Proof...

...that it is indeed impossible to get three children and a dog to look at the camera at the same time...much less smile naturally. (Sigh)

This is the best of the bunch and the camera focused on the dog and blurred the kids...yeah, she only wishes for that kind of attention these days...not to say she isn't loved and cared for member of the family...okay, I'll stop now... :)

Favorite New Picture

Trying to get 2 kids and a dog to look at the camera and smile is a monumental challenge. Several pictures there was only 1 smiling (or none) and a couple had Pippi's eyes closed... But here is the best one and I love it! Some of the other pictures are here.

Pippi

Pippi often misses out on being featured here on this blog but she is a loved member of our family. So here she is...our beautiful, affectionate, smart min pin. (She was totally posing for pictures the other day. :))

Pippi's Christmas Picture

Since Pippi wasn't able to be in our Christmas picture, we took a separate one of our pretty little girl. :) Here she is decked out for the holidays.

This year, she loves wearing clothes! And before you pass judgement on my (I won't even try to say that it's Andrew's idea) dressed up dog, know this - she seems to get cold very easily (you wonder how with all the extra "insulation"). She often crawls under blankets to sleep but seems really happy to not have to do that. Wal-mart now has a line of inexpensive dog clothes so I picked up a cute green sweater and the boys picked this outfit for her. She really and truly doesn't fight it and the boys think it's hilarious!

Too Big Pippi

Pippi must go on a diet. Yes, she is about 30% overweight at a whopping 13 lbs. 4 oz. She should be about 10 lbs. We knew when she had her little "operation" last year (to avoid this) that weight gain could be a problem. At this point, we will try to use portion control and excercise. The real problem is that she gets fed table food by two little boys - A LOT! We don't even realize it half the time and the other half the time she is eating it off the floor where they have made a mess. She is, of course, the happy recipient of all such offerings.

We are happy to report that our little girl is otherwise healthy at the age of 2 1/2 people years (born 8 days after Calvin) or 14 1/2 dog years. Thankfully, her stint with ring worm last year (while we were in Kaz - thankfully for us - not so much for my sibs who were dog sitting) was not repeated this year. We are glad to have her in our family even though she makes us crazy sometimes! We are especially glad that the boys love her and that she is pretty tolerant of them; she even engages them in play sometimes and sometimes, I think she really, really likes them. She has positively affected their love of all dogs - big, small, short, tall...which is just adorable.

Feel free to check out pictures from last night here!

7 Minutes

This afternoon, our dog, Pippi, escaped. My heart sank as she ran out the door and headed down the street. I tried to coax her back with a treat - a people treat, no less - but she basically thumbed her nose at me and continued her run. [On a side note, she did obey our rules and stayed on the sidewalk, not the street. :)] I realized she didn't even have her collar on (we had given her a flea treatment earlier this week and hadn't put it back on) - so there was no way for anyone to identify her as ours.

I freaked out when all my tried and true methods failed to stop my escaping Pippi. All I could imagine was her being run over or being taken to the animal shelter. A frantic call to my husband confirmed my idea that I needed to get in the car and look for her. I quickly put the boys into their seats and started to drive but couldn't find her. I went around the block and started around again when I saw her in a yard by someone's garage.

I rolled down the window and called to Pippi. She turned toward me and came running. Hooray! Not so much. She came to the car but couldn't/wouldn't jump in and wouldn't let me pick her up. Just then, a mom and her two kids walked by and Pippi went over to them. I explained that I was trying to catch her and the woman said, "Oh, is she yours?" [Another side note: Did I look like I was having a good time? Yeah, frantically chasing dogs that aren't mine is my hobby.] Anyway, she helped distract Pippi as I opened the passenger door and Pippi ran to the door. Finally, I caught her.

Relief flooded over me, as I reported to Andrew that our dog was found and caught. He then told me that the whole, horrible experience had lasted a mere 7 minutes. 7 minutes!!!! How could it have only been 7 minutes? Seemed like at leat 20. :)

Pippi is now curled up and sleeping next to me...right where she belongs.

