'Dreams'

 I've been having some pretty vivid dreams during this pregnancy. Very life like with a twist of my own 'insanity,' just to keep things interesting. Some of them have been good 'happy' dreams, but most of the ones I remember are nightmares. I think I remember them because they get so insane they wake me up, in tears most of the time too.

From what I've read, these vivid dreams are normal during pregnancy. Many women get them. The dreams are caused by the flood of hormones in our brain. Messing with our emotions. However, most women have dreams about their babies or about their partners. Not me. I have 'dreams' about past horrors, made worse by my imagination. Or a terrible scenario of how I feel certain people have treated me.

My last 'dream' really scared the shit out of me. Not only did I wake up in tears but I sat balling for a solid hour once I woke up. I became a total creeper, watching hubby sleep and occasionally just touching him to make sure he was actually there and I wasn't 'dreaming.' Glad he didn't wake up while I was all freaked out like that. I would have really scared him.

I was so upset and angered by this 'dream' that I decided to do some research into it and talk to some other moms about it. Many moms had dreams & 'dreams' when they were pregnant, though like my readings had predicted, most of their dreams were of their children or partners. One mom had dreams about other things, like me. She suggested that I analyze it, that helped her, she went the Jung route of analyzing.

(From what I remember of studying psychology: Freud did a lot of work into 'dreamland' and Jung was a colleague of Freud's. He also dove into 'dreamland' but had a different perspective on interpretations that was more widely excepted and is still used in the twenty-first century.)

So I found a couple of articles: Dreams During Pregnancy & Jungian Analysis: Dreams.

Dreams During Pregnancy
This is a fairly short article. It was very reassuring that the 'dreams' are just dreams. They are caused by emotions and hormones flooding the brain. The article also covered and explained some of the key happenings that have been reoccurring in my 'dreams,' going into a small bit of analysis.

I'm glad I found this article because it was short enough for me to read in only a few minutes - I didn't have time to let my mind wander back to the dream I had - and it had reassurance & explanation for the 'dream,' exactly what I was looking for!

Jungian Analysis: Dreams

This goes through how to analyze your dreams. It concisely walks you through important points of your dream and helps interpret what they could mean. Finding meaning in my 'dreams' really helps me to find peace with it and move on.

Cloth Diapers...

My investigation into cloth diapers (cds).... What will I find!?!?
(This is a totally informal look into cds. The things I read & videos I watched are all listed at the bottom of the page. Everything else is just my thoughts on things as I go through the info!)
(P.S. sorry if this post is a little jumbled, I'm writing this in my 3rd trimester and it has caused quite a scattered brain!)

We started looking into cds because they seem the most economical. We've heard so many parents talk about the money they save on diapers, even with the initial cost being pretty high. I've also heard some moms talk about how they start an addiction to them, getting cute prints, but it's all up to who the parents are. There are many different types or styles of cds.

Pocket diapers are suggested to be the best because they keep the waste off of baby pretty well.  What I don't really like about them is that you have to take them apart to wash them.

There are all-in-ones (commonly referred to as AIOs)  that are like disposable diapers in that they are just one piece. I love the idea of that, though it sounds like they are harder to clean, or rather to dry and they are more expensive for the convenience.

A Mama Shared This With Me: A Basic Run Down of Four Styles 

Pre-folds seem to be awesome in the newborn stage and can be used as liners or inserts in the pocket diapers (also as burp rags and cloth wipes.) They seem to last the longest, as in they can be used in many stages throughout baby life.

I don't like the idea of a big bulky diaper... there are different inserts that are thinner and can manage a smaller look, but in general, cds are bulky. Also, size! Making sure a newborn is in newborn size and so on and so forth will change how bulky the diaper looks and how bulky it truly is for baby.

