Girl Problems

We've known for a while now that we should be expecting Sadie to come in heat. Well on the evening of my first day at my new job, Mother Nature decided it was the appropriate time to drop that little bomb on her mama. What else can I possibly add to my already full plate?

After quickly realizing she was not going to be a pleasant family member while locked in her crate all day, we decided to get her some diapers. I managed to wrestle her down enough to get one on her and this was her reaction. I'm not sure which one of us was most mortified by the act of getting a diaper on her. Poor baby.. she wouldn't even make eye contact she was so humiliated I think.
I'm hoping this doesn't last too long..

~Tara

Taking Notes: on Patience

I woke up early this morning and started to get ready for work when I saw a flash of bright light coming through the bathroom window. By the time I was dressed and ready to start my morning by taking Sadie out to potty, I realized that flash was lightening and it was pouring rain.... not really my favorite way to start a Monday morning. See, Sadie is a water loving fool, and she takes great pleasure in standing out in the pouring rain. I do not. I attempted to take her potty from the front porch so I could stay in the dry, but, no, she refused to go. So to the back we went where I huddled under the umbrella while she tried to keep her wits about her while the lightening popped around us, literally. She finally did her business and we hurried back inside, but not before she shook all over me and the dining room and wouldn't sit long enough for me to get her dried off good. Then I had to chase her to dry her, wipe up all the wet paw prints and clean up the puddle from the umbrella, and I hadn't even had my coffee yet. It was at that point that I realized she's been sent to me from God to continue my lessons in patience. You see, having two kids just wasn't enough to teach me adequately all I need to know on the topic of patience. So I'm pretty sure that's why we got her. I must be the most hard headed student ever, because my patience lessons are difficult, and it seems like I have to repeat them a lot. It wasn't too long before Sadie needed to go out again, she always pees first and poops second, never in the same trip... patience lesson #2 of the day...

~Tara

Life with a Dog

The weather has warmed up recently, thank goodness. We are able to get outside and breathe fresh air and actually do things. Sadie and I started back to our regular daily walk routine. She's doing great on the leash and actually walked beside me properly without much correction and without pulling my arm off, which is what she is accustomed to doing. It's extremely annoying to try to pull her back and walk at a productive speed, but learning to heel and be obedient is part of her training, so I'll do it. Sunday we took a hike to King Creek Falls. She absolutely goes nuts when she gets close to water, or when she can hear it actually. She barks and runs through the water and swims down the current and is just in heaven. I'm becoming concerned about how we will manage her when we go to the beach in July. She's likely to lose her mind with excitement at the vast amount of water.

Speaking of Sadie, I noticed a small red spot on the inside of her leg yesterday. So she's made a trip to the vet this morning. And she has some type of fungus and we have gotten an antibiotic and a spray to treat it. The vet also informed Bryan that Sadie will be coming into heat soon!!! I have no words for this news. My brain kinda freaks out just thinking about it. I thought we had a while before this part happened, I'm so uninformed and unprepared. Bryan has a few classes coming up that will take him out of town for two weeks, so mark it down, the "heat" will most certainly start then and I'm going to have to tackle that problem on my own.

Oh my, I never knew how much I'd love this little brown dog, she is my third baby. I hope she feels better quickly and I hope I can manage all these upcoming issues. For sure, there's never a dull day when there's life with a dog....

