Allyson, Peri & Taquito's Blog (97)

I can't remember the last time I was on DK, but I do think of my friends often!  Hope everyone is doing well!!

As some of you know, I have a 2 year old girl named Charlotte (human!).  I also have Peri, the 5.5 year old goldendoodle, and Taquito, the almost 11 year old Chihuahua with kidney disease.

The past 6 months have been a whirlwind for me. In June I found out we were expecting no. 2!  Two weeks later my boss resigned and I have been in a whirlwind ever…

I hope everyone is doing well these days. I try to pop in when I can - life is busy!  But good!

I wanted to give you an update on Peri and Taquito and our human child, Charlotte.

Peri is the best doodle on earth. She is still a feisty girl - my neighbor asked me if she was 1 years old recently and when I replied with "5" she about fainted and said "wow she has a lot of energy"!  She continues to be the best big sis to Charlotte and cares so deeply for Taquito,…

It's hard!  There...I said it.  Not because of behavioral issues as the dogs are EXCELLENT with Charlotte and Charlotte is just as excellent with them.  I've had one time where Charlotte has gone up to Peri and kind of shoved her to move out of the way and she got a "simmer time" (aka time out) for that one!  Charlotte generally knows to be gentle with her doggies.  Peri licks her and follows her around. And Taquito tolerates pets from her, which is a major victory (he's a Chihuahua for…

I posted something about this in the Food Group today, a group I try to stay active in (and by try, I mean, try while working full time and caring for a 17 month old human child, husband and two dogs).  I realized this would serve as an important time for me to remind you all about a few things:

1. Buy pet insurance for your dog while he/she is young. NOW.

2. Carefully verify the sources of ingredients for the food and treats you feed your doodles.  Their life could…

Charlotte turned 1 on September 21.  My how time flies when you are having fun!  Life has been going well, just super busy balancing work with home life.  The dogs are doing GREAT.  We have really been working with them on training and Taquito has not been aggressive toward Charlotte at all lately.  If she approaches him and he's not in the mood, we have taught him to walk away and he gets a LOT of praise when he does that. Last week, she came up and I asked Taquito if Charlotte could pet…

It's been a good summer for Peri. She has enjoyed her human sister getting more mobile lately.  Charlotte is crawling, standing up, cruising, etc... And Peri follows her everywhere!  She is always on the lookout for Charlotte and continues to alert me when Charlotte wakes up from a nap, etc...

She can be found outside of Charlotte's nursery door during naptime, sitting faithfully next to her during playtime and with us getting lots of 1:1 love when C is not around.  I think…

This morning, Charlotte crawled right up to Peri and pulled her tail.  I had turned my back for two seconds. Peri gave an annoyed grunt and walked away. I told Charlotte "NO, you must be gentle" - I am trying to teach that but am dealing with an 8 month old and pretty sure they don't understand that yet :)  Anyway, after that I think Peri felt bad and started following Charlotte everywhere.  Literally everywhere.  I think I have told y'all before, but Peri is such a good doodle sister. She…

Many of you may have read my discussion about Taquito the chihauhua.  We are having to really train him (never did because he is so little - hasn't been a problem - etc...).  So now we are trying to "teach an old dog new tricks" - I mean, he has never even sat before.  Meanwhile, Peri the doodle has had pretty extensive training, passed her Canine Good Citizen, etc...

So…

I have a confession. I forgot Peri's 4th Birthday.  It was Saturday. I got a Facebook update from her breeder with all of these photos of Peri and her siblings saying "Happy 4th!" to them and that's how I remembered.  What a bad doodle mom.  I always said I would never let the dogs take a backseat to the kids but look what's happened now.  Ugh.  To make up for it, she got a big Zuke dental chew and lots of toppings (beans and carrots) on her food that night.  I felt so guilty I took three…

When we bought our house 2 years ago, we had it entirely repainted prior to move-in.  It was an estate sale and really needed paint - two rooms had wood paneling, wallpaper, etc... 

