Makes everything seem so insignificant...

Beautiful! Where is Tank Hill?

Sometimes we forget there's the rest of the world out there. Thanks for reminding us.

Always has to be one smart ass in the crowd doesn't there? ;)

Nice pict.

Beautiful.

And by the way, I've lived an hour from SF for about twenty-five years and until now, never heard of Tank Hill.

Nice photo, by the way.

Beautiful blue sky... my son's eyes are practically that exact same color. The blue is so peaceful and the picture is so crisp. You are quite talented.

Get ready to be amazed because I, too, know about the internet and I plugged in smartass and I received my answer almost instantaneously- zebob.

Good question about the mound of dirt - what the hell is it? And yeah - way too much snarkyness going on here - its not like a hurricane is going to hit you people tomorrow or anything you know - chill out.

Dammit, now I have the "Rice-a-Roni' theme song in my head.

Ahhh San Francisco, thanks zebob I didn't know where the hell 'Tank Hill' was :)

I'd like to add some more snark into this mix. That "mound of dirt" is precisely why I haven't yet removed my heart thereby giving San Francisco the chance to claim it. As a matter of fact, the idea of returning there next week sort of makes me want to throw up.

That mound of dirt is a hill. I live between two of them. They are green for (I hear) a month out of the year.

(I drank too much Maker's Mark last night. Please note the hangover induced sarcasm.)

LOL!!!

Great pic, Dooce :)

Nice composition - I like the one red house in the lower left-center of the picture.

I find it very amusing to see these pictures of places I've been (like Tank Hill and the Apple Store in Emeryville/SF)... especially since I am a fool and never take a camera with me to the city. That is a very pretty picture. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit (I know it was awhile ago).

That is one of my favorite places in the entire universe. I used to sit on Tank Hill at night when I was lonely and look out at all the lights and across the bay and somehow feel better. What a great memory. Thanks for posting this photo.

I Love that city, beautiful picture.

Wah. I used to live in San Francisco. That pictures is actually making my eyes water. Ouch. That hurts my heart. I hate the East.

That mound of dirt is a park?! It looks creepy! I can't stop eyeballing it. It appears so strange and out of place. That must be why the picture is so interesting. Nice little view of the city with a huge mound of dirt in the midst of things. Non-conforming mound of dirt! Ack!

There are these wonderful things called "manners" which are part of a thing called "society" where you can "interact" with "people" in such a way that they don't all want to "stab" you.

To keep up with the SF theme:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/22/nude.yoga.reut/index.html

Internet, eh?

I hear they even have it on computers now.

Hmm, nice mound of dirt, though - looks like some Doctor Who scale model of a city onto which somebody accidentally dropped a wheelbarrow load of dirt. We just need weird, cheap Dr. Who monster to come rampaging in to complete the picture (maybe tomorrow?)

Being from the rolling *green* hills of Kentucky and shamelessly non-travelled (?), I'm also amazed, appalled and intrigued by the mound-o-dirt park thing. I'd have never guessed it was a park in a million years!
Love that one lone red house. Makes you wonder what kind of people live there, huh?
Gorgeous pic, Dooce. I'd rather see funny ones of Leta, though. Nothing is better than baby pictures. ;)
Good day to you!

Tiffany made me laugh and she's got great pictures on her site, too. Which just goes to show that Dooce attracts the coolest gals on the "internet".

I love the picture, all of your pictures actually. Now I can see why you disabled comments. Yikes.

Dr. Who has been played on American television for years ... I watched it growing up on Sunday late mornings ... and that was over 15 years ago. It's long been in syndication here, even if it may be just a little "too sophisticated of a show" for us blokes across the pond.

Thanks for the tip, zebob! I'm sure glad I have someone like you to point out the obvious! :)

Is that kind of like One Tree Hill?

Fantastic photo!
But naked yoga? really?
As a woman, I can't imagine that downward dog would be much fun naked.
And as a pregnant woman, any extracurricular nakedness is to be avoided.

Redundant - See Redundant.

