DH got a tummy bug that is going around - complete with a fever of 101 for 3 days....he's never had a fever in the almost 9 years I've known him.  Maybe one or two of his swimmers are okay, but its not looking good with my narrow window and Mora delivering soon.....

Funny, when we first started talking about TTC we decided on March 2013 and then moved it up per my doctor's advice because of our ages....looks like March might be our first real opportunity after all =)

Baby Dust to you all! =)

I'm sorry, Claire. That's a bummer. But good luck with your baby puppies!

That really stinks :(  I have never even had one dog, let alone a litter of puppies, but you don't think you and DH can squeeze in an über romantic 5 minutes every other day to BD?  I mean I know it would be tedious, but it seems like a better alternative to waiting another couple of months.  Of course, maybe you'll get lucky this month and it'll be a moot point!

I am thinking that it is more that he had a fever for three days, rendering his swimmers useless that will be the problem. It takes approx. 2.5 months to manufacture a new "batch". So even if we manage the BDing, I'm not sure any of his boys are smart enough to figure out where they need to go anymore lol. I know it can happen, but 3 days is a long time for the temps to be raised on those guys =/

Raising a litter the way we do is ridiculously time consuming, plus the first couple of weeks I will be up every couple of hours to let Mora out and feed her (we can't just leave food out because my Lab eats anything that isn't nailed down - we tried it last time and he woke me up in a panic because he had gorged on her food and made himself sick in the process *sigh*). This might sound crazy, but I plan to have the puppies trained to sit, down, stand, come and walk on a leash before they go home - yes it can be done, but most people don't =). I take this very seriously =)

Ooohhh, that makes sense.  I wasn't thinking of it that way.  Maybe it won't be so bad. I am trying to remain hopeful for you.  

That is great that you train the pups like that - we would like to get a dog when we move but neither of us has ever owned one and we would not know where to begin with training.  Too bad you are halfway across the country!

Start with Ian Dunbar's "Before You Get A Puppy" on dogstardaily.com it's a free e-book and something that all of my puppy owners get before I even take payment. =)

I know it's possible that his swimmers were NOT affected, but its not likely.....we will try!

Claire So Sorry!!

I'm so frustrated too. If I see another FB friend posting their big news that they're having a baby, I'm going to break my phone. I have baby envy. :'/

Thanks for the book rec, Claire.  I was going to ask my aunt what book she used b/c she trained her two labs and her daughter's pit bull and they were the best behaved dogs I've ever seen!  It's funny b/c one of my other aunts and her daugthers all have a ton of dogs and they seem to think I hate dogs, but it's because they have not trained theirs well and they are just out of control.  It is just WAY to overwhelming to me.  That said, I am heading to a gathering with them tonight - and 5 of their collective 10 dogs will be there so we'll see how this goes!  It may be a short visit.

All the FB announcements are killing me, too.  In the space of 5 minutes I got a text and then saw an announcement for another friend having twins - I broke down crying right there =(

@Murph - we get comments all the time about how well behaved our dogs are too (my Lab can't help the counter surfing and trash digging, he lived on the street before I adopted him and some fears about being hungry just never go away).

I'm so sorry, Claire :-( FX for some miracle, super hero swimmers to survive! (And for a break in your schedule when the time is right!) 

{Hugs}