Happy Birthday Payton!

Payton is 5 years old today! She is such a great dog and we are so blessed to have her. She has been with me through a lot, good times and bad. She married Cavan the same day I did, and became a wonderful big sister to Leah. She even puts up nicely with Delko. People say you only get one "heart dog" in your lifetime, and Payton is mine. She's my buddy.

When she was a puppy she used to sit by the back door and wait for me to get home. It would drive my mom nuts! She has always been very attached to me, and I was a little worried she wouldn't take to Cavan. Now I wonder sometimes if she loves him more than me! She won't bring a toy to me if Cavan is around, not even if I beg her to. She must know he throws much better than I do. Anyway - Payton is great. She is so gentle with Leah. The other day Leah crawled over to Payton and took a bone out of Payton's mouth. The second Leah touched the bone, Payton dropped it and let Leah take it. She is so good with Leah. Thank you Payton for being my dog, you will always have a piece of my heart.

Delko had his first puppy class tonight. We mainly wanted him to go because he is a little timid around people and dogs, so we wanted to boost his confidence. We noticed he is more confident when Payton is around - so he needed to be more confident by himself. He did wonderful, the teacher was very impressed with how well he was trained already (pat myself on the back). The other dogs were rowdy, barking, and didn't even know how to sit. Delko was calm, collective, and learned how to lay down in about 10 minutes. I ended up helping a couple that had a rambunctious Golden Retriever puppy. They insisted they were going to return their Golden puppy and get an Aussie instead! haha. They were in awe how well behaved Delko was. I think he was just showing off ;).

Leah during her nap today

Leah has begun to crawl... dun dun dun. She is getting into everything and always wants to touch the dogs. I put her in the dining room, and went on the computer in the sun room. Not even a minute later she was under my feet trying to chew on the wheels on the chair. I am constantly taking dog toys away from her, most of the time before they end up in her mouth (eww!). She is a busy girl.

I think every time I do laundry I think of how much I love her cloth diapers. They are amazing! I cannot believe how easy they are, and I can't believe I thought it was too much work before I even gave them a chance. I feel like they are one of the best things I have done for Leah. I actually cringe at the thought of ever putting a disposable diaper on her. We have certain cloth diapers for night time, and different ones for the day. I will have to do a whole post about her diapers so everyone can get a better idea.

I got my beef in the mail today! Yes, you read that correctly. I have a very hard time finding hormone and antibiotic free beef at the grocery store. When I do find it, it is ridiculously expensive. I found an online company that sells organic free-range grass fed beef. They even ship it to you frozen (Cavan had fun with the left over dry ice). I got about 13lbs for about $60. Not too bad. It is very fresh too, the people I talked to said they package every day. I tried their stew steak today, and made a really great stew. It was wonderful, and the beef had a very good taste!