First AKC Trial

Hobbs and I are entered in our first ever AKC trial! It will be July 9-11, but we are only competing Friday and Saturday. Also, we are only entered in JWW on both days. I thought about entering Standard or Gamblers as well, but I don't want to get carried away and have Hobbs have a set back with the teeter.

Speaking of the teeter, he has been really good in class the past couple weeks, and we even had it in a small sequence! I still get SUPER nervous whenever I send him over it, but he is starting to look like he recognizes it as the teeter. Next week at class we will have another small course and if it has a teeter, I am going to go for it full force. I will still send him over it before I run, but I wont stop him in the middle of the course to slow him down before the teeter.

Ugh. Can I admit how nervous I am about this trial? I already have butterflies, and have been having nightmares about horrific courses. I have no idea why AKC intimidates me so much, but apparently it does. If anyone has any novice JWW courses that they could email to me, that would help me SOOO much!

My plan of action before the trial is to take at least 2 private lessons that will hopefully help ease my nerves.

NEVER TURN YOUR BACK!!!

I am still laughing about this whenever I think of it, but please don't judge my parenting by this!

The other day I was hanging diapers up on the line, and put Kaylee down on the lawn to play. She usually will just crawl around, or follow me, or pick grass. So I don't keep a super close eye on her. I don't leave her out there by herself, and I do check on her often. This day though, I think it took me 5 minutes to hang all the diapers up and when I turned around, this is what I saw:

yeah, that is a flower pot of dirt

And of course, being a good mom, I ran inside and grabbed the camera (which was right inside the door). Then I proceeded to allow her to continue while I took pictures.

I love the little smirk on her face in this one!

Yes, that is another handful of dirt going into her mouth. I figured the dirt was already in her system, and one more handful wasn't going to make much of a difference. I know, Bad MOM!

Just a little reminder to the mommies out there. If you want your kids to stay completely germ (and adventure) free.......NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON THEM!!!

One Month Left!!

Kaylee turned 11 months old today, and I am in shock! This has been such a fun but challenging month.

She was growing so fast now that she was getting formula last month that today when she weighed in at 19 lbs 15 oz and measured " tall, I was a little shocked it wasn't more. I guess she has caught up and is starting the slower growth that is supposed to be normal for her for the next couple years. I can't believe how grown up she is getting :( Robert gets asked all the time at work if his daughter is almost 2. For some reason they thing she looks that old in this picture:

I think those people don't know what they are talking about. She doesn't look that old to me!

I really didn't do a photo shoot for her month-day, mostly because we are both sick.....really sick.

Eating her lunch of cantaloupe and avocado

She didn't want to be on camera.....

Same day, different clothes because she threw up on her other ones. I filled this drawer with fun "stuff" so she had something to get in to. She loves it!

Her list of accomplishments for the month includes:

• New Smile - She has been getting her top tooth or teeth for the entire month, and it hasn't been any easier than the first tooth. Lucky us! The first top tooth (tooth #3) just came through two days ago, but it keeps going back up, so I don't know when it will decide to stick around permanently.
• Steps!! - SHE TOOK STEPS BY HERSELF!!! It was really short, only two or three, and she was mostly catching herself as she fell towards Robert and her bottle, but they were steps without us touching her!
• Bottoms Down - She has started to figure out how to fall on her bottom instead of her head, but mostly is still hurting herself when she falls.
• 2 - 1 Transition - She is starting to need less and less day time sleep, but can't yet handle only one nap. That is causing her to wake up really early in the morning....which I can't handle very well. So her schedule is pretty flexible compared to how it has been up to now. She has, to date, had 4 days where she has chosen to only take one nap. Two out of the four resulted in GREAT night time sleep, but the other two didn't seem to make a difference.
• Signing - We think she may have made up signs for "More" and "all done" They aren't the correct ones, but she seems to put her hands together (as if clapping) and then move them up and down for more, and she put both hand up and waves them back and forth for all done (she does this one for a lot of different things so I don't know for sure if she is using it as a sign).
• Words - "Owie" is really her only new one and she says is so thoughtfully. She does make "woof" noises when dogs bark. She makes the noise when she sees or hears a dog on our walks, or on TV.
• Discipline - She is learning to obey when I tell her "don't touch", though she usually throws a little mini-fit when she understands she can't touch something. She is also learning to spit things out when I catch her putting something "forbidden" in her mouth. I think it is hilarious that she has learned this the same way my puppies have.....by me going in after whatever it is. She now sees me coming closer after I tell her to spit it out, and she spits it out before I put my fingers in her mouth.
• No-Name - I really don't know how to describe this, so I got a video of it. She learned it from her cousin Evie.

Or Not! I will have to upload it later.

• Splish Splash! - Kaylee loves playing in her new pool, and was pretty ok with going to the public pool. I think she just didn't know what to think of it, and hopefully will be happier next time.

