My Christmas Present to Myself

I hope you had a nice Christmas.  We had a very quiet Christmas, with just the 3 of us (hubby, oldest son and me).  I did get to watch my grandkids open their presents, thanks to Skype.  The two oldest loved their aprons I made for them, and the chefs hats that I sent (sorry, I can't take photos when I'm on Skype).

Back in early August, we lost our beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Katie, after 13 years. Katie was a fixture in my sewing room, and was my 'velcro' dog (she followed me everywhere).

Katie

Well, I've been looking for another Cavalier.  There weren't any puppies anywhere.  We met with a breeder in Oklahoma, when we were there in October.  Then, in late October, a breeder in Illinois announced that there would be puppies in the next week or so.  These were born on November 2nd.

mommy & her puppies (the top black & white one is mine)

the sire

The puppies were 8 weeks old on Tuesday, so we could pick up the new puppy.  We drove 1.5 hours north, and arrived about 10 minutes after the snow started.  This is our drive home.

the snow shortly after we started driving home

puppy snuggled up to me

snow on branches

visibility on the drive home

We made it  home safely, thank goodness.  Now our biggest worry was if our Alaskan Malamute would take to the puppy (the puppy was used to large dogs, since the breeder also has a large dog).

So far they are getting along.  We have to be careful, since Ziva could hurt the puppy easily.  Ziva is 93 pounds while the puppy is 6 pounds, and will only get to 13-25 pounds when he is grown.

The puppy is settling in nicely so far.  For safety for the puppy, I got 2 pack-n-plays off of Freecycle, and made some sheets for them (good use for that red fabric that bled dye). Who cares if the fabric bleeds on the puppy sheets?

I finally got some stitching done yesterday (had to finish sewing the velcro onto the last 2 puppy sheets), and set up a pack-n-play in my sewing room.  It's a tight fit in my sewing room, since the puppy wants to be right next to me while I sew.

chewing on toys in my sewing room

sleeping during our supper

Our biggest problem now (other than not getting anything done because we're too busy playing with or holding the puppy) is a name for the puppy.  It has the 2 white streaks on it's back, so hubby thinks we need a name that goes with the white streaks, but that isn't a necessary thing.  This puppy is really fast when it's loose on the floor.  We are starting a list of possible names.  Any suggestions????  I'll let you know what we name it.  

Here are a few more photos of the puppy.  As I've been writing this blog post, the puppy is asleep on my lap.  

puppy (top left black & white) with it's litter mates

puppy at 1 month old

puppy at 6 weeks old

snuggled up to hubby's ankle

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Update on my weight loss:  I weighed this morning.  I've lost 81 pounds since the end of January (337 days of dieting).  We ate Chinese with friends on Christmas Eve, I skipped my diet on Christmas day, and we ate lunch at Red Robin on Sunday, with more friends.  I'll skip my diet again on New Year's Day (I do NOT want to know how many calories are in Aeblskiver's, our traditional New Year's Day breakfast).

PS:  Please pray for my friend/client's family that I was the caregiver for.  His wife lost her mother 38 days after she lost her husband.  It has been a really rough couple of months for her and their families.