You guys are cracking me up (especailly Tiffany's manners posting) Mihow, I'm with you - SF is a dirty little party town. Not too thrilled with it - there are many better coastal towns with far less seagulls and trash. I figured that pile of "dirt" was manure - since central california seems to be such a cow town - I can't plug my nose long enough to get all the way through without the smell.

Thank goodness I'm not alone. Even the strippers find a way to be dirtier. They don't just "lap dance" in San Francisco, no. They remove the panties sit and go up and down dance.

...Or so i have been told.

I am not a stripper. Nor have I had any Bay Area lap dances.

What's that really big brown lump on the right side of the picture?

you're kidding, right?

Another congrats on the reconvining of the procedure. My daughter is a week younger than yours, and it's good to know my husband wasn't the only man like him in the world (he SWEARS he is)

No, but seriously.

Should a woman with the email address "sassietrousers" have the authoritay to offer insight on anything?

I'm gonna go with a no.

Someone needs to introduce sassietrousers to the concept of irony. Hopefully, with a name like sassietrousers, she'd already be well aquainted with it though.

Danielle - what makes you think "sassytrouseres" is infertile? Most infertiles are not like that.

One of my favourite blogs, apart from Dooce, of course, is by an infertile Lady (I draw your special attention to that post, because it is about Dooce)

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/921946

A$$hats are come in all shapes and colours, fertile, infertile, and "childfree by choice".

The growing concensus seems to be that the mound 'o' dirt resembles kaka. Dooce...you need to move there because SF is OBVIOUSLY hoarding all the fibre.

I also want to know what the hell is in that women's pants that is making her so god-damned sassy?

Your featured letter from a reader made me cringe.. It is so blooming obvious you are cut out for this parenting gig, you just have the balls to tell it like it is. Motherhood is wonderful, we love our little dictators to death but I guess being honest about the 'extras' was too much for your reader to bear. I dunno, having HONEST insights to the act of giving birth and the fall out that results was too much for her. Some prefer to pretend it is all hearts and flowers. It is not. It is a totally life/body changing event as most mothers are willing to admit. Some of it not pretty. And that is just the way it is. Kudo's to you for telling the TRUTH! Leta is a lucky girl, she has REAL parents who appparently love her dearly.

i think sassietrousers is related to george bush. having a baby does not hurt! the war in iraq is going great! negativity does not exist in the world! everything is rigidly and unchangeably WONDERFUL!

schwarzenegger/sassietrousers in '08!

Hi Jessica,

I think it was this comment:

I think some people should just leave such wonderful experiences
to those who have the stamina and fibre to do such things!!!
Having a baby is a WONDERFUL experience, down to the labor pains and tearing

...that had me jumping to that conclusion. In retrospect it was an assumption on my part, and for that I apologize. Dooce has also posted some other items wherein infertile women liken her to the main source of evil on the planet, so my response was undoubtedly influenced by those, also.

I've read the story you were trying to link at Chez Miscarriage, so now worries. :)

My apologies for any offense to the infertile, or any blanket assumptions I had made, as that was not my intent. Just concurring on the "asshat"-ness of the email. :)

I'm not sure why I feel compelled to read this blog, no less comment on it. Heather and Jon and baby (and dog) have become like one of the family - and I'm just some stranger out here...

But you know, if I didn't enjoy their writing, honesty, and worldview - I just wouldn't read it. I don't understand why some feel they must dump toxic waste on someone just because they disagree.

Shame on sassypants.

Danielle - thanks for the clarification! All is cool. :-)

Weez - ROFL...my sentiments exactily.

Yeah, Heather, why aren't you drifting about with a constant seraphic smile on your face, your angelic infant glowing in your tireless arms, and a halo above your sweet maternal head? That's what real mothers do, you know. I saw it on a Christmas card once.

You know, and we know, that you are a fantastic parent and that you have many, many fans because you are willing to tell it as it is with humor and style. But I admire you most for your incredible strength, Dooce. I cannot imagine getting emails like that (and given the vast internet and the vast numbers of nutcases, I'm sure you've gotten more than your fair share) and still having the courage to write as freely as you do. I hope that never changes, because I'm pretty addicted to your blog!

sassietrousers-

You must be a lonely hag without any friends. You might want to consult a doctor about that stone cold heart that lives in your body.

