My Frog Prince

Today I decided to strap myself sit down and start pumping out those dang wedding invitations that have been sitting in my "DIY room" for a month. I don't know what got into me. Maybe the fact that the laundry is all done, I had already worked out every day this week, been to the grocery store, had the day off...no more procrastination was allowed.

I propped up the laptop on my beloved Pandora (Carrie Underwood radio today...I was feeling sentimental) and got to work. And you know what? I think I came up with a system. Instead of compeltely doing one invitation at a time from start to finish, I made it more like an assembly line process to about 10 at a time: score, trace, cut, tape, fold...repeat.

This whole process was taking place in my little sister's room at my mom's house. She moved out not too long ago and left a vacant space perfect for storing wedding junk and projects that I could just come back to when I wanted instead of having to clear off the kitchen table every day. In Meghan's room are these huge built in bookshelves which are currently holding all her childhood stuffed animals. One of these animals is a large, bright green frog that I believe she won from selling Girl Scout cookies like 10 years ago.

While I was slaving away...Charlie wandered over to the bookshelf, gingerly tugged on the froggie toe hanging over the edge, dragged it to right next to my chair and cuddled up. In all honesty I was expecting him to wrestle that thing to death, but he didn't. He just cozied right up to it's big googly eyeballs and took a puppy nap. Gosh, I love that puppy. Just the company of having him in the room (and the distraction of taking his cute photo every 5 minutes) was enough to keep me trucking through 34 of those dang things. 34 doesn't seem like much, but considering they started out as flat sheets of 7x15" cardstock and are now beautiful pocketfolds...it is impressive, okay?

 Charlie isn't that impressed either...

Here he is, my little frog prince:

  

Eyeball Pillows:

  

He's almost too big for it!

  

Eventually, the exhaustion just became too much for him:

  

So cute its ridiculous. I cannot believe how attached we are to him (and him to us). Puppy love is one of the best kinds.

Catch Up Day

Wow. I really am doing horribly at keeping up with blogging lately. Guess it's time to play catch up!

Just a few days ago, we reached yet another huge milestone. We are now exactly five months away from the big day. All I can say about that, is that - just like expected - time is moving incredibly fast. That is both good and bad. Good- because I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with Josh as my husband! Bad- because there is still SO much to do and I honestly wonder sometimes how it is all going to get done!

My new job is going well. I am loving the fact that for the first time in 4 years, it's not really a job that requires strenuous thinking on a daily basis. All I mean by that is, basically I just have to show up and go through the motions. And often, the store is pretty slow, so that leaves me a lot of time to scheme and dream up things for the wedding. All this downtime convinced me too, that I should go back to school. That is a pretty big step for me since I swore off college about two years ago after starting but not finishing my 2nd consecutive semester. I really did not have a choice. It was so upsetting to me to watch all my friends just go to school and work when they could. I had to work...that came first. So I decided I was not going to let it get the better of me, and I would just act like I was too cool for school. :) Well, after a couple years it is fairly obvious that you cannot get anything besides a retail job without a college degree. I originally went to school to become a teacher. After teaching at a preschool (much different than high school yes, but still ) I realized maybe that was not the proper place for me. I love people. I love planning. I love making things easier for others. When I do finally go back, I'll be going to get my degree in Hospitality and Tourism. I figure there is so much I could do with that degree...my main goal is to use it to be a catering manager in a hotel. That way, I can help other brides plan their perfect day, and wedding planning will always be a part of my life!

Anyway, future dreams aside...we had to figure out how to make this wedding happen. Even with me working, the money situation was not looking good. Josh and I had a big heart to heart and laid everything out on the table. What we have. What we need. What we can go without. We made a huge Excel spreadsheet of everything and its cost and after doing that, it looks like we can make it happen with lots of help. Thankfully we have so many amazing people in our lives willing to support us through this whole endeavor. It is really special to have people on our side who realize how much Josh and I love eachother and want not only this wedding...but this marriage.

