I know I know,

I need a new picture. I have a bunch at work - I just keep forgetting to e-mail them home.

Thanks for the name inspirations, Adrian. We'll add them to the list, but they're about as far from Joan as possible, so i don't think Mike will approve. I'm not big on Joan. Anything but Joan!

Not too sure about this new baby anymore. The flutters have stopped, and I had some bleeding and achiness on the weekend. I called the on-call doc, and he said it may be the beginnings of a misscarraige, or it may be nothing. I'm just supposed to keep an eye out, and he gave me a number of possible scenarios, and what to do in each case. Hopefully, it's nothing. The bleeding stopped later the same day, which is probably a good sign. The flutters, I know I'm not supposed to worry about - it's really early to be feeling them anyway. They don't come everyday this early on, no matter what, and it could be kicking the back right now, or hovering in the middle, or something like that, where I can't feel it. I have an appointment next week - hopefully he'll be able to find the heartbeat again.

John's doing great. Not sure what we're doing about a snowsuit, Gram. He has one my aunt sent him last year that actually still fits. It has snap-on booties, though, but all my online moms say i need real snow boots. Problem is, i can't find snow boots in his size. I don't even know what size he'd be, but everything out there looks too big. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place? The snowsuit won't fit him for the whole winter - it fits him right now, so it won't last more than a couple months. What he could use right now is long-sleeved shirts, if anyone stumbles into any. The goodwills and used stores have been picked clean, it seems. It's getting too chilly for short sleeves, though his babysitter keeps the place pretty warm - she wanders around the house in bare feet and shorts.

I have a bad cold - kind of the reason I'm writing. I can't talk. I have actually lost my voice. I thought that was a myth. It was completely gone this morning. If I tried really hard, I could make a few squeaks. Mike thought it was hilarious. He figured he'd be calling in sick for me for sure, but by the time I left for work, I could be more or less understood for a few minutes at a time. But after that, it all breaks down and i can just whisper, and it gets to be very, very painful. It feels like I'm yelling at the top of my lungs just to get anything out, and I must be doing damage when it gets to that point, because my entire throat has gone numb otherwise, so to feel that much pain through the numb is probably a bad sign. It was fantastic for doing interviews today. Oh, and I've lost a good chunk of my hearing too - everything's a little fuzzy and muffled. Yup, deaf and dumb. How great is that? So, I'm sitting in silence now, and just writing, because I figure that's about all I can do without causing damage to my vocal cords. Thankully, tomorrow is production day - although I do have to drag myself to work, with luck, I can just sit at my desk and lay out or proof pages all day - no talking or listening required. Maybe after that I can take a sick day, if I'm still feeling this sick.



At least John hasn't gotten it!!! (knock on wood)