A Week in the Life of a Puppy

Siena lays:



Plays (with sticks):

Whines (let me out of puppy jail, puh-lease):


Acts demure (don't fall for it, folks!):


Makes friends (Biskette is a good role model):

Poses nicely (Glamour Shots couldn't do better):

And, Siena sleeps (puppy burrito!):

Can’t Help It. The Girl Can’t Help It.

Sometimes I go through these phases where I’m really freaking clumsy. Almost like I’m in one of those terribly cliché romantic comedies where the girl is constantly falling over and spilling things and inevitably literally runs into her soul mate who, of course, finds her lack of coordination endearing and they live happily ever after. Well, I already have my Tom Hanks/Hugh Grant/Matthew McConaughey/[enter your favorite leading man here], so, my clumsiness leaves me not to new exciting heights of true love but instead to messes—lots of them. In the last 24 hours, I have performed the below three acts of stupidity:

1. In the past year I have broken three, beautifully etched wine glasses that Ryan’s mom got us for Christmas 2006. She got us a set of four, and since breaking 3/4s of the set, Ryan has barred me from using the lucky, remaining glass. Hilariously, both Erin and Ryan noticed my difficulty at keeping glasses as nature intended and got me stem-less wine glasses for Christmas 2007. (Seriously, how hilarious is that?) Well, last night I was drinking some Chianti while cooking and, of course, knocked over the glass, spilling wine everywhere. While I somehow managed not to break the glass (yay for stem-less drinkware!), I did end up spilling dark red wine all over my left brand-spanking-new Nike. I know you’re not supposed to get upset when someone smudges your Puma, but what about when I myself spill wine all over my yet-to-be-run-in shoes? I dried it the best I could and then pouted for an hour. Darn me.

2. This morning, I performed my 8 a.m. work ritual. Oatmeal with flax seed? Check. Piece of fruit w/napkin? Check. Coffee? Check. Coffee all over my jeans? Bonus! I totally spilled coffee all down my right leg, while walking back to my desk. I’m sure at least five people saw it. Brilliant.

3. This afternoon, I had yet another clumsy incident. Siena got a couple rounds of shots this morning as part of her normal vaccination, and the vet warned us she could be a little out of it for 24 hours and may exhibit flu-like symptoms. The worrier that I am, I went home over lunch to check on the little bugger. While there, I found her in good health and myself stepping in a big ole pile of poo in the backyard. I was wearing my new chucks. They now smell of poo even though I scrubbed them vigorously. God hates me.

And the day’s not even over yet!

Puppymoon Over?

She was young. She was cute. She was fluffy. She was shy.

That, my friends, was the Siena of two weeks ago. Nowadays, Siena is still young and cute and fluffy, but she’s anything but shy. I’d describe her more as outgoing, rambunctious and at times devious and hellacious. Take for example, the evening she chomped down on my calf or affixed herself to my shirt, thereby tearing a hole in it with her cute little sharp teeth. Or the evening where she seemed to be possessed by the devil and vehemently attempted to destroy our shag rug. (On that occasion, she actually looked me in the eye while pulling on my beloved Crate and Barrel rug, seeming to take delight in my futile attempts to stop her.)

After a few days of enduring the Monster, I wised up. I researched like a fiend, channeled my inner Cesar Millan and vowed to stick to the Dog Whisperer’s three principles: exercise, discipline then affection. We all know that most problems with dogs aren’t really the dogs themselves, it’s usually the owner. [Head hung low.]

Yesterday evening, Siena had her walk, and then, when she started her nightly attempt at removing my digits, I put her in puppy jail. Once she quieted down she came back out and went back to her old tricks. Back into the slammer she went. After calming down again, she got it. We did some training that rewarded her for licking my hand, not biting it off, and then she really started to get it. Ryan and I spent the evening relatively bite-free, and things were pretty peaceful.

