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.

Summer Transition

Last year was a long, hard, SICK, year! With two kids in daycare, we were always sick. I bet if you were to look back at my time card last year, there wouldn't have been a single month in the year, including summer months, that I didn't have to take at least one day off in the month due to a sick kid at home. If it wasn't one sick kid, it was the other and I mean it when I say this went on all year long. I remember spending my 30th birthday (last July) sick in bed all day. Despite several ear infections, countless sinus infections, never ending colds, the dreaded flu, thrown in with a couple cases of mastitis, we somehow made it through the year on minimal sleep with bags under our eyes.

Come July, I was ready to start our new chapter at home. July was a perfect time of year to make the transition.  Even though I was ready to be at home, there was a large part of me inside wondering if i was 'cut out' to be a Stay at Home Mom. With the nice weather and all the outdoor activities, summer was a nice way to ease into it.  I signed Hanley up for lots of camps and we spent the majority of the summer playing outside. Here's an idea of how we got our summer tans on:

-Swim lessons for Hanley.  He LOVED swimming!! Every morning he would jump out of bed and get dressed in his swim trunks before he made it downstairs for breakfast and cartoons.

-Soccer camp.  Hanley surprised us with how well he did in soccer and how much he enjoyed it.  I almost didn't sign him up for it because the camp ran into his nap time but I am glad I said to heck with nap time!

-Preschool summer camp.  We enrolled Hanley to start preschool in the fall, so this gave him an opportunity to meet his new teachers and some of the kids in his class.

-Weekend trip to Seattle to visit Aunt Coco and Uncle Kyle.



-Five day trip to Alaska to visit Holly, Sever and Henry.  We had an amazing time up there!

-We got in 4 camping trips, including our annual Crescent Lake camp out.

-Tillamook County Fair.  The boys and I met up with my Mom, my brother Caleb and a few of my cousins and their kiddos.  Hanley decided this will be an annual event for now on :o)

-Parks, parks and more parks! I had a goal to visit all the public parks in Oregon City.  We had a lot of fun playing at new parks around town.

-We hit up the spray parks on a weekly basis.

-Hanley got to spend 4 days at my parents house which he loved and it gave Henrik and I some nice one-on-one time.

-Kim and Loren took both boys for a long weekend over our anniversary weekend. Happy 7 years to us!

-The boys and I met Mindy and Jaclyn at Oaks Park a couple times. The boys don't seem to have any kind of fear when it comes to rides!

-Annual Stuebing Coast trip.

-BBQ at Uncle Mark's house.

-Play dates, walks, bike rides, basketball...etc.

It truly was a fun summer! Oh and imagine this... we were healthy all summer long :o)

Our New Life... As a Family of 4

Well, its been a loooong time since I last blogged.  After Henrik's arrival, life just got too busy and this Mama was too tired to blog. But a lot has changed. So, let me get you caught up...

Adjusting to 2 kids was just that..an adjustment!  I distinctly remember when Henrik was 2 weeks old, we sat down to eat at the dinner table. Moments later, both kids were crying and I just lost it and broke down into tears myself.  I looked up at Cody and said, "Maybe we are just in over our heads here." Cody, the only one in the house not crying, assured me that lots of people have 2 kids and make it just fine.  Then he looked around trying to figure out which crying person to assist....the toddler with a major meltdown, the screaming newborn, or the exhausted, emotional Mama. Needless to say, we survived that dinner and hundreds more since then.

I had to go back to work 2 days before Henrik turned 3 months old.  It was really hard for me to leave him so early.  As if that wasn't a big enough change for the household, Cody made a pretty big career move that same month. Although he was experiencing a lot of success and building strong relationships at this previous job, it was becoming difficult for him to find happiness in the daily grind.  He made the decision to re-unite with a former mentor and long-time friend at another Portland based company. To date, its been a good change- for him and for our family.

Hanley turned 3 years old. Of course he wanted to have a Super Hero birthday party.

Henrik was actually a really easy baby. Great eater, sleeper, napper, etc. (Our only struggle with him as a baby was the car! He freakin' hated the car). But other than that, he was practically a perfect baby. Then at 9.5 months old he started walking and he's been a handful to keep up with since then.

I made a really tough decision to wean Henrik at 10.5 months old.  Cody and I had a chance to go to the beautiful island of Roatan with Kim, Loren, Courtney and Kyle. As selfish as it sounds, we just felt like we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Thankfully Henrik weaned easily and my Mom was wonderful enough to take a week off work to take care of the boys while we were on vacation. Our vacation was AMAZING! Kyle proposed to Courtney and we were so glad we were able to witness such a special moment in such a beautiful place.

In March, Henrik celebrated his 1st birthday (obviously, we had a Saint Patrick's Day themed party for him). A week or two later, he had a really bad reaction to his 12 month vaccinations (high fever for days, then later broke out into a measles-like rash all over his body). It was a work night and our normally perfect sleeper kept me up all night.  At the time, I thought it must be his teeth bothering him because I couldn't come up with any other explanation. Deep down, I knew he needed me. I knew he was not okay but I sent him to daycare anyways.  I didn't think he was sick, like contagious sick and I pretty much felt like my hands were tied.  I knew it was going to be a busy day at work and I couldn't justify keeping him home and taking the day off of work because he was teething. After lunch, I got the call from daycare.  He had spiked a really high fever.  They said he had been cranky all day before spiking the fever.  I felt horrible.  I couldn't help but feel like the worst Mom on the planet.  I kept asking myself "What kind of Mom drops her baby off and daycare when her Mommy gut is telling her he's not okay?". When I picked him up, I couldn't control my emotions.  I broke down into uncontrollable tears in front of his teachers.  I got him home and realized it was Tuesday, so the housekeeper was here. I cried in front of her too.  I took him up to his room and rocked him so we would be out of her way.  I just keep telling him how sorry I was over and over again. It was in this moment that my mind was made up.. If I had the chance, I was going to choose my kids over my work.

Three months later, my heart and the spreadsheet collided in the best way possible...and I retired. June 30, 2016 was my last day as a working Mama. One of the best decisions I have ever made.