Let's Back Up A Bit

Brian and I have always known that we would eventually get a dog.  Brian grew up with a wonderful labrador retriever, and I'm not picky, so we've basically always known that we would end up with a labrador.  It definitely helps that they're a great family dog.  So in talking about putting up a fence and planning for a future dog, we decided that if we wait until after the baby comes, we'll most likely wait until she is two or three years old, because we didn't want to bring home a boisterous puppy with a baby in the house.  We decided that if we were going to get a dog soon, we should get it soon, so we can get through the puppy stage before the baby comes.  We didn't really discuss it much further than that.  We knew we needed to get the fence up, and then I guess we figured we would work it out after that.

Fast forward to last week, when I was randomly surfing the internet while waiting for Alyssa to finish some school work.  I found an ad on Craigslist for a six month old labrador mix that the owner couldn't keep, because his daughter was allergic.  I thought it looked like a great dog, and asked Brian if we wanted to surprise the kids with a dog for Easter.  Brian took a look at the pictures, wondered what the "mix" part of the dog was, and said, "Look at the size of his feet!  He's going to be a monster!  See? He's eating that chair!"  But considering that dog - or not considering that dog led us to looking at other options.

We called about a litter of seven-week-old puppies in Othello and about a seven-week-old puppy just above Spokane.  We skipped a Saturday of working on the fence to go check them all out.  We liked one of the chocolate labs in Othello, and we took a couple of pictures of him with the kids and decided to keep him in mind.  Then we made the long drive to Spokane.  We stopped in Spokane for lunch at a place called The Onion, which had really good and really HUGE onion rings.  I felt bad, because I'm to the point in my pregnancy when my stomach is small, and I could only eat half of my hamburger.  It was yummy, though!

We then headed North to a place out in the middle of nowhere, to meet Sadie.  The man brought her out front, instead of us going back to the kennels, since we had looked at other puppies that day, and he was afraid of spreading Parvo.  When he set her on the ground, Brian picked her up, and she calmly sat on his lap for the majority of the time we were there.  I wanted a calm dog, so that made up my mind.  What we've discovered in the last few days, though, is that the afternoon is her calm time, and she likes to run around and go crazy when she wakes up in the morning.  Compared to other puppies, though, she is still a calm dog, and we're happy for that.

House training is going well.  She's doing great at it, but it is exhausting.  The first two nights it was worse than having a newborn - we were up every two hours to take her outside.  After last night I stopped watching the clock as much and started to pay attention to her, and I think it's going to get easier.  We were up every three hours last night, and I honestly think she could go a bit longer.  Plus, she's starting to wake Brian and I up when she has to go at night time, which is nice.

We ended up putting her kennel with a bed in it in our bedroom for now.  She's doing really well with the kennel training as well.  We put a ticking clock in there with her, and she likes to cuddle up to it while she sleeps.  She doesn't like being in the kennel if the kids are around, because she knows she's missing out on play time, but after the kids go to bed, we put her to bed, and for the most part, she goes right to sleep.

Callie also started handling Sadie's arrival better yesterday.  She's avoiding her less, and she seems to have forgiven Brian.  I think she's just accepted the fact the dog is here to stay and has decided to deal with it.  Or maybe she listened to me when I told her that she needed to make friends with Sadie before Sadie was three times her size, but honestly I don't think cats listen to anybody.

Sadie seems to be more comfortable with her collar than she was at first, so the kids and I are going to start leash training her today.  At first that basically consists of putting the leash on her and letting her get used to it being there.  That part shouldn't be too hard.

Anyway, we're really happy to have Sadie in our family.  We're learning that it's a lot of work to have a puppy, but she is a smart dog, and she's already learning (and growing!) and it's been a lot of fun having her around the last few days.

Our New Baby Before The Baby Comes

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to find the kids' Easter baskets sitting in the upstairs hallway.  Everyone was excited, and we went downstairs for an Easter egg hunt and a candy breakfast.

Then we straightened up the house a bit (not as much as I would have liked, because that's how it always goes) and headed up to Othello to meet a litter of really cute chocolate labradors.  We sat in the grass with them, and loved them, and the kids ran around the yard with them.  We did not, however, take one home with us.

Instead, we decided to drive for two and a half hours over to Spokane to meet a sweet little black lab, which we did take home.  We named her Sadie, and we just love her.  See?  She and Brian already have a kissing relationship.  (Sorry about the quality of the pictures.  I didn't realize they were so fuzzy until I put them on the computer.)

