Surf, Sand, Sleep = Success

The weekend was amazing as usual. We’re pretty sure Lexi enjoyed herself. It was hard to tell because she was either tearing maniacally around the beach or sleeping.  

Every time we come home, I spend the entire the car ride figuring out a way to move permanently to the island. I’m still scheming as I have a husband to convince. 

Looking ahead we have a busy weekend, coupled with work, work and more work. I think we’ll need to blow up some of these photos so I can stare at them and pretend I’m back in paradise.

Tofino Bound

It’s 7am in the morning and I’m on my way to the happiest place on earth. Maybe I should clarify, I’m on the way to my happiest place on earth. We’re going to Tofino.

Also big news? My sweet little Lexi Doodle turned two this week. I can’t really fathom how my twelve week old puppy that was just a bundle in my arms, has become this loving, spunky, snuggly little running buddy. They grow up so fast.

As a gift to her, we’re taking her to play on miles of beach and introduce her to surfing.

Surf's up.

I vote that we abolish Monday's

Monday’s are horrendous – especially when it’s dark past 8am, it’s pouring rain like you’ve never seen it before, you didn’t sleep well and you go to pick up dog poop but it turns out there was no bottom of the bag and you end up grabbing the poop with your fingers. Lovely, I know – what made matters worse is that I was one poop bag short, and with two dogs you need multiple bags. So when my parents dog went to the washroom, I had nothing to pick it up with and a lady started yelling at me.

So to recap; I hate Monday’s, poor Derek is sick on his deathbed downstairs, and my parents are enjoying fruity tropical drinks in Mexico.

Our photographer has posted the rest of the Engagement photos on her blog – we love them and can’t wait to get some hanging around the house. I want to blow one up for above the bed, but Derek won’t let me. How does that saying go? It’s easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission?

PS - the above photo has nothing to do with Monday's or this weekend - I just thought you hadn't seen enough photos of Lexi lately. Here's some pictures from the summer, including her first swimming lesson with Daddy

2 baths 2 days… and an eye infection

It turns out that we didn’t just come home with a wet, smelly dog covered in burrs when we left the park last Thursday – we also contracted a vicious eye infection that appeared on Monday.

Poor Lexi has been battling a severe case of conjunctivitis. I noticed it Monday morning when she woke up with her eyes crusted with pus and she was scratching them. I made a vet appointment for later that day – and thankfully I did, as the issue got worse over the course of the morning.

The first question they asked me was if she had been swimming in dirty stagnant water? If by swimming they meant tumbling off a bridge, then yes…. The vet shaved around her eyes (which gives her the appearance of two large black eyes) put all sorts of medications and freezing in her eye and then sent us home with a topical cream (have you ever tried to put cream on a squirmy puppy’s eyeball??) along with a big ole’ cone.



Poor Lexi is feeling much better – and the eyes are almost back to white with almost no crusties. But she’ll go into random whining/crying/moaning fits everyone once and awhile. She has to keep the cone on or she’ll scratch her eyes and either scratch her cornea or give herself an ulcer.

She can’t sleep with the cone on though, she’s so gosh darn uncomfortable and doesn’t fit in her crate, so she lays next to our bed at night, but there’s no sleeping going on. She’s up, crying whining, escaping, banging her cone into things and it goes on and on and on…… last night was the second night of sleep deprivation. I’m grumpy, she’s grumpy, Derek’s grumpy…..

I can’t wait for our follow up vet appointment tomorrow when they tell me she’s back to normal and we can ditch the cone.

Lesson learned: If your puppy falls into a dirty pond, don’t just bathe the fur, flush out the eyes and pick up some polysporin eye drops from the pharmacy.

2 Baths 2 Days

(it's tough to get a picture of her playing... she's fast)

Poor Lexi has spent some significant time in the bath the past few days by no fault of her own… well a little of her own.

On Tuesday night we took her to a friend’s house to watch the Season Finale of Glee (Lexi’s a big fan) and my friend asked if she could have a bone as she was feeding her dog one. Thinking that it was a cookie type bone, I said yes, only to realize that my dog was gnawing on a raw lamb’s neck. I was disgusted butLexi loved it.

What I didn’t think about (until the next morning) is that you’re not supposed to change a puppy’s meat protein. If they eat chicken puppy chow, stick to chicken. If they eat lamb, stick to lamb and so forth until their stomachs are a bit stronger. Since Lexi’s on a Chicken and Rice diet – the lamb went through her, causing diarrhea every time she put anything in her mouth for the next 24 hours…. Fluffy white fur and runny poop will give you an idea of the mess I was dealing with. Poor thing.

Last night we took her for a walk around a lake with a friend and her new puppy. The two dogs are pretty close in age and got along famously – they played and ran and chased for 1 ½ hours straight. However, poor Lexi was running across a foot bridge crossing a muddy creek and slipped and fell off the bridge, down approx 4 feet and into the water. Lexi has never submerged herself in water, and we definitely didn’t plan for her first time to be a surprise.

Derek was a hero however, and ran into the water and pulled our poor flailing, panicking puppy out of the water. I'm pretty sure she was the one screaming, but according to Derek that was me.

