Puppy Overload

 I thought this picture was kind of cool. :)

As of today, the puppies are 26 days old. As Kelly says - They are becoming self aware. :) Other than the fact that every day they are extremely cuter (is that even a way to say it?), there aren't tons of milestones to report like last week.

Kelly is amazing though. We had the puppies in a kiddie pool covered in blankets for the first three weeks, but Olive started to climb out. (Remember when I said she wasn't showing much personality last week? Yeah, I think she was just saving up, because she cracks me up now. :) ) I didn't make time this past week to work on building them a new place, and so Kelly did it. I gave him these crate shelf things - I don't have a picture of them, and it's hard to explain them. (I spent much more time than I should have googling them for a picture.. lol.) But anyway, they connect and you can make shelves or boxes with them, so we made walls. Kelly did an awesome job, here's what he did.

He covered the wire in sheets and taped two pillows together so Maggie can get in and out, but the puppies can't. Then I padded the wall a with mattress cover. (Thanks to the housekeeping staff at the hotel I work at. Before the puppies were born, I was allowed to take as many stained (but clean - nothing gross) and ripped linen I wanted. :) ) I was so happy when I got home the morning after he had done it. It seems so big right now, but as soon as they start running around, it will look much smaller. I think it's awesome. Thanks Kelly! Love you! (hehe! :) )

Olive still wants out, but she can't figure it out yet.

The other day, we looked into their "home" and saw them sleeping, but Clyde had his mouth wrapped around Elsie's leg. It was quite funny.

Speaking of Clyde, he's so funny when they are nursing. Olive and Elsie latch right on, but for some reason, Clyde thinks he has to stand up to eat. I'll try to put his face near a nipple, and he'll stand up on his back legs. So I just let him figure it out, and after a little while, he does.

I'm glad I took this picture - it will always be funny to me. :)

Elsie and Olive like to cuddle after they eat - and sometimes they choose to include me!

Since I mentioned cuddling - Kelly likes to hang out with one on the couch sometimes. This is what I found once - Elsie snuggling down where she wanted to be.

Yesterday (Sunday), we took the puppies outside for the first time. We spread a blanket on the deck and brought them out. They were pretty cute. They would be in the sun and start to pant. It was adorable. Then they would crawl over to the shade and take a nap. They seemed to like to be outside in the fresh air. 

Call me vain, but I like this picture. :) Left to right is Elsie, Clyde and Olive.

Elsie and Olive enjoying the fresh air.

Clyde took a nap.

Maggie watching over her babies. (While licking her lips. LOL)

It was a beautiful afternoon before a couple storms came over. While we were outside, the owner of their daddy, Royce came over. Mark comes over every weekend to see the puppies, but hasn't brought their daddy yet. It's fun to have him come over, because we see the puppies everyday, so their growth isn't as noticeable to us, but it is to him. We are working on getting a picture of Royce, so keep an eye on the right sidebar for a picture of him!

The title of this post is called puppy overload because on Saturday we got to go to Kelly's mom's house and meet her new puppy, Harvey. Harvey is a Boston Terrier like Brodie, and they also have Maybeline (AKA Maybe) He's super cute and very playful. 

He moves fast, so this one is a little blurry.

Maybe moves fast too, this was the best one I got.

Well, I think I've loaded plenty of pictures. But, I have many more. :) 

I always want to post in the middle of the week, but between sleep, work and getting some normalcy back (actually being able to sleep normal hours (which for me is 10am to 6pm ish, lol) and being able to actually run errands in the evening) most of my free time is spent playing and watching these amazing little dogs. I love them so much! :)

As always, feel free to leave a comment to let me know you've been here. You can always follow the blog if you have a Google account. The follow button is at the top, near the left of the screen.

Firsts!

18 days have passed since these little ones were born. Honestly, it feels much longer than that. It feels like we've had these puppies for maybe a month or longer. We love them so much!

This past week they became "toddlers". Their eyes are open, they're ears are opening, they are starting to walk and bark and notice their surroundings. You probably don't want to know - but they are even starting to go potty on their own!

