I Love You, Kates

If you follow Little JCrew's development, you'd know that we work really hard with his speech and then don't see results until weeks/months later.

We always tell him, "Please," "Thank You," and "I Love You." We have not heard those things back. Just last week he started using, "Please" and I can't say, "No" to him. He told me, "Hose. Please" and I let him play with the hose outside.

When I tell him I love him, I look him in the eyes and hope that he knows what I am saying. I'm happy to report that he knows. The first person he ever uttered those words to, was his precious puppy, Kates! Yup, that's right. He was loving on all the dogs yesterday and when he got to her, he leaned down, hugged her and said, "I love you, Kates." It was adorable.

I don't blame him for loving her. She's a cute puppy and she makes us all feel loved. What's not to love about her?

He's also learned some new things from his classmates at school. Last weekend we had to hear his fake laugh every day. Not only was this a loud laugh meant to drown out anyone else who is simultaneously laughing, but his hand goes up to cover his mouth. I can't help but laugh along with him.

Last Saturday, we raked the leaves in the front yard. I grew up in a Pine Tree forest, so all I ever did was rake the needles into the flowerbed. It was my lazy attempt at raking leaves. I didn't want to bag them. Little did I know that I was providing mulch!

Little JCrew was timid about jumping in the leaves, but then he saw me and we couldn't enjoy it enough.

It's rare to see him smile so big!

I think we are going to have a hard battle with cabin fever this Winter. The boys love to play outside so much, they won't accept the excuse that it's too cold outside. We just have to bundle them up.

We hope you all have a great weekend!!

Kids and Dogs: A Comparison

Mr. JCrew's and my conversations can be funny to an outsider. Before kids, we talked about the dogs. With kids, we talk about the kids AND our dogs.

We haven't compared them totally before, but that's exactly what we did and I thought it was funny.

In the conversation, we concluded that Mr. Brigglesworth and Anderson are a lot alike. I never thought this was true.

Anderson and Mr. Brigglesworth:
- Love their Momma A LOT
- Eat their food immediately and are ready for more when finished.
- Love attention
- Loud (barking/screaming)
- Sleep great
- Red-headed (Mr. Brigglesworth is looking to be Strawberry Blonde)

Little JCrew and Colby have a lot in common:
- Independent
- Won't eat their food, but if you leave it out, you can catch them eating when they're hungry.
- Love to play rough
- "California Cool" mentality (No rush. It's all good. I'll get to it later.)
- Don't listen
- Quick on their feet
- Quiet
- Blondes
- Fidgety sleepers

There is one difference where the pairs are not the same... Discipline.

In regards to how we discipline the boys, Anderson and Little JCrew are more alike.

Anderson needs to be scolded multiple times before it gets into his brain. Even after that, he forgets you were mad and loves on you.

Colby hears you yell at Anderson and runs and hides. He is a scared pup and we can't discipline him.

Now that Mr. Brigglesworth is into EVERYTHING, we are having to use instructions. He's good at listening. When he goes for the dog bowls, I can tell him, "No" and he stops and looks at me.

When I had the problem of him biting, all I had to do was look at him. He stared back at me trying to read my body language. He got the message!

Already Raiding the Pantry

Little JCrew is big into testing us. Sometimes he quits, and sometimes he doesn't; but threatening does not do anything to him.

We have not raised the boys any differently, yet they are complete opposites!

Being a married couple with kids and dogs has changed our conversations around the table!!

I hope you have a great weekend.

Animal Lovers

I grew up around animals and loved it. But I can’t claim to be the animal lover in my family. That goes to my sister, Logan. She runs and manages a sanctuary for once neglected and abused farm animals. It’s called Kindred Spirits Sanctuary.

Logan has always been identified as an animal lover. Each Christmas she asked Santa for an Ostrich! She is such the animal lover, that she is a devoted Vegan. It makes sense.

I knew I would raise my kids around animals, and I’ve had so much fun seeing Little JCrew’s love for animals grow. We have two dogs that get all kinds of crazy attention from the little guys.



Little JCrew was young when he started hugging his play animals.



He even tries to feed is play animals.



He loves our dogs and gives them hugs and kisses.



Yes, in the above picture he is attempting to shave Anderson. I don’t know how friendly this looks. But, I promise, the guard was on and once I snapped the humorous picture, I took the razor away. Maybe he thought it was a scratching tool?



I have been so impressed with how our dogs are handling two kids. Mr. Brigglesworth pokes them in the eyes, puts his finger up their noses and pulls their ears.



And they still come back for more.