~Tara

Taking Notes: Remember to Pray

Tuesday evening Sadie ate yet another sock. I was watching my niece and nephew for a bit and she was in her kennel. My niece took off her socks because she was sliding around on the hardwood floor and didn't want to fall. Long story short, the kids went in Maddie's room to play so I let Sadie out also. No sooner than I opened the kennel and walked away, she made a mad dash for the socks, that I had forgotten about obviously. So of course, down went the sock, like a vacuum. So that's when the wait and watch began. We thought she'd probably be able to pass this sock because it was so small. So we waited and waited and inspected poop and waited some more, for three days actually. Last night I suspected it was soon to be over because Sadie was not her usual energetic self. I heard her make a few suspicious noises in the night and became more worried about her so I prayed ... quite simply that she would pass the sock. This was the first time I prayed about the sock that went down, but I thought about it and worried about it, lots. I felt very silly praying about a sock in my dog's intestinal tract. I fell back to sleep quickly and slept till the alarm went off, jumped up and started to get ready for work. All the while Sadie is whining and I'm telling her to be patient and I'd let her out ASAP. That's when I finished up and went to her and found that she had puked the sock!! Thank goodness and praise the Lord!! In that moment I felt so grateful that the ordeal was over and God answered my prayer and so ashamed that I had not prayed sooner. Sometimes we feel that God's too busy, doesn't care about silly details, or that it's just ridiculous to pray for certain things. I was reminded this morning while cleaning puke that He does care and that while He does know the concerns of my heart... He's probably waiting for me to speak up and share them with Him. That's what relationship is all about. So for future reference... remember to pray right away about all things, anything, silly things, big deals... and about socks in stomachs.


~Tara

Wrapping up October

What a fast month October has been. I've been so busy with stuff that I haven't posted in forever and I feel so far behind. So here's a recap rundown...

Volunteering at the Save a Life Golf Classic, October 6. It was a nice day that we got to spend together.

We took Sadie for her first trip to the river. While we were there I realized that we have taken all our babies to this same spot for their first river trip. Obviously it's a special spot. And this time there were geese in the river just swimming around. I have never seen that happen.

I have managed to survive this first month of Sadie's shenanigans. She's done very well with going out to potty and has had an occasional accident when I slip up and let too much time pass without taking her out. She will usually come to the door or to me, sit and whimper, and that's my cue to take her out. We also made it through this past week when Bryan was out of town at a class. I dreaded it, honestly. But it was not nearly as bad as what my mind had conjured up. Thank goodness...

Maddie went to a friend's Halloween party last weekend as a vampire ballerina. Much fun was had by all... the decor was over the top awesome.

We've recently started going to a new lifegroup. This week we had chili, smores, and pumpkin carving. It was a lot of fun. I'm happy to have found a good lifegroup fit.

Bryan will be home from his class tonight, I'm looking forward to a minutes peace. You cannot take your eyes off Sadie for even one minute or total destruction will begin. She attempted a prison break on the front porch by trying to chew her way through the wooden railing. I didn't take the first pic because I really don't want to remember it. I just want to fix it quickly and act like it didn't happen. I did catch her chewing on the dining room table chairs, which is a big no-no. I sure hope this chewing phase hurries up and ends soon. New house + new puppy= not good combo.

Moving on to November.. there's lots to do. We're hosting the Long family holiday weekend so planning for that will need to start quickly. We'll also have my family Thanksgiving and a trip to the Christmas tree farm. I love traditions..
And I'm off to wait for my handsome husband to return home and to enjoy our weekend...

~Tara

Escape from a Terrible Weekend

Sometimes you just have them you know, a terrible day or series of them as my luck would have it. It's early Monday morning and I have just escaped the most terrible weekend I've had in quite some time. I had a sick child who was feverish and throwing up, rain, a rambunctious puppy, and Blake away for the night at a friend's house. None of these are bad things really, but when you combine them all at once it can push you over the edge. I was ok with the sick child because I've been a mom long enough that puke doesn't scare me anymore. Anytime a kid is at someone else's house I am uneasy, that never changes. Rainy days are usually nice but not when you have to take a puppy out to potty in it. Sunday started off wild because I took Sadie out and slipped on the wet steps and fell. It was bad!! Luckily she didn't get hurt but I sure did. My back hit the steps in two places and I landed hard on my right elbow. It's gashed open and so very sore. Not to mention that Sadie is starting to play me about going potty, she likes to hit the grass running and not come back. I spent a lot of my day chasing after her. The kids and I being cooped in the house with a rowdy puppy that needs space to run and wear herself out made for the perfect storm of volatile emotions. I lost it too many times and had to apologize lots. There were tears and yelling and lots of frustration. But like any other bad day, eventually bed time came and it was over, thank goodness. And now today is a new day, my sweet girl left me an encouraging note on my bedside table, I slept ok considering I could only lay on the one side that didn't hurt, and Bryan's got Sadie duty today. Ha! On the to do list for today is a vet appointment for the wild pup, dentist appointments for the kids, and a stop at PetSmart for a leash. My chasing days are done.... and if you read this entire post you can understand why there are no pictures to accompany it. I feel it was quite an accomplishment to have survived this weekend.

