Babies and Golf Balls

It's been hard to cobble together enough time to sit down and write at length about Kate, who is about the best thing that's ever happened to me. When we were at the hospital and they handed her to me, I started crying as I was overcome with the realization, both liberating and a little sad, that my life and the priorities in it had completely changed in just that millisecond. Kristen is doing well, and we're settling into a little routine. Kate's healthy, and has put back on the weight she's lost after birth, which is good.

Much, much more on the baby later.

Meanwhile, my latest column at Wired News addresses the issue of golf balls. Specifically, how can we contain the distance that today's balls afford professional players?

Our best games have a geometry of their own -- 10 feet to the basket, 90 feet from the plate to first base, eight feet by eight yards for a soccer goal. As technology advances, that geometry can become distorted, and golf is a stern test for that advancement. Which will we choose: the geometry that enchants us, or the technology that awes us?

Baby: Healthy, But Tardy

We were at the hospital this morning for a non-stress test and a sonogram, and all is well with the as-yet-unborn neo-McClusky. The kid's moving around a ton in there, and all the tests were just perfect. Our midwife said something fun to us today. "This is the last weekend you won't be parents," she told us. That is, assuming, we aren't parents this weekend.

Still Waiting

The due date has come and gone, and there's no action as of yet. We're trying really hard to stay patient -- our doula has told us that we should wrap our heads around being another week perhaps. It's especially frustrating for me as Kristen starts to get more and more uncomfortable. We've been really lucky with everything in this pregnancy. Kristen has generally felt really good, no morning sickness, no food aversions, her energy level has been great. But as we get down to it, and the kid is just so big, it's got to be hard. It's hard to understand where all the stuff that usually occupies the belly even goes, frankly.

The limbo of this is weird. We're going to have a kid here in the next 10 days or so, one way or another. But we're just going to have to wait and see exactly when that happens, and for two planners like Kristen and I, that's a little hard.

Almost Time

Past Nine Months Now

We're just three days from the due date now, so we could be ready to go at any moment. We're ready to meet our son or daughter any time.

It's interesting to me that my excitement has taken on a very specific cast -- I just can't wait to meet him or her, after watching the baby grow for so long.