We had a super fun weekend in Concord over the 2nd-3rd for Ansley's birthday! The girls had a great time at her friend party on Saturday night, and we had a fun family lunch on Sunday for her, too. The following week was fairly routine with all of the usual activities. Erin had a short-lived stomach issue on Tuesday night that bought her a day off of school on the 6th, but she was still able to go to ballet. The girls hand a busy day on Saturday the 9th, beginning with piano/voice mock recitals, watching Ruby, modern dance class for Anna, roller skating party for Natalie's birthday for Anna, and then, the culmination of the day, the annual Daddy-Daughter/Sweetheart dance at school! They had dinner with Olivia's family and then partied hard. Olivia came over to stay with us after the dance, which made it even more fun!
Bob went to San Francisco the following week and we ladies had a fun week with the third grade Valentines' party, Valentines Day, and a dress down day on Friday. We also helped check on neighbor friend Ms. Mona while the rest of her family was in Disney World, and we got to know Sniffles, their new guinea pig, as well. We had a fun reunion lunch at Ruckus with Praveen and Sushma and their beautiful girls, Shreeya and Sneha. It was so great to see them while they were in town! Erin and Anna were off on the 18th-19th for Winter Break, which was nice. Anna and I enjoyed a fun outing to the DPAC to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Sunday night.
He was so happy and excited to come to our house, and made himself right at home with his toys and his dog bed. He did great other than going in the crate for the first several days. Each night got better, and then we moved him to his bigger crate and started putting his dog bed in there with him, and life has gotten much better. He now sleeps 8 hours most nights and is not even in a rush to get up in the mornings! He loves to be held and likes to stay warm. He is doing very well with the potty training and is (we think) very smart, attentive, and alert.
My schedule has been very different in the 2-1/2 weeks that we have had him. I'm trying to only have him in the crate for 2 times a day, around 2 hours at a time. So, that means pretty much taking the girls to school and running and errand or going to the gym in the mornings, then school pickup + one activity run. We are getting into a new routine and it is working out pretty well. I do miss helping in the cafeteria and recess, but hopefully I will be able to get back to that fairly soon. A lot of my days have involved holding him, cleaning up potty messes, walking him, and generally puppy-sitting. It is a lot of work, but I hear it goes fast and is worth it because we can train him how we want from the beginning. Time will tell!
Finley is growing very fast - he gained a pound in his first week with us, and we can tell that he is taller, longer, and heavier! The rescue and the vet both project around 40-50 pounds, so he shouldn't be a giant dog (hopefully). We did a dog DNA test on him and are eagerly awaiting the results. He was grazing on his food but is now eating more regular meals, which has helped the potty situation as well. He had his first vet visit on Friday the 22nd and all checked out great. He did not appreciate the 2 shots that he had to get, though.
Anyway, the rest of his first week home was kind of a blur, and then we had a nice weekend with some beautiful weather on Sunday, which included zip-tying a plastic mesh to the fence so he couldn't get through it. Once that was done, he was very happy to have freedom in the backyard! We will remove the mesh once he's a little bigger. Grandma and Grandpa A. came to visit him on Saturday, and we had a really fun time playing with Finley, eating spaghetti, and playing Life.
Anna enjoyed a gamer party at Mateo's house on Sunday the 24th, and the last week of the month was basically the usual. I enjoyed parent participation week for voice and piano lessons, and Bob was busy preparing for the annual fish fries with the Knights, and he also got to go to Jimmy's Cub Scout meeting on Thursday to help him learn how to use knives while Tom was traveling and Pam was sick.
The last day of the month saw more excitement as Anna was found to have a fractured the end of her radius in her elbow! She had fallen in PE the week or two before and was complaining on and off that it was hurting her, and then tripped and fell again on Wednesday the 27th. We went to a very nice orthopedic urgent care on the 28th, and they indeed saw a tiny fracture on the x-ray. She got a neat brace made of this stuff called Orthoglass that he got wet and molded to the underside of her arm and dried in the shape of her arm. It is wrapped with Ace bandages, and she is to wear it in a sling at school or when being active. She is also supposed to elevate the arm as much as possible. We go back on Monday the 11th and hope to graduate to the sling only for 2-3 more weeks if all looks good. She has been doing fine with it and is able to do almost everything that she usually does except for some of her modern dance and PE class, but that is just fine with her! She is still able to continue her weekly dog-walking gig, and Finley has joined us the past 2 walks.
So, February was quite eventful for us! It was a good month and we are looking forward to watching Finley grow and learn to listen better (hahaha!). He is definitely teething and gets wild and crazy in the evenings, which the Internet tells us commonly happens to puppies when they get overtired and overstimulated, like babies/toddlers. This is all coming back to me from the kids! He is also very social with people and is getting more brave in meeting new dogs. We are working hard to socialize him so he will be friendly with everyone (well, humans and dogs...any other animal is on their own).
Happy March!
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