We have been having a lot of fun here in Casa Booski.

During both of the last two evenings, Noah has worn himself out by dancing and doing laps through our living room, dining room, and hall, both while giggling like a maniac. (Note: linked files are long.)

Tonight, he also asked that we get out the fabric tunnel. (By ask, I mean walked over to where it sits tied into a big round donut, touched it, and looked at me while going “Enh. Ennnh. Ennnnnnhhhhh!” until I figured out what he wanted.)

That was almost funnier than the dancing and running laps.

Sadly, wearing himself out has not precluded waking up at 2 am. Loudly and with great frustration. And staying awake.

* * *

We have also been having some stress. This thyroid thing, while not apparently dangerous, is also no joke.

Jill is on a low dose of thyroid replacement hormone, and they will do another round of bloodwork in a couple of weeks to see if things have improved enough that she can TTC. If not, more drugs, more tests, and more delays. If we are lucky, she will get to start right around her birthday, a not so wonderful reminder that our chances are steadily decreasing.

Aunt Anna is bored out of her gourd on bedrest. The baby has dropped and seems to be contemplating making an appearance. When I’m there June 9 & 10, maybe I’ll be meeting him.

* * *

It appears that my high school class is having a 20th reunion after all! (If you are in my graduating class and read this, I gave Engrid your email address, assuming I have it. I also gave her all the teacher email addresses I could find, mostly pilfered from Sandra’s emails.)

And it is the weekend after BlogHer, which turns out to be convenient — I’d been planning to go to Milwaukee for the weekend before BlogHer, but now I think I’ll go the weekend after.

* * *

Dammit. Not convenient after all. We just consulted a calendar, including our best estimate of when Jill will be ovulating, assuming we get all the thyroid stuff sorted out. Looks like the week we would be in Milwaukee.

That bites.

Pretty much that means that either we wait to TTC, or Jill doesn’t come to my reunion with me. And both of us deal with a high energy toddler alone in an airport.

Probable plan du jour:

1) I go to BlogHer by myself

2) Jill and Noah go to Milwaukee, where I meet them after Saturday’s BlogHer sessions are over (skipping Saturday dinner & parties).

3) Jill leaves Milwaukee maybe on Wednesday; earlier if she surges early. We ask around to see if any of our doctor friends there can check to see how many follicles she has and how they look — if they don’t look promising, no leaving early.

4) Noah hangs out with Grandma while I go to reunion. This especially means PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE GOING. And those of you who are a year (or two) ahead or behind us, wouldn’t that week be a good time to visit Milwaukee?
* * *

Sudden thought: Hey Lizzie, will your work send you to BlogHer? Where we could hang out with Lizzy? Mebbe yall could do a similar first part of our logistical crazy dance and then we can have a week long playdate in Milwaukee while our friends with jobs there are at work.

UPDATE: Please send calming, blood-pressure lowering vibes to my sister. Or prayers, if you are a pray-er. She is back in the hospital today (Monday) and preeclampsia is looking like the problem.

We are waiting to hear if she gets to go home and be on a reduced schedule this week, then modified bed rest until week 37, then induced (best case scenario), admitted and induced pretty much now (worst case scenario) or somewhere in between.

Original Post: I survived my second trip away from Noah. Fortunately, it was shorter than the first one — I left early Saturday morning, and returned VERY late Sunday night. Considerably later than I was supposed to return, thanks to more than 1.5 hours of flight delays.

But it was a great trip. I got to spend some time with my Mom, and also with my sister and her husband. I got to eat Indian food without making Jill suffer — she will go with me, but she doesn’t like it.

Aunt Anna’s shower was fun — the location was cute, although the service left a lot to be desired. But she got a good haul, and we know that little baby Form Derived from a Cube will not be naked, hungry, or stranded, at least not due to lack of resources.

What on earth kind of nickname is Form Derived from a Cube, you ask? Only the best pre-birth baby nickname EVER. Uncle Jason is also an artist and art dealer, and his artistic mentor was the late Sol LeWitt. When LeWitt passed away last month, they discussed the possibility of honoring him in the name of their baby, and while no information is forthcoming about the name of the actual baby, the nickname is sticking.

Also, Jason’s current gallery show lent itself to an awesome baby shower game, a word search of items and ideas related to the baby and his family. Of the 30 words, no one was able to find more than 23. The puzzlemaker at discovery.com is awesomely hard!!!

I’ll be back in NYC in a couple of weeks, for the Katie Orenstein Op-Ed class.

Does anyone want to get together, babies and kiddies included, for a Saturday afternoon post-nap picnic in Central Park? June 9. The class, which I’m taking with my friend Brandi, is all day June 10.

I leave it to Lizzy and the other New Yorkers to come up with a more specific location accessible to the gigantically pregnant and to the toddling. (And of course, if other Northeasterners, and others, feel like visiting New York that weekend, that would make it even more delicious.)

Leave a comment or drop me an email at liza (at) jill - liza dot us if you want to be included!

I need a clever title for a book chapter.

A few months back, I proposed to write a chapter in a book on Mommy Blogging.

My chapter is going to be on how/why I decided to launch the Lesbian Family blog, and then to recruit lots of other wonderful writers to make it both really serve the community and be sustainable.
And now the editors want a title for my chapter, and they need it yesterday.

Any ideas???

Jill’s parents very kindly sent a check for Noah’s birthday, with instructions that we get a toy or toys that he would enjoy. Yesterday, we finally managed it!

In addition to this extremely exciting “Go Diego Go” push/ride car, Noah also got a “tot bowling” set with six lightweight pins that have little colorful balls inside. Unfortunately, the bowling ball is NOT indoor friendly, so it’s been tucked away for now. Noah can bowl with his basketball.

Anyway, Noah thinks this car is the best. It has a zillion buttons and bits that move and make noise — mostly music, some commentary. It took nearly 10 minutes of attempts to distract him, 4 or 5 hours after he first saw it, before we could remove him from the car to change a poopy diaper.

(We are in diaper changing hell. It seems to go better if we don’t interrupt whatever he’s doing to change him. But shrieking, tears, fury, and escape attempts are pretty much standard at this point. Maybe 50% of the time he will eventually settle down if provided a sufficiently interesting distraction. Your suggestions are welcome!)

Yup. As of yesterday, we are officially Trying to Have Another Baby. (I’ll be calling it TTC, for trying to conceive, from now on, because I’m lazy and that’s what all the kids on the Internet call it.)

We met with the very nice woman who runs the fertility practice that Jill picked — mine was horribly inconvenient — and we SO enjoyed talking with her. If I’d met her before I picked my docs, I probably would have picked her too. (more…)