Wally's Transition

Aaron and I were both really nervous about how Wally would handle his new little sister.  He was REALLY hyper when we first got home.  We attributed this to the fact that we'd been gone for so many days and people were coming and going to help take care of him.  I think he was just really excited to see us after so long.

At first, he barked every time Zoe cried.  OMG, I almost lost my mind.  I could not take that.  Thankfully, Little Miss didn't (and still doesn't) even flinch when Big Brother decides to use his voice.  Nonetheless, it was annoying for me.  That stopped after the first or second day though.  I think he just needed to get used to her.

Since she's still so small and sleeping, eating, and pooping (repeat), she really has no interest in Wally at all just yet.  Wally will sniff her and try to lick her every once in a while, but that's about it.  The transition definitely went much better than to be expected.

I do feel bad for him.  I cried when we left him on our way to the hospital since I knew his world was about to change.  He's definitely getting less attention.  I'm hoping that once we get into our routine and know what we are doing, we'll have a little more time for him again.  Aaron does a good job of balancing it out since I am focusing 100% of my efforts on Little Miss and feeding her.

I hope Wally knows we still love him and that we need just a little more time for the adjustment period.  He's still my first baby!

Go Tigers!!

Watching the Tigers with my two babies :) One is so enthralled, he's now snoring away. Dogs have such a rough life!

Weekend Recap

We had a very busy, but very fun weekend!

We went back to Rockford for a wedding and our last shower.  Friday morning, I was lucky enough to have breakfast with my BFF who made it all the way from California for the shower :)  It meant so much to have her there!  

Later that day, we celebrated a wedding for two of our great friends.  The details were amazing and you could tell that they really put a lot of effort into every little thing.

After the wedding, we made the almost 2 hour drive back to Grand Rapids Friday night so that we didn't have to get up super early in the morning to drive back for our shower.  Aaron was kind of enough to stay coherent enough to stay awake and keep me company on the ride home :)

Saturday was our third shower.  Once again, this baby was spoiled!  We got so many great gifts.  And even better than the gifts, so many people came to show their love and support. People came from close by and really, really far away and in the middle.  The travel alone was greatly appreciated.  If only I could have spent more time with everyone.  It's just so hard when you have to make it around to all of the guests.  As I mentioned above, my BFF was in from CA, her sister came from Chicago, our college roommate from Bay City, and friends came from Detroit and Rockford.  Not to mention all of the family that came as well.  Thank you to everyone...it really meant so much to have each and every one of you there even if I couldn't sit and chat for long.  Love you guys!!  And a special thank you to my all of my aunts and my mom for putting on the shower.  It was greatly appreciated.

And we can't forget about Wally :)  These are just some random pictures, but I had to put them in.  I took him to the dog park before I left for the wedding to get some of his energy out (my parents don't have a fenced in yard).  And, on the ride home, his space was a little limited due to all the gifts we had to bring back.  He was just too cute not to photograph :)

We now have almost everything ready.  I plan to do a little more organizing this coming weekend.  My mom is coming out in early October and we are going to make the crib skirt, do a few returns at Buy Buy Baby, and purchase the rest of the items on the registry we need.  We're getting there! :)

Waldo's World - Graduation

We've been taking Wally to obedience training in preparation for the baby.  There wasn't anything major we were worried about, it was more to help with some small things.  There were only 5 dogs in the class so we had really good one on one attention.  And Wally loved it because it was one hour a week filled with endless treats, a kong full of peanut butter, and endless amounts of attention from us and the instructors.

He graduated a week ago.  And....he won "Best Trick!"  Aaron was so nervous about how he'd do, but clearly he did great.  Everyone voted for him!  He had to jump up and give Aaron a kiss on the lips.  It worked!

Now we just have to make sure we keep practicing what he learned every once in a while.

Yes, Wally and Aaron got a trophy with a hot dog glued to the top :)

Weekend Recap

I can't believe it's almost time to go back to work already.  As always, the weekend went by way too fast.  We had such a great weekend though.

Friday, I stopped to the YMCA on the way home.  For dinner, we decided to order pizza and catch up on True Blood (we are only in season 3 but we are HOOKED).  I fell asleep a little early on the couch (what's new).

Saturday, Aaron went for a long run and I cleaned the house.  Then we headed to Ann Arbor for a quick bbq with some of my in-laws.  While there, Aaron and I decided to go to the Tiger's game that night.  I FINALLY got my nachos (every other game we've been to has been way too hot for them to sound good).  And as has been the case recently, I definitely dropped a chip full of cheese all over my belly (tonight it was the mango from dinner).  It was a great game, and they won too!

