Evil Dog

This almost ate my husband yesterday.



Let me explain.

Our house backs up to another house, and neither of us have fences. This neighbor, who we've never met and rarely even seen, decided to get a gigantic freak of a dog. They like to put it in their backyard, chained up to some weak little stake in the ground that was probably only meant to contain dogs up to 50 lbs, not 200 lbs.

Elian came home early from work yesterday to meet a guy that may do some outdoor house repairs for us. When the man was walking around our house, assessing what needs to be done, Elian noticed Evil Dog roaming freely, dragging his chain and stake behind him. The dog was going in everyone's yards, sniffing at their garbage cans, eating their trees, nosing through whatever was on the back porches. Elian decided to go knock on the owner's door to let them know their dog was loose.

As Elian walked out of our backyard, Evil Dog came right up to him, barking and NOT wagging his tail. Bad sign? Elian approached Evil Dog's yard, and the dog started jumping/standing on his hind legs, which made him as tall as Elian.

At this point, I was pretty sure I was going to be a widow at 25. I was prepared to see this dog take a significant chunk out of my husband's thigh.

The dog wouldn't let Elian pass, so he came back home, quickly. The dog followed him just as quickly. Elian got inside the house and the back door closed just in time. We decided a call to Animal Control was in order. I saw the truck drive by the dog's house 3 times, but I don't know if they actually caught the dog or not.

I am pretty nervous about taking Lexi outside now. If this dog had gotten loose the day before, while Lexi and I were taking a walk around the neighborhood, I'm not sure how I would have protected her. I would have picked her up, but Evil Dog still could have easily reached her. Maybe I need to take a Self Defense From Large Dogs class.... Do they have those?

Honesty

Yesterday I was in the bathroom doing my normal morning routine when my belly got my attention. Lexi was playing in the hallway, jabbering on about a baby being in Mommy's belly. So I turned sideways and said, "Lexi, look at Mommy's belly. It's getting big!" "Yeah!" responded my daughter as she stared at my stomach. I thought our conversation was over, so I turned back toward the mirror. Then I felt a little hand on my butt and heard Lexi's sweet voice say, "Hiney....BIG!"

Wheel Woes

Along with about 3,000 others, I went to Tunica in October to try out for Wheel of Fortune. They randomly drew 300-400 names to come on stage. I was one of the first selected! We went on in groups of 5, introduced ourselves, and were given one puzzle to solve. I only got to guess one letter, but apparently that was enough for the producers to invite me and 200 others back today for a final audition!

When I got to Tunica today, they put me in a room with about 100 other people, and we solved puzzles for an hour. They called on one person at random until we all had been called on. I solved my puzzle and won a tote bag! Then we took a written test that had 16 partially solved puzzles on them. We had 5 minutes to solve as many as we could. I got 10 solved, which was more than other people I talked to. They graded our tests and came back in and told about 25 people to stay for further tryouts. But I wasn't one of those people! I was shocked. I am disappointed and wish I knew WHY I didn't get picked (race? age? pregnant?), but did the best I could with the things I could control and had fun in the process. Mayhaps I will tryout again sometime...

16 Weeks

It's been a month since I posted belly pics, so here they are:




I'm not sure how much weight I've gained so far because I wasn't told how much I weighed on my first OB visit... But I think I gained 5 lbs since the last pics. Interesting.

My nausea has almost completely subsided, praise God. I only vomited once last week :) The only physical discomfort now is the inability to breathe through my nose about 12 hrs each night. I think it is a combo of the weather making my sinuses go haywire and the pregnancy making the inside of my nose swell. Lovely.

On a better note, we have the ultrasound to check out the baby's goodies in 3 weeks! I am excited. When we saw Lexi on ultrasound and found out she was a girl, I fell in love with her. She was no longer an impersonal being supposedly inside of me. She was a specific person, my daughter. I saw her individual vertebrae, her toes, the 4 chambers of her heart, the profile of her nose and mouth - everything. She was beautiful and perfect and our intimate relationship really began that day. I am looking forward to experiencing the same connection with our next child.

Lexi's 25 Things

I'm taking the liberty to pick 25 random thoughts about Lexi on her behalf.

1. She can count from 1 to 13 even though I have no idea how she learned 11, 12 and 13.
2. She knows most of her capital letters.
3. She likes to tell you what to color on the page and which crayon to use but rarely colors herself.
4. She is 21 months old and is STILL afraid of the vacuum.
5. She sleeps with a different stuffed animal every night.
6. She loves fruit and will eat any type any time.
7. Vegetables, not so much.
8. She loves to read/be read to.
9. She calls herself "Lex" with a cute little lisp.
10. She hates to wear clips/bows in her hair but doesn't mind pigtails.
11. She's extremely nurturing toward her baby dolls, which should bode well come July.
12. She is determined to learn how to put on her shoes by herself, spending a solid 15 mins each day trying.
13. She loves to slide and hates to swing.
14. She will not eat chicken or hamburger.
15. She loves listening to Michael Bublé in the car.
16. She likes to line things up: shoes, grapes, stuffed animals.
17. Her middle name is Marie, just like her mom, grandma, and great-grandma.
18. She is somehow sensing that she will be two soon and is practicing her defiance to be ready for the big day.
19. She hardly ever gets sick, praise God!
20. She likes to pretend to sleep, snoring included.
21. She enjoys doing puzzles.
22. She loves to ride the Merry-Go-Round at the mall.
23. She talks incessantly, requiring someone to acknowledge her 95% of the time.
24. She loves to play "If You're Happy And You Know It".
25. She brings joy to everyone she encounters. Except doctors. She brings them hearing problems.