New Additions to the Family

We've had several new additions to our family this month. The first of which is Amy's new dog Cougar (give you one guess as to who picked the name!). Mike had a friend at work who found a puppy in his front yard and could not find the owner to it. He's a single guy and didn't have enough time to give the puppy the attention he needs, so he asked if anyone was interested. While we weren't really looking for a dog, Mike got really excited about it and so we went for it. Happy early birthday to Amy.

Things we have learned about Cougar:

1) He's a big scaredy cat. He spent the first couple hours in our backyard hiding in the corner. He was especially scared of Amy because she would walk right at him. She quickly won him over by bringing him food from his bowl, across the yard, and feeding him out of her hand. They became fast friends, but he's still a scaredy cat. Any time a new person comes in the backyard, he puts his tail between his legs and wets himself.

2) He is definitely still a puppy. The guy who found him took him to the vet and they said that Cougar is about 11 weeks old. Sounds young, right? Yeah... he's a black lab, so they grow REALLY fast. He's already Amy's size. He likes to jump on her and pull on her clothes and chase her around. She's still learning how to play with him without getting scratched (not that he does it on purpose, of course. He's just playing).

3) Mike loves the dog a little more than Amy does. Don't get my wrong, Amy sits by the back window a lot of the day and talks to Cougar through the glass - we don't let her got out there by herself yet because she can't control him when he gets hyper and jumps on her. They definitely are buddies, but I think Mike does love him a little more. He often takes him for walks at night - sometimes as late as 10 or 11. Mike never had a dog growing up, so this is a new adventure for him.

Our next addition has since left us, but it was here temporarily. There was a G.A.I.N. event in Goodyear a couple weeks ago (I don't know what it stands for, but it's something run by the neighborhoods) over at the Goodyear park. I have to say - BEST CITY EVENT OF THE YEAR! While we enjoy the Halloween and Christmas festivals, this event had something the others did not - FREE FOOD! And let's face it, we're all about the free food. They had several people doing shows (local dance studios) and the neighborhoods each had a booth, but the best part was that they got local restaurants to come down and give out free samples. While the word "sample" is not very exciting, let me just say that we were STUFFED when we finished. There was more food there than we could possibly eat. And we tried! It was a lot of fun, complete with bouncers and sidewalk chalk for Amy.

They also had a raffle that you could get tickets for by visiting each of the community booths. Mike, being all about free stuff, took us to each booth and we each got a ticket to enter. Lo and behold, we won! Mike, me, and Lindsey Owen (poor Richard...) each got drawn for the raffle. Lindsey and I each won a carry-on suitcase with two bags inside of it. We told Mike he won the grand prize... it's very special... he likes to tell people "It's a major award" (name the movie!)... It was George. Yeah... while my mom thinks he's kinda cute, I have to admit, I was a little less than impressed. Mike and Richard thought it was HILARIOUS though. Mike took pictures of him so he could show the guys at work, who also thought it was hilarious. He sat in my front room for about 3 days and then he was sent to work with Mike to be passed around and finally ended up in the kitchen area holding candybars. At least he was put to work. So our new member of the family, George, has left home to find work.

We do have one more addition to our family, and if you made it this far... here's the payoff. We're having a baby! Woo hoo! It's been a long year of hoping and waiting, but we're proud to announce we will have a new baby joining our family come June. The initial dute date we were given was June 10th, but we're going in again on Tuesday to see an ultrasound tech, but it should be within a day or two of the 10th I think. Amy is as excited as any 2-year old, only-child can be. However, she LOVES babies (the Owens had their baby this week and she talks about "baby cawey" (Kylee) all the time), so we think she'll like having a sibling.

As far as I go, I'm doing pretty good. I'm not anywhere as sick as I was with Amy (I lost 10 pounds in a week or two by being sick with Amy). I am still nauceous in the morning and early afternoon, but not to the point of actually being sick too often. As long as I take it easy, it's tolerable. The nice thing is that it wears off by the late afternoon / early evening, so I can still go out and have fun in the evenings because I'm not sick! That's been really nice.

Anyway, that's our news! This last picture is for my mom and sisters, because we looked like this every night growing up! Now it's Amy's turn.