Peculiar Graces: Dark, Dark Nights

The hardest thing I have ever known is to become a parent. Fifteen years ago I became a high schooler; that was pretty hard. Then came college, which was harder; but then, after a while, if I’m honest with you, it got easy. After graduation, becoming a teacher was hard, too, but eventually it was … Continue reading Peculiar Graces: Dark, Dark Nights →

Peculiar Graces: Twenty-Thousand Roads I Went Down, Down, Down, and They All Led Me Straight Back Home to You

We are home. And we want to say thank you. Thank you, all you people who wrote to us and called us, to offer your friendship and support and love: for three days Alli and I saw only one another, and nurses, and doctors, and thermometers, and machines that go Ping!, but, for all that … Continue reading Peculiar Graces: Twenty-Thousand Roads I Went Down, Down, Down, and They All Led Me Straight Back Home to You →

Peculiar Graces: So Now Then

He has arrived. Alli pushed for about an hour, and he came out crying right away. Six pounds, six ounces, and hairy like a monkey: a true Delgado. More soon. Love to you.

Peculiar Graces: Soon And Very Soon

Okay: Last time we checked (and by we I mean—the doctor), Alli was dilated to 9cm. This is close. We are getting there. She’s sleeping now. In the next couple of hours, we’re thinking, maybe: Push. Woo!

Peculiar Graces: Here We Are Now. In the Thick.

Friends, It is 5AM. We have been in the hospital now for three hours. Alli has been given her epidural, and now feels, she says, like she’s sitting in a bowl of soup. Everything is going smoothly. By everyone’s best guess, Jonah should arrive around noon, or maybe a little later, today. We’ve been up … Continue reading Peculiar Graces: Here We Are Now. In the Thick. →

Peculiar Graces: False Alarm or Maybe Not

Friends, Alli has had some Maybe Signs this morning—that is, signs of Maybe We're Going Into Labor Now—and we have been timing contractions, and we're still in the Maybe Boat: we can't tell one way or the other whether we are actually beginning the thick of it soon. Of course, if we do, we will … Continue reading Peculiar Graces: False Alarm or Maybe Not →

Peculiar Graces: This Child’s Name Is Jonah

Friends, As you already know: Alli and I are expecting a child. This child’s name is Jonah. He does not speak yet, nor does he make any other sounds—because right now he breathes liquid goo, and you can’t huff and puff and scream when you’re breathing liquid goo—but he moves around, and he knows our … Continue reading Peculiar Graces: This Child’s Name Is Jonah →

Peculiar Graces: Shim Gets A Name (Or At Least A Sex)

Friends, Now that I am an expecting parent, and now that I have an expecting mother for a wife, I have begun to reflect a little more than usual on all kinds of things, like how little my wife asks of me—Will you make me waffles? Will you get me a bottle of water? Will … Continue reading Peculiar Graces: Shim Gets A Name (Or At Least A Sex) →