Going to the Dogs

Life around here has definitely been turned upside down in the past few months.  Schedules have been pushed to the wayside, meals are eaten whenever they can be shoveled into your mouth in between naps and diaper changes.  And don't even get me started on the lack of cleaning that has been going on.  But when babies make their way into our lives we are somewhat prepared and ready for the day when life completely changes.  This is true for all of us humans but there is a species that for decades has been caught completely off guard to the changes that a baby brings.  The dogs.  Oh, the poor dogs.  They don't even see it coming. Oh, yea mom starts getting a little chubbier ever day, week and month.  Rooms get rearranged,  walks come more frequently in attempts to spur on labor but then, Bam! life gets turned upside down.  Mom and dad are gone for a few days and then they come home with this crying, screaming, pooping doll sized thing and the dogs get pushed aside and yelled at for barking and yelled at for getting to close to the pooping, crying bundle and yelled at for being too excited. But eventually life starts to settle down and friends start being made.

But that doesn't mean all is well.  The old adage has been proven true...children do make you go gray.  But I'm not talking about me, I've had grays sprouting up for a few years now (thank you to my wonderful hair stylists, Jamie and Leslie for keeping it a secret) no, I'm talking about Miss Lola.


Lola pre-baby and Lola post-baby (a little grayer and looking a bit defeated)

For those of you that don't know her, Lola was our first baby. Fur baby that is. And boy has she gotten the shaft the past 4 months. She has been going noticeably gray since we brought Oliver home.  I hope that it's due more to the fact that she is getting a little older and not so much from the stress that a new baby in the house brings. Pre-Oliver Lola definitely ruled the roost. You've heard the song that says "whatever Lola wants, Lola gets"? It very well could have been written specifically for our Lola.  In the world of spoiled dogs Lola reigns supreme. I do need to point out that it's not always me that she gets everything from.  She has Mr. Rekers wrapped very tightly around her paw. She knows just how to manipulate him to get an extra bowl of food, a few extra dog biscuits or a nice long walk just when she wants it. 

Lola has definitely made our lives interesting the past 3 years.  We got Lola when we lived in Minnesota and picked her out on a rainy day in April.  It was a very spur of the moment purchase although I had been wanting a dog for quite some time prior. When we picked her out we had absolutely no dog supplies so our trip home was detoured by a trip to the local farm and fleet store to pick up the necessities. Dog kennel, dog bed, a few toys, food bowls and food.  All lugged in the house with this little ball of fur.

Before long I was seriously reconsidering my decision, and after all it was my decision.  When Lola was crying in the middle of the night Corey was very quick to point out that she was my dog, I'm the one that wanted her so when she needed let out every stinking hour in the middle of the night it was my responsibility.  We tried to do all the right things to make her the best, most well behaved dog.  Most of those things went right out the window.  Sleeping in her kennel? A little difficult when she could get break out of her kennel.  I still have no idea how she managed it but every time I would hear her whining in the middle of the night I would go out to the living room and there she would sit, right next to the couch with the kennel door open.  Houdini I tell you! I also didn't want to feed her people food because I didn't want her to be that obnoxious dog begging at the table (which she most certainly has become).  This was also hard to enforce because I had a husband who can't say no to her big ol' puppy dog eyes.  I should point out that the "my dog" thing was history after about day 4.  So Lola gets people food on occasion, usually I approve but every now and again she will sneak some herself.  The most famous of instances would be when she ate an entire stick of butter off the counter.  Hopefully her cholesterol count has improved.

So here we are, 3 years later and her life has drastically changed in the past 4 months.  If she could air her list of grievances I'm sure it would probably include the following atrocities:

1.) She no longer gets the stuffed animals. To which I must point out she hasn't been allowed stuffed animals for quite some time now because she rips them to shreds in a matter of minutes.  Even the strongest toys that claim they are dog proof, oh no, our Lola could chew through a tire.  As a matter of fact that she has chewed through an actual tire...at Yappy Campers where we boarded her when we were gone for a week. Nice work my friend.


2.) When we come home Oliver is who we rush to greet now instead of her.  I try to pay her as much attention as I can when I get home but it's sometimes hard with a baby on one arm and diaper bag and groceries on the other.


