My parents just left after what I think was a very nice four-day visit. They came in for my graduation - for my PhD that I defended successfully in September. It was so nice to have them here! They are fairly...anxious...travelers, so the fact that we are having lovely winter weather here in flyover country was enough to send them into a tizzy. But they knew they would see us, and meet their grand-dog, and also meet our friends. So I am pretty sure they were excited to be here.
And we had a lovely visit. They arrived on Thursday afternoon, pretty much on-time, considering the weather and the fact that they had to fly through the dreaded ORD. I picked them up (N was working) and we headed to Target to pick up a few things for the party on Friday...paper plates/napkins and plasticware. We also picked up a timer for my mom's friend and a g.c. for N for iTunes...he loooves his iTunes. It was weird being with my father in Target - I'm usually in those places with my mom only - but they were very helpful.
We had a lovely dinner Thursday night and then they spent some time looking around the house - my dad videotaped a 'tour' of it to show back home - and playing with the dog. We never had a dog growing up - and I wasn't sure whether they would enjoy meeting their grand-dog. But they did, and my mother even kissed him (on the head, you know, where you kiss dogs) before they left. So, whew. It helps that the dog is well-behaved and awfully cute.
Friday, the weather was awful awful awful. We had ice Thursday night, mixed with rain and snow. Bleah. Bleah. Bleah. So N went out to snowblow and hack at the ice, and put down some ice melt. It was a mess. And because I was still post op, I couldn't help. Ergh. So my parents - who are 60 and 64 - went out to help. Talk about feeling useless. Completely useless. They got the driveway pretty well cleaned up, then we took N to work and went to run a few errands around town. N called while we were picking up the cake - his parents weren't going to make it, they'd had a foot (a FOOT) of snow. Bummer bummer bummer. So, back we went to the grocery store to get a few more things to stand in for what his mother was going to bring. Bummer. My parents finished clearing the driveway and I went to get N mid-afternoon. Fortunately his work has this thing where if you are salaried and show up for at least part of the day, you don't have to use leave if you leave early/come in late. Since he gets less vacation time than anyone I know, this is a good thing.
Friday night was our open house/hey my parents are in town/oh, look! Annabelle's graduating party. It was lovely. A few people couldn't make it because of the weather, and one person never showed up, never called, and never emailed. But everyone else seemed to have a good time. It was fun to have my parents meet friends of ours that they had never met before, and it was really fun to have people over at our house. A couple of friends stayed pretty late, chatting with us and my parents.
And then Saturday was graduation! N wasn't feeling so hot - he'd had a cold for a few days - but he powered through and was feeling better when we finally got to the ceremony. There was a reception beforehand, that the Grad College hosted. It was very nice - my adviser was there and had her ear talked off by my mother. I am so, so glad that I went through the graduation. There is something about having that hood placed over your head that just brings it all home. My adviser did the hooding - they said all of my names right - and it was just one of those moments where everything seems right.
We came home to save the dog from the torture of the crate and get ready for dinner. It snowed most of the day and was bitter, bitter cold, so going out to dinner didn't seem like such a fab idea. Of course we went -reservations and Italian food, hello - but holy God was it cold walking from the parking ramp to the restaurant. We had yummy Italian food, a little too much wine (well, mom and I did - N and my dad were fine) - and then came home to have champagne and leftover cake. Mmmm....
And then Sunday they left. Oh, what an ordeal. 40 mph winds, ground blizzards, delayed flights, nearly missed connections, etc. etc. etc. And of course their bags didn't make it. But they did! I'll have to hear about how we are two plane flights away for the rest of my natural life, but that seems a small price to pay for having them here for a few days.
Life has calmed down a bit now. We are back from N's parents' house, where we spent Christmas Eve and Day. It was very very quiet without our niece and nephew around to raise the noise level to earsplitting...I took several naps...and the Dog got spoiled rotten by his paternal grandparents.
I couldn't help but think how nice it would have been to have a baby this Christmas. New house, new dog...new baby would have rounded it out nicely. And I kept thinking how last Christmas, I was hoping to be able to tell our parents that we were expecting a baby. No dice. And not this Christmas either. And now that they know I had surgery, they also know that we have a follow up appointment in January. And I really don't want to have them asking me about what we're doing, or when I might get pregnant, or really any of the details of this whole ordeal. I just wish that I could surprise them when I do get pregnant. Maybe they'll forget about the follow up appointment...maybe I just won't say anything and they won't bother to ask...but what I really DON'T want is to be sharing details of our IUI's with our parents. Call me petty and small and controlling, but...I just don't want to. So we'll see how that shapes up.
Follow up with the endocrinologist next week. I'm interested to see what he wants to do. I've been munching (in a restrained way, of course) on cookies and crackers and cheese and mmm....Christmas snacks...but my sugars haven't really budged. So, we'll see.
Boy, what a rambling, pointless post.
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