Good Grief, am I over myself yet??

Hey!!!! Look at that!!!!! Exclamation marks!!! Which!Can!Only!Mean!One!Thing!

Look out, Innernets, happy thoughts, comin' your way.............

This morning, as I was chugging my coffee and scrumptious, authentic, "rolled on the baker's kitchen floor" povitica this morning, I realized - hey, I didn't automatically reach for a Patio Burrito right after rolling out of bed. Could it be the nausea is moving on? Could it be that all I need to conquer now is this nasty cold? COULD IT BE?

This morning, we heard NewKid's heartbeat for the first time - 156 BPM, which is AWESOME. A good, strong heartbeat is so reassuring to hear this early. To boot, I had actually LOST a few pounds since my last appointment, but my pants are still getting so tight, I'm going to need to unearth my maternity pants fairly soon (since I thought Arun was my only pregnancy, the pants were earmarked for charity, but I think I still have them. I hope. Gulp). Anyway, it's great that I am gaining weight where it NEEDS to be gained, at least. Um, I did mention I am pregnant, right?

This morning, as I read blog after blog featuring pictures of kid's toys in horrific proportions, I'd like to reiterate again how grateful I am that Arun's Christmas was understated in the toy department. I did this on purpose, though. Next summer, he will be in a new "age group" and will be ready for some more advanced things, like a tricycle, AND it will be summer, so we may want to get him some outside toys. I purposely held back on Christmas and only got him 3 toys with the plan to get him a few things next May-ish when the weather is warmer and we will be outside. It sorta sucks when your kid's birthday is so close to Christmas - I wonder what other parents do in this case?

This morning, I contemplated how grateful I was for my husband. X totally took care of Arun this past weekend while I dealt with everything else. Furthermore, Christmas Eve night for X was spent primarily walking the floor from Midnight until 6:00 am because Arun would NOT sleep.

This morning, I also contemplated how grateful I am that I am 35, fairly secure in myself and in my parenting skillz. Yeah, the comments were irritating, but I stuck up for X and I by pointing out how the comments they made didn't even make SENSE. In my family, you CAN'T WIN. If you pick your baby up at the first wail, you are spoiling him. If you let your baby cry past two wails, then you are neglecting him. I was sick, tired and worried about Arun as it was and I simply wasn't going to hear that shit. I should also mention that my sister got criticized because she doesn't "let her kids have sweets". Mean Mommies!

This morning, I was thinking again how my sister got royally screwed in the gift department by Leavenworth Grandma. This year, my sister received a spoon and fork from our crazy LG. Folks, a SPOON AND FORK. Um, the "best" part is that it was made out of animal horn. ANIMAL HORN.

This morning, I reveled in the satisfaction that I have completed a minimum of my CPE requirements - I will keep plugging away, but I have completed 30 hours so far and now I am in the clear for 2006. This means I can start knitting again - YIPPEE. I had cut myself off from knitting until I met my educational requirements. Because I am disciplined like that. Which is exactly why I waited until the last TWO weeks of the year, of course.


Snappily Snapped Snappage

My sister, being the sentimental fool that she is, thought it would be "sweet" to try and get all four rugrats in ONE picture.

As you can see, that went over well.

Ahem.

Far and away, the most popular of his presents, The Shin Denter. As a result of this toy, Arun will probably learn his first bits of profanity. Aw, fudge it.

What's just lovely about this photo is that the Yellow Environment Killer you see is an old Christmas Castoff left at my house by Older Nephew before Arun was even a CONCEPT - back in the days when X and I thought we'd have kids "someday". Anyway, that is Arun's favorite toy. In fact, he's busily playing with THAT instead of all the sparkly, shiny new toys he received that day.