On the list right now: invitations. Those suckers are killing me. Currently, I am staring at the pile of unmade pocketfolds on the table with extreme amounts of loathing. At some point today, I will just have to suck it up, throw on some Pandora and get cracking. *sigh*

On a *lighter* note: my workout regimin really seems to be working. I have been at it for a little over a month and I have lost 10 pounds. I am already almost at my goal weight for the wedding. When I started working out, these were my various body measurements:

Bust: 34.5"
Upper Arm: 11.5"
Waist: 28"
Hips: 38.5" <--------this is the killer. I HATE my huge hips.
Upper Thigh: 24" <-------also incredibly gross to me
Thigh: 19.5"

A month later, after working out 5 days a week: 45 minutes to an hour of strength training and dance pilates and then 12 minutes per day of cardio:

Bust: 31" <-----figures these would be the first to go lol
Upper Arm: 10"
Waist: 25.5"
Hips: 36"
Upper Thigh: 21"
Thigh: 18"

Altogether that creates a total loss of 14.5 inches from around my body. I am not a very big person to begin with. I am absolutely shocked at the results I have seen so far. No gimmicks. No fad diets. Just good old fashioned working out and sweating. It has been so hard. Every day I have a few minutes where I just want to give up. And then I pull out the old size 5s out of the closet and they slip on easily and it is all worth it. I have not been in a size 5 since I was a senior in high school. Ultimately I would like to get down to a size 3. I know I still need to be healthy though so I am just going to keep doing what I am doing and let my body do what it feels like. I already look and feel so much better. It is so nice not to look in the mirror and be disgusted. The best part? No more squishy spots around the top of my pants. I think I was 15 the last time I could say that!
I will post photos of the before and after workout pretty soon. If I can manage to not be completely embarrassed by the before ones.

Our Charlie looks like a full grown dog now. Granted he is still little, but compared to the little punkin we brought home, he just seems huge now. He is so completely hilarious. Everyone keeps telling me I should write a book about life with Charlie. I keep joking I could call it "Charlie and Me" instead of "Marley and Me"...he really is just as much trouble as that dog. The other day, I was about to be late for work...frantically looking for my car keys. I remembered I left them on the end table (a very bad idea with Charlie). After tearing the living room apart, something told me the little monster had taken them outside. I had no clue where to even begin looking...but I was walking by a planter on the back patio when Charlie did a rather gymnastic pounce into it. Dirt went flying everywhere and the unmmistakable sound of metal clinking together rang out. He had buried my keys in the planter! It was all such a fun game for him to show me where they were too. I honestly could not even be mad. I was laughing too hard. He is almost 5 months old now and our (well Josh's) current heartache is that we have to "de-man" him soon. Ha ha. When we talk about neutering Charlie, you would think we were talking about doing it to Josh. He just looks so appalled at the idea. :) Men.

Charlie the day we brought him home (8 weeks old)

***note how he is smaller than one of those photo boxes which is like a shoe box***

Charlie today. (5 months)

 

His ears turned super pointy on us! My dad says he looks like a bat. I would have to agree. He also sits funny all the time like in this photo...all far back on his hips. Goofy. But we love him.

Who Needs Movies?

Throughout our relationship, Josh and I have had a tradition of movie watching. Whether its going to the movie theater which I L-o-v-e...not just for the movies but for the whole experience, being addicted to our Netflix or watching some old favorites, our date nights at some point usually consist of a movie.

Since we got Charlie, we have not had the opportunity to go out to a movie...at first I was really missing it. And then I realized that I don't need a movie to entertain me, because I have the most spastic, hysterical puppy of all time right here. We shot this video of him in bed with us the other night. We were trying to get him to settle down and I moved my arm under the blankets and he started acting like an absolute maniac. I went and grabbed my camera, and we proceeded in laughing ourselves into tears about this little freak. It starts a little slow, but seriously...watch til the end...and try to ignore my hysterical, obnoxious laughter!

ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6L7GuTAKBM

Puppy Problems

We have officially had Charlie for a whole week now. It has been a very long week. Normal puppy obstacles alone are tiring, but since Thursday we have had a very rough time. Thanks to me being paranoid, good vet care and lots of puppy prayers, it seems now that the worst is over and I have some time to sit down and play catch up about everything going on with us, so here we go!

