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).

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Puppy!

Anniversary #4
Nick and I are heading to enjoy our anniversary weekend shortly (Nick is surprising me with where we're headed, I'm excited!), but I wanted to do a quick photo dump puppy photos! Nick and I are celebrating 4 years of marriage which is pretty crazy! It's been quite the journey in these 4 years - moving everywhere, learning about fibromyalgia, and having many new work situations with each of our moves. I'm so blessed and thankful to have Nick by my side. As I've written many times here, he helps me so much on a daily basis, encourages me, and carries my burdens as his. Marriage is one of my very favorite things:) Love you, sweetest babe!

Joe
I got to talk with my step dad Joe on Monday and it was great to hear his voice sounding better and talk with him a bit longer than the quick conversations we've had while he was in the hospital. He still has a lot of healing and recovering to do, but he's out of the hospital (YAY!) and has family to help him transition. He's been walking with a walker to regain strength, and has been having a harder time managing pain since he gets nauseous with the go-to pain meds. Nights have been tough for that reason. We've been praying his nights and pain will get better, for continued healing, for strength, and for mental endurance on the long road to recovery. He will be laying low for at least a month to recover. Thank you all for your prayers for him and checking in to see how he's doing. It's great to celebrate the improvements he's been making! 

Puppy News!
He was born early Tuesday morning (about 6am). After hours went by with no more pups, mom and pup were taken to the vet to see if there were more pups on the way - nope! Just this little cutie, a litter of one. 

Her breed typically has smaller litters anyway, but very early on - like the week after she was in heat, she had a pretty messy miscarriage, poor thing:(. There may have been more than one in that episode, so I think the rest of the litter just didn't make it. She's had many litters with previous owners, so I think her body wasn't capable of a larger litter at this point. I think this pup is lucky he made it through that and her body kept him and grew him. I also think it's funny to look back at the videos I posted of her tummy movement (mostly through Instagram @eatexploreenjoy) and now know it's just this one pup that was moving around so much!

Here he is:

 Right after he was born! Yes, it was messy - sorry.

He's a fast mover so getting a still shot of him pretty much only happens when he's sleeping! 

One of my very favorite pictures of the mom and pup - taken by Nick!  

My turn to feed 

 Mama Indy is always closeby, inspecting him and cleaning him. She's a great mama.  

The bottle feeding master at work

He's two days old here 

We're weighing him to be sure he's getting enough milk/gaining weight.  He's at 5.5 ounces now - so tiny! Yet a normal size for the breed. 

Tongue out- Mama Indy 

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Thankfuls and Indy's Puppy Bump {our week}

I'm so thankful that it's been a good week around here! My step dad Joe has continued to make improvements (see posts here and here to learn what he's been going through) from the accident that happened 3 weeks ago today. He's made such great strides in healing this week! I think this article from KCCI is the only "media update" I know of from this week, from when he moved from the ICU to a regular room at the Mayo Clinic on Monday. That was an encouraging step in the right direction. I'll share more soon, but thank you for your thoughts and prayers for strength and healing, they are being felt! 

It's also been fun keeping up with "Baby Indy"/Indyka as we get closer to her having puppies. I gave her a bath Thursday night and in our usual routine, I held her in a towel and blanket for a while afterwards since she gets cold when she's all wet. She sat on my lap and fell asleep and her belly was against my belly and I could feel every subtle movement in her belly against mine. It was SO cool! 

The puppies have been active and we can see big bumps, little jabs and all kinds of movement inside her belly. Since she's hairless, we can see everything. And I think her skin is thinner/different than ours, so you can see movements in her much easier than a human pregnant belly (from my non-experienced point of view :)). Photos of her are up soon.

I've been drinking Sleepytime Tea (I think Celestial Seasonings brand) at night to help me not toss and turn for an hour or more.  

I think other brands make that kind of tea too, but it's relaxing at night and whatever it has in it helps me get to sleep quicker.  

This week at work, we got shaved ice! I jokingly told my co-worker I got plain ice when I showed her my cup. She took me seriously and was like "Really?!" :) it was Pina Colada and was SO good. Take me to the beach. Or give me something pina colada, either way.  

I always enjoy flipping over a new page in the desk calendar my MIL got me for Christmas. August is a good month! My adoption day is next week along with Nick and I's anniversary! I've always liked August (maybe except for the years it meant going back to school after a good summer...).  

Here's this sweet girl. I've been explaining to her that I'm taking her maternity photos. There have been many. We've never had a girl dog and watching her belly grow and seeing the movements has been so much fun. 

A good glimpse into their personalities - Boo is the crazy man always on the move, where Indy is the calm girl often standing still :) 

 Her belly is definitely looking pregnant! She could be due anytime. A due date calculator showed August 5th as her due date - we'll see! 

Me and her big belly! 


She loves being on grass. We don't have much out back (the pool takes up most of the yard!), so she likes to explore the grass when she gets the chance. 



These two photos are about a week and a half apart - the right is the most recent:

These two photos are about a handful of days apart - the right is most recent

I got a good video of her belly movements last night on Instagram, click here to see it on Instagram (I can't figure out how to share it from Instagram here).

My sunglasses ear came undone again this week, so I rocked this look Thursday and Friday. I've had these sunglasses for YEARS - I think 2005 or so? After I open and close them for a number of months, the tiny screw works its way out so it just falls off. Thankfully it's fixable, but it may be time soon for some new sunglasses. 

I found this song/video on a blog I was reading this week and have played this song many times since then. I just love it. Below is the youtube link if the video doesn't pull up. Check it out if you haven't seen it yet! 

Sara Bareillas - Brave

 After work last night - I relaxed and we watched a few episodes we had saved of Naked and Afraid. That show has us wrapped around its fingers right now. 

Nick did some evening swimming. 

We got Boo to do some swimming last night too, but I can't get the video from my phone to upload for some reason.  

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