Cai Alexander: 18 Months

I'm a little late here, but I definitely wanted to make an 18 month update. Cai changes so much every day, and I don't want to forget what he's like now.

At his 18 month well baby visit, Cai weighed 23 lbs 1 oz. and measured 33.5 inches tall. That puts him in the 15th percentile for weight (he was only in the tenth for his twelve and fifteen month visits) and the 80th for height. The receptionists were surprised at how tall he is. He did not enjoy his appointment at all. He cried when he was measured and weighed before the doctor even saw him. While we waited for her to come in, I explained to him all of the things she would do -- listen to his heart, press on his belly, look in his ears and mouth-- I even demonstrated for him. I reminded him that he was safe, that I would be with him the whole time, and that the doctor was only there to make sure he was healthy and safe. I have no idea how much he understood, but he nodded and whimpered. Until she came in, then he screamed again. I think his last appointment traumatized him; it was a sick visit, and she wanted to check his ears, but they were full of wax (he HATES when I touch his ears), so she had to use a tool to clean them out while I held him down. It was awful.

PERSONALITY
Generally though, Cai is very easy going. He is sometimes shy around new people, especially in small rooms, but I can usually get him to still be polite; shaking hands or waving hello at the very least.

He has very suddenly become more "boyish" if that makes sense. We hear lots of growling and grunting, see more climbing, and experience more tackling.

He's very silly and likes to hide and giggle while he waits to be found. His favorite places are under blankets and in his closet.

My favorite thing right now is how loving he is. He will come up to me in the middle of playing and kiss my leg or my arm. When I lay with him while he's falling asleep, he will sometimes roll over just to give me a kiss. Steve taught him how to do group hugs with Mama and Daddy quite a while ago, and he loves them. He's also very diplomatic, and usually when he kisses one family member, he has to kiss them all. Occassionally though, when he is angry, he will purposefully ignore a request for a kiss or a hug (he just kissed my knee while I typed that).

Cai LOVES his stuffed animals, particularly his three puppies which all happen to be black and white. He kisses them, feeds them, hugs them, squeals when he finds them, and usually sleeps with at least one of them.

It's so fun to see the way he uses his imagination. My mother-in-law recently bought him a box of toy food for his kitchen set (probably over $100 worth of mostly Melissa and Doug stuff for $10; it was awesome!), and he has spent a lot of time cooking and feeding us. The other day he put an egg and bacon in a frying pan, then walked around the living room looking for something and saying, "Hot." He finally found his toy pot holder, ran back over to the kitchen, and used it to get the egg out of the pan!

INTERESTS
Cai loves...

Stacking horses. Eek.

• Animals. All of them, but particularly dogs, elephants, horses, and birds.
• Stacking things...horses, blocks, plastic ice cream scoops, big legos.
• Finny, our dog, who he calls "Eee-ee." He likes to snuggle with Fin, kiss him, call him, pet him, and sometimes gets to rough with him.
• The color blue, which he can say and identify. Yesterday though, everything was blue.
• Coloring, mostly with a blue crayon.
• Climbing. On the table, over the back of the couch, on the high chair...
• Riding the lawn tractor.
• Cars, one of his first really clear words. Whenever we get out of our car, he yells, "car" and points to all of the cars he can see.
• Smelling flowers.
• Blowing out candles.
• Chocolate. This kid is a choco-holic like his mama. One day I had him trying out his little potty and told him he could have a piece of chocolate if he went pee-pee, so he did. Instantly.

TALKING/COMMUNICATION

At Cai's fifteen month check up his doctor made me a little nervous because she was mildly concerned that he wasn't really talking much. I think he could say "hat" and "hot", but not much else. The suggested milestone was 3-5 words. 

The suggested milestone for 18 months was 7-20 words, and he was saying about 25 then. He has added more now. The ones we hear the most often are...

First time walking on the beach.

• car 
• corn
• Daddy
• Bye (this is his clearest word)
• Hi
• Finny (ee-ee)
• blue
• hot
• hat
• eye (also very clear)
• ball
• balloon
• bottle (all three of those sound basically the same)
• book
• gone/all gone
• go
• water (wa)
• coffee (he said this one when he and Daddy brought me a cup on Mother's Day)
• boat (he learned this one on vacation)
• please (meeb)

Recently he has also tried saying "Aunt Katie" (ah day-ee) and "Holly" (hol). I was beginning to get a little jealous because he still wasn't saying "mama", but he finally said it this week (mam). He still really only says it if you ask him where as he calls Daddy a lot and even called Aunt Katie a few times this weekend.

