You may have noticed (or maybe not) that I've been almost entirely absent for the past week. Well, big things come in small packages, as the saying goes. In this particular case, the package was precisely three pounds, twelve ounces, and it arrived last Tuesday morning eight weeks early.  The "it" is in fact a "he," and he's doing just fine, though it'll be a few weeks before he'll be able to join his brothers and sister at home.