Athena's first birthday!

Athena is not a fan of pictures. (>.>)

Our perfectly precious puppy turned one on June 9th!!
       If I was a blogger who had a human child, I'm sure I would be one of those annoying types who spend at least 6-10 blogs detailing all of the DIY decorations, cake, photography and every other detail involved in my child's first birthday party. Luckily for you, I don't have a human child so you'll only get one "my child is perfect and I'm a doting mommy blog" regarding Athena's first birthday.
       Actually, it's just a bunch of dog pictures. And who doesn't like dog pictures?

Athena's puppy birthday "cake."

At first, I wanted to take Athena to the dog park for her birthday. But, Sadie can't go to the dog park (she doesn't play nice with other dogs) and a few of Athena's puppy friends couldn't make it so we ended up just having a family birthday celebration at home. Then we walked her around the neighborhood and to the CVS. I waited with her in the parking lot while Wes went in for a few items. Athena got two compliments for her adorableness.

Athena and Sadie each got a piece, which they gobbled up and spent the next 10 minutes searching for crumbs.

A few weeks ago, I bought a dog themed picture frame at a craft show. I decided that we needed to give Athena a photo shoot for her first birthday. We attempted taking a family picture but Athena was not cooperating (and Wes was getting agitated & stressed out) so I gave up pretty quickly. After that, we had "cake"... more like a large frosted dog treat. Then it was time for presents.

I got Athena a giraffe rope toy and Wes got her some refills for her Bento Ball toy. The refills ended up being a much better idea than the rope toy because she destroyed the toy in about an hour.  The toy's squeaker was inside the giraffe's head so the poor thing quickly got decapitated. Then she chewed through and unraveled all of the rope. LOL Maybe, I should have bought her a rubber toy. Remind me to keep that in mind for Christmas.

Giraffe rope toy...pre-destruction.

The entire "birthday party" lasted about 15 minutes. I'm about 80% sure that Wes thought the whole thing was retarded but he kept his mouth shut and participated. (I have an immensely supportive husband!) A friend of mine had a cookout for his dog's first birthday party and I threw Kensington a birthday party several years ago, so to me, this was perfectly normal. 

       When you're lacking something in your life, you spend a majority of your time learning to accept & appreciating what you do have. It's useless to dwell on the missing piece. But every now and then, that missing piece surfaces and you try to make up for it. For me, I made up for it by throwing a birthday party for my dog. It is silly and Athena had no idea what was going on but for me, I needed that "mommy moment."

This blog will be mostly pictures of Erica's new puppy.

I've had a rough few weeks so I think it's time for a "fluff piece." And what better to lighten the mood than a puppy? Here is the story of me and Wes' new love...lil baby Athena pup. <3

Around some time in June, I decided I wanted a second dog. Sadie is great but two dogs are better than one. I talked Wes into it and we started our search. We wanted a puppy (under one year old), female, 30lb maximum once full grown and from the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter. That's where I got Kensington from and I feel like that's the best place to truly rescue an animal.
       We went to a few adoption fairs--saw one dog I was going to get but I didn't have cash (who doesn't use a Square reader nowadays?) & then saw another at a second event but there was some weird stuff going on with the volunteers that prevented us from getting it,
              visited the pound (none met our qualifications),
                           and almost got a dog from a coworker of mine (which, I know isn't the pound but that's where the dog could have gone if no one had adopted it). Nothing worked out. The Universe was against us and it was like infertility all over again but I wanted a puppy instead of a baby.

A coworker of mine's cousin works at the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter and gave us updates as soon as puppies became available. I also checked their website weekly to see if any dogs that were brought in met our qualifications. It took us two months but we finally got one. And she was worth waiting for... meet Athena! She is a two-month-old Border Collie Australian Shepherd mix, which just happen to be Wes' two favorite breeds of dog.

Athena Zucchini Kirtley adopted August 20th, 2015

She has had a whirlwind of a life thus far...

I adopted her on my lunch break and dropped her off with Alan and his dog, Sonja. (There are two incredibly cute videos of Athena playing with her, they're on my Facebook.) Sonja was her baby sitter for the day and then Wes picked her up after work to go on her very first shopping trip.

She got a pretty purple collar and some yummy puppy food. 

After shopping, Athena got to meet big sister, Sadie! Sadie still doesn't particularly like cuddling together but she shares her bed and toys with Athena and they love to run around and play. Sometimes playing entirely too rough, though *rolls eyes*.

Sadie's first encounter with her new baby sister.

That was just the first night home. The next couple of days would hold more adventures. She had her initial vet visit on Friday and then my mom's birthday party on Saturday. Athena was one happy little girl.

Car ride home from our very first vet visit.

Then like all good things, it all came to an end. Athena had pretty severe pneumonia. She didn't show any signs of it and the vet didn't catch it during our visit. Sunday morning, Athena was having a fitful sleep. She was coughing and hacking, her little nose was running like a faucet and she refused to move. Wes decided it was time to go to the emergency vet. 

At the ER with pneumonia symptoms. 

She was immediately put on fluids and her chest scans didn't look too great. She definitely had pneumonia and possibly distemper (we later found out that test was negative). She stayed at the emergency vet for the next three days while slowly improving. The following Tuesday, we picked her up, paid our ridiculously large bill and were sent home with medicine. She was still a little sickly but, luckily, she is a fighter and she's happier & healthier than ever now. 

She's learned how to both break down and crawl over the baby gate.

Athena is one smart cookie. She knows where her food and treats are located, she's played with all her toys and has learned how to hoist herself onto the couch (which until that point was Sadie's only safe hiding spot.) She hasn't completely mastered potty training or walking on a leash, yet, but she is a pro at busting out of the baby gated bedroom.  LOL She can hold it while she's in her kennel for a few hours. Her favorite pastime is pestering Sadie. It's good that Sadie has a playmate now because she seems younger and happier, too. Athena is very curious and always mimics Sadie and tries to get into whatever Wes & I are doing, especially if our activity involves food. Oh the joys of owning a puppy.

She also loves climbing on things...like Wes. LOL She is a handful but also incredibly adorable. The perfect puppy. She'd probably win awards for being the best puppy ever if we entered her into a contest. Wes intends to teach her tricks when she's older so we might look into agility training and competitions. But that's much much later. Right now she's just enjoying life as a mischievous little brat.

So there it is- the newest member of the family. Sorry this wasn't a recipe or craft tutorial but who doesn't like pictures of puppies? Am I right? My day job is slowly killing me and I have no energy to do anything after work so I have no creativity. Blogging is hard. Crafting is hard. Please buy pillows from RagsReborn so I can take my soul back from Delta Dental. Hahahaha... okay, I'm only half joking. Maybe. But...switching to a serious note... my upcoming schedule of shows:

November 7th- Triumph Family Worship's Craft Fair

November 14th- PC West Fest

December 12- The Crown Center's Handmade Fair

I will be writing about, posting pictures and advertising each of these shows on my social media sites so stay tuned! The rest of the year should prove a busy time for RagsReborn :D

Good night from the pups and have a wonderful rest of your week!!