We found out the hard way that dogs can’t chew gum.  We left Lexie in the house when we took our weekly trip to target.  Groceries, cleaning supplies and dog treats were all on the list. In the hour that we were gone, Lexie had found Carley’s purse and ate two brand new packages of gum.  It’s normal for labs to get into things when they have been cooped up in the house for a weeks because the oppressive heat prevented outside play time (we keep telling ourselves that).  We didn’t think anything of it until Carley called her mom.  At the end of the conversation Carley mentioned that Lexie had eaten some gum, good thing she did, because 5 min later we were off to the emergency clinic.  Apparently sugarless gum has a ingredient called Xylitol, its harmless to humans, but to dogs it can be deadly.  If she had eaten 1 piece of gum, we wouldn’t have flinched, but 2 full packs put everyone on edge. The emergency vet gave her a shot that made her throw up the gum.  This also gave us a look at some of her daily activity’s; water bottle caps, metal pen parts, and some pieces of a plastic toy were all in her stomach.  BAD LEXIE.  The following morning I brought her to our usual vet for some blood tests. She was going to be fine, we got the gum out before she had time to digest it. After all that she was happy and energetic as usual.  We wanted to be mad at her, but she is too darn cute. How could you stay mad at this?

Also, I have no idea who reads this. Probably just a few of my friends, my parents and my in-laws. One of my good friends from college, Emily, just started a maternity/baby clothing boutique online. Lots of cute stuff. I am so excited for her. She always talked about wanting to have her own boutique.  Click the picture to go to her website. Pass it along!

WE HEARD THE HEART BEAT! That was super exciting. It sounded like this “wooshhh wooshhh (imagirl) wooshhhhh wooshhh”. It felt so good to hear the heart beat. Nice to be reassured that there is actually a baby in there and I am not just getting fat. Brian and I have been debating on if we should find out the sex of the baby by ourselves at the doctor appointment. The other idea is that we will have the doctor write it down and seal it in an envelope, then we could open it up with our families and find out together. We are still talking about that decision, but either was we will know if our little Waltenbaby is a boy or a girl on September 10^th! That day can’t come soon enough. I feel like I can’t start my serious shopping until we know the sex.

WALTENBABY IS GETTING BIGGER! Well according to my iPhone app, Waltenbaby is the size of an avocado. That’s about 5 inches. It is developing an inner ear and fingerprints this week! It’s so amazing to thing that my body is creating this person. I really still can’t comprehend that. I am definitely starting to show. Today was actually the first day that I looked in the mirror and said to myself “you look pregnant, not like you have a beer belly”. There are a lot of mixed emotions that come with one’s body changing so fast.

CALI VISIT! A few weeks ago Brian got us plane tickets to go see Heidi and Anthony Pickering. They are some friends of ours that moved out to Cali in May. It was a really nice trip. It was great to see them and spend some time on the beach! We will post more about it in an upcoming blog post.

CRAZINESS AT WORK! Work has been CRAZY the last few weeks. This probably contributed to my lack of blogging. As crazy as each day is, I love it so much. Of course there are aspects of my job I could do without, but I really enjoy my days at work.  I think about how things will change when we have a baby. My boss is great and very supportive, so I know she will do what she can to help me be the best working mom I can be. I see people who are stay at home moms and while sometimes that life seems like it would be fun, I don’t think it’s for me. I love the kids I work with and I love the people I work with. Plus, if I stay at home all day, I would have to keep up with the laundry and cleaning…. Nah…not for me! ha! Speaking of loving the kids I work with. One of our kiddos came in the office the other day holding a breast pump. When I saw it I started cracking up. I asked him what it was and he responded with “it’s the Pixar lamp”. He said it like “duh, what’s wrong with you?” ha ha. Do you see the resemblance?

Being the father, and not having the baby inside me, I have felt pretty distant from the whole pregnancy.  To me life was pretty much the same as before, nothing was different.  Hearing the heartbeat was the first thing that was tangible to me during this pregnancy.  I always knew there was a baby in there, I saw the little blueberry on the sonogram, but this was not the same.  There is a little person floating inside her stomach, ha ha that’s crazy.

We are bringing Lexie to the Rangers game on July 25th. You should come too. Let us know if you plan to go.

The Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas will be hosting a special Dog Day on Sunday, July 25, 2010. Bring your dog early for the festivities and stay for the baseball game. The fun includes:

* 5-6pm A parade line forms of dogs in Texas Rangers attire
* 6:15pm Dog parade

Prizes will be awarded to the top five best dressed dogs!

Special Rules: All reservations must be made in advance of the game; you won’t be able to walk up with your dog and buy tickets. You’ll need to fax your dog’s current vaccinations from your vet before game day and your dog must wear a tag to the game.  Your forms and ticket order must be completed by Wednesday, July 21, 2010.

