Um... hello?

Okay, I realize I've posted about once a month since the Bee's arrival so I'm sure some people just gave up on coming by to read, but I have come to the sad realization that no one is reading here any more. Ack! Well, there's not much I can do about it, aside from visit and comment on other people's blogs, and blog here more frequently. I'm making an effort to try both, so we'll see what happens.

What's going on? The bee is doing very well, said "bye bye" the other day (which was incredibly cute and I'm so glad Mr. Right was in the room to hear it so I wasn't just having an audio hallucination); his top right teeth are still coming in he's crawling around and pulling up on everything in sight. He fell off the bed last night, which made me feel like the worst mother of the year, because I was standing right next to him and somehow managed to miss catching him on the way down. He landed on his noggin and started crying, but was fine within a minute and back to crawling around on the bed again. He's fine this morning, although those DBTs never really go away. They're just transformed into thoughts of closed head or spinal cord injuries. Great.

We went to visit my aunt and her family for Christmas and New Years which was really lovely. In fact, it was so nice being around such a loving and warm family that it actually prompted Mr R to suggest having another child. Mr. R grew up an only child in a highly dysfunctional family with parents who were also from highly dysfunctional families. The word family never meant very much to him, seeing what his reference point was. Being with my aunt and her family, while a little unconventional (my uncle left when my youngest cousin was 4, and aunt C's partner for the past 13 years has been a woman), Mr. R was surprised to see what family could be. He thought it would be nice for the Bee to have a bother or sister. As A's results are negative, this is a possibility, although we'd have to talk with her about it first. And not anytime real soon, she's in graduate school and I'm not ready yet - the Bee will only be 10 months old next Friday. I always thought we'd only have one child, and I was fine with that but I'm starting to warm up to the idea. I waver; wondering if we're tempting fate with trying for a second when we've been so blessed to have gotten this far. We have time to think about it, I guess I'm playing the wait and see game.

On a rather sucky note, my cousin S, A's older sister, is a carrier also. While this sucks a great deal more than not being a carrier, at least she has options (IVF with PGD or egg donation). And being a carrier doesn't mean you're going to become symptomatic, so at least there's that. She's getting married in July and we're really looking forward to the wedding. We'll be flying with the Bee, but I think we'll get him his own seat this time.

He did very well on his flights to and from my aunt's City, but he was a bit squirmy. If we have him in a car seat, maybe he'll think he's in a car and take a nap. Or chill out. We'll see.

One really nice plus was a play date with Jen of Fertility Now! while visitng my aunt; she lives near my aunt's restaurant. Her son Andrew is 2 days younger then the Bee, so it was pretty cool for them to play together, although they're still pretty young to really interact. There was a lot of face touching, with Jen and I alert to be sure no eye poking happened inadvertantly. She was such a lovely woman and I really appreciated her opening her home to someone she barely knew for a little play date. I love Bloglandia! I just hope Bloglandia still likes me...

On happy notes, Thalya got a positive pregnancy test and goes next Friday for a scan, when she'll be about 6 weeks along. She had a bit of pink spotting so please go show her some love. NME is also pregnant after trying for quite a while and expects her second bundle of joy in the beginning of August. Anita is also finally expectant. Leggy is pregnant with twins thanks to embryo donation. Luo Lin just had her 20 week scan and everything looks just great. The Fisher Queen is home with her new son, as is Katie at Maybe Expectant. Demeter's Joy brought home her daughter, Yael and is loving being a first time mom. I'm so happy for you all!

So at last there are some nice things happening throughout Bloglanda, although I know there are so many more for whom I wish would be able to complete their families one way or another. I'm honored to be able to read all of your stories and I thank each of you for sharing.
Untill next time, Good Afternnon, Good Evening and Good Night.

Mooney Mooney Me, Apparently

This was fun:

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

BTW, my brother is still coming by for visits and I'm genuinely glad of that. I told my therapist that our relationship has neve been better. He may be dead, but he's not gone and I find that tremendously reassuring. I'm just glad he's happy and free; I betcha he's surfing, too.

The DVD 3-Pack

The other night Mr. Right & I were talking in bed about the baggage that comes along with marriage. I'm speaking primarily of in-laws. Mr. R likened the situation to buying a three pack of DVDs. Usually they package a really good film with a couple of crappy ones, so we had fun picking out what our 3-packs were. Mr. R is like the The Two T*owers with Captian R*on and Air B*ud. Mine is like the Empire Srike*s Back with The Cripple*d Lamb and Cras*h (the David Cron*enberg film). Anyone want to volunteer what your 3-packs would be?

There's lots of agita we get from our in-laws; the most frustrating thing is that we work with his parents. He knows how annoying and aggrivating they can be, and they just don't work the way we do. My Dad & Mom are 1 hour & 15 minues and 2.5 hours away respectively, so at least we have a little distance there. My ILs actually have used their key to our house to drop by a few times unannounced and unlocked a locked door. This is a big no-no with me, and I think they got the picture when I said "Oh! Did I leave that door open?" "No, it was locked" they replied. "Oh......" I said [enter long awkward silence here]. Our outer door locks, so we've taken to using it, as they have no concept of boundaries and aren't capable of change.

On the breastfeeding front I'm still at it (yay!), although I have quit pumping. After reaching an all time low morning pumping of .5 oz, I figured it was more efficient for Ben to nurse during the day. So instead of taking pumping breaks, I now take nursing breaks. His diapers are plenty wet, so clearly he's getting plenty of nutrition. He's a lean little boy, but not scrawny. That kid is strong! He's crawling a mile a minute and just started cruising. He's babbling up a storm and still sleeping through the night, so we're all pretty happy here. He's got one tooth on top, with another just breaking through. These are on the left side, we're still waiting for the front teeth on the right side. And of course, he did locate his package a couple of months ago; he checks for it every time we change him, just to make sure everything is still there, I suppose. That, and I'm sure it feels good.

I'll reeeeeeeeeaaaaaly try to post more frequently. It's a challenge because I have a set time to try to squeeze in a lot of work, and that doesn't leave a lot of time left over for blogging. I get a lot fewer comments than I used to, and I'm sure my laxity in posting owes to that. I'm also sure that it's difficult for some who are still in the trenches to visit someone who's gone to the other side. And let me be perfectly frank: if I were still in the trenches, baby and pregnancy posts would be the last things I'd want to read. I know there are some of you who still visit; I don't know how you do it. I'm serious, I wouldn't be able to. And I am rooting for every one of you to be able to have the family you so desire.

So...About those DVD 3-packs....your thoughts?

Confirmation

Just got cousin A's results: Negative! Not a carrier, which is just so awesome. Just a reminder, A donated the eggs that resulted in baby Bee : ).
So, yay for everyone all around!

So visit Katie and show her some support, Cricket arrived early and is in the NICU. Gotta run, have a date with the muffin...