Foster the Puppy

i like this....

2011-12-30T11:40:00.003-05:00

#2 video from you tube this year. mom showed me this and i thought it was funny. i know how that puppy feels!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

2011 wrap up coming hopefully before 2012 but no promises......i went swimming this morning in 20-degree water so i need to lay by the fire for a bit.

roooof, foster

mum is a slacker

2011-12-26T15:08:00.016-05:00

ruff.......i mean hello. foster here. since mum is such a slacker i have decided to commandeer my blog again so you all can see what we've been up to.

november update......lil bro is walking all the time now. tripping over me and generally being a nuisance. daddy & i did a bunch of hunting. i had a great time sniffing out birds & retrieving. we got our first nor'easter on halloween weekend and we haven't seen any of the white stuff since. bummer for me since i LOVE it. lots of tree branches fell & daddy had to clean them up.

hanging out....i tolerate my lil bro

mum's birfday

lil bro's birfday

mild weather so trips to the park & playin in the driveway

oh yeah and thanksgiving in CT

not a bad month i guess. more to come soon.....aarroof, foster

happy halloween!

2011-11-04T08:20:00.000-04:00

after a freak early season noreaster and no power for 13hrs we celebrated halloween. for jason's first trick-or-treat we took a short walk around the neighborhood with puppy too.

mommy & penguin

brown bear

a penguin & a bear

who knew that penguins eat twizzlers?

happy halloween everyone!

summer in october

2011-11-03T08:06:00.000-04:00

columbus day weekend was in the 80's so we took the opportunity to visit the C family in RI. a quick trip to the beach with the kids & dogs and lounging around the yard. it was a wonderful gift from mother nature and we enjoyed it!

lil man & giuliana

steely & foster having fun

mama

another fun weekend on the road!

maine half-marathon

2011-11-01T20:53:00.008-04:00

daddy ran the maine half-marathon a few weeks back along with a few work friends, including sabot's mom! so puppy & sabot got to hang together in maine at my parent's condo. the weather was miserable so we were trapped indoors for most of the weekend.

jason enjoyed the company and all the boys got along great!

sharing toys.....

puppy fun

another fun visit to maine! thanks for the visit sabot!

get puppy!

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

daddy likes to play a fun game with jason where he yells, "get puppy!" and swings jason over to foster. perhaps i'm not explaining it well. these pics should help.

here i come puppy!

get puppy!

never a dull moment!

kitchen fun

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

jason has discovered the timeless fun of the contents of the kitchen cabinets....pots and pans!
and since the kitchen floor is puppy's domain, naturally he hung around for the fun.

hey, what are those shiny things hanging off your neck?

eventually puppy escaped to safer ground.

just another day of fun for my boys!

hey!

2011-09-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

umm.....excuse me lil man......that's MY toy.

fetch

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

we all know puppy LOVES playing catch. well lucky for the big brown dog his little brother seems to enjoy it too! he likes to hold the 'chuck it' and giggles watching puppy fetch it up.

i hope they have many fun years together playing fetch!

labor day weekend

2011-09-23T18:48:00.000-04:00

we laid low labor day weekend and just hung out at home. it was nice weather so i inflated lil man's pool so he could splash around.

puppy had trouble fitting in but he tried to cool down nonetheless.

sorry for the long absence! we're back.....hopefully.

vacationland

2011-08-12T07:59:00.000-04:00

we all went up to maine last week to visit with family & friends. we started off our week at a wedding (sorry no pics) and ended it with a 10K (well just dave). and in between we had lots of fun!

jason's 1st trip to the beach....pine point in scarborough

bringing the beach back to the condo

hanging with puppy brother

visiting ft. williams (portland head light)

beach to beacon after party with S family

lil man especially had a good time visiting with everyone

it was an exhausting but fun trip! great to see so many wonderful people!

pro pics

2011-08-11T07:41:00.000-04:00

back in late june we had some professional pictures done by mQn photography. most of the session was dedicated to jason but we did get some great family shots too.

and of course we are a family of 4....

brotherly love

but as hard as we tried to get puppy to kiss jason he just wouldn't comply

daddy on the other hand

well there's always plenty of love for daddy

many thanks to michele from mQn for taking such lovely pics for us!

brother buddies

2011-08-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

this is from back in july.....i know i am WAY behind......

this looks like trouble to me! these two are gonna be best buds!

all this fun is tiring!

there's more fun to come!

3 years old today!!!! and 33 years yesterday...

2011-07-20T09:04:00.005-04:00

foster turns three today! he welcomed the day cuddling in bed with daddy, a favorite past-time. he will spend the day at work with daddy, hopefully having lots of puppy fun.
DH says i am to stop calling him puppy b/c now that he is 3 he is officially just a dog. i feel like he says this every year! i refuse. he will always be puppy to me!!
tonight he will be brought to petco to pick out a birthday toy or treat for his special day!
and yesterday was daddy's birthday! he will be celebrating with a custom-made fishing rod (shocker) and a new power-washer! and yet another fishing trip this weekend....
happy birthday to two of my boys!! love you!

p.s.-more posts to come soon. i have pics, etc just no time!! on vaca next two weeks so i will catch up! stay tuned!!

july 3rd BBQ

2011-07-08T08:34:00.000-04:00

we celebrated independence day weekend at family BBQs-saturday at auntie laura's & sunday at unkie mike's. of course i forgot my camera on saturday so you'll have to take my word for it that we had a lovely time. puppy swam and fetched in the chilly pool and lil man was happily passed around.

i did however remember my camera on sunday to document all the fun we all had.

puppy got to play with his buddy bailey, the italian mastiff, as well as family.

and jason had quite a lot of fun with the usual suspects-memere, auntie k & auntie ang!

showing off the boston pride with memere

trying to walk with daddy

1st time in a pool! splash splash with auntie ang

drying off with auntie k

another fun summer weekend for the whole family!

