all grown up

 Oliver turned one last week!  If you are in the same boat as me, you probably can't believe he is already that old!  To celebrate I made him a birthday hat that he maaaybe hated a little.  Then I took the pups on a super long trompy walk where we met a pup named Mogely who turned out to be our neighbor and a big fan of leading Oliver around the reservoir.  All in all, it was a pretty great day. 

Doesn't he look happy to be 1?!

please don't eat that thing that I love

The list is growing, folks.  Remember when I was so blessed and my brand new pup came home with me practically potty trained?  He was so sweet and never chewed on things he wasn’t supposed to, never tore things up.  Well, it seems as though slowly and then all at once my puppy has realized that he is a boisterous pup and as such he should try out his pearl whites on some of my beloved things.  Back when I was trying to be a gardener, I loving planted this herb garden:

and when I went inside to get water to wet their roots my dear Oliver CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMPED my spinach into oblivion.  This was followed a while later by the complete destruction of my budding raspberry plant (which is kind of impressive because those suckers are pretty pokey!)

 The list is indeed growing, and at last count includes: numerous pairs of socks, new sunglasses, an entire bottle of hand sanitizer, a water bottle, a pen that turned our white comforter into one with blue splotches and drips, the christmas present I bought for my parents when I was in Haiti, and the better part of a new pair of pants.  

Oh yeah, he also ate my only surviving plant jut a few days ago, which was the blueberry plant that had a magnificent two berry yield for us so far this summer.  ARGH!!! 

Being a people person in general and an inexperienced pet owner in specific, I’m not sure how to proceed!  If Oliver was a toddler I’d have a number of tricks and techniques in my bag of discipline/re-direction that I could fire right off, but I don’t think any of those apply when it comes to small puppies.  To date I’ve mostly just done a miss moshed approach which involves a combination of all of these things: bugging my eyes out, banishing him to his kennel (I know, I too read that the kennel should be a “place of happiness” where the dog feels safe and homey, but banishment to the playground of the backyard hardly seems appropriate..), dragging him to the scene of the crime to force him into confrontation of the disastrous event, and in general glaring at him while shaking my head sometimes adding a little wagging of my finger.  Not surprisingly this “approach” is not entirely effective, ok it’s not effective at all.  Thus, I am writing this post to ask advice on the issue of puppy discipline.  My personal opinion is not that he’s being bad, or anxiously destroying things cause we are gone and he is worried, but more that he has discovered the joy of tearing things apart willy-nilly style and while I think he realizes that he’s in the dog house (wha whaa) with us, the benefits of tomfoolery and destructive revelry are far outweighing the drawbacks at this juncture!  That or he likes to find the things I love and destroy them so he will be the only one left..

evolution of a car cuddle

We spent the 4th in Utah visiting JP's family, and with my little haitian stomach bug in tow I didn't have the energy to take pictures.  Shocking, I know. We left the morning after I worked a night shift, and so I slept most of the morning in the front seat with my face mask and ear plugs in.  Obie likes to cuddle, and he slowly worked his way up to the front seat while I was snoozing:

 

and in other news

I've been neglecting the blog land lately! Here are a few of the reasons why:

I started my new (now slightly less new) job at the University of Colorado Hospital on the Pulmonary unit and I am loving it! It is such a different job than the one I was doing at my old hospital, and a much better one at that. The patient population is different, much younger overall and very transient. Most patients aren't on the floor too long, except for the Cystic Fibrosis patients who can be there for weeks on end. There is

a lot of teamwork and the staff seems really friendly and upbeat. Overall, it is quite the improvement in employment! Also, my friend Maggie works seven floors below me in the medical ICU and we sometimes, almost never, get to have lunch together in the afternoon, but when we do it's nice!

I of course have been studying for the GRE which, since school has been out, has taken over any free time that I might have had. While it is a vast improvement from working on organic chemistry, it's kind of ridiculous how much I didn't retain from my career as a middle/high school scholar. Hmmm. Hopefully I will pull it out in the end, mostly I just try to tell myself that every time I sit down to study I must be getting at least a little better and that's enough for right now. Looking at a mid-July test date and then I will be done with gigantic standardized exams for a while!! Woo Hooo!

Tomorrow I am flying back to MN for a long weekend visiting friends, family and of course throwing a bachelorette party for Annie! I, as with most of the time I book trips, can't believe that it is already time to get going! It's going to be a quick one, but I

am determined to squeeze in time for everyone and go to at least one of my favorite thai restaurants while I am there! I am sure there will be lots of fun pictures to share once I get back! That will, however, be longer than one might think because I am always a little crazy and am leaving for a medical trip to Haiti right on the heels of this quick jaunt home! I am really, really excited to go there and help out in any way that I can. I think this trip will be amazing, humbling, life-changing and all that jazz. I've been itching to travel out of the country and this opportunity just kind of fell into my lap. Faced with the prospect of volunteering in Haiti, or taking a condensed version of biochemistry with a lab all summer you can obviously understand why I would be doubly excited about travel!

