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I'm reluctant to talk about this but in some ways think it's better to be completely honest rather than try to hide what's happening. And in truth I'm almost proud of it. As some of you may know I've been experiencing a good deal of joint pain lately. I actually had to take an entire week of work off last week and have been prescribed pain medication, physical therapy and rest. As it turns out, I've been undergoing a hormonal shift caused by an extremely rare condition--'sympathetic lactation'. Some background first. From an article about the condition at the  Human Lactation Center  at UC Davis: ...'Sympathetic lactation' has been reported in even rarer cases. 'Sympathetic lactation' refers to the late-stage development of the dormant male mammary glands as a response to a breastfeeding mother." Obviously I've been around a lactating mother for the better part of six years (Jessica!). Last week on Friday I had a few tests perfor...

Photo by Jessica

As Jessica warns, just make sure the dishwasher is clean. Otherwise you'll end up with a drawer full of dirty forks and knives, something we've found on occasion... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXJGzpFUjvk?rel=0]

Jessica reads Captain Raptor and Space Pirates to an captive audience. It's actually a pretty exciting book. Art and Si look at a Where's Waldo book together.

Tonight art's friend si is sleeping over. the first time for both kids. we'll post a couple more photos later.arthur was so incredibly excited at the idea. Surprisingly they went to sleep (in the same bed!) without a hitch.

Wet on wet watercolor Lewis did at his friend, Anika's house. It's a fish.  Rotate 90 degrees to the left and it's an A!  He's a GENIUS! I think this is a drawing of a game that Art created in his mind during 'quiet time' at his morning class before kindergarten. "I was going to make a monster, but...it...I just made a carrot instead."  - Art Multimedia plan of the house Art would like to live in, including coconut trees, an alligator, lots of windows and a fox.  Made in Art Class at Barton.  I just love the art teacher there. The last three pics are of a 3D collage, also from Art Class. Melted crayon print down here at our own home.  (I did the swirly parts.) I feel this drawing, Netta's first ever, illustrated her approach to most things.  BLAH! Same with this painting. In contrast, Bailey's work shows a more deliberate approach.  Discuss... Another lovely wet on wet watercolor by Lewis.

Bailey and a noodle.

I photographed the Minnesota boys basketball tournament last week. A grueling four days of photography. Normally we pass the workload around amongst photographers but my well-intentioned editor suggested we try a single photographer shooting each tournament this year (hockey, wrestling, basketball, etc). I liked the idea. Photographers get to know the teams, what's important story wise and they also likely end up caring more about the coverage (I certainly did). But in the end it's just an extraordinary amount of work. I'm worn down. Anyway, we put together a gallery of my favorite photos from the week. Here they are. http://twincities.slideshowpro.com/m/embed.js SlideShowPro({ attributes: { id: "album-315616", width: 800, height: 600 }, mobile: { auto: false }, params: { bgcolor: "#000000", allowfullscreen: true }, flashvars: { xmlFilePath: "http://twincities.slideshowpro.com/images.php?album=315616", ...

Kind of cute and worth noting that Netta said "Bailey" the other night while I was calling Bailey to come in for books.  And then when Art came upstairs I said, "Hi, Art," and she said "A'ight".  Then i asked her again where Art was and she pointed to him and puckered up to give him a kiss.  We were all three delighted. Bailey is not interested in calling people by any names.  She just wants you to put her shoes "Nah" and "Nah."

Spring has arrived super early in Minnesota. It's be nice and also completely weird (today I killed my first mosquito). Anyway, last week I shot these nature photos for work at Woodlake Nature Center , a spot we've often visited as a family. I think this time last year there was still more than a foot of snow on the ground. http://twincities.slideshowpro.com/m/embed.js SlideShowPro({ attributes: { id: "album-312694", width: 800, height: 600 }, mobile: { auto: false }, params: { bgcolor: "#000000", allowfullscreen: true }, flashvars: { xmlFilePath: "http://twincities.slideshowpro.com/images.php?album=312694", displayMode: "Manual" } });

It was mentioned as a possibility and Lewis immediately ran up stairs and dragged his down comforter all the way outside. And then Art got his. And they went up to get their pillows. And their pajamas.

There are two in there.

Bailey, left, and Netta.

Lewis woke up and looked in the fridge for an appetizer while he waited for French toast. He chose leftover mixed vegetables. Cold. While he was eating them he said, in a rather grand way, "Momma, I just LOVE vegetables." He ate them all, about a cup or more, and brought his bowl in. Angel.

Lewis and friends at Willow Preschool (photo by Ms. Jen)

Lewis: Papa, how old are you? Me: 36 Lewis, amazed: Ahwwwwww... thats SUPER tall!

from the archives.

Netta. Bailey.

Art and Lewis play soccer with a snowball at Phelps.

So, Netta's nose has stitches. A whopping eight of them. They're super tiny, though. This photo makes it look alot worse than it is. This was taken a couple days ago, too. It looks much less red and better now. The other day she climbed a chair and fell off, busting her nose wide open. Through the cartilage. Ow. Had to go to Children's hospital emergency room. Jessica did all this while I was at work, a gift for poor Ben who can't really handle seeing his kids bleeding and in pain. I woulda handled it, just would have sucked. So thanks Jessica! Anyway, ever since Netta has been home she's been one happy little bugger. So that's good, no real pain. The main worry (for me) is some sort of permanent scarring. Which is likely inevitable but will be super tiny. We're doing everything we can to minimize chances of scarring and I do take some solace knowing that if for some odd reason it doesn't heal well or she ends up with a third nostril, a wee bit of plast...

Sometimes Jessica and I will lay in bed and revel in how pure and wonderful Lewis is. He's essence of boy, of childhood. You can drink him in. He'll snuggle, he'll sing made up songs as he runs naked through the house leaving a trail of joy, and if you make a mistake and yell at him he curls up like a rolly polly and hides and cries. And when he cries he wails. His feelings run through him water through a faucet. When I come home from work he always trots up and chants, "Papa Papa Papa" and gives me a wonderful dancing hug. The other night Jessica turned to me, amazed, and said "He's just a fucking angel."

(Photo by Jessica)

Lewis was outside this morning playing in the snow and then appeared at the backdoor with a shovel full of snow. "I want to eat this snow, Mama." Ok. Snow and hot chocolate (photo by Jessica)