quick trip to vacationland

2011-07-07T08:18:00.001-04:00

we zipped up to maine last weekend for niece maya's 6th birthday. puppy stayed home with auntie ang & unkie mike since 4hrs sharing the backseat with lil man would not equal very much fun for him. we heard he was his usual celebrity self down at the beach at fort meadow. playing fetch in the water and getting loves from the lifeguard.

we enjoyed a nice visit with the S family in cape e. jason refused to do much napping but we survived relatively unscathed.

dave & sis jen

cousin katie with the lil man

i got u grandpa!

big eyes matthew

littlest with godfather/uncle DJ

fun with daddy

look forward to seeing u all again soon!

play play play

2011-07-06T08:14:00.000-04:00

that's all he wants to do.....

do not fear tho readers, puppy has been getting plenty of it everyday. :)

DC the lucky charm

2011-07-05T07:54:00.000-04:00

DH went fishing a week or so ago with BF dave. every time the two dave's get together on the polar good things happen. and this trip was one for the record books! hubby caught his biggest fluke ever-a 6 pounder! and BF dave a 4 pounder!

the lucky charm himself showing off the catch

a plentiful bounty of black sea bass & fluke are stored away in the chest freezer for months to come! daddy is the man!!

happy independence day!!

2011-07-04T20:10:00.004-04:00

from mommy's little firecracker (exploding with cuteness)....

and his puppy brother

God Bless the USA!!!

happy father's day!

2011-06-19T08:43:00.007-04:00

happy 1st father's day to my darling hubby! i'm glad the S family name lives on in our son. i'm sure you two will have many father-son adventures in the future!

thanks for being a great hubby & daddy!!

happy father & grandfather's day to my daddy! most friends say jason most resembles you. he is a marz for sure! :) thanks for all you do dad!

happy (grand)father's day to my FIL vin! i am truly blessed to have another wonderful set of parents to help take care of us all the time!

while i'm at it happy father's day to my brother cory and my other BIL's DJ & mike!

and last but not least happy daddy day to dave's BF dave! he has nicknamed the lil man JBreezy and it appears to have stuck. :)

big hugs to all the father's in my life! love you guys!

cuz i'm chill like that...

2011-06-15T07:56:00.000-04:00

buddies

2011-06-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

this looks like trouble......

J: "what have u got over there?"

F: "nothing, just an old goose. what are you doing?"

mike & ang

2011-06-13T08:28:00.000-04:00

another big event from the month of may.....my brother got married!!

at the lovely wayside inn in sudbury, ma on a sunday evening michael & angelita said, "i do".

some highlights....

we couldn't be happier to officially welcome angelita to the family!!

lil man's baptism

2011-06-10T08:16:00.000-04:00

back on mother's day in may we got jason baptized. it was a beautiful day and all our family came to MA to celebrate with us.

patiently waiting with godfather DJ

making the promises

j with his godparents

the afterparty

it was a lovely way to celebrate mother's day!

play with me

2011-06-09T08:11:00.000-04:00

please??

since mommy has gone back to work full-time and fishing season has started foster the puppy has been slightly neglected at times. we are really trying hard to get more walks in on the days he doesn't go to work with daddy. he's such a needy puppy!!

comfort

2011-06-08T21:04:00.006-04:00

foster can get comfy just about anywhere.

this is a new spot foster has started hanging out in....at least someone is enjoying the "european garden".

and of course and all time favorite....the sunspot.

we're back folks! sorry about the absence. mommy is still learning how to balance work, home, baby, puppy, etc into 24hrs. really i could use about 26hrs/day.

friday glamour shots

2011-05-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

after taking pictures of jason's first time eating veggies (peas) daddy got down on the floor and snapped some pictures of his first-born.....

so brown.

and so special.

and really the best dog in the whole universe.

we are SO lucky!

easter sunday

2011-05-05T08:26:00.000-04:00

we hosted the M family for easter dinner at our house. the weather cooperated for an easter egg hunt for the boys and DH made a lovely meal!

dapper dudes

everyone had to stay on the porch so the baby wouldn't wake up

the hosts with the most

grampie & lil man

cousins, big & small

smiling at memere

wide-eyed with uncle cory

look-out teddy!

last but not least.......a very thirsty brown bear after a fun game of fetch with the boys

props to my sister who is apparently much better at snapping pics than me as most of these shots are hers! and thanks again everyone for making the trek to our house and putting up with being constantly shushed by me. :)

palm sunday

2011-05-04T08:16:00.000-04:00

after a lovely visit with my Uconn girls we jetted over to dave's parent's house for palm sunday with the S family. it was the usual mix of good food, good family & good times.

getting ready for the easter egg hunt

j with his grandma & cousins matthew & patrick

4 generation photo!

j getting some loves from auntie laura

and altho i didn't get a picture of it, foster played very nicely with cousin patrick and may have finally won him over!! another wonderful visit with family in CT!

my girls

2011-05-03T08:03:00.003-04:00

we spent palm sunday weekend down in CT visiting with family & friends.

first a stop at T&J's house to visit with my girls from UConn. now that we all have lil one's it was a bit more chaotic than our past get-togethers. but fun nonetheless!

uncle dave & lil man

me & my momo

norah & giuliana

dani

the girls & the kids (except jason who was napping)

j & g

and of course the brown one (who had a black playmate hunter but alas no pics)

thanks for a fun visit everyone! can't wait to see you all again soon!

catching up

2011-05-02T15:00:00.003-04:00

i've been so determined to keep this foster's blog (and not jason's) that i simply haven't posted any of our family adventures lately. which i used to do before we had the lil man. so now i will catch up on the april holidays.

and let me add that the last few posts have had NO COMMENTS!!! if no one's comments then i don't think anyone's reading and thus i don't write any new posts. so please gimmie some frickin love out there if you're still with me. i'm SO NEEDY!!!

stay tuned.....

more puppy fun

2011-04-14T10:58:00.006-04:00

everyday foster gets to run & play & swim with his friends at daddy's work. you saw him with his best bud sabot in the last post fetching a bumper in tandem.

a recent excursion was documented by DH's co-worker and of course files were shared for the sake of the blog (YAY!). you will see puppy, sabot, lola, muppet and a yellow lab lacy.

and a movie! notice the labs bounding into the water after the bumper while muppet & lola hang by the shore.

as you can see much fun was had!

hanging with my boy sabot

2011-04-11T13:34:00.003-04:00

best buds who have so much puppy fun every day (especially now that it has gotten warm out!)...

looks like spring is finally getting here!

thanks puppy!

