Avery and the pups

So Bailey and Dillon are participating in the Science Fair this year. Dillon has been having trouble coming up with exactly what he wanted to study. How keys work (no science), electricity (maybe), Ph balance (teacher suggested) or maybe why some people are allergic to grass. I liked that one best. Bailey, on the other hand, knew pretty quickly what she wanted to study... the puppies.

I asked her what she would like to know about the puppies. At first she wasn't sure, but I suggested measuring their growth. She liked the idea, so last week we began her research. When she got home from school last Friday, we gathered up the puppies and weighed and measured. Pretty tiny little things. Today it was time to measure again.

This is Annie getting weighed...2 lbs 6 ozs

...and measured...12"

Max prefers doing it while he sleeps, if you don't mind...

And a close up of Benji.

What does any of this have to do with Avery? Nothing. But she has really fallen for these puppies.

They are set up in the crate still in my bathroom shower stall. She will climb in the shower and lean over the crate to pet the puppies. Usually she is gentle, but today Max got a rude awakening! She picked him up by his tail!

AHHHH! Avery! No!

He survived just fine, but since their eyes are not open yet, he never saw it coming =)

This morning when I was changing their linen, she picked up Benji. This time though she used both hands, and picked him up around the belly. She had been watching Kevin and I pass them back and forth, and she decided to help. Kevin and I just looked at each other with wide eyes. Well, we thought, she didn't hurt him.

And then poor Max this afternoon.

OH- the other thing. I was loving on Annie this afternoon after weighing her. She was curled up in my arm and I was stroking her face and ear when she yawned.

Puppy breath.

So cute!!!

another update...

Warning: Cute pictures ahead that might just melt your heart!!!

All the puppies are doing great! I took them in for a little check yesterday and he said that they all look good, even little Brownie. I swear that Max has already doubled his size. He is going to be a little chunker!
Abby is doing really well too! I was worried because she did not want to come out of the crate all that first day and most of the second day. Finally on Saturday night she came out to go outside, then she headed right back up and piled right back in with them. Today though she is coming out more often to see what else is going on in the house.

There is just something about a pile of puppies. Here Annie and Max cuddled in with mom.

Some of you were asking more about the black ones. They are really hard to see because they blend right in with Abby. The girl we named Annie and the boy Dillon named Benjamin Franklin... I call him Benji. Here is a close up of him.

Here is Brownie getting some milk from mom.


And Annie snuggled in with mom.

update...

They are all safely here now. Brownie came while I was blogging last time... you can barely see her under Abby's leg here and in the second picture, you can see her better.


So we have 2 girls and 2 boys. Max is the yellow one. Bailey named him yesterday when she decided that she was keeping a boy dog.(she is not!) I named Brownie, because, well she's brown. And the other 2 are yet to be named. Dillon wanted to name one Killer, but I vetoed it.

Bob- to answer your question, Abby did most of the cleaning. I helped a little, more with Max because he was the first and we were both new to this birthing puppies thing. Here is a picture of Max right after he was born.

They're here!

After a long wait (2 1/2 days), they are here. At least 3 of them are.

The labor started yesterday afternoon around 1:45. She had short bursts of panting and restlessness, but would then settle into a nice comfy spot and rest quietly. She did this all day and night. And then around 4:30 she got really restless and started burrowing under our bed. I got up and settled her back into her bed in the bathroom and sat with her to keep her there.

I was expecting a long wait still, but by 5:10 I noticed her pushing. Sure enough, by 5:15, number one was born. I will keep the details out, but let me tell you this. It was a messy, gross mess! The little one was cleaned off and quickly started rooting for mama.

Number 2 and 3 came during the next hour and by then Abby was ready. She was a little freaked out the first time.

This picture shows 2 of them. The first was yellow/white and the next two are black.
Dillon got to see the 3rd one born, but Bailey did not wake up in time. She really didn't want to go to school so she could see the last one born, but she went anyways.

I'm going back up to wait for the last one.

Five for One

At the first doctor visit there was an interesting question.

A week later there were suspicitions.

Now it has been confirmed.

We got quite a deal, just not a deal that either of us intended.

Five dogs for the price of one.


Yep- what you are looking at is a pregnant dog.

Wait, it gets better.

She is due THIS WEEK!

Go ahead and laugh. It's not you stuck in this position.

Neither Kevin or I have any experience with girl dogs. We have no idea what to do. When I left the vet today, I was so dumb-founded I didn't know what to do. Luckily I had the presence of mind enough to ask for information to take home and read. They had the presence of mind to get me a birthing crate. Now I just have to convince her that that is where she wants to give birth... this week.

Did I mention that at least four puppies are being born this week? In my house?
Maybe five.

Help.

A day of rest...

