My so-called coping skills

Really they are pretty crap, but as long as my Visa works, I can stop the anxiety from taking over by shopping my little butt off. Wednesday noon is the amnio and I need a nice calm feeling like Zen. And Zen is going to cost money, right?

So, for the kidlets, this year I got Mac a bunch of little things like clothes for his Webkinz animals, video games for the DS and the Wii, the previously mentioned Squawkers Macaw, some Transformers figures, and a red/orange Tri-clops toy. (It looks ridiculous, but apparently it is cool?)

Kaz got him an I-Dog Amped, and we are still looking for this chip that turns his DS into an MP3 player. Very very inexpensive, but damn useful if it means he can listen to music through headphones occasionally without me having to buy an actual MP3 player.

For Kaz, we got some Wii and DS accessories and games, and a couple of small items here and there, like a watch to replace his lost one, but the biggest gift? Lego Mindstorms; and yes it really does cost $300 just for the starter kit, but after much debate, we splurged for a bunch of reasons. For one thing, he has dreamed of this thing for over a year. He has been trying to save up his money in his bank account, and is almost there, but not quite. Kaz has worked his little tail off for studying for his SSAT exam, without complaint, and he has been very very good considering all the chaos going on what with the pregnancy and the school application and his own schoolwork. So he's getting it! I'm actually a little jealous, in fact, this really is the ultimate techy science nerd toy. I'm just glad I get to fiddle with it once in a while.

Mr.Cotta is a little harder to shop for. He is not a fan of getting anything for Christmas. He sort of feels like he has everything already. But, there are a few things he has agreed are okay to give him.

Like a goat. Or a cow.

I'm undecided. Take a gander through both those catalogues and let me know what you all think. Keep in mind that these are tax-deductible contributions and that I don't mind spending some money on this, because really this IS the government's money when you get a tax deduction. So what do you think is the best gift on this list? We certainly can't afford to set up our own micro-loan bank for 500K, but I can splurge for more than just one goat or a chicken for my beloved hubby, right?

I am debating buying some of the smaller animals or what have you for various hard to buy for friends and associates.

Funniest part of the exercise? Trying to explain this abstract concept to Mac. To my 7 year old, all gifts are wrapped and put under the tree. He is still convinced that if we give this to Dad, a goat will be delivered to our house to live here until we send it on a plane trip to Africa. And then I tried to tell him that we are going to try to buy two goats, a girl goat and a boy goat, so the family can have a herd of goats someday. His next concern?

"How do we make the goats fall in love and get married and have babies, Mom?"

Errmmm....