Pippi

It's been awhile since we have said anything about our dog, Pippi. She is doing well overall, is finally housebroken, and loves her new family members (especially since she gets lots of extra table food - the boys think it is hilarious to give her food and we don't always catch them in time). She is, however, extrememly dramatic! She hates the cold weather and doesn't like to go outside when there is snow on the ground. Yesterday morning, Andrew took her out before he left for work. I was watching out the window as she pretended that each of her legs, in turn, was injured. First she held up the back right and hobbled around, then the back left...you get the idea. She did NOT want to stand out in the yard to relieve herself. She is such a drama queen - which brings us to a very high ratio of dramatic to not-dramatic in our household!

Neglected?...I Think Not!

Pippi is feeling neglected lately.  In fact, she is on a hunger strike.  I’ve been lavishing as much attention on her as I can and we spend lots of time with her in the evenings but evidently it’s not good enough.  She is making it quite clear.  We aren’t sure exactly what to do.  She has been great with all the changes in our household and hasn’t had an accident in over a week which is no small miracle.  But somehow, things aren’t working from her perspective.  I would think she would be happy with all the leftovers dropped from highchairs but even that is not enough…  She practically attacks anyone who comes to our house, begging for attention.  I think she is trying to make us look bad. :)  Seriously, we give her love, we pet her, we let her sit on our laps, we give her treats, we take her outside…what more does she want?  

Of Preparing Pippi

This evening I overheard the following “conversation:”
     “Pippi, Mommy and Daddy are going to be leaving and we’ll be gone for a long time.  But we love you, and won’t forget you.  We will come back.  And we will be bringing back two little boys!  But you will still be our only little girl!”  Perhaps overwhelmed with grief, surprise, or boredom – I’m not sure which – Pippi said nothing.
     Really, I don’t think Pippi really understood any of what Alaina told her.  But she did seem to be especially eager for all the attention we would give her after that.

An Unplanned Run

     Whew.  I’m still catching my breath.  Alaina wrote recently that Pippi’s the best little dog ever.  I guess that’s true, though right now I’m not feeling so warm and bubbly toward her.  Pippi – the little bugger.  Why am I not so happy?  Let me tell you.
     Forty-five minutes ago I was out in our newly fenced backyard (more on that in future posts).  Pippi was carefully checking out the extents of her new play area.  I thought she was in a far corner of the yard, so went out the gate on one side of the house to move the sprinkler.  As I went through the gate and grabbed the sprinkler, I see a reddish-brown blur off to my right.  The next thing I know, Pippi is not inside the fence.  She’s sniffing around the front of my neighbor’s house.  She refuses to come back into the yard.  She refuses to come when I tell her I’m going ‘inside.’  That usually works.  This morning it didn’t.  She didn’t even come when I offered her a treat.  (Did she know I didn’t have one?)
     Apparently Pippi was in an exploring mood.  Checking out Mike’s garage and flowers weren’t enough for her – she had to examine the next neighbor’s property.  And the next.  And the next.  Perhaps my trying to catch her didn’t help; she certainly didn’t want to be caught.  As I’m sprinting down the sidewalk, I’m thinking about the irony of our newly fenced yard and Pippi running free, and wondering if the fence will have been built in vain if I don’t catch her.
     Did you know min pins come from greyhounds?  Pippi was showing off her lineage this morning.  I didn’t come close to catching her in the open field.  The closest I came was once when she stopped to relieve herself (no, I wasn’t worried about playing fair), once when she was checking out a male dog’s posting, and once when she was sniffing some trash bags.  Tantalizing close, but no cigar.  So I chased some more.  I soon gave up much hope of catching her, but just wanted to keep her in my sight.  That wasn’t always easy – she could outdistance me so quickly.
     It didn’t help matters that I was barefoot and shirtless.  I definitely had no plans of taking an early morning run through the neighborhood this morning, especially like that.  I’m sure any watching neighbors either found humor or cause for worry in the situation.  There were no offers to help.
     And eventually Pippi headed back toward home.  I don’t know if that’s because I managed to get on the ‘far’ side of her and head her back this way, or if she just had had enough exercise and, having found spots to answer the call of duty, generally felt better.  I don’t know if my pleading cries of ‘come’ and ‘inside’ finally registered and stirred something inside her little head or if that’s just what she wanted to do.  But she tried to go in the front door of our house with me – it was locked – and then pranced back through the open gate through which she bolted seemingly hours before.  I quickly closed it, but Pippi didn’t even notice.  She was already waiting to go in the back door.  
     And now here she sits, curled up on a blanket at the other end of the couch, sound asleep.  I believe she’s worn out (as am I).  Maybe even proud of herself.  I do love her.  The little bugger.

