It's a girl!

Not one to be left out of the wave of birth announcements, I have one to make! For this, I have to interrupt my "previously scheduled" programming (Back to the Future - Part II)... which is just as well, since (as is normal for me) the text has grown beyond my original intentions (I'm going to have to break it into at least two other posts).

Please welcome to the world Isabela, b. March 7, 2006, in New Jersey! Congratulations to her proud parents -- Mom Cleia (Cristina's sister) and Dad Mark! Pleased grandparents Clea and Celio are on hand, ready to dote, once Cleia arrives home with her little bundle of joy. They have also been efficient at relaying news and pictures to us here in the southern hemisphere, nearly as far from the action as possible.

This isn't quite enough to assuage the rampant pining among the female family members down here (there's something genetic about the effect of maternity on the birther's sisters!); certainly Isabela will be a few months old before anyone down here gets to meet her personally. We are all, however, (male and female alike) anxious to make her acquaintance as soon as possible.

For those of you who are interested in stats, Isabela weighed in at 3.7 kg (8.1 lbs) and 51 cm (20.08 in.) .

As I already mentioned, the epidemic of human reproduction sweeping the world these last few months (possibly in consequence of last May's launch of "Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith" -- that's my theory) is somewhat intriguing. Will the Force be strong with these younglings??? That remains to be seen. I, for one, will be paying close attention over the next few years!

Next Jedi birth to watch: my brother-in-law Celio's wife Tatiana is expecting a pair of male twins (!) due in another month or so. Stay tuned for my next birth announcement!

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One last comment, on an unrelated note: once again our family is being assailed by an unrelenting viral nemesis. Currently, myself and oldest son James are the victims -- viral conjunctivitis, better known as "pink eye". In my case, it's the least unpleasant symptom of an overall state that includes a throat infection, nasal congestion, and a high fever (2 advil every 6 hours since Sunday). Tomorrow, James and I will go in for some blood work to see if there isn't also a bacterial element to our afflictions.

Meanwhile, Kevin's eye is starting to look reddish; so this may be only the beginning of our ordeal. :-(

Oh ... and one final final comment: I've finally added an RSS link to the right sidebar, so Gramlingville can now be subscribed to (to receive automatic updates, for example). If you don't know what an RSS feed is, you probably aren't going to use it anyway, so I'm not going to waste any more time explaining it!