walkin' on sunshine.

mr. maxwell xavier is walking!

he took his first steps back in march but still wasn't comfortable walking without holding someone's hand. earlier this week he started walking all by himself. he's so proud of himself, its adorable. he looks like a little herman munster when he gets excited walking to you. when he reaches you he gets this huge grin on his face and laughs!

i babysat him friday evening when kris got hung up at work. he was a walking machine! that's all he wanted to do. he would crawl away from me just to turn around, stand up, and walk right back.

he's such a smart little fella. he loves books & music. he seemed to really like this alien book that he got for his birthday last weekend. it has big googly eyes on the front and at the end of the book there is an alien who loves music and a little song plays. he would let me read the first page and then he would turn to the last page where the music plays and dance. haha

crawling away so he can walk back.

hanging out with aunt jamie :)

jamaican me crazy.

tyler & i booked our honeymoon on friday. we're going to.............. JAMAICA!

we're so excited!!! by august, we'll both be ready for a vacay and what better place to spend our first week as a married couple than jamaica? :) we're flying from tampa on sunday with a short layover in miami to montego bay. we're staying at the sandals ocho rios august 9th-16th!!

we chose a sandals resort for a few reasons.. 1) it was all inclusive which is a must. its so convenient and saves money in the long run. 2) it was adult & couples only. don't get me wrong, i love kids. but we preferred something a little more relaxed and romantic for our honeymoon. 3) it was highly recommended. tyler worked with a teacher's aide in milton this semester who is from jamaica and she said the sandals resorts were the best. she recommended the sandals ocho rios and the sandals negril. 4) it was a great deal! we looked at all of the sandals resorts and the ocho rios was the best bang for our buck. we're in a luxury ocean view suite with a balcony. its gorgeous and right on the beach!

like i said, we're BEYOND excited! i can't wait!!

90 days until the wedding!
91 days until jamaica!

trouble in paradise.

my babies aren't getting along :(

as most of you know, tyler & i have 3 dogs; brewsky, bailey, & benson. if you didn't know that, check out my first post "must love dogs" to see them and learn more about them :)

benson is our newest addition, and hasn't been well-received by bailey. she was okay with him for the first few weeks but once she realized he was here to stay she made it known she was not a happy camper. she & benson have had about 3-5 "encounters". right after christmas she became aggressive towards him. she would attack him, unprovoked, and shake him like a rag doll. i never witnessed it (thank god). it always seemed to happen when my dad & tyler were around which is a blessing in disguise because they are the only 2 strong enough to make her let benson go. tyler talked to a parent of a child he gives lessons to who is a dog trainer. he told us that female dogs, especially ones who have never had a litter and are spayed don't have much tolerance for puppies. he said it would take some time for her to adjust and in the mean time, try to keep them seperated when they're inside (this is when we would have problems, they're fine outside), reward her when she interacted with benson appropriately, and punish benson if he tried to pester her. we did just that, and it seems to have worked. she & benson get along fine now; they even play on occassion. she plays very gently with him and now walks away if she doesn't want to play instead of attacking him. they cuddle every evening and she licks his head and ears. its kinda cute :) (in case you were wondering, benson is perfectly healthy and has no scars or issues from his encounters with bailey)

BUT euphoria can't last forever... bailey's aggression has a new target, brewsky. we've had brew & bailey for 4 years, and they are the same age. we have never had a problem with the two of them not getting along.. EVER! bailey seems to have developed a food aggression. ever since brew was a puppy he would eat at his leisure, never rushing to eat just because there was food in the bowl. bailey is the complete opposite. brew likes to lay in front of his bowl whether its full or empty. this seems to have struck a nerve with bailey lately because that is where he has been both times she has attacked him.

the first time she attacked him was march 31st. he was laying in front of his food bowl, she walked over to him, stood over top of him, growled, he never moved a muscle, and she attacked him. unfortunately, neither my dad or tyler were home and my brother didn't hear me yelling for him so i had to break up a dog fight between 2 80lbs+ dogs all by myself. it wasn't pretty. i ended up with more injuries than the dogs (neither of them had a single mark on them).

the second time she attacked him was thursday. same EXACT scenario. only this time i realized what was about to happen so i grabbed benson, shut him in my bedroom, and started screaming for cole. thankfully he heard me this time. i threw water on them (quite a few people told me to try this when dogs fight).. it might have worked had i not soaked brew's back and cole. OOPS! lol cole helped me pull them apart and he took bailey outside. this time, no injuries to any humans were sustained.. except for my nervous breakdown afterwards. brew & bailey each have 1 puncture wound; brew's is in his right "armpit" and bailey's is in between her two front legs. they're both fine. they licked their own wounds and they're starting to heal.

i've contacted dozens and dozens of dog professionals to see if they can help, most of them being owners of obedience schools. none of them have dealt with this time of situation and don't know how to handle it. i FINALLY found a dog behaviorist in ironton, ohio BUT she is unable to help us until august because she had surgery. i'm not comfortable waiting until then to do anything about the situation.. so at bailey's regular check up this morning i told our vet about the situation and he is going to do some research on different medications to help her aggression.. think puppy prozac. i'm not 100% comfortable with the idea of putting her on medication but i will consider it after looking at the pros & cons and discussing the possible side effects with the vet. i wouldn't be using this as a permanent solution, just a helping hand until we can see the dog behaviorist. if anyone can recommend any time of dog professional that might be able to help us, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! shoot me an email (jseaton61@aol.com) with their info.

also, at bailey's vet visit we discovered little miss heffer is a whopping 86.1 lbs. i walk in barboursville 3-4 times a week and bailey will now be my new walking partner to get her some exercise. along with cutting back on her food intake. this will hopefully benefit her in 2 ways; lose weight & make her less aggressive. i watch the dog whisperer a lot and the first thing he always recommends to owners with aggressive dogs is more exercise. it helps them burn off their extra excitable enery and puts them in a more calm and submissive state which in return, makes them more receptive to training and discipline. so we're going to give that a try...

here are a few pictures of my injuries... beware: these are gross and not recommended for those with a weak stomach.

in 100 days..

.. tyler & i will officially be mr. & mrs. christian :)

we're getting married on august 8, 2009 in longboat key, florida at the colony beach and tennis resort. it will be a small, intimate ceremony on the beach.

the wedding party--

my maid of honor & best friend, kristi.

& her dress, in meadow.

the flower girls & tyler's cousins, kailey & emily.

& their dresses, in meadow.

the best man & tyler's brother, matthew.

the ring bear & my nephew, maxwell.

.....and a sneak peek at my dress :)

its a ivory, silk carolina herrera. i love it!

home is where the heart is.

in a few short months tyler & i will officially be homeowners! YAY! we're both so excited and can't wait to move in when the renovations are complete!

we got unbelievably lucky with this house. tyler's uncle paul currently owns the house.. its actually the house that tyler grew up in. his uncle gave us a great deal and is helping us with the remodeling. so far, we've added a 20x40 addition which will be a new living room and kitchen; the entire house has been gutted; the old kitchen will become a dining room; the old master bedroom (i use that term loosely) will become a true, larger master bedroom with a private master bathroom & walk in closet.. in total we will have about 2200 square feet.

here is a photo album with pictures of the house before and the current progress..
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2106596&id=42202363&l=7c1d7e1be9

before

after (so far..)

recently, the new front porch and front sidewalk has been poured and the new driveway will hopefully be poured next week! the plumbing is finished! tyler is building our awesome kitchen cabinets & bathroom vanities! the electric is next on the list!

you've gotta start somewhere..

i started this blog because it was part of an assignment for a class i had this semester; but after thinking more about it i've decided to attempt to keep it up. i thought it would be an easy way to keep all of our family members updated with what's going on with us. we'll see how long this lasts.. :)

must love dogs

to say that tyler & i are dog lovers is an understatement. if you have spent any time with us you know this to be true. our dogs are our children. in our 5 years together, we have gone from just the 2 of us, to a large & rambunctious family of 5.

in july 2005 we adopted a 6 week old yellow lab/chow mix from the louisa, ky pound. we appropriately named him brewsky, after he knocked over a beer and slurped it right up at his first party.



on easter 2006, fate & a fellow dog lover lead us to bailey a 10 month old german sheperd/golden retriever mix. she was abandoned in charleston, near corridor g and was extremely skiddish, malnourished, & stinky. she & brew immediately clicked and we couldn't resist her sweet face. so home with us she came. she is now our fat, happy, & healthy girl.



in november 2008, doggie #3 arrived via my brother, cole. he adopted him at the local pound and quickly realized that taking care of a puppy entailed a lot more time & energy than he had expected. unable to bear the thought of my brother returning him to the pound, benson the black lab became a part of our brood.



bailey hasn't been thrilled with the new addition, but she is learning to live with him- and love him when she thinks no one is watching ;) brewsky on the other hand, loves having another playmate. he's a great big brother :)