Congratulations, Gonk. Good luck with the fourth trimester. There's no greater miracle in the world.

ARF ARF ARF!

(That's Congratulations in Dog Talk)

Jim,

You already know what I have to say to you, Becca and Kate ... but what the heck, I'll repeat it here for public consumption ... Congratulations to the whole family and may this be the best product testing you've ever done!

Congratulations! My own long absence has been for the same reason! Two of them, actually. That and moving. But that's a topic for another place. Here I just want to wish you all the best.

Also, just let me tell you that a big thing you can do to help yourselves out is do NOT alter the normal noise levels in your home. Babies will sleep with whatever ambient noise they are accustomed to hearing. She's been hearing your normal sounds for months now and if you let her learn to sleep in quiet, you'll forever be shushing people and keeping your volume turned way down. People are always amazed that our 11 month old sleeps with a lot of noise going on around her. Trust me, it makes your life a lot easier!

Congrats again, and I'm sure everyone will cut you some slack if you take a bit longer to post!

WOW!

Gonk has brought back the Owl!!

Thanks for all the kind words, everybody. The family has been home since Monday and everybody is doing well.

Congratulations to the Gonks! As a father of two beautiful girls myself I can fully appreciate the joy you must be feeling now. It seems like yesterday we were bringing home our first and now we are planning for college in the Fall. Savor every moment with your little princess for time surely does fly by. Your life, and your perspectives and philosophies will be changed forever - and all for the better.

In little Kate's honor, I'm making a note to be sure to unfurl a fine Cuban cigar on an upcoming Caribbean cruise we are planning.

As an aside, I must concur with Owl's Warder about not altering your lifestyle with regards to noise levels. Some friends of our's had a child before we did and they would tip-toe around the house when the baby was napping and any visitors were requested to whisper. Needless to say, any sound at all would wake up the child - it was just too quiet in the home. My wife and I would just roll our eyes and shake our heads, and then vowed we would never do that with our children. Well this couple was just flabbergasted when they witnessed my wife vacuuming the carpet under the crib while the baby slept! She never stirred, then or whenever there were "normal" sounds in the house.

Best Wishes!

Many congratulation to you, Gonk. Although it was more than twenty years ago that I had my first child (a girl!), I still can feel the joy that I experienced looking at my daughter for the first time. Again, best wishes for your family.

For those of you who've not visited Gonk's home page (click on the little house type icon at the top of one of his postings), there's a verry cute picture of "Gonk v2.0" on his front page.

And a superb Cohiba it was! Congratulations again Gonk and thanks for sharing that beautiful picture on your homepage.