Titan & Penny

Just a quick update on two of my 'fur-babies' . . . . My friend Jess, was kind enough to send me a few updated pictures of them recently that I wanted to share with everyone. = )

Typical Penny!! = )

Penny should be crossing the Pacific Ocean sometime soon. I have yet to coordinate the details with my amazing friends who are caring for her, but after the ball starts rolling it shouldn't be too long after that! In the meantime though, she is loving life on my friend, Jess's bed. = ) And has also been making friends with my friend, Siobhan's cat (Sadie), and Jess and Siobhan's new dog (but longtime pal), Reagan.

Titan has been doing really well with his training and is progressing quickly! My lovely friend, Courtney, said a couple of weeks ago that she was probably going to be introducing a bridle to him in the very near future (which is probably now the past, I don't know for sure since I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her again yet) and that he would possibly be ready to be broken soon. Woo-hoo! My baby is growing up and getting a job! = ) I just wish I could be there to participate in his training (or to at least be able to see him as he progresses! Oh well, c'est la vie!)

Titan in the round pen with Courtney.

Following.

Aaaaahhhh!! I miss fall!! Look at the beautiful trees in the background!

Round-penning in progress.

Handsome boy. Awesome friend. Ha ha! = )

I miss them!

For those of you who don't know, Titan is a Percheron/Thoroughbred Cross. I am a big fan of that particular cross--and not just because that is what the colts that we were training (or learning to train in my case!) back at school were--but because generally with that Cross you will get the athleticism of the Thoroughbred with the level-headedness of the big draft horse, which is pretty awesome if you ask me. = ) Anyhow, I'm so glad that we found Titan back in March of 2009. And I'm also glad that I have been blessed with amazing friends who are willing to take care of (and train!) my boy for me while I am gone. There was a period of time where I wasn't so sure I would be able to keep him, and I have been so thankful that everything worked out so perfectly in the end! Thanks be to God!!! 

So, there you have it, the update on Penny and Titan! = )

Peanut Butter Cup is 6 Months Old Now!

As of the 11th of this month (I know I'm a little behind), my little Peanut Butter Cup turned six months old. It's so hard to believe that half a year has passed since he was born. I know I say that every time we reach (and pass) a milestone of some sort, but it's as true now as it has been in the past. My husband and I were going through some pictures of Peanut Butter Cup from when he two weeks old on up, and it's simply amazing to see how much he has changed in such a short period of time. It's been an amazing past six months -- that is for sure!

Peanut Butter Cup tried Sweet Potatoes for the first time this past week. He doesn't really like them so far, but I think one of the biggest reasons for that is the difference in texture and thickness from the banana. He's eaten a little bit more each day. . .he reacted almost the same way to the banana at first, and now he really seems to like them (the bananas), so I have hope that he will get used to them and learn to like them in the near future.

Remember last month when I posted about Peanut Butter Cup not wanting to sleep unswaddled? Well, for past week and a half or so, he's been showing signs of being ready to sleep unswaddled, so Friday night we decided to give it another try and see how it went. This is the third night and so far so good. . . . He wakes up a lot more frequently currently (last night he woke up five times), but he hasn't been anywhere near as difficult to put back to sleep as he was the first time we tried. Last time I would nurse him and put him back in his crib which would then cause him to wake up, roll over, and immediately start to cry; then it would be a battle to get him back to sleep for close to an hour at times. This time after I nurse him and put him down he usually wakes up, rolls over, and starts to cry, but I just rub his back and sing or hum our special lullaby and he is usually back to sleep within five minutes. There have been a few times when I put him down that he doesn't even wake up, so I think waiting for him to be ready to be unswaddled helped immensely. Hopefully he will continue to do well without the swaddler and will eventually get used to it and sleep for longer stretches at a time. Last time we tried it was on night three that we gave up and started swaddling him again (he'd just gotten more and more unhappy with each passing night), so I'm VERY excited that he is doing so well!

Karissa and Courtney left on Friday. . .it was so good to have them here -- and so sad when they left! I hope they enjoyed their visit here as much as we enjoyed having them. Too bad they have lives and responsibilities they had to go back to, we could have quite happily kept them for forever. :-)

Long Time, No Post

I didn't mean to be absent from posting here as long as I have been; it's just that things have been really busy around here this past week and I haven't had much spare time to even think about blogging.

I'm back now though! Miss me? You don't have to answer that, ha ha.

Anyhow.... Happy Mother's Day (late, I know, sorry!) moms, soon-to-be moms, and grandmas!

So, to catch up briefly...Peanut Butter Cup didn't really go for the avocado, it was a bit too thick for him currently, but when he's got the whole solid food thing down a little bit better we'll give it another shot.

Please ignore the bit of avocado in his nostril. Whenever I see it I sub-consciously wipe my nose, ha ha... :-)

I think his face here says it all.

"Ummm...eeeeww."

Okay, moving on now.

We finally made it to the zoo this past Saturday! It was wonderful to have the day out (and it was a beautiful day, praise God!) and to be able to spend time with my husband and Peanut Butter Cup. One of my husband's friends came as well along with his fiancee which meant that my little munchkin spent a lot of time getting passed around -- surprisingly he did really well. He's supposed to start going through the whole 'stranger-anxiety phase' soon, but I guess it hasn't really set in yet.

I haven't had a chance to edit any of the photos from the zoo trip just yet, but after I do I'll make sure to post some for y'all to critique.

Karissa and Courtney (two of my best friends) arrived late last night! I am SO excited that they are here...they are staying until Friday I believe, so I am pretty psyched about this week!

Oh, and a quick update on the quest to find permanent and temporary homes for the animals...Titan has a place to stay now, and Panda Bear went to his new home yesterday afternoon...we didn't expect to miss the crazy psycho as much as we do--which really makes me nervous about finding a home for our other cat Penny. :-( We are still not sure about what we are going to do with Quigley (in regards to keeping him or giving him back to the breeder). We just don't know if he can be trusted with Peanut Butter Cup since the child next door has antagonized him so much that he has become aggressive towards him. 

Well, I guess I'd better go for now. I'll try to post again soon. 

Spring has arrived!

A friend of mine from college (Mikki) drove down last Thursday to spend a few days visiting with us (which is why I haven't posted anything recently). While she was here we were able to go out and spend some time with the horses. It was a beautiful day, so I was scurrying here and there taking pictures while Mikki was grooming and tacking Ice (our palomino Quarter Horse) and my husband held Peanut Butter Cup.

After Mikki finished with Ice I brought out my handsome boy, Titan (who'd worked himself into a frenzy while Ice was out of sight -- he was drenched with sweat), and worked with him for a while. Initially my goal was to get him out and groom him thoroughly, but after we came back and saw how worked up he'd gotten, I decided to see how he would do with being sprayed down (it's not his favorite thing -- the last time we did it last year he completely flipped out). He did pretty well, he was a bit nervous about it a few times, but I was eventually able to almost completely hose him down. When I was satisfied that he was cooled down sufficiently, I groomed him and spent some time on teaching him to ground tie (he doesn't understand the concept behind it just yet, ha ha).

Anyhow...back to my original purpose for this post! I wanted to share some pictures that I took while we were out there. I still wish I could have gotten all the snow that everyone else did (though we did get about an inch -- it was a historic 'snowstorm' for this area, ha ha), but since it isn't going to happen, I'm glad that spring has indeed arrived and is in full swing!

I know this isn't necessarily evidence of spring (though in some contexts it could be), but I couldn't resist adding this one to the bunch! My little Peanut Butter Cup showing off his new hat we got to keep the sun out of his eyes. :) I just think it's adorable.