Oh, Lucy.....

We've now had Lucy for a week. Things have calmed down a little bit, but just when I start bragging on how good she is and how long its been since she has peed inside, then I step in a puddle of pee.
But really, she is pretty good. The problem has been figuring out how to keep her in the kitchen all day....finally we now have 4 gates (2 for each doorway into the kitchen) and that seems to work (knock on wood....). Last Thursday she stayed in with only 3 gates, but then Friday she jumped out. The only real damage wasn't too bad, but she got into my current knitting project and tore the ball of yarn up. Thankfully she didn't unravel what I'm working on; now I just have a ball of knots to undo as I knit. See?




Lucy and Satchel are getting along quite nicely. Here's my favorite picture of them so far - they're almost like a mirror image (other than being different colors and different sizes, of course....)




And here's a nice example of how Lucy just likes to climb on Satchel and pass out. Satchel crawled up right next to Kevin and went to sleep, then Lucy jumped on so she could be a part of the fun. And no, I couldn't tell you why Kevin hasn't shaved for more than a week.....




Other than learning to deal with our new puppy, last week was pretty exciting. I had countless yummy birthday lunches and dinners. I also got 3 pairs of shoes in less than a week (2 were gifts) - I figure I shouldn't bother with clothes when (1) I have too many, and there are clothes I like that I haven't even worn yet this winter, and (2) Soon enough my clothes won't fit me anyway. Too bad the snowy weather is keeping me from wearing my fun new shoes though.

Yesterday I had my 16 week doctors appt, which was pretty uneventful. Jessica was hoping they would do an ultrasound and 'accidentally' find out what the sex is (since I had a random ultrasound at 12 weeks). But no luck, we just heard the heartbeat and confirmed it was still in there. Just over the weekend I think my gut is starting to feel a little different, but I don't think I look different yet. Maybe looking different would make me feel like there really is something in there. Now I just have to be extra careful in this stupid slick weather, I slipped and fell yesterday morning, which I can't imagine is a good thing. The worst part was my stupid neighbor that we don't talk to was standing less than 30 feet away and she didn't even ask me if I was ok. Sure I'm not 80 years old, but I think I would still ask anyone if they were ok after I saw them wipe out. Whatever.

An Addition to the Family

As if the impending arrival of a baby in 6 months isn't crazy enough, we decided to get a new puppy! Kevin and I had talked about it for awhile, but once we found out I was expecting I think we decided to wait. But then my parents found a puppy on craigslist, and we discovered there are lots of pit bull puppies on craigslist, and the next thing I know....we have a new peeing, pooping member of the family.

Meet Lucy!



Lucy is a 3 month old pit bull puppy (although we assume she's some kind of mix, we saw her dad who looked fairly similar to Satchel). She really is pretty good so far - the first two nights she slept through the night without any problems. She is certainly far from house-broken, which has been interesting, but she doesn't tear anything up or get into trouble otherwise (so far.....). We have had an interesting time in the first 3 days she's been at our house trying to figure out where to put her - the first day she was in the guest bedroom since we have no doors on the first floor of our house to keep her anywhere. She did fine except for peeing on the floor. Yesterday we put her in the kitchen with some gates up. I went to get an oil change in the morning, and stopped back by the house after just to see how she was, and looking in through the front door I could see her in the kitchen and I was so happy! But then I got inside, and saw that she had jumped out and pooped in the living room, and then jumped back into the kitchen. So she went back to the guest room for the day. Today we are trying the kitchen again, with two gates in one door, and a taller gate we borrowed from Jen in the other door. I'm fairly sure I'll get home and see that she got out again....I'll find out very soon.

But Lucy is already doing better about learning to go to the bathroom outside - at first she was petrified and wouldn't do anything outside; now she loves following Satchel outside and doing her business. Satchel is doing ok, I think once he realized Lucy would not be sleeping in our bed he figured she was ok. When Lucy calms down, she really seems just like Satchel - she just lays down on the couch and passes out. Satchel lets her climb all over him, and they share toys (for the most part). The cutest thing is when Lucy just lays right on top of Satchel and falls asleep.






I honestly think this might ease us into parenthood....not that we intended that at all. Last night I even had to get up in the middle of the night to let her outside since she was crying (only to find she had already peed on the floor inside.....). My gag reflex is getting better when it comes to cleaning up pee and poo, not that its any fun. But we'll see. I'm confident Satchel will teach her how to be a good dog!!

I'm baaaaack!!!!!!!!

I've been contemplating for awhile whether or not to blog anymore. Obviously the title of this blog is no longer relevant, since my adventure in NYC has been over for about six months, and I never intend to leave my husband and dog for any great length of time again! I suppose I can edit the title and just leave the url the same, but all of these things are really not important. So I guess I will continue to blog from time to time when I think I have anything interesting to share, although I'll warn you my life is pretty uninteresting.

But a few updates (somewhat in chronological order):

1) I finally met my nephew John Thomas Wilkins! He is the cutest little boy ever. Jenny and Charlie came home to Illinois in August when he was only 2 weeks old, and they've been here two other times so far. I'm grateful we've been able to see him as much as we have so far. See, isn't he cute?





2) My baby sister Jackie got married in August. A great time was had by all (except perhaps less so by the stressed out new mom). Look how gorgeous my sister is. When did this happen? I'm excited because Jackie now lives in St. Louis.....not that I've seen her a lot so far but its good to know she's close!





3) I started my new job as a post doc at the Danforth Center. So far so good....not exactly sure what I'm doing as far as a cohesive project goes, but it keeps me busy and my boss is hands off. I like that.


4) Everyone under the sun is pregnant. My close friends Erin and Emily announced their news in October (they are due in April and June, respectively). At the beginning of November, Kevin and I discovered that I was too! Very exciting, but very scary! I'm glad I'll have had a number of friends go through everything before me! And its nice to have friends at various stages of pregnancy ahead of me too, because they are great sources of information.



I think that's more or less what's been going on. I have meant to blog about random entertaining things that I have of course forgotten in the past few months, but every moment that I'm not working I'm knitting like a fiend. I refuse to stop what I'm working on for any length of time so look at some silly computer! I think its safe to say that I'm addicted. At least its a productive addiction. I'll leave you with a picture of what I made John for Christmas. Despite measurements, the sweater ended up a bit too snug....I'd guess that now 3 weeks after Christmas, it doesn't fit him at all! But damn, he's cute! And since its green, maybe it will fit my kid next winter? Scary.....