improvement on the horizon

Thank you for your sympathy and your advice. It is amazing how your comments made me feel like I wasn't going to lose my mind anymore. Friends really can change your outlook.

It has been almost 36 hours since Murray last threw up. He has been begging for food nonstop since about 6pm last night, and gulping down the tablespoons of water I offer him every hour. At 6:30am this morning Josh gave him a teaspoon of rice with boiled chicken, and I gave him another teaspoon at 8:30am. Both of which he happily inhaled with grubby snorting licks. I am keeping fingers and toes crossed, and encouraging baby to do the same in utero, that this marks the end of our forays into vomit and diarrhea. Please, oh please, let this be it.

I'm terrified that this might be an existing problem in the house, so I'm taking all of your suggestions. We're super washing the bowls and bedding, throwing out all of the current dog food and starting over with a new bag. I'm searching the house for plants or dirt or dust, or any other material that they might be eating inside. I watch them like a hawk if they step outside for 5 minutes. Besides that, I'll just hope that this is it.

In excellent news, though, my mom came to visit this week and has been helping out on the dog care. I feel much better knowing that she is home with them all day, watching to make sure no one gets sick. She also brought with her a creamy dill dip from a bakery in Sacramento (La Bou). I've been craving that dip for more than a month. It even inhabits my dreams. So every day, I get to eat some baguette dipped in the creamy dill, some vegetables dipped in the creamy dill, I even sometimes resort to eating the creamy dill straight off of my fingers. Ahhh, pregnancy cravings are a wonderful thing.

If you can believe it, though, getting the dip was an adventure. When my mom went to the bakery last week, they refused to sell her more than 5 tiny containers of it. 5 tiny containers about the size of what you would get mustard or mayonnaise at a sandwich shop, those small clear containers with a lid. It must hold about 3 teaspoons of liquid. The bakery claimed that their company policy did not permit them to sell more than 5 containers in one day to anyone. My mom explained the story, assuming that the tale about carrying the dip across the country to her pregnant daughter in Boston would clearly be enough to thaw their hearts. Nope, company policy.

Mom asked if she could come back later in the day and pick up 5 more containers. Nope, company policy. Then she was told that if she didn't cause too much trouble, they wouldn't call the other stores to warn them that she might be coming to buy more dip. They actually said that, out loud, to my mother. Almost like a threat, as if it would even be legal to try and stop her from purchasing another product at another bakery across town!

So we sent my dad to do the purchasing, and when they gave him the same line about 5 containers, he made a scene, telling people at the tables about his poor pregnant craving daughter in Boston, until he had people offering to purchase containers of dip for him, and the bakery finally relented.

Victory only makes the dip all the sweeter.

Too bad Murray and Tango can't have some too.