Our Family is Growing by...

...4 paws! Everyone, meet Spencer. 

As soon as we got Gunner, we knew that we would want him to have a brother or a sister. Koshka kind of hates Gunner, so we knew a dog would be the way to go. Now is a perfect time because we have our own house, so there's stability and a yard. Our hearts are full with love for this dude!

When we got Gunner, we got him off an ad on Kijiji and as an 8 week old pup. Since having him and always hearing horror stories about rescue dogs, we decided to go the rescue pup route this time. We went through SCARS and we couldn't be happier! They found Spencer on the side of the road in Saskatchewan with an injured paw. They had an 'open house' on Mother's Day for people to go and meet a bunch of dogs that were available to be adopted. Spencer was there and I fell in love. He was so sweet, calm, gentle, and really loved having us pet him. He is still pretty bony and timid. He flinches when I raise a hand to grab something, and when we take out a collar/leash to go for a walk. He also isn't a huge fan of toys, as he runs away or tries to cuddle with me when Rob and Gunner are tossing around his ball. My guess is that he was tied up for most of his puppy life and finally got out. They estimate him to be a Border Collie/Australian Shepard mix, and about 11 months old.

Spencer is a total mom-suck and has cuddled me ever since he arrived. I love it! Him and Gunner get along so well, except Gunner's excessive energy is sometimes too much for Spencer. We know having him here is a process for all of us. We have so much to learn about Spencer, and he has so much to learn about people. I think he's coming to understand that we're nice and that we love him because of his cuddles and he paws me in the face in the morning. His hind legs are still too weak for him to jump up on to our bed, but we'll get there. 

I am so in love with Spencer, and I am so grateful for organizations like SCARS for doing what they do. Without them, we wouldn't have met our Spencer and he wouldn't have found his Furever home. 

Have you ever rescued an animal? I'd love to hear more!

xo. Nicole

Currently || May

Apparently it's been an entire month since I've blogged last, but that's okay...right? I'm not going to apologize for my absence, though I think about this little space almost every day. I'm sure I could blog more, but my self care is way more important. I'm still doing Whole30 and as of May 5, I'm down 31 pounds. I feel it everywhere. I feel it in my body, at work, at home, at the grocery store...I just feel 1000 times better than I ever have. I have my rough days, but they're worth it. 

My in-laws were visiting for a week, which turned out to be longer than a week. My father-in-law wanted to help us even more with some home renovation projects, so he stayed an extra 5 days. Him and my husband got SO much done. Our floors are fixed (no more creaking!), basement is purged of all the previous home owner's junk, basement is organized, bathroom got fixed up a bit (we still have a total renovation to do though), a door frame was taken out and drywalled, and some doors were put on the bedrooms! I don't even know how to express how much I appreciate all the time and energy put in to these projects, even though it was their 'vacation'.

Currently, I've been...

Designing || Pretty much nothing except for myself. Does that even make sense? I'm in the middle the long journey of finding and loving myself. While Whole30 is amazing and a healthy lifestyle really does start in the kitchen, I need to exercise too. I joined a spin class for the month of April, but this month I'm really going to push myself and join 30 Minute Hit. I can't wait!

Enjoying || Having our own home! While we're pretty much broke, it's still so enjoyable to come home to our own home. I'm enjoying Pinterest a lot too, because of the decorating ideas. We have a few more things to finish up, like painting and putting the baseboards on, then I can start decorating.

Ordering || Cards. Lots of cards apparently. I ordered a big package from JulieAnnArt and I can't wait to send out all our cards. We're just waiting on a decent day for my sister in law to take some photos of us for our "first home" pictures. I also ordered some Mother's Day cards. I'm on the hunt for some sundresses though!

Celebrating || Losing 31 pounds! There's not much else going on really, but this is a good reason to celebrate. I'm celebrating with continuing to eat healthy and by joining 30 Minute Hit.

Tasting || I tried a new meatloaf recipe the other day and I'm looking forward to trying some more new recipes. Everything is Whole30 compliant, so I really do feel good about eating it all.

xo. Nicole