When Josh got home from work on Wednesday, Charlie was so excited to see him that he did not want to let him go anywhere alone. This week in Colorado, we have had some seriously cold and snowy days and Charlie REALLY hates being outside...I think it must be a combination of him being so small and the cold ground hurting his little feet. Anyway, Josh went outside to smoke a cigarette (a yucky habit of his that we are trying to break before the wedding *wink*) and Charlie wanted to go. Since Charlie hates being outside, I went to in order to hold him (uhm, yes he is the most spoiled creature ever). Everything was going great, Josh and I were just talking when all of a sudden Charlie apparently saw something he wanted. He began squirming and being out of control and took a diving leap out of my arms. Somehow, I sort of half caught him and he squirmed again and fell probably 3 feet from my hands and landed on his side on the concrete. I could hear the air being knocked out of him...and then he started screaming. Screaming is the only word I can use to describe the sound he was making, it was high pitched, terrified, hurt and HORRIBLE. I scooped him up and he kept crying so Josh took him and he relaxed. I felt SO bad, I was crying so worried about him. We felt him all over and tested his walking and everything seemed okay, but I was still worried so we called the Emergency Vet and they said it happened all the time and unless he started pooping or puking blood he would be okay. I did not sleep much that night, I kept waking up to make sure he was okay. All we could do at this point was wait and see.

On Thursday after he ate his breakfast, I noticed that Charlie really did not want to do anything. He would play for me for a few minutes but then he would just collapse on the floor, and fall asleep. I know that puppies are big sleepers but this seemed really unusal to me. I am the type of person doctors hate because I Google EVERYTHING. I know all about every disease, sickness, and symptom in the book, and often it brings little solace. Usually, I end up freaking myself out more. I was definitely on the lookout for puppy concussion. Because of his odd behavior, I was really watching him closely all day. He just seemed so tired, and he wanted to be on me. He would not sleep on the floor, the couch, his kennel, he wanted to sleep in my arms. This was also very odd. Around noon I decided he should get up and go potty and get some exercise so I put him on the floor and he would just lay down. I took him to his water and he would turn his head away from the bowl like he was going to gag. I just kept getting more and more worried. I decided to call our family vet, a sweet little old man who runs his practice like a country doctor. When I took him in, I mentioned his fall and the vet assured me nothing was wrong and his sleepyness was probably due to a little puppy cold (Charlie had a runny nose).

Basically, I had to accept the fact that the dog was fine and I was just being paranoid. Everyone was making fun of me and telling me I worried too much. I had to just laugh it off because we had just gotten a clean bill of health from the vet. However, as the night went on, I just began worrying more. He had started to become really listless and lethargic. He was crawling under our coffee table and just laying there, staring off into space. I know for a fact that when a dog is sick, or God forbid, dying they always go off on their own and try to hide. Still more worrying. He would not eat or drink. More worrying. My last straw was when he finally cuddled up to me and his nose felt super hot and he put his front paws and his nose in my hand. I noticed almost immediately that the pads on the bottom of his front feet were swollen to almost twice their size. When I put him down to see if he could walk, he was walking with his legs stiff, not bending at all and on the very tiptoes like it hurt him. Then he would plop down and start licking his feet. I could tell they were bugging him. He just looked sick. Bleary eyes, bulging tummy. hot nose, diarrhea...we called the puppy hospital at 2:00 a.m, when I could no longer take his suffering.

We loaded him up and made the short drive to the animal ER and met with the very sweet night vet there. She said he didn't have a high temperature and he was acting okay, she also said any of his symptoms were probably not from his little fall. I wanted to be absolutely sure that he was okay so they ran 3 tests: parvo, giardia and worms. Seriously, 20 minutes later the tests were back. They were so fast and professional and sweet when I was so worried. They informed us that Charlie baby had Giardia, a nasty intestinal parasite that is not uncommon with small puppies. She told us to be super glad it was not Parvo because almost all puppies lose that battle, but that we could probably solve this bug pretty easily. We were prescribed a deworming medicine and sent home. $350 later and we had a sick, sad puppy and a bottle of medicine we prayed would solve the issue.