Easter Sunday with one of his elephants.

He makes quite a few animal sounds. Not all of them are recognizable to anyone but family, but he makes them anyway. He makes sounds for dogs, cats, sheep (this one usually gets screamed for some reason), horses, frogs, fish, turtles (those last two are more of a tongue motion than a noise), ducks, cows, moose (his Uncle Jake taught him that one), giraffes (Uncle Jake and Aunt Katie can be thanked for that one too--it's a made up sound), snakes, bunnies (he sniffs), birds (he makes this sound every time he hears a bird. He even stops what he's doing and points to his ear, then tweets), elephants, dinosaurs, lions, and bears. 

SLEEP

Cai wakes between zero and three times a night, usually. Our bedtime/naptime routine usually takes about twenty minutes tops. I read him a book and a Bible story, we pray, and I sing him his lullaby, then lay with him until he falls asleep. He will also usually tell us that he wants to go to bed when we ask. I say usually for all of this though because sometimes he fights sleep tooth and nail. Most mornings he wakes between 5:30 and 6:30, I give him a bottle and lay with him, and he falls back to sleep until around 7:30 or 8:30. Once in a while he'll skip that wake up and sleep straight until 7:30.

Huggin his new baby cousin.

Steve and I are both loving the stage Cai is in now. It's so much fun to watch him learn and grow and try new things. I could write forever about all of things he can do and all of the things I love about it him, but I'll spare you. :)

Getting ready to sit on my lap while I mow the lawn. He lasts about five minutes before falling asleep.

Pulling a "Lady and the Tramp" with Finn

Come back on Monday to check out the new serious I'm starting "Keeping My Toddler Busy"!

Ridiculous Things My Husband Says During My Pregnancy: Part 5

Me: What would we do if the baby was born and was allergic to Finn.

Steve: We'd have to sell the baby. Finn was here first.

Me: Sigh.

Steve: Babies aren't allergic to dogs.

Pregnancy Update: 16 and 17 Weeks

How far along: 17 Weeks, about 23 to go.

Showing: Yup. Some days it feels bigger than others. I'm starting to have a hard time getting up because I can't lean forward all the way.

Weight Gain: According to my home scale, I'm fluctuation between four and five pounds. I'll find out for sure at my next OB appointment on Thursday.

Maternity Clothes: Yes. I need to buy more shirts because they are starting to not meet the tops of pants very well. I had an eighth grade girl tell me that my "stretchy panel" was showing last week.

Food I'm Eating/Craving: Nothing in particular this week. I'm not craving sweets though which is weird. I think that's why I haven't gained much weight yet. For example, usually when Steve buys Oreos, I have to hide them or I will eat an entire sleeve in one sitting. Right now, they don't really appeal to me. I'm still eating sweets, but just enough to taste them instead of repeatedly eating them.

Things that Make me Sick: Last week I was still throwing up a ton. In fact, the morning after my birthday I ate a slice of birthday cake for breakfast (ironic after my last statement, I know) and ended up throwing it all up, twice. However, I haven't thrown up as much the past few days. Once in the middle of the night, but I think that was because I took my vitamins without enough in my stomach. Smells still bother me a bit.

Other symptoms: Round ligament pain, itchy breasts and stomach, some minor anxiety, SUPER hot!

Pregnancy Brain: So today I had a really funny one, but now that it's time to write it down, I can't remember it at all. It was super funny too. Sigh. I guess that's my example right there.

Miss anything? Energy. Not wanting to take a nap every day after school. And being cough free. That's getting better, but I'm still coughing.

Best moment: Feeling the baby move for the first time last Tuesday!

Movement: The first time I definitely felt the baby was Tuesday of last week. Steve and I were laying around watching TV when I jumped because it was the most definite kick ever. It actually made me tear up with emotion; it was so cool. Since then I've been feeling the baby move pretty often; some days more than others and some days stronger than others.

Gender: We find out on Thursday. I still think it's a boy, but I will be completely happy with either. I also feel a lot more relaxed because we've settled on names for a boy and a girl.

Happy or moody most of the time?: Overall happy, but I'm struggling with a short temper. It's a good thing school ends this week because my students have less self-control and I have a shorter temper. Sigh. I'm also still experiencing mild anxiety when I'm with a lot of people or when I'm really hot (which seems to be almost all of the time). When it happens I get hot, fidgety, or sometimes I feel this overwhelming feeling of homesickness or vulnerability. It's weird.

