21 Weeks

To help us practice for the baby, we adopted a puppy last weekend! There were 40 dogs seized from a home in Spokane and brought to the animal shelter the weekend before so we thought it couldn't hurt to at least go see and play with them. There were several puppies, a few of which were friendly and sociable, and a couple that weren't. The particular puppy we were drawn to had the saddest eyes out of all of them and wouldn't come out from beneath a bench in the kennel. That was enough for us to want to give him a loving home. We were sure the other sociable pups would find homes. We don't have a name for him yet; I am leaning toward "Chicken" but Tage isn't a fan of that name. The sad-eyed dog is about 3 months old, weighs 34 pounds, and is some type of German Shepard mix. We anticipate he is going to be quite a large animal!

We've been careful in trying to potty train him since until we find a kennel he is going to be an indoor dog. So far he has only had one accident (good training in preparation for a child.) Saturday night Sad Dog nearly drove Tage crazy with his howling and whining when we put him to bed in his crate downstairs (again, more good training as we prepare for a baby.) He has become much more playful and obedient in the two short days we've had him, although on our walk yesterday we discovered he does not yet play well with others. Sad Dog is nervous around other people and does not hesitate to growl ferociously and bark at other (much larger) dogs. It makes for a lot of explanation, "He was rescued from an abusive home and is still not well socialized..." What you really want to say is, "Please don't think I'm a bad mom because my dog is barking at you!" More lessons learned to prepare me for actually being a mother I suppose.

On the baby front, I can feel the little guy moving around quite a bit now. I can only compare it to the butterflies you get in your stomach when you're on a rollercoaster that drops suddenly. He is particularly active in the evenings when he hears Tage's voice. It is an incredibly strange feeling... for those of you who have been through this, do you ever get used to it?

Thanks to Taina (Tage's sister) Baby Valone is enrolled in preschool! Ms. Betsy's class in our hometown neighborhood is highly sought after, I'm told, and Taina suggested I call now to get him on the list. She was right! Ms. Betsy (who could not have been sweeter and more excited for me on the phone) explained that she only accepts 16 toddlers and that our little guy is already #8 on the list for the class of 2012. Add that to the list of things I never expected to do in 2008...

I promise to upload some pictures this evening (after yoga of course) so check back.