It's been 3 days since that scary vet visit and Charlie has been improving in leaps and bounds. The medicine is really chalky and yucky and he hates it, but he is a really good boy. We found out that it really wipes him out. After he takes it, he sleeps for about 3 hours before he is even up for doing anything else. But I am happy because he has been playing more each day and he is even eating with enthusiasm today. Who knew a puppy you only had for a week could worry you so much? It's amazing how fast we fell in love. Hopefully, these hurdles will pass soon and Josh and I can pay attention to each other a little more. Haha, we have definitely experienced what happens when a couple has a child...it definitely changes everything. Although its a change, its a good thing and we are so happy and blessed to have our little Charlie bug.

Kennel Training

Oh how this little puppy has changed our lives. Josh and I had decided even after marriage, we did not want to try to have kids for awhile. Mostly because we want to be selfish and enjoy each other for a year or two. Truthfully, the biggest part of that for me is SLEEP! I am greedy with sleep, I LOVE it, if I don't get my 8 hours, you probably do not want to be around me. Well, I guess we should have applied that same logic to a puppy, huh?

Needless to say, the past 4 nights have been long...and quite wearing. Poor Josh is having to pep talk me through the whole kennel training thing. The puppy is really doing great. But he cries when we put him in his kennel at night, and it is a pathetic, horrible sound. As an animal lover to the core, his little cries hurt me! I guess now I know what people mean when they say they can't stand hearing their kids cry. (Yes I did just compare mommies with children to me and my puppy, so?)

Basically, because we live in an apartment, it is absolutely impossible to have to get up the 5 times he wants to in the night and put his leash on, walk him all the way outside and stand there in the freezing February temperatures that Colorado has blessed us with. Well, not impossible per se...but I can tell you its definitely not on my list of favorite things. At night we have a puppy pad on the tile floor of our bathroom and when he cries, that's where we take him. It's been going fine, Charlie likes it too because he's so tiny he hates going out in the cold. The only problem with this method is that once he goes potty, he has to go back into his kennel...and he just does not understand that. I feel like we are doing something wrong. Josh says its because we don't put him in his kennel during the day, so he is not used to it. Because of this theory, I am typing this while my baby Charlie SLEEPS in his kennel. Don't tell Josh this, but I think he may be right. He is acting today like the kennel is a safe place that he can relax in. He only cried a little bit and then just fell asleep.

I can almost hear the Hallelujah chorus! Up til now, he would only sleep cuddled up next to me, and so then when I would move to go do something, he would wake up and follow me. I really have not gotten anything done the past couple days. Well, besides playing with a puppy to tire him out and chasing him around to make sure he doesn't pee on the carpet (which, despite all my efforts he has done plenty of times now)

All of have to say during this ordeal is thank God for my amazing fiance, who shows great patience and love to both this new puppy and to me. And thank God for Fantastic spray and puppy pads so my entire apartment does not smell like puppy pee. Oh, and of course, thank God for bringing us little Charlie. <3 He really is such a sweet, sweet blessing despite the little hiccups we have been through so far. I wouldn't change it for the world.

Charlie

As I sit here writing this, I have on my lap one of the biggest blessings of my life. He is an 8 week old blue heeler, wirehaired terrier, dachsund mix. Yes, a mutt. But a very sweet, tiny, adorable mutt. And besides, I am a firm believer in the fact that mutts are the best kind.

About 2 months ago, Josh and I were at a local pet store just for fun. We can across a couple little blue heelers. We had been around and around about what kind of dog we could agree on when we finally got one. Josh likes dogs like huskies, german shepards and boxers. I love all those kind of dogs as well, but what I really wanted was something not girly, definitely not a purse dog (do not get me started on people who do stupid stuff like that), but something that was relatively small and would tolerate apartment life well. I liked Shiba Inus, Jack Russel Terriers (yes I know, they're hyper) and any kind of medium size mix-breed. That day in the pet store, Josh and I found some common ground: blue heelers. They are such adorable dogs, with their speckled fur and that look of pure mischief. The crazy pet store wanted a little more than $500 for a dog from a puppy mill. We definitely did not want to go that route, but we were on the lookout for a good puppy.