3.) The floor no longer belongs to her, it is now covered in blankets and tummy time for Oliver.  When I'm down on the floor with him jealousy sometimes overcomes her and she takes her moment to get in between the two of us to try and occupy my time.  Usually all she needs is a couple of minutes of ear rubbing and cuddling and then she's on her merry way.

4.) Walks aren't all about her anymore.  But at least she gets walks again, when Ollie first came home it was all we could do to get dressed during the day let alone venture outside. 


5.) She not only has to share her bed with two full size humans she now has to share a bed with a miniature human...although she doesn't seem to mind all the time.

I do need to point out that Lola has been fantastic with Oliver.  She recognizes his small size and is gentle and for the most part calm around him.  She mostly sniffs but does manage to get in the full face lick every now and again. She sits patiently while I let him pet her and I hope that she will always be this calm and patient around him.  Before we know it Oliver will be on the move and once again Lola's life will be rocked.  She is going to have to tolerate being used as a support, get used to tugs on the tail, and get used to having a tiny little face right next to hers while she's eating.

So this week I wanted to throw Miss Lola a bone.  She has tolerated a lot recently and I wanted to reward her somehow.  I ran across a pin on how to make your own dog biscuits and thought this would be a good opportunity to bake something that I won't eat an entire pan of and also make Lola happy. I couldn't find dog bone cookie cutters in any of our stores so I had to settle for fire hydrants. This is the recipe I used:

Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 TBL baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup skim milk

Mix dry ingredients together. Combine milk and peanut butter. Then combine the two mixtures. Roll out to 1/4" thickness and cut into shapes.  Spray cookie sheets with Pam. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Cool and store airtight in the refrigerator.

Lola approved!!

Lola is a little calmer these days. She knows that we will eventually fill her food bowl even if it's not always right on schedule. Her naps are more frequent. But she is still the same old Lola. When she sleeps really heavy she still dreams and moves her paws like she's running. I like to think she is dreaming of the day Oliver can run around in the backyard with her. But what I mostly hope is that she isn't dreaming of starting an uprising with all of the other dogs that have been neglected when new baby comes home.

A Caffeine Boosted Reading Session

This week's "project" was completely unexpected and such a delightful surprise.  I'm a sucker for a good book. I'm also a sucker for a good cup of coffee. This week I stumbled upon both!! Yay me! 

I absolutely love reading. Books, magazines, blogs, recipe books (yes, recipe books) but mostly books. I've had a love a reading since I was a little girl. I am so thankful for my parents for introducing me to books and showing me how they can transform the world you are in if even for a moment. Some of my favorite memories as a child involve my dad taking me and my sisters to the local Borders book shop and letting us pick out one book to buy and take home. But one book would last me a good 3 hours and I'd be through it so to the library we would go. I can still smell the stale musty smell of thousands of books surrounding me as I would walk up and down the rows deciding on which ones I would take home that week.  I truly hope that my children will be able to enjoy our local library as much as I did.

My mom also loved to read.  Every night after dinner had been eaten and the dishes had been cleared and washed you could find her sitting on the basement steps reading her latest mystery novel.  I get so sad now thinking about all the books that she won't be able to read.  Right after she passed away I went on a reading hiatus.  It was just too painful to think of myself participating in a hobby that we both enjoyed so much.  But now, 5 months later I'm back at it.  Now I see it as a way to keep her with me.  I think of us sitting around our kitchen table talking about what we liked and didn't like about the last book we each read. My love of reading is a gift that she gave me that I will always keep with me and I hope to pass that love on to Oliver.  Every day we lay on my bed together and read books.  He has no clue what I'm saying but we're starting a tradition here people. 

