Saturday, October 1, 2011

Family Fun

Before Ella came along, Brannick and I used to take lots of weekend road trips exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest. And then we had Ella, and life changed in so many ways. But as summer was coming to an end this year, Brannick really wanted to go on a road trip to Washington to see Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. So at the last minute we threw the baby and the dog in the car and headed north. Brannick and I learned many things on this little adventure: 1. Dogs are not really welcome in National Parks, so poor Tough spent a lot of time in the car. 2. Ella does not like being restrained in her car seat for long periods of time, nor does she like being alone in the back seat. She is a very smart little girl that needs social interaction and freedom to move. 3. Ella no longer has a sweet little baby cry...now its more of a piercing, make your ears bleed screech sound that you would never imagine coming out of such a sweet innocent looking baby. 4. Its very hard to find a hotel in small Washington towns that allow a dog over 50lbs, and when you finally do find such a hotel, it is the scariest looking collection of rooms an people ever! 5. And most importantly, our days of last minute road trip adventures are over. We are now a family that requires advanced notice and thorough pre-trip planning and research before such adventures.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Newport, OR Marathon

Before I got married and had a baby I set a goal that I wanted to run a marathon in between having children. So after I had Ella last October I set my sights on running the Newport, OR marathon on June 4th. Brannick was crazy enough to let me talk him into running it too. And even though trainging was much harder than I anticipated after having a baby, I'm proud to say that Brannick and I both finished (my 3rd marathon and Brannick's 1st, and he adds only)! I am also happy to report that I have revised my goal to a more realistic half-marathon in between having children.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Home owners

After we got married I moved into Brannick's two bedroom duplex, which he had rented ever since he moved to Roseburg six years ago. It was a very nice place with great views and wonderful neighbors. But once we bought the dental practice and knew we were going to be in Roseburg for a while, we started looking for a home to buy. Our search intensified once we started accumulating lots of baby stuff and quickly outgrew our rental. And finally, after going through dozens of homes, two real estate agents, and three offers we finally got a wonderful home!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Life is Tough...

I grew up with pet cats, I'm proud to say I am a cat person. I thought I wanted a pet cat, quite badly actually, but we weren't allowed to have pets in our rental. And then I had a baby and lost all desire to have a pet cat.

Brannick grew up with dogs. His dog Keogh was his best friend growing up. Brannick has wanted a dog for a LONG time and has done lots and lots of dog research on what the best breed for us would be. After all his research decided that THE dog for us was a German Short Hair Pointer. It's a bird hunting dog (perfect for Branick) that is also a great running dog (perfect for me).

Brannick used to always ask me if he could get a dog, and I told him he could get a dog as soon as he bought me a house. So as soon as we had a offer accepted on a house, he started looking for a puppy and found a breeder only 30 minutes from our house. So we went and looked at the puppies, and yes they were very cute, and I got suckered in. I agreed to a puppy... I had NO idead what I was getting into.

The problem was, the puppy was going to be ready to be taken home before we were able to move into our new home. So we ended up secretly having the puppy for three weeks in our tiny two-bedroom duplex with no yard, not fun!

Tough (or as I affectionately call him Tuffy), is our new German Short Hair Pointer puppy. He is four months old now, weighs 35 pounds, and is quite a handful. Luckily Tuffy is a pretty good dog, most of the time, and didn't have too many accidents in the house, and only chewed up one piece of valuable electronic equipment. But having two babies at home, all by myself most of the day, while trying to move, was not very much fun, and if I had know what a handful he was going to be I would have never agreed to the dog. The only thing that has kept me from killing the dog on several occassions is how much Brannick loves him. So I guess I'm stuck...

Despite my bad attitude, Tough really is a pretty good dog. He is already a great pointer and retriever and can run five miles with me without any trouble. And he is pretty cute, and aren't all girls suckers for a cute puppy?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Two Months




Three Months


Four Months


Five Months


Six Months


Seven Months