INTERVENTION

We had to loosen her collar today! She's already getting to be a big girl!

Elle is obsessed with Sophie. If you know Sophie, you know this is a real bad thing. She is very moody and likes her space. Well, as you can see Elle was not giving her space, I intervened and got a nice bite from Sophie on my arm. It was totally meant for Elle, and I really wish she would've gotten her - then maybe she'd leave her alone and know Sophie means business!

Here's the puppy in her "room". Sounds so much better than cage, right?

Elle was trying to help carry out trash...I think. She grabbed this bag and carried it around the house, so proud of herself for her discovery!

Highlight of the week:

Sophie likes to sit in peoples laps and kneed their bellies. Since she has been deprived of attention she had to resort to this plastic bag. It's real hard to see, but you can hear the bag rustling. Pat and I realized what the noise was, and couldn't stop laughing!

PROGRESS?

I am not sure if we've made progress or not??

Last night Patrick and I put Elle in the crate in our room. If one of us sits/lays near her while she is in the crate, there is minimal crying and barking. She usually falls asleep while you're there, then you can sneak into bed. This happened every 2 1/2 hours last night. Super fun. BUT - a plus - no pooping in the crate! Since Pat has a busy month coming up (cardiac ICU) I had doggy duties last night. I want to make sure he is well rested before the fun beings. I hope this means she'll start getting used to being locked in her "home". I am leaving for work soon, and she'll be alone in the crate for 4+ hours until Pat comes home. Cross your fingers that it goes okay!

We went to the park after waking up this morning in hopes she would get worn out and sleep while I was gone. She LOVED the water. I knew Golden Retriever's were known for loving water, but you just never know. She just plopped her little self down right in the middle and I had to pull her out to get her to leave.

THE RESULT OF CRATE TRAINING

Yes, you are seeing this correctly. This is the result of our "crate training" attempt. Poor Elle. She gets herself SO worked up in that crate - then she has episodes of IBS and craps all over the place, including herself. She got a bath at 3 am last night. Pat and I were so discouraged! We had visitors in the guest room (right next to her 'room') - Michael (Pat's brother) and his friend were here for the weekend. We didn't want her to keep barking and keep them up all night, we didn't want to keep cleaning up all of her diarrhea, so here she is. In the bed. This little punk slept for FIVE HOURS straight. Unheard of since we got her. She was in heaven in that bed with us. Tonight she gets crated again - this time in the same room as us. I hope we don't lose our minds!

FOREST PARK

Elle had a vet visit yesterday, then got to go play in the park! She wasn't feeling too well after her shots, she just lounged around until Pat started playing with her ball. There is a cute video at the end.

This rain came out of NOWHERE!

Soaked puppy

WORST.IDEA.EVER.

Just kidding. But I am now 150% there will be no children in our lives in the near future. Last night when Patrick got home, we took Elle to eat at the Boathouse in Forest Park. It's such a fun place to go. There is a lot of outside seating, everyone brings their dogs and sits out by the lake. Of course Elle got more than enough attention. She slept between Pat's feet during dinner, so cute. After dinner she decided to chew through the computer charger and bite a hole in my shirt. Sleeping in the crate on night 2 was not as successful as night 1. The dear little rascal decided to poop in her crate around 4am - Pat was still awake working on a presentation - and I had happened to get up to check on him. That little stinker. So far so good today though - no accidents!! She was a big girl and had her first vet visit here in St Louis today, then we went to the Pet Store to get her some new treats. Now we're just waiting for her daddy to get home so we can go play in the park! I need her exhausted so she'll actually sleep tonight. 

This is the Boathouse - always crowded

Here is the pooped puppy (and obviously I was knocked out too).

ELOISE "ELLE" BRODERICK

She's Here!!!

After a long debate, this is Eloise! She will go by Elle. That was the compromise name :)

She is a 9 week old Golden Retriever - cutest dog in the world.  Pat and I drove an hour and a half to Montgomery City, MO last night. We got home around 11:00. By the way, I have the best husband - he had been up alllll day, had already travelled another hour and  a half to and from an out of town clinic, then came home and took me to get the puppy. I know he was pooped out last night - maybe he can play with Elle some more today - she misses him!

Sophie isn't too sure about her yet. We're making progress...I think. 

