Pregnancy Update- I will soon be outnumbered

We had our big ultrasound appointment yesterday. The baby is healthy, and growing well. And it's a GIRL!! This totally caught us by surprise. We both were thinking it was a boy, for no good reason, that's just what we thought. So now we need a name... oh boy. I am so excited to have a daddy's little girl. I am already feeling all protective. So in preparation for a girl, I need to polish my shotgun, practice my interrogation techniques, and purchase a dead bolt and an electric fence. I am really in for it now.

We also wanted to put some belly shots online for you all to see. I have had a blast playing with the camera. There will more creative shots to come.

A bad month for a dog

Zena is having a bad month. To start with, a few weeks ago we awoke around 11pm to the sound of chewing and ripping. I stumbled into the room where she was supposed to be fast asleep in her crate. I caught her chewing on the sheet that was covering the pillow in her crate. She was literally eating it. I disciplined her and removed the sheet and went back to bed. A few minutes later she was chewing on her pillow. I once again disciplined her and removed the pillow. As I directed her back into her crate after removing the pillow I noticed she was acting funny. She seemed very agitated, she tried to lick anything she could including the air, and she was trying to eat whatever she could. She also felt really hot. I thought she needed to throw up, so I directed her outside. Outback she went nuts eating grass. I thought she had a tummy ache, and decided to let nature do it's thing and let her eat grass. BAD idea. Elisabeth recognized some of her symptoms... she then asked me to feel her stomach... it was REALLY round. Zena had bloat. We rushed her to the vet where they inserted a tube to get rid of the built up gas. For those of you who don't know, bloat is very dangerous. It kills animals, usually livestock and horses, and it's a very painful death. It occurs because the intestines spasm and the valves that usually allow gas to escape the stomach in the form of burping and farting (which Zena does a lot of usually) have shut down. So gas simply accumulates... it's like the worst cramps and gas pains you can imagine, followed by death an hour later. The vet was able to release the gas and I spent the rest of the night watching her, the recurrence rate for bloat in the next 7 days is really high apparently. Yay.
A few days later she developed allergies. Yes, that's right, my dog has allergies. She sneezed and shook her head a lot. So much so that we had to take her back to the vet thinking she might of had an ear infection. No ear infection, just allergies. Apparently this is also "dangerous"- if they continuously shake their head for an extended period, dogs can get a hematoma. So she got some allergy medication.
Moving onto a few days later, while walking her she tried to scratch the haltie around her nose and caught her upper eyebrow with her defore claw. She bled and of course, now has a scar on her eyebrow where hair used to be.
She also suffers chronically from alopecia X- which is a fancy way of saying she loses her hair for no good reason. This month, she is in her cycle of losing her hair. The vet thinks it's due to hormones. It started when she was fixed. And every few months she loses most of her hair and then grows it back. So she has some bald spots this month, and she has gone from all black to, some black, and some gray where she has lost most of her hair. She looks SO PATHETIC.
And yesterday... we let her out of her crate upon returning home from shopping to discover that she had hurt her tail somehow. She cried and whined like she was about to die for a little bit. Now her tail just won't stay straight. She is having problems keeping it up. She must have strained it, I don't think it's broken... but what do I know.








Notice the gray on the back of the legs in the first picture. That's where she loses her hair to start with. In the middle picture see her tail, which is in an arc pointing down. This is usually pointing up and going a mile a minute. The far right picture is of her eye. Notice the grey scar on her eyelid. We are just so glad she didn't get her eye.

-Josh

New Toys and Good Neighbors

With the arrival of the baby in mind, we've started making plans and completing projects which we've been meaning to get done. Actually, I gave Josh fair warning that I feel great and will happily work on projects until mid to late August, and I make no guarantees about working on projects (usually construction related) after that date. :) So, this summer will be all about enjoying those last few camping/fishing sessions sans bebe, and getting our house projects done! The "making plans" comment references the major purchases (if any) that need to be made prior to the kiddo. One we decided was definitely needed is a camera upgrade. We love our little digital, but we wanted to be able to take great portrait type shots too, so we bought a Canon digital SLR. It's fabulous.

We practiced taking action shots on Miss Zena (because kids never sit still... much like Zena). I think that 3 frames a second will work out fine. Here's a couple of my favorites.


As you can see, Mags gets some camera time too.

Josh is also working to get some good belly shots. So far, he's not happy with the way the silhouette pictures are turning out, but you can see my little pot belly in the pics below. And things will be a lot easier now that we have a tripod. ($4 garage sale find!)

The other toy purchase was a Wii. I finally caved. If we can't play all the fun sports we like outside, we might as well try to simulate them. Besides, how else could I kick Josh's butt at boxing while being 4.5 months pregnant. :) (JOSH'S Disclaimer: I in no way advocate using physical violence toward your spouse be it video game or otherwise. But boy is it fun. And for some reason I just don't mind being beat by a girl, especially one hopped up on pregnancy hormones.)

Josh kicked project completion into high gear last weekend, we he decided that it doesn't matter if it's cold and rainy in June, he was going to get that fence up anyways. So Sunday afternoon we went to Lowe's, purchased our supplies and two hours later we had a lovely fence separating us from our neighbors with the help of our good friend Jason. Yay! Not only does it make our yard look bigger, but it keeps their gas leaking truck off our side lawn and guarantees that Josh will actually be able to use our side gate to bring the lawn mower through. Also, it appears to keep the adults from smoking outside our guest room window and leaving the butts in the flower bed. Now we're set to be good neighbors. Still on the list for this summer: (which I- Josh- am sure you don't care too much about, but we are going to tell you about it anyway cuz we have a captive audience)- replacing the window well fence out front, downstairs bathroom touch ups, drywalling the baby's room, painting the baby's room, painting the living room, dining room, upstairs hall, and kitchen. (Side note: after 2 weeks of Mai Tia red on the kitchen walls, I decided that I do not like it. Oopsie.) So if anyone wants to come for a visit, work on a project, feel free. We will supply the food, lodging, entertainment, Chiropractic care (via the outpatient clinic at Josh's school) and LOVE!

Till next time,
Elisabeth (with Josh's two cents thrown in... can he get change?)