The past two weeks also contained an adventure with our dog. While I was still at work on Friday and he was at home with my sister, he decided to "play" with a groundhog, during a thunderstorm. When the groundhog didn't like his playing and attacked, Finn's instincts kicked in and he kind of killed the ground hog. Katie said she felt bad yelling at him because it was the first "real dog" thing he'd ever done. 

Anyway, by the time I got home, she had bathed him and we discovered a scratch on one side of his face, a gouge right under his eye (to think a half an inch higher and he could have lost his eye!) and several small cuts under his jaw. The small ones were bleeding quite a bit, I think because they were close to bone, and every time he shook after his bath, blood sprayed everywhere. I had to wash all the walls. It was so gross. Thankfully my mom and sister were there to help with cleaning his wounds and the bathroom (they did most of the work) and my grandfather disposed of "the body." On top of all that, we found a tick on him and had to make him stand still long enough to yank it out. The joys of owning a dog!

He was really anxious after all of this and kept hiding in his crate or under beds. Not sure if it was because of the fight, our reactions, or because he was in pain. It was weird; between that and the cuts I felt like he wasn't the same dog. He's back to normal now though, and currently snuggling next to me on the couch. He really is such a good dog, and I know he will be so good with the baby. I'm so excited for him to have a kid to play with and for the baby to have the perfect dog. 

I'm becoming a bit ridiculous...

Edit: Boy. For an English teacher, I switch tenses in here a ridiculous amount. Chalk it up to tiredness and the heat of the moment. And please forgive me.

So you know how people are always comparing pet ownership to parenthood? I know, they're not really anything alike, but you cannot convince me that having a puppy does not prepare you for parenthood.

Exibit A:

Finn has been so good lately when it comes to sticking around. Granted, we use a wireless pet fence, but even when he is not wearing the collar, he stays within the perimeter.So tonight, when I wasn't sure where I last put the collar, I trusted him to go out without it (That's a parental trait, right, trusting?).

After a while, I realized he had been out there longer than usual, so I went to the door and called him.

No response.

So I sat back down again, waited awhile, then whistled and called again.

No response.

Seriously, dog?

First, I was irritated. I'm tired; Steve's not home; and I am not going out to search for him.

So I waited a while and called and whistled again.

No response.

Usually I can at least hear the collar jingling. I call my parents next door and ask if maybe he ran up there.

Nope. No Finn.

Now I'm a little worried (another parental trait, right), and I call and whistle again.

Nothing.

And suddenly I remember hearing my sister talking about coyotes in the area and a conversation with my coworker about coyotes eating pets, and I become a little more worried. Then I hear a wild-animal-like noise out in the cornfield behind the house, and images of my poor little puppy being eaten by a pack of coyotes. Or with his collar stuck on a tree branch in the woods. And clearly, this is where I got ridiculous (isn't ridiculous overreacting another parental trait?.

I try again to call him, and he comes trotting up the steps from the driveway into the house.

And I almost cried.

Seriously?! Clearly I'm hormonal or tired (it is the first week of the school year, by the way), because this is ridiculous.

I call the dumb dog over and cry, telling him how worried he had me (I know, pathetic), and I pet his fuzzy little face.

And then I smell it. Sh**. My dog rolled in it.

And suddenly, I'm not emotional anymore. I'm angrily calling him into the bathroom. He obediently jumps into the tub, and I scrub all the poop off of him, thinking the whole time, "You're so lucky I love you. Remind me again why we have a dog."

My anger cools, and he's cute again.Snuggled up in his bed, while I tap this all out on my computer.

I know that parenthood will multiply all of these emotions times a million, but I can't wait. I love my dog, to a ridiculous degree, but I can't wait to love a child a bajillion times more.

An Unexpected Source of Comfort

This week, unexpected hope has sprung up within me. I haven't been feeling very hopeful lately despite the fact that I've been having regular cycles.

But with that hope came impatience. I want a baby. I'm tired of waiting. And sometimes, the wait of these years (five in August) of waiting press on me, and I just lose it. I break down into tears that bring with them a physical pain in my heart and my gut. I actually feel like I can't breathe. Thankfully, today I was home alone when that happened because I lost it completely. It didn't last long, but it was messy.

And then comfort came in an unexpected form. My hyper puppy walked across the room put his paws up on my lap and snuggled me. As soon as I started to pet him, still crying, he put his paws on my shoulders and hugged me. I am aware of how much I sound like a ridiculous pet owner, and I'm laughing as I type this, but I'm not kidding when I say he hugged me. Paws on either shoulder, leaning on me, and a little tongue popping out to kiss my tears.