~Tara

Catching Up

That's what you have to do a lot of when you bring home an 8 week old puppy. Sadie has been home for three days so far. She has really done a number on our routine and amount of sleep we are able to get. She's in her crate in our bedroom and as long as she can sense Bryan close to her, she's ok. The first night she whined and cried quite a bit but she has improved daily. Last night she only woke twice and needed to go out each time. I am concerned about the fact that Bryan has a class coming up that will take him out of town for a week. I'm hoping I can manage her middle of the night potty breaks on my own. Our schedule has taken a major hit because someone has to come home regularly to let her out of her crate to go potty. Anyway, enough about Sadie... if I think to far into the future I have a mini panic attack.....

Maddie was home today with strep throat.. we looked after Sadie and rested some. She not happy to miss school so hopefully she'll be well enough to go back tomorrow.

I managed to sweep and mop all the floors which is quite an accomplishment. This morning I also successfully managed to move a problematic meat thermometer from my usual kitchen drawer into the buffet... and it really made me so very happy to have that thing out... it always made it impossible to close and open the drawer.

I still have laundry to do, a walk to squeeze in, and a blog post to write about the golf tournament over the weekend... some of that will go onto tomorrow's to do list and I can continue catching up then...

~Tara

Welcome to Our World, Sadie

Last week we were able to go pick the puppy that is now our Sadie. We had an idea which one she would be but a friend who will help us train Sadie also went along to test her out. She will be Bryan's sidekick duck hunting and she needed to have certain qualities to be a good hunting dog.

She has the sweetest face of all the puppies in the litter. Nevermind that my opinion is biased because she is ours. She is playful but calm. She is curious but still reserved. I think she will be a perfect fit for us. We have one week left before she can come home. I'm still nervous but it helps to know which one she is and that she is just too precious. Her first order of business will be getting a bath... she' s a little smelly and then we can get on with getting used to each other and how we are gonna be doing all this new puppy stuff....

~Tara

Some Saturday Stuff...

All the small stuff that went down that didn't make it to it's own individual post....

• Maddie and I had a girls weekend and we tried out free hand embroidery. Our Friday night attempt was disastrous because it's a little difficult to just pick this hobby up and run with it. Also, we both suffer from the perfectionism bug. It's awful really, and I had to explain to her that it's ok to mess up and it's ok to leave it messed up and keep on to the end. By Saturday morning, we had found our groove and finished the project. We hung each one in our rooms. We will do this again for sure and plan to do the monograms for her teachers for Christmas gifts.

• Blake's been practicing shooting his new bow, one he got earlier this month for his birthday and Christmas gift combined. He desperately wants to get good enough to be able to hunt with his dad at their archery only hunting club. On this particular day, proper documentation of his bullseye shot was needed. 

• I ordered these boots for my birthday this week. I love them despite the fact they have glitter in the leather. It's very understated, I guess if floral embroidered boots can be understated. I foresee a lot of wearing them around the house to break them in, they are a little tight.

• And last but not least... a Sadie snapshot... I'm kinda hoping the one in the middle is her. I mean look at that precious sweet face...

