Puppies Everywhere!

I'm pretty sure I mentioned before that both of our dogs gave birth a little while back. Our first litter of puppies when to their new homes over the past few days. All we have left now are these five little English Bulldogs, who will be ready to go to their new homes in less than two weeks. Now that the puppies are big enough to be playful, all of the kids are really enjoying having them around. Especially Claire and Emmett, they want to carry them around and kiss on them constantly. Have you ever seen a 21 month old carry around a doll, or stuffed animal? Yeah, always by the head or neck it seems...so we have to watch them really, really closely while they are playing together to make sure that doesn't happen! But both the puppies and the little ones enjoy it so much we make sure they get lots of time out in the soft grass to play every day!

Belly at 18 weeks

So we finally got a new camera this weekend. Turns out my other one had really and truly died and there was no fixing it. I really missed having a camera! It was a bit over a month that we were without it. That was a long month! 

Rodrigo and I were out in the yard taking pictures with our new camera this afternoon trying to learn more about it, when he started taking pictures of me and our new baby belly. Someone finally asked me at the store today if I was pregnant which made me really happy, because until this past week I really didn't look pregnant, just sort of bloated... I feel like this week my belly just sort of popped out. 

So this is me at 18 weeks pregnant (well minus a day or two). I always start feeling really awkward with the camera pointed at me, I never know how to stand, or hold my hands, or smile. It just feels strange, especially when I'm not busy doing something else. Those kind of pictures taken when I'm busy doing something are ok.  But like Rodrigo told me today, in 40 years we are going to be really happy we have these pictures. So I let him shoot away to his heart's content. ♥

Expecting

A few months ago Rodrigo and I found out that we will be having another baby this November! One week ago today I sat in my midwife's office and heard our baby's heartbeat for the very first time. It took the midwife a few minutes and several different Dopplers to find it. When that tiny sound finally filled the room I burst into tears. I felt such relief and pure joy listening to my baby. This is a gift I will never take for granted. The poor midwife was a bit shocked I think. After all I've already done this a few times now (5 actually!) I guess maybe she thought I might not think it was such a big deal. But it was, and is a very big deal! I still cry when I think about it...actually I'm crying as I type this out while Logan is behind me in the kitchen preparing lunch for himself and the two little ones. He knows I'm a bit (extremely) emotional, so he just asks if I'm ok, gives my shoulders a quick hug when I assure him all is fine, and keeps serving babies lunch. So that is our very exciting news. Rodrigo is thrilled about it and has already told every single person he has contact with. I've kept it fairly quiet so far, but it felt like a good time to let everyone on here know finally.

I've spent the entire first trimester either sleeping or wishing I could be sleeping. More of that one I think, with five kiddos and a zillion animals to care for, sleeping during the daytime is pretty rare for me. The first trimester exhaustion as also the reason things have been rather quiet here on my blog. I am already 14 weeks along as of yesterday, and I am starting to feel so much more like my normal energetic self. Hopefully I'll manage to get caught up on laundry now that I am feeling like I can get up and down the stairs with out wanting to stop for a nap in the middle! Other than being achingly tired, I have felt fine. No morning sickness, or any other pregnancy related symptoms. I generally have pretty easy pregnancies, and only with one have I had morning sickness...with my only girl. So my guess is that this newest little soul is a boy! In another 6 weeks or so we'll find out if I'm right!

*all pictures from Logan's Ipad...my camera simply would not turn on this morning. I hope that the batteries are just really really dead and not something much worse... I'd be lost without my camera!