This picture may not look like much to you, but it makes me so happy. This morning, about 15 minutes ago, Maggie went into the box, laid down and let her babies nurse. I sat back and watched in amazement and tried to not help the puppies. They will learn how to find the nipple on their own. I've been too eager as a mom, and haven't put much trust in Maggie the past couple weeks. From the first time Maggie sat on a puppy, I've tried playing mommy. Sure, there have been times Maggie has gone and sat in the box, but I've always made sure she lays down, and I've helped them find the nipple. I think it's helped, but it's now time to step back and see what she does. In fact, next week, we can start feeding them some puppy food.

Let me tell you about all the firsts this week.

Their eyes opened:

 This is Olive at day 16 - I couldn't get this good of a picture of the others.

They are starting to wobble and walk:

Here's an 18 day old Clyde trying to get steady on his legs. I have videos, but can't get them to load right now.

They got their first toys:

They had their first "manicure"

Thank goodness Kelly was able to do it - I wouldn't have been able to - they wiggle too much!

First accident:

Glad I didn't show the accident? LOL But if you notice, the bedding is changed. I had to do that this morning.  They are growing up!

Last week I said that their looks were starting to be different, but they weren't showing much personality yet. This week we are seeing little glimpses of what they might be like as grown up puppies. 

Clyde

He is our wiggler. He seems pretty quiet, but he moves a lot. He is developing just ahead of the girls, even though he is the smallest. Once he does something, we know the girls shouldn't be too far behind. He still isn't eating the best, but is growing. We learned a tip yesterday to maybe help him eat more so we don't have to supplement, and so we are trying that first. 

Olive

Olive is the next to develop after Clyde. She seems really laid back and is the best eater, but not quite as big as Elsie. I say she's laid back because we haven't seen too much of a personality, but we know it should start showing any day now. I also have to mention that all of her little paws have white tips!

Elsie

Elsie is our big girl. She is the last to develop, but she seems the most eager to do everything. She's the most vocal and has started to bark in the last day or so. If Maggie is standing in the box cleaning a puppy, she is trying to stand up to get to a nipple. (Kind of like a baby cow :) )

We haven't been able to do much outside the house the past few weeks because we can't leave the puppies home alone too long. There is a Pug Meet this coming Saturday, and I think we are going to try and bring them there. Yesterday, we went downtown to BoDo to eat and saw them setting up for the end of the IronMan race, but we didn't see any racers. Yeah - that's the most exciting thing. LOL I don't mind because it's been so much fun to watch these puppies. I've made videos of them eating and sleeping so I can watch them years from now. As I say all the time - I'm SO excited to see how they grow and develop in the next few weeks! :)

Please leave a comment and let me know you're here. It would be fun to see who's reading my blog! :)

Oh My Goodness!

So, Maggie had been nursing for just a couple minutes, and Brodie did something in the kitchen, I'm not sure what, but Maggie jumped up and ran in there. I got up to scold her, and then they both ran to the back door because it was time for them to go potty. So, I let them out and stood outside with them, and when I came back inside, this is what I found.

How adorable is this?!

I hope you can see it, all I had was my phone and I couldn't find the memory card for my camera quick enough. From left to right is Elsie, Olive and Clyde.

While I'm writing, I might as well tell you that Clyde's eyes are starting to open. For some reason, I knew that even though he's the smallest, that he would be the first. The girls shouldn't be too far behind!

Well, this is just a short post becuase I just had to share this cute picture. :)

They're Only Going To Get Cuter

 Elsie looks so huge here on her back - you can usually find at least one of them like that when they sleep. :)

The puppies are 11 days old now. They are growing really well, and their eyes should open any day now, followed by their ears, and then they will start walking! I think they are getting their voices because I was sleeping upstairs with the door closed and I could hear them downstairs crying (don't worry, they're fine. :) ) and they will occasionally bark when they sleep. It's so cute! Elsie, the last one born, the one that hid and was born three hours later, is a whopping 20 oz, from being 5 oz at birth! Olive isn't too far behind - she's 17 oz, and eating the best out of the three. Clyde is our little guy, he's only 12 oz and growing slowly, but steadily - about an ounce a day. Here is their birth and 11 day pictures. I almost can't hold Elsie with one hand anymore!

