We recently joined the "flooded basement" club, one with many new members with all the rain over the past few days falling in New England.

Roads were closed and utility crews did their job, and well. For as old as the infrastructure is here in New England, I'm amazed that not many areas (that aren't bordering river banks) have roads as dry as a bone less than two days after the last raindrop fell. At least some of that tax money makes its way back to us when we need it most.

On our end, we have a steamheat system and it's pretty close to the ground. Once we had to shut the heat off, it only took a day of 35 degree weather for us to buckle and go stay with my parents for the night. If we didn't have a six month old baby, we would have just lit a fire in the fireplace and dealt with it.

There was some furniture and personal belongings lost, but nothing that can't be replaced. Some lessons learned:

• Even if your basement hasn't seen water in 30-40 years, it's always worth it to store anything in a basement on pallets. If you can't get your hands on pallets, just use some of those hard plastic stackable holders for 6 2-liter bottles of soda.
• Don't melodramatize. If your basement doesn't leak but you get water from ground saturation, other people are in the same boat. It goes down quickly once the rain stops.
• Clorox bleach is your friend - if you clean up your basement right, you'll be fine.
• Keep generators on hand, one or two. If you have a heating system that needs to be plugged in to work, you can count on losing power during a bad storm of any kind - wind, rain, snow - and in cold weather it's useful to have backup power, wherever you live.

We don't live in a flood plain, but in New England, we do see some drastic temperature changes in the spring. So heavy snow can be followed by 50-60 degree weather for days on end, then you get flooding even without rain. It's always best to be prepared, rain or snow. Being new homeowners, we've resolved to have a sump pump installed, knowing it'll be an expensive ornament for perhaps years before it's ever used. But it's a cheap and easy way to keep your home dry, and better than dealing with an insurance company after you lose personal belongings in a flood.

While I realize not everyone can afford my sunny outlook on the storm after only a couple days of sunshine, in a way I'm glad this happened now. Had we not seen any flooding during this storm, we would be in a false comfort zone for the next big storm. Had we finished the basement, we would have lost a lot more than a couple of books and furniture that wasn't in use anyway. And the cleanup is a good opportunity to sift through junk and figure out what you really need and what belongings are really important. Decluttering is always a welcome distraction.

Our son is enjoying solids now, to the point that his formula doesn't interest him nearly as much as it used to.

Even cheap baby food gets expensive, and despite some of the companies telling you it's "all natural", who knows for sure? As a result, we've put to use a food processor we got for our wedding, which stayed in a box until recently.

It's really easy to make your own baby food. Just buy a big bag of veggies - say, butternut squash - out of your grocer's freezer. Mix it up in a food processor, and then put it into ice cube trays. Refreeze and you have cubes of food with the proper consistency ready to go.

You can pop out the cubes and put them in a plastic bag in your freezer once they are frozen solid. In advance of your son or daughter's meal, make sure you put a cube or two in the fridge to defrost. You can use a bottle warmer and put a small baby food bowl on top of it, with the still-cold cubes of food in it to warm to room temperature. For our part, we sometimes mix in an ounce or two of formula just to make sure the consistency is right, and to add something extra.

For lunch/dinner, we also use baby oatmeal and baby rice cereal to mix in with the veggies. For breakfast, our son usually gets 6 ounces of formula and some all-natural apple sauce with mashed up banana.

Using frozen veggies and processing them yourself saves a ton of money. Typically, an entire pound of frozen vegetable can last over a week for a six month old baby and costs a dollar or two. You just bought & processed a week's worth of food for the cost of one packet of baby food containers that would only last for a couple of meals.

You don't even have to freeze it, you can buy a squash at the supermarket and prepare it as you need it.

This phase doesn't last too long, then it's time for them to start using their teeth. I look forward to the fun of being able to share our home cooked meals with our son.

A lot has been going on recently, and I even mentioned in a previous post that that is expected. Thirty years old doesn't feel any older than twenty nine, but I'm sure forty will feel different at this rate.

