One more day to the 36 week mark. I'll have to stretch the sex out to 3 minutes so JD can have an orgasm too!

Things are calming down now. Last week was Crisis City. This week has been like what we expected the first week to be like - fixing glitches and bugs missed instead of the derailed train we nearly had. Now all of our tickets are ironing out individual problems (finding out fun stuff like what software some customers have that don't like the site and its capabilities). I've converted a dozen or so people to FireFox from IE. I've been working nearly 9-5 (I start work at home around 8-8:30 but don't get to the office until 9:30am) and JD actually seems pleased with this.

The boys have fluctuated between days that they've tested her patience and/or stamina, but I haven't had a day these past two weeks where she immediately handed the boys off to me and retreated to the bedroom for solitude. She could handle getting more rest, and with the situation at work getting back to normal, I hope to come home early a few days next week (especially Tues & Thurs when she has Nigel home with her all day).

JD is completely convinced now that Monkey is a girl. She was positive that Calvin was a boy but too impatient w/ Nigel and peeked. Her pregnancy has had several differences from both of the previous ones. One thing I've noticed lately is that her belly is shaped differently. With the boys, the belly came out right under her breasts and flaired out a little in front before coming back in...somewhere around her hips. Monkey seems to me sometimes to be lying "tall" parallel to the ground with its feet on JD's spine. Her belly doesn't go out as high as I remember, but the apex of her belly seems to be much further out than I recall with the boys.

Nigel is jumping right into potty training. Calvin wasn't much interested, while Nigel wants to pee at any opportunity...and then he likes to try to pee again immediately after he does it. Why not, it's so much fun! He is also showing more of my household cleaning tendencies. Nigel was playing by himself the other day back in his bedroom (he loves playing pretend dress-up - DRAG QUEEN ALERT!), I walk back to the bedrooms to drop something off, he walks out of his room, looks at me, and says, "I go to kitchen to vacuum!" He grabs the boys' Dustbuster from the living room, heads to the kitchen, and spends the next 5-10 minutes on the floor under the table vacuuming up scraps.

Calvin went to Scouts with me on Wednesday night. The troop was dedicating an hour to three firebuilding/cooking patrol competitions (string burning, egg in a cup, and biscuit on a stick). Of course, Calvin insisted on wearing his pretend Scout uniform we made for him last year for Halloween. I'm more and more impressed with how most of the scouts treat him. There are a couple of scouts that I recall being less than nice when I first met them a few years ago that were very helpful and nurturing with Calvin (offering to help, asking Calvin if he wanted to do something they were doing). He had a blast watching the youth build the fires. When the scouts started wrapping biscuit dough around sticks to cook, one of the older scouts came up to Calvin, offered him a biscuit, and helped him wrap the dough around it. Calvin loved holding the stick over the fire and watching the scouts fill paper cups with water, placing an egg inside, and carefully placing the cup in the midst of the fire to hard-boil. It was a great evening. However, Calvin was so jazzed up afterward that he didn't crash until close to 9:30pm. His regular bedtime is 8pm.

OMG, while not as bad as I had previously feared, the pain I'm dealing with the past couple of days is much worse than when I was in the hospital. I'll spare the details but getting everything back in working order is very painstaking. The hydrocodone is nice and takes the edge off, but the pain associated with physical efforts easily surpasses the abilities of the pill. An audio recording of me screaming my way through is very reminiscent of JD birthing our babies. Not to say I understand her pain, but I have a stronger frame of reference to go by now.

Otherwise, my time is spent watching L&O on the Tivo and reading the mags JD got me while I was in the hospital. I've really enjoyed reading Filter. The writing is great, but several album reviews left me absolutely clueless about what the music actually sounds like. Superb interviews, though.

The boys have been incredibly sweet to me, although Calvin really tested JD's patience last night while he stalled going to sleep. On top of that, Nigel had a nightmare last night and she was up for a good while trying to get him to go back to sleep last night. I must get her a great birthday present to make up for all she's having to do right now. Since it's coming soon (June 8), I think I will need to solicit help from the rents or in-laws in acquiring something...mmmmmm.

Nigel has been flush with snot this week. He's spent nearly every day this week at home. That is to say he stayed home on Monday and Tuesday...and he only stayed at preschool until 11am or so on Wednesday and Thursday. For the most part, he's in very good spirits.

Usually I'd be bitching about how little I've accomplished this week because of a kid being home with me. Thankfully, JD's blessed me with periods of quiet time in the afternoon for me to work.

But the contentment is now over!

