Another one bites the dust...

Ok, so I'm not going to post every time Emmy loses a tooth, but the first two are pretty exciting! Emmy lost another tooth tonight...the bottom front one that I predicted would be next. This time she was playing with her puppy kong on the floor and must have caught it on the carpet. After a short spurt of howling and squeeling, she wriggled free and the tooth was gone...yep she swallowed this one too! Silly dog! Apparently she hasn't heard of the tooth fairy before! Now Bill and I have been singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." to her! It's also pretty nice because when she goes to snap treats out of our fingers it doesn't hurt as much because it's all gums on the bottom.



Emmy seems pretty exhausted from the weekend. Saturday and today, she and Bill played in the snow a LOT! They had fun exploring the backyard of the building and all around the snowpiles from the apartment complexes. We took Emmy to the Kletz on Saturday too, which is Hope's little restaurant on campus. She did a good job...and really just seems to love sitting and watching people! It's great for us! On Saturday she also watched the Hope v. Calvin basketball game on tv. She didn't find it all that interesting except when I would yell at the TV every once in a while...then she would jolt awake! Poor pooch!

Lost: One tooth. If found, return to Emmy

You guessed it...EMMY LOST HER FIRST TOOTH TODAY!!! We knew she was teething a lot but today we noticed a little blood on one of her stuffed toys. After some mild confusion on our part we came the realization Emmy probably lost a tooth. And sure enough...Emmy lost one of her bottom front teeth! We worked really hard to get her to sit still enough to take a picture...and we got two...look for the little red dot on her gums...there was a tooth there. Small I know, but that's where it was. We haven't found the tooth yet, we're guessing that she swallowed it. From what we can tell it looks like she'll be losing the other bottom front tooth pretty soon. For now she is still pounding down ice cubes and loving when she gets treated with a frozen peanut butter kong (pretty much a big peanut butter popsicle)!

Snow and Friends

Emmy in her new favorite place

Playing fetch with Lindsay and Chris

"Pinned 'ya!"

Lindsay, Emmy & Chris

Today Emmy had lots of fun. Bill has no classes at the seminary on Thursdays so he can be home all day with Emmy...and boy did they have lots of fun. Over the past week and a half we have had A LOT of snow here in Holland. In fact, we have close to 2 1/2 feet of snow on the ground here right now! As you all know, Emmy loves snow...and this much snow is probably her favorite. Below is a video of her playing in it...look carefully, she pretty much get's lost in the snow!

Later tonight, our friends Lindsay and Chris came over to visit, and we of course had to make sure we entertained Emmy. Bill and Chris loved playing a game of monkey in the middle with Emmy which definitely tired her out. We also caught video of her doing what she does best...making noise with her squeeker ball. She gets so proud of herself for being able to make it squeek that she just walked around squeeking it all the time. So cute!

Emmy also has a new quirk of curling up in the bottom square of one of our shelving units. We're not sure why she likes to go there...maybe she likes the small space and being it's right outside her kennel and looks pretty similar she may also think she IS in her kennel. Regardless it's cute and she's not hurting anything.

With the weekend pretty much here, I'm sure we'll be adding more pictures and videos of Emmy's adventures in the snow as we're supposed to get warmer weather next week (high in the 40's!!!) so our snow will be melting soon!

Emmy's getting bigger!

You compare! Above is Emmy on her first day home, and below is her today. And no, Bill didn't shrink!

So many people have been commenting on how big Emmy is getting and I guess I haven't realized it as much as I see her everyday. Yesterday, we took Emmy for her monthly check-up and shots. She weighed in at 26.1 lbs! Yep, she's getting a lot bigger, considering she weighed 11.5 when she arrived at PAWS on Nov. 26th! She is doing very well and the vet gave her a very clean bill of health!

Thursday, Bill returned home from his trip to Israel and Emmy and I went to meet him at Grand Rapids airport. This was Emmy's first trip to the airport and she did really well. There were a LOT of people at the airport, but she stayed pretty focused on me. She definitely was a main attraction though. I think just about every child in the airport started shouting at their parents, "LOOK A PUPPY!!!"...and many adults went "awwwww...look at the puppy!". Emmy the superstar didn't seem to mind. She stayed pretty focused on me the whole time...so much so that Bill was able to come up right behind her before she ever picked him out of the crowd! I was very impressed at her calm nature, as this was probably the adventure that put her around the most amount of people...with lots of bustling activity.

