BrianandLibby.com

Recent accomplishments include:

• behaving uncharacteristically well for her age at her first vet visit
• learning how to climb back down the stairs
• chewing on toys instead of people (well, more than people, not instead of)
• not flinching for her shot at the vet
• jumping off the couch, an elevation that is about 5 times her height
• weighing less than any cocker spaniel the vet has ever seen at her age (She is 10 weeks and weighs 3.5 pounds. The vet just saw a litter of cockers at 9 weeks who weighed between 5 and 6 pounds)

Sorry for the long wait. More pictures to come. Here is a snapshot of what’s up.

• Posh is getting used to her new home. Favorite things to do include eating, sleeping, and pooping. As of 2 days ago, we can add chewing to that list. If you come to our house you will see blankets and shoes on the bookshelf. We have learned that anything on the floor is fair game for chewing, so clutter is no longer an option.
• For a three pound dog, Posh is quite the eater. Everytime she comes inside she sprints to her food bowl. If we’re in the kitchen, she takes a couple pieces out of the bowl, brings them to your feet, and snuggles up to you while she eats them. She then proceeds to return to her bowl for a second helping, which she enjoys, you got it, laying at our feet!
• Posh learned how to get all the way up the stairs. She reminds me of the little engine that could every time, because it takes so much determination to get to the top. She has not, however, mastered how to get back down the stairs. She has figured out a little game where she runs upstairs, then cries so I come carry her down, and repeats.
• Crate training is going well. Only two accidents in the crate so far, and last night she stayed in for over 7 hours. We are so proud. She usually cries for a solid 20-30 minutes when you first put her in, but I’ve learned this hurts me more than her so I’m getting tougher about it!
• As you may know from previous posts, grass is not really abundant in our backyard, and since it’s her favorite “surface” for potty time, well… Let’s just say if you come over, don’t walk under the lilac tree.

…and Libby and I are going to bed. Why? 1. First and foremost we are getting old 2. It feels like Christmas Eve because tomorrow morning at 10am we pick up Posh our new puppy…we figure if we go to bed now, morning will come faster.

Have you ever had somebody build something up in your mind and you were so excited that you couldn’t wait-and then that something turned out to be something totally different then the something you were thinking it would be? When I was in the 4th Grade my teacher Mr.Smith pulled a stunt like that. He infused excitement into us feeble minded children by telling us one morning that after lunch we would be playing a game called Ketchup. We were very excited…the possibilities were endless. However the excitement came to a screeching halt when we realized that Ketchup was not a game, it was in fact a way to get us to Catch Up on all the work we were behind on.

All that to say…this is me catching up on the past few weeks of missed blogging while my wife has been away…

* Went to Fenway last week…My good friend Steve Cuthbert hooked me up with tix for my bday,Big Papi hit a walk off home run to beat the Devil Rays…the ball landed a few rows away from us. Unbelievable to be at that game. The energy was amazing. Prayn the Sox hold on to win the divison.

* Just two more days till our lil one comes home!! We got her a crate, a collar(pink with diamond studs) and a pink leash. Cant wait!!

* I have been a reading machine lately…no wife=lots of spare time! Thanks to Ed Weidman for hookin me up with “The art of dealing with people” and “The Greatest Salesman in the World” - loved and recommend both.

* Ate lobsters right off the boat from the waters of Maine with Jason and Kristy for dinner on Monday night!! First time disecting one myself…SO GOOD!! Thanks for hookin a hurtn bachelor up!

*This weekend we celebrate our 5th anniversary at NorthwayChurch.tv - Unbelievable ride…can’t believe its beeen 5 years since we started chasing this crazy dream. Excited about what will go down in the next 5 years.

*Cannot wait for Libby to come home tomorrow!! I have the best wife ever and time away has done nothing but cement those feelings!!

Now I am caught up and hopefully you don’t feel to much I like I did after hearing what Ketch-up really was…

I have been asking for suggestions from everyone and anyone for this puppy’s name. I decided to ask some young children, since things are so much cuter when they say them. My neices suggested Smooshy and Ladybug. Emily Clem is dead set on the name Heaven. I have also gotten the following suggestions:

• Punky (from my sister)
• Rock (from my neice)
• and my favorite: Libby Auntie (from my other niece)

Please help!

For those of you who haven’t heard, we do have some news to share about the Howe family. It’s been four years of “just the two of us” and a few months ago we talked about taking the plunge and starting to grow our little family. Last week, just in time for my birthday, I received a big surprise. The news came as quite a shock, but I’m happy to share that the time has come…we’re getting a puppy! (Gotcha)

Brian had been planning our new arrival for some time, but came to me for that last approval before making the surprise final. I grew up with a cocker spaniel who unfortunately passed away a few weeks ago, so the timing couldn’t have been better. On September 22nd, we’ll drive out to Cobleskill to pick up our own little 9 week old cocker spaniel. Brian had the luxury of getting to meet our little girl last week. He went to meet the breeder and pick out one of the three puppies who were not yet spoken for. The choice was easy. While the other playful puppies ran immediately for their breeder, one ran straight to him, jumped into his arms and snuggled her head up on his chest. Game over: Puppy owns Brian.

She has pretty much stolen his heart…he continuously refers to her as “his best friend.” Last weekend, I told him I was nervous that he was going to end up liking her more than he likes me, to which he matter of factly responded “I kinda already do.” Hard to blame him though, she’s pretty stinkin’ cute. Don’t take my word for it, check her out! We’ll post more when we bring her home!

If you’d like to weigh in on her name, we welcome your suggestions. We’ve thrown around Sophie, Sadie, Roxie, Maya and about 100 others but the current frontrunner is Posh. I wasn’t a fan at first, but it’s grown on me significantly, especially since I started saying “Poshy” and “Come here Poshy-Poo.” Sad but true. I’ve been practicing verbalizing her name. Today I found out posh means “fashionably luxurious.” The deal is almost closed! Please throw any ideas you have our way!

Things I am learning while my wife is away at training…

So Lib actually made it home this past weekend and we enjoyed some time shopping and hanging out. I am very proud of her…she is tearing it up at her training-surprised? I think not. Unfortunately she had to go back on Sunday night thus making today Day 2 without my wife all over again.

Today I had…received…endured…a root canal. For the last week as I shared this information I was flooded with stories that brought a calmness to me and then there were stories that kept me up at night. Besides a little soreness in my jaw I am good to go. Today I learned that Root Canals aren’t that bad…I mean don’t get me wrong I would never have one just for the fun of it…but it wasn’t horrible.

Tomorrow I go to Fenway Park to cheer on the Red Sox! I will blog from Boston about all the things I have learned at a Sox game while my wife is away! Can’t wait!

Today I was up at 5:30, at breakfast by 6:30 and on a shuttle to the sanofi-aventis training center at 7. I got back from training around 6, got a little exercise in (emphasis on little) and grabbed dinner with some girls in my group at 7:30.

I am sufficiently exhausted but have what they call a “baseline assessment” at 8am tomorrow. Although you can’t get kicked out for failing this assessment, your manager does see the score. Consider this: the info on this exam was last ingested by yours truly between 8 and 12 weeks ago. Rough times. I just did a quick jam study session with some peers, and am going to cram in a little more (translation: fall asleep with all of my printed modules scattered on the bed around me) in efforts to score something in the 70-80 range. I figure that will be good enough to say “I did learn something in home study” but also leaves me enough room to get 95’s on my exams later, showing a fabulous improvement while at training. Pretty strategic huh. I thought so.

My assessment of training: I like it. But it will be really long and pretty difficult. Today we had the evening “free” but other days we will have mandatory study sessions from 6-9. I started to check out mentally today around 4:30. I am not in agreement with this mandatory evening study but I don’t sign my paychecks, so I’ll be there. I do think it will be really nice to go home and do my job WITH training. Just one day in, I’m feeling motivated to get out there and do (a lot) better, so that’s a good sign.

And in the spirit of reciprocality, here is something that I am learning while away from Brian: Being away from Brian sucks.

What I am learning while my wife is away…

Today at 3:00pm my dentist told me I have to have a root canal.  I am learning that I should have gone to the dentist more then once in the last two years. Enough learning for today.

What I am learning while my wife is away…

My buddy Chad spoke this past weekend at Northway and he posed an important question. Where are you intentional with your attention? I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to having an attraction to distractions, whether it be television, my career, or even people…I tend to lose focus on the things in my life that require the most attention. A few short hours of being alone is already teaching me that perspective will often lend a hand in what we deem attention worthy. Tonight I stepped back from my hustle and bustle…from my latte and laptop…and realized that I need to be much more intentional with my attention when it comes to those I love most in this world.

Who or what is your attention being wasted on and who or what must you be more intentional with your attention with?