2011-03-30T08:09:00.001-04:00

the other day i left j on his playmat and ran down to the basement to tend to some laundry. when i came back a familiar face was keeping an eye on things for me.....

thanks big brother!

more brown dogs

2011-03-29T09:04:00.000-04:00

baby j has several pieces of clothing with brown puppies on them. perhaps b/c of his love of foster the puppy?

as of last week he has started watching foster walk around and seems a bit more interested in his brown friend.

i'm sure they will be best buds someday!

gates pond

2011-03-28T08:42:00.010-04:00

on saturday daddy took puppy to gates pond for a nice, and somewhat chilly, walk. last week puppy was stuck at home with mommy & baby almost all week and was quite bored. as a result he dug a rather large hole in the backyard next to the grill. he kept coming in the house with dirt on his paws & nose. i finally saw the hole & figured it out. so some exercise was in order and it was a bit too cold for baby to go along so daddy took foster & the camera. the sun is getting a bit stronger and most of the snow is gone but the reservoir itself was still frozen.

ready to go dad

posing by the water (yes he went in)

sniffing around

and of course, running

this is a picture of happiness (i LOVE this pic)

thanks for taking some pics for the blog hunny!!!

till next time.....

more with auntie k

2011-03-23T09:19:00.001-04:00

auntie k drove all the day down from maine last week for a day-long visit! and it was a beautiful warm day that hopefully we will be seeing more of soon.

we all spent some time inside and out......

auntie k & j in the playroom

puppy getting in on the action

out in the front yard

j going for a ride

mommy & baby

puppy with a watchful eye

thanks again auntie for making the trip down! we had a wonderful visit!

a prelude to summer

2011-03-21T09:01:00.006-04:00

last friday we had one of those random 70-degree days in march that melts all the snow and gives us new-englanders a light at the end of the long dark tunnel that is winter. lucky for me my wonderful sister, auntie k as she is now called, was visiting AND puppy was home with us too!

so we hit the pavement for a nice long walk around the neighborhood & down to the assabet river.

auntie k snapped some great pics of me, j & the one and only foster the puppy.....

me & my boys

j is lovin' the bjorn now that he's big enough to face out!

down by the river

swimming (& drooling) in march

it was a beautiful day! more to come for auntie k's visit.......

happy st. patrick's day!!

2011-03-17T11:29:00.005-04:00

jason chooses to celebrate his irish heritage by smiling at daddy....

and getting stared down by his puppy brother

hope you all have a fun day!!

ohh luxury!

2011-03-10T09:00:00.011-05:00

after 2.5yrs foster's original puppy bed has kicked the dust. you may remember seeing it back in the fall of 2008.....

ohh puppy used to be so little! he has enjoyed the comfort of that bed everyday since then!

but unfortunately after frequent use, frequent washings and even mending with a needle & thread the $40 woolrich bed is worn out.

i managed to convince myself (& hubby) that frequent purchases of cheaper beds does not make as much sense as a one-time purchase of a much more luxurious dog bed. so without further adieu i bring you foster's new digs......

just so there's no confusion who this belongs to (altho i'm sure daddy & baby may still use it)

this is an llbean large-sized premium denim rectangular dog bed. their website says the extra-large bed is for dogs 70lbs and over but when i compared the measurements the large-sized bed seemed more appropriate. it is almost the same size as the woolrich bed and we just don't have a ton of floor space for anything any more luxurious!

at first puppy seemed hesitant but then he settled right in!

i was told there was a lot of snoring last night!

having a baby makes u tired.....

2011-03-01T10:22:00.005-05:00

...but u must always find time for your puppy!

whether it's a walk, game of fetch or....spooning by the fire:

notice the hand-holding

i'd like to point out DH doesn't even cuddle with me like this anymore! foster is a very special dog. so pathetic!

R.I.

2011-02-18T08:37:00.000-05:00

last weekend we headed to down to d&m's place in RI with out bestest buds from CT. d&m's dog steely was there so puppy had a playmate and boy did they play. when we got home on sunday foster ate his lunch then immediately laid down & started snoring!

some shots from the weekend....

the crew

puppies playin'

thanks for having us down! it was a fun weekend for the whole family!

whoa he's big

2011-02-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

just a few shots of my boys hanging out....

best buds!

hickory!

2011-02-16T10:25:00.002-05:00

this is hickory, a scottish deerhound, and winner of the 2011 westminster kennel club dog show! isn't she a beautiful dog! we were routing for her to win.

congrats to hickory!!

westminster!