My father reminded me the other day that I need to take care of my lawn, something that had escaped my thought process with the winter move. If it were up to me (well, it kind of is), I'd put down a mulch lawn that doesn't require water. But that would alienate me amongst my neighbors. This is New England, after all - everything not paved is covered by trees or grass. It also would decrease my property value. Ideally, it shouldn't matter, but more on that below.

My father prides himself on taking care of his lawn, not obsessing over it and not because he had nothing better to do. He spent his own hard earned money on his house - taking care of the exterior one's own way is rewarding in its own right. So I literally took notes while he gave me some info, such as:

• Rake before you do anything. When the snow melts and you're in between snowy and warm enough for grass to grow fast, get a good rake and take up all the junk and deposits and loose, dead grass that has been left behind after a tough winter.
• Use a fertilizer with crabgrass killer. Use a broadcast spreader to fertilize the lawn early in the season.
• Twice in the summer, fertilize, and the second time, ensure a weed killer is also used.
• In the fall, use a fertilizer with 'winterizer' to ensure the lawn is properly protected again before the cycle starts anew.

The nice part about the above info is that our town has plenty of consecutive weeks of yard waste pickup, no need to drive to a compost (but if the town had a compost, I'd use it).

Most people who don't have lawns won't care, and if you live in the Southwest where irrigation is needed to grow or keep moist lawns or crops, this seems like a colossal waste of time. So again, this is a regional need. We have four full seasons and we get plenty of moisture throughout the year. If you let your lawn go, it gets a few feet high by the time the winter comes around, then your property looks awful (and probably becomes a breeding ground for ticks).

It's a gray area sometimes between focusing on what's important and becoming the typical weekend warrior who spends too much time at The Home Depot. We're proud of our land and our property, and keeping our lawn short & clean, and our hedges trimmed, not only reflects on us but on our neighbors.

In fact, when we moved in, one of our neighbors mentioned in passing that the previous owner - who had been there for fifty years - "always took good care of the house". We could tell that was the case with all the gardening and lawn equipment left behind, as well as the rope tied around all the bushes & hedges for the winter so the snow wouldn't deform them.

What kind of people live in this neighborhood? One might ask as driving by on their way to look at a property. If they see a lot of cars on blocks in the middle of a yard, patchy grass, overgrown shrubs, and chipped paint, depending on what kind of people they are, they may be less inclined to buy in that neighborhood and in turn keep up their property well. So lawn upkeep is but one element in the 'burbs used to not only attract the right kind of neighbor, but send the message to anyone driving through that the neighborhood is full of people who are proud of where they live and what they own.

The past month or so has been a bit crazy. We were asking for it when we wanted to do a house closing the day before New Year's Eve - crazy time of year usually followed by a lull turns into crazy time of year ramping up into an even crazier time.

It dawned on me recently that this is it. There may be other children, and our first child will be less needy (but likely still a handful) when we get further into his childhood. But once the house is organized to our liking, there will always be a project here, an errand there to do. Houses keep you busy, kids keep you busy. And of course, work keeps you busy.

It's unfortunate that people get lost in this busy-ness - it allows some of us ready-made excuses to disconnect from reality. In the midst of the busier times lately, it's not signing the documents to buy the house we'll remember, but rather the first night we spent in the house. It's not signing the checks or being able to borrow against the equity that you strive for, but rather building a good environment for one's family and sustaining it over time.

So we've paid particular attention to documenting some of the milestones we've seen our son experience during his fast growth. Still not quite six months old, this is what many parents are telling us is the "fun time": he's not quite mobile enough to realize there's more than just wiggling and kicking his legs, so he's content most times just to sit on someone's lap and smile, laugh, giggle. Now that he can fully support his head for a couple of minutes instead of just a few seconds, we're more comfortable taking him out on errands and to restaurants. He can even sit in a high chair for a bit and is eating solids. We've found this is a good time to continue giving a child lots of attention, showing him that he has loving parents. Giving them attention gives them confidence; not giving your child attention while you're in the same room as them can be detrimental to developing good social skills and social confidence. It all starts in the home, as they say. So whenever my son is in the same room as me, even if I have my work laptop open, I make it a point to make him laugh and give him some affection. Hearing him giggle, knowing he's fully content when he's in my arms, is one of the most rewarding things I've ever experienced.