She certainly seems happy to have Bill home, but I can already see how the time with just the two of us was helpful in establishing me as another alpha in the family. Before Bill left, she would rarely come to me when called, if Bill was around. Now she can easily decern the difference between us and responds to be as consitantly as she does to Bill. YAY! Now we're just trying to get back into a normal routine as a family.

Happy 3 Months "E" puppies

Today was the "E" litter's 3 month birthday! Boy how big they are getting! Today Emmy and I celebrated with just the two of us. She of course got some birthday presents, mainly to help make her mouth feel better as she continues to cut teeth. She got a Chilly Bone that is basically a reusable canvas bone that freezes (basically replicates the effects of an ice cube). She also got a treat capsule, that looks like a big rubber pill- but has holes on one end that treats come out of every once in a while...with streamers and bumps on the other end. Boy does she love that!

Bring your...dog...to work day?

This afternoon, Emmy accompanied me to work. This was the first time she had been there in cape for the full time and in "work" mode plus this was the longest she had been there (4 hours). Her other visits had been shorter and at times when she could just wander around my office. But today we gave this a try instead and Emmy was WONDERFUL! She actually seemed to take her cape wearing duties quite seriously. She was very good about staying down by my feet while I was sitting at my desk, and was very willing to stay by my side as I walked around the office building for various things. She made quite the impression! I'm excited that this went well and look forward to being able to bring Emmy to work in that capacity much more in the future! Plus, it's even better because she's pretty tired tonight because of it! YAY!!!

Other than that, the two of us are doing pretty well. Emmy has been a trooper about having to be in her crate more being I am I work and Bill isn't here to take her out more frequently. I think we're both excited that it's the weekend and we'll be able to relax together for the next few days. Then we're in the home stretch until Bill comes home Thursday night. As of right now we're planning on meeting him at the airport, so that will be a fun new socialization event for Emmy too!

(P.S.- Sorry we don't have any pictures right now. Bill has the family camera in Israel with him!)

Just us girls!

This afternoon Emmy and I saw Bill off at the seminary for his eleven day trip to Israel for a seminary trip. We had a fun time walking the 2 blocks to the seminary but Emmy managed to get totally muddy on the way so we had another mini bath when we got back just to clean up her belly and legs! Before doing that she looked like a chocolate lab on her lower half!

Emmy and I are doing pretty well together, but as I'm writing this I'm struggling to keep her from chewing on a box here in the office! Anyway...please keep Bill in your prayers for a safe trip and return home on the 17th!

Emmy's first bath

Getting Ready for the Bath

All done!!!

Tonight Emmy had her first bath and first experience with a substantial amount of water. She did pretty well...not sure if she really enjoyed it however. Here are some cute pictures and videos though...

We're going home!

Where to next?

Well, our journey/road trip has come to an end. The holidays are over and its time to go back home to Holland, MI and get back in our routine. As you can see, Emmy has done so well on this trip and she well exceeded what we were expecting from her. Way to go Emmy! Today, we packed our bags and headed home. Emmy has grown to love visiting the Flavin's in Chicago and I think was sad to leave...either that or she thought we were packing up and heading to a new place. Boy was she shocked when we arrived home in only two and a half hours instead of twelve!

Now we're home and getting settled in again. Emmy has very easily gotten back into her routine and actually we are excited at how much progress we seem to be making.

The next adventure you ask? Well, Bill will be leaving us for 10 days when he heads to Israel for a seminary trip on Sunday. Where's the adventure? Well, that is going to leave Emmy and Amy to their own devices! To see how we girls survive...keep tuned in!

P.S.- Thanks to all of you for your encouraging comments. We truly appreciate everyone staying so in tuned to our adventures with Emmy!

Ringing In 2008

Emmy waking in time to count down to 2008

A not too awake Emmy in the wee hours of 2008


Bill's birthday party

Playing with Uncle Tom at the party

EXHAUSTED!

Emmy's last few days in Chicago didn't prove to be any less exciting. For New Year's we celebrated at Bill's parents house. Emmy struggled to stay awake until midnight but woke up in time to celebrate the coming of the new year (probably not by choice though...more by default being there were lots of fireworks and noisemakers throughout the neighborhood).

Then, on the 1st we celebrated Bill's birthday. Emmy got to see a good chunk of the family again but did even better this time about not being overly flustered by all the people. But, by the end of the party, Emmy was wiped out. It had been a long day and she literally took a sigh of relief and fell asleep on Amy's lap as the last guests walked out the door!