So, I've never been in a situation where I've used cds before (with the exception of one babysitting job.) I've never had to wash cds before or fold them or (really) change a baby in a cd. Not only are there several types of diapers, but there are also different folds and cleaning practices. The best advice I'm hearing is to get or borrow (from other cd moms or there are trade groups in some areas) different types of cds and see which ones work best for you, baby, and the family lifestyle - this is not for everyone.

Some wash all their cds by hand and hang dry. Some clean their cds with a 'special' wash cycle, a 'special' detergent, and hang dry them. Some use an extra rinse cycle, use their regular detergent, and tumble dry in the dryer (no fabric softener - it causes the fabric to repel liquids, which causes leaks.) Some wash every day and some wash after about three days. It's all dependent on the cd that is being used and how lazy the user is I suppose. Personally, I would probably be one of the lazier users.

From all the articles and web sites I've read, from the youtube videos I've watched, from talking to parents who cd, and from talking to hubby, I think I've (we've) reached a conclusion for our family. I think we're going to give this whole cd-ing thing a try. We'll probably start with pre-folds while he's an infant and test out other options as Dexter gets older. I'm excited to start collecting my stash! Hubby isn't as thrilled as I am, he's not looking forward to the dirty laundry (which I don't even expect him to do or really be a part of. So I'm not sure why that's on his mind?)

We'll see how this works out!

Resources:
Fluff Love University (educational website) (-lots of information!-)
The Different types of Cloth Diapers (blog)
Cloth Diapering Girls vs. Boys UNWRAPPED (4 min youtube video)
Types of Cloth Diapers (and how to use them) (22 min youtube video)

30 Weeks!

Oh my goodness!  We're already in week 30!!  Where has the time gone!? The days are just flying by!

Dexter has gotten so big for my belly! He's been able to wake me up a few times from wiggling around. Usually when I wake up it feels like he's tap dancing on whatever side I'm laying on! I've been taking time randomly though out the day to lay back and just watch him move around.  He's gotten stronger and larger, I can see my belly move and I imagine the somersaults he must be doing in there!

Little baby Dexter is now right around three pounds and six-teen inches from head to toe! His eye sight is continuing to develop - he can respond to light and is packing on fat cells.  His brain is also continuing to develop!

I got the baby registry pretty much put together on Amazon so that I could get our online baby shower going and have some fun!

"baby registry"

The registry is not one hundred percent complete yet... we've decided to go with cloth diapers and I have no clue where to begin on those or which ones will work best for us. Our minds were swayed by a mom's group that convinced us that it will be more economical in the long run. So for now the thought is to go with disposal diapers till Dexter gets to the usual ten pound limit for the cloth diapers then transition into cloth diapers. Only using disposable when we're out and about so we don't have to carry around dirty cloth diapers in a bag.

I think I'm going to pull all of my thoughts and research together on another post. Keep it all together in one place!

Hospital Visit!!!

(Perhaps a TMI post...)

Happy new year Dexter!

This is the year that you're going to be born, we started the new year in a new trimester - the last - at twenty-eight weeks into pregnancy. Your dad and I are incredibly excited to meet you! Since you're not here yet... your dad & I wanted to bring the new year in with a bang! (Or six or seven bangs!) After all, when you get here we anticipate you taking most if not all of our time, energy, and willingness to do much of anything else but coo and awe over you while we take care of your adorable baby needs.

Come to find out: there is such a thing as too much banging.

We went to the hospital at midnight on the third day of the new year, after calling the doctor & asking for advice from other parents. I started bleeding. We got worried that the placenta had moved to the wrong place, that the mucous plug had started coming out, or perhaps labor was starting early! When I called the doctor the bleeding seemed to be stopping. She said to just rest and keep an eye on it, but to go to the hospital if it started up again. So midnight hospital adventure it was!

Your dad and I had been to the doctor's office a dozen times by now and the hospital shared a parking lot, but we had never gone into the hospital before now. It was so late most of the entrances were closed, we had to walk all the way around the building to find an open door. We went up to the fifth floor - the labor and delivery area. We had to fill out paperwork before we could see anyone, then the nurse brought us back to an exam room. Another nurse came in and asked all the questions that were on the paperwork and when the emergency doctor came in she went over them again! The are very through I suppose.

