Oh my gosh, guys, I'm doing it again! Posting an author's note to let you know I'm coming back! Although I think about my verse so often I wasn't really gone. It's just all been stuck in my head.

I've had a busy, uhm, 3 years? 2.5? Has it really been that long?

Well, I got PREGNANT. I have an almost one year old now. Her name is Phoebe, she looks just my wife Cory, and even if she's not genetically mine this little girl could not be any more mine than she is Cory's. We did reciprocal IVF (her bun my oven if you're not familiar.) I almost died during labor too—yikes. 100% do not recommend that part and probably will not be having another for obvious reasons. Parenting is so great, though. 100% recommend that. It's just so special. And fun. And all the warm fuzzy things. But also, wow, no sleep. Yikes.

I've tried working on LTC *A LOT* but needless to say becoming a new parent is HARD. So rewarding but so very hard. I had severe postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety—Covid didn't help with the anxiety of course. I'm doing better now but not able to take the meds that work best for me while breastfeeding soooooo still kind of getting there in, well, everything about my life right now.

Tried writing again five-ish months ago but Cory's grandmother (who basically raised her) got super ill and we lost her last week. :( It was chaos with all the medical stuff during that period.

That being said, my lovely wife got me a laptop to take OUT OF THE HOUSE WITHOUT A BABY (forgot what that was like) to write. I had actually gotten some progress on the next chapter but then Gushy's (her grandmother's) big decline happened… so here I am, begging forgiveness and also thanking everyone of you that has been so patient, have sent messages, etc.

I am not clear yet if Chapter 39 will be the final chapter, if there will be 39 part one and part two, or if it'll just end up being an even 40 chapters. When I get a bit further into this chapter I should have a better idea.

Like last time, I'll basically jump right into the third story—BABIES. And funnily enough I won't have to actually research 100% of what that's like because, well, already going through that. If you keep up with drabbles and stuff on Tumblr you'll know this story has already been in the works for a very long time.

Okay, what you're probably still reading for…

I plan to post an update on April 15th. It could be earlier but I've hoped to post it so many times and it just hasn't worked out. I don't want to get hopes us and then crush them. So maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised, and I get it out much sooner but let's just leave it at that.

Also, a thousand apologies for disappearing. It wasn't my intention but damn RIVF is hard, pregnancy hard, labor is almost deathly hard, and parenting is hard too. So it's just been a bundle of stress and anxiety.

If you're reading this far, thank you so much. I'm so excited to be writing again and so excited someone actually opened this at all.