New Year.

Life has been good in these parts.  Enjoyed a lovely holiday season which included our first Christmas tree and snow!  We spent Christmas in Verona with Cazz's family and had a lovely dinner for friends here in Florence for New Year's Eve.  My energy level has been high as I urge to nest, and as of tomorrow we find out if we will be moving into a new apartment!  This one is nice, but as it belongs to a friend of Cazz (couple actually), it has been difficult.  The owner and his girlfriend take advantage of the friendship asking us to pay rent without a contract and allowing them to keep a room for their stuff.  They are still here and have been in the process of finding a house to buy for months (they don't have definite plans when to leave here-just before May aka the birth of Peanut).  They rent another house a little farther in the country, but spend much of their time here, moving anything I leave outside of our room back into our room as soon as I turn around.  I do not feel welcome here and I feel bad for Cazz, as they always chastise him if he leaves a dish in the sink for even an hour, and comments about him taking out the trash.  And he is extraordinarily clean!  He cleans regularly and keep everything neat, but as they are a little bit uptight, it is never enough.  I personally cannot wait to get out of "their" apartment.  At almost 6 months pregnant, it is time to start building our own nest.

Peanut, meanwhile is building his own nest in my uterus (yes, it's a boy) and from the feel of it, using it as an acrobatic studio most of the time.  It's a very interesting feeling to know that there is a living being causing all that ruckus in there.  I started feeling movement a while ago, although for the longest time I wasn't sure if those little flutters were just gas or baby.  Turns out that both options would work, for even though the movements can be attributed to my little inhabitant, I can sure clear a room.  I sometimes feel bad about it, but then I think of all of the torture Cazz put me through and figure this is payback.  Of course, things are smooth sailing now- he having professed his love and settled nicely into the commitment thing have helped that.

So we go about our daily routines and actually make plans and lists (I love this).  Mid-January will find us in the Tuscan countryside at a spa, funded by Cazz, since he lost the gender bet.  Then for two weeks in February we will be headed to Brazil (funny how things work out) to bask in the sun-drenched glory of Florianopolis.  Things are looking up even if I can't eat and drink everything I would like to.  I'm sure life will bring many other delights this year and am thankful to be here, now.