Christmas Spirit

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your entire family turned into elves? I just found out by watching this elf video. I've never seen Alpha Male (or should I say Elfin Male) move so well. However, my human sister should really work on her performance face. It wouldn't hurt to smile a little. But I do think I'm the best dancer. Isn't it weird that when you're an elf, you don't look any bigger when your pregnant? Alpha Female thinks that's awesome!

Bad, RAM, Bad!

I have been quite frustrated over the past month and incredibly inconvenienced over the last week by my computer crashing when I was in the middle of things. This, along with the ergonomic benefits to my paws, was why I preferred blogging on Alpha Female's Treo. However, once the computer started crashing almost constantly, my diligent Alpha Male diagnosed the problem as bad RAM. I recommended rubbing the RAM's nose in its physical memory dump, and saying, "Bad, RAM, bad!," but instead Alpha Male replaced the RAM and now the computer is good again and I can blog without fear of seeing a blue screen. I apologize for my absence but I blame it on technical difficulties.

My Human Sister had her eighteen month checkup today. She weighs 23 pounds and is 33 1/2 inches tall. She definitely outweighs me now. I notice it every time she pats me (hard) on the back or leans on me while she gives me a hug. It's OK though because the more she eats, the more I eat. She's very generous with her food. I hope that Precious Fluffy is just as generous.

The Alphas have decided on a first name for Precious Fluffy and it isn't really Precious. They still don't have a middle name, though. Maybe Fluffy will make the cut.

Also, I've been seeing a lot more of Alpha Female around here lately. She finished classes last Monday and hasn't really been studying for her finals as much as she should. It's kind of weird having her around so much. Last night, she made dinner and all the humans sat at the dinner table to eat! It was very disappointing to me that Alpha Male and my human sister weren't just eating something on the couch. It is so much easier to get a part of the meal that way. I'm hoping the novelty will wear off soon and they'll revert to their old ways. However, the Alphas seem to be enjoying the change.

The pictures with this post were taken on Thanksgiving weekend. (My human sister really was buried up to her neck.) It's great living in Florida...if you aren't covered in fur!

Somersaults

The Alphas went to check in on Precious Fluffy today and found out that she has done a somersault in the past week and is now head down! Alpha Female thinks it happened Saturday night because she remembers being woken up by stretching sensations in her belly and Sunday morning she was no longer able to feel Precious Fluffy's head in her ribs. Now she feels Precious Fluffy's feet in her ribs. The Alphas seem pretty happy with the news that Precious Fluffy is now head down. However, they have mixed feelings about her size. She appears to be slightly larger than average. They are hoping that this means she'll decide to be born a week or two early not that she'll be huge when she's born. I'm not sure they would know what to do with a baby who weighed more than seven pounds. They are used to the six pound variety. I say the bigger the better, because her stomach will be bigger so she'll be able to spit up more milk for me to lick off of her.

My Human Sister Took Me for a Walk

I'm afraid that my human sister has officially surpassed me intellectually. She must be awfully smart to be smarter than a dog with a blog! I came to this realization last weekend when I saw her fetch. Fetching is something that I've never been able to master, but my human sister seems pretty good at it. Alpha Female asked my human sister to bring her something so that Alpha Female (who is getting pretty big around the middle these days, but you didn't hear that from me) wouldn't have to stand up. After a bit of directing, my human sister picked it up and brought it back to Alpha Female. The Alphas seem pretty happy about this and plan on exploiting this new found talent for good. That's actually one of the reasons I never mastered this skill, I didn't want to be put to work the way my human sister is going to be.

They are putting her to work in other ways, too. However her newest responsibility doesn't seem like much of a chore, more like a privilege. She gets to hold my leash and take me on walks now. I usually cooperate and don't pull too hard on the leash. However, today I got really excited and pulled her over. I think we both learned a valuable lesson from that. She learned to let go of my leash before she falls and I learned that I get in big trouble if I don't stop when Alpha Female tells me too.

Precious Fluffy is Upside Down!

Maybe it would be more correct to say that she is right side up. It's a matter of perspective, I suppose. Most feti (that's doggie for the plural of fetus) are head down, or vertex, by 32 weeks. Precious Fluffy is 32 weeks, 2 days and still has her head up in Alpha Female's ribs. The good news is that the Alphas will go have an ultrasound next week to check that she really is head up. They should be able to get a good look at her and see who they'll be holding (and who I'll be licking milk off of) in a few short weeks. While there is some concern that she may not flip over on her own, I do not share that concern. I know how the ladies in this family operate. They just don't see the need to be conventional. Just because all the other feti are doing it doesn't mean that Precious Fluffy feels like she needs to do it. She still has more than seven weeks left and she'll turn over when she feels like it and not a moment sooner. The Alphas are going to give her some time to do it on her own, but they are setting a deadline. If she doesn't flip over in the next four weeks, they will impose martial law and have the doctors do the flipping for her. My guess is that once they make plans to force her, she'll decide to do it on her own. That's just how the girls in this house are sometimes, a little difficult, but they come through in the end.

Just Five More Nights of Class

Five more nights of class, two final exams, and it's over. After 434 days of classes, $1,519 spent on tolls, and 65,100 miles driven, Alpha Female will finally have a JD. It's hard to tell if she's looking forward to it or not. I mean, she hasn't calculated how much less she'll spend on gas now ($96.86/week) or how much more free time she'll have now (22 hrs/week, not including time spent studying). I wonder if these things have even occurred to her?

I'll try to help her fill the void somehow. Maybe she can start cooking my dog food from scratch. That would be time consuming and fun! Or maybe she can help me blog more often and post more video blogs. That would be fun, too. I love being on camera.

Things I Learned From Halloween

My human sister really likes chocolate. And she knows how to drag Alpha Female into the kitchen and ask for it. My human sister also likes to ring my doorbell and then listen to me bark. However, I think she's disappointed when she walks into the house and I don't give her chocolate. I keep telling her, not everyday can be Halloween. Alpha Male actually took this picture of her after I told her that. Life's tough.