Get Thee To A Nunnery!

So I've been taking an intro to acting class as an elective for the second summer session. Our first assignment concerns a monologue of our choosing. For some reason I chose one of Hamlet's...maybe because while living at the House of Beverage Matt would recite lines from it endlessly...or maybe because its the only monologue I could find where I actually knew something of the storyline. Whatever the reason may be, I proceeded to recite it until I was off book (memorized)...which just so happened to be the night of the first class. Jess and Ayla were still off "roughing" it at the Taconic State Park with Grammy, Dudu, Aunt Erica, Jonathan, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Wendy, and India so I really had nothing better to do than work on this piece. Needless to say, I had it down pretty quick and by the time the girls got home I was going to sleep whispering it and waking up with it on my mind. Ayla, the sponge that she is, quickly started to pick up on it. The above video is the result. She's got about half of it memorized give or take a word and with verbal prodding can get through the whole thing. She cracks me up. I can't watch this enough. I hope (if anyone still checks this blog) that you enjoy it as well.

Hamlet act I scene II:

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon 'gainst self slaughter. O God, God,
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't, ah, fie, 'tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this,
But two months dead, nay, not so much, not two, (AYLA stops)
So excellent a king, that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth,
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on, and yet within a month --
Let me not think on't; frailty, thy name is woman --
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body
Like Niobe, all tears, why she, even she --
O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer -- married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing of her gallèd eyes,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good.
But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

All Apologies

First off, I hate this dang ergonomic keyboard that Jess has...I feel like I'm back in 10th grade learning how the quick fox jumped over the dang log...anyway...

Okay, I've been a little lax as far as blogging goes, but school and studying has taken up a lot of my time...rest your heads though, I've maintained the level of perfection all your judging eyes (yes, I feel your stares burning a hole through my cranium) have expected of me. :) Can anyone say straight A's!? Yeah, boyeee....

So anyway...no one checks out this webpage to see how amazing I'm doing at school ten years later than I should have been doing...you're here about the babushka and the holy mother that carries the waiting wunderkind within...

Luckily enough I've been able to snap a few pics of the Goddess with child...

This will have to hold ya'll over for now. I'll try to snap some more when she's not looking.

By the by, the first pic is not of Jess...that's me before I lost 15 pounds...and I was sucking in!

19 weeks!!! Almost halfway there! YIKES!!! Is it okay to panic now?

Our little guy is about 8 ounces now and somewhere around 6 inches long. His brain is developing sensory areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch.

We've had a rough few days over here. It started saturday morning when Ayla started vomiting into Jess' hand. We got a bowl eventually. She was one unhappy lass for the morning, but by afternoon she was good to go. "Let's play!" She's a tough one.

Sunday was Jess' turn. The nausea she was feeling all day culminated into violent retching, the likes of which I haven't seen since we lived around the corner from the Silhouette Lounge in Allston (or was that just the smell of the place I'm thinking of?). Anyway, around 9 or so she made her oral offering to the Avon Sewage system. By monday, I was feeling weird bubblies in my belly, which is nothing strange on its own, but these were paired with contractions. At this point Jess is no longer throwing up but her body ached, her head pounded, and eating was not as alluring as it used to be. Luckily, I bypassed the toilet bowl routine (all those years of putting everything and anything down my gullet have paid off) and went straight to the immense, migraine-like headaches. These were unhappy times for us and seemed to last longer than they actually did. Now we are all our usual happy-go-lucky selves.

On a side note...we watched Stranger than Fiction over the weekend and recommend it. A cute movie that doesn't try to be more than it is. So go rent it!

Cheers!

the king

May Your 2nd Child Be A Masculine Child!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! You guessed it, it's a BOY!!! And now that we know it's a BOY we can stop referring to it as IT and use the proper pronoun of HE...or even by what will be his name, MYLES...or his initials, MGM (Myles Gennaro Magne). Whatever works for you.


Yes, thats our son giving the ol' "spread-eagle" above. He is proudly displaying his manhood as well as letting us know which way north is. He's so helpful already. What a good kid. :)


Here's a good one of him hamming it up for the camera (I wonder where he gets that from):




and in silent contemplation:

The ultrasound visit lasted for about 20-30 minutes (which is pretty long when you have a 3 year old that wants out of the dark boring room) and probably could have been shorter if the nurses weren't so fascinated by his little soldier. Its a cross all us Magne men have learned to bear. He will too. Seriously though, we have four more shots of his wee wee. We're selling them framed to the highest bidders...

Ayla was a little bummed that she won't have a little sister named Vita (the new name she came up with during breakfast while holding a Flintstone chewable) but I think she'll come around to the idea of a baby brother.

Also, I apologize for the lack of blogs...I will be more timely in my future postings.

Cheers!

Cousins

No new news to report. The nausea has stopped and I can actually think about having two children in the house without doubling over. Oh, Jess' nausea has decreased as well.

Just as we're excited (and scared out of our wits) about the arrival of the next little prince or princess, we know all of you are too. There are some little ones that can't wait too. I thought I'd share some photos of them with you...

Jonathan Virgil is all smiles when thinking about the arrival of his new cousin. Actually, he's all smiles just about all the time.

Lukas Jackson, still waiting to meet Ayla, is not sure what a cousin is. He's also not sure why Daddy uses the same voice with him as he does the dogs.






Lastly, our little Ayla Rose is eager to take on the mantle of big sister to her new sibling.

Oops. By way of a nose in me privys I am reminded of one more little one that is beside herself with anticipation. ABBEY!

Okay, keep those comments coming! Until next time...

Its all in the details...

...and I, of course, forgot them.

The due date is August 26.

Jess has entered her 13th week and is eating nothing but ice cream. Doctors orders she says, but I can tell she's lying...her lips were moving. :)

PS Don't be shy. Click on the comments link. Talk to me. :)

Visual confirmed!

Jess had an appointment on Valentines day, so we all traversed through sleet and rain to see Dr. Chen. Only expecting to hear a heartbeat, we were surprised when she wheeled out an ultrasound device from the enlightenment period. It was beautiful, made of oak and pewter with the seal of King James II on it. After waking the hamsters up, the thing powered up. The image wasn't that great, but what we saw brought two huge smiles to the room and one look of confusion from Ayla. She wasn't sure what it was. When I told her it was her little brother or sister she responded, "Oh. What's her name?" She seems adamant that it'll be a girl and thinks we should call her Melody or Mel for short. Don't ask us where she got that from. Anyway, the little boogie was wiggling around in there to his/her own salsa beat, just shaking up a storm. The doctor had a great shot of the babe with all four limbs showing, but somewhere between having that shot and pressing the button to capture it she must have hiccuped. We were left with this slightly off center shot. It works for us though.

The next ultrasound will be better quality...and we'll hopefully find out the gender.

We'll keep ya posted.