This love extends to all kinds of animals. He talks to and pets the fake bunny in my mom’s yard. He points out every bird that flies overhead.



My sister sends videos of the animals she works with. On Monday’s she volunteers with exotics, so we’ve seen pictures of tigers. One of his favorite videos was of the cows. They came out to see him. He immediately started “Moo’ing” back to them.

Kindred Spirits Cows

His current favorite animal is the cow. If I were to throw him a party for his second birthday, it would be cow-themed. He has toy cows that he puts on the window ledge at my parents' house. They look out the window and are there when I pick him up.

I can’t wait to take him to the zoo. And I can’t wait to take him back to the Sanctuary. He was just a wee one when we were there last. And he slept through a lot of it.





I can’t claim to be the animal lover like my sister, but I do love animals. Animals make me so happy, and it makes me happy to see my boys enjoying them, too.


Have a great weekend!!

(Note: All pictures are of Anderson. Colby is still warming up to the kids, but is doing a really good job. He’s just camera shy and Anderson wants all the glory!)

A Lesson On Frogs

Little JCrew had a lesson on frogs. The boy LOVES being outside. It’s what we do every day when we get home from work. I had my camera out and was taking pictures of the flowers.

When I stepped away, I heard something drop. I look down to see what it was and saw that a frog jumped as I almost stepped on him.

I love frogs. There is a running joke in my family about me ‘chasing frogs.’ Kendal, stay quiet!

I pointed the frog out to Little JCrew and he started kissing it.

There were also some sweet nothings whispered to the frog.

Before I knew it, he was reaching down to touch the frog.

I was warning him while I kept my finger on the camera trigger!

The frog jumped before Little JCrew could get his hands on him.

This actually frightened him. He wasn’t expecting the frog to jump. He probably thought the frog would sit still and let him pet him like the dogs do.

I always wanted our dogs to lay next to the babies while they had tummy-time or napped, but our dogs have taken a LONG time to warm up to the little humans in the house.

Anderson was the first to get close to them. I think he was trying to get to me, but settled for the baby. I have pictures of both the boys are the same time developmentally playing with Anderson on the floor.

Anderson just lets them tug on him.

I told him that one day they would give him the attention he starves for!

Colby is a timid pup. He was an older puppy when we got him, so I don’t know his upbringing, but I think it was fine. He could just care less about a baby. However, recently he is all about Little JCrew!

Little JCrew loves on Colby and pets him. Colby use to run away, but now he loves it! It’s more hands to pet him.

Colby thinks Mr. Briggleworth is okay, but he’ll be cooler once he can stand and Colby can knock him over!

Oh, and I have to make note of Mr. Brigglesworth’s hair. I can’t get it to lay down. It does for maybe a minute as it dries after a bath, and to me, he looks funny. I’m so use to seeing the hair standing up, that it makes him Mr. Brigglesworth. I don’t want to make it lay down.

I hope you all have a great weekend. My sister, Kerry, is coming into town to see her boys! We are soooo excited! Little JCrew wants to take her to the park and play. Wooo!

See you Monday! (I’ll be sharing my potty-training story)

Anderson LowRider

My furbaby, Anderson, turns six years old today!



I can't believe it's been that long. I got him to be a companion for Bailey and he stole my heart right away.



He has the definition of "puppy eyes." He just looks at you and you melt.
He is a stubborn dog. His will and mine battle a lot. I can correct him 50 times and he will repeat himself.




He loves to cuddle and does very well with the babies. We always warn strangers not to pet him because we just don't know what he'll do.
He TRIES to be a guard dog, and can sound ferocious, but it doesn't always scare people.




Happy birthday, Anderson! May you have many more happy years in our family.




- Lindsay

A Dog-gone Great Weekend

I got to baby-sit my fur-brothers this weekend. Since Bailey passed, it's been a while since I've had a Dachshund herd.
The dogs had their favorite spots they went to and sat around all day.
Jackson liked to SQUEEZE between the cushions.

Jackson Holmes

Anderson pretended to not pay attention.

Anderson

Colby was chill.

Colby Graham

And poor Hunter hid most of the time.

Hunter behind the couch.

He's scared of Mr. JCrew, but he started warming up to him if he talked in a high-pitched voice. And Mr. JCrew couldn't directly talk to Hunter. He had to be talking to one of the boys and THEN Hunter would come over to him. This was progress! He ventured around the house quite a bit for the rest of the weekend.
It was a great weekend. Little JCrew loved waking up to all of his puppies. He just talked and talked to them all.