Dramatis personae

Instead of going through the extended family (mine smallish, complicated, and scattered; Taxman's bigger, pretty straightforward, and mostly local), I'll begin with the characters under our roof and deal with others as events warrant.

Me: One Tired Ema. I'm 30, a bookwormy geek. In my former life--how I describe life before my daughter was born--I was a writer and editor for various rather dull publishing houses.
When I was 22 I earned an advanced degree that I never used, but it was fun to earn (I got to read a lot). I've been an insomniac forever; it abated only in college, when I was completely exhausted and going to bed at 2 in the morning anyway. When I have the time I love to cook, usually nifty vegetarian things because I can rarely wrap my mind around the proper kosher substitutions. (Note to all you Food Network recipe writers: Do you have to put prosciutto in everything?) I watch too much TV. As a housekeeper I am mediocre at best. I like my humor sarcastic. But I have my soft spots, too, and Taxman just has to squeeze my hand the right way (wrong way?), and I have been known to weep all over him.

Taxman: A math geek. Devoted to me, his baby girl, his larger family, his job. It's a good thing he can fall asleep in six minutes because he goes to bed late and gets up early. (He is all about the Shabbat nap, though!) For fun he is a volunteer EMT....somehow he gets all the kid calls, which suits him just fine. He is amazing with children and with people in general. Sometimes I wish I had his social skills, but I can't really even fathom it; I'm too much of a loner.

Miss M: The absolute sparkle of our lives. Spunky, vivacious, willful, curious...an imp in overalls, really. Eighteen months old and ready to take on the world.

The spring baby-to-be (aka the player to be named later): A wholly unexpected surprise. We're still processing this one. Poor Miss M has no idea what's coming, although she has taken to lifting up my shirt, pointing to my expanding belly, and signing baby. Talk about abstract vs. concrete! Frankly, none of us has any idea. Stay tuned for what is sure to be an interesting ride...Tandem nursing! Babywearing for two! Two in a room? Three in a room? Four in a room? Will we get a goldfish?