Inna and I have been sitting on a little secret these past few months that we've been just itching to let out. Actually, secret is a bit of a misnomer considering there is a great deal of you out there that already know what's coming. Nevertheless, we are very happy to announce finally that our home is about to grow ... by two feet. Yep, Inna is with child and has ventured into her second trimester. With any luck she will leave behind the nausea that has bothered her so much during these first three months. As for me, these months have been just great! Time off work to contemplate the responsibilities of fatherhood, what more could I ask for?

A very Merry Christmas to all those that might venture here today (and if you do, you definitely have to find something better to do with your time). Grateful not only to be celebrating Christmas this year, but that my mom has arrived to celebrate it with us.

Did I mention that the voice recovery process is somewhat akin to going through puberty again? My lovely wife has two new rules in the house. No more singing and no more talking after 10pm.

An earlyish Christmas present is the fact that my voice is showing some real positive signs of recovery. The speech therapy is really paying off; wh'ould've thunk it? The speech pathologist is quite confident my left vocal chord is showing signs of coming back to life. I can't wait to see the ENT to see this for myself.

My dad got to celebrate his big six-zero today and we were the lucky crowd that got to celebrate it with him. In truth I wish the rest of the family could have been here - this is a big accomplishment and I feel that the level that we enjoyed it at (and we did enjoy it) was just not up to par.

On another good note, as if thrown in for good measure, I had my last radiation treatment today. With any luck, Wednesday's chemo can be skipped in favor of three weeks of rest - I'll have to wait and see.

We are in the throws of an early Christmas celebration. While my dad is in town, we thought we would have a goose and gammon Christmas dinner a little ahead of schedule. So our day is being spent in the kitchen with the smells of roasted chestnuts and sage wafting through our home. Just lovely!!!

A little behind schedule, we are in the process of putting up holiday decorations. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, at least in our home.

The primary radiation treatment ended today. To celebrate, I had a CT scan which is currently being reviewed to decide if any more radiation is necessary. At least I get tomorrow off.

Pops arrived in town last night from South Africa. We will get to spend the next week and half together before he heads over to an English Christmas with my brother & sister. With any luck, more snow will be dumped before he departs to help things feel a little more festive.

The radiation machine was broken today. So I enjoyed a little break in the treatment. I hope I'm not the first person back on the bench when it's been "fixed."

Karl's trip sadly came to an end yesterday, finished off with a short trip to O'Hare and very short farewell to have him on his 9pm flight back to Heathrow (airports are no longer condusive to lenghty farewells with the security situation as such - I miss being able to have a few drinks to send somebody on their way. They may want to try to put shops, pubs & restaurants on the other side of security too, or am I wrong about this?). His first Thanksgiving, we trust, will be one to remember and we're looking forward to many more promised trips back to the US. Not to worry though, my dad is due to arrive this coming weekend.

Hooorraaay, more snow! What makes this all particularly special is witnessing the child-like excitement excuded by Brother Mac as he watches the falling snow. Reminds me of me when I first arrived in the country (in fact, I'm still the same way). Laurie, are you diggin' it?

Had my first consult with the speech therapist yesterday. Another ten more sessions to follow where hopefully we'll assist my hoarsy voice recover without the need for more surgery.