Although Ryan claims that I am the next Dog Whisperer, or at least the Siena Whisperer, I’m not declaring victory. The pup has a strong mind and some sass. This whole learning-not-to-be-a-brat thing may take some time. Now that the puppymoon looks like its over, I’m just taking it one day -- and nip -- at a time.

p.s. Pictures of puppy jail to come soon! She does a really good 'I’m sorry' pose. :)

Rubba Dub Dub, One Pup in the Tub

I promise that I'll eventually stop blogging exclusively about Siena and start blogging about other things, but, at the moment, she is BY FAR the most time consuming part of my life. It's constantly play time, poop time, walk time, feed time, bite time and clean up time. And when Ryan and I aren't doing that, we're working or trying to sleep. It's a dog's life, dude. I have absolutely no idea how people have children.

Last night, Ryan and I had a relaxing evening at home lounging with the dog, watching Superbad and drinking wine. (Thank God for rawhides -- and Erin, who sent Siena two fun toys!!!) This morning, we took her for a long walk to take the movie back and played some soccer in the backyard, thereby getting her insanely muddy and dirty. To remedy the wet-dog smell, Miss Siena got her first bath. Here's the before and after.

Daily dose of cuteness:





And, on an unrelated note, go Obama! Iowans just went with a black man who admits to inhaling because, "that's the point." (Which is a hilarious and a very honest response, btw.) I think America may finally be sick of the current state of things. Change is a comin' my friends!

One Week Later

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only had Siena for one week as of today. She already seems like an integral part of the family! In celebration of her 9th week of life, I’d like to point out just a few of her accomplishments. Pretty impressive for a dog that someone (who obviously had no heart or sense) abandoned at a McDonald’s dumpster. There's an triumph for each day of the week!

1. Name upgrade: McMuffin to Siena. Need I say more?
2. Acting ability: Significant improvement in her whining/howling/crying one-dog-act, "Oh My God, Please Don’t Leave Me." I swear she's reached new octaves.
3. The ability to "hold it" for 8 hours: We learned this last night after letting her sleep in her box in our room to avoid said #2.
4. Climbing an entire flight of stairs: Siena was brave enough to try this yesterday afternoon after somehow escaping from the kitchen that’s she's barricaded in with baby gates. (I like to refer to the kitchen as "puppy jail," as she puts her little nose between the wooden bars. Kinda sad but mostly funny because she’s spoiled rotten and got it pretty good.) However, she isn’t confident going down the stairs, so once she’s up, she’s up until Ryan or I carry her back down.
5. Weight gain: Two pounds in one week. Impressive.
6. Multiple nicknames (a sure source of affection): fuzzy face, monster and my personal favorite sassafras puppy pants.
7. Puppy burrito: It’s the best way to travel! (I'll snag a photo of that later and post it. It's too precious. We wrap her up in her blanket and carry her around when she's sleepy.)

New Year's Eve Pics, Puppy Hiccups and More!

Here are a few pics from New Year's Eve. We had a grand time (Siena included!):

Us at Hoopers:

Drinking the good ish. Love me some K Cider:

Nana bought Siena a new toy! She likes it...

January 1, 2008: Chowing down before the 10:30 am Mizzou game. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and OJ...yay tigers!

Nap time! Paws out and up during the nap. lol.

And, if you're needing another hit of puppy, click here for a short clip of her with the hiccups. Yes, hiccups.

Obligatory New Year's Day Post

As Outkast once sang, "Feeling good, feeling great. Feeling great, feeling good, how are you?" And, dang, I'm feeling good! Mizzou just won the Cotton Bowl by a landslide, and it's 2008, baby!

And to recap, I feel very blessed for the last year. 2007 was full of some major life changes: buying a home, moving, getting married and even welcoming a fuzzy new member into the fam. It was one hell of a year.

Next year, I have just a couple of simple things I'd like to do and continue doing. Here's my goals/resolutions for the next 365 days:

1. Play more (Siena can help with that quite a bit)
2. Don't take life too seriously (goes nicely with #1)
3. Continue eating well and working out regularly (not too much, not too little)
4. Develop a regular meditation practice (eventually doing yoga and/or meditation almost every day, even if it's just for a couple of minutes)
5. Try lots of new stuff (get Zumba certified, continue cooking new foods, host events, meet new people, continue taking photos, etc.)
6. Finish de-wallpapering and painting the Nut
7. Travel to see my long-distance BFFs! (I have 15 days of vacation this year!)

Happy New Year, everyone!!! May 2008 be grrrrrr-eat!