2011-02-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

mark your calendars folks! next week on monday & tuesday feb 14-15th the westminster kennel club dog show is on tv!! look out for your favorite puppies-especially the labrador retriever!

daddy's boys

2011-02-08T09:07:00.008-05:00

dave is sure to make time for both his boys when he's home in the evening. always giving lots of love to puppy and laying on the floor with him. recently jason has joined in on the floor activities as well.

puppy has been maintaining his usual babysitting duties as well.

the boys all seem to be getting along great! who needs mommy?

snow, snow & more snow

2011-02-04T08:05:00.000-05:00

yeah yeah yeah we've been absent for a while. we're locked in a long, cold, snowy new england winter so there's not much going on. jason & i spend most days hunkered down by the fire in our jammies (maternity leave does have it's perks). foster continues to go to work with daddy & play in neck-deep snow with his puppy friends sabot & olive.

as requested by my BF, who lives in warm, sunny atlanta (altho not so much this winter!), i snapped some pics of the ridiculous mounds of snow that have accumulated on our property so far this winter. i managed to dash outside in my jammies & boots while jason was napping, altho he wasn't when i got back inside-i swear the kid has radar for when i leave his side, even when he's asleep.

notice the buried fence

as usual puppy has immense fun in the snow

spring cannot come any sooner!

glamor shots

2011-02-03T16:17:00.008-05:00

i forgot about these pics dave took from the puppy wars series.

he refers to them as foster's glamor shots.....

such a handsome boy!

i submitted that last one to boston.com's purebred dog section. check it out!

puppy wars!

2011-01-14T08:00:00.005-05:00

sabot & foster have quite alot of fun attacking each other on a daily basis, or so i'm told. they're about the same size & weight & age, and they're both labs so i think they have similar brains. hmm.....maybe dave & laura would disagree.

DH took a TON of pictures at work the other day of the boys playing. it was too difficult to narrow down so i made a movie instead of the whole lot. dave was home yesterday b/c of the blizzard so i had a little free time without a baby in my arms.

and so without further adieu, i bring you "puppy wars":

disclaimer: this is two dogs having fun and playing. no puppies were harmed in the making of this movie. enjoy!

sabot & lola

2011-01-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

this is sabot....

and this is lola....

these are another 2 of puppy's friends at daddy's work. sabot is a black lab, an american lab, which is taller & a bit slimmer than an english. lola is a mutt, perhaps part golden retriever & something else. both are very sweet dogs. sabot & lola's mommy laura works with dave.

sabot & foster are about the same size now and they have epic battles running around together in the WMA (more on this in a future post). lola is a tough little dog & sometimes joins in but mostly just runs around being super cute.

stay tuned for more on foster & sabot's adventures....

walkies

2011-01-12T16:10:00.008-05:00

when it's not blizzarding here we bundle up & try & get a walk in on nice days.

nice being 20-30 degrees & sunny. foster was home a few days this week as daddy had meetings so the walks were a necessity! i snapped a few pics after we got home of my boys.

foster is always looking out for his little brother!

just another fun day with my boys!

december 26th

2011-01-05T08:17:00.000-05:00

we opened presents & had a lovely brunch!

even puppy got some gifts!

it was a great holiday and we are so happy we had foster with us!

christmas!

2011-01-04T08:37:00.002-05:00

although the M family xmas get together was officially scheduled for the 26th everyone was over my brother's house xmas day so we swung by!

baby jason spent the entire visit in the arms of his memere, grampie, auntie k or auntie ang. it was a pretty good day to be a baby!

making funny faces with auntie k

his big brother foster also got quite a bit of love from family too. and on top of that auntie ang's niece stopped by with her puppy bailey! lots of puppy fun ensued...

it was a very merry christmas!

christmas eve

2011-01-03T08:22:00.000-05:00

with foster in the doggie hospital we were forced to change our holiday plans and stay home instead of heading down to CT to see friends & family down there. for the first time in his 32 years dave had to miss the S family christmas eve festival of fish. it was a very sad day. we tried to improvise at home.....

we hung out together and anxiously awaited the return of our fourth family member....and santa.

a very scary christmas

2011-01-02T07:05:00.000-05:00

i can't write any posts about christmas before first telling the story of foster's latest mishap.

the monday before xmas foster was at work with daddy playing with the muppet in the back of daddy's truck. i love the muppet but i think her puppy ways have corrupted foster & caused him to get in a bit more of trouble than he would have by himself. muppet discovered that the cap of dave's truck has electrical wires in it (for the taillights). she was smart enough to simply chew them. foster on the other hand, in typical lab fashion, ate as much of them as he could. while feeding/changing jason at 4am that night i heard him heaving downstairs. dave went down & discovered a small pile of red & black plastic & copper wires. maybe that wouldn't have been a big deal except the next day foster & olive did the same thing in olive's daddy's truck. and again i heard foster heaving in the middle of the night.

we decided foster should stay home with me on wednesday where there were no automobile wires to consume in the house. he was ok throughout the day but by nighttime there was something wrong....very seriously wrong. foster was lethargic & trembling. dave immediately took him to our local vet. they determined he had a 106 temperature and possibly some sort of intestinal blockage. dave rushed foster to the tufts veterinary ER in grafton.

after 3 days of IV fluids, antibiotics and ultrasounds foster finally passed the food out of his stomach and started showing signs of improvement. dave brought him home on xmas day. it was the best xmas present we could have possibly asked for!

it took him a few days before he was completely back to normal but thankfully all is well again. final diagnosis: plastic covered copper wires cause serious damage to a puppy's digestive track. luckily there was no blockage or perforation, but inflammation caused by serious irritation from the wires.

i can't tell this story without mentioning the fabulous care foster received at tufts. everyone dave met was caring, compassionate and helpful. the doctor's & tech's took extremely good care of our puppy. and as usual all who met the brown dog were enamored with him too. even his discharge papers mentioned how handsome he is!

ok, on to more fun stories from the holidays....

happy 2011!