                                                   

My sister Edie has for some time now been hassling me that I "just HAVE to read The Hunger Games".  I must admit that a young adult fiction book about a futuristic post-apocalyptic world really didn't much appeal to me. I have had my fill of movies starring Will Smith where the world is ending and it's up to one single person to defeat the aliens using only a book of matches and a can of soup. I don't need to read it in a book. However, it came to be that I hadn't read a good book in a while and didn't have any prospects so I decided to take Edie's advice and pick this one up.  Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't listen to my sister sooner (Don't tell her I said that).  As an added bonus this book is the first in a trilogy.  Reading a good book can be like meeting and falling in love with a new best friend. I get completely enamored by characters and places. So much so that I can barely put the book down and when it's over and I've devoured the entire thing I can say that I genuinely miss the people that I have met.  So when I find a good series it's a great bonus! Suzanne Collins, the author of the The Hunger Games weaves such a fantastic story. I have to say that it makes me a bit jealous that I don't have the talent to come up with such a great idea for a book.  I read somewhere that she came up with the premise of the series while she was channel surfing.  She came across a reality TV show and then switched the channel and ran across a story about the war in Iraq and somehow she decided to merge the two worlds together. I won't go into much detail about the book because I don't want to give anything away but my quick synopsis is this:  Each year a young girl and a young boy are chosen by their government to participate in the Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games involve 24 young adults being placed in an "arena" and the last person living wins.  It's all televised and broad casted to remind everyone in their post-apocalyptic world that they are not in control, their government is.  Read it you guys, it's fantastic.  I picked up the book on Thursday and finished it on Saturday night at about 2 a.m.  I'm already a fourth of the way through the second book and it doesn't look like it's going to disappoint.

So now to my second pleasant surprise of the week, homemade iced coffee!!! So, so, good you guys. I had been seeing lots of pins on Pinterest about iced coffee but really didn't give any of them a second thought. I love coffee but usually just your typical hot cup o' joe in the morning and I've left the iced coffee thing up to the experts at Starbucks. No longer my friends, no longer.  I ran across this recipe on a blog I was introduced to by fellow blogger and high school friend, Mrs. H.  She suggested I check out The Pioneer Woman blog for some photography tips and while I was looking into those I saw that she also has tons of awesome recipes.  I ran across this recipe for homemade iced coffee and it is amazing.  I made half of a batch this weekend and me and the mister finished it off this morning.  Here is the oh, so delicious recipe:


Ingredients:
1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
8 quarts Cold Water
Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)

• Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!

Preparation Instructions

(Adapted from Imbibe Magazine)

In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.

Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth (or a good paper towel) and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.

Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.

To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half and 2 teaspoons of sugar.  

Obviously you can adjust the half and half and sugar to fit your taste buds.  I personally stumbled upon this new creamer this weekend and love, love, love it.  

Like I drove 10 miles out of my way to the grocery store across town to buy more because the store closest to me doesn't carry it, love.  It's only made of milk, cream and sugar.  None of that partially hydrogenated crap involved so you can feel good about putting it in your body. There are a few different flavors; vanilla, caramel etc. but my favorite is the Sweet Cream flavor.  So thank you Mrs. H for leading me to The Pioneer Woman who led me to this perfect homemade iced coffee.  So if you know what's good for you you'll pick up The Hunger Games, you'll make yourself a batch of iced coffee and you just might have the best weekend you've had in quite some time.

10 Tiny Fingers, 10 Tiny Toes

First of all I have to say "Thank you!!" to all of you who read the first installment of my blog!  I hope you all keep returning time and again to see what's going on in my world. 

This week's project was to take a few moments to capture parts of Oliver that I don't want to forget. It was inspired by this photo collage pin. I have to say taking the photographs was the easy part, the arranging in Photoshop, not so much. However the world wide web was pretty fantastic in helping me to fumble my way along. Overall the end result wasn't quite what I wanted, I couldn't get the photo sizes uniform, but I give myself a solid B+... 

As with most things in parenting you may not get it right the first time or ultimately, even get it perfect in the end but if you can give yourself a solid B+ you aren't doing so bad.  As I reflect on the past 3 months of my first shot at parenting I'm pretty sure I could give myself a B+.  Before having Oliver I had so many ideas of how I was going to be the best parent to my little nugget. I wasn't going to let him sleep in our bed, I was going to reduce my carbon footprint by cloth diapering, I was bound and determined to breastfeed him for at least a year, I was going to start reading to him right away even if he had NO CLUE what I was saying and the list goes on.  I'm not in any way saying one way is right and one way is wrong but this was my plan.  However, at 4 o'clock in the morning when you're so tired you could cry and your baby falls asleep in your arms only to jolt awake the second you lay him in his bed you just have to say, intentions be damned. So I weighed the pros and cons; what are the odds of Oliver turning out to be a serial killer if I let him sleep in bed with us vs. the odds of both of us completely melting down tomorrow at about 4 p.m. because we got absolutely no sleep the night before? So here we are approximately 100 nights later and I have to admit that more often than not at some point in time during the night he ends up in bed with us. Hopefully he won't be sleeping in bed with us when he's 13 years old because of the choice I'm making now to get a little sleep.

