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:

This Friday we're going to one of hubby's clients' holiday parties. It sucks. 6:30-10:30 pm, on a godforsaken *boat*. So you have to stay the whole FOUR hours. And it's freakin December, so we'll all be huddled inside with our hot toddies, so we won't get to enjoy the boat part. It'll be like being at the Marriot ballroom, but that we can't leave early. Now we have to find childcare from 5-11. And try to get into Boston for 6:30. It all sucks. I think I'm going to schedule things such that we're "accidentally late" and miss the boat. I will know exactly 3 people there, one of whom I share my bed with. I just hope they have good wine.

I'm also trying to sort out Nino's birthday. I wanted it to be low-key, just family, but I wanted to have it at home so that his sitter could come. SIL wanted to do it, but she's an hour away, so sitter wouldn't come. And my family wouldn't feel as welcome. And then it's notsomuch my thing. Not that it's a big deal but I wanted it to be simple. Ugh.

I feel ten thousand times better about my projects. Slings will hit the mail tomorrow, christmas cards are near complete, I did some studying, finished one scarf, decided not to even get to the calendars for a bit, did some ironing, and the house smells fine again. Additionally, I'm really pleased with a new style of sling I made and can't wait to hear how Tru likes it. The only thing is that the cats are bothering my allergies.

After the single puke on turkey day, I thought we were all set. Nope. Yesterday was a puke filled day. Today was a sleep filled day. He slept all morning, has been awake about 4 hours, eating like a horse, and is asleep again. Poor bean. At least I'm ahead of the laundry and cleaning up for now (knock on wood). Nothing smells too bad anymore.

On another note, I have too many projects. I decided to make our christmas cards (done but for about 15 envelopes), calendars for gifts for family members (not even really begun), scarves for the girls (half done), doll for sophia (done) and am keeping on top of sling orders (1/3 done so far). I hope tomorrow is a productive day. I need to get these slings in the wash.

Our Turkey day was punctuated by a few fun things.

• Nino choked on some turkey, which caused him to puke good. He got a nice mid-meal bath. I didn't get to really finish up.
• He, who will eat fresh or frozen blueberries by the gallon, does not like blueberry pie. Or any pie, for that matter. He liked the crust.
  
• We were reading "who's hiding in the jungle?" and afterwards he asked me "who's hiding in momma's boobies? Momma milk!" He's a comedian.
  

Santa and the boy last year. I can't wait to take him this year. Probably not for a couple of weeks though.

I feel super bad, as Nino still has his ear infection. It seems amoxicillin didn't touch his particular infection. Now he's on bactrim, with a flavor shot of banana. It smells nasty but he seems to be fine with it.

I'm just thrilled that it's a short week, and I get to snuggle with him for several days in a row.

Last night he asked for yogurt drink instead of momma milk. :(

My day yesterday.

fruit_lover: I can't decide, apples or oranges. What do you like and why?
apple_farmer: Some people say oranges give them stomachaches, but they don't know not to eat the skin. If oranges give you a stomachache, try tangerines.
fruit_eater_1: I love apples. I didn't think I would but once I tried it, I liked it.
orange_farmer: Apples are ugly. You'd look better holding an orange.
apple_farmer: I have an orange tree, but my oranges don't grow so well, so I don't sell them.
fruit_eater_2: I had trouble with both apples and oranges.
orange_farmer: Mr Apple farmer, stop telling people how much better apples are!! My oranges are good and I love selling them!! Besides, you're not supposed to eat the skin!!

So at 8:15 this morning, Nino was still asleep. So hubby was like "he needs to get to bed earlier". Duh. At least we're now on the same bedtime page. You can't wrestle with him at 830 and expect him in bed within 15 minutes.

Not to mention, the boy is still sick. He pokes in his ears and tells me they hurt, asks for "ty-nol", and is running a bit of a fever. Not what I need.

I also called Ikea about having the chair-bed sent to us. It will cost $40 for the frame, I already have a mattress, and the cover is only available in store. Did I mention that shipping was $51.18? Ugh. I see a trip to the big blue box in my future. It's worth $51 for me to drive the 2.5 hours. Not to mention that it won't be exactly what I want. I just wish there were one more Friday between now and the big tree day.

Today was Nino's day. I love my Fridays. My house is clean, my laundy drying, and I feel really connected to my son. We spent tons of time outside, at the park, playing with the dogs, in our yard. It was just fun and a little mid November surprise. In fact, he's now sitting on my lap just not doing much.

I was in a rotten mood this morning and now feel like I took it out on hubby. I told him as much and I think he felt the same way. We get like this at the end of the week, as we haven't seen each other and we're at peak stress time. By Monday we'll be sore from all the laughing.

It seems that Nino now sleeps in his own bed. I don't want to jinx his sleeping through the night, but for a few nights now (barring the one hell night), I have laid him in his bed and he sleeps until 8 or so. For a while he was waking at 5 or 6, and coming into bed with us. Now, lately, I don't see him until after I'm up for the day, and he only nurses at bedtime. Both of which are making me very sad. I know that sleeping together wasn't actually "being" together, but now I feel like I haven't seen him much in the last few days. Not to mention that I hear as a child weans, hormones are nuts, and so that probably makes me weepier.

Yesterday was hell-day. After having no sleep, I brought Nino to the doctor. Infected, I dropped him at the sitters. I get to work, have all sorts of things to do, then call the place to pick up the boards. They were on white, not black. Thousands of boards in black, they will not accept my white ones. No charge is right, mr framer man. So I then drive them to another framer, to see if they can be salvaged. A waste of $50 worth of photos. En route, nosebleed. Have to then waste 2 hours, so I hit target (small victories). They fix it. I go to Boston, drop off, don't get a parking ticket. On the way home, I see blue lights. Not for me, thank god.

We all went to bed at 9. At least no problem sleeping for any of us. Nino is much better after 24 hours of pink yuck.