Puppies, ponies, crayons and school!

I thought I'd give you guys a personal update on whats going on over here behind the scenes at Seven Dogs and a Baby. We are officially no longer a seven dog family and sooner than later there will be more than one baby. I've been asked if we would change our name.. and no.. I have no plans of doing so as I still think the name suits us. It's always a state of chaos around here and the name was originally designed to reflect that. With the new baby on the way we made the heartbreaking decision to place some of our older dogs and though some of those placements almost destroyed me emotionally in the end most of it was for the best. Indy, Jasmine, Melos and Boo are still resident here and we will continue to be a four dog household indefinitely.

For those of you that don't know Boo was Waffle's replacement after Connor lost his puppy suddenly just a few weeks ago. Boo is doing good and has adjusted fabulously. I'm still working on potty training but that's a sore subject with a two year old who's giving me trouble as well. Boo and Connor have an on and off again relationship at the moment. It's certainly been slower than the bond he had with Waffles but then again Waffles was born here. Boo and Connor get along and Connor is well aware that Boo is "his" puppy.. but his interests have been elsewhere at the moment. I have a feeling things will pick back up when the new baby comes. Melos however has decided that Boo is just the friend he always wanted and they sleep together every night in Boo's crate as Boo, is strangely enough, scared of the dark. heh.

I've been spending more time at the barn lately decompressing and it's done wonders for my attitude. This pregnancy has been much more painful and physical than Connor's pregnancy was even at the very end and I didn't even feel like leaving the house the first few months. Lately though I've had a lot more energy and my mood is certainly improving. I'm already dreaming of the next time I get to sit in a saddle and nothing in the world is better. Dove the pony has been a model citizen as well lately and I got a cute video of her jumping on my youtube if you guys wanna watch.

I've been making gifts for Christmas as with the new baby coming so close to Christmas my budget is just maxed out and having to replace Waffles did not help anything at all. It's been years since last I made shaped crayons but I decided that Connor just "had" to have monster shaped crayons for Christmas. The whole obsession lead to me making him the cutest ever skull crayons for his stocking and we got so excited about it I listed some on Etsy as well! These crayons have been a total blessing as he is notorious for breaking his crayons within seconds of using them and thus far these have been really difficult if not impossible for him to break. He's absolutely giddy about his "monster pirates" as he calls them as well. I'm not totally sure how skulls translate into monster pirates but pirates do seem to enjoy skulls so I'm rollin with it. If you want to check out some of our other designs for Christmas check out my Etsy store! Most of our recycled crayons were donated from school and art programs and we provide them with new crayons in return. I'll continue making these until the CSPIA law shuts me down or I flat out run out of crayons. In the meantime its tons of fun. I do sort and process every single crayon that comes in by hand, my poor sore fingernails can prove this as well.

School is not going so great this semester. I've learned that microeconomics makes NO sense to me and it was possibly not a wise decision to take it online. My second attempt at my midterm is tomorrow and if I don't raise my grade I'll be forced to drop and retake it over the summer in class as I'm currently taking it online. The whole prospect just makes me nauseous as I'm already under the assumption that I'll never actually graduate at this rate as I've already been taking classes for four years. Between moving colleges and loosing almost a year's worth of credits in the transfer, babies, having to change majors due to my eye condition, and now this. Every time I have to drop or loose a class it just feels like a slap in the face. I will.. one day.. finish my degree, I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I could use all the moral support and prayers you guys can give me. I have to sit next term out as well because of my due date and it's all just super frustrating!

Chris, however, is LOVING his career and he makes us proud on a daily basis. I have to admit I'm a little jealous of all his revelry. Connor on the other hand just loves to tell people his daddy is a "piggie" aka a police officer. heh.

With all that said its Holiday Gift Guide time! Let's get cracking on some great holiday gift ideas and my all time favorite review to do, TOYS! I think I'm more giddy about this than Connor is to be honest with you. As well I have some great baby gear and maternity items coming up a well in prep for our baby guide coming in Jan/Feb. After all the main reason I started this blog three years ago was how frustrated I was with my baby product experiences. I really can't wait to share with you guys the items I've found that we just cannot live without, some great new items, and of course some cute clothing items to boot!