And so it begins...

Then I found myself saying something I never imagined saying, “Duke, Penguins are not for dogs.” Terry spent 10 days in the beginning of the month putting up drywall and upgrading the apartment with the help of his folks, “Thank you both so much! I have no idea how we would have accomplished so much without your generous help!” While I bounced around staying at different friends homes, “and thank you so much for opening your doors to me. With all the dust, and smells, Hank and I couldn’t stay here while the major construction was ongoing.”

Now we are trying to create a semblance of order in our home, and put things away so that the living room doesn’t look and feel like a bomb exploded in it. Those of you still waiting on X-mas gifts – they are in the debris field – I’m sure they will turn up soon. It’s only a couple more layers until we hit floor. Every day we work on our projects, getting less done then we hoped, but we have chipped away at it – and now the new Elfa closet is in – goodbye Ikea dressers, hello clean white organized heaven! Our new desk is in place beside the window, and above it, a nice set of shelves – still empty - maybe today that will change! We have ordered our new bed – with drawers underneath, 6 – 8 weeks away. We have swept, vacuumed, and moped the floors more times in two weeks then in the last year – goodbye dust – ha! There have also been many trips to The Container Store – on the plus side, they do have very nice bathrooms! Today I will order new blinds, and try to find a curtain for Hank’s hospital style curtain track, which defines the area we now refer to as “Hank’s room.”

Slowly we are getting ready. Marion Fasel, gal-pal extraordinaire, and close friend going back to our junior high days in Columbia, MO. is organizing a baby shower for March 22. I have created a registry and am trying to decide between cloth and disposable diapers. Terry is voting for disposable – fear of poo-smells! Hank is growing well, I’m on track for a “perfect pregnancy” according to my doctor, but I am starting to feel huge, and Hank is beginning to move more – sometimes to the point of nausea for me. He is responding to sounds from the outside world – yesterday the music at a café really got him going – as if he was trying to learn the rumba!

Hank is beginning to accumulate a few things, a couple shirts, a hat, and several stuffed animals, including a penguin and a monkey as well as several bears. Yesterday I walked out of the bathroom to discover the penguin had moved from his perch on the couch to the floor of the bedroom, right in a lovely sun-splashed spot. There is only one way this could happen – Duke. I picked up the penguin, he is fine, if a bit damp, and admonished Duke. What a sad little pathetic dog-face he created in response, you could almost see the little wheels turning in his head, “What do you mean, not for dogs? Who else would it be for?” Then he sighed, and went to find something else to play with as I had a premonition that this was a glimpse into our future. Duke has been an only dog for so long, and now things are changing. Right after Christmas he completely freaked out and would not sit by me, or even come near me. At first we thought he was sick, but realized he had begun to feel Hank move, and was scared. This lasted until I went away for a week, and we moved everything in the house around – something he hates. When I came home, he was so happy to see me, but now avoids the ever-increasing belly. We are trying to prepare him as much as possible, we washed him in baby shampoo, and have read up on other techniques to help him adjust, but I can’t help but be a little sad that indeed penguins, and I’m sure many other things to come are, “ not for dogs.”