Money makes the world go *GAK*

My baby stood by herself today!!!

14 months old and the plump little snot decided she would stand alone today. She was standing in the dining room, holding on to a chair and then just ... let go. I was dumbfounded. And she was smiling her weird little teeth-baring grin all proud and stuff. Of course, the camera was in the other room.

I can't believe my baby is almost walking! (For those of you who's babes walked at, like, 10 months - bite me. No, no, I'm just kidding! All of my plump lumps walk late it seems.) Here's a pic of Bitty at her brother's birthday party. She somehow managed to get hold of the play money that I'd bought him ...

Is that birthday cake in her mouth you ask? Nope. Roughly $7.69 in plastic coins. Baby Trump! She's gonna be a Thriftychik like her momma.

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So, speaking of money ... has anyone been following this?

So this lady agrees to be a surrogate for a 63 year old math professor and his 60 year old girl friend. They obtain eggs from a donor in Texas, fertilise them with the Prof's sperm, and transfer (it's transfer, not 'implant' o' ye Morons in the Media!) them into the surrogate.

She has the triplets in November whereupon the intended parents visit once ... and don't come back. The hospital begins proceedings to put the 3 boys up for foster care when the surrogate says that she'll take them home.

NOW Mr. Professor claims that it was all a misunderstanding and is suing for full custody and claiming - get this - that his $136,000 income should be the deciding factor in his getting the kids.

Hmmmm.

To complicate things, the egg donor in Texas now wants her parental rights. I am so against this. As far as I'm concerned (and I have seriously considered being an egg donor but I don't think I qualify because of age), I feel like you should comprehend that you have no control over the person your eggs (or sperm or donated blood, for that matter) goes to. If you have an iota of a problem with that, then you shouldn't donate. You can't let folks start going back in retrospect and saying: "Oh this person's not good enough for my eggs (sperm/blood/organs)". Besides, you got paid for those eggs. Pull on your big girl knickers and deal.

As for the absent minded professor, his girlfriend, and his whopping salary, I say that they should get told to sod off. Let him pay child support and get visitation. But custody? No way.

They make smart, funny, and good people like Karen, Soper, Jen, and Amyesq jump through hoops, bend over backwards, and fart on key before they can adopt. I hope to all that's good in the universe that they'd never even consider letting this man - who abandoned his three newborns in the hospital for over a week - get custody of them.