On Sunday, Aaron was headed to see his high school friends in the afternoon, so we decided to organize the nursery as much as we could.  I have everything ready to wash (I'm waiting until after our next shower to do it all at once).  We arranged the furniture in it's final resting place.  The art work we have is hung above the crib.  The items that we won't use for a few months (toys, etc. for when the baby is older) are organized in the basement.  And we put together our main stroller, our snap and go, and our pack and play just to make sure everything was ok and didn't need to be returned.  We had a little too much fun rolling around our living room :)  We almost put Wally in the stroller, but decided against it :)

I hadn't put the pictures in the frames yet when I took these pictures.

I promise to take real pictures of the nursery once everything is put together.  We still have a few small things to take care of before I'll do the full reveal.

After Aaron left, I had a little work to take care of.

And Wally and I topped off our night with a trip to Dairy Queen :)  I think his ice cream was gone in less than 30 seconds.  I told him to slow down and enjoy it, but he never listens.

Today, I had some more work to do, and I ran the rest of my errands.  Wally was very happy when his daddy got home.  Apparently, I'm just not as fun.

And it's back to work tomorrow...Thankfully, it's a short week.  We have a Friday wedding on the west side of the state so I'm taking Friday off.  Only three days!

Waldo's World

Poor Wally has taken a backseat recently.  I suppose that partially means he's been good (knock on wood).  

He did have an adventure a few weeks ago I don't want to forget.  I had been in Chicago for the day for work, and Aaron had gone out to the bar with friends.  We had made a run to Sam's Club the weekend before to prepare for our family trip to Grand Haven, so I had left the items we were taking with us on the kitchen table...in the middle.  All were in packaging unopened, so I figured they would be left alone.  And they were.  For about 5 days.  Then in the span of about 1 hour between when Aaron left for the bar and when I got home from the airport, Wally decided he wanted a "snack."  Oh wait, he ate an ENTIRE.BAG.OF.CEREAL.

I greeted him as usual.  And then I saw plastic.  I thought that was odd.  Then I saw pieces of cardboard.  And I was getting angrier.  I thought I'd see a pile of cereal on the floor.  Oh no.  Wally demolished it all.  He ate an entire box of cereal in one sitting.  Needless to say, his bathroom stops were pretty large that next day.

I was not happy at all coming home to that.  Just when I think he's being good...

He's currently in obedience training to work on a few things before the baby comes.  He seems to be doing really well.  He gets a little distracted at class with the dogs around, but does really well at home.  

Mr. Wally being super lazy while chewing his bone.

Wally cuddling with his BFF.

Waldo's World

I can't imagine that Wally hasn't done SOMETHING in the last few weeks to write about.  But I guess I've just forgotten....


We were out in the yard tonight weeding.  Well, I was weeding and Wally was trying to get me to throw his ball by putting it on every surface I touched.  He finally gave up and started wandering around.  I had my back turned to the garage and heard him poking around and kept hearing this banging.  I kept calling him and he wouldn't listen (what's new?).  Finally, annoyed, I got up to see what he was doing.  I wish I had my phone to take a video for Aaron.  We have a bunch of large sticks in our garage that Aaron had been saving for potential bonfires.  Wally LOVES to take them out of the garage and chew on them in the grass.  Let's just say these sticks are pretty big...think mini branches.  So there Wally is trying his hardest to get out of the garage with this stick/branch.  But he kept getting stuck everywhere he walked, because the stick was too long.  It was just the cutest thing ever.  I immediately called Aaron at work, and we both got a good laugh at Mr. Wally's expense :)  I finally helped him by moving a few things around so he could get out :)


Then Aaron proceeded to tell me that earlier in the week, Wally was at the fence watching our neighbor and he went to do his sitting/itching his ear pose.  Apparently, he lost his balance before he could get the itch and completely fell over on his back.  He was so freaked out that he started running around the yard in his spaz mode.


Of course, Wally then decided to rip apart one of my foam gardening kneelers...way to ruin a cute moment :)

Waldo's World (and weekend update)

Thankfully, Wally has been rather tame lately :)  No new crazy stories to report.  He was lucky this weekend and had an extra long weekend because Aaron took a sick day on Friday.  Based on this picture, he was loving life :)  This is his favorite pose...he's not shameful at all.