I was so exhausted from last week and just the build up of time that I (not so nicely) asked Kevin for a day off yesterday. I think demanded might be a better word. Another one of my not so great moments... more proof that I needed the time away from everything.

Dillon had a hockey game at 10:00 in Westminster and Kevin was supposed to go back to Colorado Springs for a Semi-final game at 1:00. Dillon had to be at a birthday party at 2:00 on the west side of town. Etc... It was supposed to be another hectic day of running around town. I just couldn't do it.

I woke up at 10:30!!! no joke. I can't remember the last time I slept in that late. The house was quiet. I laid there for a moment. Am I really alone? Yes, I am!!!!
I take a few moments on the computer to catch up on blogs and daily news and then take a quiet bath all by myself. No kids in the bath, in the room or even knocking at the door!!!

By the time they got home, it was noon and I even thought I might be able to handle the rest of the day if Kevin needed to get to his game. He surprised me by staying home. I still got everyone's lunch ready, but Kevin did all the afternoon running around for me.

At 5:00, I wondered aloud about trying to find a sitter and going for a movie. Amazingly enough, our sitter was available and we were able to go to a movie and appetizers. We were actually able to sit with each other and chat about non-kid things.

It was an amazing day! I even got some scrapbooking done.

Hard lessons

Usually when I begin a post this way, it is to talk about hard lessons that my children are having to learn. Ones that I hate to teach. Yesterday it was my turn to learn the hard lesson.

If you are an educator you probably saw this coming. To me it was something that you can be told about, but you have to experience to really learn the lesson.

The perfect storm hit a second grade classroom yesterday.

It was a Friday before a 3 day weekend.

The day before, school was let out really early for a "snow day."

There was a holiday to celebrate.

The students were allowed to be out of uniform to celebrate this holiday.


And there was a sub.


Do I really need to say anything else?



BTW- my lesson was this... keep as much consistancy to your classroom as possible. And on days like this one... structure is your key to success!

Snow day

So I was scheduled to sub today and tomorrow. This has been set up for a while now, since late December, I think. Any ways, I wake up this morning to a dusting of snow. I have that silly little thought that all kids have, "I wish it was a snow day." I don't mean it. I love teaching and have been enjoying my week at home so that I can go have fun today and tomorrow, but still I wished it.
I got ready to go and hopped in the car. The roads were really icy because it had rained before it started snowing. There was an accident that shut down one of the roads. I was going to be late. I still had Avery in the car and it was 10 minutes before school started.

I called the school, no one answered.

The detour we had to take did take me right in front of the school and so I stopped in to let them know I was going to be late.

I found someone to cover for me until I got back.

Finally I arrived at my friend's house to hand over Avery. I had forgotten to give her tynenol this morning. She had a shot yesterday and is getting in her two top eye teeth. Ouch. I had to let my friend know that she could give Avery some medicine.

Back in the car. Make it back to school, only 10 minutes late. The sub for me only had to bring the kids into the classroom. I took over no problem, got straight to attendence.

Settled the students in, and got them started on Writer's Workshop. 30 minutes into our school day, the lights go off.

Classes switch for math any ways.

I attempt to teach math with craziness in the air. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Yeah, right." Most just wanted to see the hallway and bathroom dark.

My phone keeps vibrating in my pocket. I finally take it out and look at who has been calling. The school.

"School has been called for the day. Our power and heat are off and the electric company does not think it will be returned in the next 4 hours. Please come back to the school and pick up your children."

Students begin to leave the classroom, one by one. It is chaos. I continue trying to teach the lesson. Trying to keep the students somewhat focused. I am failing.

Finally, I give in. "Just turn to your homework side and begin the facts. We will finish up this lesson tomorrow."

Still, students are leaving, one by one. It is time to switch back to our regular classes. I only have 3 students left.

The lights come back on.

School is still off for the rest of the day.

We are home. It is snowing lightly.

Time for a puppet show.

The red bee has a party

The Bailey girl is about to turn 6 and rumor has it that when you have a birthday, you have to have a cool party with friends. Well, she did.

Bailey and 3 of her friends, Jada, Maggie, and Reyna, all went to Build-a-Bear on Saturday and had a grand time creating new loved ones to squeeze. Bailey made a tabby cat that she named "fruit." (I have no idea!)

After all the friends were made we headed over to a restaurant in the mall and had some lunch. There was lots of giggling and squealing. The girls were served a hot fudge sundae and all five (including Avery) dove in. And then we had cake on top of that! Add some presents in, and you have a grand party.

Very fun indeed.

Introducing....

our newest family member... Abby!

She is a year old lab mix that we adopted on Friday night. The kids already love her so much! They climb all over her, lay on her, sleep with her and walk her until her little paws are rubbed raw. But she just wags and wags and loves all the attention.

Feel free to say Hi to Abby!