Happy Snow Patrick's Day

Saint Paddy's is always one of my favorite holidays--everyone wears green, there's a feel of spring in the air, and everyone has a jolly good time celebrating their actual or pretend Irish roots. This year, however, we woke up to six-ish inches of snow and yet another snow day for the DC region.

Don't worry, he's wearing his green collar so he can't get pinched

 



Happy Saint Patrick's Day, I hope your celebrations are livelier than ours (although Charlie is pretty excited about the snow)!

Jamaican Babymoon, Mon

After considering many fabulous looking locations, we ultimately decided to head to Jamaica for our final vacation before baby boy makes his appearance this summer. We chose Jamaica for several reasons: short flights, an abundance of all inclusive options, and a promise of a good time.

We chose to take a private shuttle directly to our hotel since the cost was comparable to the shared option, but we wouldn't have to stop at multiple resorts along the way. Our driver did stop so that we could check out his favorite spot along the way though:

Our resort was in the town Runaway Bay, which is about an hour drive from the main airport on the island. After an early morning flight (6 am, yikes), we were just ready to get to the hotel and relax. And eat (mostly I wanted to eat). Luckily, the hotel did not disappoint once we finally arrived.

 

The resort was huge, although we opted for the 'exclusive' package that gave us access to adults only restaurants, pools, bars, and beach section. The main thing our exclusivity got us was better beach chairs and drinks brought to us on request, aka the important things.

 

The view from our room was pretty fantastic, including plenty of ocean. We even had a view of the wedding chapel, where we spied on a couple of weddings from our balcony:

 

We spent the majority of our time enjoying this view however:

 

The main goal of our babymoon was to relax and enjoy ourselves before life becomes constantly chaotic and crazy. So we didn't do any excursions or tours, but we made up for it with plenty of naps, fueled by sun, jerk chicken, and delicious drinks (yes, mine were non alcoholic, much to the confusion of many a bartender and waiter).

Rocking his purple armband and sunburn

Obligatory feet by the ocean shot 

Baby bump alert!

As much as I loved getting away from the cold and snow for a while, I was is ready to return home to our little pup and get our lives ready for baby!

I do miss this view though 

Have you been to Jamaica? Did you enjoy all the delicious rum?

*sorry for the wonky text justification, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to correct it on my mobile device!

Charlie: 7 Month Update

So, I kind of made a  huge announcement and then dropped off for a week, sorry about that and thank you for all the kind words! I have a good reason though-we went on a lovely and relaxing babymoon (post coming this week) and I am not together enough to actually schedule any posts beforehand. I'll work on that. In the meantime, please accept my apologies and an update on our adorable pup.

 

 

His Favorites: going anywhere in the car, destroying his fabric toys, spooning and/or sleeping on us, looking at himself in the mirror (I'm still hoping to snap a picture of this happening because it is so hilarious, we like to make up things he's thinking while he's staring at himself)

 

Napping on my lap

 

His Least Favorites: being brushed (he's learning to tolerate it since we try to do it every day to cut down on the excess hair around our house), being wrapped up in blankets, being blown on

 

Failed selfie attempt on a snow day

 

Personality: I was afraid that neutering him would change his personality, but almost a month post op he is still the happy, energetic pup we love. Now that he has matured ever so slightly, we are able to enjoy him much more, rather than worrying what ‘bad’ thing he’s going to do next. He makes us laugh on a daily basis as his fun personality continues to develop.

 

We have a running joke that Charlie is actually part cat due to his many feline-like habits. He always wants to chase birds (although his breed was created for hunting ducks), he stretches and puts his paws up on us as cats do when they want to be picked up, he likes laying in the sun, chasing things, and gets spooked very easily.

 

New to Him: The biggest thing was definitely the surgery to have him neutered. We have also been working really hard on fully housetraining him. He uses puppy grass when we’re at work and I think he is so accustomed to using it throughout the day, he developed a preference to it over going outside. We’ve cut off access to it while we are home though and he has adjusted rather quickly. He still doesn't understand that he actually has to bark when standing by the door so we know to take him outside.

The oddest new 'habit' he has picked up is lifting his leg....to poop. He doesn't do it every time and we don't know why he thinks he needs to lift his leg, but it gives us a good laugh just because it is so bizarre.

Happy Monday and a fantastic week to all!

Pre-weekend Update

I'm excited to share...

...we're having a baby!

As if buying a house and bringing home a puppy in a matter of months isn't crazy enough, we decided to ad a baby into the mix. That's just how we roll (do people still say that? Am I already embarrassing my kid by using outdated catchphrases? May as well get used to it).

I plan to share more about my pregnancy since all things baby are currently taking over my life (not to mention my body), but  hopefully I won't let it take over this blog too!

Happy weekend!

Ten Things That Are More Difficult with a Dog

As much as I love Charlie (I think that is evident from all the posts and pictures I put on here), there are many ways in which he makes life more difficult than pre-puppy days.

1. Sleeping-this is probably our fault for letting him sleep on the bed with us from a young age, but we just couldn't say no. Now Charlie owns the bed. His preferred place is right in the middle, stretching his legs as far as possible. When that gets old, he plops down on top of one of us, usually when we're completely zonked and he lands in the most inconvenient place possible (ie: a sore arm, full bladder, or groin). And sleeping in is a thing of the past since he paws at my face (only mine, not Brian's) as soon as it starts getting light out on the weekends.

2. Painting my toenails-I actually woke up half an hour early this morning so that I could paint my toenails before a certain pup would be out of bed and insanely curious about what I was doing. Plus, with all the dog hair floating around, I had to make sure to stay in a closed room to limit the possibility of hair landing in my freshly painted toes. Oh, the things you take for granted.

3. Taking a shower-he either wants to be in the shower with me (and then drink soapy water and make himself sick), or he whines incessantly outside the door until you let him in.

4. Doing any sort of home improvement project-we have been trying to paint and decorate our house, but it is so much harder with Charlie wanting to sniff and explore every single thing we do. Plus he thinks drywall dust is a magical treat that falls from above and doesn't understand when we yell at him as he tries to eat it.

5. Watching a movie or tv show without interruption-whether he wants our attention to play, we fear he is getting into something, or he needs to go outside, our tv time (and dinner time and free time) are never just ours anymore. One more reason to be thankful for our dvr and the ability to pause live tv.

6. Keeping our house clean-it's a constant battle against dog hair on the floor, on the furniture, and on our clothes.  Except the dog hair always wins. Always.

7. Being spontaneous-we can't really take a weekend trip or attend a last minute happy hour anymore (although if we're being honest, we didn't do that a whole lot before). We always consider how such plans will affect Charlie and whether they really need to be done before committing.

8. Buying any decor for our house-since Charlie is still very much a puppy with some of those terrible puppy behaviors, we have to find things for our home that are indestructible or easily replaceable. Charlie is a chewer and is particularly fond of all things bedding: pillows, sheets, and blankets are his guilty pleasures. So, when buying linens for our brand new bed, we went for cheap and functional, knowing it will most likely end up stained and with bite marks until this phase passes and we can replace it.

9. Opening the freezer-Charlie loves ice, so much so that of you open the freezer drawer he comes bolting towards the kitchen, regardless of where he was or what he was doing. It's actually pretty adorable, except when you just want to get some ice without being accosted by a very excited puppy.

10. Leaving him-I mean, who wants to be away from this??

Even with all these difficulties, I wouldnt change a single thing.

How does your pet make life more interesting?