This is Seamus, son of Shaun and Michelle Baxter, both of whom I've known seemingly forever. In general, he seemed like a pretty chill little dude, but he's still got baby lungs capable of producing unearthly squawks. He is a fast crawler, and I swore I heard him say "burger" when we went out to eat. (He also made a grab for his daddy's burger, which ended up on the restaurant floor. ... Poor daddy).
This is David, son of my sister, Amelia, and her husband, Joel. Not sure if you can see, but he's in Red Sox pajamas -- awesome. I always look awkward in baby-holding pictures, mostly because I'm an awkward baby-holder. Sometimes I wonder if this will ever change, or how I might react differently if it were my baby. I've always said that I didn't want to have kids unless circumstances were perfect for it. The possibility for perfect circumstances is for the first time imaginable, though not immediately foreseeable, but I'm still not sure if baby-raising is for me. They are just so loud and all-consuming. I know, though, from what my friends, family, and even many of my students have said, that they can also be a source of profound joy.
Here is my sister Marcy with her little Valencia. I also got to meet Valencia's dad, Earl, who seems like a very cool guy, both on his own, and the way he is with Marcy, Valencia, and Marcy's older daughter, Carmelina. (Cool names, huh? Marcy's an imaginative one.)
With all this running around from baby to baby, I wasn't able to grade any of my students' work, and they gave me a ton of it last week. All 3 Comp I sections handed in 800-word papers and in-class exams, which I am struggling to turn around this week. The papers have really been a pleasure to read, though, so that certainly makes things a little easier.
