platypuss

More pics of the baby? How are Spider and the baby getting along? FUH THERE'S SO MUCH CUTE I WISH I COULD SEE. OMG HOW CAN YOU HANDLE SO MUCH ADORABLE?!

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:13:06 -0400

i can do that!

she got her first bath the other day. she has a hippo robe.

cricket is a very welcome addition to the family. spider has a child so he knows about the parenting game and he seems to be quite receptive to having a newbie to hold again.

she is quite adorable and i have spent a lot of time just looking at her in disbelief that she is really here and she isn’t going away. i was hoping that the period of “sleeping all the time and not crying for no reason” would last longer but she does a good job of letting us get [some] sleep and i am getting accustomed to my clothes always smelling like spit-up formula.

we’re trying to be completely moved in to the new house in the next two weeks, so it will still be a while before i can dedicate time to the comics again. it makes me happy that you guys still want updates though!

-jaybird

Hi Jaybird! I know this is really silly, coming on the heels of the baby's birth, but have you thought about additional kids? And would you ever like to adopt? Just curious :) Congratulations!

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 03:42:33 -0400

we have! sweet p and i both come from 2-child families and think that having a sibling is a good idea. right now, we haven’t worked out the details of how, but we have discussed adoption and other possibilities, sweet p’s family were a foster family for a few children when she was a child, and that is something we would like to do down the road as well!

Oh my goodness! Good job creating A TINY PERSON! Holy shit, that is high five material!

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:56:34 -0400

I KNOW. you just let a couple of cells cook in you for a while and this LITTLE HUMAN comes out! SCIENCE IS MAGIC.

Is the baby here yet???

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:46:51 -0400

she arrived nine days late, but she is here! we got home from the hospital yesterday. sink drain loves her almost as much as we do.

068 - Eviction Notice well, today is my due date. little...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:06:36 -0400

068 - Eviction Notice

well, today is my due date. little cricket is not interested in coming any time soon, it seems, but i am more than ready.

this is going to be a placeholder for a while because i anticipate my life is about to become very, very busy. your support has been an incredible force throughout this experience so far and i am excited to be taking the next step from genderqueer pregnancy to genderqueer parenting. i will keep you updated when i am able but it’ll be a bit before i make a new comic.

-jaybird

ps - that paint is actually paint from what we’re doing our living room in. we just bought our first house and it’s going to be amazing. <3

oh my goodness, you & sweet p & spider are SO CUTE. it's wonderful that you have so much love and that you are bringing a kid into it and I CAN'T <3333

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:35:08 -0400

it’s sort of ridiculous how lucky we all are right now and how much happiness and love is in our life. we are definitely doing something right, and the little cricket is going to be brought into this world with so much positivity surrounding her. i’m glad that using platypuss to gush from time to time is going to be well-received. we were both really excited about collaborating for a page and i hope we can do it again soon.

067 - Greetings spider is sink drain’s boyfriend as...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:32:51 -0400

067 - Greetings

spider is sink drain’s boyfriend as well.

he lives a couple of hours from us so none of us get to see him as much as we’d like and visits are always too short, so seeing him again is always exciting for everyone.

spider actually wrote this comic! all i did was draw the pictures. i am really excited to be able to collaborate with him and it’s nice that he’s already very in-tune with the style of platypuss. he has been fitting right in with both the comic and our family.

-jaybird

066 - Horror Stories THIS ISN’T HELPING. although, all of...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:48:47 -0400

066 - Horror Stories

THIS ISN’T HELPING.

although, all of these stories end with, “if it was too much pain, we wouldn’t keep having babies!” so i guess i’m supposed to be okay now.

-jaybird

ps - the “pussy explosion” comment is courtesy of margaret cho’s standup, which i will be actively trying not to recall in the delivery room.

i don't really have a question i just wanted to say what a gift it is to get to read these comics and in some small way share this incredible journey with you! i can only imagine that y'all are going to be AMAZING parents, and thank you, thank you for sharing this with us.<3

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:53:35 -0500

this is just the nicest thing, and i really needed to hear it right now. all of the people reading this have been fantastic to me but i put a lot of work into this comic and it’s nice to know that other people are really rooting for us. this has been incredible for us and now that i’m updating pretty much in real-time, it’s crazy how many amazing things have happened to us that i never would have expected when i started making it. i am so excited to keep updating you all because this is the best way i can think of to share with everyone that i am extremely lucky and happy.

065 - Spider i have wanted to introduce spider for a while now...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:00:54 -0500

065 - Spider

i have wanted to introduce spider for a while now but had to figure out a way to have him come crashing into this comic slightly more gracefully than the way he entered our lives some months ago.

i mentioned a long time ago that this might happen, even though we don’t really devote any time or energy into looking for it. and, although he came along at one of the busiest and stressful periods of my life, his timing could not be better. at a point where i was spending most of my time trying to rationalize with my panic disorder [in a rather furtive attempt to shield our baby from my anxiety], he patiently waited for me to realize that the curious excitement of NRE and the comfort of being loved is a far better alternative than stress to show our child the marvelous potential that limitless love can bring.

spider is a fantastic person and we have plenty of things in common with him, both individually and as a group. we are all looking forward to whatever adventures come next.

i don’t want or need to explain or defend our dynamic further, really. it’s okay if it’s a new concept to you and it’s okay if it is a dynamic that wouldn’t work for you personally. sweet p and i approach all of our relationships ethically and with the highest priority given to each other and our child. we have learned that our commitment to each other and being open to sharing a love that we believe to be limitless are not mutually exclusive. it makes sense to us, and we feel happy, loved, and safe, and those are the most important things.