Odds & Ends

We have the best dog ever!  She is so sweet and so loving.  Unfortunately, she does not like it when we leave her at home for the weekend.  She is never as good for the sitter - she looks all over the house for us and has accidents.  I guess we should be happy that she knows us so well, but it’s a little frustrating especially since she has been an angel for us since we arrived home.  Oh well, we wouldn’t trade her for anything, she has been so good for us and was the perfect addition to our family.  

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We enjoyed a fantastic weekend with a few of my cousins and their spouses/fiancée.  We stayed in a cabin close to Turkey Run.  One thing about my family is that there is always wonderful food…we ate like kings all weekend!  Saturday, we hiked for a couple of miles and then took an 8-mile canoe trip.  The weather was wonderful!   We enjoyed games, fellowship, campfire, food, reminiscing and mostly just being a family.  

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A friend of ours got married today!  Congrats to Dave and his bride.  We wish you all the happiness in the world!  May your love for one another grow with each passing day and may you serve God better together than you ever could have apart!

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A week has passed since we learned about our beautiful son, Patrick.  It was a great week knowing about our precious little one.  We gaze at his pictures and can’t imagine life without him and pray for all the details to work out.  We hope that each week will pass as quickly as this past one.  We have lots to do between now and traveling, but really we just want to bring our baby home!

7-10 Days!

So, the Falk family will not be having puppies anytime soon.  After much debate, Pippi visited the vet for some permanent, no-puppies-ever, surgery.  Yep, she is spayed!  I felt a little bad even though I know it was the right decision and I definitely know that I don’t want puppies!  She is just an animal but we felt bad that we couldn’t explain to her what was going on – after all, we made the decision to take away her womanhood.

All went well until they gave us the post-op instructions – no jumping, running, exercising, or any kind of excessive activity for 7-10 days, 7-10 days!!!  In case you haven’t met our dog, this goes against every fiber of her being!  I think we can manage 2-3 days of this requirement but 7-10 days?!  She is already trying to jump on things and run.  She loves to play and she loves to spend time with people.  So right now, Pippi is spending some extended time in her crate.  

The vet sent home pain meds home but said she hadn’t needed any so far.  The receptionist said that Pippi might try to pull the pity card on us.  She has – she woke us up early this morning by crying and whining in her crate.  But we are afraid to give her any medicine that might make her feel well enough to be more active!  

Sorry Pippi, you may never understand, but we want to keep you around…only you, none of your offspring.  And most of all, we never want you to go through heat again.

Pippi – and Peter

     This evening I was washing some dishes before supper.  Pippi was beside me, rinsing a plate or something before it went into the dishwasher.  (That is not, I assure you, a standard, every-day procedure, which I state because I do want many of you to dine with us again.)  I needed a dish towel from the drawer, or perhaps from upstairs.  My hand were dripping.  Alaina was busy elsewhere.  I asked Pippi if she would get a towel for me, but she just looked at me quizzically, head cocked.  No, our training has not progressed rapidly, and I did not expect she would comprehend, much less obey.  But I thought I’d try.
     But the thought made me think: I sure look forward to having some little ones around to whom I can say, “Hey, Frank, would you run get me a dish towel?”  (Name used in this example is unlikely to actually be used :)  The next thought followed quickly: regardless of whether our children are eight months or twenty-four months when they come home, it will be several years before they will be able to respond to such requests!
     That thought in turn recalled to my mind one of my earliest (and fondest) childhood memories: the night Dad and Mom brought Peter home from the hospital.  I was about two and a half, and was busily playing with my toys.  I was thrilled to have a brother, and delighted that he was home from the hospital!  Just like Dad, I had my warehouse and my forklift and was seriously moving pallets from one side to the other.  I fully expected Peter to sit down and play with me.  I just couldn’t figure out immediately why he wouldn’t or couldn’t.  My disappointment did not, however, eliminate the excitement that the potential was there, and Peter was home from the hospital!  In later years he did prove to be a great companion, always eager to play, but that was a few years down the road!