The nurse strapped a heart monitor to my belly to monitor your heart rate and another piece of equipment to catch any contractions I might be having. We got to listen to your heart beat away and we could hear all your wiggles and squirms while we waited for the doctor. When the doctor came in she told us she ordered an ultra sound, some blood work, and some other testing to make sure everything was okay.

A nurse came in with a wheelchair and pushed me to the ultra sound room - first time I was pushed around in a wheel chair at a hospital!  (And because it was so late or early in the morning, hardly anyone was in the hospital and half of the lights were turned off. It made me feel like your dad and I were just dropped into a zombie movie!) The ultra sound technician put warm goopie stuff all over my belly: we got to see you and how much you had grown since the last ultra sound (that we thought was going to be our last.) She took some measurements, we got to see your bones, your newly added chubbiness, and at one point your face! You were breech - your head in my ribs - when we peeked in on you. She said that everything looked okay, the placenta was in the right spot, there was a good amount of amniotic fluid, and you have plenty of time to turn around before labor.

Back up in the exam room a nurse came in to draw my blood and the doctor came in to look at my cervix - that's always uncomfortable. She came to the conclusion that everything was fine though! When she looked at my cervix she had your dad look too.  She pointed out where you would come out and what was causing the bleeding. Apparently I have a vascular cervix and we had broken a vein which caused it to look like I was starting my period. She wanted us to wait for the blood & other tests to come back just to make sure everything else was okay, which everything was, and then we were free to go!

Doctors orders: no more banging till the next doctor visit - four days away - so that my body would have time to heal.

25 Weeks

Baby and I have reached week 25!

Last night (Dec. 11th) was the first night that he's been so strong and harsh with his movements to wake me up... I thought he was going to crawl right out of me! He kept me up for about an hour in amazement of how much he was moving around.  Though I was so tiered today because of it. I took a three hour nap and I'm thinking of going to bed early too.

Not only is baby Dexter getting stronger, he is now about thirteen and a half inches long, and weights about one and a half pounds. He is also getting more baby fat and practicing breathing, swallowing, crying, out-of-the-womb activities.

One of the mom's in one of my mom's groups had an emergency c-section this week, her and baby are doing good.  It's amazing that we've made it to viability and to see what my boy looks like at this point.

I've been so wrapped up in baby and the holidays this month.  Though, thinking of the future I've tried to start putting together a baby shower. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun! I'm working on a trivia game and some other games we can play over the internet together.  I won't have a chance to really think about it or put it together completely until after the holidays.

Tomorrow there are some local festivities going on - Snow on Tarpon Ave. We're looking forward to checking it out. Though I have a feeling that it would be so much more fun with our son on the out side of me, being as most of these things are geared toward kids. Still, it will be a lot of fun being around all the holiday joy!

South Carolina

Dear Baby,

We're at week 24!!! This pregnancy with you has been going by so fast looking back and thinking I was so excited to reach the half way mark at 20 weeks. It's also been so slow at times with the anticipation of meeting you boiling up and causing butterflies in my tummy. I suppose it's like we've climbed a mountain to the half way point and now that we've reached the summit going down is going to go by so much faster!

The last couple of weeks have really flown by! We went to the Dr.'s for a check-up, I got to hear your heart beat loud & strong and we're both healthy, right where we should be. Then you had your first taste of Thanksgiving. Your first holidays in existence is in my womb, your dad and I are really looking forward to spending the holidays with you! You're going to bring so much more joy and excitement to events than we can experience now as 'boring' adults. We went to your grandparent's place and visited with your great grandparents too. Just a small gathering with your father's side of the family, it was fun!

