Our dear friends (and former TGW contributers) Brian and Robbins Gottlock welcomed their first son into the world last Thursday November 12, 2009, at 8:54 AM. He arrived 3.5 weeks premature and weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces.

As many of you know, these two excellent men married in June 2007 in Montreal, Canada. Shortly thereafter, they began efforts to start a family. But oh! all that sex did nothing towards their goal of procreation. Happily, in early 2009, after much determination, disappointment and expense, they learned that they were pregnant via gestational surrogacy. The pregnancy was without complication, and although Hanover was born almost four weeks early, he has done incredibly well and was discharged from the hospital after just a few days of close monitoring in the neonatal ICU.

I know, I know, this isn’t about me. Fine. But you guys, check this out: I happened to be in Boston when the surrogate, who lives 100 miles from Boston, went into labor 4 weeks early. Which meant, of course, that I got to drive to Springfield and meet that little guy when he was just 3 days old! It still has me feeling all verklempt.

Welcome to the world, Hanover. You are so loved!!

Three cheers for the Gottlock boys! Rah, rah, rah!

The Playlist:

1. “Sunny Sunday Mill Valley Groove Day” The Sir Douglas Quintet
2. “Take the 227th exit” Papercuts
3. “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” She and Him
4. “Bobby Malone Moves Home” Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
5. “Ms. November” The Silver Seas
6. “The Heartbreak Rides” A.C. Newman
7. “Wonder Land” Eri Yamamoto Trio
8. “Family Tree” TV on the Radio
9. “Lightning Song” Blood on the Wall
10. “Vid spilum endalaust” Sigur Ros
11. “Thank You Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle” The Mountain Goats
12. “River Card” Atlas Sound
13. “There Are Birds” Ruby Suns
14. “Namer” High Places
15. “Parachute” Shugo Tokumaru
16. “Creature Fear” Bon Iver
17. “Until We Bleed” Kleerup (feat. Lykke Li)
18. “Campus” Rostam Batmanglij
19. “Life in Technicolor” Coldplay
20. “Sentimental Heart” She and Him

There was a bathroom on the back of the house that we removed, and once it was gone, we were very happy, but frankly, the backyard was still a total bummer.

C’mon, don’t try to be nice. It was a sucky backyard.

After the debris was cleared out we (by “we” I mean Farrell and our friend John) built a frame which would support a poured cement floor. (This would be one of those situations where I took on the childcare role so Farrell could work unencumbered. Otherwise known as taking one for the team. I did make a nice dinner that night to round out my housewiferly duties.)

Then, the cement guys came and poured a nice patio.

I didn’t take any pictures of when the hot tub got delivered and carried through the house to the backyard. It was too stressful carrying that massive thing across the new hardwood floors and out the backdoor. Imagine that part. I also didn’t take any photos of the walls getting raised and stuccoed. We raised all the walls to a total height of about 12 feet and covered them with a nice, sandy colored stucco.

After all that, the next step was bricking in the part of the yard that isn’t raised. The sand and bricks were delivered from a neighborhood company. The best part? They drove everything over on a forklift, from about 15 blocks away. Sorry, I don’t have photos of the delivery of that either. I was too busy trying to keep William from going into seizures, he was so excited to see a forklift in real life, AT OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

Bringing the sand and brick up the alley to the backyard:

A ton of sand, moved in increments up the alley. (That’s not all of it…)

That guy is our friend Nico. The neighborhood kids always want to help with these sorts of projects. It’s great, actually. Would our homeowner’s insurance cover their injuries? Happily, we haven’t had to find out the answer to that question yet.

That’s our friend Steven. He helps us with pretty much every project we do. We used a Radio Flyer wagon and some 5 gallon buckets to bring everything up the alley to the backyard.

Organizing the bricks in the alley before the bricklaying begins.

Then, we spread out the sand and put the bricks in.

After that, it was pretty much done.

After we hooked up the speakers, of course.

