Cooper is HOME!

I am so excited that our little Cooper has been home with us since last Saturday. Shame on me for posting this over a week late...but things have been just a tad crazy with the new little fluffball, school, small group and my birthday! We drove out to Wisconsin on Friday night and spent the night, woke up early to go pick him and his brother up who we were brining back to Chicago with us until Sunday when his family could come get him. The ride home was great, sometimes keeping both of them in the crate and other times letting them out on my lap. Had it been just Cooper, I think he'd have been on my lap the whole time but it got out of control once his brother, Red (as we called him) got sick and threw up his entire breakfast on the middle console. I attempted to clean it up while keeping both puppies from eating it and crawling all over the place but my stomach wouldn't have it. We finally had to pull over so I could walk the boys and Jason did some serious cleaning and rearranging of our car. The rest of the ride home was uneventful, not a single accident. That night we introduced them to our condo and to Sam and the puppies played and took naps until bedtime. The two of them were so so so cute together. They both walked on a leash when we were outside and neither had an accident while inside. We crated them together for their first night and they slept for about 5 or 6 hours. There was a little whining but not much for two puppies first night away from home! The next morning we got up early to drop Red off at the hotel his parents were staying at. I was borderline tears...I didn't realize how attached I'd have gotten in just 21 hours. They were so darn cute together, best of friends and I hated the thought of separating them and hated the thought of giving Red back. But we kindly handed him over to his parents who were just ecstatic to be meeting him for the first time. I must admit too, that even just those 21 hours, it was a lot harder to have two puppies to take out, feed, watch for messes and everything else that puppies require. When we got home, Cooper seemed a little more lonely than the previous day but after a day he adjusted well. The very first night he was alone he did cry when we put him in his crate and woke us up around 4:00. That happened for maybe two days but he has been sleeping through the night ever since. What puppy does that? (asked the proud mama, Stephanie) Jason works from home so his first day back to work was a little hard keeping Cooper in his crate but he has since adjusted well, and rarely whines. He has had a few accidents but they've all been ones I can only blame on us humans. We've learned he has to be in his crate as soon as he's done playing and we need to let him out as soon as he's back out. I am amazed at how long he sleeps during the night and while it's still not nearly enough sleep for me it's more than I could have ever asked for in our first week! Our latest adventure is the biting. We've tried yelping like a dog and walking away, but he just doesn't get it. It hurts! We know he just wants to play but we must break these habits now. We're registered for his first puppy class tomorrow night. I really think this will help us to have some idea of what we're doing right and wrong as parents and teach us any bad habits we may already be doing. Not to mention how great it will be for him to have some socialization with other puppies. The big dogs in the neighborhood aren't interested in him at all and I think it may be giving him a complex. ;-) As for our other furry friend, Sam has been awesome. Best cat ever, so incredibly tolerant. From the first night, he was holding his own, laying right by the dogs. Now that Coopers adjusted and getting older, he will chase Sam around trying to bite him and Sam has to run away but he's back within minutes for the routine to begin all over again. I think once Cooper calms down, they will be good friends. Only sad thing for Sam is that when he is stressed, he eats. So he's gained a few pounds the past week...and this obviously cannot keep up. We'll get it all figured out...until then we'll just keep doing the best we can and pray for a lot more patience and wisdom!

Cooper with Red sleeping under the table behind him

Sam, Cooper and Red just a couple hours after we introduced them all!

"Hi, my name is Cooper, and I am SOOOOO CUTE! Wanna play??!"

Cooper and Red taking a quick second to breathe before resuming playing!

Playing wore them out!

Our puppy, Cooper!

I took this one of the first few days after bringing Cooper home, Cooper is somewhere on the floor when I took this...just thought we'd show just how much Coopers arrival is affecting Sam. Not at all, he is still king of the condo and master of the couch!

Wet Cooper! (our first few days with him it rained ALL DAY/NIGHT.)