2011-01-01T18:58:00.003-05:00

it's a new year and we have much to report! many thanks to my brown friend for taking over for me for a while there. i am back now and have many posts to write regarding the events of the last few weeks.

for now i leave you with a pic from jason, foster & i's first group walk through the neighborhood yesterday. a quick cell phone snap. 50 degrees on new years eve......craziness!

more to come soon.....i promise!

i just look serious

2010-12-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

usually i go to work with daddy during the week. i play with my muppet friend or we go for walks or hunting. lately it has been real cold outside. cold doesn't really bother me but sometimes mommy makes me stay home with her & jason where it's warm. now don't get me wrong, i love my mommy but it is soooooooooooooo boring at home! she's either taking care of lil bro or sleeping the whole time! no walks, no fetch, it stinks! i guess it being real cold out may have something to do with it but either way i get real bored & sleep all day.

mom & dad think i'm sad & neglected but i just look real serious in pictures. i'm a stoic puppy!

i still love my mom & dad!

woof, foster

brothers

2010-12-16T13:06:00.004-05:00

i usually like to hang out in the kitchen whenever anything's going on there. it smells good and sometimes i find bits of food on the floor to clean up. i always sit on my bed, which is more like a mat, whenever i'm in there. the other day mommy & daddy brought my little brother jason in to keep me company while they were cooking.

we just hang out quietly & watch the action....or sleep. it's ok having him there, as long as he doesn't get any of my scraps!

keeping an eye on my little bro

2010-12-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

hello again folks. part of my duties as a big brother are to keep an eye on the little guy, especially when he's on the floor, which is kinda my area of expertise.

the little man usually spends some time on a colorful mat flailing his arms & legs around. not really sure what he's doing but i like to keep an eye on him when he's down at my level.

mommy & daddy have started running the pellet stove & i am back to my usual winter spot in front of the fire.

hmmm......toasty warm.

foster's in charge

2010-12-06T14:18:00.004-05:00

hello readers. lately mommy has been quite busy with this new little creature that showed up at our house. i've been told he is my little brother & i am to watch out for him.

i have decided to take over the blog for a little bit since i know you all are dying to know what i'm up to. last week i went to work with daddy all week. instead of his usual work spot we hung out at upton state forest & checked deer. i had loads of fun meeting all sorts of people and running around.

then this week we're back at daddy's usual work spot with my girlfriend the muppet!

life is a bit crazy back home but i'm getting used to having my new friend around. more to come soon!

woof, foster

how is foster doing?

2010-11-22T19:31:00.006-05:00

after checking to see how the baby, mommy & daddy are doing this is the next question that everyone keeps asking us. so far puppy seems kinda indifferent towards jason. he has sniffed him a bit while wagging his tail but otherwise no real interest. as usual he seems most concerned with daddy. and daddy has been making sure to take puppy out on walks every day so he is not neglected.

here's a few pics with puppy over the last week....

family photo

we are not worried about foster tho. he will be just fine and we're sure best buds with jase in due time.

the early arrival of baby s

2010-11-19T07:41:00.004-05:00

well even the best laid plans are bound to be altered from time to time.

anyone who knows me knows i am just a tad bit of a control freak/anal retentive/type A. it's what makes me a good scientist & planner (at least that's what i tell myself). in a move that will perhaps foreshadow the rest of his life, baby s decided to throw a wrench in the plans of his crazy planner mommy by arriving on november 16th-just under 4 weeks before his dec 12th due date.
lucky for us, due to my aforementioned anal-retentiveness, almost everything was all set. so at ~5am this past monday DH & i headed out to the hospital with no idea what to bring with us & no idea how to use/install our infant car seat. about 20hrs after my water broke jason louis arrived into the world at an impressive 7lbs 3oz.

and so the journey begins......

more to come on new baby jase & of course our beloved foster the puppy. at some point.....after we sleep.

AZ peeps rule!

2010-11-12T07:29:00.002-05:00

my friends at work rock. they had a lovely baby shower for me at work the other day!

they gave me a VERY generous gift & perhaps the best gift of all.....a delicious homemade cake from christie!!

dave did not appreciate the cake decorations but i LOVED it! so much so that i had 2 pieces. :)

thanks again AZ peeps!! you guys are the best!

spooktacular

2010-11-02T18:15:00.006-04:00

we had a bit of a jack-o-lantern snafu for halloween this year. i bought one of those pumpkins with the warts on it because i thought it would be kinda fun to incorporate the bumps into the face. well it turns out those kinds of pumpkins are like 4 inches thick & impossible to carve. we went to a lil halloween get-together sat night to carve pumpkins & our host had to use a saw, yes literally a real outdoor saw, the remove the top. so no big jack-o-lantern for the scarp house or it's trick-or-treaters this year. i laid it on it's side & put a big spider in it instead. luckily i had 3 small pumpkins decorating the stairs that i whipped up a quick "boo" in.

here's a few pics of the finished display....

we had a decent number of kids come by & they all kept saying "boo!" at the pumpkins so i guess it worked out!

office/guestroom

2010-10-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

we have finally finished up the office/guestroom so all our family & friends will have a comfortable place to stay when they come help, i mean visit, the new baby. :)

last winter we painted the walls "new england yellow". this fall we finally got around to buying a new sofa bed & rug. throw in some new curtains & a newly framed map of new haven harbor & long island sound & waalah!

here it is....

BFB slept on the sofa bed this past weekend & confirmed it's comfiness! so we'll be taking reservations soon.....

"you work him too hard!"

2010-10-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

this is what i have been saying to DH lately regarding taking foster out bird hunting. they have been going out so often that puppy has been a bit stiff walking around (prompting daddy to periodically give him baby aspirin). and that's when he's not sleeping, which is all the time! in the mornings after hunting days he eats breakfast & then goes right back to his bed rather then hanging out with me while i'm getting ready. i miss my puppy friend!!

anyhoo here's a collection of pics i have snapped over the last few weeks of my puppy friend being the cute lil brown nugget that he is......

these are MY toys

so tired

such a sophisticated puppy!

hmmmm.....duck or goose

both are so tasty tho...

he's snoring away right now on his bed!

puppy the retriever

2010-10-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

foster the labrador retriever has started his second hunting season!

according to daddy he had a very successful first outing on opening day this week.

and he has been resting very peacefully at night after a hard days work.

nursery progress!