I have started thinking of plans for Kaylee's birthday party. I feel totally responsible for making this a wonderful party for her, but I have NO ideas of a good theme.....ok thats a lie, I am considering either Frogs, Horses, or Kitties. I just can't decide which.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

I have been SO busy this past few weeks, but I promise there are posts coming. This one had to come first though, because I feel awful that it happened, and wish I could take it back. Let me just say that this kind of thing DOES NOT HAPPEN REGULARLY! I think anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows I have my dogs' best interests at heart. This was just a combination of a bad snap decision, laziness, and plain and simple stupidity on my part. Please don't judge my treatment of my dogs on this.

Patriot went to my parents' house for a few days to visit two weeks ago. They miss having him around, and I had company staying here, and he gets a little too wound up for being around two little babies.....mine and my sister's.

He came back with a little habit of barking at the door when he wants back in the house. Not incessant barking, but enough that I wanted to do something about it. I tried just ignoring it, telling him no through the window and door, but nothing was working. Then the other day I was at the grocery store and ran across this:

Looks harmless enough right? We learned otherwise......

It is supposed to be one of those sonic bark control things, and I liked that I could just set it outside by the door. I figured after a couple barks he wouldn't do it anymore. The first time I put it out, he NEVER tried to bark so I figured he was just choosing to be good and hadn't set it off yet.

Then I thought of putting it by the front door to see if it would stop Hobbs from barking at every sound outside. That is when the trouble, and my stupidity, started.

It had been by the door for a while, and Hobbs kept jumping up randomly and barking just once and then would come to hide behind me, or would go hide in the bedroom. I figured that he was being corrected for barking by the controller thing and didn't give it a second thought.

The next day, I was busy paying bills and dealing with money stuff while Kaylee played on the floor. She was fussy, and talking/screaming a lot. Hobbs kept coming over to me and I thought maybe he was just being extra sensitive to her for some reason (he kind of has been ever since we had two babies in the house).

Honestly I had completely forgotten the little thing was on. I used to sell something similar at PetSmart, and when those ones made their noise, I could always hear it. I figured it would be the same with this one and hadn't heard it yet so I didn't think the dogs were triggering it.

I couldn't figure out what was going on with Hobbs......until I realized he was shaking, and had his fear hackles up (just the ones right above his tail). I jumped up and walked over to where the controller was and Kaylee had picked it up and was banging it on the floor. I turned it off, and everyone calmed down. After I turned it off, I realized that Patriot had gone in the bedroom to sleep rather than just getting on the couch. I felt awful and took them on a impromptu walk to get it out of their minds and to relieve some stress (mine and theirs) from the incident. Even after this, I figured it was only being triggered because Kaylee was playing with it and screaming into it.

Over this past week I only used it outside when the boys went out, and i was impressed that Patriot never even tried to bark. I thought he probably tested it when I was out of hearing range of him and had learned his lesson. Again, Stupid, Stupid, STUPID me!

Then today happened. Robert's friend and mine were over with their dog Ginny who also is a door barker so we turned on the thing and put it outside by the door. Surprisingly neither of the dogs even tried barking so we figured they were busy playing together. Patriot LOVES her and they play constantly while they were here so it wasn't too far of a mental leap. Looking back on it, I feel like I was being completely, stupidly, oblivious to what was going on.

After leaving the dogs out to play for a couple hours this morning they had to leave and we opened the door to let Ginny in. It was CHAOS! All three dogs were desperate to get in the house. Even Patriot was ready to climb over whoever was in his way. I was shocked, but it quickly came to my mind that the little controller was probably the problem. Ginny got over it pretty quickly, but Patriot was growling and chattering like he does when he is super nervous about something on our walks......something, I might add, he hasn't done in well over a year so I knew something was seriously wrong.

Hobbs was a mess. He was shaking so bad his legs were slipping on the floor, his hackles were up from his head to his tail, he was cowering panting, yawning, and whining all at the same time. As soon as they came in I had rushed out to turn the stupid thing off, and i went so far as to take that batteries out just in case it was malfunctioning and wasn't turning off.

After I turned it off, I took them both out in the yard to play. I had to bribe Hobbs with treats to get him outside. Patriot came out looking like he expected the sky to fall on him. I immediately started playing with them both, wrestling, sending Hobbs over jumps, throwing treats, toys, and generally trying to get them both as wound up as I could. After a minute they were both running scooties around the yard, and seemed to be back to normal. We went back inside and they have both been snoozing since.

Needless to say, the stupid bark thing is in the garbage as I type. I will NEVER NEVER buy something like that again. It is SO not worth what damage could have (and maybe was) been done. I have no idea what was setting it off, or if it was just crap and was constantly going off, but I feel like I should have caught on to what was happening WAY sooner than I did. I am crossing my fingers that Hobbs is not too traumatized. Patriot is more able to get over stuff like this so I am not really worried about him.