Farrell and I have officially moved downstairs to the first floor of our house, the one pictured in my previous demolition posts. I know this must seem inconceivable, and indeed, it does still feel a bit like camping, what with the lack of certain conveniences such as heat and a bathroom. But we are hearty folk with large expandable bladders, and we are settling in just fine downstairs. And don’t worry — heat and the bathroom will be completed by next week. If they aren’t, we can light up the fireplace and we have lots of sweaters and boas to loan out. William’s diapers are available for anyone with incontinence issues.

As some of you know, New Year’s Day here in Philadelphia is a special kind of crazy. The Mummers Day parade travels down Broad street (right outside our house essentially) and stops every few blocks for performances. 

The parade has been a Philadelphia tradition since 1901.  About 15,000 Mummers perform each year, after spending the better part of the previous year building sets, designing costumes, and practicing skits. These guys are serious about their Mummer-ing. There are different categories of performances (comedy, fancy, string band). I am not even going to try to describe what transpires. It’s better to be surprised. So, the day after our rabble-rousing New Year’s eve TGW extravaganza, be prepared to be dazzled by the parade.

We are so excited to see everyone who is planning on coming. Speaking of which, I was thinking that it would be handy to know who that entails, and more specifically, who is planning on spending nights here, and which nights. All are welcome and can be accomodated. Lots of room.

Love,

Trixie

p.s. the rest of the house has heat, and the heat really will be on, possibly as soon as tomorrow. so don’t fret.

1. Halloween. It has always been my favorite holiday, from the time I was little and my mom used to make me whatever costume I asked for.

Farrell and I have enjoyed many a zany Halloween holiday, and I have photos to prove that. Somewhere. Halloween has become a bit tamer in recent years as parents.  The past few weeks William has been obsessed with everything having to do with firemen, firetrucks, sirens, ladders, and firehouses. I am not convinced that he had any idea that he was sporting a fireman costume complete with suspenders, reflective tape and hat, but we had a lot of fun wandering through our neighborhood with friends taking candy from strangers and almost getting hit by cars.

2. Music. Thanks to Farrell’s perpetual music downloading jihad, there is always something good to listen to around here. I am especially fond of Fugiya and Mijagi’s new release Transparent Things. They channel the 70s krautrock pioneers Can, especially those albums featuring vocalist Damo Suzuki. Ege Bamyasi is easily one of my favorite albums of all time. This new record has a similar sound, also with strong Neu! influences.

Lambchop’s new album Damaged makes me want to cry it’s so pretty. Reminds me a lot of the Tindersticks this time.

Peter Bjorn and John’s recent release Writer’s Block is good evening music.

I am a sucker for the vibe of Mark Linkous’ Sparklehorse, and Dream for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain satisfies my craving for his music. There’s nothing too new sounding here, but it is solid and sounds good to my ears.

And there is a track on Erlend Oye’s 2004 DJ kicks that is a remix of Phoenix’s “If I ever feel better” that I recently rediscovered. Now I want to dance to it at least once a day. Anyone who visits us this winter will surely hear it at least once. But don’t wait until then.

3. Movies. A couple weeks ago, I had an unexpected afternoon off from work and snuck away to see Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep. I thought Gael Garcia Bernal did an admirable job with his role, and I found it very compelling visually. I don’t know if my appreciation was unfairly augmented by the fact that I was seeing a movie by myself in the middle of the day instead of working, but I did enjoy it a lot.

4. Books. I went to Manhattan alone last week for an art opening. I walked from Chinatown up towards SoHo, and stopped in at McNally Robinson booksellers on Prince street in Nolita. It is my new favorite bookstore. I can’t believe I had never known of it it before (it’s been there since 2004) and I am jealous that Bryan and Steph will soon be living so close to it. I could have spent all day there. I was only there for 20 minutes, but picked up a copy of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. It is lovely, and although I have only read a couple of stories, I strongly recommend it to anyone out there who hasn’t already enjoyed it. I guess those Pulitzer Prize folks know what they are talking about.

Sometime I will finish my post about my career trajectory. These days I am much more interested in my life outside of work.

What else have people been liking lately?