I need to start reading my Facebook wall more often, I guess. I had no idea Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, were expecting a second baby girl. They announced the happy news in March – MARCH, for heaven’s sake. According to his March post, Mark was hoping for another girl and his wishes were answered. Yesterday the couple announced the birth of their daughter, August. August is one of my favorite words. It means, “marked by majestic dignity or grandeur.” August is also the month she was born in so there’s that, too. Of course the announcement was posted to Facebook and like they did for their first daughter, Max, they posted a letter to Little August. Whereas they talked about the future in Max’s letter, they write in August’s about the present:
And the caption says:
Dear August,
Welcome to the world! Your mom and I are so excited to see who you will become.
When your sister was born, we wrote a letter about the world we hoped she and now you will grow up in — a world with better education, fewer diseases, stronger communities, and greater equality. We wrote that with all the advances in science and technology, your generation should live dramatically better lives than ours, and we have a responsibility to do our part to make that happen. Even though headlines often focus on what’s wrong, we still believe these positive trends will win out. We’re optimists about your generation and the future.
But rather than write about growing up, we want to talk about childhood. The world can be a serious place. That’s why it’s important to make time to go outside and play.
You will be busy when you’re older, so I hope you take time to smell all the flowers and put all the leaves you want in your bucket now. I hope you read your favorite Dr. Seuss books so many times you start inventing your own stories about the Vipper of Vipp. I hope you ride the carousel with Max until you’ve tamed every color horse. I hope you run as many laps around our living room and yard as you want. And then I hope you take a lot of naps. I hope you’re a great sleeper. And I hope even in your dreams you can feel how much we love you.
Childhood is magical. You only get to be a child once, so don’t spend it worrying too much about the future. You’ve got us for that, and we’ll do everything we possibly can to make sure the world is a better place for you and all children in your generation.
August, we love you so much and we’re so excited to go on this adventure with you. We wish you a life of joy, love and the same hope you give us.
Love,
Mom and Dad
I’ve warmed up to Mark. I have huge issues with many things he’s done but I definitely see him in a new light now. I very much like Priscilla and Max&Beast are the greatest crime-fighting duo to inhabit my imagination. I’m sure I will come to adore August as well. But the letter is – let’s say, interesting – coming from someone who relies on people focusing on their screens as his bread and butter. I hope all those things for my kids as well, that’s why they don’t have Facebook accounts. Can you see him regulating internet time? “Hey, girls – no internet.”
“But Daaaaad – you own it!”
It’s a lovely note and I can’t disagree with any of it, even though I can tease the hell out of him for writing it. I honestly wondered when he spoke about the carousel if they had one built in their backyard, but then I realized that was probably just a metaphor. And stop projecting your Vipper bias, Dude – maybe Gus Gus is going to be more of a Lorax fan? But I have to ask: Gus Gus gets a cute post after Max got a whole initiative upon her birth?!? Holidays are going to be rough, man – you’ll be hearing about that well into your Autumn years. I assume as soon as Gus Gus knows enough language to complain, Stanford will break ground on the August Chan-Zuckerberg School of You Owe Me.
In other baby news – Michael Phelps has announced he and Nicole are expecting baby number two (I am getting out ahead of it this time). I’ll let you know Boomer’s thoughts on that as soon as I get them. In the meantime, congratulations to all. And thank you to the Chan-Zuckerberg family you for the opportunity to post pics of Max and Beast.
Photo credit: Facebook and Getty Images
Yup, warming up to Mark as well
I think age and his marriage to Priscilla has made him mature and mellow out. He rocketed to fame and power as a college aged man and I think he’s learned a lot in the meantime.
And I will never forget that he donated a lot of money to Planned Parenthood. It’s important for men to back up women and he put his money where his mouth is.
I like this side of him, but I’d still rather he stay out of politics. He’s doing the most heavy-handed “exploration” of running for office, but he seems too dweeby and ineffective to get the public’s trust. Something about him just gives me the creeps. And the backlash against Facebook is just getting started!