Elsie 

(she yawned during the picture!)

 Olive

Clyde

They are starting to get their own looks to them, but their personalities aren't really showing yet. Pretty soon we are going to have to build a fence of some sort and keep them in the dining room on the linoleum to give them a bigger space they can't jump out of, because we actually have them in a small kiddie pool. LOL The pool should hold them for another week or so, but I'd say it's time to start getting things ready.

As I've mentioned before, this room we have them in is pretty warm, and Maggie has decided the cubby on the bottom of the TV stand is a great place to cool off.

And just because I feel I'm neglecting Brodie (we aren't - lol) I'll add a picture of him. He's getting more and more brave to check out these "things that make sound and take attention away from me" Here he is checking out Olive when I took her picture at 8 days old.

Sorry I loaded a lot of pictures on here - I have about a million more! :) This weekend has seemed so short, I think because I had so much time off last week. I'll go back to work Monday night and Kelly will start not sleeping again. I feel so bad for him because he's only taking little naps throughout the day. I get home in the morning, Kelly goes to work and I watch the puppies until he gets home around 1pm. Then I sleep from about 2pm to 8pm. I hope that this week maybe I can lose a little sleep and let him sleep some more.

Okay, I know I've written a lot. Everyone's sleeping so I don't have a lot to do. (Although I could just watch these puppies sleep for a really long time  - they are that cute)  :)

Leave a comment at let me know you were here! I'd love to know who I'm actually talking to when I write. :)

Just Have To Share

Olive and mommy day 6
Originally uploaded by NicTip

This is Olive snuggling up to her mommy after she was done eating. Maggie is fast asleep, and Olive decided to cuddle for a nap.

I'm not able to hook my camera up at work to have access to pictures, so I'm trying to load them to flickr and post from there. I apparently am almost at my limit for flickr and this was the only one that loaded. Believe me, I have plenty! :)

I Love Them!

So the puppies are 5 days old now and they are growing so fast! Elsie is our big girl, Clyde is the little guy and Olive is right in between, but it seems like she is growing very fast - almost caught up to Elsie.

Here are some before and after pictures, with them being 1 day old (if even that old - I think they were just a few hours old) on top and 5 days old on the bottom.

Clyde

Elsie

Olive

Okay, okay - so I messed up and have since switched Olive and Elsie around. (You probably wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't said anything, huh?) I had the sneaking suspicion I had done that, but it hadn't been confirmed until I had put the pictures side by side. I put a very small dab of yellow nail polish on the back of Olive's neck so that we can tell the two girls apart. So this is where they stay - oops... LOL 

We had the owner of their daddy come over on Saturday to see them, and then Kelly's parents came over right after. We wouldn't let anyone touch them because we were pretty sure Maggie wouldn't like that. She doesn't particularly like us picking them up, but will tolerate it. Kind of like this:

We were trying to take a picture of all three, but we had to move fast and this is the best one we got. (because my camera sucks - it wont take pictures in rapid succession -  and Maggie was in the way..lol) As you can see, Maggie is making sure that they are okay. 

You can see their size difference here, from left to right is Olive, Clyde and Elsie.

Our schedule during my time off has been pretty crazy - I usually take two different four hour naps while Kelly watches them during the day and then Kelly will sleep for about 6 or 7 hours in the early morning while I watch them. It's all going to change when I have to go back to work tonight. :( It's going to be so hard! First, just to be away for that long, and second because I will probably be so tired! (good thing it's Memorial Day - my hotel is a business hotel, so we don't get many families on vacation, so we shouldn't be too busy tonight)

When they sleep, they are supposed to twitch to stimulate their muscles, and sometimes their whole bodies jump and they let out a little bark - we love it!

By next weekend, they should be opening their eyes and then during the week after that, their ears will open, and then the fun really starts! I can't wait! :)

Four New Additions!