She recovered with a bruised ego and continued on playing with the other dog, and ran straight through the bushes and came out covered in burrs and sticky tiny green seeds, which are IMPOSSIBLE to get out. So we spent another evening in the bathtub washing mud and smelly water off of her, and cutting and pulling burrs out of her fur.

I’m off to Osooyos for the weekend for a stagette – so Lexi and Derek are having some Daddy-Daughter bonding time. I hope for Derek’s sake she stays clean until Sunday.

Live crab

Live crab could have been the theme for last weekend’s sailing trip. Lexi, a coworker and I all headed to SaltSpring Island for a weekend away with my parents. The boat seems to have this medicinal aura about it, that instantly relaxes you and this weekend was all about relaxation….. and crab.

Dad has always wanted to catch crab, for years he's put down differnt traps, all sorts of bait and always come up empty handed. But I think the drought is over, being the scientest he is, he seems to have come up with a fail proof formula and started hauling in the crab this past weekend not looking back since.

Lexi, not to be left out of anything, also starting crabbing this weekend and experienced her first taste of live crab – she quickly learned that if she flips over the rocks on the beach tiny (and some not to tiny) crabs run about and are fun to catch and eat. I spent half my weekend shrieking at her and pulling fatally wounded crab out of her mouth.

All-in-all it was a great introduction for Lexi to the boat, the sailing was great, the fresh crab dip was great and the company wasn’t too shabby either.

Life before twelve

Some people think I'm absolutely crazy when I tell them I wake up at 5 a.m. three times a week to run a bootcamp, but despite my weekday madness, I'm actually a sleep lover. I go to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 and wake up either at 5am, 6am or on weekends..... 11:30 a.m.

I love laying in bed on weekends - Derek and I used to get in gear and make breakfast around 1 p.m. on weekends.... which has its downsides as we never really got that much accomplished on the weekends. Everything has changed since Lexi Doodle entered our lives 3 weeks ago.

We go to bed after our 11 p.m. pee and bedtime routine, get up at 3:30 a.m. for another bathroom break, and then again at 6 a.m. - we can usually squeeze another hour of sleep out of her until 7 a.m. when it's time to get up, eat breakfast, go for a pee and take our morning walk.

It's been good parental training for Derek and I, as by noon on a Saturday, we've made a huge breakfast, gone for a walk along the harbour, gone grocery shopping, done housework, watched the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show (it's true) and are making progress around the house (finally getting my home office set up).

Life before twelve? Who knew.

Loving Little Lexi Doodle

I can't imagine loving something more than Lexi. She's such an amazing puppy. Her potty training is all coming together - she goes to the top of the steps when she wants let out, she's learning all her commands and was the star of her very first puppy class yesterday - she gives the greatest snuggles and just flops into your arms and will lay there forever.

My mom hadn't met her yet, as she and my dad are away for the summer on the boat, but I was anxious for Pooda and Mom to meet her, so my mom took a three and a half hour ferry round trip to come and visit us for 2 hours!

Pooda and Lexi were great together - they had a very special bond, something you don't often see with Pooda, and I can't wait for them to spend more time together. Lexi also gets along with Farley, my brothers Labradoodle, and tomorrow they're attending a 'Doodle Romp' in Vancouver - where 19 other labra and goldendoodles get together.

When opportunity presents itself

So the thing with life is that it twists and turns. You go down one path, and then something comes up and you switch gears.

I tend to always hesitate when it comes to opportunity. Opportunity scares me. Failure scares me. And those two often go hand in hand. However every once in awhile opportunity partners up with success and blessings. Sometime the status quo is the easiest route, and more often than not, I take it. I always read about the amazing things people accomplish and do – the way they put their selves out there, and reap the rewards by utilizing their opportunity, and yet – I still sit back and wait for things to happen.

Anyways – opportunity has allowed me to work from home for the next few months. It’s a big deal and project that I get to do – and it’s setting me up for being able to work from home in the future. I’ve been having great discussions with a few mentors in the past few weeks, and I’ve decided I’m going to begin to work towards my ultimate goal of becoming a photographer, by studying, taking classes and beginning to purchase my equipment. My new/old/same/different job (long story) isn’t in photography – but it’s allowing me the time to begin to pursue over the next few months.

And if I fail… at least I took the opportunity. No regrets.

So in the mean time…. I’d like to announce the arrival of little Lexi Doodle – Derek’s and my new Goldendoodle addition. Why not make working from home a bigger challenge by adding a 12 week old puppy!

She’s adorable… when she’s sleeping. We picked her up 8 (fast and short) days ago and she’s coming along nicely with her training. A bit clingy to me… but we’re working on me become a pack leader and ignoring her fluffy adorableness.

She also needs plenty of socialization, but we start puppy classes next week and then we signed up for a ‘doodle romp’ where other Golden and Labradoodles in Vancouver meet up – plus lots of walks and trips to the dog park.

Note to self: Puppies are a lot of work. I spent so many years begging to get a dog, I never actually thought Derek would cave and think it was a good idea. Ha Ha. I love her so much already though.