You guys! I drove on the highway! And I survived! And I love exclamation points!

Okay. Enough of that. I'm a fraidy-cat driver who will go out of her way to avoid the highway, but! (Okay, last one, for real.) My department had their annual holiday team-building whathaveyou yesterday afternoon and I would have spent approximately two decades on the road if I had taken the streets to get there, so instead I took the highway. And I didn't crash or even have a total panic attack in which I wished I would just crash and get it over with already. (Am I showing too much of the crazy, here?) (Also, this is where my grandma will call me to recommend therapy.)

Since I've been gone for, um, I don't know, ever, I should also update you on random things happening:

• Baby's First Antibiotic: Alliclaus has had a cold since Halloween and it's been mostly just irritating, but she started to have a really junky cough, so we got rid of all dairy to see if it would help. It kind of did, but every time we added it back in, along came the cough. So, we finally took her to the doctor who prescribed an antibiotic to which I am deathly allergic and which I cannot, apparently, spell. I'm a little weirded out that they prescribed an antibiotic when they told me she seems to have a cold, but I asked very specifically and was told that when a cold lasts this long there is often an infection that we can't see because of a baby's very wee sinuses. It seems to be helping, in any case, and hopefully my days of wiping disgusting green snot are numbered.
• Thanksgiving Ruled. Christmas? Not So Much: Josué and Sarah came out for Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful time. I made a lot of the dinner, but am very thankful that Sarah was there to help, as otherwise we likely would have dined sometime Saturday morning. I do not think it is in the cards for me to make Christmas dinner, so we are looking for restaurants that will be open. It'll be our first Christmas alone, and I'm a little sad about it. At the same time, it's pretty exciting to share Christmas with just my little family.
• Another Induction is in the Cards: When I signed up for classes for next semester, I somehow thought that the two-week intensive began at the beginning of February, so I signed up. It actually begins January 21. My due date? January 16. So, I've talked my OB into inducing me a week early. I'm generally against intervening in nature's things just for convenience, but I guess I really just mean I'm against YOU doing that because look how quickly I got on board. Heh.
• Then Again, Maybe We Won't: I've been having quite a few contractions that are neither Braxton-Hicks nor really labor, so my doctor checked me out this week and I have lost my mucus plug and am beginning to dilate. I was at 3 with Alliclaus for weeks, so I'm not overly concerned, but I am at least trying to prepare in case this baby decides to arrive before 39 weeks. By which I mean, I'm worrying about it, but doing nothing.

So, that's all I got right now and I am going to get to some work. I've missed you guys so much! I'll be glad when November is over (tonight), so I can stop reading y'alls's NaBloPoMo entries until my eyes cross.