Maggie had her puppies! She actually had six puppies, but sadly, we lost two. It would have been four girls and two boys, but two girls died. So, now we're even - Two boys and two girls!

Dogs have three stages of labor, and the first one is the longest - it went for 24 hours before she started pushing! Yesterday (Wednesday) around 5pm she started pushing and by midnight Maggie had five puppies. We thought she was done, so we let her out to go potty, I finally ate something and hung out for two hours, but while I was eating, she looked like she had some contractions. We went back to the "nursery" and an hour later, she had another girl! This last girl was the biggest of the litter, too.

We named them already... I know we probably shouldn't have, but we did anyway. :) We plan on keeping one girl and selling the rest.

Elsie

Clyde

Owen

Olive (she was the last one)

I'm sitting in an 80 degree room while the puppies nurse and Maggie sleeps, and I'm dying from the heat! (Maggie doesn't like it much, either) But, the puppies need it to be very warm, so I'll do that for them.I haven't gotten any good sleep since Tuesday during the day (from when I got home from working Monday night), so hopefully I can get some sleep soon.

We're going to take them into the vet when Kelly goes in for work this morning and I'm looking forward to leaving the house and seeing what Dr. Hunt or Dr. Andrews says. (Whoever is in)

I figure I'm a Grandma now... We'll see how this goes... :) I'm way excited to see what the next 8 weeks bring!

UPDATE: Well, we took them to the vet, and unfortunately Owen has a really bad cleft palate. Dr. Andrews taught me how to tube feed him and said that it might close the hole up a little, but it might not and then we would have to get him surgery. but to go talk to Kelly and see what we wanted to do. So, this afternoon after Kelly got home, we talked about it and he called Dr. Andrews back and got some more information. We decided it would probably be best if we put him down. It was a really hard decision, but we thought it would be for the best. Kelly's brother Dan was nice enough to take Owen in, but it was hard for him too. Kelly and I just held each other and cried for a long time. This was harder for me than the stillborn puppies. :(

A little while later, I noticed I had a voice mail from the hospital, so we listened to it, and Dr. Andrews said he looked again and thought he might be able to save him, so he was going to take him home for the night and see what he could do. But, a couple hours later, he called and said the feeding wasn't working, so he was going to put him down in the morning.

I feel especially bad for Kelly because he has to go into work at the hospital  tomorrow. I'm sorry for putting you through this roller coaster story, but it feels good to write it out.

Maggie is being an okay mom, she doesn't notice one is missing and occupies herself with cleaning her three. She's very attentive to their cries, but she is kind of careless in not paying attention to where they are and will sit or step on them. We are only leaving her with the pups under our supervision. The puppies are growing, and even after I took a three hour nap, they looked bigger, and cuter. :) I'm staying up all night watching them, since that's what I'm used to anyway, and then when Kelly gets home, I'll get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a better day. :)

I just took this picture of her feeding her puppies.

She blinked... lol

Puppymoon

I really want to update with a lot of pictures, but I just can't seem to get used to Linux! I don't have a lot of time right now to try and figure it out. I started a post and went to put some pictures on it, but I can't get the folder to open with decent enough thumbnails so I can see which picture I'm looking for.  I could, however find the last picture I took, which was Maggie's latest "pregnancy picture"

 She is 60 days through her 63 day pregnancy in this shot!

I took this about an hour before I went to work tonight - can you see how miserable the poor girl looks? She should have those puppies by the end of the week!

We did go on a "Puppymoon" this weekend. (Y'know - like couples do before the baby comes?) One last trip to the park. We bought Brodie a new frisbee and wanted to try it out. We had gone to check out Northwest Pets in Eagle and ended up buying a $13 frisbee! (Good thing Kelly's Brother, Dan went halfsies with us!) 

Maggie and I like to hang out and be lazy when we go. :)

We were in a baseball field, and whenever Brodie's frisbee would go in the dirt, he couldn't pick it up, he would scratch at it, and move it all around - at points it looked like he was doing the moonwalk! You probably had to be there, but here's some pictures...