So there you have it. I feel like this is BY FAR the worst mistake I have made as a dog owner.

Hate the new blog "Design"

I have always had a custom-ish background for my blog, but a couple days ago I screwed it up. I was playing around with the new blogger designs and changed mine just for fun. Now I can't get it back on the Minima template that is required to have the pretty backgrounds!

Does anyone know how to either get it back to minima or get the backgrounds to work on these templates?

This is as good as I have gotten it, so if nothing else, I will leave it like this.

** Edit - Ok, now that I have played around with it some more, it isn't too bad. I still miss the old way, but don't hate this one anymore.

Sister Visit - Days 13-15

I don't know how two weeks turned into 15 days, but I am too sick to try to figure it out.

Yep, I am still sick. I caught whatever Robert had, and now Kaylee is acting like she is getting sick too. I am hoping it is just teething that is making her nose run. That is her only symptom so far.

Day 13:

Mom and Jenetta are still down in Mona at my parents house. They are coming up tomorrow afternoon.

Day 14:

I am getting sicker by the day, and hopefully will not stay sick too long. Mom and Jenetta came over later this after noon and are staying the night to go to the airport in the morning. We cleaned the house today, and finally got all the books put away in the library/front room. It is nice to have that room looking nice. I let Kaylee play in her new pool, which she loved, but I hope that being in the not-so-warm water doesn't get her sick. I didn't really think through that one :(

Day 15:

I was sad to say goodbye to Jenetta and my mom today. It has been great having them around, and getting to know my niece a little more. I wish they lived closer so we could spend more time together. I get to see them at the cabin in August (hopefully) which will be fun. I am still really sick, and don't feel like writing up a great post about the past few days.

Pool Fun

I bought Kaylee a really cute little pool yesterday, and got to let her play in it today! The plan is to take her to the public pool on Saturday with Robert so I want her to be comfortable with the water when we go. Hopefully this will get her used to being wet in water that isn't bath temperature.

I blew it up and then let it sit in the sun on the lawn for most of the day before I put Kaylee in it. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't frigid hose water either! Here are the pictures I took. This is the first time I have used this feature of Photobucket, so hopefully it works!

And it didn't! How do I get a collage of pictures to work on here?

Anyways, here are the pictures the regular way!

She was really unsure of it at first, so we had to sit on the back step for a while, then moved gradually closer on the cement until I got her close enough to sit on the grass next to it.

I was really glad that I have learned how to slowly introduce new things to unsure dogs, so I didn't just take her out and plop her in the pool. I think that would have really scared her, so I am glad that my first instinct was to take it slow. I was totally prepared to not have her go in the pool if she wasn't comfortable enough with it.

Once I showed her how to splash in the water she was much more interested in it.

Her had took the plunge first

and she watched it float (and then sink) away

She spent a lot of time crawling around and kneeling up against the sides to splash in different places.

It fascinated her

and she loved it!

Then she was willing to get in, and was constantly making this face. It is her "Oh, I LOVE This!" face

This is my favorite picture of the day

She really got into the splashing!

enough that Hobbs was nervous

She would splash it into her face, and then

Make this face and look at me like "look what I did!" It was really adorable, and showed her personality so much. You really have to enlarge this one to appreciate her face.

This really is a happy face.....everyone that sees it thinks she must be cold.

I didn't realize until I went through the pictures that the wind was even blowing....but it was blowing hard enough to lift her hair straight up on her head! She never acted cold though, so I guess it didn't bother her too much.

I decided to stand up for a couple pictures, and as soon as I did she about fell over trying to reach the side of the pool. It just about gave me a heart attack!

She wanted back out of the pool, and started exploring the sides of it, trying to lift it up to see under it.

And, of course, she wanted to splash some more!

It was a really fun afternoon, even though I was feeling pretty sick. I can't wait to go to the pool with her!

Sister Visit - Days 8-12

Day 8:

I headed down to my parents house a while after Kaylee's morning nap, and we basically just relaxed the whole day, letting the girls play. It is always nice to be at my parents house because it feels so much like home. A weird thing happened though, Kaylee absolutely refused to take her second nap! She screamed bloody murder for half an hour while I tried to convince her to go to sleep. Finally I gave up, and she was happy for the rest of the day! She went to bed an hour early, but that was it!

Day 9:

After only taking one nap last night, I expected Kaylee to have a really bad night. But she slept, and slept, and slept, until finally I had to wake her up at 8:15. Normally, I start praying around 6:30 that she stays asleep at least until 7, and she hasn't slept in until 8 for over a month. Maybe going to one nap wont be that bad!