And then I laughed. Laughed at the reminder God gave me that I am loved. Love by the people, and the creatures, that he has put in my life with his great sense of provision. And loved by him with an everlasting love.

When my crying stopped, Finn laid on the floor in front of my couch and took a nap, just like normal. But that hug helped.

I know I sound a little silly, maybe even a little nuts, but I thought it was a story worth sharing.

New Living Room Furniture

In addition to organizing my plethora of yarn and finishing our hallway, I (along with Steve) moved out our old couch, which you can see in this post and brought in some new ones from Ikea. 

Actually, Steve wasn't around for the actual removal of the couch, I did that with a couple I had never met before. We had decided to give the old couch, which was still in decent condition, to a missionary family that our church supports, and since they are still on the mission field, some friends of theirs moved the couch for them. It was nice to know that the couch was being put to good use.

Anyway, Steve had just gotten his year-end bonus and we decided to use some of it to replace our furniture. The old couch had served us well and we really did like it a lot, but it limited the arrangement of our living room making it so that no matter how we arranged it, it blocked our windows. We were actually having problems with it blocking the baseboard heat and, in a way, pushing the heat out the many windows. 

We didn't want to spend a fortune, so we went with Ikea's Ektorp couches in Svanby gray. We bought both the regular couch and the sofa bed. We are SO happy with them. Of course, we had to train the dogs not to jump on the couches anymore, but so far that has gone smoothly. The best part is, if we run into any accidents, the covers are removable, dryclean-able, and replaceable (for like $50!).

We also bought new throw pillows. The yellow ones I bought on Etsy, but the other two sets are actually from Target's outdoor and patio department. So is the striped "pouf"; we decided we needed an ottoman because we no longer had the recliners built into the old couch.
We also decided to build an entertainment center. We bought two Ikea Billy bookcases and one Besta shelf. I put them together. I seem to be the furniture assembler in this house, most of the time. As much as people say Ikea furniture can be junk, the quality of these was a thousand times better than any I've bought at Walmart or Target. Together, the shelves fit perfectly in the space between the wood stove and the wall. I mean perfectly, maybe less than a quarter of an inch to spare. It looks so much neater than it did before.

Except those chords. Anyone have an inexpensive solution for hiding those messy chords?

We're also looking for some new artwork for this room. Something to hang on the wall to the left of the entertainment center. If you look at the link to the old couch, you can also see the canvases I covered in scrap paper and hung on that wall. I don't like the look as much now, and since we took them down because we weren't sure which wall we'd put the entertainment, I decided I would keep them down until we found something better.  I can't find anything I like that is in our price range. Grr.

Anyway, we're happy with the homey look of the new furniture...

...and apparently Finn likes it too.

How 'bout you? Any ideas for living room art or hiding chords?

Skunk Face

We just experienced one of the most interesting weeks ever.

First, the hurricane knocked out the power for a almost a full week, but it did not knock out our dilapidated old barn which DESPERATELY needs to be torn down. Fortunately the only thing it knocked down was a small peach tree in the garden. Despite the lack of electricity, I hoped for a fun week with family (four days off from school), playing games, cuddling around the fire, etc. Unfortunately, I ended up ending my first "hurricane day" off from school with a fever which escalated to 103 degrees by Tuesday night and was joined by the worst cough I have ever had. I mean, sore abs, coughing so hard you throw up, hear your lungs crackle like soda fizzing, bad cough. Turns out I had a mild pneumonia in one lung, but am feeling almost entirely better now. Needless to say though, I spent almost the entire week on the couch.

Second, Saturday night, while we were staying up late enjoying our "extra hour of sleep" (we being Steve, his sister Lauren who lives with us, and me), we had a late night visitor. We had the generator on (which had enough juice to power our fridge, lights, and television, but not enough for our water) and were sitting in the living room watching TV. It was after midnight (so I guess it was technically Sunday not Saturday night), and we happened to be giving little Finn some extra attention because it was his birthday (yes we have become that family). Basically we were just snuggling with him and giving him a few extra treats. So we let him out to do his business as usual, leaving the sliding glass door open a crack, so that he could come running in when he was done. Which he did. After being sprayed by a skunk. Then he promptly shook. On me.

