Tales of a Fulltime Mom: Puppies!!

Pretty much ever since the last of our two dogs, Dewey, died in March of 2012, the kids that could talk started asking for another dog. But we moved soon after that and then another baby came along in 2013 and frankly, I enjoyed having the break. But periodically we would get the question, "When can we get a dog?" We would usually answer, "Someday." Well, "someday" finally came!

I grew up with Golden Retrievers and absolutely adore them. To me they are just the happiest, friendliest, prettiest dogs ever. It was my dream to have one of my own someday. I have been allergic to cats since my early 20's (after having cats as a kid, no less) and then about 10 or 12 years ago when I had an allergy test done to try and figure out why I'm allergic to my parents' house (which I still haven't figured out), I discovered that I have a mild allergy to dogs. I had no problem with our dogs at the time, Italian Greyhounds, as they are hypo-allergenic. It did make me wonder about other breeds though. As Duncan and I got more serious recently about getting a dog or dogs, I intentionally petted longer haired dogs whenever I had the chance to see what would happen. A couple of months ago we were in the home of someone with a black lab and my eyes hurt me SO badly. The dream of a Golden was officially dead.

What should we get then? We loved our IG's but Duncan really wanted something a little bigger so we turned out attention to Whippets which are basically the same dogs as IG's but larger. I figured that since I wasn't allergic to IG's, the same would hold true for Whippets.

Unfortunately, Duncan couldn't find any available locally. It was a little more challenging because we wanted two - - two males. The closest we could find were in Kentucky and they didn't want to ship them (this is how we had gotten Dewey and Marlee. They were from Nebraska and came via plane). Can you say road trip?? Of course, this all came to fruition at the beginning of December and since we would be gone for Christmas, we needed to hold off until after we got back to make the trip.

It was SO hard not telling the kids. We didn't want to tell them for one, because in case something didn't work out, we didn't want them to be disappointed, but also, we thought it would be really fun to just show up with dogs!! But every time one of them would ask the "When can we get a dog??" it was everything I could do not to say, "How about next week?"

Just before Christmas we finally settled on the date of Saturday, January 14 to fly up to Louisville to pick them up. The plan was to fly up Saturday night, get a rental car, stay over night, and then early the next morning, pick them up and undertake the 12.5 hours home. We thought this was a good weekend to go because Monday was MLK Day and Duncan would have the day off (mostly). Unfortunately, I did not consider the NFL playoff schedule when we picked the date and imagine my extreme consternation when the schedule came out and the Patriots game started at 8:15 on that Saturday night. Our flight was to leave at 8:00 pm. Oh, I was SO disgusted!! Of course, we were flying up on Southwest so technically, we could change our flight but this was the weekend we needed to do it so we were going to have to just make the best of it. We did determine that the flight would have WIFI and you can watch live TV on your phones so I felt a lot better about things.

My mom timed her visit with us being gone so that she could stay with the kids but also, she really wanted to be here for the surprise. We told the kids that we were taking a quick over night trip with just the two of us (which was true!) since Gigi was here to watch them and they didn't question it at all.

It sure was weird (but in a NICE way) of getting on an airplane without any kids. Duncan has A List status because of all his flying and he was second on the plane after the wheelchair folks so he saved a seat for little old "B" status me in the fourth row. Sitting in the second row was another couple decked out in Patriots gear (like us) so that added to our festive spirit. We got the iPad going with the TV right away and sure enough, CBS came on and we could breathe a sigh of relief. The only problem was that instead of the sound working, all we could hear is weird music. Oh well. At least we could watch which was the important thing. We had some very, very tense moments in the second quarter and by the time we landed two hours later just as it got to half time, it was perfect timing to do some pacing. I really thought they were going to lose and I'm usually not a negative person like that. But Houston, whom they were supposed to blow away, was making a game of it.

Selfie in the airport as we waited to board.

Thankfully the Louisville airport is relatively small (think: Providence) so we got our rental car and sped to our hotel (a Best Western) in about 35 minutes. I had to put the game on NFL Mobile on my phone so that we could watch in the car on the way to the hotel. A few minutes after we got to the hotel and checked in, the Patriots finally put the game away and the trip became much more enjoyable for us. Whew!

Picture my mom sent of the kids watching the Patriots game. Apparently none of them made it to the end.