Sadie slept on my lap the whole way home, which was a long drive, because the GPS took us on the back roads back to Pasco.  Alyssa, Marcus, and I headed to Petco to buy a collar, leash, kennel, bed, poop scoop, etc.  while Brian and Ethan introduced Sadie to our house and the cat.  Callie, by the way, is not thrilled with Sadie's arrival, but she's taking it pretty well.  She's interested in Sadie (like smelling her, and watching her) but for the most part, she's just keeping her distance and giving Brian the cold shoulder.  I say Brian, and not me, because she's sitting on my lap right now, licking my arm.  Brian is her favorite, and I think she feels completely betrayed by him.

Sorry to cut this short.  I'll give more information in another post.  I've got to take Sadie on a potty break before we take Alyssa to school for P.E.

Weekend Projects

 On Friday after school Brian and I finished painting the baby's room.  I had to climb on a chair to get to the high areas, so after a while I just let Brian paint while I sat in said chair and typed up his talk for Sunday.  He dictated what he wanted to say while I typed, and when he woke up the next morning, his laptop had restarted and didn't auto-save the file, so he had to start fresh.  On Sunday morning he was left with twenty five minutes to speak, and he did an awesome job.

 On Saturday we went outside to plant a lilac bush and ended up tearing up a good chunk of yard.  Brian's mom is famous in their family for her Saturday morning projects, which this was very much like.  She would apparently say, "If we all work together, we'll be done in an hour or two," and then, several hours later, they would still be working.

So we went outside, pulled a few weeds - okay, a lot of weeds - and dug a hole for the lilac bush.  Brian found the sprinkler pipe, and he didn't want the roots to damage the pipe, so we decided to move the sprinkler line over a few feet.  With the help of Brian's brother, Eric, and the bishop's teenage sons, Justin and Jeff, we were able to get the sprinkler line moved, the lilac planted, and the stone edging for the flower bed started. It's obviously a project that we didn't anticipate doing on Saturday.  It's still not finished, but we'll work on it some more after we put in the mow strip for the fence.  I'll post pictures when it's more done. 

 Eric

 Marcus

 Ethan with Jeff and Justin, and Alyssa's in the background.  Our boys absolutely loved having the "big boys" working with us.

The nursery walls turned out great, but they looked just a little bit too much like Neapolitan ice cream.  I still loved it, but I kept feeling the temptation to cover the walls in chocolate syrup and whipped cream every time I walked in the room to admire our work, which I do a lot, because I love a freshly painted room.  I also was a little hesitant to put up some molding in between the colors (even though that was the original plan all along) because our line was perfect.  I didn't want to cover it up.  But it really did need some distinction between the strawberry and chocolate scoops, so I experimented with some dark pink ribbon and ended up starching it to the wall.  It doesn't look uber fabulous in the picture, but in person, it does.  I love it.

Nursery-wise, I've got the crib bumpers almost finished, the curtains planned in my head, and really cute woodland pictures being drawn by my super talented niece, Megan.  It's all coming together with plenty of time to spare.  Since I haven't put any decorations up in the room yet, my favorite piece in the nursery is the tiny pink "little sister" outfit I got on sale at Carter's that's hanging in the closet.  We'll see if it stays at the top of the list when I move some furniture in and put things on the walls.  It's going to be hard to beat!

Igneous, Sedimentary, Or Metamorphic?

We finished our unit on rocks today, and Brian brought his rock collection up from the garage to show the kids.  He knows a lot more about rocks than I do!  One of the rocks in his collection is still at his parents house.  (His mom winds her garden hose around it.)  It's very round, but flat on one side and basically the size of a basketball.  Brian found it on a hike-in camping trip, and his parents told him that if he wanted to bring it home, he had to carry it himself.  It took him two camping trips over two years to bring it home.  He carried it half way down the mountain the first year, then carried it the rest of the way on their trip the next year.  I guess it was worth it - it's a pretty cool rock.

sandstone with a fish fossil - Brian said, "This fish is even older than Mom!"

Marcus found a green marble in Brian's rock collection, and he keeps bringing it to me with the magnifying glass, saying, "Look at this rock," and "What kind of rock is this?"  Every time I say that it's a marble, he says, "No-oh."

I can not say enough about how much I love home schooling.  Yes, there are many days that I want to pull my hair out in frustration, and my sister can confirm that there are many days that I call her and scream, "What am I going to do with my children?!?"  But overall, when it comes down to it, I love having Alyssa at home during the days.  I love watching her learn, and especially when it comes to math, I love watching how fast she catches on to things.  I also love that it's 12:16 on a Friday, and we're all done with school, and we can spend the rest of the day as a family.