Bad Hair Day?

Having a bad hair day? These pictures might make you feel a bit better about any unruly locks you may be dealing with:

This look is pretty much par for the course this time of year. Forelocks, manes, tails - all full of trillions of tiny burrs and big fat thistles. So, don't you feel better?

The Worst of it

Out of all the weird things pregnancy does to a girl, the out and out craziness has to be the worst part. Worse than water retention? Yes. Worse than dropping everything you try to pick up? Yes. Worse than forgetting every word you've learned since the second grade? Yes. Worse than acid reflux, and restless leg syndrome, and peeing every thirty seconds, and having no room left in your body for your lungs, and constantly craving pellet ice, and not being able to paint your toenails all the way, and being moodier than a fat kid at boot camp, and, and, and. . .? YES!

Monday Night:

I am standing in the kitchen chopping up veggies for a stir fry (with a very sharp knife mind you) and bawling. Why? I don't know. Literally - I don't know, which is fine with me. I'm crazy pregnant lady and crying for no reason is in the job description. What isn't fine is trying to explain that I don't know why I'm crying to poor Mc-fix-it husband who innocently stumbled upon the scene. If he would have showed up fifteen minutes later I may have been just bubbly. Wish I could have stepped into his brain to watch him process the information.

Wife crying. Has knife. No blood. Belly very large. Says doesn't know why crying started. Can't stop it. Crying harder. Wow, belly even larger from side view. Take knife? Too risky. Abort mission. Call authorities. Retreat. Retreat. Retreat. Wonder what's for dinner.

I feel bad for him - for all husbands really - as they watch their wives lose their mind. There's nothing to be done. It's all about waiting and hoping the crazy goes away. And, MAN, do I hope it goes away.

P.S. Scary belly shots follow. Continue at your own risk.

Oh my, lost something.

No, no. False alarm. They're right there.

And Izzy too. Wow. I'm like a human sun-shade, or umbrella - if you will.

One of Us

Remember my favorite Christmas gift this year - the one I'd been asking for for at least the last twelve or thirteen years? A little Jack Russell Terrier of my own? Have I told you how perfect she is for me? I have? Well, pretend I haven't, because I'm about to again.

Izzy with her friend, Todd.

So, little Izzy comes to the ranch with me. She runs alongside the horses when I ride. (and, NO, I haven't done that for a couple of weeks now. What are you? Tyler's spies?) Her tiny little legs keep up too, inexplicably. When she wants a break she jumps up and down next to me until I lean over and catch her. Then she rides with me - or whomever else she chooses - for awhile. She trees Wild Turkeys, plays hide-and-seek with the deer, terrorizes the pot-guts (and poor squirrels), and basically thinks she owns the place. Last week she was almost dinner for a hawk. (I'm NOT kidding. She was inches away from being carried off in the evil bird's talons. Now the relentless thing is stalking her. Good thing it can't seem to hunt quietly.) Basically, she's proved herself in that arena of my life.

Izzy bossing around one of the horses we were looking at buying.

She's been an amazing playmate with the boys from the start, so that was never a problem. The only thing close to an issue is that she isn't convinced Nick is her superior. Watching him try to walk her is hysterical. That's okay, he needs a friend to hang out with now that school is back in.

Wrestling with Nick

Last week we took her out on the boat with us, which Tyler has done before. This time, however, she took the plunge - literally - and came swimming. Grey was so nervous she was going to drown if she got in the lake. Once we all got in to swim a bit she jumped right in. So, we can cross that element off the list too. She's a boat-dog. If I could figure how to get a service-dog vest for her we could cross off 'likes to shop' and be set.

Driving the boat.

Getting ready for another swim.

I just hope she doesn't go postal when the baby comes.