Storks, Parasites, and Baby A.

All right, so here's the deal. It's been nearly 11 months since the last time we wrote here, and there are roughly 11 months worth of baby-related excuses as to why we've been too busy to put anything here.

In order to play catch up and get to the real business, here's how I'd sum up the last 11 months:

- Babies are inherently messy, disgusting creatures. But with one laugh, all that goes away and a face covered in corn souffle becomes the most beautiful sight in the world.

- I have fallen into the trap that, I think, nearly every decent father falls into. If you ask Jules, this trap is the one that ends with her saying, "Oh, it's MY turn to change him? And how many diapers have you changed today?" But if you ask me, I've fallen into the "my kid is the most amazing and unique kid to ever set foot on this earth" trap.

- The instant joy of hearing your kid first say "Da da" can immediately be wiped away when he follows that with a seven minute speech about some wife-stealing home wrecker named "Bob".

- I probably get an unhealthy amount of amusement from putting Maxson into random scenarios, just to see how he handles it. Naked in a pumpkin. Steel pot. Large rocks in the Badlands. To be fair, he handles these situations pretty well.

- Out of the pages of the bad parenting handbook, as far as I know, he's only been hurt once. And that was scary. Seeing your kid bleed, if if just from a cut on his finger, might be one of the more traumatic early parenthood sights.

- Everyone says it, and I'll keep the trend going. Maxson has grown so much, so fast. There's not a day that I don't marvel at all the things he's learning to do. Just a few months ago, the kid could barely sit on his own. He's weeks (days?) from walking, cruising around furniture. He's on his way to complete mastery of the English language (he can say "pop!"). He's huge (well, probably average if not smaller than average, but much larger than he started). He's got more hair than I do already.

That's the short version. I feel like there are a million memories ready to be written, but those will come later.

The other cause for writing in this space again is that, as of mid-January, Maxson will be a big brother. We found out a few months ago, and have gone through every emotion, from shock (you're what? preg-what? who-nant? no.), to happiness (a new little peanut!), to confusion (how did this happen...? I thought...oh, there's no stork then? what's a pe...oooooh). But most importantly, we've found ourselves feeling just absolutely excited that we're able to have a second beautiful kid. Maxson has truly been a terrific kid. Which we're told guarantees the second to be equally terrific (right? RIGHT?).

In about ten days, we'll check on the gender of the kid. And from there, smooth sailing!

So far, all doctor's appointments have been great. Julia's doing great - I think we all can tell what a great home she is to parasitic beings that leech her precious nutrients away from her own organs. Baby A is doing great so far - great heartbeat, good looking ultrasounds.

There will be more details in future posts. Maybe even some pictures.