Wednesdays

Small group began on Wednesdays and I am so very excited. I had been tossing leading around the idea of leading a womens group for the past few months but Jason and I finally decided to lead a group together. We were torn between a couples group or a co-ed group but after much praying and discussing, we decided to move forward with a couples group. I was very discouraged that after about a month only two couples had registered and one of them wasn't responsive to my emails. We continued to pray trusting that we had listened to God but I'll admit, I was apprehensive. The final week we had two couple join us, one just a couple days before our first night. Again, God showed me to trust in Him and His plan. Our first night was great! We had 4 couples which was really fun getting to know each other before we dive into our study next week, Boundaries in Marriage by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. I've read most of the book already several months ago but reading something and actually putting it in place are two very different things, especially when it's only one of us in the marriage who is doing it. I'm really looking forward to the fellowship and growing closer to God and each other.

Excitement

I should be studying...I have a lot thats due in the next 5 weeks but I can't concentrate. I'm too giddy about our little Cooper who we're picking up tomorrow morning. I've been too excited all week. And the gorgeous weather we experienced didn't help my cause at all. I cannot imagine how exciting it must be when you find out you're pregnant and have to wait 9 months to meet your little peanut who has been growing inside you, not to mention the last month! It must be ridiculously difficult! I put it on my Facebook today that we're headed out to Wisconsin tonight, then picking him up tomorrow morning. I got lots of feedback about bringing extra towels and trash bags, blankets, etc. in case he gets sick and for the expected poo and pee accidents he's bound to have. We're actually bringing two puppies home with us so we can expect double the accidents. Coopers brother is coming home with us because his soon-to-be parents are from Michigan and its easier for them to just drive here rather than make the long trip all the way up to Wisconsin. I'm starting to wonder why we offered to do this, but I think Cooper will appreciate the extra company his first night. (They're not picking him up until Sunday). Just to give you an idea of Sam's excitement, he seems to be very open to Coopers arrival, keeping both of his crates warm until he's here. :)

Inside Coopers crate!

Cooper's temporary crate until he's a little bigger

A Break from Studying...

Life got really crazy last week...kinda came out of nowhere but it's nuts! For those who have been asking, here's a recap:

• I survived Jason being gone for a week (okay, only 4 nights!)...first time since we got married. It was very weird being home without him. It was very good for our marriage though as much as I missed him, it was just what our marriage needed. Glad he's not traveling every week though, not sure how I ever survived that!!
• I had a delicious dinner at Andrea's where I got to meet her "no-name" cat. She is soooo sweet and Andrea's cooking was delicious!! She introduced me to spaghetti squash, yummmm.
• I took the LBS-I test bright and early on Saturday morning. No one should have to wake up at 5:30 on a Saturday for any reason other than for puppies and kids. I won't find out until March 11 if I passed. Some questions were ridiculously easy, others I had no idea how I would have known the answer. So please please pray that I passed.
• My assessment class I'm taking may be the end of me. My teacher has us doing 8 assessments which I cannot get into the classroom to take. Fortunately my cousin let me borrow his kids yesterday so I could get some of them done. I still have a long way to go though with assessments in this class. I can do it!
• All my classes are catching up...it's really getting overwhelming!
• We get our puppy in 6 days!! YIPPY!!!
• Weight watchers is going well...I've lost a few pounds, not nearly what I should have by now. I don't like the new system as well so I find myself cheating more. Plus I am just not as satisfied as I was before. Apparently I really like to eat, a lot and often. Not to mention my love for wine.
• That was a good segway to: Jason took me out on Saturday for a mouth-watering meal at The Melting Pot. Weight watchers diet went right out the door but oh my gosh was it delicious!! We were there for over 2 hours, every bite was better than the next and we had a great night conversing. Thank you Jason!!
• I cut my hair...like 3 or more inches. So glad to be rid of the long hair...grew it out for the wedding and that is long over with. Time to get some volume back into this hair!!
• I am no longer in my small group that I was part of on Monday afternoons. It's not worth going into the details, I will say I'm pretty saddened by that but also relieved to be able to focus more time on my schoolwork.
• I found out it is likely I will not be able to get the classes I need in the next 2 quarters, which will delay my student teaching and graduation date. (and a lot of things related to life that I am planning!) Again, prayers are really needed if praying if you kind of thing!
• I broke my (eye) glasses right in half. Not the first time in my life that's happened but man is that an inconvenience!!!
• Yesterday we got Chris Tomlin tickets for March 11 at our church!! From past posts you know he is one of my favorites and I cannot wait to spend a night worshiping with him!
• We survived the snow storm a couple weeks ago. I was rather ticked that the day our classes were canceled was the day I already had off! We did go out that night for a walk just to "get out" and see all the snow. It was quite the storm! Parking has been a mess ever since so I am SO glad to see it's starting to melt. I will say that I thought Chicago handled it really well. In just one night the major streets were plowed and after 2 even the side streets were mostly cleared. Nicely done Chicago...minus the little mishap on LSD.
• We begin our small group this Wednesday night! Jason and I are leading a "couples group" and will read/study Boundaries in Marriage by Henry Cloud and John Townsend . I'm really excited to see what God has planned for us. This has been something that He placed on my heart quite some time ago but hasn't panned out for a number of reasons.
• I love the heat wave we're experiencing! Perfect weather for our new puppy...let's hope it stays this way!

