a strange day

After Friday night's arguments, I did not have high expectations for what Saturday would bring.  I didn't know what kind of a mood B would wake up in, after he knew I was not happy when I went to bed.  Our 'conversation' took us past 2am, so I knew B would sleep late.  I, unfortunately, don't have his nighttime sleeping powers, though I do have good napping skills.  B was surprisingly pleasant when he woke up, and his good mood continued.  He even apologized for some of the events the night before.  I made us breakfast, and decided to try to sleep.  I did end up with a 3 hour nap, which greatly helped my mood and headache. 

When I woke up, we decided to decorate the house for Halloween.  Last year, we went all out and had a murder mystery dinner party at our house, and transformed the living room into a spooky castle.  We didn't go as all out with the decorations this year, because we have no idea what we are doing for Halloween.  Last year, we put plastic up on the lower part of the walls that looked like stones!  Our whole living room was done.  That was such a great party, back when life made sense.  It's amazing what a difference a year can make.  We reminisced as we decorated, about all of the great parties we've thrown over the years.  It was really nice. 

When we were done, we took a tour of our garden, and picked all of the ripe peppers and tomatoes (I can't believe we still have tomatoes and peppers growing, let alone new flowers on many of the plants), and picked the artichoke, the cucumber, and a few lemons.  Looks like dinner was decided!  We decided to make lemon martinis, and enjoy our spooky decorations.  As I was making the martinis, B commented to me that he really appreciates everything I do (all of the cooking, grocery shopping, bill/mortgage paying, and gardening -with the exception of of when he helps me pick things.  He has his jobs too, but not quite as much.  He told me that he doesn't think that he tells me enough about how much he appreciates it.  It made me feel so good to know that he at least thinks about that stuff. 

Later in the evening came the big shock.  He told me that he is still not comfortable with donor sperm as a back-up, but if he were, he'd want to ask his younger brother to be the donor.  The fact that he can think of what would be the most acceptable situation, I think means that he might be willing to change his mind.  I also told him that if we had to go donor, we don't have to do it right away.  We can freeze any embryos made with donor sperm and if/when he feels ready than we can do a FET.  Of course, I'd prefer to have a fresh transfer first, but I'll take what I can get. 

I'm trying to think about timing.  For those of you who've been through this, how much time will I need to take off of work for appointments/procedures?  If I have a baby after Feb. 7, 2011, I can take the rest of the school year off and go back to work in late August 2011.  This year, the school year ends on June 15th, so after that I am free for whatever.  I'd like to try to maximize my time off, without having to blow a lot of days for stuff this spring.  Any timing suggestions?  Wow, I sound so optimistic with this.  What a difference a day makes (and some important words).