Monday, October 22, 2012

Under Construction-Update

Man Cave Update:
This week.... Primer on all of the walls and a picture of the flooring!!


We decided to go with laminate hardwoods.  Carpet is SO hard to keep clean, especially with a crawling baby and 2 dogs!  Real hardwoods are beautiful, but are very expensive and also show ALL of the dog scratches.  This will look just as good and we are saving a dollar $.  =)
Stay Tuned for more updates!  

Flyball- My New Obsession!

     About 5 months ago, at the end of March, I started a canine sport that I am just IN LOVE with.  Our 3 year old Weimaraner, Wriggley, has been obsessed with tennis balls since he was a puppy.  Even when we go to the dog park he wants to play fetch the whole time instead of playing with the other dogs (weirdo).  I had always said that he would make a great flyball dog.  Well in March one of my coworkers Haley, got her pitbull into it.  Once I heard that I decided that now would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. I have always wanted to participate in something like this.

     Flyball races match two teams of four dogs each, racing side-by-side over a 51 foot long course. Each dog must run in relay fashion down the jumps, trigger a flyball box, releasing the ball, retrieve the ball, and return over the jumps. The next dog is released to run the course but can't cross the start/finish line until the previous dog has returned over all 4 jumps and reached the start/finish line. The first team to have all 4 dogs finish the course without error wins the heat.  For every heat that you complete under 24 seconds your dog earns 25 points towards a flyball title.  Under 28 seconds....5 points and Under 32 sec....1 point.  The current  NAFA record is 14.9 seconds to send all four dogs down and back.  (That's FAST!)  
This is a flyball course.  The people you see are the box loaders.  They load the balls for the dogs to retrieve once they have completed the jumps. 

   Wriggley started training at the end of March.  The length of time it takes to teach this sport is different for every dog.  It helped that he was so much in love with the tennis balls.  It doesn't seem like it would be that hard when watching from the outside....but to be able to send your dog away from you, complete hurdles, trigger the spring loaded box and return to you with a tennis ball all in a hurried fashion, is harder than you might think.  But so far we are both loving it!  He competed in his first tournament on September 8th and 9th, 2012 and achieved his first two titles of Flyball dog (FD) and Flyball Dog Excellent (FDX).  He only has about 144 more points until he gets his next title which is Flyball Dog Champion (FDCh).  It took him 5 1/2 months to be tournament ready.  He is still considered a green dog and will only get better as he races more and more.  His current time is about a 5.2-5.4 seconds to go down and back.
     We run with a flyball club called the Dixie Flyers.  Check us out!  We love this new sport that we have gotten into and everyone is SO sweet and encouraging.  Any breed can participate and its so much fun with your dog and friends!  Its a great sport that I hope to participate in for a long time to come. 


Wriggley running in his first tournament


Running in a Flyball Demonstration for Bark in the Park.


Getting his tennis ball from the box.


To Learn more about Flyball check out http://www.flyball.org/

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Under Construction- Update

Man Cave Update:
The room is really coming along!  The process is a little slow go because our contractor does contracting on the side.  His full time job is actually a fireman.  But he is a super nice guy and does a great job!  This week....Drywall and doors.  (ignore the mattresses)

Sheet rock is in!

 It actually feels like a room now.  This view is standing in the main doorway as you come down into our basement.
This is the door that head out to the patio and backyard.  This door was already here (obviously)

Yay Doors! =)


Thursday, October 4, 2012

Easton at 8 Months

Well I guess its that time of the month again....time to blog about how much older my little Sprout is getting.  This little man is the light of my day!  He is so happy all the time and just an all around Joy!  He's always making me smile and laugh.  Hes getting so big and I cant believe that I will be thinking about a 1st birthday party soon....Ive actually already thought of what the theme will be!  AHH (freaking out)!     


Weight: 16 Pounds
Height: 27 inches
Diapers: Size 3
Clothes: Size 6-9 and some 3-6 still fit
Blonde Hair and Blue eyes! (The light in his room makes it look red for some reason)


My little Sprout:
-Loves to clap his hands.  He started this right after he turned 7 months old.  Sometimes when we sing "If you're happy and you know it" he will start clapping.  He's so smart!
-Can eat bananas that are cut up, real cheese puffs, and peas among other adult foods.
-Loves his Gerber puffs and little crunchies! I haven't found a flavor he didn't like.
-Sticks his tongue out and spits.  Its cute!....for now.
-Loves to talk and scream when happy and playing.  He has lots more sounds when he is "talking."  I can hear S, R, and M's instead of just Da Da.  So amazing to sit and just listen to him. 
-Now that E is an expert roller, he sleeps on his tummy alot at night now.
-Moved to fast flow nipples.  He drinks 6-7 oz every 5-6 times a day.  He has a container of fruit with oatmeal, cereal or granola for breakfast and a container of a vegetable for lunch.  Then he has a snack about mid afternoon.  Depending on what they are having for breakfast and lunch at daycare depends on whether or not he eats baby food or adult food at meal times. He liked the avacado he tried too.  I love my good little eater! Keep it up buddy.
-Still only the 2 teeth.
-Great Sleeper!!
-Gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth but has yet to move forward and actually crawl.  However he is very good at crawling backwards.  This frustrates him sometimes.
-I reluctantly lowered his crib mattress all the way to the bottom level. =(  He will be pulling up in no time.  He didn't seem to notice the change.  Boy mommy sure did...
-He never completely got over his 2nd double ear infection.  We went through 10 days of Amoxicillin, 10 days of Omnicef, and 3 Rocephin shots....The Rocephin finally cleared up the pus in his ears but there is still so much fluid that it could turn into another ear infection at any time per Dr. M.  So Easton will be headed to an appointment with an ENT to talk about tubes.   Hopefully this whole process will go smoothly.
Our little Sprout is really growing growing.....
WE LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH EASTON!!
I cant believe you are 8 Months Old!!

Under Construction- Man Cave

When Kevin and I bought our house in June of 2009 we had a list of things that we wanted to do to the house over a period of time.

-Fence in the yard.
-Build a "Man Cave" in the basement.
-Cover part of the porch.
-Replace the counter tops in the kitchen

Well the time has come to strike through the second item on our list.  Kevin couldn't be happier.  He has been talking about this for so long.  He mainly wants this room to watch football and baseball games in.  And when he does have poker night, he can use his "man cave."  He does alot for this family and I guess, since I have the rest of the house pretty much, he deserves his own room.  =).  I am excited to host a football party when it gets finished! RTR! 
There is a discrepancy over football decor since we are a house divided.  My sweet husband has said that he doesn't mind me hanging a few Daniel Moore Alabama prints. (I'm surprised) 
The construction started August 20th, 2012 with framing.  We decided to only use half of our basement space for the man ca.  It is very long and I still wanted to have room for Easton's outside toys for when he gets bigger.  Plus Kevin also wanted to build himself a work bench off to the side.  So the pictures that you are seeing are only half of the basement space we have. 
 Since the room is near completion at this very moment (haven't had time to blog), I will just post about updates every couple days. 


The Before

Before

Framing has started

 Our basement was already plumbed from the previous homeowners, so we decided we may as well put in a half bath.  That is what the framed box in the corner is. 
Insulation!


Framing and Insulation....Done!
  Its really starting to come together!  Stay tuned for more Man Cave updates!