Photo by Timothy Capp

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to South Carolina to document your daddy's high school friend proposing!  This has been your second road trip up the east coast in my womb, the first being a North Carolina trip for a wedding your daddy photographed.  This trip was short and only lasted a couple of days - but it was so much fun!  We got to experience new restaurants. (Cookout is an awesome inexpensive fast food place - we got two burgers, two sides and a shake for just twelve dollars & it tasted great!) We went to a restaurant we found last time we were up here & just had to get some of their signature berry biscuits (Bojangles.)

Photo by Timothy Capp

We got to the meeting place where the proposal was planed to occur a bit early so we had time to look around and play, since it was at the beach! Your dad pointed out that this was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean. I collected some shells of course and your dad got some fun pictures.  We were right outside the hotel that your dad's friend was staying in with his sweetheart.  It was a big beautiful beach themed hotel, there were two weddings there that day as well. The proposal was supposed to take place under the pier, but they got really nervous and he ended up proposing on the balcony. We convinced them to get some really sweet photos before we headed out though.

Photo by Timothy Capp

The day after we got back from South Carolina your dad had a meeting to sell a camera and close to where we were meeting there was a build-a-bear shop! Since we've decided on your first name, we stopped in to make you a bear and leave a message for you - it was your dad's idea.  It was so hard deciding which bear to get you... there was a cute monkey, an alligator that is special for Florida shops only, there were different colored bears, and a puppy that we liked.  We wanted to get you the perfect one that would last you a while.  After we chose the perfect one we left you a message that we put in it's paw & stuffed the bear. We put two hearts in it, one filled with love from dad and one filled with love from mom - we sealed the love in with a kiss before we placed them in your bear.

Photo by Timothy Capp

We are so excited to meet you!  I feel you move more often now. Sometimes it's just small movements and other times it's big kicks!  I think I watched you hiccup today, you were making my whole belly jump in little rhythmic jumps! I've seen you kick and push my belly skin too. I was reading that your skin is growing faster than your fat cells at this point. So you're a wrinkly skinny little one right now about the size of a standard letter, but you weigh just over one and a half pounds by now. You may also have some hair growing on your tiny little head, though it doesn't have any color yet.

You're sucking up all my energy too.  I've been so sleepy and achy.  I took a nap for the first time since your first trimester in my womb yesterday. You are growing so much that my belly is cramping and stretching to make room for your last four months in there. Four months!  I'm so excited to meet you (and yet so scared of what I will go through to do so.)

I'm happy we've decided on a name for you! Now instead of calling you baby when I talk to you at various points of the day, I can call you by your name: Dexter.  We just have to figure out your middle name now...

Mmm...

The holiday season is also baking season!  I can't wait to make some sugar cookies with my boy!  The holidays are going to get a whole lot more exciting having a kid around!!!

So far this season I've tried to make pumpkin bread (which sadly didn't turn out like I wanted.) I made cream cheese pumpkin muffins - those turned out a little gooey for me, but still so good warmed up!

Hubby's been snacking on them

Today I'm trying some sweet potato chips. These are supposedly loaded with vitamins and nutrients that pregnant women need. (Hopefully they taste good, they're in the oven right now.) Super simple to make, same way I make my favorite potato-y fries: Chop 'em up, add a little oil and spices, toss, spread out on a baking sheet, and cook!

After tossing these ones didn't fit on my baking sheet

All spread out, about to go in the oven!

Hmm... I just checked on them and some of them got burnt, and they shrunk!  (My potato-y fries don't do that so much.)

The thinner ones got singed 

.............................................................
mmm
Though some of them got burnt (and I tend to like things a little under cooked) They turned out pretty good!  I feel like there should be some sort of sweet dip to go with them, but it's not needed.  Some future perfecting is needed!

I think I will try making theses again, provided I have the sweet potato for it!  Hubby doesn't like sweet potatoes so this will be my very own snack that I won't have to share (until the little one decides he wants some!)