~Tara

Update and Just Random Stuff

• Maddie's audition went well and she was selected to join Chorus. We're so proud of her, mostly because she's a determined girl and when she sets her mind to something, she goes after it full force. These are good qualities to have.

• School in general is going well for both Blake and Maddie. Moving into high school can be quite intimidating and overwhelming but Blake has done well with it and his grades are great at this point. He made an 94 on a math test he said was pretty hard, he was proud of himself and so were we. It's nice to see him be proud of his work. 

• I've been working on restoring an antique buffet that belonged to Bryan's mom. It was given to us back in the summer and I've done a lot of research on the best way to restore it. I'm in the final steps of the project and will blog about it when I get finished.

• Sadie is growing and becoming more active. She's 4 weeks old now and even though we've not picked her from the litter yet, I'm still excited to finally figure out which one she is and get to bring her home. Remind me of this statement later when my nerves are shot from having a puppy in the house. 
• 

• In October we will be attending the first annual Save a Life Golf Classic. This event raises awareness for organ donation. We are a donor family and encourage others to sign up to be a donor. It's a wonderfully selfless act of kindness to someone who is waiting on an organ.

~Tara

Visiting Sadie

We went to visit Sadie earlier this week. Which is weird to say because we don't know which puppy will eventually become our Sadie.

 Roxy is such a good mama. She had the sweetest look in her eyes, like she was letting us know she was doing the best she could to take good care of her puppies. When we were holding one of them, she started to move the others around and clean them, like she was counting them and looking for the one we had.

This one Maddie affectionately called "Cream dot". They are identified by nail polish dots on their heads.

This is the same proud daddy face Bryan had when both our babies were born. Funny!!

Here's an up close of "Cream dot".

They were all so precious though, and of course, I picked, in my mind, which one was the cutest. And she turned out to be the runt of the litter. She won't be ours though because typically you want to select the biggest and healthiest puppies to train to be a hunting dog, which is what Sadie will be. In a few weeks when the puppies become more active and mobile, we will go back and pick the one we want. Maybe "Cream dot" is our Sadie.... only time will tell.

~Tara

Sadie's Birthday

Yesterday our sweet Sadie made her entrance into the world. I had accurately predicted that the puppies would be born on August 10 because of the full moon. There were 11 pups in all and now we just have to wait about 6 more weeks for her to be ready to come home. Yay! and I'm so nervous....

~Tara

Update on Sadie

We got an update on our unborn puppy Sadie this week.

 

Looks like we are T minus 2 weeks on her ETA. I admit to being nervous about getting a puppy. I've got a lot of preparing to do. 

~Tara

Anticipating an Addition

For several months now, we have been eagerly awaiting an addition to our family. We've named her, planned for her, and now the countdown is on. We're getting a PUPPY.

These are the parents of our soon to be sweet puppy, Sadie. This is Roxy and Whiskey and they are Boykin Spaniels. I'll be honest and admit that I'm not a big animal lover. We do already have one cat, one dog, and two fish. I love all these pets, aside from the fish~which are just another chore on my to do list. Other peoples pets, though, just make me nervous and I'm not really fond of them unless they are old dogs that just lay around at your feet. If a dog is yappy and jumps all over me, I can't stand it. I'm sure I had a bad experience as a child and I'm scarred.
We have never had an inside pet and that's what Sadie will be except for when she goes hunting or just outside with us. I've never trained an inside pet so I'm like a new pet mom, totally inexperienced. I've told Bryan that she is mostly his responsibility but I am aware that I will be caring for her quite often. I am here more than he is during the day. We have actually put more thought and planning into having Sadie than we did about having both of our children combined. I can't believe I just typed that!! I hope she will blend seamlessly into our family and she will love me as much as I will attempt to love her. As long as she's not completely spastic, I think we can get along just fine.
Roxy and Whiskey are in the process of conceiving these sweet puppies so we should know soon about Sadie's ETA, sometime in the fall.
So I have time to prepare myself for new puppy motherhood,
wish me luck!!

~Tara