1st week with Annabelle

The first week went very smoothly with Annabelle! The first night was a piece of cake, but the second was another story. She started crying at 2:00am and then again at 3:45am, this time crying for an hour and 45 minutes!! At that point, since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I decided to get up and let her out. The next night she fell asleep and woke at about 5:00am at which time I tried a pointer a co-worker of mine gave me. I went in the office, told her "No!" and waited for her to be quite, then said "good girl" after a few hits on the top of her crate, she got the idea (she is a very quick learner). And the rest is history, if she starts whimpering (normally about 15 minutes before my alarm goes off) we go in and tell her "no" and she is quiet until we come and get her. The potty training is a piece of cake, she doesn't tell us when she has to go, but she goes the same time we take Wrigley and she is fine! She also has the hang of walking on the leash already :o) Next, are the commands sit and stay. So wish us luck and I'll be sure to update you about how it is going! Her and Wrigley play together all the time, snuggle, and truly enjoy each other's company. Here are some pictures to enjoy :o)


Making lovies at eachother :o)


They did this all on their own in the morning before Ben went to work


zonked out


snoozing after dinner

Paint and a new puppy!

I apologize for not posting for almost two weeks, but once you read all that we have done, you will understand why I couldn't post! We had a wonderful weekend visit from Ben's parents and his brother Brad. It is always fantastic to have visitors down here. Once they left we went into full swing of getting back to business. The next day we went to look at a puppy, Wrigley needs a play partner more than anything, it was a brother and sister (named Jack and Jill). They were abandonded on the side of a road and picked up and brought to a rescue foster home. They are a Corgi Jack Russell Terrier mix (aka Cojack). We immediately liked Jill over Jack and decided to get her! But before bringing her home, we desperately needed to paint our condo. We decided on brown alpaca for the living room, and a deep brown for the bottom of the chair rail in the dinning room. Last, we chose lemon grass for the office. It turned out great! Here are some pictures to show you the transformation:












Then we had a week to prepare for our puppy. We decided on the name Annabelle. We picked up all our supplies through out the week and picked her up Saturday morning. Her and Wrigley met for a second time when we picked her up and played in their yard before returning home. She was a little tense at first on the car ride home but then relaxed in my lap. Her and Wrigley couldn't be playing better, she lets him make the calls and is already learning good behaviors from him. She hasn't chewed anything other than toys yet, and only had two tiny piddle accidents (only because she couldn't hold it anymore) and finished when we took her outside. She is a quick learner and napped for an hour in our room on her pillow after the 6am feeding and bathroom break. She quietly wimpered for less than 5 minutes last night after being put in her crate for the night. Hopefully things will continue to go smoothly today and the rest of the week, I will keep you updated! Oh, she is 5 months (we're making her birthday the same as mine) and weighs 15lbs :o) Here are some pictures of her first day with us:

most of them are of them playing... go figure :o)





checking things out...



sleeping next to momma



nothing but puppy pudge



cuddling :o)

Home Grown Roots

We had a great weekend at the Hershey Spa! I sucessfully got to Hbg and back to Atl with no problems with my flights. Saturday I got to see my grandma and grandpa Chokran at lunch and spend some time with my mom. Then Saturday night I saw my dad and Brenda and had a wonderful dinner and watched the Olympics. Saturday night we celebrated Melissa's birthday at The Winner's Circle and finally got to refresh my line dancing skills- so much fun! Sunday it was nothing but relaxation at the spa with a rain shower, sea soak, lunch, and my very first massage! Then it was chicken encheladas at Lauren and Jeff's! Before I knew it, I was back on my way to Atl. I miss my small hometown already...

The Smith family will be arriving Friday night for a fun filled weekend! We are going to a GT basketball game, can't wait! Of course I have to work Saturday before the game, and our handy-man will be finishing our tile in our sunroom on Friday, so I hope he is gone by the time they get to our house. Talk about close timing!

Another packed weekend, here I come!