Long live the Armstrong family and as many little feet as their loving hearts desire:)

I think you should put sassietrousers' real e-mail address on your website and let us do your dirty work!

I think sassiepants is missing the whole point: it's the whole package (from pain to poop to tiny feet and temper tantrums) that makes motherhood wonderful.
Long live Dooce and blatant honesty!!!

Imagine what Miss Sassy has to say about oops babies and teen moms. My oh my, give her my email so she can be nasty to me!

I thought that was sassie's real e-mail? I thought about doing the hate-mail like maddox, where all the fans can write in to ignorant bitches/ sons-of-bitches and just generally tell them what they are, and I was tempted to, but I figure if it's her real e-mail, she's going to get plenty of shit, and I won't be able to tell her off any more articulately than anyone else. Probably much less so. But just for the record:
Clearly, you don't know what the funk you're talking about "sassietrousers". Get a fucking life.

Obviously, miss sassy hasn't read much of your website.
If we could, The Internet Who Loves You would kick her ass.
Maybe she is the kind of person (mother?) who had her child "trained" at 2 months. Dooce, you rock, and we all know how much you love your Leta even with all of the challenges!

ps. i'm not in grade 10. i just sorta act like it when people piss me off **blush**

Saucyslacks can shove that ignorant Pollyanna bullshit of hers aaaaaall the way up her fibre-rich pink colon. I believe I'll apply a little stamina this evening to wishing her into the cornfield.

Yea! for reconvening the procedure. You have the best husband in the whole world (other than mine of course!)

woman lover, you got "piled on", as you put it, because your comment is one of the most sexist things you could possibly have written. has it ever occured to you that many women derive no pleasure whatsoever from "putting their anus and mouth to use"? It shows that you feel that women have an obligation to service men sexually, which will win you no friends here (nor, I'd wager, many places.) Why the hell should any woman rush back into sex when it's not pleasurable for them? Any decent, caring male would understand this and give them all the time they need. You're probably one of those jerks who refers to a womans monthy as "blow job week."

I posted common sense. Nothing more. Okay, so I will drop it and move onto something else.

I don't know if any of you ahve read it but there is a great short story written about Corona Heights in SF called "Our Lady of Darkness" My roomate made me read her copy and it was fabulous. I've never been to SF but the picture helps me understand how the author could get such an eerie feeling from the hill in the middle of the city.

Perhaps Miss Fibre is still under the influence of her epidural?

Dooce, I don't have kids, but I am awed by your candor on just how bloody hard it is to be a parent.

I agree with DoulaBrooke; don't encourage woman lover by becoming outraged. He likes it too much. I'm relatively new here, been reading dooce for a little while, but never took time to read the comments before. It's fascinating how "we" can read a few lines (like those from "Smarty Pants"), and be ready to burn someone at the stake. What she said was asinine; based on this one snippet, it appears that she is insensitive and perhaps naive. But that's all we really know. How do we know she isn't woman lover's alter ego, entertaining him/herself by pissing everyone off again? Just observing, commenting on this very interesting process. From the ridiculous to the sublime:

Still in my thoughts and prayers: are the precious chubby baby feet making friends with the hard, mean floor? I surely hope so.

And yes, I know "Smarty Pants" isn't her "real" name, but I can't bring myself to say/write that other, sillier one.

Oh, thanks sassietrousers, I get it now:

Breastfeeding plus beautiful labor equals good mother.

Highly intelligent plus deeply loving with a refreshing mix of blatant honestly and inability to poop equals bad mother.

Rrrriiiigggghhhhhhtttt.

Where do these people come from, dooce? Who can honestly read your website and not have a renewed zest for motherhood... the good and the bad... because it is nice to know that at times, motherhood is bad, but in a weird way, that is what makes it so good. When something so bad is something so terribly wonderful at the same time, it is real, it is indescribable, it is unconditional love..... and it ain't the crap sassiebritches-who-needs-to-reconvene-the-procedure-in-the-worst-way was even talking about.

Long live dooce.