2010-10-14T19:01:00.008-04:00

we have made some serious progress on the nursery these last few weeks!

we have most of the furniture, i got a rug & some baskets for the changing table and dave painted. we went with a brighter green than our usual neutral tones. it's a valspar color called mountain botanical. the jerk working the paint counter at lowes told us he thought it was an "interesting" color to paint a bedroom but we are very happy with how it turned out!

anyway without further adieu.......

and a super cute early shower gift from aunt laura & uncle tri!

i still need to get some curtains & we have some pics to hang up on the wall.

but it's coming together pretty nicely so far! only ~8.5 weeks to go!

we miss the muppet!

2010-09-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

puppy's girlfriend olive, the italian spinone, got spayed a few weeks ago. she hasn't been allowed to play at work while her stitches heal. she hasn't been very happy about it and neither has her buddy foster. but she should be back to playing again sometime this week. in the meantime here's a pic i just discovered on DH's phone from this summer....

how freakin adorable is she with all that hair?!

fun with fern

2010-09-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

a few weekends ago we dogsat for S&J's black lab mutt fern. she is quite the ball of energy. she & puppy had a fun 2 days together rolling around the house & shedding EVERYWHERE.

there was lots of tug-o-war

hanging out

and eventually some rest

yet another fun puppy visit this month for foster! and we still have one more any day now.....

getting there...

2010-09-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

from last week, 28 weeks
baby s' face
and profile with hand

only 10ish more weeks!

fall already?

2010-09-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

all of a sudden the temps here have dropped and it is suddenly feeling alot like fall. no complaints from the 7 month pregnant lady. last weekend we went apple picking with some friends & co-workers at a lovely little orchard in stow called carver hill. we picked macs, cortlands & macouns in the beautiful 70-degree sunshine. pair that with some donuts & cider and i was VERY happy!

with all these apples lying around i pressed my sister for some recipes besides my usual apple crisp. she gave me a few and i decided to start with the easiest one: apple sauce. i love it and it's a bit healthier than ice cream for a snack.

cut up 4 apples, i recommend cutting slightly smaller pieces than i did-i used cortlands (i think). put in a pot with 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar & 1/2 tsp cinnamon. i LOVE cinnamon so i may have used a bit more.....

put on medium heat & let sit for 15-20mins, stirring occasionally

take off heat, let cool, then mash! i used a potato masher, i think next time i will use my stick blender since mine was a bit chunky.

easy & yummy! thanks sis!! next i will try apple bread.....

musings of a pregnant woman

2010-09-15T14:09:00.003-04:00

so i have just about reached the end of my 2nd trimester. on sunday the final stretch will begin. lately i have been getting more & more bonehead comments from people (especially men!) regarding my size. i have decided to share some of my favorites with you readers in hopes of teaching a few of you what NOT to say to a pregnant lady & of course to give you all a few laughs too. mom's out there please feel free to share any good one's you've heard over the years too!
BH=bonehead making comment

this was ~16 wks when i "popped"...
BH: you look big, is the baby big?
me: no he's the size he should be at this point.
BH: oh, well maybe it's just fat.

this was last week....
BH: when are you due?
me: december 12th
BH: ohh, are you having twins?

this was today...
BH: when are you due?
me: december 12th
BH: that's going to be a big baby.

things you should say to a pregnant lady (i'm giving credit to the lovely people who have said these!):
CS/BF: you are the cutest pregnant lady ever!
DH: aren't you cute!?!
many smart women: you look great!
GB: i love your pregnancy wardrobe! it is really working for you!

thus concludes today's lesson. i promise to be back soon with more of foster the puppy and less B&M-ing about the wonderful world of pregnancy. :)

zorch!

2010-09-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

we have been dogsitting for a co-worker of dave's since the weekend. zorch the 100+lb rottweiler has been visiting. he's a sweet boy & he & foster seem to get along ok. i think puppy might be a bit scared of the big black bear.

i snapped a few pics during zorch's visit....

as always foster is a very gracious host!

love for the walls at last

2010-09-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

we FINALLY got around to hanging up some art on our walls a few weekends ago.

i got this awesome williams sonoma blue fin tuna plate for christmas last year. we have yet to use it and thought it might look pretty nice up on the bare walls of our kitchen. of course if DH catches a tuna someday we will def take it down & make good use of it!

i bought this painting a while back for dave. it's a painting of a drake mallard duck decoy. i got a matte cut for it & then finally got to michaels & bought a nice frame for it. we hung it up above the couch in the living room and we LOVE it.

i framed this old print that i have been carrying around for a while now for the upstairs bathroom...

our good friend matt made this beautiful plate for us as a wedding gift 2 years ago. we finally decided to hang it up in our bedroom as a reminder of our favorite day....

we also swapped out a few items on the walls in the dining room. we removed a framed photo from banff & put up this fun parsley pic (from christmas tree shop!).

and we hung up a piece of pottery from my trip to seville a few years ago. i don't have a pic of that so you'll have to take my word for it that it looks lovely!

next......the office/guestroom is continuing it's makeover. more on that in a month (?) or so hopefully! and of course the nursery!

cape cod part IV

2010-09-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

a few final pics from our amazingly fabulous vaca on cape cod...

dr. lords rd beach, dennis

some family shots

one last belly pic

and to sum it all up....

ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! we'll be back again next year!

cape cod part III-a visit from morgan!