Dog Training (or lack thereof)

Sometimes I think we’ll never successfully house train Pippi. She had another BIG accident tonight – except I don’t really think it was an accident. She knows she shouldn’t, and goes somewhere we are not to go. Funny – she never goes as much outside, at least not as much at once, like as she does inside. Okay, I’m sorry if that’s more than you wanted to know.

Speaking of well-trained dogs, this has to be toward the top. If I could train Pippi to jump rope with me like this, I wouldn’t care if she wasn’t house-trained!

Pippi

Well, today I’m going to return to the topic of our dog, Pippi. Right now, she is making happy, deep throat noises, lying on her back, and playing with a toy. Seriously, I’ve never seen a pet that loves toys so much!

Last night, I was re-organizing all of our Christmas decorations…yes, I deemed these worthy of keeping. :) Pippi (mostly wanting my full attention) tried to “help” but instead pulled out an ornament and took off with it down the stairs. I chased her down there feeling frustrated and annoyed. She was in the living room and I told her to drop it – did she obey like a good little dog? Of course not; that would be too easy and would certainly attribute too much to our skills as pet owners. Every time I got within a few feet, she would bolt. I was pretty mad by this point…she was looking straight at me and clearly knew what I was requesting. Finally, I bribed her. This is a horrible thing, I know, but I was beyond dealing with her and was afraid she was going to break the ornament. Too late for that. She dropped it in favor of the Cheerio treat and I retrieved the broken ornament.

She spent some quality time in her crate to think about her actions (yes, I had to bribe her to get in there, too). She was glad when Andrew finally came home and let her out. :) She ran upstairs and settled on my lap for a nap…yeah, I love her and can’t stay mad for long!

Three Weeks in Heat

Well, as you can tell we have much to say; we should have started a blog much sooner! Actually, the three previous posts are all by Andrew, so here’s my two cents for today.

The past three weeks in our household have been, shall we say, interesting. Our adorable 8 month old, 7 lb. puppy, Pippi, has been the center of attention. This is not new, but the reason is new.

Three weeks ago, we (meaning Andrew :) instructed by Alaina) rushed Pippi to the vet with some unusual symptoms. Andrew returned home less than 1 hour later with the full report…Pippi was in heat. The vet did not charge for this appointment and we felt like rather stupid pet owners for not knowing or even suspecting this. The vet suggested that we might want to buy some diapers for her but didn’t elaborate. Andrew, already feeling a bit embarassed, didn’t ask anymore questions. He thought perhaps the diapers were to keep other dogs away from her; so we decided to postpone the purchase…after all, she is always indoors or out on a leash. The next evening at our small New Year’s Eve gathering we began to realize why the vet recommended diapers. If you don’t know why, please ask your parents. :)

To fast forward, the past three weeks have been full of barking, grumpiness, increased awareness of other dogs, and other untoward activities that cannot be discussed…all we can say is that some toys will be thrown away. :) The most unexpected or unusual side effect has been the hot flashes. You may question this, but we know what we are talking about. Precisely one hour after the lights are out and Pippi is settled under the covers in her usual spot, I will awaken to a flurry of activity as she desperately struggles to surface from under the sheets. She makes her way out and stands on the bed with her body burning up. She walks around the bed a few times before settling down on the top of the bedspread. This never happened before the heat!

Anyway, Pippi has seemed a bit confused by it all and frankly, we didn’t think she was quite ready for the talk. After all, she’s so young! We’ve been a bit confused as well and even went so far as to hire a dog sitter so we could head to Brown County for a weekend. :) You may wonder why we haven’t had her spayed yet. Well, please know that I’m working on that but Andrew still wants puppies. We’ll see.

The links are Andrew’s contribution. Please ignore the cute puppy pictures and tell him what a bad idea puppies are. :)