Happy Valentines Day! xoxo

Happy Valentines Day! I've always loved valentines day...I hate the all the commercials and advertisements and that its been made into a holiday to make money from but I love the idea that it's a day to be extra cheesy with your kids and that they get to show love to each other. I can't wait to be a mom this time of year, we'll bake heart shaped cookies, make valentines for friends and a home-made one for their dad and hopefully when the time comes I'll think of more creative ideas to do every year. But I also love it for us as adults to show our friends and loved ones how much we love them. An extra day a year to tell someone you love them! And since I LOVE getting cards so much, it's even better that it's an extra day of the year when Jason gets me a card and tells me he loves me. (speaking of...he bought me a Christmas card this year then never gave it to me, so he gave me the Christmas card for Valentines Day and added after Merry Christmas, "and Happy Valentines Day" to it. Classic.) Don't let Hallmark, the cheesy commercials, the dumb jewelery stores or other stores for devoting an entire section of the store to sell you something take away the funness of today! Take this day and embrace it for what it is, and extra day to tell the ones you love, how much you love, all cheesy little red hearts and x's and o's included!

My little Valentine -- too bad I don't get to see her today!!

Storage!

One of my biggest complaints about living in the city is the lack of storage. My first apartment was a studio which had a regular sized closet that housed my dresser and vacuum, so after my clothes and shoes, it didn't leave much room for anything else! My second apartment I got a walk-in closet, plus it was 2 rooms (living room and bedroom) so I was able to "hide" a lot more stuff! Then when I lost my job I had to move to the burbs and well that doesn't really count...I had so much space I felt lost in each room. Now that I am back in the city again, Jason and my biggest complaint is lack of storage. We live in a 2 bedroom condo with a closet for each bedroom, very very minimal storage in the kitchen, a utility closet which holds our washer/dryer and we have one storage locker downstairs. (think Christmas and other holiday decorations, gold clubs, blow-up mattress, etc.) With such limited storage we have to get creative on using every tiny bit of space we have. I shared last week that my dad and Jason installed a humidifier, well that forced us (ummm, in all fairness it was more Jason) to clean out the closet, which in turn forced us to create a way for us to use all of the closet. I can't take any credit for this, it was all Jason. He designed the space so it has shelves, baskets and even put our mini-fridge (aka, beer fridge) on a cart so we can pull it in and out so we're able to make use of the what was wasted space in the back. What most people spend a large amount of money on having someone else create, he designed and installed himself. He was even cutting up the shelving last night at Home Depot by himself. (Home Depot, leaving those tools out is just a lawsuit waiting to happen!) After a couple hours his project was complete. We have so much space in there now we don't know what to do with it all! (I'm kind of particular about storing cleaning chemicals with anything that could be used for cooking or eating.) So this post went from how excited I am about our newly designed closet to how awesome my husband is...and since I just said that a week ago, I'll have to take a break on posting Jason awesomeness for a while! I just appreciate how handy he is, and how quickly he gets a job done when we need it, kind of the polar opposite of the procrastinating me. Back to the subject...our closet rocks!! I wish I had a "before picture" because this picture alone doesn't do it justice -- Look at all that space!!

Introducing the Newest Lockwood, Cooper!!

