Lucy's first snow - March 2018

In mid March, we had a sudden change in weather, as you can see from the dates below (both photos taken in nearly the same spot in our backyard). We knew it was coming, so we were prepared, and honestly, I was excited to see how Lucy would react to the snow. As anticipated, she loved it!

I love how our neighborhood looks in the snow, especially before anyone has walked along the path by the pond.

 Evan and I still had to work, so once the snow let up a bit, I promised the kids I'd take a little time and go outside with them. They had a blast! I had been regretting buying them new snow pants as we'd had no occasion to wear them yet this winter, but now I was glad for it. Henry in particular was happy, as his last year were frankly way too small and he ended up getting wet. This year, he stayed nice and dry!

 

 

How much did Lucy love the snow? She couldn't get enough of running around in it. I absolutely love this slow-motion video of her in the backyard; it may be my favorite video that I've shot this year. 

A January day at the zoo

In honor of the beautiful weather we are (finally) experiencing, I want to remind myself (and everyone else) that we didn't just have awful cold for the past 4 months - there was actually some pretty nice weather in the winter months. And on one of those lovely days, in January, we took the kids to the National Zoo to enjoy the nice weather.

We started on the carousel - I let the kids pick one "special" thing to do (which required additional tickets to be bought), and this was their choice!

 

 Across from the carousel are the prairie dogs, which were out eating lunch. They're so darn cute.

 We then went up to the big cat enclosures, where we saw one sleeping tiger.

 Three beautiful lionesses.

 And two active lions.

 We then headed to the great ape house, outside of which were some chimpanzee statues.

 And the family showed off their monkey faces. We saw nothing, we heard nothing, we said nothing!

 There was a baby orangutan in the ape house, of which I was fortunate enough to get a couple of decent shots.

 The National Zoo now has (one of?) the oldest elephant in captivity, at 70 years old, and we got to see her!

 Finally, a couple of shots that Evan took - I love when he photographs me being a photographer. Those are always fun shots.

 And here's what I was capturing of the kids, walking on the elephant tracks

And finally, one of me and the kids. We had a fantastic day!

Hipstick tights

I've published previously about how much I've grown to like thigh highs, but unfortunately not all of my clothing permits thigh highs - they make for unsightly lines on a pencil skirt! And of course, I feel (like most women) that panty hose suck. They're uncomfortable, they run after about 30 seconds, they're weird colors...the list goes on.

One of my biggest issues with panty hose are the waist bands. They're always TERRIBLE. They dig in, they roll down, and frankly, they just aren't wide enough. Why can't a nice wide legging waist band be placed on top of a pair of panty hose?

Well, through a Facebook ad that I kept seeing, and I finally clicked on...I found a pair of panty hose that I actually really like. And am recommending! They're called Hipstick Tights, and I definitely recommend.

Here I am wearing them on a business trip for the first time. I've got a nice pencil skirt on (Cassie style, by LuLaRoe), and not a line to be seen!
The color works well with my skin tone (I'm pale anyway, which helps), and the material is wonderful. If you clicked onto their website, you'll see that they tout how thin and silky the material is, while still being sturdy. In fact, I appreciated that they provide their customers with instructions on how to put them on carefully to avoid runs, instead of just hoping for the best.

Here's a shot of just the tights; as mentioned above, you can see that they are pretty thin. I find that they smooth out my skin, making it look nice, while still having the look of panty hose.

And what about my main concern: a thin waistband that cuts in? Well, Hipsticks live up to what they promised. The waistband is very wide, comes up nice and high (actually at my waist, not down at my hips!), and doesn't move!

The waist band stays in place partly because it has the same bands inside that you see in thigh highs, to keep them in place.

I was worried that this would make the waist band uncomfortable, but it really didn't. More than that, after wearing them all day I barely had a mark on my waist! I did take a picture of that, but didn't quite feel comfortable enough to post that here.

The size guide on their website was very helpful; I was in between two of their options, and went with the slightly larger one, which I think was the right idea.

I also really appreciated that the owner of the company, Laura, emailed with me personally about my order!

So yes, I definitely recommend these tights. I still only have the one nude pair, but I plan to get black ones for next year.

Lucy's first trip(s) to the dog park

Once Lucy had received her vaccinations, and we got the ok from our vet, it was time to see how she would do at the dog park! Leesburg installed a dog park a few years back, but Calla wasn't much for playing with other dogs so we never went before. With how social Lucy was (at puppy class and with any other dog she has met!) I had a feeling she would enjoy it. I was right!

The first time we went was early on a sunny, cold Saturday morning. I brought my camera to see if I could get a few shots. I didn't shoot the best photos, as I was more worried about supervising Lucy on her first play encounters, but I like what I got!

We met some lovely dogs (and owners) there; many of the dogs were fully grown which made Lucy very cautious, particularly on this first outing. But she did make friends with a 9 month old bulldog and they had fun playing together!

The kids had never really seen how dogs play before (particularly exuberant puppies), since (as mentioned) Calla wasn't big on playing with other dogs. Henry didn't believe us at first when we said the rough and tumble play was perfectly normal; he was a bit concerned for Lucy. But once he saw she was ok, he had more fun watching her.

