One week with Emily
Well, Emily is now one week old and has had several pictures taken of her in the past week. So far, things are going well. We have had a lot of help over the last week and I think that we are starting to figure things out. I have learned that, no matter how much sleep you can get, it is never enough. The stress of dealing with a newborn at the house just makes you tired. However, I have derived much pleasure in the fact that the dogs are getting just as little sleep as we are. Ashley and I have been pleasantly surprised in how well the dogs are dealing with Emily. They like to sniff her and get really interested when Ashley is feeding her. But, both the dogs and the baby are reacting well to each other. The pups have not woken Emily up yet, which is a blessing.
Sorry about the quality of most of those pictures. I was playing with the camera function of our video camera and decided that, while handy, I will probably not use it because it takes crappy quality pictures.
Taste of Freedom
The pups got a small taste of freedom this morning. Not only did they knock out another fence board, they figured out that they could wiggle their way through the opening and escape into No Man's Land between our fence and our neighbor's fence. Did I mention that our neighbor's have at least two, nasty-sounding, boxers? I wandered into the dining room after getting out of the shower and heard some nasty growling from the yard. I looked out and did not see any pups, but did see the missing board. I ran out into the back yard and peered over the fence to see Rosie huddled between the fences towards the back of No Man's Land. The other dogs were growling from there property. I managed to call her back through the boards into our yard. There was still no sign of Dante. Apparently, the little bugger had run behind the neighbor's property in the new subdivision. Several minutes of calling finally got him to come back through the fence. I threw both dogs in the house and dutifully went out to repair the fence, once again.
Of course, the story does not completely end there. Both dogs have been little pills the rest of the morning, raising high holy hell ever since I fixed the fence. With their taste of freedom, they seem to be acting that much more aggressive to the dogs next door, which will get them in trouble if they ever meet (did I mention the other dogs were nasty-sounding?).
15 1/2 Weeks
To all of those who do not see us on a regular basis (Geof included!), here is Ashley at 15 1/2 weeks.
Dante is admiring Ashley's first given maternity top, sponsored by my Aunt Leisa. Thanks again, Aunt Leisa! Rosie has spent the week sulking around the house due to her shaved leg and was too embarrassed to be in the photo.
Puppy Camp
Whenever we go out of town over night, we take the dogs to a place we lovingly call Puppy Camp. Our first Valentine's Day after we got married, Ashley and I gave the pups to each other. The first few times we went back to Columbus after that, the dogs came with us; they were puppies and were still relatively small. At this time, Ashley was writing her thesis. As a reward for finishing it, I was going to take her on a trip to the mountains. Well, by mid-July, Ashley had finished her final edits and we turned in the thesis and were ready to go. Obviously, we could not take the dogs with us this time, so we decided that we would have to board them.
Ashley looked around at several boarding facilities in Huntsville, but we finally decided that it was more cost-effective to just board them at the vet's office. Now, at the time, our vet's office was a good half-hour drive into town from our home. That seems silly in retrospect, but it was the vet that the dogs were used to from the time they were sick before we got them. So, the morning that we were leaving for the mountains, we loaded the dogs into the car and dropped them off at the vet. On the half-hour drive back to the house, Ashley was simply heart-broken that she was having to leave her babies. Until this point, the dogs had never been away from us at night. She was worried how they would get along without her and how she would get along without them. She was afraid that they would be miserable at the vet with no one to play with or love them. So, I came up with a brilliant idea that has stuck ever since. “Do not worry about the dogs — I am sure that they are going to have a great time at Puppy Camp this weekend,” I said. Amazingly, those few simple words seemed to help her get through the weekend without the dogs. After all, if she had a great time at camp when she was a kid, then the puppies must be having a great time at Puppy Camp!
It has been two and a half years since the concept of Puppy Camp was born and we will use it whenever we talk about boarding the dogs. However, this does make me wonder what we will come up with to get through leaving The Little Monster at daycare or with a babysitter.
Dante’s Surprise
I live with a killer...dog that is 
The infamous Dante has struck again, only this time, it was not a bird he killed. Apparently he's decided that birds were no longer a challenge. What he wants is some excitement, more chase. So what did I find waiting for me when I went to let the dogs in so I could leave for work... squirrel surprise! And what a surprise it was! I called them in and Dante picked up what I first thought was a rather large stick. Then it dawned on me, sticks aren't fuzzy! (Hey, it was before my morning coffee!) When I realized what he had done I was so disgusted. My baby had managed to kill a poor defenseless squirrel. Oh the shame!
Of course Dante wanted to bring in the squirrel, possibly for his late-morning snack. And of course I would have none of that! So, I tried to use some of that obediance training that we paid lots of good money for. I gave him the "Leave it" command. And he would drop it, which is good, but he ignored the rest of the command. He is supposed to leave whatever it is and come. He didn't want to come. So, he'd pick up the squirrel and I would yell "Leave it" and he would drop it and then I would tell him to come and he'd pick it back up, repeat cycle oh about a dozen times. Finally I resorted to bribery. Come get this tasty little dog treat in exchange for the dead squirrel outside. Good thing Dante isn't too bright. Otherwise I'd probably still be out there trying to get him to come in 
So, he came in, but dropped the squirrel right outside the door on the patio. Once I had him inside I locked the door. Unfortunately you can see the squirrel from the window. So Dante would look at the squirrel, look at me, then look back at the squirrel and scratch to go out. He gave me the most pitiful look. He acted like I had just taken away his only and favorite toy, which might be true at this point. I told him to suck it up and that he would just have to look at it through the window all day. Afterall, I did tell him to leave it out in the yard, not bring it to the door. So it's really his own fault 
Man, if this is what it's like to have a kid, we may be in trouble I guess it's too late now though. Hopefully my kid won't kill and eat birds or squirrels, because if he does, we're in much bigger trouble