Hey Albert,
Six months in and we're still not sick of you!!  Who knew??  You're such a permanent fixture around the house it's as if you've always been here, and in a way you have because I really feel that you're the baby we were meant to have so everything just fell into place when you popped your head out.  You have filled the Albert-shaped hole we had and everyone has just shoved up a bit to make room for you so well done you for fitting in so well!!  The novelty has still not entirely worn off and there is the occasional burst of glee when I talk to someone about "my son" and realise that I have one of those. 
I am now able to smugly offer my condolences to those people "unlucky" enough to only have daughters.  This is mainly based on the recent holiday we had in Turkey where Albert was the star of every restaurant we went to.  He was passed from pillar to post by waiters and customers alike.  As the food arrived, a random woman would appear, do the beckoning thing and whisk him off to another table nearby so we could get on with our meal.  So many dads would sidle up to me, confirm that he was indeed a boy and smile the smile that only people in the "I gotta boy" club would recognise.  For the record Molly, I do not subscribe to this notion at all!!
I have always tried to focus on the joyous aspects of parenthood in my updates but feel it appropriate to share some concerns about what is happening to people at the moment.  There is a lot of uncertainty around with people either losing their jobs or facing cuts in their pay.  The culture of fear that is a reality for many people can put immense strain on families and there is not much prospect of things getting better for the next few years.  If in the future you see me shuffling round the house at midday wearing only underpants you will know that I too have succumbed to the curse of the economic cuts.  I have just realised that I do not really possess any useful qualifications and my current job is unlikely to continue to pay the immense salary I enjoy now (I wish!!) for much longer.  We are being expected to work longer hours, take on more clients and work smarter for less money.  Eventually we will be swallowed up by some faceless corporation who are only concerned with making profit rather than caring for the clients.  It's the future kids, might as well get used to it!!
Sorry Albert, I realise that I'm hogging this blog in order to whinge when in truth I should be telling the world how wonderful you are.  I'm guessing by now though that most people will have gathered that we think you are the dog's knees, the cat's pyjamas and the ferret's waistcoat (I may have made the last one up).  After a hard, long day at work there really is nothing more magical than to walk through the door and see the smile on your face as you spot me.  It may be wind but I really don't care.  My heart melts along with the cares and concerns of the day as you babble random sounds at me.  All in all it's fair to say that I'm loving this parenting lark and I can't understand for the life of me why Cath and I didn't think of having a baby sooner!!

We really need to start getting your room ready so that we can establish a better routine for you.  This will involve stripping woodchip, skimming the walls and putting blackout curtains up to stop light getting through first thing in the morning.  Our next door neighbours keep telling us that they hardly ever hear any crying but that will soon change when there is only a couple of bricks width between them and the living embodiment of Edvard Munch's most famous work (lungs working perfectly, thanks for asking).  Let's hope they're still talking to us in a few months' time.

And so it's time to close this latest chapter.  Apologies if this update has not been the cheeriest but I feel it's important to capture what's going on at the moment so Albert can have an idea of the context of what was happening around him whilst he was learning to be a person.  I guess our job is to shield him from the crap we have to endure until our lottery numbers come up or he's old enough to realise that we're all just bumbling along trying to make sense of everything. He'll soon realise that I don't have all the answers but I will try to be as honest as I can and for everything else there's always Google.