine. I did a double take and looked at your sleeping face from that unusual angle, me at the foot of the bed, you up there by the pillows. You looked just like your daddy.

So I re-joined Weight Watchers last Saturday, and this morning was my first weigh-in since before I got preggers with you. I've gotta say, I simply MUST get mastitis more often. Lounging around in bed and eating nothing but a handful of goldfish crackers and a pudding cup for three whole days seems to be the perfect diet. I lost 10.4 pounds. I think I may have gained it all back when I drank a glass of water, but it felt pretty cool to see those numbers on the scale. Oh well, back to it this week, for reals.

For the record, you were pretty grumpy today. I walked around with you outside tonight in your new New Native baby sling. You actually shut right up and fell asleep. We'll try it out at the park tomorrow.

Laurie called last night and asked if she could stay with us for a few weeks while she picks up some hours working at the newspaper. I was afraid she was going to ask. That was the reason that I hesitated asking her if she wanted the work in the first place. I love Laurie like a sister (I seem to preface a lot of rants with the phrase: "I love Laurie like a sister, but..."), but she presumes a lot. I only have the one month left before I have to go to work, and halfway thru that, my mom (your grandma!) is going to arrive, and your daddy starts his job next week. That only leaves me a couple of weeks of just me-and-you time. But now it's looking like I'll be spending my me-and-you time with me and you and Laurie.

Besides your daddy, Laurie's my best friend in this world, Jake. But she can be a trial. I've known her for close to 10 years now. We met when we both worked at Metro Newspapers back in San Jose. We had (have) a lot in common and we just clicked. We were pretty much inseparable. We went camping, fishing, drinking, partying together. Then I moved here. Under very strange and wonderful circumstances, she met a guy who delivers my newspaper here in Nevada. They fell in love and she moved up here to be with him, less than an hour away. We actually worked together again for awhile at my current newspaper.

Long story short, they moved, now she lives with him all the way over in Sacramento. She's unemployed, hurting for money, there's a temp position at my newspaper, if she takes it, she'll need to stay with me.

This is the thing (again, I preface this with "I love Laurie like a sister...): she is the most irresponsible person I know. She left her job at Metro, making $64k a year, to move in with the love of her life. Romantic, yes. Responsible? No. She has house payments, taxes, credit card bills that are even bigger than mine. Her rich brother keeps bailing her out of all her messes, and sends her cash, pays to fix her car, pays her house payments and her taxes, and on and on. And she borrows money from me. I can't even begin to count what she owes me that I've just let go. And I don't know where the money goes. Even when she was making $64k, she was *still* borrowing money from me. In the middle of all this, she'll get her hair and nails done. Or buy her boyfriend a tool set. If I want her come along with me to do anything fun anymore, like go out to eat or go get our hair done, or even go shopping, I have to pony up all the cash. I love Laurie like a sister...

You probably don't need to know all this about your Aunt Laurie, Jake. She's got a kind heart, will do absolutely anything for you, and is just a really, really great person to have in your life. She was there in the hospital with me when you were born. Yes, I'll probably wind up asking her to be your godmother. Just hold tight to your wallet when she's around, 'kay? Love ya.