"We Have Something to Tell You...."

So, my dog just ran away. And I really don't care. I figure she'll come back, but she is a bad dog for running farther when I call her name, and I am not going to chase her through the neighborhood while Anja is here asleep. I left the gate open and she can come back if she wants too. Hopefully she won't mess with anyone other than the german shepherd across the alley who is really nice and their tails were wagging when they said hello to each other. Anyway, I'm not too worried about her. I am surprised she did it though.

I was thinking the other day about how strange it is that nobody has asked me any of the following questions in the past few weeks:

"Annie, whatever happened to your dental saga? Weren't you supposed to have a root canal? What happened?"

"Annie, why are you getting so fat? I thought all you did was walk around town? Do you have a thyroid problem?"

"Annie, why is your refrigerator filled with jars of green olives? Are you on some funky sodium-only diet?"

"Annie, your birthday is coming up... would you like liposuction?"

Well, nobody's asked me these questions and that's probably a good thing since I never thought up any good answers. But the big news that the Schaps have been announcing this weekend is their newest zygote! Well, I guess it's more than a zygote now, it's practically a fetus. And in fact, it might be. I have an ultrasound on Thursday and that's when we'll figure out how far along I am. I thought I was sure, but when I went to the doctor some weeks ago, he didn't think I was as far along as I thought I was. (Which basically means I was even fatter than I'd thought. Greeeaaat.)

There are both some wonderful and some horrendous things about this pregnancy in comparison to the last. The wonderful thing is the first trimester: GLORIOUS! Sure I had some daily morning sickness, but that's ACTUALLY what it was, believe it or not! A few barfs in the morning and I was set to go for the rest of the day. Not nearly the puke-a-thon that came with Anja. It's been incredible.

The really, really, REALLY depressing part about this pregnancy is my weight gain. When you spend the first four or five months of pregnancy lying on a couch in your underwear eating Easter candy and drinking ginger ale (not to mention the late-nite Taco Bell runs) you can't be too surprised when you gain your whole 35lbs of pregnancy weight in the first trimester. However, this time around I have been GREAT at taking care of myself. Not neccessarily because I knew I was pregnant, but because I felt so good and we ate really well this summer and I have stayed so active. I started getting fat before I knew I was pregnant. I had no idea what was going on. I had even been working with my kettlebell and was still putting on weight. IT'S NOT FAIR. I might have already gained more weight in this pregnancy than I did in the first months with Anja. I'M HUGE. And I'm not just saying that so people come back and tell me it's not true. Don't even try to tell me it isn't true--I'M WEARING MY POSTPARTUM JEANS!!!!!! And I've been wearing them for weeks!!!!!!! But butt is huge. It's so depressing.

The other major part, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing, is that my milk for Anja has dried up. The great thing about this is NO MORE BREASTPADS!! The too-bad thing about this is that I hadn't planned on weaning her until after she turned one. The also too-bad thing is that she still wants it, so I'm still nursing her for comfort, (thought it's becoming more infrequent every day) while giving her bottles of formula for her regular meals. I guess it's okay to be forced to wean since it's got to happen sometime, and I've heard it's easiest when they are just about this age and a little older. And it's not like I really miss breastfeeding... I mean, my second run at it is just around the corner. But it's always a little too bad when a choice like that is made for you.

Okay, the dog still hasn't come back. Should I worry? Should I call Animal Control? I told her when she kept running away from me that I was going to let her be picked up by the pound. She didn't seem to care. Hm. Maybe she'll still come back. I hope she doesn't get lost...

One thing that has made my life a thousand times easier these days is that Martin rigged the gates so now our yard is closed in. This means I can just open the door and let Karenin out to do her thing. This means no messing with putting a leash on a crazy dog while holding a baby at the same time. So far, it's been a great setup. Martin's been afraid since the beginning that she would jump the fence and run away, but I told him it wouldn't happen. Oops! It happened yesterday! The Cooks were in their yard and Karenin immediately jumped the fence... except she more jumped on top of it, then scrambled over and fell on her head. When she got over she didn't know what to do it was pretty funny. Tara brought her around to the alley, but since I was holding Anja, I wasn't able to shut the gate behind me coming into the yard. It was open all night because I forgot to go back and do it, and then this morning when I noticed it and went to shut it is when Karenin got out. But she's fine. I just went out to the alley and she's out there at the fence of Shadow, the nice german shepherd. She probably is trying to figure out how to get through Shadow's fence so they can play. Silly dog. She still wouldn't come home when I called her.

So anyway, that's our big news! We told our families at the Feast. We wanted to buy the new baby a baby-sized pack basket like Anja's, but they weren't selling the small size this year!! So our plan was ruined, and we had to think up a new clever plan and it didn't work out until Sunday when the Feast was very nearly over. Instead of a pack basket, we got the new baby a VERY hilarious chicken bank (as opposed to a piggy bank) and a very nice bead because Mrs. Schap told AnnLaura and me to go buy a bead for each of the babies. Heh heh heh. When we came back and showed her the three, she didn't get it. Oh well!

It's only going to be 60 degrees today!!! I need to figure out what cute fallish outfits Anja and I will wear!!!!!