oy, you know the ticking clock/maternal instinct/blah blah blah has hit when you realize that you've just gotten your heart accidentally broken by your husband saying that he doesn't like dr. seuss* because you've mentally decided that the baby's room should be painted to be a scene from the lorax, even though (a) there is no baby on the horizon and (b) given my hoped for career in the foreign service, we'll be moving every couple years and i'm definitely not interested in putting in hours and hours of work on a complicated room-painting scheme for a house that we'll only be in for a little while.

*who doesn't like dr. seuss? (if you're thinking "well, me, actually" i don't want to hear it. because i like you, and i want to keep liking you. you should also not say that you think lewis carroll was full of it.) karl's reason, by the way, was that dr. seuss "doesn't make sense." now, at the risk of this entry becoming a list of lists, this is silly because (a) for those dr. seuss stories that don't make so much sense (i'm looking at you, fox in socks) that is the point--to be fun stuff to say, not necessarily well-formed plots, and (b) not all dr. seuss is nonsense! see the afore-mentioned lorax, for example.

anyway, this whole baby thing. it's totally embarrassing, but as i approached 30, the biological clock started ticking, right on cue. suddenly, i'm admiring pregnant bellies on the street, noticing all the different kinds of strollers and carriers and oh my god the halloween costumes. the halloween costumes are killing. me.

so i've been reading mothering/parenting newsgroups, telling myself i'm just checking out the products that new moms are finding the most useful, so i can choose something to give to my BIL and SIL for their baby shower in a couple weeks, but really, i'm totally reading up on all the different philosophies of childbirth, parenting, baby naming, best ways to conceive, adoption vs. conception, spacing of children, etc. yeah, i know. i'm rolling my eyes at myself too.

anyway, when i mentioned this whole thing to karl, he said that we could just paint the kid's room with the mr. men characters instead. don't get me wrong, the mr. men are wonderful and all, but a little part of me died inside.

must. get. back. to. dissertation.