While the other dogs were fun to play with, sometimes they can't compare to a nice big stick!

This dog will seriously chew anything, any time. And she loves having a stick, cattail, or even the leash in her mouth while we walk, too!

This is the face of a happy puppy!

I've since taken her back two or three times (can't remember exactly how many). The last time, I took her one evening solo, and grabbed a couple of very entertaining videos. She's holding her own against the bigger dogs, and has figured out a way to avoid them! As you can hear, we were all cracking up.

Lucy's first bath!

About a month after joining our family, I realized it was time for Lucy's first bath. She wasn't smelling so much like sweet puppy anymore, but much more like stinky puppy. There's a dog store called Happy Hound in Lansdowne that has two bathing stations set up - you bathe your dog, but you get to use their space and bath items. I had a coupon from them for a free bath, so I figured why not try it? The kids and I packed up Lucy and took her over.

As I expected from reading about Springer Spaniels, Lucy LOVES the water. She had no problem getting wet, loved standing in the spray, and was a really good pup during her bath!

She did NOT love the industrial hair dryer they had for drying pups; we'll try again with a regular hair dryer at a later date.

But overall, her first bath was a success, I would say!

I had Natalie record a couple of videos while I was bathing Lucy, as I had to capture the cute. Enjoy!

Finally, I had to include Lucy enjoying her very first "puppucino" from Starbucks on that same day (prior to her bath, actually). I found out they give these to you for free for your dog - it's a small cup filled with whip cream! I have yet to let her finish the whole thing (as that's a ton of whip cream), but she certainly enjoys her treat and has already learned that a walk to Starbucks means getting one!

Walking Lucy in March

In my previous post, I mentioned how in the first month or so we had Lucy, she wasn't able to go 3 miles with us. Well, I can say that now that she's 4 months old, she's definitely there! She routinely goes 3 miles with me (and sometimes the family); her longest to date has been just under 3.5 miles. My goal is to get her up to my full almost 5 mile route that I do through town; as soon as it gets warmer again (wasn't that nice this past weekend?), I plan to start working on that with her!

Anyway, the fact that she couldn't go 3 miles didn't mean we couldn't work on walking on a leash for shorter distances. One of the things I love about working from home is that when the weather is nice I can take her for a good mile or two walk after the kids get on the bus, but before I start working. Or, I can take her mid-day at lunch...or at the end of the day! Or all 3! It's just nice to have options :)

Sometimes we walk just around our neighborhood (particularly first thing in the morning), but other times I pop her in the van and we walk somewhere else in town. This accomplishes two things: first, it works at getting her over her dislike of the car (she's just about settled down on car rides, but it's still not her favorite thing), and second, it gets her walking in new areas (again, hitting that "one new place each week" goal).

Lucy took some getting used to being on the leash; for the first 6-7 weeks we had her, there was a lot of fighting us when she first got on the leash. "Fighting" meaning: we get out the door, or the back gate, she pees, then sits her butt down and doesn't want to move. I can say she's just about over that, which is great, but it took some work! Now she walks pretty well (although we are still working on her not pulling too much, or trying to bite her leash), and fortunately in addition to loving going on walks, she also is pretty darn good at posing for me during our walks. All of these were taken in March, when Lucy was 3 months old.

Taken on a small bridge in Raflo Park near downtown Leesburg.

Taken behind my house, on the other side of the pond (our house is one of those in the background).

Taken on the walking path and fields at Ida Lee, near the playground.

Taken on the sidewalk near our house, across from the K2M building at sunset.

Not pictured in this post are the MANY photos where she looked away suddenly, or got up and moved (as she has a tendency to do when I crouch down to take her photo). I know it looks like she sits there calmly as I snap away (and she is pretty good, especially for 3 months old!), but she's quite active. Lots of patience required!

Weekend morning walks

As soon as we got Lucy, we started taking her for walks (more on that shortly). However, the nice long walks that I (and sometimes my family) like to take, particularly on the weekends, were a bit much for a 10 week old puppy - I was worried at her ability to go 3-ish miles with us. So, on a nice early March Sunday morning, we left Lucy at home and headed to Starbucks just the 4 of us.

Here we all are almost back to the house. Round trip it's almost 3 miles, and again, that seemed like a lot for the pup. Plus, it was nice to go just the 4 of us, as it had been too cold for the kids to want to go for a while, and I like spending this time all together.

The following weekend dawned warmer (no big puffy coats needed!), and one of our puppy kindergarten tasks (more on that soon too) is to take Lucy somewhere new every week. So, we loaded her up in the car and took her over to Ida Lee. She had a blast running, climbing, chewing, and exploring with the family.

When we got home, the lovely weather continued and so we took Lucy outside to play. Puppies have lots of energy! Turns out that, like my parents' cocker spaniel, Lucy is a big fan of chasing bubbles (Calla was never into that). So, we wore her out with some bubble chasing!

 

I then brought out her outside ball, and yeah, she was pretty much done. But you can't let the ball get too far away from you, as it might get taken!

 

Yep, sleepy puppy indeed.