All About Maggie

Deciding to get a dog was not an easy decision by any means. I know I have mentioned it in the past but I had a lot of fears in getting another dog and overall I wasn't sure that my heart was ready for another dog. It's been the topic of many conversations back and forth between Mike and I and we had pretty much decided we would wait until after vacation in the new year. We discussed getting a rescue dog, but we decided with having the kids now, it just isn't the right time, as you never know what they have been exposed to or how they react with children - just too unpredictable for this life stage. 

 So you are probably wondering how we ended up with one now? Well Miss Gracie was just down right depressed. She has lost weight, mopes, eats very little and just has no will in her. We were actually concerned that had we waited a few more months AND gone away on vacation that she may not make it. It was only getting harder and harder to watch her daily.  

   It started out with just looking for litters being born and then it quickly came into okay what breed are we going with? Obviously we love golden retrievers, but they require quite a bit of maintenance. We were leaning towards a lab, as they don't quite have the same hair maintenance. Then we had to decide how far we willing to travel for a pup. We couldn't get over the price of dogs now! It blows my mind how much people ask for cross breeds, yet alone pure bred. Clearly we haven't bought a dog in quite some time. I spoke to a couple different breeders of both labs and golden retriever/lab cross, but ultimately we came across the lab shepherd ad. I was a little hesitant, as I am not a shepherd fan, but agreed to consider them. We ended up setting up an appointment to go see them that same day, as they were only 20 minutes away.   

 I was happy to hear that the mother is mostly lab herself and the dad is pure bred lab. The Mom had a litter of 12!! We had 4 girls to choose from. We did want a boy, but weren't against a girl if we liked them. We took both kids with us and saw all 4 of the remaining pups, all black little fur balls at 4 weeks old!

Picking a puppy is not an easy task, especially with children. I felt like we were there forever. Miss Maggie stood out to us, because she didn't just come running out at as, she stayed back and assessed, then she approached Noah first and then came running to Mike and I and was already trying to play with Noah, where as the other pups aside from one other were already uninterested. Maggie picked us, just as much as we picked her. Maggie was also the only girl with white on her chest out of the 4 as well.   

 So we picked Maggie and then had a few weeks left before we could get her. Noah didn't quite understand why we went to see them and was sad that we didn't bring one home. For the next few weeks he kept bringing up the puppy, asking Daddy if we could get one and then Santa. The breeder was sending weekly pictures of our pup, which was great to see her grow!!

We decided that we didn't want to give Maggie to the kids on Christmas, because we wanted the excitement of Christmas to be just on Christmas, so we picked up Maggie on the 23rd and surprised the kids with her then. Noah wasn't to sure of her until we took her out of the box and then he was soo excited and the playing began. Gracie was taken back, but interested. She didn't growl or get upset, but rather undecided on the new addition. Well that didn't take long to change.

They are the best of friends already today. Our Gracie has that twinkle in her eye again, is playing and is just soo much happier. Maggie is pretty good with the kids, although we have some work to do with nipping and jumping, but overall, she is great. She is already walking great on a leash and asking to outside! She sleeps all night in bed with us and we are crate training for when we leave the house and even that is getting better.

Maggie has been a great addition to our family and yes it can be stressful at times, but it was stressful before her at times too. As far as training her, we will have more time to dedicate to her training over these slow months for M, rather than in the spring when he is busy.

Welcome to the family Mags!

Weekend Rewind

I can't believe we are in mid-September already! I knew this month was going to fly by with how busy it is!

Friday night was our first night post-ball season and boy was it nice to have M home! That was a long summer of solo bedtimes, although I think I have got it figured out at least! I just have to remember that not every night is ever the same, well for Emilya that is! Noah is pretty easy to put to bed! 

Saturday morning involved some early morning housework before we rushed out the door to get to the market before gymnastics so I could order buns for Em's baptism. Em was not impressed about being in the car AT all. We also learned a valuable lesson, do not take Noah to gymnastics early - show up on time. He just wanted to run up and down the wheelchair ramp, which only tired him out more. He was soo exhausted by the end of the class and therefore super miserable. His answer was "no" to everything. We really did pick the right time for the class, because this allows us to do lunch and then naptime. I will say it was crazy how much Noah picked up from his first class, because during this class he was supporting himself and actually hanging off the rings this week and the bar.

Saturday afternoon was spent filling the pool, the rain helped with that! I finished organizing all of
Emilya's clothes into seperate bins and then we cleared room in what we call the toy room upstairs, but in all reality it is storage for us and the toy room is downstairs. We put all the labeled bins in there and now her nursery is just about ready for her. I haven't painted the frames, or redone the pictures yet, but in all reality that's not stopping her from sleeping in there at least!

Right after supper I rushed into town and grabbed our groceries for the week, giving myself just an hour, so I could be home to feed Em before bed. I managed to get to 3 stores and was home to tuck
Noah in and feed Emilya.

Sunday morning we woke up early and were out of the house by 7:30 AM!

 

We had to stop and grab my baptism dress on our way to meeting my Dad at Greenview Aviaries. It was about an hour and half drive, and suprisingly Emilya didn't fuss much until we were about 20 minutes away from arriving! The DVD player seemed to help distract her! 

 

 

We had a great morning exploring the park, seeing the animals and then playing!

