In Preperation...

This is my Elliot...
he will be 8 this March...He was a gift from my sister...I told her I didn't want a dog, that my lifestyle was not conducive to a dog, reminded her that I lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment building and worked 8 to 12 hours a day and then went out...not a girl-needs-a-pet-to-care-for lifestyle. She grinned at me and put his little fur ball self in my hands (he was tiny) and stated that I needed something to love that would love me back (I was a newly divorced) and that if I did not love him in a week to bring him back. That was May 2001....I LOVE him. Elliot is my fur-baby, cuddle-bug and I LOVE him...I know I already said that but tis true. He understands me and for the most part I him. Walking through 5 years of infertility, 2 deployments, overseas moves, days when I wanted nothing more but to stay in bed and shut the world away....Elliot has been there...curled at my side, sleeping on my lap, licking my arm, sneezing and snorting at me. He alerts me to danger, travels the world on my lap and has given me love....there is something about that dog.
In finding out that we were pregnant, Elliot found out too...I don't know how, he just knows. If I move from the chair to the couch he gets up and moves with me, if I go to the kitchen to get water he walks with me..down the hall to the bathroom he sits in the hallway and waits. Elliot knows and has become even more protective of me.
All that wonderfulness wrapped up in a little fur-baby...who has now apparently decided that he needs to prepare me for this baby...for the past couple night he has woken up (or rather woken me up) with sneezes and snorts (his way of communicating) to let me know he has to go outside....at 145am, 330am and 500am....geezzzz....the first time I got up and let him out, waited by the back door...baby it's cold outside...and let him back in...taking my tired, I-can't-seem-to get-comfortable self back to bed. The 2nd time the first night I put him out the bedroom door and closed it...telling him NO and proceeded to go back to sleep. In the morning Mr. Wonderful found a little present near the front door...not a nice present and no one wants to clean that stuff up first thing in the morning or anytime for that matter. So, the next night I got up each time and let him out and then let him in and then let him out and then let him in...you get the picture. It has been too cold outside for him to just stay out otherwise he would...and the next night and the next and last night...this has to stop!
So, I am being prepared I guess....cause when this baby comes....the sleepless nights, feedings, diaper changes...yes I know.
I just hope he is not getting sick or something...that this a a weird phase. Austin (our Brittney pup) is sleeping inside too, in his kennel...maybe Elliot knows he has free reign in the backyard, no Austin to bug him? Mr. Wonderful said to cut out his food by noon and no water after 8pm...thinking that will help...I don't know...
I guess we will find out....