Spring Update! - March Recap

March - Flooding, Sun & the Park

So the weather (up until the last few days) has been a great deal warmer - thank goodness! Other than the crazy rain and flooding, which we've been fortunate enough to mostly avoid, the weather and weekends have been a much needed respite from the cold and snow of last month! We've actually had the chance in the last month to get out a great deal and visit a large park nearby with the boys and Shadow. The park is great, it's basically a huge field with several small sports fields in it, a very wide sidewalk all around its extremities and a little playground playset (though it's definitely for older kids not little ones as young as Liam - making it a little difficult since he loves it). Shadow is actually training really well and is beginning to learn to be off-leash! So far, only at the park, but our goal is to eventually train him so that he could be off-leash anywhere. The boys really enjoy being outside with Shadow and definitely appreciate the nicer weather. I recently switched my blackberry curve for the curve 2 and it takes great pictures as long as I don't use the zoom (as I did in this picture to the left, unfortunately).

Our lease is coming to an end at our current condo and that is definitely in the forefront of our minds. We love the area of Nashua we live in, but our current condo is smaller than what we really need. If you're at all familiar with renting in South Nashua you know it's expensive and that getting into a nice rental can be very competitive. It took us size months to find and get our current condo. We're definitely looking but as time passes and we get closer to the end of our lease we're trying to considering whether or not we can make our condo work for another year if nothing better presents itself. We always planned on this condo being a temporary, year-long fix to getting over the boarder and closer to Patrick's new position. I guess we'll see!
Shadow is now completely free in the condo except when we aren't home. We'd like to eventually teach him to be free in the house while we're not home (he's been potty trained since he was about 10 weeks old), but we're a little worried that he might get anxious and get into mischief since he's still just under a year old.

This picture here of Shadow in his bed was taken shortly after we bought him his new bed. He's gone through several since coming to us at 8 weeks. For some reason if they have fluff in them he destroys them and won't lie on them. So far the Kong bed (largest size they offer) has been a success. He definitely lies around the rest of the house, but when he's very tired or chewing on a toy/bone he's been finding his way more and more frequently to his new bed. Thank goodness because it wasn't exactly cheap!

Other than getting a stomach bug this week and Liam still having sleep issues (and needing to go see a sleep specialist) life has been pretty good. Patrick's still working at the same company and work for me has picked up a bit, though I'm having a really hard time not procrastinating! We're hoping to finally replace my long-lost car with a second car soon. Seamus starts school in Sept and obviously I would be the one to drive him. Also, it's just plain tough not to have a second car! I guess we'll see what the future holds and how things change in the next year. You just never know!
(The boys and Shadow spent one morning after breakfast chilling out on the floor. The boys were pretending to chew on bones like Shadow in this picture:))

Just a quick "catch-up" post!

I know it's been a while, but I realized I should probably update and post a pic or two. So the holidays have come and gone. They were wonderful and we were able to spend time with our extended families as well as our own little family. It was actually really fun this year because both boys were at an age where they could appreciate and enjoy everything going on (nobody freaked out on Christmas while opening presents this year!).

Patrick is still working at the same company, though he was promoted last year and now works in NH where we're currently living. I'm still working from home as a contract copywriter and recently received news that my first children's book will be published by a small publisher this year in the Spring or Fall. Launch date TBD based on the illustrator's schedule.

Seamus will hopefully be attending the preschool we have our eye on in the Fall and Liam will be home with Mommy alone in the mornings!

What else . . . Shadow has grown considerably. At 55lbs he definitely doesn't look like a puppy anymore, unfortunately his brain hasn't quite caught up with his size ;)

Anyway, here are a few pics to chew on until next time!

Always fun! And yes, that is a real snowman not a plastic one:) You'd be surprised how many people have asked!

Welcome Shadow Bear Totoro Murphy!

Yesterday we went to pick up the long-awaited Shadow Bear Totoro Murphy. We had picked him from the litter a month ago, and had been preparing for his arrival all this time. The timing was perfect actually, because we just moved house from Boxboro, MA to Nashua, NH at the beginning of the month.

The breeder lives in Harrisville, NH, and if you know anything about the area you know that it takes forever the get from town to town and the roads are either uphill, downhill or unpaved. I had underestimated the total time for our trip so we were actually running 45 minutes later than we were supposed to. Trying to make up time, we rollercoastered up and down these crazy roads and managed to get there in time to get our pup! The breeder was actually leaving to take the second litter (two different litters were available) to the vet's for their shots, so if we had missed her it would have meant not being able to get Shadow until that night.

As soon as we walked through the door we were AMAZED by his size! At 8.5 weeks he weighs in at a whopping 14lbs! We should have named him Goliath;) The boys gave him his names: Seamus wanted to name him Shadow after watching Homeward Bound, Liam kept calling him Bear (probably because he looks like a stuffed bear to him) and then Seamus wanted Totoro to be his other name. Hence, Shadow Bear Totoro Murphy!

I had to admit that I was definitely interested to see how things would go the next day, because Patrick would be at work the whole next day so I'd have both boys in addition to our first day getting into some type of groove with the new puppy.

The first night went fairly well. He refused to sleep in his crate in the kitchen, but did go to sleep pretty willingly in our bedroom in his crate. He slept through the night, though I barely slept for the first couple hours expecting him to start crying at any moment.

The next morning Patrick had to practically drag him outside to go to the bathroom before leaving for work, he was so tired! He slept another couple hours until the boys woke up. I took him out after getting the boys settled pretty quickly then fed him breakfast and took him out again. He was great about going to the bathroom outside! Though we spent the majority of the day outside going to the bathroom or letting him and the kids play on our patio, things settled down after lunch. The kids took an hour nap and Shadow did too. He still refuses to be left in the kitchen along, he doesn't mind if someone is with him but otherwise he demands to be allowed with the rest of the family. So far, so good.

Seamus is adjusting to having a puppy, going through moments of naughtiness then enjoying him. Liam is actually quite afraid of him because of his size, though he thoroughly enjoys him from my arms or while sitting on the couch. All in all, we're exhausted but things seem to be going well!

The craziness of December...

December for us has been a whirlwind of apartment hunting, OB appointments, sickness, and Christmas! We've found the right condo and will be moving to Boxboro around Jan 4 woohoo! Of course Patrick will be doing all the moving but we're hoping to recruit some strong guys to help;)

Seamus is his normal impish-self and is adapting quite well despite my inability to get out of bed much. We've got plenty of ultrasound photos (The one in the corner is about 12 weeks old...but still cute! I'll post the newest ones later) and were pleased to learn this month that we are in fact pregnant with a boy again! His name is Liam Michael Murphy. Now if I can just keep us both healthy for as many weeks as possible.