I can’t forget how the Zukerbergs tried to force Native Hawaiians on Kauai to sell off their ancestral lands at auction, against their will. If word hadn’t leaked out to create a media sh*t storm, he would have gotten away with it, just because he could. And their “we want to HELP people” feels so phony. It’s like he wants to be Warren Buffet, but he’s really C. Montgomery Burns.
I probably never will warm up to ol’ Mark and will never vote for him.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/08/my-google-and-facebook-investments-made-fortune-but-now-they-menace/543755001/
Just said the same in a comment above. I could not vote for him. He’s a hypocrite.
He is still problematic but I respect making this experience a teachable moment for other CEOs.
If only there were an “a” at the end of it… I really hate giving girls traditionally-boy names; I think they sound ugly and harsh (esp. with Zuckerberg — all those hard consonants). And yeah, I’ll change my mind once celebs start naming their sons Alice and Rose…
Seems like a good dad.
I’m with you on the last bit. Boy things for girls makes them cool, but girl things for boys is verboten. It’s a continued reflection on double standards.
Eh I’ve soured on Zuckerberg quite a bit. Their policy for suspending people reporting racism is wildly out of control now. Plus the entire debacle of trying to force Hawaii people to sell their land left a bad taste in ny mouth. Nope
My son is named August. He was due end of July, but was late, and we went with the name anyway. It suits him, sunny and warm kid.
I’ve not heard of it for a girl before.
congrats to them.
Girl should be Augusta.
yep, that makes sense now. thanks, I couldn’t think of that earlier.
Congrats to the family!
Is 4 months of maternity /paternity leave really something to brag about? I thought most companies give 12 months to the mother?
In the more progressive countries, I believe this is so.
In the US, no. I think standard is 6 weeks? correct me if I am wrong.
If you’re lucky. If you work for a small company with less than X number of employees? A designated amount of maternity leave (instead of using sick or vacation leave- if they allow you to) is up to the whim of the employer.
If you’re in a company with at least 50 employees, then FMLA guarantees that your company must hold your position for up to 12 weeks, but they do not have to pay you for that time off. There is no law or standard practice in the US that mandates that either parent be given any type of paid time off. That’s up to the company you work for. My company only offers 3 weeks of short-term disability, and women do not qualify for that unless they have 80 hours (2 weeks) of PTO saved up. You must use your vacation time before you can get any paid time off.
I got 2 weeks. 4 months seems like something to brag about.
their house looks so normal!
Eff off Zuck, you don’t get a biscuit for taking paternal leave. Most dads would take it if offered. That dogs grooming costs more than some of us plebes groceries. On a lighter side I can’t wait to tell hubs our kid has the same wagon a billionaire has! Here I thought we were po’ lol
Both Zukerberg and Gates have been impacted positively by their wives. Otherwise I doubt we’d see either of them involved in philanthropy.
Yep, yep, yep. Melinda straight up told Bill to be prepared to give away the money.
I’d rather see more of their wives as public figures than either of them!
He now has more women in his family than there are women on the Facebook board of directors.
As someone on Twitter posted yesterday: Zuckerberg now has more women in his home than sits on his board of Facebook. Hmmm…..
OMG that dog *heart eyes emoji*
Nah, I’m still dude.eyeing him after that Hawaii mess.
But I am very excited to hear about Michael and Nicole’s news.
yal just OWNED him….haha
secondary note…. he out here welcoming his baby in the world (CONGRATS!! future is female) yet literally usurping hawaii’s historical lands from ppl…. its like damn MARK MAYBE THEY WANT TO PASS THINGS DOWN TO THEIR DAUGHTERS AND SONS AND FAMILY.
His sale of Facebook stock one day before the wedding was a big “F- you!” to his wife. I understand the legality, he had to sell before the wedding so that there is absolutely no question at all that it is entirely HIS money and not hers, in case they split. But doing it ONE DAY before meant that’s it’s fresh in the news, and therefore fresh in everyone’s minds, including their friends and family members. He could have done it a month before, but no, it had to be headline news that overshadowed his new wife. That is a total dick move. George Lucas did the same thing when he sold his company to Disney the day before his wedding. I don’t know what women see in these selfish misogynists, but then I remember: $$$