Weekend linkage

23 weeks!

Pregnancy happenings: At night I just lie in bed and stare at my stomach. It shifts as Tadpole flips over, suddenly bumps up as she kicks, and otherwise behaves in very strange ways. I find this unfailingly entertaining.

On Sunday, we went to visit Tadpole's brand new cousin-- she's so tiny and cute and squishable, I just wanted to put her in my purse and smuggle her out of the hospital. But instead we left her with her mommy and daddy and went home to happily muse over our own wee one, who is lucky enough to have lots of girl cousins close in age.

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Roger Cohen: Thanks for Not Sharing. "Now I was determined to get through 2012 without doing a peevish column, not wishing to appear cantankerous or curmudgeonly, determined to be sunny and youthful as the times demand, but everyone has a tipping point."

Interesting article on the rising age of parents worldwide. Some of the assumptions behind it are disturbing-- young motherhood is labeled "a lifetime of reduced opportunity," parents are evidently expected to fund their children's post-college years-- but I still learned a lot.

Well, someone is excited about The Hobbit.

I just love Simcha Fisher. "This Isn't Who I Really Am!" Or is it? Let's be honest.

So funny: famous photographs doctored to look like cell phone self-portraits. Churchill is my favorite.

Look, I try not to snark about other people's education choices. But the idea of nixing good literature for the sake of manuals makes me seeth. (For this and so many other reasons, you can bet your britches that our kids will not be getting an American public education . . . and if by some act of God they do end up at a public school, well, guess you'll need to find some new britches.)

A full scale model of Noah's Ark? I think it's time for a field trip to the Netherlands!