Nigel woke up at 3:30am. While I could get him to snooze, he was sleeping so light that any attempts for me to leave him and head back to my room failed. Other than a few 10 minute naps, both of us have been up since then. JD took him to school and I am going to get as much work done in hopes of squeezing in a nap before they're home at 1:30pm. HOWEVER, I can't help but be convinced I'm going to get another call this morning asking me to pick up Nigel.

I was a cranky SOB for much of the day yesterday. I did what work I HAD to do yesterday as soon as I could. Soon, I was crashed on the couch doing ham/spam and doing my best to get bored and pass out. Around 10am, JD called and said that if H'ville schools closed at noon because of the threat of weather, the preschool would be letting out an hour earlier.

Just as my eyes were spending a little too much time blinking and I was pondering if I should crash on the couch or move to the bedroom - I hear the low rumble of the garage door opening. My potential nap was effectively over. I muscled on and retreated to the bedroom around 3:30pm to have some quiet time. But JD was preoccupied with stuff in the kitchen and the boys invaded my sanctuary. My mind had devolved to the point where all my words were delivered with exhaustion and exasperation. Soon they grew weary of my sour puss and left. Shortly thereafter I slipped into a coma.

I was (quite literally) rudely awakened by Calvin grasping my shirt with both hands and shaking me vigorously. I bit my tongue before I completed, "Calvin, What the...!?" and swatted his hands away from me.

That nap did wonders with helping me regain my sanity, but I don't know what I'm going to do with Calvin. Yet another night has passed with him not falling asleep until close to 9pm and waking up close to 6am (11-12 hours is the target for both boys sleeping overnight). I'm getting sick of dealing with Calvin's "I'm too sleepy"-bitchy attitude in the morning. It's bad enough for me to get over my anti-morning views, let alone have him kicking and screaming in the morning about...well, everything.

Part of me is starting to think that JD isn't pushing Calvin to sleep as early as he has/should because he's slept all night long nearly every night since he became determined not to go to sleep at night. Or it could just be paranoia on my part. ;)

* Everyone was home today.

* JD was hurtin' HARD today (TMI?), along with a headache and a cold

* I spent most of my day dealing with the boys; while JD stayed in our room, watched "Grey's Anatomy," and prepared for her class tonight

* JD left me with the boys at 5:30pm to go teach class. Tonight is night 1 of 12 Monday nights with her away.

* The self-pitying part of me keeps thinking of Wednesday nights when I go to Scouts. I leave when Nigel is going down for the night and Calvin watches one last show. JD gets to leave while the kids are in the bath. I then get to wrangle them out, get them dressed, and then put both of them to sleep.

* I am so freakin' eager to get back to "normal" with a morning of solitude.

* Signed up for 100 free mp3s trial membership at emusic.com. Twelve downloads down already. Gotta prioritize what I want to download: what classics am I missing and what new music is worth grabbing.

* Had a business meeting this afternoon at Starbucks. I can still claim to have never purchased anything for myself there. For the second time, someone else bought me a hot chocolate.

I'm alive and well after our whirlwind Berry Xmas Tour 2006 - five days of family activities in H'ville, B'ham, and Florence. Yesterday was our day of rest and today the boys get to have a playdate w/ JD's parents. I think we'll end up going to see Dreamgirls while we have the free time today.

Will post about some of the divine booty I got over the past week at some point later today.

Yet again, A&J hit me right in the gut with my personal reality...

This Sunday's Huntsville Times' "On the Job" column featured my beloved:
http://www.al.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/115546064677190.xml?huntsvilletimes?nlocal&coll=1

Woke up at 2:30am-ish this morning for a drink. JD had slipped into Nigel's room earlier. I get back and start to slip off, when JD returns. That wakes me a little...but I try to get back to sleep. JD's head isn't on her pillow for 120 seconds before she is SNORING! Yep, time to give up hope. I get up for a pee and another drink around 3:30am. Nigel also wakes at this time. I wake up JD and she goes in with him.

Now, I'm completely awake. I turn on the tube and take some steps to relax myself. At 5am, I turn off the tube and stare at the ceiling while listening to the birds chirping outside my window. Nigel has started stirring again by this point. I decide that he's likely up for the day, so I should just give in and get him. I took him from JD's limp and groggy body and we sat on my king-sized bed reading books for about an hour. He really enjoys the Sandra Boynton books - Moo, Baa, La, La, La is his fav.

I've fed the boys breakfast by now. Did four loads of laundry, unloaded/reloaded/running a load in the dishwasher, had Calvin help me clean up his room and the living room, and am waiting for JD to finish her shower so I can have some ME time for exercising/shower. My goal for the rest of the day is to do ham/spam and take a Unisom with dinner.