Well, that's done. It went amazingly well. Even easier to take out than to put in. Easier than a pap, but pretty similar. A tiny bit of cramping, even still, but that's what happens when something goes through your cervix, right?

She was so happy for me. I love the midwives at my practice. She gave me some prenatal samples, and an rx, and we talked boobies (they had a great poster).

Here we go again!

We had Nino's birthday party (s) this weekend. It began with playgroup. He was non too keen on sharing, which prompted some of the other moms to say "welcome to 2". ;o)



Then Saturday night we had a family party, casual but not small. It was so easy since I catered by Costco. Deli platters and all. No one minds one bit.

Here he is the next day, after I assembled that crazy crane thing. He was too excited to even put pants on. The one box said "over 100 pieces" like somehow that's a good thing. It's not. That crane thing in the middle took forever.


Here is G kissing his sweet girl cousin, who came to visit and left this morning. I miss them already. He loves her, except when she wants to sit in his chair, wear his clothes, or be held by his momma.

Good weekend all around here. Yesterday had friends over for Christmas tree cutting and donuts. We have a beautiful tree, but the smell is the best part. It smells wonderful. Like Christmas and oranges.

And I think I'm going to do Catering by Costco for his party this weekend. Frozen pizzas or a deli tray or something. No one will notice the difference anyway and it'll be so much easier. Evenings this week will be cupcake construction central.

So this morning, when I was asking Nino what he wanted for breakfast, he said "more donuts?" Yikes. He had a whole-wheat waffle.

Beyond thrilled. I was wrapping Nino's gifts and realized that he doesn't have *that* pile that Santa always brings. But he has so many toys and doesn't need anything more. I just felt like there's some magic in the heap of toys.

So I was bringing his 18-24s up to the attic (sniff, sniff) and found this huge garbage bag from SIL that had a fire truck, some blocks, and this big barn in it. I'm totally wrapping them up for him. Now he's got that heap and I'm not out $100 for toys he may or may not use.

And, last night he fell in love with some blocks at a friend's house. Real wonderful old wooden blocks. He's getting some of those.

I'm beyond excited. Rachel and I are having a business (haha) coffee date tomorrow. I can't wait to see her and her sweet girl again. And we'll just get to hang out and talk. I love my Fridays off.

I'm a sewing fiend lately. Last night I started a doll who I am in love with. He is adorable. I love the boy dolls with their little dreadlocky hair. I've got two more orders to do, and sent a cute child order off this morning. I'm feeling very productive.

I'm also a hormonal hothead lately. Today I walked into the toy store to get some stuff and the lady told me I couldn't come in with a drink. I'm freakin 29 years old, I've done it before, there's no sign. I wanted to turn around and walk out, but she said "you can leave it on the counter". Like I'm a chocolate covered 4 year old. I spent my $.95 and left. I planned to spend more but no. It's a small little business downtown, I want to support them, but they'll have tons of pedestrian traffic. Rrrg.

I think that your body tells you when you're ready to have a child. There's more biology involved than I think. A month or so I started having relatively normal cycles again, and I started *really* wanting a baby. And I feel like Nino is ready, probably readier than either mom or dad. It's always a big leap, you're never really ready to make the decision, but you go for it. We did last time and it's a million times better than we'd ever dreamed.

I'm also bummed that people think that blogs are a place to leave crap in the comments. A handful of my friends have to go through and prune out bad comments or spam comments. What purpose does it serve? I don't know of a single person who is going to change their thoughts, or buy something, based on a blog comment. All I know is it makes people mad.

We saw Santa today.



I also took my eighth exam. I think it went well. I have no clue. It was a six hour exam, and I was done in half the time, but I also skipped the mouse tutorial. Really, if you can't use a mouse, do you have any hope of passing a computerized design exam? 4-5 weeks until I find out. I don't feel like I forgot anything or had any major gaffs.

Wow. I just made an appointment. January 24th, fertility will return. Very nervous, very excited. I hope I can relax about the whole thing. I want there to be some time until we really "try", March-ish.

Nino knows who Santa Claus is. I had no idea. He's not even 2. Yesterday we got a photo of Sophia with Santa, and when I asked who it was, he said "santikloss". I had to point out the baby in the sea of red velvet. He also knows that it's Mick Mouse on his diapers, elmo, cookie monster, bob builder, and worst of all, barney. I try to have him talk about the "dog" or "tiger", but somehow the "bear" became "poobear". Not the worst, and he's such a smart kid. It just bums me out that all orange fish are Nemo. It wasn't like this when we were growing up. Or I'm going to pretend it wasn't.

Here is the beauty: