I Love Puppies and Babies

Best Buds

lplathe — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:33:05 +0000

Cole is starting to pay more and more attention to things, especially our dog Levi. He’ll watch him like a hawk. He always needs to know where that puppy is!!

I can already tell they are going to be good buds. Especially once Cole starts passing his food off to Levi. We’ve started Cole on solids and Levi is never far from the high chair. And thankfully Levi is just the right height so his nose is just perfect to sniff out whatever is on Cole’s tray! It is definitely a chore to keep Levi from licking everything off of Cole’s plate (and face.)

I had to include a photo of my puppy-nephew, Charlie, who is a maltese. He just turned 4 years old and was good natured enough to let us put him in Cole’s jumparoo…very sweet and playful dog!

You gotta love them!

Want to sleep through the night, maybe?

lplathe — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:40:02 +0000

Cole is getting closer to sleeping through the night. He was doing really well sleeping from about 9:30 to 5:30 and then he got stick with the flu. Approximately 3 to 30 times a night, he’ll wake up and won’t fall back asleep until the pacifier is in his mouth. But as soon as that sucker is back in, he’ll be just fine and fall right asleep. Any tips on breaking him of this habit?

He’s just over 5 months right now and things are getting so exciting. He’s rolling over and chatting/squealing away. Time is going so fast, but it’s so fun to see him grow and be more active.

We love plastic flowers

lplathe — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:45:17 +0000

There has been quite a delay since my last post, but I finally have a fixed laptop ($350 later). We just started feeding Cole rice cereal and while he didn’t like it a first, he’s getting used to it. We’ve learned not to give him a bath before he eats, as the end result after eating the cereal is typically a disaster area. But Levi loves to help clean up afterwards…

I just did a little 4 month old photo shoot with Cole. I love the photo of following photo of the two of them. They are both chewing on plastic flowers. Aww…it makes me so proud! You can check out more photos from the photo shoot here.

All I wanted was a calm dog…

lplathe — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:26:09 +0000

I never grew up around a dog, so when my husband decided to get a dog I was a little nervous. We did a lot of research to try and find what dog would best fit our needs and abilities. My criteria were that the dog be calm, easygoing and not jump all over people.

One night, Chad told me he had finally found the perfect dog. So I ran over to the computer to read all about Vizslas. Hungarian pointer, loyal companions, etc. Then I got to the paragraph where it says they have a lot of energy, are lively and “bounce around in pure excitement.” I looked at Chad to see if he was joking, but he wasn’t. Apparently I wasn’t very clear about my desire for a calm dog.

A few days later he informed me he had found a breeder and was going that weekend to look at the litter. Fast forward a few weeks later and we were bringing Levi home. Though it’s not rare that I have to tell Levi to settle down, I wouldn’t change “our” decision to get a Vizsla. All he has to do is snuggle up by me on the couch…

Happy New Year!

lplathe — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:36:20 +0000

Happy New Year! We had a great time over the holidays with Cole celebrating his first Christmas. I loved having a long break to be home and hang out with him.

I know the winter weather has brought on challenges for many people traveling over the holidays. We came home after being gone for five days to find a couple inches of water in our basement. We couldn’t shower or use the bathroom until someone came out to clean out our floor drain.

So, we repacked, loaded up the baby and the dog and left for a nearby hotel. I was kind of excited to get use out of this little travel bed we got for the baby. Let me tell you, a 50 pound dog, 14 pound baby with a travel bed, and two adults does not leave much room in a king bed. Plus, every time Cole would move around in his travel bed the padding would crinkle. It reminded me of the scene in Big Daddy where the kid is squirming on top of the newspapers. Only it wasn’t as funny when it was happening to us…

Overall, it was a great holiday season!

I can’t resist, here is a photo of my pup trying to keep warm in northern Minnesota. My husband doesn’t appreciate when I take photos like this, because he is supposed to be a tough hunting dog. But he was perfectly content curled up on the couch by the fireplace:

Snuggle Time!

lplathe — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:15:02 +0000

Our dog Levi is the happiest when at least one of his paws is touching a human. It never fails that as soon as you sit down on the couch, he’s going to plop himself right next to you. I know that’s a common trait with Vizslas, are any other dogs like that?

So it was only a matter of time before he started cuddling up to Cole, or at least considering him a viable option if Chad and I were busy.

As much as it makes me nervous to watch Levi climb on the couch next to Cole, I think it’s the cutest thing to see them together. The other day, I watched as Levi carefully got up on the couch and put his legs on either side of Cole, snuggling up next to him. And I was lucky enough to get a photo:

Is there really an “indestructible” dog bed?

lplathe — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:28:51 +0000

In the 2 1/2 years we’ve had Levi, I’m estimating we’ve gone through about seven blankets and at least ten dog pillows/beds. For a dog that doesn’t like to lay on hard floors, you would think he would realize that pillows are much more comfortable when it actually has stuffing in it. We’ve had pillows covered with multiple layers of fabric just so it stands the chance of surviving more than a few days.

However, I think we may have found the answer. A couple months ago, I reluctantly let my husband buy another a pillow. Although I figured it would be worth the $30 for the chance that we wouldn’t hear Levi circling around in his kennel for hours wondering where his nice flooring is and how he could possibly lay down without some bedding. We purchased a Boots & Barkley bed from Target. It has lasted longer than any other bed and it’s pretty easy to clean up. While I can’t promise it will work for every dog, it has worked awesome for Levi (knock on wood).

Levi’s broken out of and destroyed two travel kennels… maybe that’s our next challenge?

What is that thing?

lplathe — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:22:50 +0000

When we found out we were having a baby, I immediately started thinking about how Levi was going to react to a new person in the house. Not only was there going to be another person, but that person was going to take a lot of attention and cuddling away from him.

As you can see below, Levi prefers to be as close as possible to Cole. But we really lucked out as far as Levi adjusting to a baby. We had the baby’s room set up a few months in advance so that Levi could get used to the new furniture and smells. When we brought Cole home from the hospital, we went in the house alone to greet Levi while our parents waited outside with Cole. And when Cole came inside to meet Levi it was love at first sniff!

Fast forward two months – Levi still loves him. His new favorite game is to try to get Cole’s pacifier when it falls out, but he has only succeeded once. One pacifier down…

Welcome to I love puppies and babies!

lplathe — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:46:17 +0000

Welcome to I Love Puppies and Babies! I started this blog because…well, I love puppies and babies and I’m assuming if you are reading this blog you do too. The inspiration behind this blog is probably obvious, so let me introduce you to the boys in my life and the stars of this blog. We have a 2 ½ year old Vizsla named Levi. If you don’t know, Vizslas have lots of energy and Levi is no exception.

Our newest arrival is our 2 month old son named Cole. He’s just getting the hang of life and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.

Between Levi and Cole, I have tons of stories, photos, questions and concerns. And who better to share them with than other people who love babies and puppies? So sit back, enjoy and let me know what you think!

(Oh and I can’t forget to mention my husband Chad, who you can tell from below also loves puppies and babies.)