Updates on all the stuff that I can remember to update you on:

• We start week twelve today, which means only one week before I can count myself in the second trimester, which means soon I will be able to look at a cup of coffee without feeling the need to vomit.



• Madison will get its first real snow tonight, with 2-4 inches predicted by tomorrow morning.



• We’re going Christmas tree hunting tomorrow! I love this about living up north. Back home, getting our Christmas tree meant setting up the ladder and ascending into the attic crawl space to pull out the boxed Christmas tree. True, we always knew it would fit in the house, and true, we didn’t have to brave snowy roads to get it, but there is really nothing like the smell of a real Christmas tree. Plus, I don’t have to pull cobwebs out of my hair.



• The update on Tabasco. I can’t muster any humor here. He’s in pain. It sucks. We know the time is coming when we will have to make The Decision. That time is not now, just yet. He continues to eat, he continues to seek our attention and from to time he seems his normal, happy, yappy self. We’ve got him on pain meds and watch him closely. He had a vet appointment yesterday, and although I went in strong, I came out weak. Be his advocate, get more pain meds, make sure they don’t touch him in that spot that is so painful he nips my nose if I get too close. Sure, he is slower these days and looks a bit more ragged, but he’s still… what? I don’t know. My puppy.
  
  I left sobbing. Talking to the vet made everything so real. This sucks.



• Jay told me yesterday that his tooth hurt.
  
  Me: Oh, I’m sorry, buddy. Which one?
  Jay: The one aight ere (pointing to a molar)
  Me: Well, let’s take a look at it. How long has it been hurting?
  Jay: Oh, about a quarter mile.



• I am looking for a good gingerbread recipe. Please send them my way. Christmas baking will commence this weekend.
  
  Bring on the Fatty McButter pants.