2010-08-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

BFB's brother & his girlfriend stopped by the cottage with their chocolate lab puppy morgan. the 2 pups had quite a lot of fun swimming & playing in scargo lake!

i tried to snap some pics of the fun.....

puppy morgan (remind you of anyone?)

swimming

big dog, little dog

drying off?

it was quite a fun visit! thanks for coming to visit todd, kathy & morgan!

cape cod part II

2010-08-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

the first part of the week had cloudy mornings followed by beautiful afternoons. we mostly hung by the house & frolicked in scargo lake when the sun showed up.

foster stood guard on our dock and chased away any waterfowl that dared swim by...

steve taking a quick ride

catie at our dock

hanging with mommy

just another day in puppy paradise!

cape cod part I

2010-08-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

we started out our vacation at a private beach in sandwich while waiting to check in to our rental cottage. it was a beautiful day & puppy had his usual amount of fun romping around the beach (as did we).

to make the day even more fun an 8 month great dane puppy showed up & was VERY interested in foster. i've never seen foster look so small before!

it was a lovely start to an amazing week!

we're back!

2010-08-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

sorry for the brief hiatus folks. we were away on vacation last week down the cape. it was, in a word, AWESOME! but more on that later......

first a quick update on our last trip to maine. we went up for the annual family running of the beach to beacon 10K. pregnancy gave me a pass from running this year, can you hear the disappointment? :)

there were many fun activities over the weekend.....

kids fun run

the big race!

after all that fun we got to visit with my sis & her brood sunday. we took an early morning trip to pine point beach where dogs can run off leash before 9am! foster had loads of fun fetching a tennis ball in the surf & my nephews seemed to have an equal amount of fun throwing it!on top of all that puppy fun we got to see another muppet! she was a different color than puppy's girlfriend but equally cute...all in all it was a fun weekend!

more to come on our cape cod adventures...stay tuned!

2 years!

2010-08-23T19:53:00.003-04:00

2 years ago yesterday....

love you hunny!!

more muppet!

2010-08-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

DH sent me another picture of puppy's girlfriend the lovable olive, the italian spinone, or muppet.

have a good weekend everyone! we are off to maine yet again! this time for the annual family running of the beach to beacon 10K on saturday. puppy & i will be cheering everyone along from the sidelines this year, as i am just a bit too large for that kind of activity this summer. :)

stay cool!

bar harbor

2010-08-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

last weekend we made the haul up to bar harbor, maine for the wedding of DH's college bud ryan. unfortunately we were only able to stay up there for 1 night so we didn't have time to visit acadia or do much else. :(

we did spend a couple hours in downtown bar harbor having lunch & strolling around looking at all the puppies. i had no idea bar harbor was so dog-friendly! there were dogs at the outdoor cafe we ate at, in the stores we went in (well it was a dog store-bark harbor), all over the streets & parks and our hotel was dog-friendly too! guess we could have brought puppy but i don't think he would have enjoyed the 5+hr drive each-way.

anyway, here's a few pics of the quick-visit & wedding.....

bar harbor

the view from our hotey

umainers at the wedding

the twins looking very twiny

umaine boys

the bride & groom

hope we can go back again soon! congrats ryan & danielle!

the bears meet again

2010-08-04T18:45:00.010-04:00

last week i took a day off work (woohoo!) and drove down to CT to visit marisa & her norah bear with my puppy bear! you may recall from a post last winter that norah LOVES foster & they had a lovely visit together!

after some initial puppy excitement and subsequent trauma for the little bear she warmed right up and was all over foster in her usual norah fashion. pregnancy-brain reared it's ugly head & i forgot my camera. lucky for me marisa let me borrow hers & then sent these pics along for the sake of the blog. thanks marisa!!

puppy bear

murphy-girl hiding out per usual

playing fetch

just hanging out

it was a super fun day & we look forward to coming back this fall to meet the newest member of the family!

dog days of summer

2010-07-29T18:43:00.018-04:00

last weekend i organized an outing with some coworkers at a local park to walk our doggies. we went to the warren conference center in ashland, ma. there's an open field, shaded trails & a reservoir for humans & doggies alike to play. foster had a great time! he walked, ran, fetched, swam, etc with a bunch of other pups in the warm summer sun.

here's some pics of the day....

hopefully we can do it again soon sometime!

workday fun

2010-07-27T11:15:00.002-04:00

you may remember puppy's friend olive from work from this previous post. she is an italian spinone but DH refers to her as the muppet. last time i saw her she was just a little puppy! dave has been raving about how big she is now & i have been correspondingly nagging him for a pic. finally got one on my phone yesterday!
as you can see she & foster spend some quality time together in the back of DH's truck just being puppies! i will have to swing by dave's work one of these days so i can take some more pics!

puppy & i will be heading down to CT on thursday for the day to visit with the littlest bear cub norah so stay tuned for pics of our fun adventure!

my best bud steely

2010-07-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

foster got to visit with his best bud steely over the weekend while we were at SIL laura's wedding in CT. d&m & their girls were kind enough to watch puppy for us for 3 days! i guess i should really thank steely since he did most of the entertaining i think. :) lucky for me shelly snapped a few pics of the visit that i can share!
the boys with little dthe boys chillin on the porch through the screen....

otherwise i didn't take a single pic all weekend! sorry guys but being pregnant & a bridesmaid is enough work-no time for pics.

a BIG THANKS to d&m for watching foster for us! hopefully the boys can get together again soon!

fairy dogparents

2010-07-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

saw a great article on boston.com the other day on fairydogparents.org. they are a non-profit organization that helps out folks who have fallen upon hard times & need assistance taking care of their dog. they provide food, medicine or money for the vet so people don't have to give up their dog to a shelter. they are based in MA and have helped out many dogs already! they are 100% based on donations so please, if you are a dog lover & looking for a cause to donate to, consider giving them a hand! even a small amount helps!
puppy thanks you!

2 years old!

2010-07-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

foster the puppy (yes puppy) is 2 years old today!

foster got a new water resistant collar from cabelas for his bday this year. he does so much swimming & his other one gets stinky & gross. he's quite good at posing for me....he seems to like it!
and tonight he will get a special birthday bone for his special day!
happy birthday sweet puppy bear!

happy birthday hunny!!

