Puppy Crisis

So I'm having a puppy crisis today. I am not sure what to do with Max over the Christmas holiday. We are going to my parents' house for 5 nights and part of 6 days. If we take him with us, he will have to stay outside or in the garage. It gets pretty cold there so it could be a cold 5 or 6 days or it could be nice weather. We won't know about the weather forecast for quite a while (and we all know how reliable those forecasts are). We don't want to put him in a kennel for that long for several reasons - 1) he's still just a puppy - only 3 months old, 2) we want to be with him - and 5 or 6 days is a long time to be away from a part of your family, 3) we know nothing about the kennels here and have no idea how he would be treated, 4) we want to spend Christmas with Max. I know this sounds strange to those without pets, I used to think the same thing. I thought people who missed their pets had issues. If that's the case, I now have issues. Max has already become a large part of our family, and we like spending time with him.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for what we could do? I am having a hard time thinking about anything else today.

Happy Birthday to Melinda!

Happy birthday to Melinda today! I hope it was a fun day!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving at home. This was our first holiday to have the celebration at our house. I have so much to be thankful for...I could spend the rest of my life making a list of the many blessings in my life. It has been cold here, but we are enjoying the warmth of our home.

I feel like a grown up

Most people would say I am a grown up, but I haven't felt like one until now. Since we have gotten Max, we are up and out of bed around 5:30 each morning...even on the weekends. He is a morning puppy I guess. I actually get to see so much more of the day than ever before. And even though I am not a morning person, it isn't so bad now that I am getting used to it.

This week I had to clean up puppy throw up for the first time. It wasn't nearly as bad as I would have thought it would be. I handled it all very well. I'm not sure what made him sick, but he's only done it that one time so far. I hope it's a while before it happens again. We ended the week by going to the vet for 12 weeks shots. Max is now 3 months old. He has gained 8 pounds in the 3 weeks we've had him. He is growing quickly.

Requesting Prayer

Please pray for Bryan and Sarah (some folks we went to church with in Austin - if you were at our wedding, Bryan was our singer). Their two year old daughter was in an accident yesterday and passed away. I believe this is the youngest of their three daughters. I don't know many details, but I do know that they need tremendous amounts of prayer right now.

Brussel Sprouts

I think I had brussel sprouts for the very first time this week (I don't remember ever having them before). I am working on eating more vegetables so I felt like I should at least try them. I roasted them in the oven with some olive oil on them. I didn't expect to like them, but they weren't bad! I don't think I cooked them long enough though. I will definitely have to try again, cook them longer, and possibly add some seasoning as well.

Puppy Classes

We signed up for puppy classes to start training Max and to give him some social time around other dogs and people. Tonight will be our 3rd class out of 8. He actually does pretty well in class and has learned some, but he does not always do as well at home with our homework. There are 4 puppies in the class - a chocolate lab, a yellow lab, and a teeny tiny white dog (I'm not sure what it is). They go crazy in the classroom trying to play or sniff each other. That is a little distracting. We have worked on clicker training, sitting without verbally telling him to sit, and walking on the leash without pulling. The last one is the one we're having a problem with. Once he has his leash on, he wants to run and explore. It's hard to get him just to walk beside me. I know I didn't work on it enough this week so tonight's class will be interesting.

Cookie Website

M's grandmother sent me this website recently. It has recipes for all kinds of Christmas goodies. I thought I would share it with you.

http://www.northpole.com/Kitchen/Cookbook/

Hiccups

Max has the hiccups a couple of times each day. I guess according to the old wives' tale that means that he is growing. You can tell by these pictures that he's growing, too. He's still a cutie!

We have a niece!

M's sister had a little girl last Friday. She is our first niece. We have three nephews. We can't wait to meet her. We saw pictures of her for the first time today. She's beautiful! Congratulations to S and D (and little brother C).

Dinner & a Movie

Saturday night we went to dinner and a movie with some of our neighbors. These are the neighbors that came over last weekend for the World Series party. They are about our age and it is really surprising how much we have in common with them (we went on the same cruise for our honeymoons only 5 months apart, M and the guy have similar interests, me and the girl have similar interests, the list goes on and on and we've only visited with them 2 or 3 times). Sunday I met another couple that lives across the street from us. M had met them last weekend while I was getting food ready for our party. They were really friendly and talkative. I am excited to get to know our neighbors. I haven't really done that since I moved out of my parents house (except in the dorm and an apartment in college). I hope that we will be able to build some relationships and have some good times with these folks.

More about Max

Well, we've made it through our first week as puppy owners. Max has done well, but I had no idea he would be so much work (even though I've been warned by many that a puppy would be). He is becoming a little more active each day. He sleeps a lot as I guess most puppies do. We've heard him bark a couple of times...each time at his reflection in the sliding glass door. Rather than running, he kind of bounces around. He likes to follow us everywhere and likes to lay on our feet when we're sitting down. I took these pictures of him today. I think he's already grown, but I'm not certain. It is much easier to get a good picture of him outside because he is so dark. We've had a busy day and he is sacked out right now under my chair.