One of my family members lost a baby yesterday. She was still relatively early on in the pregnancy, but my heart breaks for them nonetheless-for the dreams that were so unspeakably shattered in those moments. And I send a little prayer skyward for that little baby. This world is so unsettling sometimes. Bad things happen to very good people without explanation or cause.

So, I send a little prayer skyward for my family members, for their loss, and for a speedy recovery and a better outcome the next time around.

And, while I'm at it-some fairy dust and prayers for our unborn baby girl, too. Please arrive safely in a few weeks. We are so anticipating your arrival.

As I stood looking at the tiny little perfect babies in the Nursery on our tour of the OB unit last night, I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the middle of a movie segment, or perhaps a dream. Even though I know that we will soon be having a baby of our own, I wonder when, if ever, it will really sink in. I’m watching my body change day by day, feeling our baby kick and move inside me, and yet, it all still seems so surreal. Maybe it’s because I still can’t exactly believe that our dream is actually about to come true. That after all the drama of trying to create this child, and of carrying this child, we might actually get our happy ending. I have this feeling that I will come out of my post-labor and delivery stupor, look at my baby girl, and suddenly realize, “Oh my God, we actually have a real live baby to take care of!” Because no matter how many times I visualize it, think about it, or feel her moving, I can’t quite believe that I’m lucky enough to have this all be for real.

I’m counting down the days baby girl. We can’t wait to meet you in person.

This is a tale of our Comedy of Errors (otherwise known as an eventful Sunday afternoon):

Round about mid last week I woke up one morning to discover that we had no hot water. Zilch. Nadda. Upon investigating, we discovered that the pilot lot on our water heater was out. We didn't think too much of it at the time. There was a tiny dribble of water next to the heater, but not enough to warrant freaking out. So, my dear husband relit it and we moved on with our lives.

The next morning: Rinse and Repeat. No hot water. Relight pilot light. Start to notice a little more water.

The morning after that: Rinse and Repeat. See more water. Start to get really nervous. Call the neighbors later in the day and ask them for the name of that heating and cooling guy they told us they liked about a million years ago.

By Friday: Notice the amount of water around the heater is building. Getting very sick of semi-cold showers. Decide it's time to call the handy man, who, in no uncertain terms, tells us "you need a new water heater. I'll be there on Sunday."

Yesterday: Replace water heater. Not that big of a deal, except it's the saddest $800 or so dollars we've spent in a long time. There's no pleasure in buying a new water heater. No new toy to play with. No fun. We look at each other and realized, "My God, we really have grown up".

Last night: I decide to make brownies as a consellation prize for the sad amount of money we just spent in less that 3 hours on something we really don't care about (other than the fact that not having a working water heater is a serious pain). I put the chocolate in the microwave to melt it and ZAP, Crackle, POP. The microwave is dead.

By this point, we just start to laugh. "Seriously?" we say to ourselves. "The microwave just died now? Seriously?". Off we trek first to Target and then to Best Buy, and debate the relative merrits of the stupidly expensive microwaves, which again, we could actually care less about in many ways (other than not having a functioning one is annoying). We finally settle on one, purchase it, trek home, plug it in, only to realize that it was perhaps not the microwave itself, but a circuit that blew out. We laugh so more. Because by now, this has just become a comedy of errors. We decide, after some debate, to keep the new microwave, because the old one was pretty much on it's last legs anyways.

In the middle of all this chaos we decide,  if we're going to have enough money to get all the stuff we need for our daughter, perhaps it's best if we just exchange cards for Valentine's Day this year. Again, we look at each other and decide, unanimously and without question that sometimes it really sucks to be grown ups.

When you've got a warm car?

That is how I thanked my most fabulous husband this morning for unselfishly shoveling our totally snow covered driveway, fishing the car keys out of my purse, and starting my car while I was in the shower so I wouldn't have to start my commute in an ice cold car.

But, it's true. It's supposed to be -10 here tomorrow. We have at least a foot of snow on the ground already. It continues to fall.

Shoveling, starting cars, making tea...

That, my friends, is true love at its finest.

Thanks, sweetie. You're the bestest.

For those of you who have been following the saga, my Uncle Scotte passed away Friday night just before midnight. He will be greatly missed. For those of you who attended, you may remember him as the guy who played the live music at our wedding. In deference to my family, I will not post photos here, but if you know me in IRL there are some links on my facebook page.

R.I.P., Scotte.

It's hard to believe it's been another year already. 2008 passed quickly, and yet painfully slowly. I guess that's what expecting a child does to you. So, in the spirit of the New Year, a little riddle for all you readers out there: How you can you tell when a couple is ready for the New Year?

Answer: It's only the first weekend after New Year's and their Christmas decorations are already boxed up neatly and sititng in the basement, the Christmas tree is sitting at the curb ready to be picked up, and the house is spotless.

Yes, folks, we are quite anxious for 2009! Particularly for March when we get to meet our newest addition face to face (thougth we sometimes feel like we already know her and her antics!)

Happy New Year!