 So we made him stay outside for a little while until we came up with a plan. I mean, how exactly do you go about bathing a dog without running water in November temperatures? What we ended up doing was dragging a lamp on an extension chord into the bathroom (the bathroom lights weren't hooked to the generator) and filling the tub with pool water. Cold pool water. Then, together, Steve and I scrubbed that poor cold little puppy. Then the generator cut out. And we were left in the pitch dark. Holding a soaking wet dog. Who smelled like skunk. Desperate to shake all over us. Which he did. And Steve and I burst into laughter. What else could we do?

Steve ran out to restart the generator while I kept scrubbing. So I toweled him off and dried him as best I could, then Steve took over and bathed him again with tomato juice. His nose still smells a bit like skunk, but we seem to have gotten the smell out of everything else, including our house. Overall, it wasn't as bad as it could have been; I think Finn didn't get hit directly. Either that or his mouth was open, as usual, and he got hit square in the mouth.



How awesome is it though that despite being stuck outside in the cold, then bathed in freezing cold water, and drenched in tomato juice, that ridiculous little dog still loves us unconditionally. What more could we ask for?

PS. As I wrote this, Finn has been repeatedly jumping on the couch and dropping on of his toys on my laptop.

My Day Summed Up in Three Sentences

1. I went to work a half and hour early and didn't realize until I was there for half an hour.

2. Today, one of the most adorable boys in the world (also one of the biggest stinkers) told me I was like his girlfriend because he loves me.

3. Finn dropped his huge bone (the one that once belonged to a cow) on my big toe, and it hurts badly.

Tuesday Randomness

I have about a million ideas for blog posts, but I also have a million things to do, a million things on my mind, and zero time. So instead, I'm going to purge my mind and my To Do list on to here in a list of...stuff.

Doesn't it look winter-y?

• I have hope again about babies. I had a really positive doctor's appointment this week, had blood work done yesterday, and another appointment on Thursday.
• Heard through the grapevine today that the babies are both healthy and home from the hospital. Their momma is healthy too. Please continue to pray with us for that whole family.
• We REALLY love our puppy, even when he's nuts. And, I think we're crazy, but we're kind of thinking about maybe becoming a two dog family. I'm having a hard time deciding if I really want another dog, or if I'm just so desperate for small baby things to take care of that I'll take any species of baby. :o)
• I feel like all I've been doing lately is cleaning, folding laundry, weeding the garden or flower beds, planting things, picking things, grading papers, making costumes...but my list of things to do keeps getting longer! I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way, especially at this time of year.
• I'm planning a trip to visit some of my Townies in June, and I can't wait. I need the fellowship of close Christian girlfriends. 
• When I married him, I had no idea how much of a dork my husband is, but he really is. Currently he is arranging decks of cards for a geeky card game he plans to play with friends on our camping trip.
• I just this second decided that I want to make a second painting for in front of my chimney to hang for spring and summer and save this one for winter and fall.  
• I've been going through some old black and white pictures of my grandparents, and am in love with what I'm finding. I'll share some once I scan them.
• I am not looking forward to turning 27 in a few weeks. I never thought I would be one of those people who dreaded getting older, but this year is hard. I thought I'd have one or two kids by now. I'm hoping to be distracted by fun goings on like a potato dumpling dinner with family. I'm also secretly hoping I'll magically become pregnant between now and then.
• I pricked my finger with a needle today making a turban for our spring program at school. It's going to be an Esther-ordinary play.
• At one point today, I actually shook with anger and indignation. I have never done that before. I actually had to hold my hands still to stop them from shaking. That was not a feeling I enjoyed.
• Last night, Finn chewed up one of my brother's action figures, and I quickly picked up the pieces and put them in my pocket before my brother could see them. They fell out of that pocket today as I was doing laundry, and Finn has been playing with a foot all afternoon. 
• We have been paying my sister to paint the last few rooms in our house, and she just finished the kitchen! The pink is gone and replaced by a pale robin's egg blue! Mostly. There's one wall that goes from the kitchen to the hallway which we plan to paint cream, but my grandparents had painted have pink and half cream with a flower border. A different flower border than the rest of the kitchen. We're having difficulty getting the wallpaper down.

Pink wall!

Well, I'm done puking out my thoughts. Happy Tuesday!

Ten on 10: May

I'm such a copy cat. My friend Kristen has started participating in this thing called Ten on 10; on the tenth of every month, you take one picture every hour for ten hours. The idea comes from Rebekah. I kind of cheated because I didn't remember to do it right away, so some of my pictures are more representations of hours in my day.

