Life sure does change when you become parents.....even of dogs

OK so some would say we aren't really parents because it's not a human child that I'm talking about but if you are true pet lover then you know that pets are your children too.  It's hard to believe that 9 weeks ago we brought this pretty girl home with us.  Even harder is to realize how much our lives have changed since she came into our lives and even more so how your life changes when you have an addition that relies on someone to take care of them.  Lane is doing wonderful!  She is now the top girl in our house and is the apple of Rob's eye.  He loves having her here while he is working because it gives him an opportunity to take her for walks and spend extra daddy / daughter time with her.  Sadly last week when we took her in for her dental she was diagnosed with a mild case of heart worm (even though she tested negative in July) but she is on a "low kill" medication for 1 month and we will take it from there.  Adding Lane to the family made us realize keeping our normal routines isn't as easy as it use to be.  We both have gotten a bit off track with our exercise routine but we will get there.

The house looks great - the landscaping is now completed and we finally have grass!  We still have plenty of trees to cut and need to figure out what to do with some of the areas that we didn't have landscaped.  We have slowly started decorating but that will take time since we are both very picky.  The neighborhood is fast growing and we have more and more neighbors by the day.  But it makes for some fun walks to check out some of the other houses that are being built.

We continue to be amazed at how much or lives have changed in just a little over a year.  We have gone from living a crazy stressful life to a more relaxing and enjoyable life.  We have always been a happy couple but we let our work life, mainly my work, rule our lives for many years.  We made a big decision that many people said we were crazy for doing but now at 43 I feel more alive than I have in 15+ years.  I have more energy than I did in my 30's and I am definitely a healthier person that I have been for almost 20 years.

I finally learned to live life for myself and not for others or the way others tell me to live my life!

Welcome to the Bell Family.....

On August 4, 2013, we welcomed Lane into our family.  She is a rescue great dane / lab mix from San Antonio Great Dane Rescue.  She is approximately 3 years old.  She is such a sweet girl and quickly stole our hearts.  She has only been with us for 1 week, but she is definitely family.

She had her first trip to the vet this afternoon and got a few shots but overall did very well.  We were told several times how pretty a girl she was.  

She is a pretty gentle girl has a bit of anxiety separation but loves lounging around the house and her daily walks.  We have lots of training to work on - I almost got my arm ripped off the other night when a rabbit ran right in front of her.  We dread the day she sees all the deer in the yard!

Happy 1 Week Anniversary Lane.

Life is wonderful!

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since we were in Maryland!  Above is a picture of me and my hubby from the wedding we attended while in Maryland.  I really like to take pictures but I'm usually not in a lot of pictures because I don't like to have my picture taken.  Why.....because I realized the smile on my face hasn't been genuine in a LONG time.

This picture shows my genuine smile!

Family and friends

It's been awhile since I've written about anything but the house but this past week (Wed - Sun) we returned to our old stomping grounds in Maryland.  The main purpose of our trip was for a very close friends wedding and we added a few days to visit family and friends.  The trip was non stop from the moment we arrived till we departed.

I realized how much I really miss everyone and we were very lucky to spend time with many people and so very much appreciate they made time to see us.  I also realized that I LOVE my new life.  It has been difficult to "leave everyone behind" but one of my big goals when we moved to Texas was to start a new adventure that focused on ME and getting my life back on track both mentally and physically.  I didn't realize till this trip just how much progress I have made.  I am in a much better place today than I was a year ago and know that it's still work in progress but some of the big hurdles have been addressed.  It was talking to friends and family that helped me see that I have drastically changed.

We weren't able to see everyone but we knew that would be impossible on such a short trip and hopefully those that we didn't get to see understand that we were crunched for time.

We can't wait to plan our next trip to Maryland.  We already have a few visitors planned for this year or early next year and we are excited to show them why we LOVE Texas so much.

Here are a couple pictures from some of our adventures.

Some of the gang enjoying good food, drink and conversation at Uncle Julio's.

Enjoying a relaxing afternoon with extended members of our family (Joy, Elyse and Nicki).

The handsome groomsmen and groom.  My handsome hubby in the middle.

My good friend Molli - she looks AMAZING!

Great friends Debbie and Mike - a wonderful couple that we have known for many years!

This is HOME!

We are IN!  We moved in on May 24th and we were about 90% unpacked by May 28th.  Of course the last of the unpacking is always the rough stuff but things are shaping up well.  We completed the closing paperwork on May 30th.  Yea things are a bit different down here in Texas, but that is mainly because we owned the land and had a construction loan.

The hubby returned to Maryland this weekend for a bachelor party so I spent the weekend organizing the office, cleaning and buying our bedroom furniture.  Sadly I wasn't able to buy our bed because the store was closed, but hopefully we can get that done next weekend.  Our furniture is being made and will take a minimum of 8-10 weeks so no worries on having the furniture before the bed.

With Rob gone for the weekend I was a bit worried about how I would sleep since normally when he is gone I don't sleep at all.  I woke up Saturday morning rested and refreshed - that was the moment I realized we were home! Waking up this morning was close to yesterday except for the major thunderstorm.  Have I said that it is DARK out here.  There are no street lights and I'm not kidding you when I say you need night vision goggles to walk around the house.  Fortunately we have some night lights but when the power went out this morning I had to carefully work my way through the house to the flashlight, lucky I didn't run into anything :>)

It's been a long process but it was worth the wait.  We love the house and are looking forward to many new memories!