Well, I got up at 4:50am (thanks, NikkiZ) and immediately set to work on some casseroles. My first? Green been casserole. And let me tell you, there is nothing that will ruin your appetite for the rest of the day quicker that smelling cream of mushroom soup and fried onions before 6am. Gross.

My family is all here except for my Mom, who is two hours away. They are all succumbing to the hypnotic cuteness of NikkiZ and getting drunk off the smell of her head. (What is it with the fantastic way babies heads smell?) We are just going to relax and chat today, periodically taking a break to prepare another of the 50 billion casseroles I have on the menu for tomorrow. It’s going to be a good day!

I think it’s official: My house is clean. I am hosting my FIRST Thanksgiving dinner here and all my family is coming in town so I decided it was time to scrape baby vomit off the table and mop the chili residue off the floor. I started cleaning yesterday, but NikkiZ decided she wanted to be held all day, and after a vacuuming-while-holding-the-baby-induced back ache, I put a stop to the cleaning hoping she’d feel better today.

And has she? Yes. Because I have been blessed TWICE in my life with low maintenance babies. I know. You hate me.

She has been sleeping off and on most of the morning. I was able to bathe, and shave, and get chili ready for dinner, and vacuum, and scrub toilets and dust baseboards and all sorts of HORRIBLY exciting things I know you wish you could have done yourself. I even Windexed the dog slober off the back door, for only the SECOND time since we moved in. You’re totally jealous, aren’t you?

Of course now? I don’t want to touch ANYTHING. My house is only this clean a few times a year and I totally want to savor it and enjoy it and tell my family they are not allowed to step food inside until Thursday. Between now and then? They can only observe from the windows.

But if I did that? I have a feeling they wouldn’t come visit anymore. So, I’ll just make sure we all have a moment of silence in memory of my spotless home, and then we’ll proceed in destroying it over the next few days. Amen.

After seeing the Google Desktop in action on my brother-in-law’s computer, I decided to download it and use it myself. I like the changing pictures and current emails and all sorts of neat things including RSS feeds. However, at the bottom? Is a thing that says “Todo” and I have had no idea what that was. Since it didn’t take up much room and was at the bottom of the sidebar, I’ve chosen to just ignore it.

Until just now.

I just clicked on it and a window expanded that said, “Add new item.” It immediately occurred to me what “Todo” means.

To Do.

Yes. It is simply a place to type up things you need to do. I am so slow and moronic sometimes I scare myself.

Remember my brother? The one who less than TWO weeks ago ran an ironman triathlon? Which is 140 miles of RACING and took him FOURTEEN HOURS? Yeah, him, the one who is bat shit crazy? Remember him?

Well, he is coming into town today with his girlfriend and my Dad. BroZ called me yesterday and said the following:

“My girlfriend and I found out there is a 5K in Huntsville Thanksgiving morning and we’re going to run it, is that okay?”

WTF? He’s barely recovered from the 140 mile race he did and he’s wanting to run ANOTHER one? On THANKSGIVING? Thanksgiving is a legal day of gluttony. Everyone is supposed to eat so much they get sick and no one is supposed to do anything athletic. Unless by “athletic” you mean “Put the pumpkin pie in the oven and grab some more cashews while you’re up.” He says my Dad may run it too

(If you’re wondering, my Dad is where BroZ got that I-should-exercise gene from. It skipped me.)

I told BroZ that I would totally be ALL OVER that 5K with him if my doctor had given me medical clearance to exercise yet. Alas, he hasn’t, and won’t for another 2-3 weeks. And since I don’t want my uterus falling out along the way, I decided I’d skip the race. But I really WANTED to do it. Really, I did.

I was totally lying and he knew it. I have been known to run, having gotten myself up to four miles runs before my wedding. But - if I have ANY excuse NOT to do it? I won’t. And don’t. And choose to eat donuts instead.

Guess who is coming over some time tomorrow between 12 and 4pm? No, not my family, they’ll be here earlier. Nope - it’s the DHL guy. And guess what he’s coming to pick up? My doppler that we rented almost 40 weeks ago. I can not believe I am actually mailing it back. Even though NikkiZ is here and healthy, I still see that doppler as a security blanket that tells me she is okay and it feels weird to send it back. It means we really did it. We made a baby that I carried full term and then delivered into this world and she is here now, pooping up a storm and charming the socks off all around her.

It’s a very surreal thing to see that box by the door. The box holding a piece of equipment that calmed me down when I was scared and made me smile when I was longing for reassurance. Of course, sending that box back means one thing that I need to remind myself.

I will now have more money for beer every month.