1.  Today is a braided hair kind of day. I'm really into braids lately, because my hair is finally long enough to hold a significant braid.

2. Tissues. Bleh. I feel like I've been sick a million times this school year.

3.  Coffee and water. Hot coffee for my poor sore throat, cold water for my poor dehydrated body.

This is Teacher Appreciation week, so we've had parents bringing in yummy food. There was even flavored creamer in the teacher's lounge.

4.  Books I'm teaching right now. I'm the most excited about Walk Two Moons. I love that book!

5.  I'm in love with my new-to-me ring. This past week, Steve's grandma passed away after nearly 87 years of life and I think 63 years of marriage. I didn't know her as well as I would have liked, but I knew her well enough to know that she was amazing woman of God. Grandad asked us to each pick out a piece of her jewelry, most of which were pieces he lovingly bought her over the years. I chose this simple pearl ring before I even looked at anything else. Grandma, Grandad, and I (and my sister-in-law Lauren too) all share a June birthday and thereby the birthstone pearl, so this piece had double significance for me. I'm so proud to own it!

6.  Lunch! Soups provided by the PTF. This was cabbage soup. I ate tomato soup with a soft roll. Mmm!

7. Preparing for my sub tomorrow. I had to take the day off for my sister's nursing school pinning ceremony. Her class nominated her to speak!

8. My drive home from work. I took a few pictures and liked them all so much, I think I might have to do a post all about my trip home. It really is a beautiful drive!

9. Finn puppy. Ready to greet me! He kept going crazy then trying to be obedient by sitting. I can't believe I got a still picture of him.

10. Flowers! Came home to these on our kitchen counter. Our church sent them in sympathy with Steve. Aren't they beautiful?

Puppy Treats (Yeah, I'm that dork)

I made homemade dog treats. I don't know what exactly possessed me, but I made up my own puppy treats. I checked out some existing recipes from Allrecipes.com and a couple from Pinterest, then combined the elements I had and was comfortable feeding my puppy.

I simply mixed together outs, flax seed meal, peanut butter, honey, Polaner Allfruit-black raspberry, and some vanilla yogurt until I got a consistency I liked. I originally intended to make them bone shaped or at least use a round cookie cutter to shape them, but it was late when I made them, and I was eager to be done. Plus, Finn really likes to play with his treats before he eats them; throws them in the air and chases them around the room.
So instead, I made them into little bite sized balls and baked them at 375 until they were golden brown.

Finn loves them! And actually, so do I; I would make cookies from this same recipe, haha! Finn really does love them though. We've been trying to teach him to roll over, and as of yet, this is the only treat he will do it for without urging. In fact, all I have to do now is hold one of these and he lays down and rolls over! It's quite entertaining.

**Note** As I typed this, my wonderfully puppy decided to roll in something dead, or at least I assume so because he certainly smelled like it. So he just received his second bath in three days. Gross.

Finnegan

This will be a picture heavy post, so I apologize in advance. But I have to make a post about Finnegan because he's pretty much the best puppy ever. We adopted him in January when he was ten weeks old. I'm pretty sure his birthday is November 4th. We adopted him from Common Sense for Animals, an amazing shelter in New Jersey. He came from a litter rescued from a kill shelter down south. They know the mother was part pit bull, and guess that the father must have some chocolate lab in him judging by the way the puppies look. Finn had one brother who was all tan like white chocolate, and the rest of the puppies were very chocolate I think. We picked Finn for his markings, which are unique, and his personality, which, at the time, was very calm and gentle.

Was he ever really this small?

Sleeping in the crack.

He takes up twice as much room now.

This bed no longer exists. He ate it.

Finn and Josie, my parents' dog. Josie's not sure if Finn is her best friend or biggest pest.

Snuggling with me.

What? You mean I wasn't supposed to eat your clothespins and beach towel while you were at work?

We obviously fell in love with him right away. He was housebroken really quickly. We have no problems with that at all even if he's been home alone for awhile. However, he does sprinkle a little if he gets excited. Right now we're struggling with jumping and chewing. He jumps on everyone when he first sees them and chews on the molding in the laundry room. He doesn't chew on anything else important and hasn't ruined anything else important.

He loves to play, sleeps on the floor next to our bed, snuggles with me before I leave for work in the morning, brings me all of his toys when I get home from work, and follows me everywhere around the house. On Saturday, even though Steve was home, he waited for me to come out of the bathroom, took a nap on the floor while I was getting ready.

We definitely love him. A lot.