Stretch Marks???

Ok...so I can't say no one told me about these because Nora did. But seriously, stretch marks on the boobs. Why G*d? Like getting fat isn't bad enough. And these aren't the same light stretch marks that I have from years of gaining and losing wieght. These are nice red marks! What's next?

So, our Thanksgiving was good. As you can see, Dave even got his beef stick. Dave and I made all of the trimmings. We had enough food for 20 people even though there were only three of us. Anyone want a turkey sandwich? Even Sophie was suffering from turkey overdose.

We put up our decorations and have spent the last 4 days protecting them from the baby beagle. She fell into the tree, has stolen and tried to eat atleast three of the five stockings, and has stolen some of the people from the snow villiage and chewed on them. It's going to be a LONG month.

Connor has been VERY busy today. I don't know what he's doing in there, but he has been moving for the last 10 hours. I think he's making his own presents for Mommy and Daddy. I think maybe he's attempting to use one of my ribs as part of his project...not sure though. I go back to the dr. on Friday. I'm thinking of getting on the scale backwards so I don't have to see the weight gain. It's been pretty serious the last month.

Last night my sister begged me not to become one of those pregnant women who let their belly hang out between their pants and shirts. I told her that it was impossible not to become one of those women. I cannot keep my pants up or my shirts down. I don't do it on purpose. I can't help it. It's just one more side effect of pregnancy.

On the Marley front...she has an appt. with an internist on Friday. The trick was that we had to get a referral from our vet in order to get an appt. with this lady! WTF? Marley's been ok the last couple weeks, but we want to make sure everything's really ok.

Poor Marley

Pictures - Not so pretty, but at least they're updated. I should be wearing moo-moo's soon!

Marley had a bad day on Thursday. She kept going to the back door to go outside, squatting for long periods of time repeatedly and then coming in and doing it again. Unfortunately, with all that work...nothing was coming out. She wouldn't lay down and barely sat. I thought we were in for another run to the emergency vet clinic. Then I was laying on the couch petting her and I heard this gushing sound. I looked down and she was standing up and TONS of red urine was coming out of her. I got her outside, but not before we had a big mess to clean up. We got everything cleaned up and let her back in. She jumped on the couch and laid down and slept. She even played a little after that. It was weird. I decided to wait and see how she felt before going to the emergency vet clinic. She seemed fine so we thought we'd just take her to the vet in the morning. So...we think and the vet thinks that she passed some kind of stone that was blocking things up. She hasn't had an accident since and her panties have even been clean. So maybe (keep your fingers crossed) that was the end of it. She's still in panties and back on antibiotics. The vet's sent another round of urine off to the lab to be tested. So we'll just have to continue to wait and see. Good news too... she hasn't lost any more weight, so hopefully that means no diabetes or anything.


On the other hand, Sophie got to have a good Friday. One of my friend's who has a 6 week old baby was not feeling well and needed me to come and watch the baby during the day so she could recover from minor surgery. So Sophie got to meet a real live baby...she stole a pacifier and a diaper and really worked hard at trying to lick baby Addie. All this happened while playing with her favorite beagle pal, Molly. Sophie had soooooo much fun. And I guess it worked out for Marley too. She got to have a nice quiet day at home without Sophie.


As for Connor, he's growing everyday! I measured my belly and it's 2 inches bigger than what the books say it should be! Oh dear! Thank goodness Daddy got a promotion this week and Mommy got approved to go half-time at work starting in January. So hopefully all this will help with the ever expanding belly and the draining energy. I must admit though that most of the pains I have been complaining about haven't been so bad in the last two weeks. Maybe there is hope for me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Care Class

So yesterday we went to our first class at the hospital. It was a baby care class. We got to watch a bunch of old videos about not shaking your baby and making really loud shushing noises in their ear so they calm down. We also got to use a plastic baby doll and practice giving it a bath, changing it's diaper, swaddling it and holding it. Then we went to a friend's house and practiced holding her 5 week old. We each managed to get her to fall back to sleep, so we were feeling pretty sure we should be able to do it with our own! Sophie went to visit too. She didn't really pay any attention to the baby, but that was because karma was playing a nasty little trick on her. Our friends had company and those people had a little boy dog named Marley. Marley thought Sophie was very cool and spent the entire time either trying to hump her or bite her. She was so exhausted by the time we left! She's still pretty mellow today!


On the baby front, I felt like I was really big by the end of the day yesterday. Then when I got up this morning, my belly button was even more poked out...almost half way out! I really look pregnant these days. No hiding it. I'm 6 months on Mon. so I guess that pretty much explains it. I've got less than 100 days to go! That's amazing. Dave and I are both ready to meet Connor, but I'd like him to be healthy so I want to wait until he's ready.

Cloth diapers for everyone!

So we took the dogs camping with us this weekend and ended up in the emergency vet clinic! Marley cannot control her bladder and is peeing blood on top of that. The vet's not sure what's going on. The urine tests came back not really showing any problems, but obviously there are. So we're going to wait until the antibiotics are done and then check again. Meanwhile it's panty time! Sophie thinks they are pretty cool and really wants to chew on them. Marley is actually ok with that idea as long as that gets them off of her. The bright side of all this....the dogs are bonding.

My dreams have continued this week. I dreamt that my belly button finally popped. It was kind of like a pop-gun or a jack-in-the-box though. It was on a string and it went far. I had to try and pull the string back and get it all back in my pants. Not pretty!

I'm almost through my class...yeah! I turned in a project last night and only have to go two more times and turn in one more group project. Then I will have 18 hours which is about half way. I need to make some presentations in front of three faculty members in Dec. and then I won't go back until Aug. probably. I still really don't want to be a principal though. The more classes I take and the longer I work...the more sure I am of that. But in order to be any kind of leader in a district, you need this Master's. So that's what I'll do.

Well, time to check the puppy panties. I guess I need to go buy another pair too because she pees in them every night and they have to be washed every morning. Poor old dog!

Sophie's Costume

Sophie tried to choose her own costume this Halloween. While I was painting my toenails she came racing up and ran into the brush. If you look at her nose, you can see a dark red streak across her nose. Then she took off and wouldn't come anywhere near me. So I had to leave it! Baby Beagles obviously aren't getting enough attention! And boy, oh boy, she does not know what life is about to be like!

I've been pretty tired this week. I could barely move the last 2 mornings because I was so tired. I worked late a couple of days and then with class until late on Tues. nights, I'm just so tired. I decided to come home early today (1:30) and try to take a nap, but Baby Beagles don't like to nap. At least it's more rest than being at work....well that may be debatable. I really shouldn't blame it all on Sophie. Marley is very fond of making puking sounds at 5 am. That tends to steal an hour of sleep too! Plus, any noise or movement wakes up Connor...oh, yeah and Dave snores! So, I guess you're really getting the picture for why I've been so tired. I don't know what I'll do when Connor actually gets here! I'll be a mess!

I think that tomorrow when I hit 25 weeks that that will be the beginning of the third trimester. I can't believe it! I've started having bad dreams. The strange thing about these dreams is that even though they've both been bad...I've not been concerned in either dream. Sunday night I dreamt that I miscarried. I was in the shower and it all started coming out. When Connor came out, he looked like a Buzz Lightyear plastic doll. Then Wed. night I dreamt that he came two months early, but all I said was, "I'm so glad we got the room painted early!" Not sure what's up with all that, but I guess I'll just be glad that they've not been sad!