My wife has also forged ahead with feeding the baby solids after we got the okay from our pediatrician. There's no shame in buying ready made baby food, but there is a cheaper alternative that is also more natural. Try buying some frozen vegetables - squash, peas, etc., always asking a pediatrician. You can use a food processor to process the food, then put it into ice cube trays and freeze it. The food is good this way for months; we just put the cubes into freezer bags and use it as we need to.

These are the types of milestones to document. When people told us, "take lots of pictures", I thought they were joking - of course we would take lots of pictures. It's easy to get wrapped up in what people call "real life" but ignore reality and not make time for the little things. We have a camera and can record video, so we make it a point to use them. Our parents did, and having those albums and videos around three or so decades later really does help make that connection to one's roots and upbringing stronger.

I've continued going to the gym in recent weeks, taking a little break around the holidays and on days where I had to shovel for over an hour.

I first went downstairs to the gym in my work building and the personal trainer offered a free session. I'm glad I accepted, otherwise I might just be stuck on the treadmill wishing I wasn't at the gym each morning. She kept some back issues I've had in mind and showed me a good 30-40 minute weightlifting routine to do each morning. There were enough different activities to do - including using a fitness ball for squats and pushups, etc. - that we split it up into "days 1 and 3" and "days 2 and 4", with a day to do whatever I wanted on day 5 if I were to come in a fifth day. I found myself going for two months straight, excited to see slow progress like adding five pounds here or getting my abs used to doing situps against gravity on the decline bench. Seeing my belt buckle go down a notch hasn't been bad, either.

The treadmill is less of a concern as I feel the weightlifting is burning a good deal of fat on its own, but I still get on there and walk quickly or run a bit for a total of at least a half hour each day I'm at the gym. It's a good way to end the workout after pounding one's muscles for 40 minutes.

I'm not into weightlifting for the same reasons Alex and Martin are, though. I want to lose weight, and tighten up my muscles, as more of a general health thing. Weightlifting with, say twelve reps each exercise two times each, gives my muscles more of an endurance workout than a workout geared toward explosiveness or building mass, and extends the amount of time I can lift (by taking shorter breaks between sets). I also find it useful to try doing ab work or work on the fitness ball between sets if I'm getting tired. This leads into some light running or fast walking to wrap things up.

It's a good routine, despite getting up in the very cold early morning hours of a New England winter to warm up the car, bundle up, drive in to work out. But when you're going to work right afterward, it's a rewarding feeling to know you've already accomplished something good well before you hit the desk. Then when you get home to your family, you know you're at least doing something to keep yourself active to remain healthy for a long period of time.

Our son is now past four months old. In a previous post, I had mentioned that he was sleeping well and now in his own room. But as many parents and doctors have told us, just when you think you have a routine pegged down, babies go and change on you. This ever-changing phase lasts through toddlerhood and then there are a whole new set of issues to deal with once your child is in grade school. But, one step at a time, yes?

The transition from apartment to house - with all the "house sounds" that come with it, like the furnace & sounds of wood settling - has been surprisingly smooth, though we are only on the third night in the house. He has begun to demand a bottle at 4am, which he's been getting, but otherwise sleeping soundly. Last night he tested us at 3am. As much as it hurt to hear, we had to let him cry it out until 4am when he was ready to have his bottle. As much as some - particularly in the Continuum Concept community - may disagree with sleep training, this is necessary in times of flux when both parents have to work, even if my wife is working at night. It's also necessary for other, social reasons, much as a four month old could care less.

The Continuum Concept would dictate in a case like this that the baby should sleep with the parents or in the room. It's a nice idea and sometimes my wife naps with our son. But it will only make the transition to social activities and schooling more difficult down the road, if the child is used to only constant contact with the parents, then suddenly gets ripped out of that when and if the parents are away for a few hours just to go out to eat here and there. Worse, when school begins, the child will have anxiety when away from parents for hours on end. This sets a bad tone for the future and for development. If the child is uncomfortable in school to begin with, how can he or she develop as a student? Many in the Continuum Concept board site that they can home school chlidren and not even use books. While I certainly have issues with modern education, a better system needs to be implemented; removing oneself from it isn't the end-all answer.

