Hello, World!

Atticus Halcyon Loh-Ratan
Born: February 22, 2010, at 2pm.
Where: Cedar-Sinai Hospital, Beverly Hills (but we'd rather tell him he was born in Los Angeles)
Weight: 6lbs, 14oz
Length: 20.7 inches
Appearance: East Asian in the face, but South Asian in the hair (on the forehead, back, arms, & ears)
Social security number: ###-##-####(just kidding!)

Honestly, Robby & I have had numerous discussions about the extent to which we share Atticus's life on the Internet. We have no qualms about sharing our own lives through this blog & through Facebook. But I think my caution is warranted. Robby likes to argue that nothing is private anymore, but I disagree. We can oftentimes choose what we make public. I ask myself if I would have liked my parents to maintain an public blog about my babyhood and childhood, & I'd have to say NO. All I think of is vulnerable exposure of Truman in The Truman Show.

I have had one bad experience with blogs before, one in which I've vowed never to maintain one. Ironically, Robby, who prides himself in his knowledge of human behavior & computers, has convinced me that tools such as blogs are not inherently evil. We began this blog to offer pre-wedding information to friends & family. Then it turned into a travel blog when we spent a 5-week honeymoon in Turkey. Now, this blog serves mainly to inform our friends & family who live abroad (particularly Oma & Opa in Germany) & out of town. Nonetheless, information that emitted into cyberspace can be accessed by anyone, so I am constantly conscious of what I share (nothing too personal that I may regret later). Writing can be a catharsis, but writing for a public audience on the Internet should not be, I think.

Now that I've stepped off my soap box, let me introduce Atticus.
There isn't much to say except that he is currently one week old. We are so fortunate that he is not a colicky baby. He is very well-tempered and so cute. We are fascinated by him. He recognized my voice from Day One, and he knows when I am carrying him (because he wakes up or cries when Robby carries him). He loves to sleep on my chest at night, though I try not to keep him there for long. There something strangely uncanny to our intangible connection. I think that my body is too exhausted, stretched, and pulled to acknowledge this connection, but Atticus has shown time & time again that he knows me more than he knows anyone else. What a way to feel special!

More to come...