A Boy and his Dog

Weston and Banks have the best relationship, and it's TOO sweet. Banks is so gentle and will let Weston do ANYTHING to him! It's too funny, but they do love one another, and they play with one another all the time. Seriously...Weston will have a toy and Banks will come and grab the toy from Weston, then Weston will grab it from Banks and back and forth...it's great! I'm so glad that they get along so well, and I never have to worry about the two of them together!

The Mama Test

I saw this, and it's SO true! Hope it makes you all laugh on this Tuesday! :)

The Mama Test
“I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked something up off of the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and asked her not to do that. ’Why?’ my daughter asked. ’Because it’s been on the ground and you don’t know where it’s been – it’s dirty and probably has germs,’ I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, ‘Mama, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart.’ I was thinking quickly and replied, ‘All moms know this stuff…it’s on the Mama Test. You have to know it, or they don’t let you become a Mama.’

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. ’Oh, I get it!’ she beamed. ‘So if you don’t pass the test you have to be the dad.’ ’Exactly,’ I replied with a big smile on my face.”

Weston, Banks and I after a LONG walk...Banks is exhausted, and my hair is a wreck!
*I'm training for the In Their Shoes Walk in November, it's a 13.1 mile walk for cancer.

I'm back...

So, I made it back from Mississippi on Friday, and I was exhausted. I can't remember a time when I've been so tired. I drove seven hours to MS and back, and I slept in a hotel bed that was extremely hard and just not really comfortable. It's nothing like your own bed, especially when your almost 33 weeks pregnant!

Anyways, we had a busy weekend upon my return...we took Banks to another Hunt Test, and he passed both days, so he now has his Junior Hunter Title. We couldn't be more proud of him! :) In the Junior Hunter category, the dog has to show skills in Hunting, Bird Finding ability, Pointing and Trainability. He has to point 50% of the birds that he finds, and he has to score an average of 7 with no lower than a 5 to qualify. He also has to pass four times, so that equals four days. He can't just pass one day and be done with his title, so he's passed four times, and he has his JH behind his name. His registered name is now Vizcaya's Crash Landing JH or as we all know him "Banks".

We also had our office Christmas Party on Saturday evening. I was feeling fine when we got to the party, but after an hour or so, I was wearing down quickly. My sides hurt, my stomach was aching and really hard, and I don't know what was going on, but I just felt awful. I finally had to tell Grant that we needed to go home...we made it home, and I laid on the couch and fell asleep. Grant finally woke me up around midnight to go up to bed. I felt better on Sunday, but not 100%. My stomach is staying hard most of the time, and it's not real comfortable. I think Weston is still doing well though...the nausea / unsettled stomach feeling has returned though. Has this happened to any of you? If I don't eat and keep something on my stomach, I start to feel bad, and it's not fun! On that note, I'm starting to feel bad again, so I'm going to head off to lunch! :) Happy Monday!

What's your opinion?

So, as I mentioned earlier Banks went to a show this past weekend, and he competed against another male dog to move on to the next round, and he got second to this dog all three days of the show. The show took photos of the dogs competing against one another and sent them to us. I don't know about you guys, and I might just be biased, but I think that Banks is the better looking dog in these three photos. What do you think?


In case you can't pick him out, he is the second, lighter colored dog. I really wish he had won, and I truly think that he should've won. They said that he was prancing a little bit around, so maybe that was the reason. He is still a little immature, because he isn't very old, so we are going to wait until the Spring to show him again and see how he does. I hope he can do it!! :)

Show Us Your Life - Pets

So, when I saw that Kelly at Kelly's Korner was hosting a "Show Us Your Life - Pets", I knew that I had to participate! As all of my readers know, Banks is my first baby, and he goes everywhere with us, so it was a no-brainer that I would participate.

Grant & I decided in August of 2008 that we might be able to get a dog. We had been talking about it for quite some time and things were slowing down for us, so we decided that it was time. Ever since we started dating, Grant had said that he wanted a Vizsla one day. He said that he had seen one once, and it was really cool, so that's what he wanted. So, I bought a book on Vizsla's, and we started to research breeders.

We found a breeder named Nancy who runs a kennel called Vizcaya Vizslas, and we got in touch with her. She had a litter on August 14th, so we were thrilled. Perfect timing for us!! We went and visited, and the puppies were so cute. I was sold. So, we picked Banks up on October 4th, 2008.

Our first family photo on the day we picked him up from the Breeder

I love this dog so much...he makes me smile when I've had a bad day, and he always knows when I've had a bad day or I'm not feeling well, and he comes over and just sits with me. He cuddles with Grant every night. He has a great temperament, and he always wants to be right by your side. He will also let you stick your hand in his food bowl while he is eating, and he'll just back up until you are finished and then come back to eat. He is so gentle, and I know that he'll be so good with Weston when he arrives. I dread thinking about the day when he'll go to Doggy Heaven, but he is only 15 months, so we've got quite some time left, I hope. :)

I'll leave you with some photos of Banks:

Sitting together after a hard day's work outside in the yard!

Sleeping with his blanket...he loves to be covered up with a blanket! :)

Waiting for his turn to find Quail at the Hunt Test

My two favorite boys, Grant & Banks

Quail Hunting

His favorite place to relax during the colder months, especially when I've just opened it to remove clothes!