The idea that we should live like the Yequana tribe in modern society is absurd, and that's why I ultimately left the Continuum's email forum. I'd love to live that way, sure, everyone would. But there are social realities to consider when raising children in modern society. Much like Montessori education, it stops at a certain point and then children are expected to join the rest of the pack in modern educational facilities and modern living. These typically aren't as good or are at least very different from the systems in which they were raised. So as is usually the case, the best solution lies somewhere in the middle of local public school teacher and the radical new educational theories that can sometimes hurt chlidren when they eventually end up in the same colleges as children who went to public school.

My belief is that with a strong family and attentive parents, the exact type of educational theory or "concept" isn't as important as a loving home for the child. It might seem overly simple, but time will tell if it works in our case.

Alex recently wrote about how dressing in style can be important.

It's easy to let things slip a bit when you've just had a baby, and my wife and I realize we've let our wardrobes go a bit stale. I tend to use a similar rotation, so to speak, of outfits each week, for a couple of reasons: I see other people at work do the same thing; things are tough and I don't want to spend a lot of extra money on new clothes; I interact with less than a dozen people per day in my office job.

Still, we're not kept up all night anymore, but we are moving so our focus is on packing and doing things that don't necessarily lend themselves to running out and getting some nice new clothes. The winter weather also allows one to leave the house without much of one's wardrobe showing. So we forced ourselves to treat each other and picked out some nice things recently.

The clothes aren't important, but it's one element of personal appearance. As a parent, you don't want people looking at you and your family, and thinking, "well, if these two ever had any style, they've long since given up when they had kids." We feel good and are in good health, so why not complement that with some new threads once in a while, and ensuring pants are pressed before wearing them, maybe cleaning those shoes up a bit?

I also noticed that when I had to go to a different office location this week, I subconsciously remembered to have my shirts and pants pressed, and wore my nicer clothes to that office, which are usually reserved for interviews or occasions. I knew I'd be meeting new people and seeing other people I hadn't seen in a while. So the new clothes aren't just about making a statement and ensuring I look respectable to the outside world, it's also about breaking routine and not falling back on the old, safe wardrobe which equates to comfort, but sometimes staleness.

Once the emotional rush of becoming a parent is over, and the child needs routine and begins to grow, parents can sometimes fall into bad habits. If you haven't had time to work out or take care of yourself, it's hard to get back into those routines.

Even though work has been more and more busy lately, I figure since I'm not sleeping much, I might as well join a gym and get some workout time in early in the morning. These days, I'm up at 5am, at the gym with my laptop and clothes for the day at 6am, and at my desk around 7:30.

This includes weightlifting and cardio. The mistake I made when I peaked too quickly last time I was in a great workout routine, was doing just cardio. No abs, no weights. Alex and Martin would be horrified.

This time, I met with a personal trainer and told her of my back issues, so she set up a routine where I can lift pretty much nonstop for a half-hour, and I can choose to do some physical therapy and ab work for my back in between sets, then get on the treadmill for a half hour or more. It's dark and cold in New England in the early morning hours at this time of year, so running outside can be a problem.

Getting into this routine has helped. Our new house purchase is moving along too, so I'm already dreaming up ways to make the basement into a workout area: BRT ball, maybe some kettle weights, and down the line a treadmill for days that running outside isn't an option.

Despite the insanity of piles of work and a baby to take care of, staying in shape, be it via workout routine or doing things around the house as Alex has pointed out, is important. When children see their parents as strong, in good shape, and having energy to do things with them instead of always seeming exhausted, lazy, and watching TV during down time, it will only benefit them in the future. For me, getting back into good shape is preparation for doing things around the house, as well as doing outdoorsy stuff with my son when he is old enough to appreciate them - hikes, going to the beach, swimming, and sports.

Our son is nearly three months old, and we are grateful that everything is moving along for him nicely, in terms of his weight and general health. He now sleeps through the night, from around 7pm - 4 or 5am, and is generally agreeable (read: not colicy). Even after a small bout with a stomach bug, he's now back to eating normally and packing on more weight.