2010-07-19T08:51:00.002-04:00

today is DH's bday! happy birthday my love!

he will be sweating all day at work with no A/C, poor thing. he plans to celebrate as often as possible this week on the boat with all his fun new fishing gear!

after all, it is summer of dave......

HAPPY DAY!! xo

garden update

2010-07-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

haven't had a garden update in quite some time. it has been hot hOT HOT & humid here this last week or 2 with almost no rain. tomatoes love heat & humidity so they look like they're doing pretty good. had to pull the lettuce b/c it wilted & died (unlike toms lettuce does not like the heat). cukes are doing ok, no big fruit but lots of little guys who might grow up. and my snap peas (a new addition to the garden this year) are doing great! i built a trellis for them with some stakes & some old yarn from my knitting days. just ate my first 5 peas a few days ago and they were delicious!
puppy is a big fan of the garden too (please ignore our totally dead lawn).hopefully more good news to come in another few weeks!

fluke fishing

2010-07-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

DH went out fluke fishing a week or 2 ago with BF dave somewhere in the atlantic ocean and came back with a very nice catch!
ever seen a fluke before? they look like flounder. kinda funny looking actually...but very tastey!!

puppy's 1st camping trip!

2010-07-09T20:32:00.016-04:00

for probably the 6th time in 7 yrs (boo 6 weeks of rain last summer) we spent the 4th of july holiday up in the great north woods of NH. this is where DH did his graduate research on moose and we can't seem to get away-it's such an awesome spot to visit. and the weather....in a word: PERFECT. this 4th of july marked another milestone for foster the puppy: his 1st camping trip! and as you will see from the pics he had quite a fun time!
saturday we took the canoes out for our usual fishing paddle on the upper androscoggin river out of dummer, NH (yes you read that right). 4th of july regulars stevie & angie came along as well as another umaine alum ian.
we're not entirely convinced foster likes just sitting in the canoe but he's still a very well behaved puppythe crew on the boatsit was still hot even in northern NH so cooling off in the ammonoosuc river by our campsite was a very nice end to a lovely day. someone had built a little jacuzzi with the rocks which we happily lounged in all weekend of course we weren't the only ones who enjoyed the water sunday was reserved for our usual float down the lower part of the androscoggin from shelburne, NH to gilead, ME. remember #3 from my last post? there's a nice current in this part of the river and very little paddling is actually required. due to my pregnant state this year DH did just about all the paddling himself! thanks hunny!
gotta start off the paddle by taking a quick dip of course we always stop at this big spit in the river for lunch. puppy got in some fetching & swimming back at camp puppy had no trouble drying off and eventually crashed hard (in a patch of dirt of course) for the night after 2 super fun days in NH! highlight of the weekend for me: fried dough! that's right folks! after 6 yrs of driving by the gorham fair & whining for one i was FINALLY rewarded with a stop. i guess this whole pregnancy thing isn't so bad after all.....

happy 101

2010-07-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

i got tagged by my sis in one of her blogs to list a few things that make me happy....i think. the tag was not very specific. so on this friday of a long holiday weekend i find myself happy for many reasons so i guess i'll get started:
1. hearing baby S' heartbeat makes me happy
2. watching foster do just about anything makes me happy
3. floating down the androscoggin river on a summer day in a canoe doing NO paddling makes me happy
4. july 4th fireworks make me happy
5. listening to the allman brothers band or phish in the summertime makes me happy
6. sleeping makes me VERY happy
and last but certainly not least......
7. my amazing DH makes me happy just about everyday
happy fourth of july everyone!! we'll be back next week to report on foster the puppy's very first camping trip!
God Bless the USA!!

maiden voyage

2010-07-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

last weekend marked my maiden voyage out on our boat! yes we've had it since last september & this is my first time out. in my defense i hadn't been feeling all that great at the beginning of boat season this year (you now all know why the blog was MIA for 3+ weeks) and DH gets up REALLY early for fishing trips. and let's be honest people, meg + 3am=not pretty.
so i managed to guilt him into taking me out a bit later (read:wake up at 4:45am) last saturday for some pleasure cruising and of course....fishing.
some scenes from cape cod bay......dave at the helmand the catch!thanks for a fun trip hubby!

take your dog to work day

2010-06-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

take your dog to work day was last friday, june 25th. well as you all know everyday is take your puppy to work day for foster but in honor of the holiday he got to take a special trip up to daddy's newly located (and non-air conditioned) office in the main building at work. and because DH loves me SOOOO much he had his co-worker snap a few pics for the blog!thanks hunny!!!

foster in maine

2010-06-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

a few weekends ago we headed up to maine for niece maya's bday. it was almost 90-degrees back home in MA so it was lovely as always to visit the great ( & much cooler) state of maine.
i snapped a bunch of pics of foster loving up all sorts of family at m&d's condo and accidentally deleted them before uploading-boooooooooooooooo meg! bad blogger! luckily SIL laura snapped a few pics & sent them along so i have a few foster pics to share....and one of the birthday girl herself before we all enjoyed the sweet taste of fresh maine berries!
another fun weekend in june!

deuling grumps

2010-06-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

you may remember when we met the original grumpasaurus down in D.C. back in april. clearly i was enamored & i mentioned to my crazy-knitting sister how much i liked him. because she's an awesome sis i got my very own grumpasaurus not too long after!as you can see grumps are pretty fun & cool so when my SIL laura saw mine she also wanted one. kt to the rescue again! she handed him off to me last week & the 2 grumps hung out at my house until grump #2 was delivered to his new (and VERY happy) owner this weekend!for info on how to make your own grump click here.
thanks again sis!

coming soon......

2010-06-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

.....this december to a blog near you.....foster will have some company!

clipping some sunshine

2010-06-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

the yellow roses are in full bloom at our house & i have been clipping away for our house & others!yay summer!