Sunday, July 17, 2016

THE WAIT IS OVER - PUPPIES!!!

My entire last week has been just getting ready for the puppies and waiting for the puppies. Her first due date was on Friday, and on Monday we took her to the vet to have an x-ray, hoping it would show us the number of pups. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed at the x-ray because it only showed us 6 puppies. We left the vet and came home and hoped that maybe there were 1 or 2 pups hiding.

I started keeping track of Tinlee's temperature over the next few days, knowing that once it dropped to around 98, I could plan on puppies arriving in 12 to 24 hours. Finally on Friday at 5 p.m. I took her temp and it was 98.2. I immediately took it again to be sure, and then the waiting began.

The whole rest of the evening she did a whole lot of panting and was just generally uncomfortable. I spent my night trying to sleep in the recliner (trying being the operative word), and when I wasn't in the chair, I was sitting in the whelping box with her. She did the same thing with her last litter. When Kev got up, I went to bed for a couple of hours but then got back up to continue the waiting. I kept telling Kev he should go golfing because I thought he had plenty of time to do that. 

He finally decided late in the afternoon that he would go golfing. He literally said, "If we want her to have puppies, I probably should try to golf." He made it to the second hole of the course when I messaged him to come home because she was having contractions. 

I was delivering the first pup when he walked in the door 15 minutes later. Things went very smoothly and pretty quickly from that point. Her first pup was born at 4:56 p.m., and the last was born at 7:24 p.m. I'm happy to present Golden Grahams Diamond Dogs (a/k/a The Bowie Litter). My daughter again got to name the litter, and the pup's names are China Girl, Queen B, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Starman and LDB (short for Little Drummer Boy).


 So here's just two quick shots of these precious little bundles.
 I couldn't resist this shot of puppy butts.
We are in love.

Right now my Custom Nails are off since I removed them when Tinlee's temp dropped. I wanted my nails short in case of any birthing problems. I'll probably put them back on later tonight or tomorrow. Right now I'm too tired to care.

I did this radial gradient awhile back.
Square Hue Kewpies and Tomorrowland, Sinful Colors Rose Dust, radial gradient, Cult El Porto, Uber Chic 9-01
I use Square Hue Kewpies, Square Hue Tomorrowland and Sinful Colors Rose Dust for the gradient. I wanted a soft white stamping so I used Cult El Porto with a floral pattern from Uber Chic 9-01.

I was a fan of this one. I didn't even do too badly of a job centering the design. I don't remember if I used a clear stamper on this one or not. Lordie, I really am suffering from brain fry from lack of sleep.

Now I'm off to the puppy pen. The little stinkers were born needing their toenails clipped, so I'm going to deal with that. I'm sure over the next 8 weeks I'll post puppy pics. My live puppy cam is also up and running over on Ustream and you can find it here. I usually turn that on as soon as I think of it in the morning and leave it on until I go to bed at night. 

They'll be much more fun to watch a few weeks from now when they're running around. Guaranteed.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

MOSTLY BRIGHTS

This should be the week. The puppy pen is all cleaned and set up in my living room. I forgot how much I hate that thing in my living room. It sits in the only corner large enough which happens to be right in front of the door. Immediately after they brought it in, I remembered how much I hate not being able to open my front door. Thankfully the plan is to only leave it in that spot for the first couple of weeks. After that we are going to  move it into the dining room so that the pups can run out of it right into the kitchen.

I had a doctor's appointment in Green Bay last Thursday, and on our way home we stopped at the Goodwill store where I found four very nice baby blankets to use in the pen. I had also saved the old quilted couch cover that had ripped on the edge, so on Friday I cut that into four pieces and used my little $10 handheld sewing machine to stitch it up real quick. Not exactly a great looking or expert job, but I don't think the pups will care.

Puppy cam stuff is all configured and ready to go, too. Yesterday Tinlee had an x-ray to give us an idea of how many we can be looking forward to, and it looks like there's 6 pups for sure, very possibly more. In other words, we'll find out when we find out. No cheating allowed. I was surprised at only 6 because she is huge compared to last time. I hope those puppies aren't gigantic. I want this to be as easy as possible for her. 

I've been taking her temp three times a day waiting for the drop so I can officially start Puppy Watch 2016. I'm ready now and won't be  un-stressed until the pups are here. I  lay in bed every night just thinking of things that could go wrong, puppy names, things I may have forgotten.....in other words, sleep is not really happening much. Between my mind not shutting off and hearing Tinlee's every move and panting, tired has been my word of the day for the past week. It's been two years since her first litter; I forgot about the no sleep part of all of this.

With the July 4th holiday last week, I think I only painted my nails one time. Tyler was here with Griffin and Zero, and for whatever reason, Griff slept at our house almost every night that they were here. I don't usually waste time with nails when I have a grandson to play with. 

But I do have some to show you.
China Glaze Aquadelic, Mundo de Unas Cream, Uber Chic 7-02
I used China Glaze Aquadelic with MdU Cream for this one. I pretty successfully used a clear stamper and the Uber Chic 7-02 plate for the stamp. I'm still struggling with the clear stampers. I think I used the one from FabUrNails for this mani.
QRS Sunshine Energy neon
This bright orangey-pink is QRS Sunshine Energy. It was actually a much brighter neon in person. I fully intended to stamp on this but simply never got around to it.
KB Shimmer Sarong Place, Sarong Time, Mundo de Unas Black, Dana2 stamping plate
I apparently was in a bright mood because after I took off that QRS, I immediately replaced it with this neon from KB Shimmer, Sarong Place, Sarong Time. The design came from my Dana2 stamping plate using Mundo de Unas Black.

Now I'm thinking I'll clean the house. Kev is gone for just today, and then he's around for awhile, and it's always easier for me to clean when I'm here alone even though I do appreciate that he does the vacuuming if he's here. I had him bid to get the days off when Tinlee is due, and luckily he got off all of the days I wanted. Today he is gone to his annual physical in Green Bay and then is off to Madison to meet up with my fave of his pilot friends for a visit.

I've been putting him to work around here getting things ready, so he deserves the break.