Now is also the time to ensure we're thinking about milestones down the road, as these three months is what some call "the fourth trimester" - just feed, love, and pay attention to the baby and your work as a parent is mostly done.

It's been a fun three months getting to know him, and we do have time to reflect on and laugh at parents who try to discipline their kids, or get them on a schedule when they're three WEEKS old, let alone three months. We've seen our son change before our very eyes, so we know a few things are coming up that we should be aware of:

• He'll be able to roll around soon, so swaddling has to end (if wrapped up like a burrito, cute as it is, he may get stuck without use of his arms if he flips himself over onto his tummy). It comforts him, as does white noise from the air conditioner in the room which we still run even this late for his sake, but we'll need to transition him out of these habits and hope he's as good a sleeper without some of these things as he is now.
• Teething will most certainly occur, it's just a matter of when. We're expecting in another month or so. We are prepared with some tools to lighten the pain - teething biscuits, rings, and other assorted chewable items one can put in the freezer to give the baby something comfortable to chew on.
• In another month or so, he'll be crawling around. So the time has come to "baby proof" the house. That will involve common sense items such as outlet covers, maybe a gate, and cord wraps. There are debates about just how far parents need to go, but using common sense is usually a good gauge - no need to lock the liquor cabinet or hide the bleach in the basement just yet, if you're keeping an eye on your child.
• Recently, we took him to a restaurant with my mother in law. He was great, found a fan and some lights to stare at, and was generally agreeable. But he still can't support his own head so we won't be doing that too often until he can as it's difficult to drag the baby seat in with us and keep him in there.
• It's easy to let one's marriage go and focus solely on the child. Beyond the occasional night out, parents need to maintain a loving relationship with each other during this great time. I believe we've struck a good balance in knowing that while our child requires round-the-clock care for the time being, we won't grow into a couple of comfortable old shoes too quickly - we're simply too interested in each other and look at this time as family time, not just "baby" time.
• Socializing is a tough subject as it's received some bad press recently. Look no further than George Carlin for an honest, hard look at what he calls a "sophisticated form of child abuse." People have taken the idea of socializing as an opportunity to force their kids into rigid schedules. Kids don't belong on rigid schedules, they should be using their imaginations and generally free to do what they want - safely and within reason - with other children as they grow. So there will be no force-fitting our children into an Outlook calendar of swimming lessons, play groups, and day care. Swimming lessons and play groups are fine, as long as it's just a piece of a strong, healthy upbringing. What a child needs are his parents and family at this very early stage of life - pay no mind to the parents who try preparing their children for Kindergarten entrance exams before they turn one year old. These are not the type of people you want to socialize with regularly or get parenting tips from.

Yesterday was the eight week mark for our little bundle. By now, his vision begins to clear up and he is recognizing and distinguishing faces. So those first genuine smiles have come in and he's now smiling regularly whenever he sees his mother or father, or just about anyone who gives him the time of day. Obviously, there's little else that is more rewarding as a parent of a newborn. His sleep patterns are settling in slowly, such that he might sleep for 8 hours at a time at night. Newborns cannot typically put themselves to sleep, but he has done so a few times. Usually he just needs to see his mother's face before falling asleep and then he's out for a while.

My wife decided to take a work shift or two here and there. Nothing regular yet, really just a way for her to get out of the house and make a little extra money. She's only taking shifts during times when she knows I'm home. It gives me some time alone with the baby, but also reminds me that I don't have that safety net of Mommy close by to take him if he acts up or if I need a break.

Since that time, I've said to my wife on more than one occasion: "I admire and respect what you have to do all day while home alone with this child." Little angel though he is most of the time, it truly is a full time job caring for a child or chlidren - and we're lucky in that he sleeps for hours each night and is rarely ever inconsolable.

Even eight weeks in, I still feel good about even my own social life. All I really ever do is get together with one or two friends every week or two. Sometimes a bunch of us will get together and play a poker game, which we've still managed to do occasionally. So there really haven't been any issues of frustration such as, "I never get out of the house". If anything, I make sure I give my wife ample opportunity to head out and do what she needs to do to get a breather, but she hasn't needed to take me up on it too often.

