Blue is slowing down at work a little bit. He�s come home before 5pm twice in a row! I�m hoping that�s a sign of things to come.

Thanksgiving was lovely. We spent it with my parents. The only mistake I made was going for too long of a walk that morning with Blue and the dogs � so I was exhausted (and achey) to start the day. And I never got a nap, which is not only unusual for my pregnant state, it is practically unheard of on Thanksgiving. So of course we were in bed by about 9pm, snoring.

I am trying really hard not to do much cleaning around the house. Blue hired housecleaners for me (a one-time deal) so that I wouldn�t be on my hands and knees, scrubbing baseboards two weeks before I give birth. (Smart man, because I�m such a neat freak that with the tales of �nesting activities� I�ve heard over the years, you can bet I�d be doing baseboards and windows and all sorts of silly cleaning.) The housecleaners are coming on Monday. And so I�m trying really hard NOT to do my normal cleaning. Because come on, gotta give them something to do, right? But it is REALLY hard for me not to vacuum at least twice a week, keep the bathrooms SHINY, and generally do all of the cleaning as I go.

Yesterday we went and got our Christmas tree. I was practically overjoyed that it dropped some needles on the carpet in the living room when we were bringing it in � that gave me an excuse to vacuum the whole carpet out there.

Yes, it�s a sickness.

The Christmas tree thing really surprised me. I�ve never been a tree-before-mid-December kind of gal. And certainly I�ve never put up Christmas decorations at Thanksgiving. And definitely not when there�s another WEEK of November left to get through before we even hit Christmas Month.

But it was Blue�s idea. He said he wanted to just �get it out of the way� so that we are certain that we have a tree for when the baby comes. (Ok, just between you and me, I really think he�s just soooo excited about this Christmas with the new baby that he just couldn�t wait one more second to start decorating. That�s my working theory.) Instead of fighting the early tree (which was my first instinct), I gave in. I even let myself get excited about it (although it was 77 degrees yesterday on the Christmas tree lot and not at all feeling like Christmas).

We got a 10-foot tree. It�s humongous. �Biggest tree that will fit in the house,� Blue specified. So we measured, and in our living room (where our huge front window is), we have a 10-foot ceiling. So a 10-foot tree we got.

And now my house smells like tree. Aaah. What a great smell.

We�ll decorate the tree today. And since we�ll have the decorations down from the attic to find the ornaments � you can bet we�ll do the rest of the decorating, as well. Too funny. It�s November, what, 25th? Wow.

I�ve been feeling a little more tired and achey and generally not myself these past few days. Must be because I�m 37 weeks pregnant. I�m assuming that�s the reason, anyway. I had a ton of contractions yesterday, and even overnight � but they seem to have subsided. The contractions were good � they are serving to get me off of my butt today to get stuff done.

The baby is incredibly active. And she�s getting so strong that it�s not quite as fun and cute and charming as it once was. She can really sock me in the ribcage � enough to take my breath away. And once she gets rocking and rolling, she tends to stay active for over an hour at a time. That may be another thing that is making me tired � because even though I don�t mind getting kicked and punched for extended periods of time, it does take a little toll.

I see a dustbunny in the corner and I am NOT going to pick it up. That�s why the cleaners are coming. Oh my God, it�s driving me insane. This must be what heroin users feel before they shoot up � the almost uncontrollable urge, the overwhelming desire, the blinding focus on the one thing that will make them feel better. AARGH!

I am bumming out this morning about one of my dogs. We got her in March from the breeder. She�s about 2 and a half years old now. She came to us really well trained, except that she had lived in a crate all of her life and she had a shaky idea of housetraining.

She clearly didn�t like the crate, though � you can see where she has worn down her teeth over the years chewing on the crate bars. So as soon as we felt she could �make it� in our house, we uncrated her.

And she is fairly well trained � except at night. For some reason, she just doesn�t want to hold her pee at night. And if she�s not confined, three times out of five she�ll pee on the carpet at night.

It�s not a medical problem. We�ve ruled that out. And if she�s confined (either crated or just gated into a small area), she won�t do it.

It�s laziness, combined with the fact that I can�t catch her in the act because I�m asleep at the time.

Because she hates the crate so much (and who wouldn�t, really), we have confined her for the last several months in a gated-in area. Less confining, more open, but still keeping her in a small enough space that she doesn�t want to pee in it.

Unfortunately, the Christmas tree demands the use of our puppy gates in order to keep curious dogs and cats from chewing on it and/or knocking it over.

So last night she was set free at night for the first time in several months.

�Maybe she�ll be okay,� we mused before we went to bed.

And when we woke up �

There was pee on my carpet.

ARGH!

So unfortunately for her, the crate comes out of the attic and she�s now going to be crated at night from here until eternity. It�s the only way that she�ll give us the desired behavior, and it�s the only way that I will not lose my sanity.

It makes me mad � and it makes me sad. I don�t want to stick my kid in a box.

The doggie behaviorists and trainers (plural) I�ve talked with about this problem are pretty convinced that the crate is a security blanket for her � even though she appears to not like it. I�ve also be assured that it is NOT cruel to crate her, and that really, it�s for her own good.

But still.

Will I feel this way when I have to put my daughter in a playpen to keep her safe while I do the dishes?