vw, I am glad you got some sleep. I'm still awake. Doing some journal writing, watching Buffy, and probably thinking too much.

Lily is very cute, and I love the pictures of her with Mom and Dad.

My computer's clock and my body are telling me that it is 5:20 and I shoud go back to bed for a while. Unfortunately, I have to be at work in an hour, so I am pretty sure I can't.

I'm up this morning getting ready to study some more for my test tomorrow. Not fun, but necessary, I guess. Last night I went to the "Baby Meets Bowser" class at the hospital. It was surprisingly helpful and the woman discussed all sorts of stuff I'd never thought of. So, it looks like we will be doing a bit of dog training around here. NOt much because they are pretty good, but some stuff that has never bothered me before might be an issue with a baby in the house.

Wow. That's a really cool class to have. I would have never thought of that, but yeah, I can see how it would be very helpful.

Poor sj! But, yay Buffy!

Poor Perkins!

I would have never thought of that, but yeah, I can see how it would be very helpful.

One of the most interesting things she said was about hugging your dog. She said that in general, dogs find hugs threatening and that even if your dog accepts hugs from you, hugs from a semi-grabby toddler might be too much for them and are extra dangerous because it's high stress for the dog and the baby's face is right next to the dogs.

She also said, and I'd never thought about this, that your dog might be totally okay with a baby that doesn't move but be freaked out by a baby that starts to roll or scoot around because the dog has *never seen* the baby do this before - it's weird and scary. She really pushed (actuvely supervised) interaction so the dog is aware of the baby developing. It was a cool class.

Oh, and I forgot to mention yesterday, vw, I'm so glad things have worked out for your friend and you are feeling better. I'm sure it's a huge relief.

Wow, fascinating.

That sounds very interesting, Stephanie. Good luck with the doggie training.

That is really interesting, Stephanie. I would never think about those things. Although, I have thought about what I'd do if I have kids while I still have Toto. He hasn't been around kids much, especially recently...and he equates them with the neglective household he was in before being rescued by me. So, he sometimes gets really funny around kids. It would take some serious work to get him ready for me bringing a baby home. Doesn't look like I'll be having to worry about that any time soon, though.

And thank you so much. I really am very relieved. When I spoke with my therapist last night she said there was a huge difference in my voice. And I could just tell too...I was cooking and baking and doing dishes...things I hadn't really done in a week. And Toto was eating well again. He stops eating and gets really anxious when I'm tense and anxious...poor guy.

My dogs were always great with the boys. My doberman was elderly when they were babies. The boys climbed all over her. She was so gentle and tolerant of them. When they were first brought home it was mostly a lot of sniffing of the wonderous new smells. The change from wiggly noisy bundle, to rolling bundle, to crawling stinkbutt, to running child is gradual. I've had 3 dogs since the boys were born and all have been protective of their little masters.

Plei, that picture of Lily and the hand (Paul's?) is breaking me. Those are gorgeous.

When my nephew was born his parents had an older golden retriever who was just wonderful with him. One day his mother heard the nephew saying "whee!" in his room and found him using the dog as a slide, with the dog's back end against the bed and lying on his front paws so he was angled downward. It couldn't have been comfortable for the poor dog, but he was more than happy to oblige.