The only thing we did NOT paint was the kitchen - the cabinets.  I just couldn't bring myself to paint the dark wood. Our painters said "you are going to regret not painting them now".  Guess what? Fast forward 2 years and we can't stand them!  We are having them painted white to match our trim.…

As I have said before, the dogs are adjusting well to having a human sibling (Charlotte). 

I went back to work about 6 weeks ago and I think that's been harder on them than the baby being born! 

They stay in the playroom and kitchen area during the day - they have 6 huge windows to look out with views of the front and back yards, as well as the driveway. They can really be on guard for us :)  They like to sit on the backs of the couches and sleep, bark at the neighbor's dogs…

Motherhood (of a human that is) continues to be a wild ride for me - and better than I could have dreamed.  Two months ago, when crying was peaking and I was in a fog, I would have maybe not said this.  But even though things are still crazy and stressful, Charlotte's little personality is coming out and I couldn't be happier being a mom to a little human girl!

Charlotte turned 4 months on Monday.  We get her vaccinations on Friday and I will discuss starting solid foods with…

I am back!  On my lunch break and thought I would pop in and say hi to my DK friends.  I started back to work yesterday and it's going well.  On Tuesday (day before start day), I thought I was going to die. I cried all.day.long.  Literally, DH handed me a glass of wine and said "honey I am sorry I don't make enough money for you to stay home, but you've got to chill out"!  HA!  Anyway, I've worked in my job for 8 years and love it and of course, after one day back, I, personally, am…

Hey friends!  I have continued to be so busy and barely have time to come online anymore.  I don't know how moms stay at home...it's the hardest job on earth!  I respect my own mother so much more now that I have a human child.

Last Monday…

Forgive me for being so tardy with this post...life has been so hectic, to say the least!

Charlotte Francis came 2 weeks early on Friday, September 21st at 7:47 a.m.  She came after only 12 hours of labor (pretty good for a first timer, right?) and weighed 6 lb, 11 oz and is 19" long. 

Miss Charlotte is absolutely perfect and we are smitten with her.  The dogs are getting adjusted quite well.  Peri is very respectful of her space and comes up to gently steal…

I am officially 3 weeks from our baby girl's due date (human, that is!) and we recently packed our bags for the hospital. Mine are in the nursery ready to go and this is where I found Peri this morning:

I think she knows something is up. She keeps going in there and smelling things.  She wants to go with us too, I think! 

Last…

Many of you know that Peri and Taquito are expecting their first human sibling...due in 4 weeks! 

So this Labor Day weekend DH and I had a looong list of things planned to accomplish around the house, which included cleaning the house, hanging drapes in the den, washing baby clothes, packing the hospital bags, etc....etc...

At the top of that list was getting the darn carseat base installed in our new Volvo station wagon.  So Saturday, I am down in the…

Well, Peri and Taquito have been experiencing quite a few changes over the past few months.  Taquito can no longer comfortably lie on my belly as my bump is getting quite large!  I am over 6 months pregnant now and have less than 3 months to go until we meet our little girl.

We have been working on the nursery.  Peri and Taquito enjoy hanging out in there.  This morning, I found Peri lying on the rug with her toy, just hanging out.  I am glad they feel comfortable in there. …

I don't know if Peri is picking up on my nesting habits, but for the first time EVER, I have found a toy that she has not destroyed.  EVER.  For about 10 days, she has had this squeaky chicken that I found at Target.  She carries it around and follows me throughout the house with it.  We have been doing a lot in the nursery lately, hanging curtains, art, etc...and she brings "baby chicken" (as we call it) in there and just lies down on the floor with it and licks…

GIRL!!!!  We are so thrilled!!!  I had this deep-down feeling, call it mother's intuition I guess, that it would be a girl.  I had vivid dreams seeing her and they turned out to be correct!

Best of all, she looks to be healthy.  All vital organs, brain, blood flow, etc..looks great.  And tech said she is stubborn because she refused to move much.  All DH said to that was "just like her mother!" - I laughed it off because thankfully, he caught me while I was on a high…