The only concern at this point is ensuring we keep his mind engaged and developing. It's a bit early to worry about it too much, as long as he is seeing his parents and given the opportunity to observe things. But we try to make sure we go out for walks, that one of us read to him regularly, that he gets good face time with us, and that he gets "tummy time" to develop those arms and chest, so he grows up to be like Martin.

Recently, I was accused of being a eugenicist on Facebook, by someone I've known for years. This all came about because I gently steered him toward my theory that humans have nearly worn out our welcome on this planet and maybe it's time we trim our numbers down by about 19/20ths so we can rebuild in a more natural, organic way. That, or maybe a nice ice age comes along and buries most of our cities so we're no longer a blight. He, on the other hand, believes the Earth can sustain 100 billion humans with no issues whatsoever - just a note, that's over fourteen times our current population.

My views were hard to understand for him, as he's a conspiracy theorist and didn't get to the point of figuring out how humanity could effect such a change, only worried about "freedom and liberty", and thus blocked my account after getting the last word. This was after I decided to spin it from a father's perspective, and tell him that I know what child rearing takes, in terms of man-hours at a hospital, stress, nine months of waiting, resources, clean water, available food, distribution resources for all these supplies made elsewhere, etc. just so that one baby can make it from prenatal to postnatal care with no problems...Oh and don't forget those doctors, with their American post-grad degrees. That OB/GYN who delivered our son? He's about $100K in debt before he ever sees his first patient.

Of course, much of these niceties are a wall built around ourselves. If left to mother nature, most births would go just fine, but some babies would die during childbirth as mortality rates are higher in nature, all else being equal. I certainly can't imagine life without my son now, so I appreciate the medical technology. But I do have the perspective to note that no matter what we do, we will never be able to save every single baby and give him those precious first few weeks of constant parental attention, doctor's visits, warm blankets, and formula/milk. It's just impossible, at least with seven billion people on the planet: humanity cannot organize at that level and the resources are becoming too scarce.

The hilarious irony in my (former?) friend's rants, per the linked post above, is that he believes in the New World Order and secret societies controlling humanity behind closed doors. Centralized authority loves groups of stupid people in small areas, and with 100 billion people it would actually be easier, not more difficult, to continue centralizing authority. Spreading humanity out with fewer numbers would decentralize authority organically, as it's more difficult - and less attractive - to try and rule more people in far corners of the globe.

As a parent, my views on population, humanity, and life have only been strengthened each time I come home from work and look in my son's eyes. Reducing population globally can still be done safely and voluntarily, or even through more aggressive foreign policy such as "no more aid to dictators who show no regard for their own population". Why this is so hard to understand for so many people who fail to see the endgame of overpopulation boggles the mind.

When babies are just born, small curls of the mouth upward when passing gas will look like 'smiles'. Babies are not actually capable of social smiles until well after one month old...and it's interesting, because as a new parent, you certainly notice the difference between the two.

Now that our son is over six weeks old, his gestures and expressions are becoming more obvious. When he's doing nothing but fidgeting around, as a newborn, one never really knows when he's passing gas, having a bowel movement, or is just plain fidgety/fussy. By six weeks, he's not quite as constantly fidgety while awake, especially when distracted with new faces, familiar faces, or activities like "tummy time" and being read to.

For most babies, social smiles appear around 6 to 8 weeks of age. These smiles are all the more welcome because babies’ crying also peaks around the same time. Some 6-week-old babies may cry for 2 hours a day, often in short spurts with one longer spurt in the late afternoon.

My wife was home when she saw his first social smile in response to her. He likes to relax in a baby chair with a vibrating mechanism running (this helps relieve gas pains; milocon also helps). She left to take a shower and he was crying when she returned, but as soon as her face was in his line of vision, his eyes lit up and there it was: the baby's first smile at his mother. Now it has become a frequent occurrence to expect a smile whenever one of his parents is around and he is alert.

