From mother to friend

The past couple of weeks have been the craziest, most hectic days I can remember. Between moving, starting school, and finding my way through my first days as a middle school coach, I have not had time to blog. But I have finally gotten settled into my new house, I have found all of the things I lost, and I am starting to get back into the flow of things. :)

While I have been getting my life in order, Riley has been having the time of her life! My roommate has a 2 year old pitbull named Gaia. Gaia can definitely beat Riley into a pulp if she chose, but instead they have become best friends. The moment I let Riley out of my room in the morning, she goes directly to Gaia's room, hoping that I will let her out too! The moment they are both free of their nightly containment, they run down the stairs side by side and spend the rest of their free time running around and jumping on each other. It's true love. :)

The other new change in my life is that Riley has grown up enough that she listens to my directions AND goes to the bathroom outside!!!! This was the transformation I have been waiting all these months for...the day when I could stop being Riley's mother and rather become her best friend. In the morning while I am getting ready, Riley follows me around the house. We chat about the morning weather and news, and then I let her out in the yard to play until Gaia can come out and play. It's a perfect set up. :)

Now it's time for the random story of the week.

Riley and I went on a walk the other morning, and I let her wander around the yard for a minute before we went back inside. She walked in with what looked like a dead flower in her mouth. I am currently living in a desert, so this could have been very possible. When she dropped it on the floor, I was horrified to find a dead smashed bird instead of a dead flower! YUCK!! It looked like a flower because the bird had somehow been smashed unto a piece of straw! haha. The week before Riley had found a pigeons nest and ate an egg before I could stop her...My dog has gross fascination with birds it seems.

Marching off to battle...

This post is about the different battles Riley and I have faced in the past couple days. :)

First,

I volunteered to take my 2 year-old nephew to the lake with me and Riley. The battle in this situation is of course maneuvering both puppy and boy in and out of the van, water, trail, etc. But after we got to the water, Xavier had a BLAST watching the dogs swim and people running by so much that he imitated all of them...he laid down in the 2 inch deep water as if he were dog paddling and then took off running down the trail like all the other people. Besides spending quality time with my puppy and nephew, I made one truly exciting yet possibly useless discovery. At 3:00 in the afternoon, after Austin has had time to heat up over 100 degrees, only truly fit and beautiful people are running at townlake. :) This would be information only if I looked good while standing out in 104 degree heat AND if I wasn't hanging out with a two year old. So I tried to play it off by loudly saying, "Xavier, I think we need to get you back to your mom so you can go to swimming lessons." No luck there. I just ended up being the girl who talks too loudly to kids in public.

The second battle that happened was fought between Riley and Seymore (Seymore being my stuffed animal seal.) One night I woke up to Riley growling ferociously. Usually she barks when she needs to go to the bathroom, so I just told her to shut up and go back to sleep. For reasons unbeknownst to me, she did not understand and kept growling. When I finally got out of bed, I picked up a blanket that had fallen on the ground, and peaking it's head out was Seymore! Apparently it's black beady eyes invoked Riley's protective side. haha. Well when you realize your puppy has just woken you up and warned you against a vicious, man-eating seal, your anger just melts away. :) I have added some reenactment pictures for your enjoyment.

Tomorrow, I will describe my battle with DPS over the CDL... :)

Why not?

To take a line from Hillary Duff's song...Why Not? lol

This is a blog about my adventures in Austin, which now largely circulate around my puppy Riley. Riley is a lab/retriever mix and I have had her for almost 3 months now. When I was growing up in the country, my family always had at least one dog. I never remembered that being a stressful or added responsibility to our lives, so while living in the most dog-friendly city in America, I thought it was time to get a dog of my own. AND of course, I got a puppy. They are so darn cute compared to the adult dogs. Besides, they aren't that much work. ;) I was so naive. So if you follow this blog, don't judge me on the mistakes I make with Riley. I promise she is healthy, happy, and loved.

This morning Riley and I went to townlake for a walk and to attempt swimming again. Riley had gotten into the water once before (mostly because I gave her an encouraging love tap at Redbud Isle) but she didn't really enjoy it that much. Again this morning I gave her a loving push into the water, and this time she stayed!!!!! I was THAT girl standing next to the water cheering and clapping for my puppy who had finally decided that swimming was ok. Maybe it was the fifty days of 100 degree weather we have had or the cheerleader on the sidelines that made the difference this time, but regardless, she swam and loved it!

Being the first time she has truly swam, Riley looked more like me trying to swim laps than the other, more experienced dogs. She swam upright in the water which led to her splashing herself in the face the entire time. But Riley didn't seem to mind at all...she just tried to drink the water splashing in her face! It was absolutely the cutest thing I have seen, and again, I was THAT puppy's mother on the sideline who was so proud that she couldn't stop smiling. I wanted to steal a line from Momma Joanne, "That's my baby!" because that is truly how I felt. :)

I am very upset that I didn't have my phone with me for the epic event in Riley's life, but we will go again soon, and I will make sure to take videos and pictures. :)