Much ~ma to Beast. Poor thing! And poor Jilli too.

I am home from my interview. It went really well, but we'd have to work out Federal Work Study stuff, which is possible. So, we'll see what happens. I just sent off a thank you e-mail. She really seemed to like me, and was very complimentary of my resume and cover letter. Plus, she was pleased to have an applicant that knew Access. She's hoping to make a decision by Tuesday, so at least I'll know soon.

ION, I REALLY screwed up something with school, though. Apparently I was supposed to go re-sign my promissory note, and I did not. So, my loan money has been sent back. This is no good, especially since I was counting on getting refund money next week to pay for my books. We can get it back, but it's going to take time. I feel like such stupid head.

Has anyone else found themselves in tears as often as not, this week?

Not so much "as often as not", but at goofy and unexpected moments. Like: I had a whole bunch of classes in my labs today, and when a group of students went to the wrong lab for one section, the prof worked them into his class rather than sending them off on the bus to the other campus. Totally routine stuff, as it was sections of the same class working on the same assignment, but instead of thinking "hey, quick thinking on his part - remember to thank him" I got all "Look! He's taking in the poor lost homeless students! OMG!"

Dallas sends love to the Beast.

(and by love I mean she stares in wonderment until her nose gets whapped)

Oh, and I was just looking up Annabel pictures from July '04 to remind myself of the size and physicality of a 3-month-old. I'd forgotten how damn cute that age was:

[link] [link] [link]

Not that the current edition is any less adorable:

[link] [link] [link]

I want to give a fictional baby his permanent eye color at three months, all the better to make his paternity glaringly obvious. Is that plausible, or is Annabel more the norm?

I was born with medium-brown eyes that slowly became dark brown. Not terribly common in white kids, but it happens.

Susan, I think you could get away with it. Some kids keep the same color from the get go and then there are one's like my kids whose eyes didn't settle into their final color until they were around four years old. Seriously, they both had bright blue eyes like my ex-husband until they were well past two years old. I would have sworn they were set for life. But somewhere in there they faded to gray and then added huge spots of hazel. Their eyes kind of remind me of opals. Both of 'em!

It may depend on the eye color. Green eyes, from what I've seen, take a lot longer to settle. I think mine were still changing until I was a teen, and I know they were still blue at six months.

From what I've read at baby forums and in books, most will change by six months, some will take longer, and the more subtle the shift, the longer the change.

I just looked at good close-ups of Eve's eyes at 3 months. They're the same now - hers are dark blue.

I think you can get away with it, Susan. Ben's were a very dark blue at first, but settled into his (green/gray/brown) hazel fairly soon. Julia on the other hand, had brilliant blue eyes, that went to an almost brown hazel, at eighteen months. Chris had blue, blue eyes until he was four. They're starting to get more green/gray to them now, but you can still say he's blue eyed. Mine did much what Plei's did, although the results weren't so green. I have rings of different color, more than anything else.

~ma to Beast and Jilli and Pete

I have poor parenting memory. I don't know when the kids eye color established.

For the record, if I haven't said so recently enough, I am grateful for all of you during these emotionally draining times. Just skimming the nattering and bitching has soothed my fragile soul this week. Thank you.