Zoe Read Armstrong Auerbach

That's right folks, the Dragon is a daddy!Jes had about 31 hours of early labor and about 2.5 hours of active labor. The attending midwife and nurse both were amazed at how quickly and smoothly Jes delivered.Mom and baby are both recovering fine, thanks for asking.So far Zoe has been a joy. She is a calm, curious infant whose most frequent expression is dubious but observant.Though I son't intend

Scooter Punk Kids Fabrics

Sorry about the long hiatus from posting... strangely, my instinctive response to Jes's swelling belly has been to spend all my free time either in the studio, or curled up on the couch with her.This morning though, I was searching for some unique cloth to make a baby sling out of and found this great baby-mod print. It's cotton thermal, so I don't know that it would be good for a sling, maybe a

Love and Marriage, American Style

So this past weekend, Jes and I attended the wedding of one of her childhood friends. Perhaps you can tell from the photo above, it was a little non-traditional.Still, it was the most beautiful ceremony I have ever seen.The ceremony was a mish-mash of Wiccan and Native American rituals, which was surprisingly poignant and non-New Age-y.With the recent developments in California about gay marriage

Buddha was a Dead-Beat Dad

I've long been fascinated with Buddhism, and to this day my life is enriched by wisdom gleaned from its philosophy, and by its existential technologies.But I have a major problem with the mythology and base theology of Siddharta.I won't get into all of that here, but Buddha's abandonment of his family troubles me. Especially since, the more I contemplate the changes parenthood will bring to my

The Artist as Parent

Blessed Mother by Kevin KresseI am so overwhelmed with various emotions about being an expectant father, that it has been very hard for me to blog, or do much else productive.I've been organizing the studio, though, as I have the premonition that this surge of feeling will eventually manifest itself in some creative work.Though we are socially conditioned to see artists as hedonistic libertines,

In Utero Update

So Jes went in for her first prenatal exam yesterday...Apparently, our estimates were just a tad off... where we'd thought she was 12-15 weeks along, turns out it is more like 25 weeks...We checked out the birthing center we'd like to use, and it's pretty nice.Jes also had her first sonogram, (seen above) looks like it is a girl. The experts tell us she is doing just fine.I however have quit

Beginning of a Great Adventure

More proof, if any were needed, that Lou Reed is the most underrated song-writer of the 20th century.Some great jams here, but the vocals are a little muffled.And so you can truly appreciate Lou's take on a middle-aged hipster staring down paternity's double barrels, I give you the lyrics:It might be fun to have a kid that I could kick aroundA little me to fill up with my thoughtsA little me or

Anniversary, Announcement, and Assorted Aliterations

Well today is the second Anniversary of my first post here on Honky-Tonk Dragon. Over 1100 posts and 75,000 hits later, it might seem like a good time for reflection, and indulging in laser accurate probes of hind-sight. I'm sure I'll get to that eventually, but right now, I'm looking toward the future, for reasons which will become obvious in a moment.The announcement part of this post is