-jaybird

064 - Genderqueer Fashion i’ve hit stage three a couple of...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:56:00 -0500

064 - Genderqueer Fashion

i’ve hit stage three a couple of times, but i am just too tired to properly appreciate it. hopefully you will!

-jaybird

ps - tumblr is a piece of garbage about uploading this one. click on it to read each panel or view the whole thing here.

you should definitely post your amazon wishlist, so we can help spoiling your baby.

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:05:00 -0500

oh, shucks. i can’t imagine needing anything more but there are a few things on that list that apparently only the internet can appreciate anyway. please don’t feel obligated to get anything but i am definitely most grateful for any gifts from platypuss fans.

our amazon list is here !

063 - Baby Shower i cannot guarantee that i will be posting...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:17:16 -0500

063 - Baby Shower

i cannot guarantee that i will be posting every week for a while as the pregnancy reaches the end and the mountain of shit we have taken on at the same time closes around us. however, i deeply appreciate the people that have stuck around to support me. everything we are doing is for our happiness and health and we are soon going to be able to share it with our baby.

anyway, the shower was a complete success. we announced that we are having a girl and the tie-dye onesie craft was a complete success. the baby’s room [which is really just storage for baby stuff since we will be moving before she will be able to really use it] is completely filled with more things than we will probably ever need. most of all, we were shown just how surrounded by love she will be. we have an incredible set of family and friends.

-jaybird

062 - Full Plate i can’t really even think of anything...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:10:58 -0500

062 - Full Plate

i can’t really even think of anything else to say. i am so burned out, so emotionally drained, and all i want to do is bury myself under blankets with a teddy bear until i go into labor.

although we may have underestimated the stress it would cause, we had planned to be looking for a house at about this time. there have also been a few energy-draining curveballs in our lives besides that [which haven’t fully played out for me to decide if they’ll even make an appearance in the comic].

i might have to take a break for a few weeks to catch my breath. the baby shower is sunday and there is apparently still a lot to do to prepare for it, so there won’t be anything next week for sure.

-jaybird

061 - Shower Bowl Sunday shows how much we know about the...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:58:54 -0500

061 - Shower Bowl Sunday

shows how much we know about the most-watched event every year. despite that, and despite getting the majority of RSVPs back before we figured it out, we have a huge estimated turnout! i am blown away by the support of our family and friends.

and yes, tie-dying onesies is definitely going to be a thing.

-jaybird

060 - Sixth Sense you know what’s harder to do than teach...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:07:43 -0500

060 - Sixth Sense

you know what’s harder to do than teach an old dog new tricks? teaching an old, spoiled-rotten dog to have manners.

on another note, if you’re ever having a bad day, watch videos of boxers interacting with babies on youtube.

-jaybird

059 - Pre-Natal Classes this, sadly, is no exaggeration. with...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:24:54 -0500

059 - Pre-Natal Classes

this, sadly, is no exaggeration. with the exception of one strained utterance of “significant other” at the end of the two-hour class, the partner of the pregnant person was referred to as “daddy” the entire evening. this is despite the fact that we introduced ourselves as a couple, and that you could bring anyone you wanted to the class anyway [the other couples, all opposite-sex except for us, did not… at least for this first session].

at this point, i don’t expect to receive respect regarding my gender. but we have pre-paid for these classes and i really don’t appreciate having my female partner referred to as “daddy” and only spoken to in needlessly hyper-masculine ways.

the instructor seemed to sort-of get it after we stayed away from the exercise, but we’ll see what happens over the next six weeks. at the very least, i won’t be able to say i don’t have any material for the comic for a while…

-jaybird

hey everyone, i’m sorry for the quiet. with the holidays and trying to fit time to see my...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 10:48:34 -0500

hey everyone, i’m sorry for the quiet. with the holidays and trying to fit time to see my family despite my job trying really hard to keep me from them, i’ve barely had time to breathe. i hope you all understand and that you’ve had a fantastic season celebrating whatever you happen to celebrate.

platypuss will resume for the new year next monday - same plat time, same plat channel.

-jaybird

058 - Extended Holiday Hours today is also the day where my...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:24:57 -0500

058 - Extended Holiday Hours

today is also the day where my manager lets me know if they went ahead and scheduled me to work on christmas eve, despite telling them that doing so would prevent me from seeing any of my family save one party on sunday and, you know, this is one year that people really want to see us for the holidays.

i know i’m not expected to have a life outside of retail during the holiday season, but it baffles me that the people who have the most sympathy for me and my coworkers are the ones that are enabling this behavior by shopping at such extreme hours. this is a busy/stressful time, and if you can only shop three hours past my bedtime, that’s your prerogative. just stop patronizing me by pretending you feel bad for me.

-jaybird

057 - Grocery Shopping totally not inspired by our last trip to...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:57:53 -0500

057 - Grocery Shopping

totally not inspired by our last trip to meijer.

-jaybird