Life with Puppy: week one

Not long before we brought Stella home, I was talking to a friend of mine and I mentioned that we were getting a puppy. She said, "Oh, wow. Get ready to have another newborn!" And I was all, "I know, right?!" I mean, I had read FOUR puppy training/preparedness books and I had dogs growing up, so I felt like I knew what I was getting myself into. And there haven't been too many surprises. It's just an adjustment, having another family member.

Those photos make it look like she sleeps all the time, but the fact is that she's moving too fast for photos when she's awake. She does take several naps a day, but overall Stella's not much like a newborn. She's more like a toddler who doesn't wear a diaper, doesn't speak English, and has very sharp teeth.
BUT, I gotta give Stella some props, too. She's a real champ in the housebreaking department! I don't think I need to go into more details with that, but yeah. She's doing well. And as puppies go, she's really quite calm. A few times a day she'll get rowdy and clobber the kids, and I'm not sure how to get her to stop doing that. I'd love some advice from you veteran dog owners.
Walks are fun, and I like that having Stella has forced us to get out more than we usually do. So far we've been good about taking her for at least two walks a day, and today we even got out in nature. Complete with lake and forest. Beeeeeeautiful. My favorite of the pictures below is the one in which Isobel looks like some kind of intense warrior maiden. Too bad I didn't dress her tough-looking clothes.
Check out Stella's shiny red coat! She so purdy. I tried and tried to get a photo of her holding still AND looking at the camera, but had no luck today.

Stella!

She is wrinkly and soft and cuddly and good. We love her.

I thrive best hermit-style, with a beard and a pipe.

I haven't left the house since Sunday. We all have colds, the weather's been uncooperative, and Brooke is in Las Vegas at a food show. Not the funnest week ever, but not the worst either. And I can't really complain because we had an awesome weekend! It was the big NO KIDS trip up to the wedding in Baltimore, and everything went swimmingly. I took a few photos with my phone (thank you, instagram, for helping me to not regret forgetting my camera).







































The wedding was held in an incredible library in The Peabody Institute- Johns Hopkins' well-respected music school. It was a stunning setting, a lovely ceremony, and a lot of fun. Nicole captured the event with beautiful photos that you can see here if you're into wedding stalking. (I know I am.) Here's one of my favorites:
And while I'm at it, I've got a few other fairly recent instagram pics to share. I love this app.

in time of daffodils

in time of daffodils (who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remembering how
in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so (forgetting seem)
in time of roses (who amaze
our now and here with praise)
forgetting if, remember yes
in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek (forgetting find)
and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me, remember me

- e.e.cummings

New hobbies, a dress, and puppy love

A few weeks ago we had Brooke's parents down for a quick visit to celebrate Jude's birthday. His mom brought her faincy new camera and got this fantastic portrait of Jude.I'm honestly a little obsessed with that photo. His fuzzy hair, his expression, those serious dark eyes... she really "captured" little Jude.




She also took this shot of Isobel participating in one of her new favorite activities: climbing. We have these decorative iron grates on either side of our side door that hold up a little roof. Isobel climbs them all the way to the top, until her feet are at my eye level. It makes me a little nervous, since she's surrounded by our concrete patio; I tend to hover. But she gets up and down just fine, and the girl seems to have no fear.

Apparently, little Brooke was a never-tiring ball of energy who used to climb the doorjams inside the house. Is the urge to climb things a hereditary trait?


And is loving to read hereditary? Because Jude has a new hobby, too! Books.







We've cultivated a pretty nice collection of children's books, and they're shelved on an Expedit bookcase in Isobel's room. Jude likes to take all of them (or as many as possible) off the shelves. Note his glee.

I usually let him get away with this, though, because it's a pretty safe and healthy thing for him to get into. And the best part is that he'll usually sit there and flip through the books, looking and pointing at pictures, for a few minutes all by himself. It is adorable. One of my biggest hopes is that my children will love reading as much as I do. And maybe someday they'll also learn to love the rather time-consuming task of putting away the books.




