Dog Days of Summer

This summer has definitely NOT been the most comfortable one we've had in El Paso due mainly to the fact that we're living with a crappy evaporator air conditioning (i.e. swamp cooler). To keep our minds off the heat, we have been enjoying our time with our first baby, Athena.

She's grown quite a bit since we got her in January and now tips the scales at 65 pounds. She has learned the names of all of her toys and even a few tricks, including "Shake" and "Roll Over", though she's reluctant to perform them unless there is some kind of treat available. She is eager to make new friends (unless it's the "uber-scary" UPS man) and is usually loved by everyone she meets! She's always ready for a game of tug-of-war and loves to be under foot, no matter what you're doing.

Latest Hiding Spot = Under the Computer Desk

We recently trekked to a park across town to try out their Doggie Park. Unfortunately, she was the only doggie around and wasn't too keen on performing the agility course beyond what it took to get her treat. We think she had WAY more fun running and sniffing the grass while on her leash in the rest of the park!

Cam Placing Treat

Athena Retrieving Treat

Athena Preparing to Jump Off Side of Ramp Once Treat is Retrieved

Lately, we've been researching different techniques to introduce her to the baby, when the time comes. We've tried playing crying baby noises, which don't seem to faze her. We're not too worried about her; she does GREAT with the little boys next door!

Baby Smith Update

Today marks the 32nd week of pregnancy and we're starting to count down the days until our due date: October 3rd. We still do not know the sex of the baby as Army medical only pays for one ultrasound ... unless there is something serious that needs to be checked out. So, we've resigned ourselves to be excited for it to be a surprise! (Plus, it's fun to see people's reactions when we tell them we don't/won't know!)

The nursery is slowly starting to come together. We agreed upon a decorating scheme (sage green, pale yellow and brown with Jungle Animals). We ordered posters of said Jungle Animals and now just need Hobby Lobby frames to go on sale. Our crib arrived this week (Thanks, Mom & Bruce!!!) and after Cam spent an hour this afternoon putting it together, the room actually looks and feels like a nursery.

I promised Cam's mother that I would document the assembly process, so I thought that I'd share with everyone else too!

Step 1: Open all the boxes and deal with mountains of Styrofoam

Step 2: Figure out which pieces are which

Step 3: Giggle at the number of "dummy" labels on each piece

Step 4: Get annoyed at the photographer documenting each step

Finished Product with the Proud Daddy

What did I do the whole time? I read the instructions, of course! (with a little help...)

Now that the nursery is nearly complete, I'm starting to feel the pressure to get all my baby-related sewing projects done. First up: a crib dust ruffle. I already have instructions and fabric, so I just need to find motivation to dive in and get it done!

I'm also being pestered for a "bump picture", so for all of you (you know who you are!), here's the little bump that's poked out from under all the "normal" chub:
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Road Trip to Ruidoso, NM

Instead of spending the entire two weeks of Cam's Block Leave doing Home Improvement activities (see later post) and hanging around sweltering El Paso, we decided to escape town for a few days. We headed north to the southern/central New Mexico town of Ruidoso. We had been promised, by several of our local friends, that the Ruidoso area would be the cure for all our tree-withdrawal symptoms. So, we packed up the truck, grabbed the dog and made the two and a half hour drive north.

Ruidoso did not disappoint. Its rolling mountains and hills were covered with Ponderosa Pines, various deciduous trees and green grass! There were streams and lakes, cute little "yuppie" and ski shops to peruse, and many, many, many cabins to stay in. (Too bad we chose one over the internet that turned out to be so "quaint" that it had newspaper taped to cracks in the windows...)

During our three days in town, we went for a nice, leisurely hike in the Lincoln Forest. It was glorious to be in the woods again and hear the stream babbling away as we walked. We also found out that despite her lack of enthusiasm for sprinklers, kiddie-pools and baths, Athena IS a true water dog. She happily went splashing through the creek we had to cross over/through several times, stopping only to bite at the rushing water. She also loved being able to find all kinds of new plants to sniff and even found a little garter snake to chase.

While out in the Lincoln National Forest, we stopped at the Monjeau Lookout, an active Forest Service fire lookout tower. It was completed in 1940, sits at 9640 feet in elevation and provides a gorgeous 360 degree view of 160 square miles of forest land.

We spent the rest of our "vacation" window shopping, trying new restaurants in town and just relaxing. We also took a walk in a local park where Athena found her first official stick ... from a tree!

It was a lovely short getaway and reintroduced a little green into our rather dull, brown desert lives!

Clean Bill of Health

After a month of daily spot shampooing and medicine application and two additional trips to the vet for skin scrapings, Athena has been given a clean bill of health!

It appears that we caught the Demodectic Mange problem in time and successfully combated it! We're just thankful the process was relatively painless for us AND Athena and didn't require the MONTHS of treatment that the vet had warned us about.

So, good-bye mangy mutt! Hello, normal, happy puppy!

BEFORE

AFTER
Enjoying her first "actual" stick in a Ruidoso, NM park

Busy Bees!

We've been a couple of busy bees these last few weeks ... and thus haven't been able to post in a while. Here's a little update on what we've been up to:

Work has been keeping Cam VERY busy between different training courses, prepping ranges, making inventories, and all the usual paperwork that comes with being a platoon leader. After work, he's been diligently prepping and finishing painting our master bedroom and bath. Here's an "in-process" shot:
We'll post some "after" shots once all the clean-up and proper "pretty" staging is done!