The gentleman, Tad, we bought the dogs from actually lived just north over the border in Indiana - - about a 20 minute ride. We first had the free breakfast offered by the hotel (incidentally, our room was right near the breakfast area so I woke up to the smell of bacon for the first time in my life. Not sure what the big deal is about that!!). Tad breeds Whippets and also Basenjis and shows many of them around the country. We knew we were getting good quality (hopefully)! As we got close to his house, I looked over into a field and and I saw two deer grazing. That reassured me that we were doing the right thing and that I picked the right names...Donner and Dasher. Our IG's always reminded me of reindeer (and thus, Whippets also do) and I thought it was neat to see those two deer just before we picked up our new dogs. I actually had the name Donner picked out for 17 years. It was what I wanted to name our second dog if it had been a male. Alas, they had none and we ended up with Marlee.

We rang the door bell and immediately a Whippet came to the door. We were like "Holy cow! It's huge!!" We weren't sure if it was one of ours or what but we noticed how much bigger it was then our IG's. Tad finally came to the door and introduced us to Luke, who was our dogs' father. I petted him for a little bit and then Tad brought up the first dog. Oh, it was so exciting! I can't even remember which one it was first but it didn't matter. He was very friendly and came right over to me. On the way there I had told Duncan, "You know, we didn't even ask Tad what these dogs were like...whether they're skittish or afraid of their own shadow or what." The dogs are actually six months old so should have distinctive personalities by this age and it made me nervous that we didn't ask more questions. But then, the other one came up and I was incredibly relieved to see that they were perfectly normal, good dogs. HOWEVER, their sister came tearing into the room like a humungous ball of energy - - jumping all over the furniture and basically going bonkers. I breathed a big sigh of relief that we had gotten the males!!

Tad saying good-bye to Donner and Dasher. That is their sister on the far left. Tad was really, really super bad communicating with Duncan through the whole process...like not responding to emails for days and then only answering like one question out of three you'd ask. I was almost ready to give up and eat the deposit. After we picked them up, Duncan commented that he noticed a big scar on the side of Tad's head like maybe he'd had head trauma. That would explain it and I'm glad we didn't give up.

We were anxious to get going so after a little chit chat, we loaded the dogs up into the crate in the back seat of the car to begin our long journey home. I was a little perturbed though because within about five minutes of getting into that house, my neck started itching really badly. Hmmm. What was up with that? Hopefully a weird coincidence. But then I also noticed that I was getting a little stuffy. Now I was starting to get worried. I did know that the house had contained Basenjis as well. My hope was that they have very allergenic hair.

About an hour into our trip, I looked into the crate and oh no! One of the dogs had vomited. I'm pretty sure the theme for the month of January has been "vomiting" since all the kids, Duncan, and now at least one of the dogs had vomited. So fun! We pulled off the next exit which happened to have a gas station with a convenience store hooked on to it. Duncan tried to maneuver the dogs out of the crate and car while I ran in for paper towels and water. It became very clear to us that the dogs had never been walked on a leash before because they kept trying to pull on it and were half strangling themselves. I also was thinking about the highway that we very close to and remembering Tad saying "Don't stop at a rest area or somewhere next to the highway...just in case." But then, he probably didn't foresee the mess they would make in the crate.

Stopping to clean the vomit.

After that, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. Duncan drove the entire way and I spent my time reading a book and eventually watching the other football games that came on. It was a really pleasant trip, actually, after that initial snafu. I was thinking the 12.5 hours of travel time that the GPS said would be for sure more than that because of stopping. But I failed to consider we had no kids with us and you can move so much faster when it's just two adults.

Meanwhile, my mom and Ron and Elaine took the kids to the Highland Games in Winter Springs.

I kept texting my mom about our arrival and as we neared the house, I told her that the plan was that we would ring the doorbell and she was to make sure that all the kids came to the door together so that all would be standing there when it was opened. It worked perfectly. You can see the video here.

That was now six days ago and we are settling in. I have to say that we really, really lucked out because the dogs are SO good with the kids. They let them pick them up and handle them every which way and they don't say a word. They have energy like puppies and will chase each other around in the back yard but they aren't high needs or are constantly jumping on you or chewing everything in sigh like some puppies. However, they aren't fully house broken and we have had a # 2 accident just about every day. Fortunately, they ARE crate trained so they stay in there without a problem. We keep them in the crate (which we put in the office) at night and also when we leave. They do cry a bit when we first put them in the crate at night but it doesn't last very long.

Donner is the one on the left. He is more tan than Dasher.

Their mannerisms are so similar to Dewey and Marlee including even how they sleep like this with their heads hanging over the side. But yeah, being around them really makes me miss Dewey so much. He was such a great dog.

Duncan is hard at work getting them trained and they've already made great strides with walking on a leash. We also discovered, accidentally, that they aren't prone to running off if given the chance. On the first day, Monday, somehow the side door to the backyard was left open and the next thing we knew, a kid was running in and yelling, "THE PUPPIES GOT OUT!" We went into a semi-panic and ran out the front door. Sure enough, they were about two houses down running across the front lawn away from us. We called after them and they immediately turned around and came back. So that was good to know at least. Now we don't have to worry if they get out the front door as we come and go because we know they won't run away.

