Not Gone, And Hopefully Not Forgotten

HAS IT REALLY BEEN THIS LONG? (according to my Mother, yes, it has)

Anyone still out there?  If you are, I really am still here and apologize for the major delay in posting, but I do have my reasons.  I'll get into that part of it later, but for now, here's the last few months in a nutshell:

Once again, there seems to be nothing better than a big cardboard box and holey socks. After attending a puppet show at the library, puppet shows were big in our household for about a week.  It was quite amusing as both boys acted out everything (socks included) with their faces showing.

For Thanksgiving, we made the 14 hour trek to Florida.  We split it into a 2-day drive and a fairly consistent theme seemed to emerge there and back: Day one went swimmingly, everyone was in a grand mood, ready to travel.  Day two we were all reduced to complaining, picking, crying (from the back seat) and peacemaking, yelling, begging (from the front seat).  It was certainly worth the trip though, the coast and our family treated us well and we had some good times up and down the beach.

December turned out to be pretty crazy-each week the boys had at least 3 major celebrations or birthday parties to attend.  Here are Boy and Baby O at the Kindergarten holiday party making ice cream cone Christmas trees.  Baby O felt like such a grown-up participating in all the activities alongside his brother, we are so lucky to have such a kind teacher who has made him an honorary member of the class.

Just taking a moment to brag about my mad cupcake skills-the poinsettias and reindeer were a big hit with Kindergarten.  I may not be able to bake a cake to save my life, but man-o-man, can I decorate a cupcake. 



We celebrated Christmas as one big family.  Both sets of grandparents were able to join us and Christmas morning was full of bulldozers, super heroes, trains, cars, Legos, scooters, knee pads, and headlamps among other things.  It never ceases to amaze me how loud it can get in our household.  I'm used to loud, but this was pretty insane. 

MY REASONS aka HOW COME I'M ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW?

I went into a weird funk after Halloween.  At the time I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was just the change in weather or all the upcoming events of the holidays.  But, by the time we arrived home from our Thanksgiving vacation, I had all but stopped doing most of the things that I enjoyed doing from day to day.  I stopped reading, stopped running, started taking three hour naps during the day, and going to bed soon after we put the kids to bed at 7:30 pm each night.  It got so bad that about a half hour before Daddy O would get home from work, I would force myself to open the blinds, make the bed and get dressed.  Had it not been for some sporadic play dates, having to pick up and drop off Boy O at school, and of course feed my family, I probably would not have gotten out of bed. 

After a couple of weeks of working my way towards bed sores, I assumed the worst.  I debated on what kind of specialist needed to see me.  The endocrinologist couldn't get me in for another six months.  The family practitioner couldn't see me for another four weeks.  Daddy O assumed I was having a mid-life crisis and was on the verge of a break down.  Should I check into psychiatry?

Then I had a random conversation with one of the moms at Baby O's regular playgroup.   We were talking about where we had traveled for Thanksgiving and she had been the small coastal town in Florida where we had spent our vacation.  She said she would never forget that town, because (and without any indication of my current state of mind or affairs), she happened to mention several symptoms she had experienced several years earlier in that very place.  As I was listening, my mind started to say, check, check and check-maybe?  No way.  Seriously.  Not a chance.

To make a long story short, the physician who had matriculated from several prominent Ivy League schools and who also informed us that it would not be possible for us to conceive on our own was wrong.  Not only was I pregnant, but according to my obstetrician, I was already almost through the first trimester. 

Oooohhhh.  Makes perfect sense now.  Tearing up while reading a Christmas story or watching a cotton commercial....having a sudden aversion to the smell of coffee...periodic nausea...being tired ALL the time...these among probably every other tell tale sign of being pregnant.  No, it's not rocket science, but this was the furthest thing from my mind. Needless to say, it came as quite the shock. 

What I love about this news, is that every time we tell someone of the "shocking" news, they respond by saying, we knew this was going to happen....

Daddy O and I kind of wish everyone else would have let us in on the whole thing, but it's great news and we are all excited about the new addition to our family.  Boy O is eager to suggest names-his top choices so far are Clark and Bruce.   Baby O remains blissfully unaware and it is going to be one interesting ride to say the least. 

One last thing, is there any other news about our future that you wish to share with me?  I'm kind of all surprised out....