Week - 22 - Twenty-two

Oh my gosh. I feel big. None of my regular clothes fit me any more.  I was down to one dress and my boobs out grew it. So today I dragged hubby out to get me a new wardrobe. We found a great deal at a consignment shop: all the clothes were sixty percent off and they were all marked under five dollars to start with!  I got some comfortable pants and cute tops. The store was packed with toys and baby gear, which we still don't have any of.  I wanted to get a lot of it.  Baby clothes are so cute!!! We also found a boa and sparkly hat for our photo booth. The lady took sixty percent off the whole stack! Everything rang up for about sixty dollars after the sale was applied I paid twenty-five. Oh yeah!

Then we headed over to a thrift store next door and spent just over twenty dollars there too. I found some holiday cards for this year, I got some stickers and a much needed cheese grater. I found a couple of formal dresses - the main reason for our adventure. I also got a large teddy bear for my boy ... and to use with newborn shoots. Hubby found a ten dollar super Nintendo. It came in a flavored rum box with a couple of games, the controllers, instruction books for the games and three others, a couple of "heavy duty" timers, an instruction manual for a cassette recorder, and a few other random things. He was very excited to find it. I guess he never owned the system before.

I was very pleased with our finds today!

Baby isn't growing in any interesting ways now.  Just bulking up for when the time comes to be apart of this world out side of the womb. He's getting stronger too.  I'm feeling kicks more often and stronger. According to babycenter.com his iris' have yet to develop pigment - that's interesting.  He is about eleven inches long and weighs almost a pound.  He's about the size of a spaghetti squash! (Perfect for the holidays!)

Kick ... kick!

First real "that's-my-baby" kick happened on November 6th, in Orlando, Florida, at 20 weeks 4 days pregnant, while a bride was getting her make-up all done up and Daddy was working.

I stole the spot light for a bit while I teared up and all six girls in the room swooned over the moment with me. A few camera phone shots were taken and of course hubby took a few as well.

The next day the best-daddy-to-be-ever laid his head on my belly and got about six kicks to the face!  Our little man is really moving around now, begging for more room.

20 Weeks

Hello 20 weeks!  It's nice to meet you.  You mean I'm half way through pregnancy!  Approximately 20 weeks in and 20 weeks to go!

To celebrate Halloween this year we went to the dr.'s!  They did an anatomic ultra sound to make sure baby was growing healthy and on schedule.

We also found out baby's gender:

We're going to have a bouncing baby boy!!!  (Yes, he's mooning us in the picture, lol)

So today I had some fun playing around with different ideas of gender reveal:

Honestly, I didn't like anything I came up with for what I wanted to do with the picture....  but the ones with my first little boy came out cute!

Puppy Love

Sorry I haven't kept up on this for the past month-ish. I haven't felt like writing, we've been busy with hubby's photography business, and other than that not much has been going on. The last wedding hubby and I worked on I ran the photo booth (as usual.) One child really liked one of our hats, as they were walking away from the booth I told them they needed to leave the hat there. The grandmother (I think) got really losses off at me because the child was crying when I took the hat back.  She called me a cow. She asked how much I wanted for the hat. I told her it wasn't for sale and that wasn't the issue. I simply need it left at the photo booth because I would like other people to be able to use it. At that point someone came over to her and pulled her away.  I really don't understand why that concept is so hard for people to grasp?

On Monday I reached 19 weeks of pregnancy! (21 weeks to go, almost half way there) Early morning on Halloween we have an appointment for an ultra sound and we should find out the gender of our baby!  I'm super excited of course (with a hint of nervousness) and so is my baby daddy.

With that joy coming up in a few days and the excitement and planing of how else we should celebrate Halloween, the terrifying idea that I have adult things to deal with is really bringing me down.  The lease for the condo ends on November first. Our initial plan was to renew the lease for just one more year while we planed a move to a better area now that a baby is on it's way.  

