CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

It felt so good to be able to share our happy news with friends and family!  We are so blessed in so many ways!

As any veteran parent can tell you, having a baby(ies) initiates a cascade of changes, some you are prepared for, some you are not.  For us, being pregnant meant that starting at week 5, I could not stand to look at the kitchen, let alone cook in it.  Any smell, be it cooking meat, the refrigerator, dog food, cat food, or the garbage would send me running to the bathroom.  Chris took over all of the cooking, all of the dishes and all of the food shopping (while I would wait in the car, occasionally opening the car door to throw up).  He has taken over all of these responsibilities- all the while- still managing to work 12 hour days and pay attention to all the animals and his wife.  What can I say, I am a lucky woman.

Chris is not the only one who has has to roll with some changes.  The dogs were getting regular morning runs 4-5 times a week.  Those outings quickly turned into hikes as running became uncomfortable for me very quickly and the outing number decreased to just a couple of times per week (though it hopefully it will pick up again now that I am feeling better).  Our 100lb black lab Rocco has had to roll with some new behaviors too.  Mostly, I think he wonders why his mom is in the bathroom looking in the toilet ALL- THE-TIME.  Whenever I am standing over the toilet, he comes in, looks at me, looks at the toilet, looks back at me, gives a little whimper, and backs out of the bathroom.  Well, the other day, I think he figured out what to do in there.  I was hitting tennis balls to the dogs in the yard.  Once the Rocco had had enough, he picked up as many tennis balls as he can fit in his mouth (2 or 3 depending) and ran toward the front door.  He was done, the balls were in his mouth, and he ran into the house. . . . . straight to the hall bathroom, straight to the toilet and tossed his tennises right on in.  Rocco figured it out!!! This is where Mom keeps stuff now!  It was utterly hysterical!  He is one smart boy!