A new addition to our household

YEP, We really do have a new member to our family.

She's only 12 weeks old and our 3 1/2 year old isn't sure what to do with her. Like all 3 1/2 year olds our oldest loves to play but sometimes plays too rough so we play referee most of the time. The youngest girl been with us only 1 1/2 weeks and the night and early morning trips to take care of her umm, bathroom needs really breaks up my sleep but we're surviving. We have decided to give her a really old style name just like we did with our oldest. She is now Mable and our oldest is Myrtle. If you are wondering..."What are you thinking??" I'll show you why we picked these particular names for our girls.

MYRTLE....MEET MABLE!

Mable is an english bull dog and Myrtle is "ye olde english bully dogge".
We are having lots of fun with Mable and so is Myrtle but sometimes Myrtle pouts and seems depressed. I don't she's exactly happy with us for bringing in an interloper.


We do our best to make sure she knows she's still our baby too and give her lots of individual attention. In order to do this sometimes we have to seperate them. The real challenge is getting Mable to learn the rules of engagement. Everything Mytle does she does too and get's right in Myrtles face while she does it. She eats her food, drinks out of Mytles water bowl, takes her toys right out of her mouth and takes over her bed. It's no wonder Myrtle get's perterbed and depressed. Myrtle let's her know when she's had enough and we (my husband and I) work hard at helping Mable learn what's acceptable and what's not.
Don't they look like two sisters who have been they HAVE to be nice to each other?


Here Mable entices Mable to play with her!


When they decide to play they rough house all over and tumble together too. Myrtle thinks Mable is just one of her toys at times and we have to remind her to be gentle and she is, usually. Sometimes Mable gets the upperhand when Myrtle purposefully turns onto her back and Mable get's to pounce on her neck. Myrtle wraps her front legs around her like arms and rolls back and forth as they go mouth to head in mock battle. They love it.


Here Mable takes over Myrtles bed by the stair rails


At night Mable does have to retreat to her own bed in her own kennel and Myrtle still gets to take her place at the foot of our bed. As Myrtle gets more used to the puppy and more accepting ratther than exasterbated by her and Mable learns to give Myrtle her own space then we will let her join us. But, until she is housebroken that's out for sure anyway.

Mable is doing very well with the potty training as long as we remember to let her out VERY often. She is learning to come and to 'sit' and 'get it' (stand up on hind legs) for a treat and knows her name pretty well too.


Myrtle knows 20 umpteen verbal and hand commands and knows our moods and voice inflections well. She loves to show off her stuff when we have company. We aren't a bit shy about offering to let her show off either. :O

Mable claimes my husband too and snuggles up for a football game on TV.


Mable will learn fast with Myrtle as a model and teacher so no problem there. Like any new addition to a family there are trials and lots of rewards so we are happy!


We did just get back from our trip to arizona to see family and we had a great time except for the snowstorm that tried to strand us in Flagstaff. An accident 20 miles south of us kept us stuck in the stalled traffic for 2 2/1 hours and then we were routed to a turn around and sent back to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is up in elevation at around 7,500 feet. I can't medically stay at any elevation higher than 5,600 or lower so 2 of my brothers (one in Pheonix and another back in Colorado) worked diligently online to find us an optional route so I could get down in elevation as soon as possible.
They kept us informed of all the routes that were already closed and eventually sent us west another 40 miles to a little town where my brother had already called and set up a motel room for us. What a nice bro. It took us another hour or more to get there in the snow but we did ok and got to rest in a clean warm room.
The next morning my brother called and said we couldn't go south to Prescott because that road also was closed so he researced more and suggested we head out of town to the west for anothr 60 miles or so and then go south.
As we first headed out of town we saw a flashing sign to the side that said "road closed" but it didn't seem to be manned or blocked and we figured it must have been closed during the night with the storm so we went on.
The road didn't look too bad but as we got a few miles out we realized that the road was actually a sheet of ice under a thin layer of snow. We then noticed that we were the only vehicle in sight traveling west or east. Hmmm...

evntually we saw a few vehicles off the road (empty) but then came on to a small minivan on the side with at least 7 young college aged men standing on the side. We stopped to see if they were all right and they reassured us they were and they had someone coming for them. The front of their car was smashed so it wasn't going anywhere. We did see a tow truck heading the other way that we figured would be coming for the college boys car but since they can't take passengers and especially not 7 strapping young men we hoped they had someone 'else' coming slso.
Three hours later (60+ miles) we did eventually reach dry roads and got to my brother's house all in one piece.
We had a wonderful visit with their whole family and got to spend some time with just the 4 of us adults over the weekend. That was a real treat for them for sure. I did, of course, have to check out the local ER from the inside one night but was released after 3 1/2 hours which is almost a matching record to my 3 hour visit to ours at home last June. All is well that ends well though but we did decide to come home a little early so I could be near my own doctors if need be.
So there you have it..My last month in a nutshell except for some ongoing house projects that I'll fill in later.

Just as I always say...Remenber to gift yourself to someone today and everyday! That means sharing your love, your talents, your time or understanding or patience with those around you. They will appreciate you (except some teenagers who will wait until they are mid 20's to 30 and THEN they'll get it, ha :O ). You will receive as much or more than they will for it.]
To see what 'gifting' yourself is like on a daily basis see my daughter's blog about her daily gift to her children. To check out Amber's gift click on her name or click on her link on my sidebar.