Apple sauce is for the wild and daring
It has recently come to my attention that I am viewed by my students and potentially others as "sweet."  Even more damning, "midwestern." I regularly get comments on student evaluations such as "Dr. Flaherty is a really sweet lady." and similar.  Last week the projector refused to work at an inopportune time during one of my lectures.  As I cursed under my breath, one of the students heard and gasped.  "Dr. Flaherty!" he said. "I do swear." I told him, with a smile.  "I'm a grown up." "I know," he replied, "But you are just a sweet midwestern mom!"
This lead to a little bit of self-reflection. Lets see... Woman in her thirties with three kids and two dogs. Clean house.  Drives a minivan.  Obsesses over sleeping schedules.  Does laundry every night.  Likes to cook.  Has "date nights" with her husband in which they do things like make pickles and watch old television shows on DVDs.
GASP.  Is this what I have become?  Where is my edge? My mystery?  My ability to surprise people with all of my interesting juxtapositions and uniqueness? Instead, I have become a very traditional and yes, very midwestern, wife and mother.  There is little trace of someone who once skinny dipped and hitchhiked and could still cook a damn fine dinner if she made it back in time before heading to the bar.
How do I get that edginess back and persuade my students that I am not as boring and definitely not as sweet as I appear?    Should I start wearing black leather to classes and spit on the students?
Is this what happens when one becomes an adult (and yes, I realize that I have probably made that transition too, but I can only handle one crisis at a time)?
Patrick and I discussed this today.  He seems to feel that even if we move to a different region of the country, I will continue to be wholesome, sweet, and perhaps less midwestern, but still a wife and mother.  Of course, my quest to be wild, dark and dangerous is hampered by the fact that we spent the morning picking apples and I am now canning apple sauce and apple butter.  I fear that food preserving, even with the presence of boiling water, is extremely midwestern, very sweet, and probably wholesome. Gosh darn it, whats next?  Oh wait, I still have buttons to sew back on to Mariel's coat.  And then I will go to bed early....

4 months old!

Holden is officially 4 months old!  If you happen to see Mariel, you will find out that she also turned 5 and a half on the same day (September 10).  She has been telling everyone, which leads to much confusion as the rest of the world does not routinely celebrate half birthdays like we do.

Here is our big man:

 17 lbs and 6 oz (about 90th percentile) and 25 inches (about 50th percentile).  Maybe a football player?