After a nice breakfast with my parents, Anna and I proceeded to do nothing at all. The kids ran around with their new toys, and we simply did next to nothing. I’m continuing to do nothing. And it’s wonderful. It’s like all my childless friends like now – a blissfully free schedule with few commitments.

And this is what Christmas apparently means for parents. Two hours of kiddy madness followed by a wonderful day of nothing.

Oh that’s right. You just got served.

Damn you Vista!!

We (and by “we”, I always mean my wife and I… though one of these days I’d love it to mean something like “me and the King of Zaire”, or “the Pope and I” – that’d be sweet) recently got matching laptops. It was so cute. She bought one, then persuaded me – a conversation taking about 2 minutes – to buy a second one for myself. It was effectively an arguement to make Anna feel better about her splurging, that I should go against my cheap nature and blow $500 more on myself as well. We’re still financially wreckless – what the hey.

Anyhow, we get the laptops and along with them comes Windows Vista. I’m no Mac guy, nor am I some Microsoft “apologist” – I make due with what I have. In this case, I was initially OK with Vista. Seems to have an integrated firewall and access restriction for special system operations, and in general feels a bit safer.

However, one downside to Vista is half the damn software we own (or have obtained through Bulgarian connections) doesn’t want to work on Vista. This includes my favorite video editing suite, Pinnacle Studio. So, I’ve put this little clip together using Windows Movie Maker.

Don’t get me wrong; if I was 55 and putting together a needlessly flashy home movie of a trip to Santa Barbara, there’d be enough star wipes and squiggly fades in Windows Movie Maker to keep me endlessly content. For someone who wants a little more control over movie editting, the preinstalled app doesn’t pass muster.

…

Although I will say that it amuses me that an iPod touch runs somewhere around $300 – $400… and for an extra $100, you could skip that chintzy piece of needless flash and go for a beefy 17″ Toshiba laptop. Amazing how the economy of novelty works.

Just a recap of George’s entry into the world – enjoy!. Warning: I’m not peddling smut, but there is some nudity in this video clip. Parents, please prepare the young ones – Georgie was not born wearing a diaper.

And parents, if you’re looking to deter your children from considering having a baby too early, we also have a much more dramatic and unnerving dramatization of Georgie’s birth. Anna is played by Sandra Bullock, and it’s directed by Wes Craven. It’ll scare the vajezuz out of any would-be teenage mom or dad.

The following months went by much differently than Elena’s pregnancy. It was the second time around, so we already knew the dietary change, the eventless doctor visits, and the eventual tummy that’d poke out to spark conversation in every supermarket checkout line we stood in. We weren’t examining every experience like a wonder we needed to photograph for posterity, it was all more just going through the motions.

We saw we had a boy at 20 weeks, and we saw he could kick like a mule at 25. Anna liked the idea of continuing the line of George’s, and since we were into keeping good family names alive, we went with Michael for his middle name (after my brother and Anna’s grandfather and cousin). So, we got past the ‘George Michael’ stigma and went with ‘George Michael Kovats’. Most people thought we were aiming for an Arrested Development reference – it was more labored than that.

Fast Forward to week 39…

We just knew he was coming early – and yesterday our hunch was proven right. 5:30pm, same time of day as Elena, Georgie entered the world weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz, and a full 10 days before expected.

Eyes wide open, he cried a little, and then wrestled his head up to look around. It’s amazing to see how different two newborn babies can be. Elena was pretty laid back – I think Georgie’s gonna start walking soon (the picture doesn’t capture it well enough – here he’s just resting for his next outburst).

Now we have parity, and momentum: we have the balance of a girl and a boy… but it’s like we’ve got the swing of having kids down now. It’s obviously too early to tell, but that burning question in our minds after our first child is just as strong after our second – is there room for more?

For now we’ll just concern ourselves with our young Georgie.

Welcome George Michael Kovats

I won’t claim he’s the center of the Universe as I did with Elena – bad for the ego apparently. But I will say that although our second child hasn’t come with the same nail-biting caution and novelty as our first, it’s still every bit as fascinating and miraculous when you first see that tiny face and the wriggling little arms. Elena’s already taking to her big sister role… which is good, because we’ll really need the sleep when we get home.

I hope she can change diapers.