Puppy!

Meet the newest member of our family...

PUCK!

No, he's not named after the disc-like object used in hockey. He is named after the mischevious fairy in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

When my beloved Queensland Heeler, Cherry, passed away in December, I was absolutely devastated. The Husband already had 2 dogs: 5 1/2 year old Axel (yes, I'm spelling it correctly, it's short for Battle Axe), a German Shorthair, and 13 year old Sammy, a terrier mix, so he wasn't too keen on the idea of getting a puppy. I'd told him that was fine, I was more than willing to get a shelter dog, and I wanted a BIG one. I'd have loved a Rottweiler or Mastiff.

Unfortunately, our homeowner's insurance wouldn't allow me to get a Rottie, and The Hubby was more than a little opposed to getting a dog that would be or was bigger than Axel. I had considered stopping at the shelter more than a few times, but never made it to any of them.

About 2 weeks ago, The Hubby came home with a small slip of paper with a name and phone number on it with "Lab Puppies" written next to the name. At his insistance, I called the man who lived in Tehachapi to ask about the puppies. Since the puppies' momma was papered, but the daddy was not, the puppies were much cheaper than I expected, and I eagerly dragged The Hubby up the mountains to Tehachapi (a rather beautiful 40 minute drive from our house) to pick out my new baby 2 weeks ago Saturday.

There were 3 male puppies left (The Hubby didn't want to get a female because Axel hasn't been neutered), and one of them was especially precocious and came right up to me, tail wagging. The biggest of the three (and also the handsomest), was too timid and cowered every time The Husband got near him. I gleefully scooped the less handsome, but more friendly, puppy, and loaded him into my car.

The drive down the mountain consisted of The Hubby and I arguing about what to name him. I was adamant. I wanted to name him Bingley (after Jane Austen's character Mr. Bingley of Pride and Prejudice). The Hubby went through every lame name I could think of (and a few Babylon 5 and Star Trek related names), which eventually deteriorated into him making lame jokes about what we could name him (I gave him a break since he'd worked 12 hours the night before and hadn't slept yet). I told The Hubby that, if I couldn't name him after a character from one of Austen's novels, the puppy's name had to at least be literary. That's how we agreed on Puck. Because, after my beloved Jane, Shakespeare is my next largest literary obsession.

As I type this, my rapidly growing puppy (he was 10 weeks old on Wednesday) is lying across my shoulders on the back of the couch, occasionally licking my ear. He's very attached to his mama.

The Munchkin is terrified of Puck and will not go near him unless he's asleep. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it once we break him of his mouthy ways.

Axel was also not thrilled about meeting his new "brother." He's gotten better over the past 2 weeks, and, though he rarely plays with Puck, will at least let Puck wander around the yard unmolested.

Raising a lab puppy is a whole new experience for me. I've always had cattle dogs, specifically Queenslands, and sporting dogs are completely different. For one, Puck is not nearly as intelligent as the dogs I've been used to training...which means I have to focus on controlling my frustration. However, he also can't figure out how to pretend like he's listening, only to manage a way aroud the command I've given him. I think I will definitely be getting him into some obedience classes as soon as he's gotten all of his shots.

I'm not looking forward to the extremely long puppy stage that I know most labs experience, and I'm hoping he'll pick up "fetch" from Axel (since that's the main joy of Axel's life). On the other hand, I'm really glad I don't have to worry about any agression issues (which were a constant concern with my Queenies), and he absolutely adores children, which is fantastic. In fact, tomorrow, I'm leaving him with my sisters while my mom and I go on our annual day trip to Ventura. I am completely confident that they'll be able to wear him out enough that I won't have to spend the evening running him out before I put him in his crate for bed time. He's also taken to crate training like no other dog I've owned. He hardly whines when he's in his crate (unless he needs to be let out to potty), and he hasn't once gone to the bathroom in his crate.

I'm very excited about raising my new baby (although I'd forgotten how much work a brand new puppy is), and I think we're going to have 2 very good family dogs by the time Puck's gotten older. We're already discussing our next dog (since Sammy's health is getting bad and we don't think she'll live much longer), and I think I'm going to let The Hubby take responsibility for raising that one. :)

Puck and Axel in our back yard...which is in desperate need of grass, I know.

Progress!

Well, it's been just over five months since my surgery and things finally seem like they're moving along.

I have the standard lap band, which holds 10 cc of saline. My doctor has been gradually increasing the level every two weeks since December, and he took me up to 7 cc last Wednesday.

The first several days were absolutely miserable. The evening after the fill, I couldn't even keep water down. I was on liquids for almost 3 days following. By this past Wednesday, I was finally able to eat normal food (although bread and tortillas are nearly impossible), and I was so excited.

I'm finally to the point where I can only eat 4-6 ounces at a time. It's such a weird sensation to go to McDonalds and order a 6 piece McNugget (of which I can only eat 4), when I used to be able to easily eat a 20 piece and fries.

