By far the best music we’ve found for soothing the baby is Thelonious Monk’s Solo Monk album. I highly recommend it for the baby’s room.

It’s also a pretty fabulous record for grownups, too.

I can’t believe how hard it is to actually order 3×5 prints online.

We’re putting a picture of Sadie in the envelope with the birth announcements. A. took care of all the hard pieces; all I had to do was pick the picture and order 60 prints to ride along with the cards. Little did I know this would turn into a 45-minute adventure.

I went to Ofoto and uploaded the picture. I then went to order, but they didn’t give me an option to order 3×5. So, I went to Shutterfly. Then Snapfish. None of the main providers of prints will sell you a 3×5 print. Eventually, I found dotPhoto, a site kind enough to actually allow me to buy prints from them.

I’m really surprised that none of the major sites support this size, because 3×5 is still a pretty standard card size.

I’ve been speculating on Sadie’s future career choices. Will she be President? An English Teacher? A Peace Corps Volunteer?

Maybe she’ll grow up to be a boxer. If she does, I bet they’ll call her “Baby Girl Butler.”

We brought our three-day-old daughter home this morning. I was pretty nervous navigating Route 126, but Sadie was totally calm, conked out in her pretty little outfit.

Our little girl finally decided to join us this morning.

Sadie Thayer Butler
11/14/2005
8lbs, 7oz, 19″

We are all happy and healthy. And sleepy.

Still no baby. She’s likely coming tomorrow. In the meantime, we’re trying to handle today like any other day, starting with a hearty breakfast.

And yes, we are a “two laptops at breakfast” family.

This baby is never coming out. Entering the forty-second week, our baby girl is perfectly comfortable right where she is. Her mother is somewhat less comfortable.

We went back to Metrowest Medical Center (nee Framingham Union Hospital) this morning for our second non-stress test and AFI of the week. Everything is still perfect, operating within normal parameters, etc. Tomorrow, we’re back to the doctor’s office for our regular appointment. If nothing’s happening by Sunday morning, the doctor will bring us back to the hospital and induce labor.

By Monday morning, I may have some exciting news to post here.

Here are more pictures from my parents’ recent trip to Brazil. These are pictures of Cristo Redentor, “Christ the Redeemer,” the 100-foot-high statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I really love the mood of the long shot.

I’m still jealous of my parents’ recent trip down the Amazon in Brazil. Here’s one of my favorite pictures of theirs from the trip, a black-and-white picture of a small Brazilian crocodile.

My phone rang at 7:04 this morning, and on the other end was the stupidest person in the world.

I say, as I generally do, “Hello.”

She demands “Who’s this?”

I’m not sure of the etiquette in other parts of the world, but here in New England, that’s considered pretty rude. You called me.

“This is Jason. Who’s this?”

“Where’s Mark?” she replied, apparently looking for Mark Ryberg, the previous owner of my phone number. We’ve gotten a ton of calls over the past 10 months looking for the Rybergs, and our patience with these calls is starting to wear thin.

“Mark doesn’t live here anymore,” I said, assuming that would be the end of the conversation.

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never met him, I just got his phone number.”

“Did you move into his house?”

“No, I bought my own house.”

“Did you kick him out?”

“No, I just got his phone number.”

“How did you get his phone number?”

“Well, the phone company only has a limited number of phone numbers available, so they recycle them. When I bought this house, they assigned me this number.”

“Can you give Mark a message?”

*click*

For propriety’s sake, I’ll not reveal the caller, but if they call back I’ll let them know about the magic of caller ID and reverse lookup.

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger; I haven’t posted a new edition of “Linky Goodness” in months. Well, here we go. And, even better, I just wrote up a little script to pull my del.icio.us links and post them here. That little hack should help my linky goodness timeliness quotient.

Teaching Babies Sign Language
Eric Meyer talks about the pro’s and con’s of teaching babies to communicate through sign language. We may take a crack at this.

The Secret Life of a Restaurant Critic
What’s it like to be a restaurant critic?

“Ask Metafilter” suggestions for home hacks
If you were designing your home from scratch, what features would you include?

lifehack.org » Fifty Essential Topics on Economics
Interesting economics pieces.

How many MBAs does it take to change the toner? Hire some support people already…
Excellent rant in the Hiring Hub about how business’ lack of support people turns executives into supremely high-paid secretaries.

The Hardest Part of Being a “Indie” Mac Developer
Fellow ex-Abuzz’er Mike Dupuis on the life of an independent Mac developer.

The Zombie Hunters
Really interesting New Yorker article on how bad guys take control of your Windows PC and use it to attack other companies.

Our NSTAR gas bill jumped this month, not only because we put the heat on for the first time, but also because NSTAR raised the rates. I’m not looking forward to this winter’s bills.

On the plus side, NSTAR just helped us install insulation in our attic, insulation that will likely save us hundreds of dollars this winter. They have a plan which allows homeowners with gas heating to re-insulate their attics and walls, and they’ll rebate 50% of the cost. Thanks to them, our $1,100 insulation job only cost us $550.

If you qualify, you should definitely check out NSTAR’s insulation program.

Weatherization Rebate
Thinking about adding wall insulation, attic insulation or air sealing to your home? If so, you might be eligible for rebates up to $1,500 from NSTAR for such home upgrades. Call 800-654-5833 for more information.

She’s a stubborn, stubborn little girl.

We went over to Framingham Union this morning for additional testing, and she’s perfectly fine and perfectly happy, just not ready to come out. Oh well, if nothing’s happened in the meantime, we’ll induce her on Sunday.

We hope she comes out on her own, though. From what I’ve heard, pitocin is not our friend.

Many months ago, the baby told me that she’d be arriving on Friday, November 4th. I took her at her word and blocked out today in my calendar. It’s now the fourth, and I’m just sitting here at home drumming my fingers and waiting.

Turns out she was using the project-management definition of “it’ll be done by Friday,” meaning “it’s not really due until 7:59am Monday.”