Each day we make choices and after you bring a child into this world the choices you make hold so much more merit and consequence, it can be intimidating and inspiring all at the same time.  Taking these pictures reminded me of a few things. Sooner or later those little feet will be pattering around the house instead of just kicking the air in practice and those tears signaling the end of patience with tummy time will be tears because of some small disappointment in school.  I may or may not be doing an A+ job at parenting but I cherish each day.  So whether or not I used cloth diapers (I didn't) or whether or not I breastfeed for a full year (so far so good), loving him exponentially every single day and showing it holds so much more merit.

And so it begins...

Last night I discovered Pinterest. For those of you who don't know what this is you must check it out. But not yet, finish reading this blog post first because as soon as you sign on to pinterest.com you will lose about 2 plus hours of your life to this highly addictive, highly inspiring website. I got lost in the recipes, the ideas for home decor, photography, ideas for childrens activities, style, and books. Oh, and did I mention the pictures of cute baby animals ranging from a mother giraffe kissing a baby giraffe to a penguin with blue shoes on. I kept running across one idea after another that I have to try. Add this to the list of other hobbies I want to take up like knitting, photography, blogging and card making and I was a bit overwhelmed. It is so easy to find things that you want to do but the actual act of doing is much harder. I have to admit that more than once I've come up with a plan to take up a new hobby and days after getting started it gets pushed to the wayside. So this is where I've come to put it all together. Each week for the next 52 weeks I am going to incorporate an idea from Pinterest into my life. It may be a new fun recipe, it might be a new photography idea or a new mantra to live by. I'm excited to see where this all brings me 52 weeks from now. While I decide on my first project here is my story.

Almost five months ago I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer. Her sickness and death just over two weeks after being diagnosed came as an incredible blow to our tight-knit family. More than once over the previous months I had told myself how blessed I was in my life. I was finally pregnant with our first child after two years of trying. My husband was enjoying his job, I was going to get to be a stay at home mom to our son Oliver, we were living in a town that we loved despite being eight hours away from our hometowns and family. So when my mom called me on my husband's 33rd birthday and told me that they found a spot on her pancreas and lesions on her liver the rug was pulled out from under me. I still struggle to find the reason why she was taken from us but I do find blessings in the fact that instead of suffering for months or years she only had to suffer for a few weeks. The last three weeks of her life my sisters and I were able to be with her the entire time. Right up until her last moments on a fresh crisp morning in March, after days of having non-stop visitors we had our time alone with her to tell her it was ok to go. And so she passed.
A month and a half later our son Oliver came into this world. Perfect in every way. We had waited so long for him and he was finally here. A new chapter in our life was beginning.

Oliver is just over three months old now. We've made it through the newborn stage. We really didn't have many sleepless nights...quite a few with little sleep but we've always managed to piece a few hours of sleep together. Every day I am in awe at this little creature that we have. He laughed for the first time this past week. On our way to the cemetary to bury my husband's grandfather. Of all the times to hear those first sweet sounds and that was when they came. In retrospect they couldn't have come at a better time. I was missing my mom immensely that day, it was the first time I'd been to a funeral and burial since hers, it had come way too soon. There is nothing like the laughter of your child to make you stop for a moment and just be. I once again took a moment to count my blessings, at the top of the list was this tiny wonderful little sound coming from a tiny wonderful human.

So where do I begin with this new journey? With that very tiny wonderful human of course! I recently received a new camera for my 30th birthday. With that camera I am going to capture some new shots of him from a different vantage point than I have taken before. It's inspired by this: http://pinterest.com/pin/95289348/ Stay tuned for results!!