23 Weeks down....17 to go

Well, there hasn't been a lot going on here the past couple of weeks. Matt has spent most of the time working in Phoenix. The dogs and I are lazy and hang around the house. It is really to hot to do much of anything around here. The baby and I are both getting bigger. It really seems that I am growing bigger by the day. The Baby also moves a lot, and is getting stronger. I can see the kicks on the outside of my belly now. Matt has been able to feel the baby more. It's hard for him because he doens't like to wait, so normally the baby kicks right when he takes his hand off my belly. We also were given a book with the Original stories of Winnie the Pooh by my sister's friend Megan. It's the baby's first book and I have already begun to read to the baby. I'm going to try to get Matt to read to the baby too, but he is really uncomfortable talking to the baby in utero. I'm working on changing that and expanding his little box he lives in.

Since Matt & I don't see each other very often, we are trying to make the most of the time we do have. Matt usually doesn't get home from work until after 7 or 8 at night, and I go to bed around 8:30 or 9pm. Matt normally works at some point during the weekend too, so spending time together is a little harder than it used to be. Last week, we had Sunday together and decided to take the dogs to Mt. Lemmon so we could all cool off a bit. Mt. Lemmon is always a lot of fun. We took a couple of hikes, found a cool new tree swing, and hit the Cookie Cabin up for a jumbo peanut butter cookie. The dogs love all the new smells of Mount Lemmon, and love to be able to run and play without any fences. It was around 69 degrees while hiking at Mt. Lemmon, but it was still pretty hot when we were sitting in the sun at the top. The trip worked, and wore the dogs out for 2 days. Unfortunatley, it didn't last longer and it is to hot to run them during the day here. We have been hitting the dog park around 7:30 but it gets dark around then and most of the dogs are gone. It will be nice when it is cooler and we can start hiking at Catalina State Park again.

This week, Matt took Saturday off and along with Cherie, we hit the Baby Fair at the Convention center. I was hoping for a lot of educational information, but it was mostly vendors trying to hock their services. They did have a lecture on safer sleeping for babies which I liked, and we talked to the Police about carseat saftey. Turns out the hospital has a class that costs $25 on baby saftey and then you walk out with a new carseat. The carseat is a Cosco brand that is both rear and front facing and is for babies from 5 - 85 lbs. We already have our infant carrier seats, but it is a nice carseat for once the baby outgrows the infant carrier. Matt, Cherie, and I are planning to attend the class next Sunday.

We also have an exciting plan for next week. We have hired a dog trainer to come to our house and teach our dogs how to be good girls!! Well, they really are good girls, but I would like to work on a couple of issues. Both dogs are HORRIBLE on a leash. We have broken many head collars trying to train them. I would like the dogs to walk nice enough that I can walk them on my own while either pushing a stroller or holding the baby in a carrier. The dogs also bark when other dogs walk in front of the house. I would like to curb the barking so that they don't wake the baby later on. Minor issues, but it will be so nice once the training is done. We will have 5 session with the trainer working in our home. I will let you know how it turns out!!!