In other news, I finally bought a dress for the wedding Brooke and I will be attending next weekend! The original three contenders were all sold out in my size, but that's ok because I'm in love with the Ingrid dress from Shabby Apple. Hold up. Can I just say how much I HATE HATE HATE that brand name? HATE. It's so stupid, and it doesn't match the style of clothing at all. But obviously I got over my hatred to some degree, since I now own a dress (at left) with a tag that says Shabby Apple. Now if only I could resist rolling my eyes every time I read those words.

To answer the question everyone must be wondering, no I did not lose enough weight to justify this purchase. I ran out of time and so I just bought the dress I wanted. Cheating didn't really work out so well, though, because it fits like a glove. Like the glove O.J. Simpson tried on to prove he wasn't guilty. I'll definitely be more comfortable in it once I lose a few more pounds.



But enough about me. Let's talk about PUPPIES! We are getting one! In a few weeks! I can hardly wait! I grew up with dogs, and weaning Jude gave me puppy fever bad. I read about lots of different breeds, conferred with Brooke the small dog h8r, and settled on a Redbone Coonhound. Here are some photos- the first is of our puppy (or possibly her sister) from a few weeks ago. The second is a redbone at about 8 weeks- the age she'll be when we bring her home.















zOMG!!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I've been reading about puppies and puppy training nonstop. I haven't settled on a name, but I've narrowed it down quite a bit. Please help me out by voting in my poll (see top right of this page).

Oyvay, this post has gotten long. I think that's it for now.

one.

I can hardly believe that one year ago today Jude was born. A year sounds like such a long time for him to have been with us, but then I also think "He's still such a baby! Can he really be a whole year old?" And what a wonderful baby he is. He's so calm and sweet and (if I do say so my self) cute as a bug's ear. We love him to bits! I'm so happy to have him in our family.

To celebrate we had a nice little lunch party with our friends, The Warings (Ashley made the cool cut-out at left!), before Brooke left for a business trip this afternoon.
















I think we'll leave the photo garland up for about a week, and then I'll dismantle it and put it in a photo album. I did the same thing for Isobel's first and second birthdays. I forgot to do it for her third birthday. Yeah, I'm a bad mom. So maybe it'll just be a baby thing. Actually, I think it'd be cool to do it as a New Year decoration, with the family's best photos from the previous year.
Those cupcakes are nutella flavored, and they were delicious. I have no idea why they're concave, though. Can any of you master bakers explain that to me? I followed the recipe to a T, honest!














Good times were had, especially by Jude. Can you imagine what it would be like to experience cupcakes for the first time? Talk about a red letter day for him. The only other time he's had sugar (to my knowledge) was about a week ago when Isobel sneaked him an Oreo. And he only had it for, like, 30 seconds before I snatched it away from him.

Happy birthday, little loverboy.

Catch Up

At the beginning of this month, we had a visit from some of our very favorite people in the whole wide world. It was fun, and crazy, and fun. I'm not sure why I didn't take very many pictures. Might've been because we spent a lot of time indoors and I don't feel confident about the photos I take without natural light, so I didn't even bother. These are Nicole's beautiful captures:


























We got to celebrate Brooke's birthday with NicoBob & Co. Brace yourself; this photo doesn't feature a delicious and lovely birthday cake.
Brooke doesn't particularly like cake (or any manner of sweets, really) so he requested his favorite cookies. They are known affectionately in my family as "Gorilla Turds." Nicole's family calls them "Poo Burgers." I like how both names are sort of the opposite of euphemisms. Which moniker is less appetizing?
And lastly, a photo of everyone squinting into the sun. Thanks for the memories, guys! Come again SOON!
(Oh, and if that wasn't enough Shiffler family excitement for you, you can check out Nicole's posts about the trip: 1, 2, and 3.)