Update
Crossposted from www.monsterduck.com, my public family blog...
Today is my mother's birthday. I wasn't exactly sure what I would write today. I wasn't exactly sure how I would feel today. For the past couple of weeks I have been more or less overwhelmed by today. Despite this, other than a lack of sleep, it feels much like yesterday. I don't want to say that I have been dreading today, because that doesn't feel right. I need a better antonym for "anticipation," because today has felt to me like the un-Christmas. You remember being a kid at Christmas morning, bursting with excitement and restless energy, having been wired with anticipation for weeks before? The sensation is similar, except opposite. I feel drained rather than excited.
Nonetheless, today seems like a good day to do the massive update of all of the good and bad happenings of the last month. Starting with the bad:
Two weeks ago, Bismarck ruptured a disc in his back, which crushed his spine. His back half was paralyzed, but we rushed him to the doggie hospital for surgery. He is expected to make a full or nearly-full recovery, but currently has a sad bald spot on his back, and about 8-9 inches of staples holding him shut. This last Friday he began hopping onto his hind legs, as if he had three legs, and on Saturday, he began walking again. Now he's walking around normally (but not running, yet), and seems to be in very good spirits again (the doggie narcotics probably also help there). He's getting the staples out today. I'm absolutely amazed at how fast and suddenly he has recovered.
On the job front, the project I was hired for is finally moving forward after about nine months of delays. We hired the first of two people who will be working with me, and I'm looking forward to getting started. Although I didn't mind sitting around waiting for my job to start in earnest, the routine was getting a bit old after so many months. I'm very excited, but nowhere near as excited as my new coworker. This will be a grand adventure, and I anticipate that the winds of fortune shall carry us to glory, or we might just go down in flames. It's too soon to tell.
Finally, the big news: We're expecting! We go to our first doctor's appointment this Friday, so we don't know a whole lot yet, but based on our calculations, we anticipate a due date in late October. Katie has just starting to get morning sickness, so feels icky much of the day ("morning" is a bit of a misnomer). Fortunately it's not too bad (easy for me to say). Based on these first weeks, I have determined that Katie is probably going to hate me by the time nine months rolls around. What have I gotten myself into? :-)