I've been having baby dreams like crazy lately. And this is coming from somebody who doesn't ever remember his dreams. I always seem to be calming a crying baby. I've been reading Happiest Baby on the Block before bed for the past few nights and I've definitely been applying the 5 S's to the babies in my dreams. I'm not entirely sure if it works on them, but its nice to see my brain preparing itself for many restless nights to come.

Laura and I checked out the Chilly Cow last night; the new ice cream shop in Arlington Center that mysteriously replaced JP Licks (when we least expected it). Its only been open for 3 weeks, so I'll give them a few more chances before I pass judgement. Their flavors were a little ordinary. Nothing previous favorites like Cake Batter or Cheesecake. Hopefully things will improve, as I think it'll be a common hangout for us this summer with the baby!

It was a good thing I was super-productive on Saturday because I had an absolute killer headache all day on Sunday. I'm still not entirely sure why I always seem to get headaches on the weekend. Popular theories include: change in sleeping pattern, change in regular caffeine intake, change in hydration. Of course, none of that matters when you wake up with a headache and two rounds of tylenol don't help at all. Interestingly enough, my headache went away once the Kovixen and I started making peanut butter cookies.

So, that productivity I alluded to earlier? Yeah, I now count 'handyman' among my many hats; I installed two dimmer switches (with permission of course) in the bedrooms. And without electrocuting myself, or burning down the house! It was actually astonishingly easy, so I feel like maybe I did something wrong. The idea here is that when we get up to change S'more in the middle of the night we don't have to turn the light on all the way and wake ourselves up.

In other baby-related news, we pre-ordered our birth announcement envelopes, from the Purple Stork. For those of you in the market, you should check them out. They have fairly reasonable rates, and their designs are just awesome. They do all the photo retouching for you to make your annoucements look awesome.

For the first time in my life, I think, I've actually been doing some spring cleaning. I'm blaming it on nesting. Laura and I went through our cache of junk in the basement, and got rid of a sizable portion, and organized the rest.

I also put together our new crib, graciously provided by Grammy Ricki. The instructions were a little obtuse, but everything turned out to be fairly simple, especially once I started using the drill to tighten all the bolts. That was definitely not something I'd want to do with the little tiny Allen wrench that they provided.

At this point we're basically ready for the baby to come. Sure, there'll always be more we can do, but if I had to take Laura to the hospital today (knock-on-wood), we wouldn't be hopelessly unprepared. Less than a month to go!

I think the so-called nesting instinct skipped right over laura and went straight to me. Maybe its just the residual effects of the crutches (that I spoke of just the other day), but when I woke up this morning, I felt the burning desire to get everything done on my todo list. And I nearly did! Not that it was very long, but I did get the car seat installed today, along with my usual weekend chores. I still have to take it to the police station where my skills as a problem-solving engineer will be routinely insulted. (Its an extremely common practice I hear). Then they'll install the car seat the right way.

Laura had the great idea of enjoying the warm weather with a picnic at the park. We sliced up a perfectly ripe mango, grabbed some triple-creme brie, a loaf of french bread, our cameras and headed to Robbin's Farm Park. I can't even remember the last time I had a picnic, but it was a blast. I'm thinking its gonna have to start happening more often, that's for sure.

I never realized just how disabilitating crutches are. Back in high school, probably about the last time I saw somebody use crutches, the injured party always had special dispensation to be late, use elevators, and have a helper carry their books around. I now realize just how dependent you become on other people to do simple things for you, like carry a cup of coffee back to your desk, or bring bags of groceries to baby classes. So, I would like to send an extra big thank you to my personal helper for the last week, the Kovixen!

The good news in all this is, as of today, I no longer have to use crutches! Of course, I think I hobble around slower now, but my armpits are already thanking me, and I can actually start helping with chores around the house. Laura has done an admirable job, especially considering that's she's been miserably sick for over a week now (but finally maybe getting better, hopefully!)

I should also probably add that the pathology lab didn't find any more traces of melanoma in the latest, err, extraction. So that's good news at least. And my non-official nickname is now "Scar-Toe".

I just got back from Mount Auburn Hospital where the rest of the melanoma on my toe was removed. The surgery was done with local anesthesia, and so it was nice and simple. And quick. I was out of the OR in about 45 minutes. Everybody in the OR was really nice, of course. They put on a little music, and joked around with each other, and me.

Afterwards, the rolled me into the recovery room, where I spent most of my time waiting for Laura to bring the car around to the side entrance. Seriously, I think I spent about 2 minutes in actual "recovery" before they got my clothes and got me ready to go.

The surgery was done without a skin graft. However, I'm still confined to crutches for at least the next week. They did give me a pair of crutches that actually fit though, so I don't have to worry about hurting my back.

So unless something strange happens in the next two weeks, I won't be forever known as Peter "Nine-Toes" Kovacs.