The thought did cross our mind to move when the lease is up because the condo association is very nit picky about their rules to a ridiculous extent. We got a notice about "garbage" on our back porch. We are on the second floor, the porch is facing the edge of the condo property, over looking a strip of grass, a fence, and the surrounding neighborhood, therefore for anyone to see our porch they had to walk around the building and look up at our porch to see anything on the porch. The porch is screened in as well, so if you went around in the evening the sun's glare on the screen would prevent you from seeing our porch at all. And I've never seen anyone back there all the time I've spent out there crafting. Someone had to be inspecting the building to see anything on our porch, and the "garbage?" That was a box. One single cardboard box of medium size that we had left out there to later break down and store in the closet for moving later.

What has really been getting under our skin about their "sacred" rules is labeling issues.  We have two bikes and two kayaks. Being on the second floor, we store these items outside on shared grounds of the condo. Our bikes in the bike racks and our kayaks in the boat racks ( I'm not sure what the actual rack is called, it has kayaks and SUP boards that are owned by the people living in the condos.) The rule is that a name and condo number has to be on these items that are stored outside. Which is fine for the bikes: the bike rack is under a shelter and bikes are easily labeled with a permanent marker and tape. The boat rack is not sheltered. There is a tree over it, not something that catches rain though, and boats go in the water: markers get washed off, tape looses its stickiness. So we've labeled our kayaks several times. Yet every time it rains we find our kayaks moved from the boat racks, and in one event thrown in a dump site. Which we then had to retrieve after noticing they were no longer in the rack. We were not told the boats were being removed, there was no attempt to contact us. This has happened at least three times that I can think of.

Our biggest problem with this condo now is that the HOA is refusing to renew our lease. The owner of the condo has said he loves us as tenets, the rental company that we have gone through to get this place is happy with us, but the HOA has an issue. The problem is 4.4lbs. My fur baby, Neelix, weighs 24.4lbs and their small animal rule is 20lbs. Therefore, in the next few days we need to get rid of my fur child or they will not renew our lease for the year. I know "rules are rules" however an extra 4.4lbs is a ridiculous reason to deny the renewal. I would understand if he ended up being even ten pounds over the limit, then fine, he grew too big and is no longer a small dog, fine. But 4.4 fucking pounds!?!?! What if he was just a little fat? What if most of it is his fur? He is a Sheltie after all, I'm sure at the very least he has two pounds of hair on him now.

There are problems with this dog. When we first got him we did ponder finding a new home for him because we didn't know if we could handle his obnoxious shyness. He's frightened of almost everything. People, that he can hear but not see, he will run away from. People who are on the other side of the street, he will run from. A parked trailer, he will run from. A stationary running car, he will run from. Most recently, a pumpkin on a stool set outside by the side walk, he will run from. Neelix will even run from hubby when he enters the room even though he loves to play with him outside. However, if you have four legs, a tail, and the humans call you a dog, he will play with you! A cat? A squirrel? A bug in the house? He will chase.  

Neelix is my baby! He follows me everywhere, if he's scared he will corner behind me or try to wedge himself between my legs. Since I've gotten pregnant I've noticed that he's gotten protective of me. We had some people over one day that he hadn't met before. When they tried to hug me he growled and got super defensive, in ways that I've never seen before! He's my bathroom buddy, every time I go to the bathroom he follows me in. Then he will either crawl under my leg, sit there and wait for me, he will lay at my feet and lick my toes, or he'all bring a toy and want me to play. If I'm sitting at my desk he will lay under it. If I'm sitting on the couch he will either be on the couch laying next to me or laying on my feet in front of the couch. 

All the days I've had a hard time at work he comes and lays next to me, pouting with me looking up at me with his big puppy eyes. When I cry he's right there in my face licking the tears off me. He's always ready to play when I am, and he has the biggest puppy smile on his face while we do. 

I love and hate his 2 am energy spurts. Sometimes I'm super worn out from my day hubby and I don't always want to play. Though when we also have the energy for nigh time walks I love to watch him play tag with my hubby! I laugh so hard at how fast he zooms around and sometimes loosing his feet ending up in barrel rolls in the grass. They have tag made into a real sport, hubby has to trick Neelix in order to catch him sometimes, telling him to sit and asking him to shake so hubby can get closer. ... If we have to get rid of him there will be no more tag at two in the morning.

