Katie & Justin

Luc had his first birthday back at the end of April, and yes, I did go to two stores looking for birthday hats just so I could do this photo shoot. (Doesn’t he look thrilled?! haha)

Last summer, after we first got him, I remember telling my mom how I felt like I was just running around and chasing him all day long — “don’t do this!” and “don’t do that!” — as he got into trouble, and that I would be soooo exhausted at the end of the night.

But then he’d curl up and go to sleep, looking so sweet. “Awwww, too cute!”, I’d think, forgetting all of the craziness of the day. My mom’s response was that it’s the same way with kids!! So I guess we will be prepared for round two this summer!

Luc has definitely calmed down a bit since those early months, but he still can be quite a stinker butt sometimes. I don’t know what to expect when the baby comes!

He might be in for a rude awakening to find that my lap isn’t for him any more. Right now he lays on me pretty much as soon as I sit down on the couch. He doesn’t do this any more, but for awhile he was causing trouble any time I sat at the kitchen table to work on something — because he wanted me to sit on the couch with him instead!

He also has become much more protective of me ever since I became pregnant. If Justin sits too close to me, he will immediately run over and squeeze himself right in between us. If Justin puts his hand on me, Luc will actually growl, jump at him and bite his hand. Even if he was just sleeping on the floor, he’ll pop right up and attack!

I try not to laugh too hard, but it is pretty hysterical to see in action! He seems to be getting better about it — he’s not as aggressive any more, at least. But he still definitely takes notice and jumps to my defense.

We looked it up at one point, and it’s actually fairly common for dogs to have some type of reaction to their owner’s pregnancy. Apparently they can smell the hormones and the changes in your body. Dogs can react in different ways, but one of the common ones I saw was that they become more protective of you. So strange!

One of my friends’ dogs also started acting weird when she got pregnant. Her dog started peeing in the house, even though he was already grown and had long been potty-trained.

It’s so wild that they can sense these things!