11-10-00 11:38 PM F

Rochelle is nursing Ada. They and Lulu and I are all snug in bed. We came4 home from the hospital at eleven thirty this morning. I typed fifteen minutes before I went up to Cedars. I corrected a spelling error on Jim last night. My dad and stepmom came. She cooked lasagna. He took a lot of pictures. We took the film down to the Sav-On. My neighbors came over to remind him of why leaves in Idaho. Mac came for a few minutes. I read the news in bits and pieces. The country braces itself for the results from Florida and the court’s decisions regarding the presidential election. Either way, half the country will be pissed, alienated, and unsupportive if not hostile. The Israelis continue to murder and oppress and no one seems to care. Los Altos won forty-one to nothing. I’m tired. We’ve got the movie [pencil sketch of baby’s face] “The Patriot to watch. I should put a photograph in here so I can quit writing, but I don’t feel like getting up again. I wonder how hard it’s going to be to work at Jim with my baby daughter on my mind. We have been watching “Saturday Night Fever” on TV while I read the paper. Now “Flashdance” is on. What else? Ada rode home in the car in what seemed to me to be quiet awe. Cumulus sculptures decorated a celestial gallery Rochelle took a long nap today. Ada was super good. Lulu has been sniffing curiously and seems to understand that caution is warranted around our fragile and precious new roommate. Walking cliché of proud papa [drawn red Valentine’s hearts above photo of father, mother, and newborn in delivery room]

11-9-00

Her head emerged into this world. The doctor flipped here out onto her mother's belly. Mom's eyes grew wide and her mouth rounded into an O. Dad held tight to mom's hand. The midwife took the baby to a receiving table and placed her under a heating lamp. Time seemed to freeze. The baby was left alone. The doctor and nurses were tending to the mom. Dad walked over, surprised and happy that he was going to be the first to speak with her. She seemed alert and strong, and she was looking around the room, which surprised him further. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to touch her. He watched her moving her head and her big ocean eyes to see everything. He hadn't believed a newborn could be so alert and curious so soon out of the womb. He had been bracing himself for her to come out misshapen and agonized. His heart filled with pride and gratitude and he said hello and welcomed her and touched her chest with his finger, then caressed her head, and put a pinky in her hand. He told her he loved her and that she was beautiful. She was slender, athletic-looking, even, lacking in baby fat. The nurse took her to be weighed. Six pounds, four ounces. Nineteen inches. Then, he picked up his little daughter.