That morning we took the girls outside to play and visit with the animals. Kaylee has been a little hesitant around the horses since one sneezed on her last time we were there. I took it slow, and by the end of the morning I got her to pat one of them on the neck. She really liked the chickens and of course the cats.

The plan for the day started out that we were going to go up to canoe on the lake, but it changed into just going up the canyon for a cookout. To do that we needed the girls to take only one nap again that day. Evie ended up needing two, and Kaylee could have used two but made it through just fine with one. I was shocked!

The cookout site

Kaylee in the playpen - which she thought was really great for a while

Dad and Mom

The girls just got to hang out together in the pack n play. They pretty much kept to themselves until Kaylee stood up and started walking OVER Evie to see things.

Kaylee dumping snacks all over the floor

Evie

It was really beautiful up the canyon, and it made me miss going camping. I can't wait to go to Mirror Lake next month!

Kaylee REALLY didn't want to be on this little log by the stream. Even when I put her on it, she was trying to get away.

Grandma Smith and Evie

Grandma Smith and Kaylee

Evie on the log - I really like this picture for some reason

After playing in the stream we went for a "Hike" down the road. Really we just walked with the girls about 20 feet down the road and then came back. They loved it though!

Wiping the mud off her toes before putting her back in the pack and play.

Finally the coals were ready for us to cook on, so we got out the huge hot dogs and everything that goes with them. Kaylee wasn't a huge fan of the whole hot dog + bun + fixings, but she liked little pieces of just the hot dog.

Jenetta roasting her hot dog

and me.....

We roasted a few marshmallows afterward, and shared a taste with both the girls.

Kaylee seemed to like everything about it except the stickiness.

Evie enjoyed her bite too

Day 10:

It was pretty rainy the rest of the weekend, so we spent a lot of time in the house playing with the girls. Kaylee had another LONG night's sleep after her one nap, but needed the two naps this day.

The girls sitting together amongst the toys

Kaylee love the little pink ball on top of the coffee table, and she kept it with her most of the day

Our living situation for the day

That morning my dad helped out by feeding the girls their cereal. Evie was originally going to get fed by him, but Kaylee was so interested that I let him feed her too.

It was really cute because he would give her a bite,

scoop up some more,

and give Evelyn a bite

My mom gave Kaylee "horsie rides" on her knee

basically bouncing her wildly around on her knee while making horse sounds

Kaylee was giggling like crazy during these

and then would lay back against her Grandma with her mouth open wide. It was adorable!

Robert got there late that night, and was planning to stay for the weekend. It was great to have him there.

Day 11:

This was the day for SHOPPING!! Since Robert was there to take care of Kaylee, and my dad was there for Evie, Mom, Jenetta, and I decided to go shopping. We spent the morning playing with the babies, and then meant to leave as soon as both went down for their naps. Kaylee decided she wasn't tired yet though so we left her still awake. Luckily she went to sleep shortly after we left, and slept for a LONG time. She ended up only taking one nap again that day.

Kaylee enjoying attention from her Daddy

We went to a bunch of stores together, and spent WAY too much time in "The Quilted Bear" looking at more crafty stuff than we would ever be able to fit in our houses. We bought some really cute bath toys for each girl, and a set for Grandma's house. Then we all got new colorful purses! I am so glad that my friend Sandy made me buy a bright colored purse earlier this year. I don't think I will ever go back to having a black or brown one again. It was nice to "convert" my mom and sister to colorful purses too.

When we got back, we were all tired, and took a nap. Then we played with the girls some more, and let them have their new toys.

I think I have mentioned before that Jenetta uses cloth diapers on Evie, but if I haven't here is a picture of her cute fluffy bum!

This is just a big cat toy! Kaylee loves the little tiny jingly ball we have for Turtle, so we got these bigger ones for both girls. As you can see, Kaylee is in LOVE!

The pig bath toy we bought for Grandma's house.....I think Kaylee's face says it all

You can see the giraffe bath toys we bought for our house at the bottom of the picture.

Unfortunately, Robert had to leave to go to work that evening, and wasn't able to stay for the next day. I love him and appreciate that he works to hard to support us. I feel bad though that he doesn't get many weekends off anymore.

Day 12:

I had been feeling sick since Wednesday, and it came to a head on Sunday morning. I wasn't feeling like getting out of bed, let alone going to church, so Kaylee and I stayed home. She didn't sleep nearly as well that night after her 1 nap, and then didn't take a good first nap. I think she was starting to get sick too. Also her top tooth was coming through making her gums painfully swollen. I blocked off the stairs and laid on the couch while she played on the floor. I am SO grateful that she is happy to play beside me more often than not. It makes being so sick a little easier.

I left for home after dinner than evening, and got home just in time to get more sick, and feel like crap. Robert got to come home just in time to see Kaylee off to bed, and try to help me feel better. He was sick too, but with something different than me. Boo to being sick!