Sunday night Aaron had a soccer game and Wally loves to play soccer.  Aaron has since regretted showing him how because he now always steels the ball.  I think it's super cute.  Aaron is more worried about him putting a hole in the ball :)

The rest of the weekend was so much fun!  I surprised my mom on Thursday.  She was COMPLETELY surprised.  Friday we went to lunch with my BFF's mom and grocery shopping.  Friday night was the first lenton dinner at the church I grew up at.  Saturday, my mom and I got mani's before I headed back to Detroit.  It was nice to be home without Wally to worry about.  I love him tons, but sometimes it's nice to just relax and spend time with my parents.  It's crazy to think I probably won't see them again until Easter.  That seems so far away!

Waldo's World

At some point, my dad started calling our dog Wally, Waldo.  I can't remember when, but it's definitely stuck.  While Aaron and I use several other nicknames, this is the only one my dad uses.  I don't think they were too fond of each other at first (Wally is about 5 times the size of their dog), but my dad has really grown to love Wally, I can tell :)  Thankfully, dad usually takes him for REALLY long walks whenever we visit so we get a little break.  

I was sitting around today thinking that Wally, yet again, got into something.  Our parents think that his antics are hilarious.  In the moment, I'm really, really mad (that might be an understatement if you asked my mom or Aaron), but when looking back on everything he's done, it's pretty funny.  So in order to capture all those moments, I'm instituting "Waldo's World."  These posts may be frequent or sporadic...it all depends on how much he gets into :)  For my sanity, let's hope it's not a daily segment!  Since this is first post, I'll go back and recount everything I can remember thus far...(mind you he's 3 and this all started in the past year)...

1. We bought a new container for our recycling and had put it on the floor next to the trash can.  The container had a lid, so we thought we were safe.  I came home to paper, plastic, everything shredded all over the living room.  Wally had figured out how to nose the lid open, and bring everything all over the house.  Solution - The recycling container only lasted one day...

2. We have a small trash can in the bathroom.  I was smart enough to get one with a lid that has the little step piece on the bottom.  You have to step on the piece at the bottom in order to get the lid to open.  Yeah, our dog figured it out.  I came home from work to the contents of the trash can...EVERYWHERE.  The main trash is one thing, but the bathroom trash...definitely not something I prefer to have to pick up after it's in the trash.  Solution - close the bathroom door when we aren't home.

3. I was sick one day from work.  I asked Aaron to pick up some sprite on the way home.  It was on sale so he bought me a twelve pack.  I had one can that night and figured I would put the box downstairs the next day.  Wally had a different idea.  I came home from work to find all eleven remaining cans scattered around the living room.  I counted 10 and couldn't find the last one.  Yeah, Wally had "teen wolfed" the eleventh can.  Thankfully, it's clear so it didn't stain the carpet.  Although, I'm sure he drank the whole thing.

4. We have a long pantry in our kitchen.  We close it every day because Wally would get into the empty cans and rattle them around.  Aaron took out a granola bar before work and accidentally forgot to latch it all the way.  I came home to find the contents of the bottom shelf strewn around the living room.  He also proceeded to open the jar of peanut butter (not sure how he accomplished that) and eat as much of it that his snout could reach.  And yes, it was a large jar, and yes, it was essentially brand new.  His water dish was all the way across the kitchen when I got home which tells me he'd been searching for water all day.  He drank about 8 bowls before our walk.  Then threw it all up on the kitchen floor when we got home.  He laid around all night.  I still don't think he's learned his lesson...he'd eat all the peanut butter in the world if we let him.

5.  His most recent stunt involves some ointment that I had.  My travel bag WAS always kept under the guest bed and my bathroom bag stayed in there.  Well, one day Wally got under the bed, pulled out my bag, and chewed the tube of ointment along with eating some of the medicine.  He decided to do that on the bed which proceeded to stain the duvet cover (thankfully it was from IKEA and not that expensive).  Then he brought it into the living room and stained a small piece of our rug.  Aaron was concerned that he was poisoned.  I was just pissed at how much he'd ruined.  So I was in charge of calling poison control (the vest suggested that since it was human medicine).  The lady was very nice and said he should be fine but told us what to watch for.

6.  Today I came home and wanted a cookie.  Aaron took yesterday off so I thought maybe he threw them away.  I called and he said that he hadn't.  I looked all around.  And where were they?  Under the couch.  Wally had been trying to get into the container and pushed it under the couch...thankfully before he was able to open the container.

Needless to say, Wally is back in his crate during the day!  Maybe we'll try leaving him out again when he's a little older.  Apparently, he's going through a phase where he needs to act out all of the time.  At least he's getting us ready for kids! :)

I had some really great pictures of everything on my phone.  Unfortunately, I lost all of those pictures.  I'll have to remember to take more from now on.  Let's hope it's not that often!