On Friday, my mom was sneakily putting a hold on a rescue puppy from way down south in Alamosa. He was a mutt, but looked like a mini blue heeler. I had seen him online and fell in love. As it turned out, we were the second on the list to hold this puppy. We did not think we had much of a chance but late on Friday night, my mom got a call saying that the first hold had fallen through, and if we still wanted the dog we could have him if we got to Colorado Springs by 10:45 am the next day. Everything happened so fast from there. Josh and I had to decide quickly, if we were willing to gamble a 1.5 hour long drive to go get a puppy we had never even met. We also had to decide if we could even have a puppy right now. Puppies cost money, and I am out of a job currently. That actually ended up being the determining factor: since I was not working, we figured what better time than now? I would be home with the puppy to help him get situated, potty trained, etc. Long story short, Josh and I were out the door at 8:30 am yesterday.

When we pulled up to the Petsmart in Colorado Springs, I was very nervous. I had no idea what to expect from an adoption event like this. I was also being paranoid that I would have to fight for the puppy I wanted. We walked in and were led to the back of the store, into the stock room. There, about 10 volunteers were busy putting up makeshift pens in a wide circle. We watched as they started hauling in crate after crate of puppies, kitties and lastly, large older dogs. All of this was breaking my heart. I knew somewhere in all that was my little puppy, but it was killing me to know that most of these animals would be going right back to the shelter at the end of the day. Eventually, a lady asked the crowd if anyone had a hold on a puppy. I raised my hand and told her what I was looking for. After a couple minutes of searching through the pens, she brought over a wriggling, squirmy, excited little black bundle. She handed him right to Josh and immediately the puppy started whining and licking and wagging his whole body. This puppt was a lover from the beginning. I sat down in the middle of this nasty storeroom and fell in love. So did everyone else. All the people around me were freaking out about the puppy that was ours. It was funny.

 

Turns out, everything was all down hill from there. There were TWO people who could help you fill out the necessary paperwork, take the money, screen potential adopters, etc. And let me tell you something: there were a LOT more than two people who wanted to walk out of there with a puppy. It took 3 hours for me to finally get everything situated to where we could leave. Poor Josh had to walk around the store countless times with a restless puppy, while I had to stand squished between tons of people trying to write and trying to ignore the madness around me. Truthfully, this was the most devastating experience for me. There was a whole pen of husky-shepherd puppies and they were so so so sick. They were teeny, could not have been more than 8 weeks. Unlike all the other puppies who were hopping up and down and whining for attention, these babies were just listlessly laying on the floor. I watched 4 of the 5 vomit while standing there. And not just a little bit...a lot. And when they were done they would just collapse. This was terrifying to me, because it looked like Parvo ( a flu like illness that often kills puppies) and it is HIGHLY contagious. Then, I watched a very timid pitbull cowering in the back of her pen. People are so stupid, they would walk up and kick her cage and shake it and try to get her to react. Finally, someone walked too close to her with a puppy and she lost it. It was the scariest 2 minutes of my life. Thank God she was in a cage otherwise that puppy would be dead. But sadly, her temper probably means that she will be put to sleep...all because some idiot probably abused her and dumped her off. UGH! I hate thinking about stuff like this, and here I was in the middle of it all. Probably the most heartbreaking part was watching our puppy's littermates be so confused when their brother was lifted out and handed to someone and they were left behind. I literally cried. It was the saddest thing ever. Luckily, while I was standing there, both of his siblings found families too.

Anyway, after such an ordeal in a stinky, poopy, sad place, Josh and I were so ready to take our puppy and get the hell out of there. He slept on my lap like a baby the whole way home. When we got him here, he explored around like puppies do and started showing us lots of different personality traits. We seriously went around and around for 6 hours about a name for this poor dog. When bed time came, he was still the nameless puppy. He did great his first night at home, sleeping about 4 hours at a time, and crying when he needed to go potty. We are so extremely happy that we finally have one more piece of our family. He is such a dream puppy. Josh and I got a dog together back when we were like 19...but the timing was horrible and poor Sidney had to suffer the lack of a place to go when Josh and I could not get ourselves figured out. We gave her up to a shelter and prayed that she would find a good home. We have both been plagued with guilt ever since, and we promised that no matter what happened in our lives, we would NEVER do that again. It is with a slightly heavy heart that we now have this new puppy. It makes us both think of our first baby and its sad, but now we have this new baby to take care of. We are so blessed. This morning when we woke up, we finally decided his name. So now, I introduce to you: our baby Charlie.