I'm back. And preggers.

Sorry for the long absence ... well, for whoever still might read this, anyway. We had a virus and spy-something that snacked on the computer for a while, and a bunch of non-computerized dramas to deal with lately. But things are looking up -- my husband is off his nightmarish night schedule, which was wreaking all kinds of havoc (as if being newlyweds, with a small child, is a walk in the park to begin with). I'm registering my son for school (!) tomorrow, and he's stoked. After a few redirections, I'm reasonably on track for my book manuscript. We all (my husband, my son and I) just returned from a vacation in San Diego, hampered only slightly by my husband losing his glasses and me evacuating the contents of my stomach during our ocean kayaking adventure -- this latter incident is due, I'm sure, to our biggest news of late: I'm a couple months pregnant. (I actually considered for a moment not posting this for all the virtual world to see until I was a tad further along, but my husband's grandmother, who talks to approximately half the Southwestern United States, informed me she was "making sure I tell everyone I can." So what the hell.)

We're all pretty excited about the new addition: my husband and I about welcoming another child, and my son about being a big brother. His list of things to introduce to the baby grows daily, and he already plans to pass on a love of animals, hiking, music, SpongeBob, astronomy, and probably a few hundred other things.

Actually, my husband was really excited, once he figured out what was going on. I had to tell him during a day he was sleeping (not off nights yet), so our conversation went:

(Me clearing my throat loudly)
Me: Oh, are you awake?
Him: Hmrmph?
Me: Hey, I just wanted to show you something.
Him: Hmph mmmrpx.
Me: Hey, check this out.
Him (prying eyes open) Mmmp; whuss that?
Me: It's a pregnancy test.
Him: What does the plus mean?
Me: Positive.
Him: What?
Me: Plus means the test is positive.
Him: OK.
Me: OK?
Him: Snxxxx...
(Me leaving in slight disgust.)
Him (5 hours later): Did you tell me you were pregnant?