PS. Isn’t Brian cute wanting that Daddle?!?

I think I am going to need one of these. Its called a Daddle and it looks like a ton of fun (minus the beard, the long sleeve shirt from the early 90′s, and the stonewashed jeans)

I have always been a great sleeper and an even better dreamer. I have always had vivid dreams that I remember, and unfortunately sometimes think are reality. Since I got pregnant, those dreams are just as vivid (although interrupted because I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee). A few mornings ago I woke up laughing because of a dream. My friends Meryl and Heidi were pregnant (in my dream, not real life… although that would just make my day if it were real). In my dream they got pregnant after me but had their babies before me… on the same day! so I was at the hospital while they were having their babies and was a little sad that I was still pregnant and they got to meet their babies. So I told Brian we had to go get a sonogram to see if there was still a baby in my tummy. {I will spare you the details of my completely warped sonogram experience from my dream}. So when we looked at the sonogram pics I saw a little bitty baby… well it wasn’t as much a baby as it was a 4 year old! It was a tiny 4 year old hanging out in my tummy. He had such a mature face and a buzz hair cut! I hope that is as funny to y’all as it was to me!

So I was talking to Brian’s mom the other day and we were talking about how the baby would look. She said her and Brian’s dad use to talk about what he would look like and that she feels like Brian got the best qualities of both of them. His nose, her body type, her eyes… so I got to thinking about what our baby will look like. Will he/she have my eyes or skin tone, or Brian’s hair or height. I don’t know, but 7 more months is a long time to have to wait to find out!

Tell us if you think it will be a boy or a girl!

Well this week has been pretty uneventful. We have a few nicknames that have been given to our baby. These names include “waltenbaby”, “waltenfetus”, and “yolky” (because the sono pic looked like an egg yolk). Our “waltenbaby” is still the size of a blueberry but apparently, it has been developing a face, arms, legs, and skin! Woo hoo it has skin! I feel really great. Some nausea here and there but overall I am feeling really good. I am getting back into workout mode. Before I got pregnant, I was in the middle of a “couch to 5k” training. Then, I stopped when I found out I was pregnant. I had crazy thoughts that the running would somehow give the baby brain damage. Now that I’m over that crazy thinking, I am back to working out. Thankfully, we just got a treadmill so I do not have to run in the 100-degree heat. Other than that, it has been a pretty uneventful week, which is perfectly fine with me.

This past weekend Brian and I went with our friends Meryl and Brandon to the Fusch lake house to visit with our other friends Lindsey and Blake. They just had a baby, Eleanor. She is almost 3 months old. She is such a sweet baby and I had so much fun playing with her. Although we really only played for about 30 min. I knew babies slept a lot but I didn’t realize that meant and hour and a half every three hours. I guess I have a lot to learn about babies! The whole weekend was great!

My brother, Bradley, who just graduated from Texas A&M in May started his first “real” job this week. We are so proud of him. Congratulations Bradley!

According to the books, websites, and magazines I currently obsess over our baby is the size of a blueberry! Apparently it looks more like an alien though. I’m sure over the next 8 months it will grow into a cute little girl baby! Today we went to the doctor for pictures of our little blueberry. The last doctors appointment left me quite disappointed. I didn’t make my appointment until I was “6 weeks”. However, apparently since I got off the pill my cycle never returned to the normal 28 day cycle. I was more like a 32 day cycle. Anyway that meant that I was only about 5 weeks when we went to the doctor last week. When they did the sonogram they could see the yolk sack (yuck! Makes me feel like a chicken!). Dr Campbell said that is exactly what they should be able to see at 5 weeks. Unfortunately we would not be able to see the actual baby or heartbeat until 6 weeks. I kept asking the nurse to tell me there was definitely a baby in that yolk sack. She said she couldn’t. Then I got anxious. What if there was no baby in the yolk sack? I fully expected to see the baby that day and it didn’t happen. I was so disappointed. After talking to my friend Lindsey I felt better. She said she went to the doctor at 5 weeks and didn’t see the baby either. It just too small. So I pushed all those worrisome thoughts out of my mind and just tried to enjoy being prego! My doctor called on Tuesday and said all my blood work came back great and I am definitely pregnant! As if the 12 pregnancy tests hadn’t already told me that! Still, it was nice to hear. So today was the 6 week appointment. We saw the baby and could see the heartbeat flashing on the screen. The heart beat was 133 beats per minute. The doctor said that was great and it would get faster as the baby grew. My due date is officially January 26, 2011. Here are pics of our little blueberry!

SYMPTOMS: Boobs hurt worse than ever… imagine rubbing your chest against the concrete for a while and them have someone punch them over and over and over… that’s pretty much how it feels. ouch! I am also feeling really emotional. We will see how that works out. Pregnant or not, I do not think people like it when you burst into tears for no reason. It’s uncomfortable.