Eating the cake I made him on his 1st Birthday

My First Child

As you all know, I'm SO in love with my sweet dog, Banks. Someone sent me this note called "Potential Danger of Dog Hair", and it's totally me! I'm SO crazy about my dog. I won't say that I've stopped wearing make-up or good clothes or high heels, but I do sometimes delay cooking or cleaning, so I can hang out with him more. I also buy him things before I buy myself things regularly. Does anyone else who has a dog have any of these symptoms?

Urgent Notice: Potential Danger of Dog Hair

In a press release today, the National Institute of Health has announced the discovery of a potentially dangerous substance in the hair of dogs. This substance, called "amobacter cainii" has been linked with the following symptoms in females: Reluctance to cook, clean or do housework. Reluctance to wear make-up, good clothes or high heels. Reluctance to spend money on home or car repairs until after 'Baby' has new collars, leashes, beds, treats, food, blankets or toys.

"Amobacter caninii" usually results in long hours away from home and exhaustion which may lead to a loss of physical contact with other humans (especially husbands and boyfriends). "Amobcater caninii" is thought to be addictive, driving the need for additional sources - this may lead to a "pack mentality" or like the potato chip commercial, "you can't have just one". Beware! If you come in contact with a female human infected by this substance, be prepared to talk about dogs for hours. Additional symptom is a lack of motivation to seek a cure. Full recovery is rare and if cured, serious side-effects may result.

Surgeon General's Warning: Dogs are expensive, Addictive and may impair the ability to use common sense.

I can't relate to all of these things, but I can relate to some, and dogs are expensive and addictive. I keep telling Grant that we need to get Banks a playmate! Ha-Ha! He strongly disagrees! Tomorrow I'll update you all on Bank's achievements last weekend...for now, he is off to the Breeder and headed to Montgomery, AL for a three-day dog show. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets some points and wins this weekend!

And I'll leave you with a photo that I took of my two boys this weekend...
They lay together every evening and watch TV and usually fall asleep like this. They are TOO cute, and it melts my heart that they are so close like this and Banks will sleep on his shoulder. I love them!

It's been one of those weeks...

...and I really have nothing new or anything exciting to post about!!

We had our first Childbirth Class last night, and we have the next one next Thursday. It was interesting, and I definitely learned some things that I didn't know and hadn't even considered regarding labor. We got to see the Birth Center at the hospital where we are delivering, and it is amazing!! The rooms are huge, and they have pull out beds and recliners, and it's just really nice! I'm excited about delivering at St. Mary's.

Waiting / Check-In Area for Visitors

It makes it all seem so real, and it'll be time for Weston to be here before I know it! I really can't wait! I have another doctor's appointment next Wednesday, as well as, more classes at the hospital. I know Grant will be ready for them to be over, because he has other things that he would rather be doing in the evenings, like hunting. :) I'll be ready too, because it makes for a long night when you have class from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

I didn't end up getting into bed last night until about 11:30 PM...I took my prenatal vitamin on an empty stomach, and I got REALLY nauseous. Grant had to go and get me some crackers and water, and I ate them in bed. Then, I finally was able to fall asleep shortly after midnight. I woke up a couple of times throughout the night, and I COULD NOT get out of bed this morning when the alarm went off. It was terrible!

I'm at work, but I'm so ready for the day to be over! I'm ready for the weekend! We are headed to another Hunt Test with Banks this weekend...keep your fingers crossed that he is able to get two qualifying scores at the test! Keep us in your T&P as we compete, because I really want to have this done before Weston gets here! :)

Love Dare & Weekend Update

I made the decision to only do the Love Dare on Monday - Friday and skip out on the weekends and see how it goes. It's not that I can't do it over the weekend or don't have time, but I really don't want Grant to know that I'm doing it, so every time I would go to get it out of my bag over the weekend, I felt like I was sneaking around, and he would come around the corner. So, I'm just going to leave the book at the office, and I'm going to do it during the week.

Anyways, Friday's dare went well, and I'm moving on to my second dare today! Today's dare says: In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness. I think that I'm going to iron his pants tonight...I hate ironing clothes, and I rarely do it, so he is very grateful when I do. He has some pants that need to be ironed, so I think that I'll iron those pants today as my gesture of kindness.

We had a busy, fun-filled weekend! We woke at 5:30 AM on Saturday, and we headed to a Vizsla Field Day. Banks was able to run around with other Vizsla's, get in the water and get on some birds. He did so great! We then headed to a friend's house to watch the UGA Game! Yay! We won, but barely squeaked by. On Sunday, Grant went hunting, then he painted our back deck, and we put the crib together! :) Can't wait to show photos of the room in progress...I'm going to take some photos tonight!

Here are two photos of Banks from Field Day...

Banks...My First Child

My dog is like my first child, and I spend a lot of time with him. We go on daily walks, and we play in the evenings after work. He is so enjoyable to be around, and I am so grateful that I got such a great dog that minds so well. He has a wonderful personality, and he loves pretty much everyone. Anyways, he had his 1st Birthday on August 14th, and I'm such a nerd that I made him a cake. It was fun, and he really enjoyed it, but then again, he'll eat almost everything from tomatoes to onions to ice cream. He definitely isn't a picky eater.

Anyways, I wanted to post a few photos of him in honor of his first birthday just two weeks late! It took me that long to load them onto my computer...I'm terrible, I know!

Looking at his cake...he was waiting for us to give him permission to eat! :)

Being cute with the UGA Golf Bag...He was on the cover of a pamphlet for a Golf Tournament!

Resting...It had been a long day of playing in the sun!

Practicing...he still needs some work, but he is getting there!

Checking out the camera...He obviously is into it! :)