33 Weeks

As I mentioned in my last post our camera broke which is why I am so delayed on updating. We bought a new one so I am all ready to go now.

As of today I am 33 weeks and I have no other way to say it, but this sucks! I am DONE being pregnant! No I am not ready to have a baby just yet and I am certainly not ready for the labor/delivery part, but I am sick of sharing my body. I really wish I had a better attitude about this whole thing (like those liars who say they "loved" being pregnant) but I just do not enjoy it. The heat makes me cranky and there still appears to be no end in sight! I am officially waddling around on elephant sized swollen feet and I am over it.
Since my last post I have gotten my last round of blood work done (They planted one last one on me after the glucose test. I almost punched the doctor). I have one more biweekly appointment and then I start going on a weekly basis. Several of my maternity shirts no longer fit as I am bigger than I ever thought I would get and mood swings, cravings, and my overall stress level have skyrocketed. We still have a ton to do and there is a constant clock ticking down the days in my head.I am not sure why I am even posting this as this picture seriously makes me want to cry. (It is amazing how much bigger you look in pictures). I took about 3 different pictures before I finally gave up and realized that I really am just that big. According to the Internet I am not done growing either (Lovely! My back can totally handle another 10 lbs).

On a positive note (I figure I should include SOMETHING positive) Kendyl looks great. We have our last ultrasound to measure growth tomorrow (Dear God-please don't let her be a 10 lb baby-Amen). My students this year have also been excellent. Collectively, this is the best group of kids I have had...ever! I am really lucky because I don't think my mood swings could handle any really rotten kids.

Kendyl's room is not close to done yet, but as promised here is what we have done so far.
The crib and dresser are almost done being sanded. We just have to paint them, put up some decoration stuff and do some paint touch ups in the room. Things have pretty much reached a standstill since returning to work as I figured they would.

We also made a stop the other day in Babies 'R' Us to pick up a present for a birthday party and look at the car seats (the one we got with out travel system does not fit in my car). Matt decided that he needed to buy Kendyl a stuffed animal to bring to the hospital with us. He found 2 and could not decide so he got both. I figure the dog can be from Katie and the basketball is from Matt? Can you tell someone is getting a little excited for the baby to get here? I think it's really sweet that he is so excited.

Never Again...

Just a little update on the Lou situation. As previously mentioned the dog was perfectly behaved and house trained. That is, until we left him alone. The first day was Monday. Matt and I set up a barricade to keep him in the kitchen while we were at work (We weren't sure what he would do and it is just safer to keep him and Katie separated). I would assume it took this dog all of 3 minutes after we left to break out. We came home that day and there was not too much damage. He went after my beloved blanket and ripped a couple of holes in it. I would have been more upset if it wasn't torn up already (from my own wear and tear over the years). He also pooped and shredded some toilet paper. It was pretty safe to say that this was the deciding factor for us. We brought him to the vet to see if he was microchipped. As luck would have it, he was so the vet called the owner. To make a long story short, the person he was registered to was the ex fiance of the person who was supposed to be caring for the dog now. She said she would try to call her ex and let him know. The rest of the night passed by and we still did not hear anything back. Tuesday rolls around and this time we set up a much stronger barricade. While Matt was at work he got a call from the vet and and they told him that the woman was going to come and pick up the dog. We raced home to meet her at 3:30 and as I went to go in the garage door (to the house) it was locked? I walked around to the front door and let the dog out. They seemed very excited to see each other and I was happy for them. We asked her a couple of questions and then said goodbye. We went to walk inside and entered a war zone. The barricades had been completely knocked over, but before he was able to do that he decided it would be a good idea to dig his way through our carpet. My camera was broken so I was not able to take a picture and the carpet has since been replaced, but he pretty much dug a 8 in by 8 in hole in the carpet. To make matters worse, he peed TWICE, pooped, chewed on the corner of the crib, ripped the molding off the door in the laundry room (and locked the door in the process), took everything off the counter in our bathroom and chewed on the wall a little. Matt rarely gets worked up, but he was fuming! It is a good thing the dog was gone before we saw the fury he unleashed on our house. It is also a good thing that the owner came and got him because I could not in good conscience give this dog to anyone else. So that's it. Sorry to all the lost dogs out there. I will continue to help in any way I can, but I will not be bringing you to my house. It's just not going to happen. Thanks Lou! We are glad you enjoyed your stay...Just for the record we have officially decided that Katie is the ONLY dog for us. I can only image what was going through her little head while Lou was destroying everything in sight.

Such a Sucker

I am a total sucker when it comes to homeless dogs. I used to drive my mom crazy because every time I would see a dog running around I would put it in our backyard and call the owner or have the Humane Society come and get them. Well, it happened again. I was on the phone with my sister at around 9:00 last night and she proceeds to tell me that a last dog has run up to her and jumped into her car. She said the dog was friendly, but very skinny and he didn't have any tags. It seemed like he had been lost for a long time. After a while she puts the dog in the backyard with some water, but she didn't have any food for him. I told her that I would be over in a minute to bring him some. When we got there I was absolutely shocked at how skinny this dog was. I mean, I watch the animal rescue shows all the time and see it, but I have never seen one in person. It broke my heart. To make matters even worse he was SO friendly! Courtney, Matt and myself were talking about what to do with the dog when Matt suggests, "Let's take him home with us." Now, I love dogs, but I knew exactly what Matt was up to. He was already attached and he thought that by taking the dog home that I would want to keep him. Just a little side note, Matt and I have had several talks about getting another dog, but have come to the same conclusion every time. A new baby and 2 dogs is more than we care to handle. Needless to say, we brought the dog home with the intention of housing him for a night or two until the shelters open on Monday. We introduced him to Katie and things seemed to go well and then we brought him inside to let him cool off and give him some food and water. He instantly made himself right at home. All in all, things were looking good. He was pretty docile and didn't try to pee in the house. We even decided that we were going to call him Lou (after Lou Amundson). After seeing how good he was, we thought that we could let him sleep in the house for the night, but he would need to stay in the bathroom. Apparently, Lou had different ideas. We shut the door, headed to our room and started getting ready for bed. Not 2 minutes later, Lou started whining. I am not talking little whimpers here. I am talking full on 70 year old man sobs. It was RIDICULOUS! After letting it go on for about 15 minutes we caved and let him out. We figured we could let him sleep in our room as long as we blocked him off at the doorway. After that things were much more peaceful. Both dogs did great. They slept through the night and there was no pee, poop or destruction of any kind. He has been in the house all day and I have to admit that he has fit right in. Aside from being a very pretty dog, he is extremely well behaved. We have been working very hard to get him to eat all day, but he pretty much only wants chicken. At this point I will give him whatever he wants as long as he is eating. The poor thing needs to gain about 10-15 lbs! (My guess is that when he is at a healthy weight he will be somewhere around 100 lbs...Yikes!). After 2 baths he is starting to look a little better, but he has a ways to go. In the mean time, Matt seems really keen on keeping him. I am still a little unsure, but we'll see. Either way, I plan on keeping him until we can get him healthy again. Maybe by then I will change my mind?

You can really see how skinny he is here. So, so sad!

I like how Katie is watching him.

Look at those eyes!