It's been an uneventful month here in Denver. I've gotten out for a couple of short hikes. Bree has gong back to part time and has been home more. I bought a used Saab wagon, which I am loving so far. Rachel continues to get bigger and continues to grow more coordinated and interactive. A couple of days ago she had her five month birthday, which for obvious reasons, held a significance for me. Bree had been asked by her manager to go into work but I told her that it might not be a good night for her to work and that I preferred that she stay home. I hope that in a few months I'll be able to start relaxing a little bit, but we'll see.

I think about how Owen was when he was five months old and try to compare how he was to Rachel, but it is hard to do. I often think about how old Owen would be now, had he lived, and what he would be like today and what kinds of things he would be doing. His second birthday would be coming up next month. We probably would have thrown hims some sort of party. I imagine that is old enough for a little boy to appreciate having a party and getting presents. I realize that these types of thoughts are not necessarily productive for me, so I try not to dwell on them too long but still miss him terribly every day.

I caught a bad cold a few weeks ago. It even kept me out of work for a day, which is pretty unusual. I prefer to save my sick days for other things, like paternity leave or the very occasional day off with my wife. Just about the time when I was getting over it Rachel came down with the same thing. I had been afraid that I would pass it along to her and thought we had dodged the bullet, until she started sniffling and coughing. Each sneeze seemed to produce rush of thick mucus which would get everywhere if Bree or myself were not on it in an instant with a tissue to wipe it away.

Poor Rachel seemed so sick and miserable it was painful for us as parents to watch. When Bree was away at work, I fretted over whether to give her any baby Tylanol and if so, how much. She had a fever, but I don't think it ever got too high. Mostly she just had a bad cough, a wheeze, and a runny nose. I knew she wasn't feeling well, but I wished she was able to talk already so that she could tell me exactly what was wrong so I could choose the best course of action toward fixing it. Rachel is better now, but it seems like every time I go to pick her up at daycare, some snot-nosed little kid is using her as a Kleenex, so I imagine that the chances are that it won't be very long before she catches her next cold.

On another note, I saw in the paper this morning that we just lost Bettie Page. This came as a bit of a blow, especially since I hadn't even really been aware that she was still alive. She hasn't exactly been in the news a lot lately even though she had undergone a resurgence in popularitly in recent years. We have Bettie, at least partially to thank for my wife's current cute hair style. A few months ago I watched The Notorius Bettie Page, with Gretchen Mol playing the lead. It wasn't as compelling as it could have been and movie didn't go into any great detail about any one part of Bettie's life and seemed to only scratch the surface of what it could have, but I did come away from it feeling a greater appreciation for Bettie as a person, her integrity and the unique challenges she had to face. She was sort of like the Rosa Parks of Porn. It's just too bad she had to become a born again Christian and sully her whole glorious legacy. We will forever remember you for who you were, Bettie.