After trying to pick it up with his mouth - he wound up looking like this - the little guy doesn't even care he has dirt in his mouth - he just wants to play! (He has been hurt so many times playing, but doesn't notice until we get home!)

I'll admit - most of the weekend was spent playing Red Dead Redemption together on the Playstation 3... but we did go see Shutter Island in the dollar theatre during the heavy rainstorm that I guess brought snow to Mtn Home! 

I'm working tonight, but I took the rest of the week off for Maggie's labor. (Did I ever mention that I work as a Night Auditor at Homewood Suites in Boise? I work 9 hour shifts, four nights a week and get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off - It's pretty nice!) I'll definitely post pictures when the puppies come! I can't wait! :)

Edit: I did put up with searching for the pictures - I guess if you want to do something enough, you'll figure out a way! LOL

Virus!

This past Friday, my laptop got a major virus! I was out shopping (two new shirts that I love - that's rare for me! :) ) and Kelly was watching some videos on Live Leak and he thinks that somehow something was downloaded through watching a video. He said the computer started beeping, so he unplugged the internet right away and told his brother, Dan, who is good at computer stuff. So he ran AVG and it found 5 infected files. He tried to get rid of them, but couldn't. Later, we tried to turn the computer back on, and these weird messages kept popping up, I took pictures of them, but obviously haven't been able to load them, but I found some screen shots online.

If you really read the bubble, it's written kind of poorly. That was the first hint that it wasn't Windows. There's also another window that pops up asking for your Windows key code. Yeah, not going to type that in...  

This is another thing that opens, when this comes up, we would just shut the laptop off. Dan did some research and tried to get it off, but ended up just reformatting my laptop. The problem with that was we can find my windows disc... So, he put Linux on it. I played around with it a little the other day, and it's different than Windows, so we're hoping that we can find the Windows disc.

About Maggie-

We took her to the vet (where Kelly works) on Friday to get an X-ray to see how many puppies she was having. Silly me, I got a little too anxious and ended up going to early. The bones weren't developed enough to really tell. They were able to eventually tell that she was going to have at least three puppies. She is due next week, and I'm only working Monday and will take the rest of the week off - 6 days off! I have the "nursery" ready, (good thing we have an extra bedroom in the house!) and have been gathering all sorts of supplies. I have done so much research, I think you can see it coming out of my ears! I'll definitely take and post pictures when they are born! Yay! :)

Maggie's Update

Just a quick update to let you know how Maggie is doing, She is getting bigger and bigger everyday and I can tell she is uncomfortable at times. Dogs are pregnant for an average of 63 days - she is due around May 26th, and I can't wait! I just want to post a before and after picture for you to see.

This was a month or so ago, she was just barely pregnant.

This was her last night, at 44 days.

I tried to recreate the picture I took last month, and I'm going to do the same for the next few weeks. :) We will get the x-ray that tells us how many puppies she will have the week of the May 17th (Happy Birthday that day, Mom!). They can tell after 50 days, but it's best to try and wait for 55 days so they can get the best picture.

I am trying to take her for a walk every day to make sure she can build up her stamina and have the strength for labor. It's pretty funny because Brodie runs ahead, stops and waits, then once we catch up, he runs again. Maggie is the complete opposite, she walks very slowly, but on Friday, we got down the street, and she just stopped. She was like, "No, I don't want to walk - it's too hard with this extra weight." I have . I tried to take a picture of her on my phone, so it's not the greatest quality.

                        

               Yes - it's still cold enough for a sweater in the morning.. goodness, it's May!

Kelly's birthday is on Monday (May 10th) and so we are celebrating this weekend, and I have Monday night off! Yay! I haven't taken an extra day off since New Years Day. (Not that my regular 3 day weekend is really tough...lol) Of course, I will take a couple days off when the puppies come, too. Wahooz, which is a "fun center" (It used to be called Boondocks) gives you a free unlimited pass on your birthday and doesn't matter how old you are! So we are going there on Monday and we will go out to eat, also. It will be fun!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies! (Especially mine!)  :)