Hello from KY

I am here in Louisville, and I am sleepy. I had to get up at 3:30 am to start traveling today. The alternative was to leave the afternoon before and spend another night here away from my family, so we decided not to do that. So far I've gone to lectures on hepatopathies (liver problems) and obesity. It is pretty exciting to be here with some many progressive veterinarians from all over the world.

The kids had their annual checkups yesterday. Colin had to get one vaccination, which the clever nurse managed to almost sneak past him, pretending it was a "bug" that bit him, quickly covering up the bite with a circle bandaid. No crying! Anna actually had 4 vaccinations AND a TB test - poor baby had FIVE pokes with the needle. She was brave until the last one, and then she cried a bit. We rewarded both kids with gelato afterwards.

When I got home, Francesca the new dog was a bit hyper after being in the kennel all day. Overall, she has been learning the new ropes of her new home well, but she is pretty manic on the days she's left alone and kenneled the majority of the day. She also has a bad habit of trying to steal food. She stole Anna's toast off her plate twice last week when Anna was dawdling on her way to the table, and she'll jump up and swipe stuff off the counter if I don't watch her. I'm sure its because she was so starved in her previous life (she's still really skinny). She is very affectionate, and as Anthony noted, you can tell she's grateful to be in a good place. She takes monitoring, but when I caught her chewing on the sofa, I told her NO BAD DOG, then gave her a chew toy. She started chewing it instead, with no back talk. Amazing!

Also, potty trained in 1 week. Yes!