This post is going to the dog(s)

OK, here's the skinny: We are closing on our new house in 4 days. That means in just 4 more days we will have the keys to our shiny, new (to us) home in our hands! We are super excited to be moving to such a clean and well-kept house. We'd love to keep it that way as long as possible, but with a toddler and a baby who's about to get mobile we know it won't be too long before the house gets a bit beaten up. Add a dog to the mix and there's sure to be some damage!

This got us thinking about our dog situation. When we first got Annabelle we were DINKS and had nothing but time to devote to our pooch. Weekend trips to the dog park were common. We knew all the other dog parents not by their name, but by their pooch's name!

We got Annabelle at the end of our first year of marriage and just as we began our journey to conceive. During the next two years Annabelle became our surrogate child: our furbaby. You can see more about her first few birthday party's here: http://thefriendshipodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/03/when-is-dog-just-dog.html

When I was pregnant with Dominic, Annabelle, not my husband, gained sympathy weight with me. We were able to get it off shortly after Dominic was born. Face time with Annabelle gradually began to decline. We took a total of two trips to the dog park as a family until Dominic got knocked down by one of the bigger dogs and we decided not to go back until he was bigger. Now that little Jillian is here face time with Annabelle is pretty minimal. Jillian is a high needs child and sadly Annabelle takes a back seat where the kids are concerned.

Once we move to the new house David and I are determined to have Annabelle be an outdoor dog. Not ideal, but we don't want her nails scratching up our new house! We'll have enough to deal with in keeping crayons off the walls and juice out of the upstairs carpet!

This decision lead to another discussion: how will Annabelle take to being an outside dog? Honestly, I think we'll have a revolt on our hands. Annabelle is used to coming and going as she pleases (via her dog door) and sleeping in the master's bed (not my choice). Is it fair to exile her to live in the great outdoors?

As sad as it is to admit, Annabelle deserves better than what we've been able to give her lately. She doesn't get any exercise, except when Dominic chases her around the house with a foam sword, and she's started putting on more weight. She needs more attention than what we can give her.

So.....we have decided to offer her to a loving family that has the time, energy and attention to devote to her that we currently don't have. It's a difficult decision and we are praying that someone will fall in love with her and take her in to their pack.

What is an ideal family for Annabelle?
** preferably have children (she does GREAT with our two little's)
** a family that likes to share (she loves to get treats)
** energetic personalities (she loves to play chase)
** patient attitude (as a beagle, she likes to bark at squirrels, birds, pedestrians, pedestrians walking dogs, bicycles, you get the picture, right??)
** I'm guessing she'd prefer to be an only furbaby (she loves attention)

If you think your family would make a good match for our Annabelle we'd love to hear from you!

Progress made today!!

So today I had a lot on my plate, literally. In preparation for tomorrow night's neighborhood social mixer I made 5 cakes in order to layer them and make a rainbow cake. Can't quite visual it? Here's a sneak peak:



After each layer had cooled, I trimmed them down to make them all even. This is the leftovers. See how pretty the colors are?



This is the bottom three layers; yellow, green and blue.

Anyway, I figured that I would bring a real conversation starter to the shin-dig. When you cut into this baby it'll be a real surprise. I hope to use it to get some conversations going. I'll let you know how it goes after the party.

OK, now on to today's "date": the toddler storytime at the local library. Unfortunately the storytime is only on the first Friday of the month, so we missed this month's activity. Fortunately, L showed up and the boys got to hang out and read some books together. Since it was just the two of us I was able to find out more about her.

At a previous playgroup I learned that A is adopted. Her adoption story is quite interesting but I won't divulge too much personal information. L commented on my t-shirt, which reads "Blessed Matthew 5:5".



**Photo above from www.whatacuteshirt.com site.

I told her how I had bought the shirt in October of 2007 after my husband and I had tried for 19 months to conceive. I thought it would be a good reminder of all the blessings I had in my life. One month later we got our BFP!

This opened up the conversation and L talked about her fertility struggles. It was really good to hear her story. This is one thing that bonds us: infertility is a part of our lives.