At night, he is being an angel, for the most part. Where some kids are colicy, our son has even put himself to sleep on occasion, meaning it doesn't always take a half hour or hour of one of us rocking him - we can sometimes put him down when he's almost there and he'll drift off on his own. A lot of the stress and frustration of getting up at 3am to feed him melt away when we realize how rare it is for an infant to do this.

I sat back last night and enjoyed a dram or two of Lagavulin 16-year after dinner, while my wife held our baby on the other side of the couch. The TV was off, and we could talk about things and let our minds wander while we enjoyed some quiet time together as a family. It was odd to even have free time after work, as the last 5 weeks have proven difficult at times, but always fulfilling.

Reflecting back on the last month, it hasn't been the nightmare spike in stress, hostility, and short tempers that the media might have you believe. Forward-thinking people who plan families and understand why they are doing it - to advance a family gene pool, to continue family tradition and values - can put these things in proper context, thereby limiting the effect on one's psyche. The flip side, of course, is that people who think only in the short term will be more perturbed by short term inconveniences like lack of a good night's rest, stress in a marriage, or suddenly having to look at each paycheck and save as many pennies as possible.

So instead of a short terms spike in all these nasty feelings, my wife and I have done, in my opinion, a good job at maintaining a healthy level of interaction, even if at times we can be short with each other. We both realize that this is temporary, and simply looking into our son's eyes gives us all the rejuvenation we need at three in the morning to continue feeding/rocking back to sleep. Speaking of which, we have been blessed with a baby that has mostly good nights and is not colicy.

Sipping my scotch, I realized that it was good to have a family for several reasons. It's a natural progression, from meeting your spouse, to marriage and sharing families, to then continuing the best parts of both families within your children. This is what nature intends, of course: reproduction is an inherently "selfish" activity, in the sense that people should feel pride and should feel defensive about their offspring and the values perpetuated by their lineage. Whether those values are in line with the rest of society is something to be determined later, and that is a whole different animal, so to speak.

It's easy to think this way before the little bugger can talk back / storm out of the house as a teenager / get involved with the wrong crowd. Looking purely inward at our current family situation, I feel proud and blessed. Social interaction is another beast entirely, and we will handle that as the months and years progress.

A while back, a friend of mine sent me a whole bunch of bargain websites which have coupons for all sorts of junk. Baby formula, flat-screen TVs, free this, discount on that. It made me think about how our mailbox is stuffed full almost daily of junk, in the form of coupons and alerts on all kinds of deals. Beyond even that, my own credit card company sends me blank checks to write against my credit, and this same friend told me I better get a credit card that has rewards or I'm really missing out - 5% off gas, 1% off all purchases, etc. He, and many others like him, make it a habit to change their spending behavior based on what other companies are offering, rather than spending what is needed only, in the right places.

Could I use a buy one/get one free coupon on some baby formula? Sure, of course I could. Some of these bargains truly end up saving one money. But it also made me think of American consumerism and our preoccupation with bargains and deals.

Rather than spend time and changing spending habits so they revolve around finding a few bucks off junk we don't need or want - which, ironically, causes one to spend more than one would otherwise - my wife and I have found we work best by continuing what we always did even before our son was born. We buy food in the most basic, least processed form possible (with the occasional treat thrown in), and make as many of our own meals as possible. We realized that they typically don't have coupons for things like bags of lettuce, carrots, almonds, or bananas; usually the coupons are for non-perishables like canned goods with lots of salt and/or corn syrup.

Outside of food, we put as much of our savings as possible into a liquid yet higher yield instrument than today's regular savings accounts. At least this way, the little bit of interest one earns compounds and grows over time, the idea being that you never really need that money, but if you did, you might look in your statement one day and find that it grew a bit since the last time you checked.

Instead of spending my time clipping coupons and finding junk to buy that I wouldn't want anyway, I'm buying a life insurance policy and taking advantage of my local bank's money market rates. We were never your typical American consumers to begin with and in fact have less junk and spend less on telecom services (cable, internet, phone) than we did five years ago. Rather than focus on spending more to save more, always chasing the carrot on the stick, we've curbed our overall spending so we have more time to be a family.