While I don't have a job to keep me busy, I find my days filled with dog walking/entertaining, household chores, errands and various activities on Post that I'm involved in. Plus, I always have time to spare for a coffee get-together with girlfriends! I've also been working away at diminishing my fabric stash before Baby Billy Bob arrives. I know once he/she is here, I won't have time to do as much quilting, so in order to build up my Project Linus stash (so that I have things do donate after his/her entrance) AND clean out the craft closet, I'm sewing my fingers to the bone. I've managed to finish 3 quilts (the Mystery Quilt was started waaaay back in March) in the last 2 weeks and have another on the sewing machine awaiting binding.

A mystery quilt done with the Ft. Bliss Blissful Stitchers. It's a little "scrappy" for my taste, but hopefully some lil' kid will love it!

A panel that I just added the black and blue borders and a backing to. I also tried my hand at a little more free-motion quilting on this one.

A panel of four Suzy Zoo prints that I just added the red and yellow borders and a backing to. I quilted the inner and outer square of the red border and did a little more free-motion quilting over the Suzy design.

Athena's also been a busy little dog, trying to be underfoot no matter what we are doing. She's tolerating her mange treatment and the spot seems to be improving. We have to take her back to the vet in a week to get another skin scraping to test for mite production. Keep your fingers crossed that she gets a clean bill of health!

Sleeping in

Darn Mangy Mutt!

We noticed a few weeks ago that Athena had a spot of missing fur right under her left eye. Thinking it was from all the horseplay between her and our friends' dog, Rembrandt, we decided to take a Watch-and-See approach. The spot didn't seem to bother her when we touched it and she wasn't scratching at it. When the spot appeared to be growing larger instead of getting better, we took her to the vet.

Two and a half hours later, which included a shaving and skin scraping, we discovered that she was afflicted with Demodectic Mange. It's a form of non-contagious mange that is caused by naturally-occurring mites in young dogs whose immune system isn't fully developed. At least we now know what it is and are treating it before it gets any worse.

In order to make the process of bathing the spot and treating it with ointment every day a little easier, our poor little pup gets a mini cheese & peanut butter sandwich (i.e. peanut butter between a small slice of cheese ... and a pill!) twice a day. So far, she's a big fan of Cam's new concoction!

The spot is right under her left eye

The mange spot and the OVER-shaved area

Memorial Day Weekend, Part Uno

Cam and I made a hurried 4-day trek up to Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA to see some family before it gets too late for me to fly. While we were away, Athena the Wonder Pup stayed with our good friends, Charla and Jason, and their new puppy, Rembrandt. Remy is about 3 months younger than Athena, but the two of them were bosom buddies (and both EXHAUSTED) by the time the weekend was over. Charla and Jason said that they just played and played and played all weekend - to the point where they couldn't even go to sleep and had to be separated for anyone in the household to get some rest.

Charla managed to capture some of their playtime! (FYI - Athena is the bigger of the two dogs)


More stories and pictures will follow in a couple days ... so hold your horses! :D

The Speed Bump

Athena likes to be right in the middle of everything we do. Last night she was so tuckered out from playing with the dog next door AND going for a walk that she did her best impression of a speed bump...

We've been busy ...

We've been SUPER busy these last few weeks ... so busy that we haven't had time to update the blog. The estimated time of arrival (or ETA, if you please) of new posts: Monday, May 3. Can you wait that long to hear all about our adventures in continued Home Improvements and sewing projects???

Too bad if you can't ... because you're just going to have to! Enjoy the weekend!!!

Watch Out! Guard Dog on Duty!

Athena the Wonder Pup

Our little puppy is growing up so quickly! She's already doubled her height and now weighs at least 20 pounds. When Cam got home from being in the field for a week, he couldn't stop remarking about how big she's gotten. Since I see her all day long, I don't notice... until I have to pick her up to put her outside when she refuses to go.

Athena follows me everywhere and usually plants herself right at my feet, including under the table as I sew, at the edge of the kitchen when I cook (though I think this is because she's just waiting for me to drop food) and in the office as I blog! But every time I convince myself that she truly is "my" dog, she treats me like chopped liver as soon as Cam walks in the door. If he's been gone for a while, I'll also catch her whining at the door to the garage (where he comes in each night) or sleeping on his shoes...she must miss the big guy. :(

Chillin' in the office while I blog

Thankfully, potty training went relatively quickly. Athena was very eager to please and didn't like to get in trouble when she had an accident, so she learned to alert us by barking/whining at the back door. After weeks of success, the only accidents have occurred when she's really excited to play and forgets that she has to go.

Athena also enjoys her two daily walks. We take different routes each time which allows for all kinds of new smells and terrain to experience! I think she needs the exercise too, because if we miss a walk, she tears around the house like a crazy dog right after dinner.

The newest experience for the Wonder Pup has been learning to traverse the stairs. We tried for weeks to try to teach her how to climb up and down, even breaking down to placing treats on every stair, but she just wasn't interested. Suddenly, one afternoon I couldn't find her downstairs anywhere. Then I heard her knock something over in our bedroom and went to find her in the midst of Cam's field gear. Since then, we've learned to keep the upstairs' doors closed as she's snuck away with rolled up socks or fabric/paper from the office.

Finally, our smart little Athena has learned two new tricks/commands. She's very good at "Sit" and understands "Outside" and "Kennel", though she doesn't always want to obey. Her latest accomplishments include "Shake" and "Down". Cam hopes that some day Athena will be able to master "Roll Over" and "Play Dead".