Update: New Little Guy

And where I've been the last 4 months

I want to give my subscribers a quick update on where I’ve been the last few months and have a short ask at the end.

TL,DR; we welcomed a new child into the family, Nelson Thomas Hawes (8 lb. 3 oz.) on September 24th, 2025.

My partner was fortunate to have 12 weeks of maternity leave and I, as an independent consultant, was able to modulate my work to be able to spend a lot more time with Nelson in his first few months than I was able to with my first child, Marion (who will be 11 in just a few days), when I was working in the “pre-woke” corporate world with only 2 weeks of parental leave. I didn’t realize how much I would appreciate this time.

Nelson’s pediatrician has informed us that he is colloquially known as a “happy spitter”. Nelson is already demonstrating this with some of the most remarkable comedic timing I’ve ever seen an infant deploy:

Based on prenatal in utero measurements, Nelson was estimated to be a nearly 10 pound baby at birth and, as mentioned, he came into the world as a fairly average 8 lb. 3 oz. I’m happy to report, however, that during his 4 month checkup he weighed in at 16 lb. 6 oz. This is a remarkable trend, doubling his weight in just four months! If this rate of doubling continues, Nelson will be a 4,000 lb. by his third birthday. See plot:

The data is the data, folks.

Mom has been doing great, by the way. I’m not surprised, but always impressed by her patience and capacity to do all the things only she can do and things that I can do but she does better.

Speaking of data, I’d like to ask you as subscribers to this budding young newsletterblogcommentary, which half-finished articles would you like me to finish next?

In the meantime, Nelson and I will be working on the NYT Crossword Calendar we got for Christmas. So far, we’re only a few days behind.

Appreciate y’all, and thank you for the patience while I bonded with my new dude.