 

We were so proud of Noah for trying the zip line!! He did great with it!! 

 

He also figured out the big swing:

 

 

We had an amazing drive home:

 

Both kids sleeping!! 

Em even woke up in a great mood!!

 

When we got home it was back to work, getting the pool all put back together. This week we need to focus on getting the pool area finished and the front porch, as well as clean the house! Clearly it's going to be busy!! I did manage to get the upstairs bedrooms all vacuumed, now I just need to wash the floors up there. I also got Gracie's hair trimmed. 

We have such a busy week ahead of us! But I'm excited to celebrate Emilya this weekend!! 

Friday's Five

And just like that, the first week of August is gone!

Oh and just like that, my baby is 4 months old!!! What??!! M and I can hardly believe it!!

We had a super fun week! 

Monday we were at the zoo, as I mentioned in the weekend recap.

Tuesday we did Storybook Gardens with all the cousins. It was a lot different than I remember as a young child, but very nostalgic. I bet my Grandma was watching down from heaven with a smile on her face watching us all with our kiddos, just like she used to take us! 

It was also my first bigger outing with the kids on my own, well without M, I was soo happy to have the help of my cousins. Noah was really good until it became time to leave and he had exhausted his patience waiting for everyone else. He was also asleep by the time I made it to the main road. I will let the pics do some talking!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After naptime, we decided to go visit Daddy at work since they were close to home! 

 

 

As you can see, she was quite interested!! 

 

My crew of hot messes... 

 

 

Wednesday we had a much needed quiet day at home!! 

 

With a short trip to the park:

 

 

 

I was also happy to find my new work out program arrived!! I will be starting Country Heat soon!! 

 

We ended up keeping the kids up late after we took them out to the flying club with a trailer full of our donations of furniture and stuff for their yard sale! We didn't come home empty handed though! We bought an outside garbage can, a window fan (brand new), a little people house, and some storage organization drawers that fit in my cubbys in my sewing area! 

Thursday morning we had a songs and dance program to attend at the library! Both kids had a blast!! This little lady made her way all the way to the dog bed while I was putting Noah down! She can inch her way around the whole room and she's quite proud!! 

 

We also did some swimming! 

 

 

This weekend we don't have much planned!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!! 

Weekend Rewind

My weekend was pretty amazing!!! Well any weekend when I get to see Luke Bryan is amazing haha. 

Friday was my first full day (pretty much) away from Emilya and yes, it was hard, I missed her snuggles and smiles, but it was a nice break! 

Friday morning I had to run a bunch of errands - without kids!!! This allowed me to get to more than one store and although I didn't quite get to everywhere I needed to, I did tackle most of it!! Something told me M was going to be just fine with Emilya for the day:

I came home, quilt nursed Em before I left at 1:30 to meet the girls. I offered to drive to Toronto and surprisingly traffic wasn't horrible!! We made it there in great time, we got great parking, picked up our tickets and headed on foot to find some dinner. 

My sister and I:

We walked quite a ways before we found a pizza joint and actually it was pretty good! We walked back along the water front and then took 10 minutes so I could pump before the concert. By the time I finished the gates were open! We were honestly giddy when the took us to our seats! Five from the stage:

It was hands down the best!! Dustin Lynch was great, Little Big Town was great as well, but Luke Bryan was amazing and being that close to the stage was unreal!! It was such an amazing experience and we are pretty sure nothing will beat this experience at his concert. I could go on and on about how amazing it was and it was the best concert ever, but I'm sure you get the picture! Speaking of pictures:

We got out of Toronto easily but ended up hitting construction and didn't get home until 1:45 AM. By the time I got cleaned up and pumped, it was after 2 AM before I was in bed! 

Emilya slept 9.5 hours!! M let me sleep in until about 7:45 AM. We did breakfast and then packed up the kids to head to the farmers market. We picked up the brisket for the long weekend and some local strawberries, hit up the pool store and worked in the back yard again!! 

What I will say is how great our yard is coming together!! We are really happy with it and looking forward to spending the summer back there!! 

We of course did some swimming, playing and napping and we enjoyed dinner outside!! After supper we were back outside again and finished the play area! We put artificial grass under the play yard to keep it cleaner and easier to cut the grass. 

Saturday night M surprised me with a bonfire! The first one of the season and it was great, just being able to sit outside on a quiet night, just him and I - it was very peaceful! I headed to bed by 10:30! Staying up late one night, means early bedtimes and naps to catch up on that missed sleep!! 

Sunday morning we headed to Costco for opening. We rocked that Costco trip! 2 kids, 2 carts, 2 bathroom trips, 1 return, $300 spent in 1 hour and 1 minute!! We are stocked for summer!! 

We came home, had lunch, worked in the basement for a bit and then it was naptime for the kids. While they napped, it was hair cut time for these two:

We did laundry and poked away in a few things around the house. It was super hot and humid, so it was nice working in the basement! I'm happy that say it is almost all cleaned up!! Then I can focus on decorations. 

Before supper these guys went for a swim and then we enjoyed another dinner out on the deck. Gracie was loving her swim, not something we allow often, but it was a lot easier with only one dog to manage and she sure enjoyed it! 

After supper I quickly brushed the cats and trimmed their nails out on the deck before the storm rolled through. Of course we had an escapee - but we got Jazz back in the house before bedtime!