As for allergies, well, I'm happy to report I don't have any respiratory or eyes problems. BUT...they do make me itch. If I pet them or they rub up against me, within about 60 seconds, I'll get little red marks that look like bug bites and it itches. I got some allergy shampoo for them off Amazon that got good reviews and Duncan bathed them today. Hopefully it will help. I'll also be seeking other ideas/solutions to the problem. The good news is that I can live with this annoyance but the other, not so much.

In other news, the kids started back with ice skating lessons on Tuesday and Colby was part of the group! He was very excited and as I laced up all their skates (so fun lacing up skates for FOUR kids!) I marveled to myself that this is the first extracurricular activity that all four kids have done together. My baby is growing up **insert sobbing here**. He did really well and pretty much had the teacher, Miss Joy (whom we love), all to himself the whole lesson. Here's a video of them.

Learning some things before hitting the ice.

He was all smiles when he got off the ice and I was thrilled that it had gone so well considering that many kids will cry during the lesson and refuse to go back (this has happened to several friends). At home later, Duncan asked him how it went and then mentioned something about doing it again next week. Colby says, "Well, I think I will wait until I grow up and get much taller." Oh you're going next week, you surely are. But I wasn't going to say that then. We'll see what happens next Tuesday.

This week we also had the pleasure of several field trips. On Thursday we went to Wonderworks on I-Drive for the first time. We went with the Winter Garden Homeschoolers. It is a really neat place...kind of like a Science Center type place but much flashier. There were lots of different activities to do but the favorites were the virtual reality roller coaster and for Brady, especially, the laser tag which was the last thing we did. The place wasn't crowded at all and in fact, it was just the five of us playing against each other. When we finished, they had a board showing the top three scores. Of course, I had the highest score but then second was Brady. I was very surprised that he beat the girls! He is dying to go again because what boy wouldn't want to shoot a "gun," right??

Virtual air hockey.

Hard to see them but the girls did a ropes course.

Laser tag!

I was Player 35 and Brady Player 30. I think Aubree was actually third. What happened Calleigh??

Lunch at the cafe.

Yesterday we joined Champion for a field trip at Busch Gardens. We hadn't been in three years when we went with Ricky and Ana and I jumped at the chance. We get a good rate going in as a school group and then I didn't have to pay for Brady and Colby since they have a special free pre-school pass for kids five and under. All I can say is that if you ever think about going to Busch Gardens, go in January! The longest line was about two minutes long!! It was so fantastic. Last time we went, Calleigh was incredibly disappointed that she couldn't do the newest roller coaster, Cheetah Run, because the line was more than an hour long. This time? No line! It is probably my favorite roller coaster of anywhere and the girls and I rode it twice (although they wanted to do it a bunch more). Brady had a big achievement in that he went on a roller coaster for the first time that goes UPSIDE DOWN! I thought that was pretty impressive for a five year old although Duncan wasn't too thrilled I let him do it. Hey, he was the right height (42 inches) and he wanted to do it. It actually Aubree's first time going on one too but it's a bigger deal for a five year old.

The boys reacting to something on stage as we wait for the show.

I always love watching them watch something.

Glad I didn't put my hand up to be a volunteer like the lady in the green shirt did (she was part of our group). No way would you ever see me holding a python!

Jonathan got picked to come up and interact with the sloth.

This was Colby's very favorite ride. He loved it so much. Oh, the look of joy on his face the whole time (sorry the picture isn't clear). We went back and did it again at the end of the day.

I got Brady to go on this ride with Colby even though he didn't want to. When I went to get them off, he reported that it was "absolutely boring."

I was glad the girls were good sports and went on some of the "baby" rides with the littler kids.

Colby loved this little log ride too.

Calleigh was so great and took Colby all over these nets. He was a little apprehensive but he said he'd do it as long as "Calleigh holds my hand."

This is what big sisters are for!

He also loved the Sesame Street show.

One of the last rides we did was the Congo River Rapids. At the beginning of the day, Violet said she wanted to sit next to Brady on at least one ride. I told Brady that and as we walked towards this ride, Brady said that Violet should sit next to him on this one but "only if she wants to." As you can see, she did. When they sat down, Violet says to him "Let's hold hands." It was so cute. I think she was a little nervous.

So yeah...I got completely drenched on the ride. I guess I kind of forgot about that. I brought changes of clothes for the kids but not for myself. It is not fun wearing jeans and being soaking wet. I had to borrow Jennifer's jacket for the ride home. I took off my pants and covered myself with the jacket and hoped I wouldn't need to get out of the car for any reason!