So, she apparently loves hair? I am wearing a pony tail today to keep my hair away from her  because she will grab your hair, chew on it, and pull it. There is a picture of her doing that to Pat...I couldn't stop laughing.

Elle got a bath today and I was soaked, but she smells yummy now! She's only had 1 accident on the carpet, and one in her kennel last night. Otherwise she's pottied outside all day. Already such a big girl! 

A quick video - Sophie is stalking Elle

SAVANNAH

We stole Mom's car and drove from B'ham to Savannah to see the Brodericks. Alison, Michael, and the girls were out of town - I was so sad to miss them! We haven't seen the twins since the wedding - and they're getting so big! Here is one of the latest pictures Alison sent us. Adorable. 

We had so much fun in Savannah. We got in a little late on Friday night, but spent the day on the water on Saturday. Pat's dad got a new boat - it's so nice! David and Charles came over to hang out with Pat - I tagged along of course. Apparently we broke it in as far as skiing, tubing, and wakeboarding goes (and actually for real broke it - the ski pole got bent and stuck somehow). We had crab for dinner - I wish I had some pictures of us all picking crab - it was so good though!

This is our Captain for the day 

Patrick and David

Pat about to ski

The Bromance. This is Pat and Charles. David always jokes that they have a bromance going on. I believe it.

On our way out to say we went into the ocean - it was super choppy and Charles and I were in the front of the boat taking a beating. We figured out that maybe we could save ourselves from more pain if we moved to the back - it worked.

There are endless stories of Charles and all of the crazy stuff he has done. But - I got to witness one. So it was about 6:30 and we decided to head back in. Charles was in the water after wakeboarding and convinced us to "pull him back home". So he grabbed the rope, rolled over onto his back, and off we went!

Needless to say, he wasn't getting much air so he let go after a little bit. He looked like a submarine. Always entertaining to be around.

Here we are...back in St. Louis and waiting on the metro to take us home from the airport! It ended up being pretty packed by the time we got to our stop because everyone was taking it to the All Star game.

AIR MAIL

Mom's birthday was July 9th. I kept telling her I was sending her a funny birthday present. I said it could come by snail mail, UPS, or maybe Dad would be delivering it. She kept trying to guess what it was. Pat and I kept it a secret for MONTHS that we were coming to visit her. This is how greeted her at the front door. She opened the door, stared at us, said "oh my gosh..." then closed the door and then reopened the door, dying laughing of course. Patrick found this confetti shooter (which may have been the best feature of our decorative outfits) at the dollar store and I made him wear the hat, such a good sport.

We hid around the corner behind the magnolia tree and ran all stealth like to the front door so she wouldn't see us out the window. Dad walked inside after dropping us off around the corner to distract her.

MC and little Patrick were inside with my sister and I was so excited to see them all!!! This is Patty trying really hard to figure out how to work that thing.

And of course, Mary Clare...always so stinkin cute.

Patrick's face when you tell him to say cheese. This cracked me up. Pat got a good picture of it. And then he was wearing the birthday crown and being silly.

Happy 30th Birthday Mom!! ;)

We made Mom a German Chocolate cake, it was sooo good. Apparently we didn't get Dad a fork, so there was a huge serving fork on the table - he used that one. Not gonna lie, I was a little jealous of his fork.

Can't have a visit to Birmingham without seeing my favorite people! I was so glad to see friends. Pat and I met up with Yoder and Warren, then went out with people from work. I should've taken more pictures.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! (late...)

I may not have seen any fireworks, but it was an eventful day! I worked 2p-2a. Around midnight there was an 'incident' in which I was body checked into the door frame by a crazy ER visitor! The story is a bit longer...but that was the highlight. Security was called, the police came, arrested the guy and that was that! Of course I was so excited about the drama I woke Pat up at 2:30 am to tell him alllll about it. I work again today and will be okay with not getting assaulted again...though it was entertaining and all.

THE FRAY

I went to The Fray concert last night with some girls from work since Pat was on call. Of course since I actually had plans, he came home around 3:00 and didn't have to go back in. Love it. Oh well, I still had a good time. I had some videos, but can't figure out how to put them on here??

MOPHIEHAWK

We present to you...

The Mophiehawk. 

For being such a big girl today, she got some treats as soon as she got home. Pat and I couldn't be more proud of our beautiful daughter.