Best present ever

7:30am in the Halavais household, light seeps in through the soupy July morning air.

Jamie: Good morning, Darling Husband!

Alex: Grumble… mrf. Why are we up?

Jamie: What day is it?

Alex: Monday?

Jamie: Yes, but what Monday?

Alex: Too-early-in-the-morning Monday?

Jamie: Today’s the 21st, your birthday!

Alex: It is? Cool! What am I getting this year?

Jamie: [Dramatically indicates her own personage.]

Alex: Um. didn’t I get that last year?

Jamie: Notice anything… different.

Alex: Well, I’ve been meaning to say, you’ve been really packing on the pounds lately…

Jamie: How old are you again?

[A subtly cruel question, since she knows he hasn’t been able to keep track for about a decade.]

Alex: I’m gonna be 40.

[A graceful allusion to pop culture that nonetheless dates him.]

Jamie: Well, we’re off to the hospital for pictures.

Alex: What, have you been listening to the Vapors?

[A less graceful, overly obscure, yet still out-of-date pop culture reference.]

Jamie: I’m sure you’ll figure everything out eventually…

Our first child is due on December 8 of this year. I’m furiously reading various parenting books and trying to figure out who I’ll need to knock off to get him into a decent pre-school on the Upper West Side.

Don’t worry, this blog will remain unfocused, intermittent, and boring. But soon, with more baby!

(The sonograms are in order: April 22, May 6, May 22, July 21, and many more are over at flickr.)