It's been awhile. Perhaps I'm not cut out for this blogging thing, but we'll see. It's not for lack of updates (as I was typing this I just discovered Copper eating a soap box from the trashcan), but just not sitting down and keeping up! An update hodge-podge is today's topic.
A few weekends ago, we walked the Susan G. Komen race in Birmingham for Team Neil. Just me, SGM and Copper, but if I say so myself, it was one good looking team (and yes, for those of you who have asked, you get a [not-so-flattering] preggers pic of me):
Copper took the lead during the entire race, and loved it. She got lots of cheers along the way, actually, she got the only cheers. Rows of cheerleaders along the road would yell "go doggy go" repeatedly. No cheers for preggers though. Oh well.
The race was a 5k, which is a little over three miles. And it was a HOT day. We didn't walk it too fast, and Copper is used to our morning walks which are usually about two miles. However, just when we were in the final stretch, we could see the finish line up ahead, Copper veers off to the left of the road and into the median. We figured she needed a bathroom break. We figured wrong. It was naptime. I was laughing too hard to take a picture of her, but she literally plopped down on the grass on her side and proceeded to take a rest break. Needless to say, we'll take that behavior any day of the week--it was at the same race last year that she didn't take a nap break in the middle of the race but took a potty break--a big one--in the middle of the road on the race course. So I guess we've done a little growing up over this past year, which is a good thing.
In preparation for the new addition, we've been laying down all kinds of new rules for Copper at home. The main ones are no more jumping on the sofas, no more jumping on the beds and no more incessant barking for no reason at all. All very legitimate rules that yes, should have been in place since day 1, but they just weren't. She is pretty good at the sofas--except for the brand new one in the living room that just makes her day to climb on when we aren't looking. And she knows it's bad because all I have to do is set one foot in the room and if she is on the sofa she goes scrambling off of it. She is also doing a good job of not getting on the bed anymore. However, it does mean that when she wakes up at 5-530 in the mornings, instead of climbing into bed with us and going back to sleep, she paces in our bedroom and whines to go outside. We've decided that eventually she will learn that this gets her nowhere but its been over a month now with no success. It might be time to crate her at night but I don't think I'm ready for that. As for the barking, we've had to take more drastic measures:
Right now she has the collar on and we've put it to setting 2 (out of 5). She is outside and I'm listening to her bark at the dogs next door so clearly we have some work to do.
Other than that, we have been getting ready for little baby Bumble. That means lots of shopping, nursery decorating, etc., but we'll also probably need to do a bit more Copper training over the next few months as well. More on that to come. In the meantime, I am clearly looking (and feeling) more and more pregnant every day. I had a guy knowingly say to me just yesterday that I "just must have one more month to go, huh?" Nope, 11 more weeks. You do the math on the weeks-to-months conversion. It doesn't equal one. On Sunday, I was at the Home Depot wandering down an aisle (without a cart mind you), and had a man walking towards me stop and shimmy sideways with his back agains the shelves to let me through. Thanks, I think those aisles are approximately five feet wide but I appreciate the extra room buddy. On Monday, I was at the copy machine at work when I woman I have never laid eyes on in my life walks by and says to me "dang girl, I just saw you last week and didn't even know you were pregnant, look at you now!" Point taken. I'm sure (I hope?) everyone is subjected to these kinds of comments but GOOD GRIEF.
I've posted about this blog before (ALOT monster) but I got a big kick out of her most recent posting as I'm pretty sure you can sub the little girl in the story for Copper and get a pretty good taste of what life is like at night trying to cook while Copper is around:
Lastly, Halloween seems to be our favorite holiday here in Copperland. To me, Halloween means the weather is just right, the leaves are beautiful, and the days aren't quite short enough yet to bring on the winter blues. Plus, you get to buy pumpkins like these:
My favorite thing about them is that the lady at the garden shop said they are called "lunchladies," which I just got the biggest kick out of.
Cheers to more Adventures in Copperland!
