On motherhood...

In less than two weeks, I've become a doting mom.

Today, for example, Ben and I brushed Indiana's teeth, cleaned his ears, expressed his butt glands, and so on.

I carry him down the stairs, because at 5 months (he's 5 months tomorrow) they are still a challenge for him. I clean his butt after an occasional messy poop. And we wipe his paws when we come into the house.

Even though we pledged not to bring him into our bed, we occasionally will sleep with him in our bed for a few minutes at night or in the morning.

And while I type this, he is relaxing across my stomach.

Indiana, explained

After several e-mails today, I realized I left a lot of questions unanswered about Indiana.

Q: What's behind the name?
A: Ben is a huge fan of Indiana Jones. So long time ago, Ben asked if we could name our dog Indiana if we ever got one.

Q: How big is Indiana?
A: He appears big for a puppy in his close-up mugs. But he's really only about 10 pounds. He'll likely end up around 20 or 25 pounds.

Q: Is he trained?
A: He poops outside but pees indoors.

Q: Did you know you were getting a puggle?
A: Heck no. I had a weird feeling Saturday that Ben might get me a dog. But I knew better. And I had recently gotten an e-mail from our landlord saying he preferred we not get one. So that was that. Ben called him yesterday, though, and explained that puggles aren't big dogs.

Indiana is a huge surprise. It was hard being away from him today. I feel like a mom.

Q: Does he have any weird quirks?
A: He snores loudly, so he and Ben have that in common. He hasn't barked yet. And he hates his leash.

Q: Is he playful?
A: Not really. He sleeps a lot. We're sure that will change.

The family is getting a new addition

Our household is expanding.

Ben and I have decided we're going to have a baby.

A baby puggle, that is. My honey came home tonight with Indiana, our 4-month-old puppy.

He's timid and quiet, to be sure. But he'll get used to us soon. He's easy to love, even if he does snore.

My car hates me

My car is bad luck.

In the last month, I've forked out more than I want to mention on my car.

--I broke down and fixed my window that wouldn't roll all the way up.
--A bolt flew off the compressor and punctured the radiator. Radiators, my friends, are very, very expensive.
--My neighbor this morning pointed out that I had a flat tire. Turns out a small nail punctured it. The spare appeared to be a little flat, too. Thank God I don't have to go into work until 4 p.m. and was able to get the vehicle fixed in time before my trek to St. Paul.

So I've deducted that my car hates me.