Introducing {OUR} Puppy!

I'm pleased (that's an understatement;)) to announce that Nick and I will be keeping the puppy!

Meet Ranger...

I had been thinking of puppy names for a while, even before I knew it would be Nick and I's puppy. I made a list and had a few top choices, but one day, I curiously asked Nick if he had thought of any names and he said Ranger. I loved it right away. It's a good boy name, but it's also fitting for his personality. In his litter, he was the lone ranger, we live in Texas Ranger (baseball) territory, and he's quite the explorer, crawling all over Indy and the whelping box. It's perfect for him! 

In the end, it didn't take much convincing for Nick to agree to keeping the puppy. He's just so cute and has had us wrapped around his paws since day one (before then really!). 

He's been growing so much this past week which has been great to see. He was born weighing about 4 ounces and is now at 11 ounces! He's a week and a half old and I swear he visibly looks bigger every day.

This photo was after work earlier this week

Here's a reminder of what he looked like just a week and a half ago (Tuesday, August 6th) a few hours after he was born:

He's a Hairless Chinese Crested in case you wondered. His head, feet, and tail will have hair, but the rest of his body is pretty hairless. Because of his lack of body hair, keeping his body temperature comfortable is important.

His face is so precious. I kiss his forehead quite often. Sometimes he scrunches his face and it's too cute. He should be opening his eyes any day now! His hair is silky soft too.  

Here's another closeup of his face and body. He has some palomino (spotted coloring) on his nose and under his belly. 

We had to get a newborn (human ;)) bottle since he seemed to outgrow the first one pretty quickly. He does much better with this one too.

We've been supplementing the milk he gets from Indy (it doesn't seem that she produces enough), so it's kept us (mainly Nick!) busy with many feedings each day, usually every 4 hours throughout the day - thankfully we haven't really needed to do overnight feedings at this point. Talk about practice for parenthood someday! He has an adventurous spirit yet loves to be warm and cuddle.

We swaddle him to feed him:) It's pretty funny! It keeps him content to eat the amount he needs. He'd be very squirmy if we didn't bundle him. He likes the warmth of being swaddled though. After he gets fed and is all cozy and warm, he falls asleep pretty fast. It's the best when he falls asleep on us. 

Indy seems to be enjoying more "away" time outside or around the house lately - I think she has cabin fever for staying in her box so much. While she was out for a few minutes, I snuck in to see what Ranger was up to, and he was sleeping so sweetly. 

Most of the time when he's awake, this is what my pictures look like. Even with flash. He likes to be on the move.

Here, it seems like he was looking toward my voice as I was talking to him. At least I can tell myself that;)

Sweet puppy fell asleep just like that. He's posing for my photos already! 

Sweet Ranger-boy.

Beautiful drive home earlier this week

Update on my Step Dad Joe

Since I started this post yesterday, KCCI and WHOtv did interviews with Joe about his recovery, what he remembers about the accident itself and about going back to work. 

It's interesting to see different things in each interview. We're SO thankful for all of the prayers pouring in and for his great progress so far. In accidents like the one Joe was in, you're just a few inches, or centimeters away from a much worse situation. I also had the accident go through my mind many times and if he was crushed/pinned for much longer, it could have been much worse much faster without being able to take a breath. 

It literally pauses life and makes you look around to be sure you're loving your loved ones hard, and enjoying life - we never know when our time on earth will end. This was one of those moments for many in our family, and maybe even in the Des Moines community, to be sure we're living the life we want to live. We continue to pray for him as he still has some physical recovering to do, for mental strength through his recovery and adjusting to his slower pace lifestyle without work. We love you, Joe! And all the rest of you too, while I'm at it:)

WHOtv's Interview:

This is a photo (though you should be able to click on it to go to the video) from WHOtv of Joe's Interview Video (click the link if clicking the photo doesn't work).

KCCI's Interview:

 This is a photo (though you should be able to click it to go to the video) from KCCI of Joe's Interview Video (click the link if the picture doesn't pull the video up).

Today's Pinspiration:

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