If I don't have Neelix there will be no more reason to run up and down the stairs multiple times a day. Who will put their front paws on the window seal and watch for something to bark at?  Who will jump at my mirrored closet to eventually fall into it, open it and make it scary enough to run away?  Who will leave stuffing all over the living room from all the stuffed animals that need to be torn apart and what snow will I have to clean up? Who is going to chase the cursor on my lap top, or the circle on hubby's game?  Who's food an water bowls will I fill up when I take my vitamins every morning? Who is going to catch the cockroaches that run across the kitchen floor?  Who will I get mad at when my stuff is chewed up because they feel they haven't gotten enough attention that day?  Who will I have when hubby is gone for work?  Who's going to curl up in bed next to me when hubby gets up before me?  Who is gong to jump and prance with the biggest puppy smile when he gets a new toy?

If we have to get rid of Neelix I won't have a reason to hide around the corners and run around in circles, laughing and acting like a child.  Hubby will have no one to chase and then burst out in to laughter because he is cowering and just letting hubby pick him up for loves.  If we have to get rid of Neelix I will never know how he reacts to getting a human sibling.  Or how they will interact as they get old together.  I will be losing a best friend.  Hubby will be losing a play mate.  My child will be missing out on having a puppy to learn about and care for him.  The condo will be so empty, there would be something missing.

One of the selling points for this place was that we could have a dog.  Hubby and I really wanted a dog!  Granted we couldn't get a golden retriever like hubby really wanted...  Still we could have a buddy to live with.  Our first fur child together, my fur baby.  I have to get rid of him because he is 4.4lbs over your arbitrary weight limit for "small" animals?

I'm don't even know how to fight this?  Or why I should have to fight this?  4.4lbs!  The owner is fine with the dog.  The owner is on the HOA board and thinks it's silly that they want us to get rid of the dog for that.  Seriously!?!?  There is a board of people of whom the majority think 4.4lbs is worth ripping a piece of my family out of his home!?!?  Now, if he had grown ten pounds over their weight limit then fine, he grew to be a bigger dog than we thought.  If you've had complaints about his barking. If someone on the condo property has been in some sort of conflict with this dog.  Fine.  Those reasons I would understand.  For the simple reason that he grew a few pounds over the "small animal pound limit" that's bs.

With four days what am I supposed to do?  The only thing that leaves me time to do is to give my fur baby up to the pound or a shelter.  That's not even enough time to find him a decent home, or a good place for him to stay.  Who can I call?  Who can I talk to?  To say haw ridiculous this is?  Can I appeal to the HOA?  Should I make my poor fur baby starve for the next few weeks to loose the weight for you?  I wish I could move and get out from under your thumb in four days.  We just scheduled an "urgent" vet appointment where we spent $200 for rabies and vaccines to be updated because you just needed those papers a.s.a.p.!  Not good enough for you?  We have to get rid of him now?  Let me shave him, chop off a limb or two - there's your fucking 4.4lbs! Better idea, I'll leave his poop on each of your door steps.  Add up that weight!

Ugh. I don't know what to do.  I'm not happy that you, HOA, even bring up the idea.  The thought brings me to tears.  To seriously have to consider it just to keep housing for myself?  I don't need this stress.  I need my dog to cheer me up.  Especially being pregnant and going through mood swings.  I need my fur child.  NEED!  And I need to stop crying about this.  I have no idea how to resolve this.  I want to be fucking happy and fucking excited to find out the gender of my child I don't want to be fucking balling because you want to get rid of my fur child.

Update as of Oct. 29th: Hubby got a call this morning from the president of the condo association (or something like that) and apparently the board voted (or re-voted?) that my fur baby can stay and they will renew our lease! I'm not sure what did it, but I'm happy this happened!