So, those are a few of the reasons for my prolonged silence, hopefully you understand! I will post as soon as I get back with some pictures and stories from my adventure. In the meantime, I am sure you are dying to see how big the pup has grown recently, aren't you?!

a farm dog at heart

We had such a great visit in Iowa. So extremely quick (except the driving through Nebraska part which seemed to take forever) but so much fun! Oliver in particular had the time of his young life. By the time we finally arrived he was glaring at me from his seat perch next to me, ready to not be sitting anymore. All of that was forgotten in the haze of new dogs to meet, new people to lick, new species to confront and new food to munch on. What a farm dog. Mom took him out in the mornings for a few walks along the ditch and reported that he was running all over and smelling ever little thing with his tail wagging at a ridiculous speed. Life is good for that puppy I tell you what. On the human end of things life is good too. Although there was audible resistance to the idea of resurrecting the traditional night time easter egg hunt (I'm looking at you Shawn), we just insisted even louder that it would be fun and soldiered on. It WAS fun, and we even included the adults with hidden plastic eggs among the candy that had lottery tickets. Unfortunately there weren't any big, big winners but it was a nice little twist and the aforementioned candy was of course a welcome retreat if you happened to lose. Now that the shenanigans are over it's back to the grind stone and an exam this afternoon (fingers crossed!), but I will leave you with some pictures of course!

Two Easter bunny sisters hiding candy.

Mom being especially sneaky and hiding candy in the branches!

Hiding spots..


Oliver had some serious hesitations about the horses, which really reminded me of bringing my favorite kid Oscar to the farm for the first time. Aside from the barking (which O did that?) the reactions were surprisingly similar!

in which we will fell in love with a little monster

Yep, he's a tricky one. Pretending to be all sweet and lovey and potty trained....not so much folks, not so much. When we brought Oliver home he was seriously cuddly and sweet and tuckered out. From the first time I brought him outside to do his business he knew exactly what was expected of him, squatting down like a pro and then trotting back inside to get his treat. Hooray day one he is potty trained! Hooray it wasn't a fluke, he's potty trained still on days two and three! What a smart puppy, eh? Well, as it turns out he is smarter than I had originally thought. Now when we take him out he cocks his head and stares uncomprehendingly at me while I repeat "GO POTTY" over and over. After letting me get really annoyed he will scamper past me, under the railing, under the scooter, around the chairs, to the corner, along the fence passing under every single bush or tree until he is in the farthest corner possible from where I wanted him to go and squats down between the privacy of two trees. Does he ever want to scamper back from the farthest corner at three in the morning? Of course not! By the time he has followed his specific route he is freezing and hops around trying to balance on three legs to get one of them away from the snow until he gets really sad and just sits up on his hind legs with his nose covered in snow and makes his eyes all big and wimper-y until I go get him and bring him back inside. Which is not to say that he only goes outside and here I am complaining about walking across the yard...he has in fact become sneaky pup who when I won't let him run his little track race outback will, after staring at me uncomprehendingly, come back inside with me and promptly pee on the rug. What a sweetheart, eh? His other newest trick is to escape from the backyard because he is small enough to just walk through the fence with minimal squirming. Yesterday I was running with him in the backyard and when I looked back he was in the neighbors yard looking confused as to how he got there! That said, we love him a lot. For how much he frustrates us, he definitely makes up for it in a million other ways. I figure he will only be little for a very short while, so I have to appreciate the things I love about him when he's small and accept the puppy behaviors that he has too. Who's idea was it again to adopt a puppy during one of my hardest semesters? Pictures for your enjoyment:

I think Oliver's love for Yin (read terrorizing her constantly) is much greater than her love for Oliver.. but to her credit she is pretty patient with the little bugger. Do you know how he gets down from the couch? Lately he has been standing on the edge psyching himself up and when Yin walks by he launches himself onto her and then slides off her back to the ground. It's seriously hilarious...

Trying to get in some sleep before going to work.

Doesn't he look like he wouldn't cause a bit of trouble?

His favorite part of the snow? Licking it..

Annnnnd, one of my biggest dog dreams will come true I think because he seems to have an affinity for playing fetch already! Monster or not, I think we'll keep him.

meet Oliver!

Puppy time! After months of wanting to adopt a dog I finally have, and I am so pleased with my little Oliver! I thought I wanted a boxer. I looked at pictures of boxers, read all about them, and even went to see them at the shelter. I thought I wanted a girl too. So what do I end up with? A rowdy little boy who they think is a shephard/heeler mix (although I think they throw "heeler" into just about every dog description around here for some reason.) Everything just kind of lined up, and after working the night shift I stayed up and had breakfast with JP and dragged him to the pet store where they were having puppy adoptions from A Puppy's Voice shelter. We were the second ones in the store, and we both fixed our eyes on Oliver. I picked him up and he nuzzled his little head under my chin and I was of course instantly sold. One of my initial worries about finding a dog was how I would know which one was my one, but it was obvious right from the start. I mean, look at him! How could I resist?!


Now this might come as no surprise to some of you, but I am totally going to be one of those dog owners. When I have kids it will probably be even worse...just warning you! Remember all those kids I have nannied? You probably do, in fact you probably remember little stories that I told you about them that have really nothing to do with your own life because I LOVED to brag about them. My poor boyfriend got to hear about every little squeak, cry and laugh that A. uttered last fall whether he wanted to know about them or not. This is why I know I will be one of those dog owners who talk about their puppy like it hung the moon. I dote. I dote a lot. Remember how I doted on Pigeon? I think this will be even worse. So there is your warning. I am sure I will post too many pictures of Oliver, and write on here to tell you about some inane little thing he did that I thought was so charming but is really just normal puppy behavior, so bear with me! Can you really blame me though? He really is the cutest, smartest little pup that was ever born ever. Lucky me!