20 Days

there are times in our lives when we feel happy
times in our lives when we feel sad
and times in our lives when we experience
feelings we didn't even know we had.

in this ongoing account of the life of parker delgado havlan, i will have many opportunities to make it clear the joy i am feeling and the delight my life has become. i will do this (perhaps repeatedly) not only for the benefit of those of you who are happy to know it, but mainly so that one day my beautiful son can read this and know that he is deeply loved and that will never change.
don't get me wrong, my life wasn't exactly a bag of crap before "the little man" came along. i've been to the galapagos islands where i swam with sharks and penguins. i climbed mount machu picchu and rode an elevator to the top of the world trade center. when i was 7 years old i won two trophies for being such a good little baseball player - and i have the trophies to prove it! i love my wife. my wife loves me. and now, every morning, i get to wake up and watch this...
parker delgado wakes up...
(http://bit.ly/FSpX7P)

good luck having a bad day after a start like that.

my song of the week... (did i mention i'm going to include a "song of the week" from now on that for reasons i may or may not explain in detail makes me think of PD? well i am)... was written by a man named Ewan MacColl and sung beautifully by Roberta Flack way back in 1972 -
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".
dig it...

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the endless skies, my love,
To the dark and the endless skies.

there's more, but you're probably out of hankies by now so i'll spare you. but please listen to it if you get a chance. and enjoy.

p.s. - PD gave himself an "arm hickey" this week. sucked his arm until there was a little bruise on it. auntie pam was the one who figured it out, but it's up to all of us to never let him forget!
isn't that what family is for?

first week

and WHAT a week!
let's start with monday, january 4, 2010 - parker delgado havlan is born. and that's putting it mildly. more accurately, parker delgado havlan decides to join us following a lengthy decision process during which he seriously considered just staying where he was.

i couldn't figure out how to embed the video of PD's trip home from the hospital, so here's the link to it. we all hope you like it.
PARKER DELGADO COMES HOME!
(http://bit.ly/FQ3f5h)

now then, for prosperity's sake, i believe i'll just post the official announcement (which many of you may have probably already read) and catch up on baby-related details (cuteness, poopiness, adorablosity) later.
here it is.

****

we have created...

LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!!!!
(SFX: Thunderclap)

it's official!
ellen jackson thomas and j. robertson havlan are very happy to announce the birth of their above average looking baby boy, Parker Delgado Havlan.
(named in honor and memory of his loving grandmothers, carol parker and gloria delgado)
his grandmas would have been proud!

here's the deal.
i COULD take this opportunity to prattle on and on about how amazing ellen was and how hard she worked and what a miracle the whole thing turned out to be...
so that's exactly what i'm going to do.

ellen was AMAZING!
she worked SO HARD!
the whole thing was a MIRACLE!
that's the truth. it was truly epic. i haven't seen a physical effort like this by a human being since that time i was vacationing in jamaica and watched a really fat guy try to get into a wetsuit.
hey-OOOOOOOO!!
daddy's still got it!

unfortunately, as is the case with "plans", ours did not quite end up as... well, as planned.
though we wanted little P.D. - as he may or may not be called - to be born at home, he decided he wasn't into it and we ended up at st. vincent's hospital in greenwich village. seems his head was turned a bit awkwardly to the side. he was apparently distracted for a second at a very crucial moment by what i'm guessing was either "things" or "stuff". probably gets that from his daddy.
...
where was i?
oh, yeah!
we had a baby!!

so... hospital birth. BUT, our baby was born in greenwich village in new york city and that's pretty cool. plus, on the upside, maybe he'll be a doctor considering how badly he wanted to go to that hospital. then again, i suppose he could also end up being that upbeat but slightly deranged guy who sells mylar balloons at the hospital gift shop. flip of a coin really. am i right, parents!!?

bottom line is ellen is even stronger and braver and more determined and more focused and more beautiful in every single way then any of us even thought she was. and i don't know for sure about you, but i've always had a pretty high opinion of her.
mommy and son will be at the hospital for a couple of days but will hopefully return soon to the very home where P.D. will one day watch TV his mother and i think is trash and listen to music we will undoubtedly consider “noise”.

our apologies for the lack of a more personal announcement, but we assure you we will make calls and answer e-mails as soon as we catch our breath - or several months from now, whichever comes first.
in the meantime, thank you all for caring and for being such great friends.
oh, and for the record, i'm doing just fine. thanks for asking.

with love,
ellen, p.d., and coming in a solid third place from this day forward, j.r.


official stats
(for those who like official stats)
date: 1-4-2010
time: 4:40 p.m. (during Oprah!)
weight: 7 pounds, 15 ounces
length: 21 inches
eyes: squinty
head: conical
face: adorable!!