Fur Baby

I couldn’t go much longer without mentioning another very important member of our family, Oliver. O-dog is pretty great. If you’ve met him, you know he’s super affectionate and friendly. He’s a licker, not a fighter. He can tame the scariest Pit Bulls or hang out with the biggest Great Danes. He goes right up to them and says, “Hi, I’m Oliver. Wanna play? Wanna play?”

Oliver came into our lives when we were pretty fragile. He’s a rescue dog from the animal shelter, although I’m not sure who rescued who. We were lucky he had been brought in within the past hour. If you’re not familiar with pound procedure, you put your name on a waiting list. There’s a one week waiting period for the owner to claim the dog if he’s a runaway. You have to show up promptly on the day they become available. If you’re not there, the opportunity to adopt the dog goes to the next person on the list. Fortunately, we were the first ones on the list. Fortunately for Oliver, there were 5 other people that showed up hoping to get Oliver as well. Oliver came home with us on November 4, 2005. One day after the original due date of Matthew & Isabel.

We estimate Oliver was born July 05. We still call him ‘puppy’ due to his size. He’s definitely a mutt. If we had to guess, he’s got some Dachshund (he’s long like a hot dog), maybe some American Staffordshire Terrier (broad shoulders and a white chest), possibly Pug (he’s got an impossibly cute wrinkly face and semi curled tail) and most likely some Chihuahua (his smallness). Initially I wanted a Pug or a Puggle (Pug and Beagle mix), but I’m so glad we went to the pound. There are so many dogs and cats in need of a home, it broke my heart not to be able to take them all.

The move has been an adjustment for Oliver. In Sac, he had lot of friends and was taken to the park almost every night (it was literally at the end of the cul de sac from where lived). We met good friends through Oliver. Here’s one of my favorite pictures of Oliver and his best friend, Poquita. Her parents, Monica & Alvarro, had some amazing bbq’s. Mmmmm, I could go for Alvarro’s short ribs right now.

But in O.C., it’s a different story. No one walks their dogs at night. There's not even any sidewalks! The dog park isn’t all that, there’s hardly any grass. And sadly, we’ve (or Mike has) been so busy Oliver hasn’t been able to go out very much. Hopefully soon once all the boxes are unpacked, we’ll be able to give him more attention, especially before the babies arrive.

Lastly, here’s a picture of my belly from this weekend. Every Saturday, we take pictures. It’s really cool to see how much my belly has grown. I remember thinking I was initially out of shape, but compared to now I was positively fit back then!