I've been meaning to write about our new puppy for about a week and a half now. Her name is Harley, she's a Llewellin Setter, she's about 8-9 weeks old right now and she's driving me absolutely INSANE! It's like having a newborn baby in overdrive... minus the nice neat diaper to hold in the mess.

We ended up with her because Josh just couldn't resist her cute wittle puppy dog eyes. I didn't want her. I really didn't want her. I knew a puppy would be a lot of work and a lot of added stress to our family. We took her in with the understanding that she's Josh's dog and he would be the one taking care of her. I should have known better... I'm the one home all day... The majority of the work is done by me. Yay.

Where did she come from you ask? Well... My aunt works at a pet hospital. Right before Christmas a man took Harley in to her work and asked them to put her to sleep. Why? She had Parvo. Instead of putting the puppy to sleep they treated her for the disease. She starting recovering from it the next day. This man was called to let him know that his puppy was going to be fine. He said that he didn't want her because he thought she'd never be the same again.

Christmas day when we were all over at my Grandma's house my aunt mentioned this puppy to us. She was trying to find a good home for her. I said no. Josh said he wanted to see her and research the breed. So we went home and looked up Llewellin Setters. We'd never heard of them before, but the more we read about them the more we both fell in love. Ok fine... Let's at least see her.

Who can resist a puppy?! We took one look at her and instantly fell in  love. (Dang it.) My aunt talked us into keeping her over night to see how we liked her and to see how she fit in with the kids and Bella... (Dang it, again.) She ended up staying.

Thankfully she's a really smart dog and is learning really fast. The first week we had her was absolute hell... My poor living room carpet. (We're buying a steam cleaner because doing it by hand is just not my thing.) She's getting better as time goes on...

I am so glad that 2009 is over and done with. Don't get me wrong, there were many happy times... but there were some bad times too. It's amazing to me how much things have changed in just 12 months. I had a baby. I got divorced. I got married. Geez... It takes most people many years to accomplish all of that.


2010 has the potential to be a great year for all of us. I'm looking forward to this year and all the things we hope to achieve as a family. There will be lots of changes in the near future, but this time they're all for the better. We have a few road trips planned... Paying off our debts... Moving to Missouri... I'm looking forward to all of it!

As promised, here's some pictures from Christmas... (We also got the boys... ok, ok, Josh... a new puppy. More about her at a later time.)

Well, that's all for now. I'm hoping to be able to find more time to blog soon. With two boys and now two dogs it's kinda hectic around here. Having a puppy is like having a newborn that runs, jumps, bites and pees every where. Like I said, more on here later.... I need more hours in the day! Hoping to catch up on everyone's blogs soon. I have a LOT of reading to do.

Josh and I broke down and adopted a dog about a week and a half ago. Her name is Bella and she's a 2-3 year old Chihuahua mix. We don't know much about her past other than her previous owner adopted her from the Santa Ana SPCA. She only had Bella since February 2009. She says she just didn't have time to spend with her any more and felt bad for keeping her locked up in the house alone all day. (Should have thought about that before adopting a dog!) Anyway, Bella is here to stay! Poor thing... doesn't know what it's like to stay in a home for more than a year.

Josh didn't like her at first because he wanted a big dog... a dog that we can't have living in an apartment. He was wanting a Boxer or a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Hmm... I think not. I think she's growing on him though. C & B absolutely love her! We got lucky because she's awesome with kids and she's well trained.

When we first got her our routine was messed up because now we had to fit in potty breaks during the day. I think we have a pretty good routine going now. B wakes me up at 5:30am (really hoping that ends soon!). I feed him a bottle and we all go back to sleep til about 6:30 when C wakes us up. By 7am we're all up. I make Josh's lunch. Give the boys breakfast. By 7:30 Josh is out the door on his way to work and the boys and I take Bella outside to go potty. It's been working for us on most mornings. Occasionally C will throw a fit because he doesn't want to wear a jacket outside. He gets over that quickly when he feels how cold it is.

I'm just looking forward to the day when I can sleep in again.... at least on weekends. It's going on about 3 years of getting up before 7am. I bet around the time that happens Josh and I will be expecting another baby. That's how it usually works, right?