What a fun day! As you probably know, we had plans on Saturday to pick out our puppy at noon. After thinking about the trip and the fact that our puppy was 3.5 hours away we ended up booking a hotel through priceline.com. We headed out right after work on Friday and somehow managed to miss all the traffic! We stopped a few times, once for some pizza and again at Mars Cheese Castle. (yes, both are allowed on Weight Watchers with my weekly allowance points!) We got to the hotel around 10:30. After a good nights rest, we both woke up pretty early and obviously had some time to kill so we had breakfast and ran a few errands. When we got to our puppy's home, we were greeted by who we later found out was our puppy's mom's sister. She was a goldendoodle and was SO sweet! We were then brought to the room with the puppies and had 6 to choose from. We were 3rd on the list to choose, so 2 were gone and since we were getting a boy, she took the two girls out as well. At first I thought it would be impossible to choose which puppy we'd get, but after taking them out and playing with all of them for about 30 minutes we both had it narrowed down to two. However, Jason had a preference for one and I had a preference for the other. After about 10 more minutes we both agreed on the one in the blue collar. Jason promised he was good with my choice. This little guy wouldn't leave me alone, was either crawling on my lap, or chewing on my toes, he loves to be held but also loved to play. As soon as we decided on him and told him he was ours and that his name would now be Cooper he went and laid down. It was almost like he knew he had to put on a show to win us over and now he could go rest. I took a bunch of pictures once we knew he was ours. Needless to say, we're both really excited and talked about him most of the way home. I was like a proud mother and sent pictures to many people bragging about how cute he was! We wish we could have taken him home that day but this way it does give us more time to prepare. Plus, we're still trying to figure out the best way to introduce Cooper to Sam. I'm confident they'll get along after a while but I'd like for the transition to be as smooth as possible for both animals! Only 20 more days until we bring him home!

Tiny little peanut!

So patient while I take his picture!

Took this one to show how small he is...full grown he should be around 40 lbs and 24 inches tall :)

PointsPlus

I'm officially back on Weight Watchers. I should be happy because I know it works but in reality, I also know how much work it requires. I obviously want this to be a life commitment of change so can not only lose the weight but keep it off years after I'm off the diet! I'm very interested in learning about the PointsPlus system which is very different from what I was on in the summer. I'm very excited because I know this will encourage to to get to the gym, my schedule is getting busier and busier, so it's all about setting priorities and sticking with them. I'm ready for my jeans to fit again and not be so self conscious about how I look - I can do this! The most exciting part about this new "way of life" is that Jason's joining me with watching what he eats too! It will be so much easier to cook and eat out with him when he's fully on board with making healthy food choices. Say a prayer for us, we're going to need it, especially these first few days as our bodies go into shock from cheese and fat withdrawal!!

Weekend Fun-ness with the P's

This weekend was a lot of fun. As I shared on Saturday, my parents and dog, Sophie, were here for the weekend. How we didn't manage to get any pictures together boggles my mind. My mom and I were able to find some great deals on some decorative pieces for our condo and had a good time catching up. The Bulls game on Saturday was lots of fun and they even won! Jason and my dad were, in fact, able to get the humidifier in, so much that when we got home from the Bills game it was like a sauna in here, the windows we're dropping with water! Sunday we went to church which was fun because it was my parents first time visiting our church down here. We had a delicious lunch at one of our favorites, Gage. Then we came back to watch the miserable Bears game together. :( Later in the evening, Jason and I tried a new chili recipe, which was very tasty! Not sure it's as good as my favorite chili recipe of my mom's but it was nice to have something a little different from the norm. Thanks again Mom and Dad for coming down and helping us to breathe a little easier and for all the memories of a fun-filled weekend!

Handy Men

My husband and dad are the handiest men alive (except my late grandpa, of course, who could also fix, make or install anything.) My parents came down last night so my dad and Jason could put in a humidifier. We had one but for some reason that I still don't understand it didn't work and in winter its so dry in here. So my dad being the HVAC guy that he is decided he'd work his skills and put one in for us. Now, there's a lot of drilling, sawing and every other imaginable construction site sound going on here, and there's several holes in our walls that I am hoping will be filled but I'm very proud to be my dad's daughter and my Jason's wife. Clearly this is no place for a girl, so I guess it's time for my mom and I to do some window shopping and have a girls day before we all head to the United Center to meet my uncle and Marilyn for a Bulls smack down.