A Shout Out, to My Homies

Now is a trendy time to have babies, I guess. While the rest of my procreating friends are not quite as self-absorbed and outgoing as I am about the whole business, many people are well along the path, even quite successful at it!

• Joel, a former colleague in the Philosophy Department at University of Akron, and his wife, Stephanie, are now expecting. They've got ultrasounds to prove it. It seems like they waited until Joel was about done with his PhD to start trying, as really, there was only slightly less of a chance of him supporting the family as a grad student rather than as a philosophy professor. He recently discovered that the median income for a first-year associate professor is only marginally above the poverty line.
• Josh and his wife, Kate, are well into their seventh month, I think. They had a doozy of a time getting there, as a few rounds of IVF didn't take, and just about when they were ready to give up, they got the good news. They've been off the radar a bit lately, as they're also going though career changes and recently moved, so it's been a bit nuts. When things die down, I want Josh to do a guest blog here.
• My cousin, Kate, whom I believe I mention here extensively, and her hubs, Adam, are doing quite well with their twins. They also had some medical intervention in getting their boys into the world, but everything is going great for them. We recently got to interact with the boys for the first real time last weekend, when we visited them in their neat little townhouse and ate a ton of barbeque. Like you do.
• Former law classmate, Kevin, and his wife, Jill, have recently welcomed their second child, nicknamed Loki, into the world, and from what I see on our weekly Google+ meetings, they're all doing great.
• Now, I hear that our friends Gabe and Anna are on the path, as well. We had a few funny conversations about the breeding program around Cinco de Mayo... the timing, the strange hormones, the half-crazy, half-fun way of thinking about the future. And all the gelato you can stand.
• Some other friends are adjusting to deciding to NOT have kids, as they have decided to go ahead and get snipped. While I'm certain they would have been great parents, I'm glad that they have decided to just cut off this possibility that they were otherwise somewhat fearful of. They're the sort of people who are quite fulfilled as they are. They travel extensively, have crazy awesome hobbies, and love each other and get along so well that adding another mouth to the equation might just fuck it up. That reminds me... there's a blog post coming up about how damned arrogant it is for people to just up and decide to have kids, plan it and so on. More on that, later.

In other news, Carly is still fluttering through various hormonal changes as her body resets, and she complains to me on a daily basis--after much internet research--that she requires different chemical ingredients. Lately, it has been acne meds, as she is "breaking out like a teenager." I say, this is a serendipitous event, as I also need to change the oil in the car. BA DUM, BUM!

And now for something completely different: