Before and After

When we moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago, we didn't have nearly enough furniture to furnish the house.  The den, formal dining room and bonus room were completely empty for a long time! Over time, we have been slowly working on the house room by room.  Decorating isn't something that necessarily comes natural to me but I have begun to really enjoy it and so far everything has come together nicely.

The Den: One thing we have never liked about the layout of our house, is the lack of a foyer. So, we decided to use this space as a replacement for an entryway.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed decorating. This space ended up being one of my favorite rooms to decorate though because I felt less overwhelmed working with a fairly small space. I spent a lot of time at Pier 1 working on this room!

Before:

After:

Formal Dining Room: When we went shopping for the table, we were brave enough to take both kids with us to Amish Traditions. We picked out the table together then I had Cody handle the details of ordering the dimensions, wood and stain while I occupied the kids. I still plan to buy some candle sconces to complete this room but haven't found the perfect ones yet. 

Before:

After:

Bonus Room: We initially ordered the sectional for the bonus room and then didn't do much with the room after that.  It took us a loooong time to agree on a coffee table, entertainment stand, and a theme for the room.  I finally found the perfect coffee table at Real Deals but then found it impossible to find an entertainment stand to coordinate.  After months and months of searching, Cody finally caved and we ordered one from Amish Traditions so I could match the mahogany wood.

I decided on a "travel" theme for the room and I really wanted a set of luggage shelves.  When I showed Cody some I wanted to order online he said no way we were going to pay over $100 for shelves when he could make them for a fraction of the price. So, I went to Good Will in search of a couple old suitcases and as promised, he made me shelves.  He decided to one-up Pinterest and make me a set of globe shelves too.  After a trip to an antique shop, Home Depot and a days worth of work in the garage, I had myself a set of globe shelves too! He even installed a light in the upper globes. They are absolutely amazing and one of a kind! This room is full of so many great memories and thankfully there is lots of space to add future adventures to come!

Before:

After:

The house has been a work in progress (and still is) but I am pretty happy with how much we have accomplished over the last couple years. 

Henrik Turns Two

Henrik's 2nd Birthday didn't go quite as planned.

The days leading up to his Birthday, Hanley started to get sick with a little cough and later developed a low fever.  He seemed mostly okay so I wasn't too worried about him.  Henrik's 2 year check-up appointment arrived and I called the Dr. to let them know that I could still bring Henrik to his well baby check but that Hanley was sick and I had no choice but to bring him with us. If they didn't want a sick kid in, then I needed to re-schedule Henrik's appointment.  The receptionist told me to keep Henrik's appointment and the Dr. would see Hanley at the same time.  I agreed, although I really didn't think Hanley needed to see the Dr.  He didn't seem that sick and I assumed the Dr. would just says its viral and that the virus just needed to run its course.

When we arrived to the appointment our Dr. checked Hanley out first and to my surprise, he had "walking pneumonia".  Then it was Henrik's turn.  By this time, he had started to develop a cough but was otherwise fine. He checked out fine with healthy stats and clear lungs. So, we left the office with two stickers and a prescription of antibiotics.

We headed to Fred Meyers to fill the prescription, grab a few groceries and headed home for lunch.  As I was making lunch, Henrik was a total mess. Cranky as ever. I thought he was just "hangry" and was honestly just frustrated with him. When I finally placed his lunch in front of him, he pushed it away and said "Mommy's lap." That's when it hit me.  He was sick too.  I took his temperature to confirm it.  Yup. Two sick kids.

The antibiotics kicked in and Hanley was feeling better within days but Henrik was still sick. He ended up back at the Dr.'s office on his Birthday and ended up on antibiotics as well.  I felt absolutely horrible that we had to cancel his birthday but I kept reminding myself that at his age, he really didn't know the difference.

Henrik's 2 Year Stats:

Height: 34 inches (41%)
Weight: 23 lbs, 6 oz (5%)
Head: 19 3/4 inches (85%)


At 2 Year's old...

-Favorite Toy: Any kind of Ball

-Favorite Sport: He loves all sports involving a ball but I would say its a close tie between T-Ball and "Hoop Ball".

-Favorite Color: Blue. Which causes a problem at home when big brother's favorite color is blue as well. They both want the blue plate, blue cup, blue ball, etc... Its a bit ridiculous.

-Favorite Foods: Cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese.

-Favorite Book: We're Going on a Bear Hunt. He calls it the "uh-oh book" and we read it before nap time and bedtime every day.

-New words: "Love you","now", "new", "Hanley"... So many new words lately! His vocabulary is really starting to take off in recent weeks. I keep thinking I should make a list of how many words he's saying but if I were to guess I would say its somewhere between 60-75 words.

-Sentence Structure: He's starting to put 3-4 words together and unfortunately for Hanley, he's beginning to be capable of telling on his big brother.   Last week, I ran upstairs to grab something and Henrik came up soon after me saying "Hanley. Hanley take. Take blue wa-wa (water)." So, Hanley got busted for taking the blue water bottle away from Henrik. A couple days prior to that he noticed Hanley's shoes and said "Hanley new shoes". And one of my favorite things he says is when he tells Helga "no way ma'am!".

-He loves to give Daddy "double pats".

-He loves to walk down to the horses. It's his favorite spot in the neighborhood.

-He loves to "ride" his tricycle on our walks.  Last week, he took a pretty big spill on his bike racing big brother down the hill. Thank God he had his helmet on otherwise it could have been a horrible outcome.  That was by far not my best parenting moment.

-He will steal your nose and throw it away pretty much after every kiss.

-Oma and Opa got him a big boy bed for his birthday, so he ditched the toddler bed for his new twin bed.

-He has a love-hate relationship with Helga.

-He tries to copy everything Hanley does.

-He is extremely coordinated and athletic for his age.

-I have to remind him to say "please" on a regular basis but he never forgets to say "thank you."

-He still uses sign language even though he speaks the words.

-He does NOT like to wear a coat.  He will unzip it and take it off anytime I try to put one on him.  So, the best I can do is put a sweater on him.  It's not the best way to keep him warm but at least I know he wont take it off.

-When getting dressed, he likes to pick out his shirts and socks. He only wants to wear shirts with a ball on them and socks that are blue.

-He will snuggle with me for about 30 minutes in the morning and after nap but otherwise, he's pretty much on the go.

We absolutely love our little man.  It's hard to believe that he's already 2 years old! It's really hit me this week how big he's getting and how we are quickly phasing out of the baby stage which honestly makes me sad. These feelings of sadness make me wonder...is this how people end up with 3 kids?!

Our New Year's Trip to Bend

Back around New Years, Cody and I spent a couple of kid-free nights in Bend.  Everyone kept asking us what our plans were... Skiing? Snow shoeing?  Well, not exactly.  We really didn't have any plans.

Before we even checked into our room, we stopped in at Dovetails Furniture. We have been wanting a new bedroom set but furniture shopping with two kids in tow is something that's hard to get excited about.  So, we thought we would take advantage of not having the kids with us and check out my favorite furniture store.  We fell in love with a set and ordered it. Gosh, shopping without kids is efficient!

Next, we checked into our room and hit up the gym for a quick run before going out for dinner.

The next morning rolled around, we tried our best to sleep in. Then we figured since we just upgraded to a king bed, it was only logical to go mattress shopping next. So we did.

I actually enjoyed mattress shopping. Cody was afraid that we weren't going to be able to agree on the firmness of a new mattress but that part ended up being the easy part. We were totally on the same page when it came to that and we agreed on a mattress fairly quickly.  What he wasn't expecting to be an issue was agreeing on a base.  Yes, the base! I wanted an adjustable base but he wasn't mentally prepared for the price tag of an adjustable base.  To make a long story short....I may have taken advantage of him being in "vacation" mode and we ended up ordering the adjustable base. (Which has turned out to be the BEST decision ever! Seriously, our quality of sleep is out of this world now).

After some additional shopping, we decided it was beer time.  So we got back to our hotel, changed and called a cab. We went on a mini brew crawl (Sunriver Brewing Co. was my favorite), had dinner and ended up deciding to walk the 3 miles in the snow back to our hotel room in lieu of calling a cab.  It was a beautiful night and we really just enjoyed the uninterrupted, adult conversation.

When we got back into town, everyone laughed when we told them that most of our time was spent shopping.  But honestly, we were excited about finally getting our room done (after years of pushing it to the bottom of the priority list) and definitely agreed that it was much more enjoyable to do it while we were kid-free. A special thank you to my Mom who made this getaway possible for us!

And now I love our room...

Helga: 12 weeks

I didn't want a puppy. Cody was the one that wanted a dog.  The subject was a dispute in the house for months following Roxy's passing. It took a lot of convincing for Cody to get me to consider another dog. I always did like the idea of the boys growing up with a dog in the house but I knew I was going to take on the majority of the responsibility of a puppy.  At first I told Cody, we couldn't get a puppy until I had Henrik potty trained first. I didn't want to be potty training our almost 2 year old and house training a puppy at the same time! Then came along Helga... I saw her online, fell in love, and all that went out the window!

11 weeks

Some days, I feel like I am running around like a maniac just trying to survive the day.  

Henrik loves Helga almost too much.  He pretty much never leaves the poor dog alone! She will be trying to take a nap and he will come over and start to pester her... tug on her ears, poke at her with his feet, shove toys in her face, etc. She wakes up then it instantly turns into a puppy brawl. Helga treats Henrik like they are litter mates. Henrik thinks its all fun and games until she takes it too far. Then his laughter turns into tears and screams of "NO PUPPY. NO BITE!" The louder he gets, the harder she plays...and this goes on all darn day.

Some of our worst moments have been getting out of the house.  Trying to get the boys dressed, ready, and out the door is sometimes a challenge in itself.  Add Helga into the mix and she's either running off with a sock while I am trying to get Henrik's socks and shoes on or peeing in the house when I look away for a second to get Henrik's coat on.

Then there's breakfasts, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner.  And you bet, Helga is there to beg, steal and bribe for each and every meal. Snatching sandwiches, toast, bananas, celery... you name it, she will eat it.

She's usually wore out by the nap time so she usually naps while the boys nap. However, I compare her to a baby that will fall asleep in your arms but wake up the second you put them down because she will fall asleep right at my feet and as soon as I try to leave the room, she will wake up and follow me. Typically, I do laundry, prep dinner and clean the house during nap time but I wasn't able to get these things done with her.  So, my laundry was piling up and the house was a mess and these two things totally stress me out.

So, yeah its been a little crazy.  Juggling the three of them is a lot of work. Some days are harder than others. I told Cody the other day that it's a good thing I wanted Helga so much because I can tell you I wouldn't handle all of this so well if I felt like he just stuck me with a dog (a dog that I didn't even want) to train and care for all day. Oh but Helga. How I love her so much.  She's worth it all! Plus, we are 4 weeks in and I am starting to get things figured out a little bit.

I started putting Helga in her crate for 10-15 minutes in the morning while I get the boys ready for the day. So, getting out of the house has been a lot smoother.

We recently started giving her a bully stick at mealtimes (thanks Kim for the suggestion).  As of lately, she's been mostly preoccupied with her special bone (one that she only gets at mealtimes) that she's been mostly leaving us alone at the table.

Now she naps in her crate during the boys nap. That way she gets a good nap in and it free's me up to get stuff done around the house.  I feel like the house and laundry are back on track.

She's doing awesome with the house training! We are down to one or less accidents on most given days.

And as for Henrik and Helga...their overly playful relationship is still a work in progress.

Overall, I would say things are going much better. She's added a new dynamic to the house and it's just a matter of adjusting to the new normal.

12 weeks

Helga: 10 weeks

It's been 2 weeks since I brought Helga home.  I am not going to lie, its been a little crazy.  It's been so long since we have been through the puppy stage that I totally forgot what it's like.  Sometimes I feel like we have a 3rd kid now. But gosh, we sure love her!

9 weeks old

The first night home, I was exhausted from my 24 hour adventure across the country and back. Once we got the kids in bed, I told Cody I needed to eat, shower and sleep....and I put him on Dog Duty for the night. Her crate was in our room.  I drifted off to sleep with her barking in her crate then I was out like a light the rest of the night. When Cody woke me up in the morning, I was totally unaware of how the night went. At 6am sharp, he walked into our room and told me I had to take over because he needed some sleep.  He said Helga didn't stop barking so he tried sleeping on the floor next to her crate for a couple hours. When that didn't work, he ended up downstairs on the couch with her on the floor at his feet, both of them going in and out of sleep all night. At 4am, she was up and at it. The darn dog was on East Coast time.

The second night, he put me on Dog Duty.  We moved her crate downstairs so he could get some sleep for work. I set my alarm for every 2 hours so I could get up to let her out to potty.  At both the 11pm and 1am shift, she pooped in her crate. So. Not. Cool. Helga. I didn't get any sleep and again, she was up for the day at 4am.

The 3rd night, we decided we decided to team up.  I took the 11pm and 4am shift and Cody took the 1am shift. That seemed to work much better.

We did that the whole first week, slowly pushing the 1am shift to 1:30am, then 2am. Then we were able to drop the 11pm shift and later drop the 2am shift. She's still getting up early but at least she's sleeping through the night now.

I wouldn't say that she likes her crate by any means but we have her down to a pretty good bedtime routine now. She stopped barking after the first week and when its time for bed, she won't try to escape while your closing the door.  Heck, you can leave the door open and she will just lay down and go to sleep.

We are still working on house training her but she's pretty smart and is picking it up pretty quickly. She's definitely still a Florida girl. She's not a fan of the rain so it takes a bit on convincing to get her to go potty out in the rain. On the nice days, she's a total champ. I can let her out back on her own to do her thing and she might run a couple puppy laps around the backyard while she's at it.

One benefit of me being home is she gets lots of exercise. The boys and I take her on a walk every morning and everyday after nap.  Then, I take her on a 3rd walk after we put the boys down for bed. Rain or shine, she gets her walks in.  It's good for all of us.

We usually end our walks checking on the neighborhood horses.

She also goes everywhere with us.  I have been driving the truck lately so she can tag along with the boys and I during the day.

Portland Pup

Today she had her 10 week check up.  She's 18.5 lbs and as healthy as can be. She did so good at her appointment, our vet absolutely loved her.  He said he hadn't seen her breed before but said she's a wonderful mix! He said Newfoundlands have a short lifespan and hip issues due to their size and rapid growth but are overall really healthy dogs. He said mixing in the poodle breed will reduce her size and increase her lifespan. Plus the little to no shedding is a nice added benefit. 

10 weeks old

The boys love her and they keep her plenty busy.  Henrik's a little rough with her sometime but she's pretty good about putting up with him.  Hanley's really sweet with her...up until she takes one of his "babies". If that dog runs off with Alligator, it's game on.

Helga's Adventure Home

When we finally got to the point where we could talk about a new dog in the house, we couldn't agree on a breed.  Cody wanted a purebred Newfoundland. That was it for him, he really wasn't willing to consider anything but a Newfoundland. I know they are beautiful and are great with kids but I just couldn't get excited about all the drool and shedding that comes along with the breed.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Roxy. I would take her back in a heartbeat if we could but...I was starting to enjoy the fact that I wasn't constantly cleaning up dog hair around the house. I can handle some shedding, but I wasn't ready to sign up for the amount of shedding that comes along with a Newfoundland.  So, I started doing some research and came across a Newfypoo (Newfoundland/Poodle mix), which seemed like a wonderful compromise in my book! So, my research continued...

It turns out, Newfypoo's are hard to find! Across the country, I found 4 breeders total, all out of state. I started to get discouraged because buying a dog out of state wasn't something we had really considered. Here's why: 1) I didn't like the idea of buying a dog we have never met. 2) I didn't feel comfortable shipping a puppy cargo. 3) It didn't really seem practical for me to fly across the country to pick up a puppy.  

But then I came across a litter of puppies in Florida. There were 7 puppies in the litter, 5 were still available and 2 of them caught my eye.  The "Orange" puppy had surprisingly straight hair for a Newfypoo and appeared to have more of the larger Newfoundland head with a broader snout. Then there was the "Black and White" puppy which had the cutest markings- black head with a white snout and a white stripe down the middle of her face. I think I showed Cody the pics of both puppies on the website but I didn't mention much about them at the time. The following two nights, I went to bed thinking about the "Orange" puppy.  By Friday morning, I emailed the breeder asking about both puppies.  She responded quickly and after reading her email, I was already in love.  I called Cody at work and caught him by total surprise when I said "Honey, I need you to book me a flight to Florida." He researched flights for me but we agreed we would need to talk more about it when he got home. Which we did.  The next day, we placed a deposit on the "Orange" puppy.

Part of me thought I was crazy. I don't particularly like flying and I definitely don't like flying solo! And flying with a puppy? Who on earth thinks that's a good idea?! What did I just sign myself up for..?

But I was in love.  We all were.

We spent the next couple weeks getting ready for the puppy and talking about names.  We had a few picked out but Hanley helped us settle on Helga.

My adventure out East began on Friday, Feb 3rd.  I took a red eye out of PDX and arrived in Tampa around 5:30 am. I met Helga by 9:30 am and our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:30pm. I flew all the way to Florida and never left the airport!

She was pretty nervous the first 5-10 minutes with me but warmed up quickly. I got nervous myself when I pulled out her carry crate and realized it was certainly small for her size. Yikes, and we had a whole day of traveling ahead of us.

We played outside as long as we could before we had to check in for our flight. As we headed to our gate, I noticed 5 other dogs in the airport, none of which were in their crates.  I didn't feel comfortable letting her walk around because she's not potty trained so I took her to the women's bathroom, laid out a puppy pad and we hung out in there until she went potty.  Once we got to our gate, I took her back out of the crate and she waited quietly on my lap until it was time to board our flight.

I had to convince her to get back into the crate to board our flight but I left the top of the crate open a little for some extra ventilation (she was so big in the carrier, that her fur blocked the mesh siding). I was afraid she was going to overheat or suffocate in there! As I was walking to the back of the plane, she managed to unzip the top, pop her head out and try to force her way out. Once I got to my seat, the two people sitting next to me, looked at me and said "Oh you should just let her out." So, I did. I figured if it was a problem, someone would let me know. She sat on my lap the entire time, napping.

Our first flight was short, our second flight was 5 1/2 hours. I wasn't so sure we were going get that lucky again for the second flight. I learned my lesson from the first flight and didn't leave the top unzipped as we boarded our flight. Helga was whimpering and crying in her carrier. I had a middle seat. I apologized to the gentleman next to me on my right and told him she did great for the first flight but that's because I let her sit on my lap. He said, "Go ahead and take her out, I don't mind." I thanked him but told him I would wait for the seat on my left to fill because there was no way I was getting her back in that carrier if the person to my left wasn't comfortable with it! It was a full flight. Every seat on the aircraft was occupied except for the seat to my left. What luck! Helga hit the jackpot and got herself her very own seat.  I scooted over and placed her in the middle.  She spend the entire flight altering cuddles between me and the gentleman next to us.

Our adventure home was exhausting (I was running on 1 hour of sleep) but it really was lots of fun. It went much smoother than I ever anticipated possible.  She was so calm and relaxed for the journey home. It's a trip home that I will never forget.

We arrived home at 7:45pm.  Two very excited boys met us at the door.  Neither of those boys were excited to see me, they were only interested in meeting the new addition to the family!

Welcome Home Sweet Helga. 

Roxanne "Roxy" Olson: July 2007- September 2016

I can't tell you how many times I have sat down to write this post. Each time I try, I just get too emotional. It's been months, and it's still so hard. When we lost Roxy, we lost a family member.

Our last weekend with Roxy was a blast.  We spent Labor Day weekend camping in Eastern Oregon with Kim and Loren. Roxy was her usual self. She was happy, healthy, full of energy and loved every moment of our time in the woods.  But things changed drastically when we arrived home on Monday September 5th. As soon as she got out of the truck, she drank a bunch of water then spent the evening throwing up in the back yard.  That evening she refused to come in the house.  Shortly after the kids went to bed, we got her inside and she was shaking. I called Kim to see how their dog Sabby was doing and explained to her what was going on.  She said Sabby was fine and told me to keep Roxy hydrated. Roxy wouldn't get up to come upstairs for bed.  I spent a moment sitting with her, telling her how much I loved her, how I hoped she felt better in the morning but if she didn't I promised to take her into the vet first thing in the morning. I told her if she needed anything, she knew where we would be.  I hugged her, kissed her and said goodnight.  Sometime in the middle of the night, she made her way upstairs to lay on the cool tile floor in our master bathroom, her favorite spot to sleep. Her whimpering woke me up. I got up to bring her some water but she refused to drink it.  An hour later, I woke up to her whimpering at my bedside. Cody woke up and said he was going to go sleep with her.  She followed him into the guest bedroom. When he reached his arms around her body to lift her up onto the bed, he noticed her belly was hard and bloated.  He laid next to her for the next two hours rubbing her belly, telling her she just had to make it til morning. At 4:45am, her rapid breathing came to a stop and she passed away with Cody by her side.

Picture taken on our hike the day before she passed away.

Roxy loved hiking, camping and spending time in the woods with us.  One thing that brings us comfort is knowing she spent her last weekend doing what she loved best.

We had her cremated with plans to spread her ashes at Crescent Lake this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. A place we have so many wonderful memories with her. Whether we will do that or not, I don't know. A large part of me just can't come to terms with letting her go.

RIP Big Girl. We will always love you.