But mostly needles. It really is a wonder how much science goes into making a body think it’s pregnant. The goal is to hush the body’s egg production and make sure things are nice and quiet before we move in a guest baby. And to do that, we use needles. This is a brag on my wife moment; well, sort of.

The woman I married has changed some since we met. Her compulsive shoe buying has tapered off. Her hair color has been black, brown, blonde, platinum, two-toned, kindof hombre-esque , red, white, and various shades of purple. She hated football 8 years ago. Now? She flipped out when the Seahawks didn’t run it with Marshawn Lynch from the 1. Not to worry, though: we were happy enough to see Seahawks lose because we’re Packer fans (Go Pack Go!). One thing that has been totally constant? Her debilitating fear of needles and blood. A strange aside: she watches every medical drama she can get her gore-allergic paws on. Ha! She’s so great.

But this was a real fear: we weren’t super sure how all of this would go once we reached the getting-poked-with-a-needle-daily phase. The first shot was a huge mental battle. After that, it was such a breeze that I have suspicions she’ll become an ER nurse and ace her exams solely because of how many times she’s heard “20 cc’s STAT!” on Netflix.

But seriously, proud husby over here.

Surro-dad real talk: those aren’t the only pins and needles we’re on over here. We have another milestone appointment coming up. It’s another “you have to be at this point” kind of appointment or our process gets moved back. We don’t have any reason to think it won’t go just fine. It’s just another potential bump in the road when all we really want is a bump in the belly. And then, y’know, a baby because that’s the point (completely accidental needle reference).

If all goes well, we’ll get on a plane for San Fran in the next couple weeks and hopefully we’ll have a positive pregnancy test, on Christmas Day, in fact. Now that would be a present.

Christmas goals? Knowing that this squishy picture will be recreated a hemisphere away.