When I started this adventure, I weighed over 300 lbs and was wearing a size 24-26. As of Monday, I weighed in at 244 and am a solid size 18. My goal is to be in a 14-16 by my cousin's wedding in May, mostly because all of the cute dresses I've found are size 16 or smaller. :)

I had to take my wedding rings in to be sized, and my fingers are a size and a half smaller than they were in October. I am actually wearing jeans at the moment that haven't fit me in about 3 years...and they're very loose.

The adjustment hasn't been easy. The weeks with no weight loss were so discouraging that I often thought to myself, "why did I put myself through all of this if I'm not going to lose any weight?" Thankfully, I have some amazing friends and coworkers who have been through it before, and they have been marvelously encouraging.

The biggest problems have been side effects of the weight loss. For the past 2 years, I've had an Implanon birth control implant in my arm. Once I'd lost about 40 lbs, my body went absolutely crazy and I was miserable for almost 2 months before I was able to have it removed. Of course, once it was removed, I started having problems with the incision. I'm on antibiotics as a precautionary measure, but my body (which normally heals insanely quickly) is not healing the hole in my arm. If it's not healed in a few days, my OBGYN has told me he'll have to stitch it closed.

Overall, I'm incredibly excited about the progress since my last fill, and I feel better than I have in years. My energy level has doubled, and I feel like I'm 25, not 55.

This morning, especially, it feels like everything is falling into place. I have my Starbucks, my hubby is working out with his buddies before he comes home and goes to sleep for the day, and I have Jethro Tull blasting in the house with the front door open while I sit on the porch and drink my coffee. The weather is beautiful, and, later, I'm going to Social Security to (finally) change my name.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yes, I'm still alive...I think

Since we last met, so many things in my life have changed. Of course, maybe life just seems so different when viewed through the sparkle of the diamonds on my left ring finger.
Yes, that's right, I got married! Labor Day weekend, The Boy (now The Hubby!) and I took a trip to Morro Bay, which included a trip to Hearst Castle, wine tasting at Kelsey Vineyards in San Luis Obispo (and a visit to my great grandma who lives next door), a day spent in Solvang, and --as always-- a trip to the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynes. While in the process of attempting to drag The Boy away from the slot machines so that I could get some food and sleep, he won a $50,0000.00 jackpot. Yes, there really were that many zeroes. Never mind that, after installing air conditioning on our house, buying my rings, and paying off some bills, there isn't a dime left.

After a marvelous weekend, he proposed on the way home, with Peter Frampton playing in the background. We had agreed to keep things quiet for a while because he hadn't had time to talk to my dad. Unfortunately, I ended up telling my dad that The Boy and I were engaged when I was visiting him in the hospital and wasn't sure he was going to survive. As it turned out, dad was in the beginning stages of a diabetic coma and doesn't remember most of the month of September. He has been doing much better, though.

We initially set the date for June 5, 2011. As you can plainly see, though, we didn't quite make it to June. The more I started thinking about what was needed for the wedding and how much it was going to cost, the more stressed out I got. The more stressed I was, the less I was  inclinded to do any kind of planning. It was a vicious circle.

The weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, The Boy and I were in Laughlin, NV to visit his grandpa who'd been ill and in the hospital. The Boy's brother and sister in law were there, as well, and I had a nice time visiting with the family and doing a bit of gambling. Between the two of us, we had a bad gambling weekend, but we figured that we saved on other things, so it all evens out.

On Sunday morning, while The Boy and his brother were helping their grandpa with something on the computer, I was in the living room with my sister in law who mentioned that The Boy and I should get married while we were in Nevada that weekend. I can't blame everything on her, though. I'd been thinking about eloping for some time before that conversation. I mentioned it to The Boy when we got a moment alone and he made me make the decision (stupid man, always making me choose!). After visiting at his grandpa's house for a while, we ended up driving to Oatman, AZ to see the "wild" burros that roam the streets. We made it back to the hotel for a few minutes before we headed back into Arizona to meet some of the family for dinner in honor of grandpa's birthday.

There was a brief moment of hesitation when we found out that the marriage license bureau in Laughlin wasn't going to be open on MLK day. To solve that problem, we got breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and hit the road for Las Vegas. I'm infinitely glad that we had to go to Vegas, though. Since that was where we went for our first date, it seemed rather poetic to be married there as well. I got a frantic call from my sister in law telling us not to get married until she and my brother in law got to Vegas.

We got to Vegas and got our marriage license (before and after which we were mobbed by men with pamphlets touting the merits of their chapels), and toured a chapel before we headed down to Fremont Street to find some wedding bands. We ended up with a couple of plain silver bands and got a little more gambling in before my brother and sister in law showed up.

The ceremony was short and sweet. The preacher was a petite, vivacious black woman who also served as the photographer. In between performing the ceremony and our exchange of vows, she managed to capture several shots of us with which I have fallen absolutely in love. 

Seeing the silver band (he refuses to buy another ring for himself) on The Hubby's hand still send a little chill down my spine and saying "my husband" sends my heart into overdrive. I'm not nearly naive enough to think things are going to turn out "happily ever after," but it's still an indescribable feeling to know that I am part of someone else, and he of me. I am definitely blessed beyond words.

January 17, 2011