Riley's First Month

It has now been one month since Riley joined our family. We're all doing great. Riley had a real breakthrough this morning- he went out of the house by himself, went to the bathroom in the backyard, and came right back into the house without us even calling to him! We're so proud of our big boy. He's now 12 weeks old and is growing up fast. It doesn't feel like he's only been with us for one month. The time has flown by, and it's hard to imagine a time we didn't have to visit the backyard every hour. Riley is now going on walks twice a day and can walk around four blocks. I think we've met most of the neighbors on our block. Everyone loves puppies and Riley loves the attention. We've even found potential playmates for him. It's really hard to walk him anytime on the weekends; we always end up stuck talking to various neighbors, making our walks take hours! We love our neighbors and our neighborhood. It's a great place to be.

Kevin's parents came out to visit us a couple of weeks ago. They flew into Chicago on a Wednesday and we met them there. We went to a great restaurant in the loop and went to Wicked at the Oriental Theater. It was fantastic! It's a must see for everyone. Kevin and his parents stayed overnight in Chicago while I drove home to take care of the puppy. Our neighbor took care of Riley that evening, but I didn't want to make them get up at 2:30am and 5:30am to take him out for a bathroom break. I drove all night and got back to South Bend at 2:30am. I got three hours of sleep before Riley woke up again to start his morning routine. It was a rough day- I had classes and meetings plus had to rush home twice during the day to take care of Riley. I was able to speed to and from school the 2.8 miles on my bike in 8 minutes! I was dead tired that night though when Kevin and his parents arrived. We all went out for dinner (I was too tired to cook) that night and relaxed at home.

Kevin showed Diane and Dennis around South Bend the next day. They went downtown and explored a bit. That evening I took them on a tour of the Notre Dame campus and to the bookstore (which is 70% ND paraphernalia, 10% school supplies, and 20% books- most are textbooks). On the weekend, we had breakfast at the Farmer's Market and drove to Amish country for an Amish style dinner. We barbecued on Kevin's new grill on Sunday and invited some friends too. Monday was the day they were flying out and had to drive back to Chicago. It was a great visit, although I didn't get to see them much since I had school (it was hectic time of the semester too- one week before classes end). Having Riley around also made things difficult, but Diane actually liked him.

Classes are finally over with. I have a paper to write and one take home final before I can leave this semester behind. Lab work isn't going too great, but all my labmates are super supportive and helpful. Stupid Plasmodium falciparium and it's 80% A-T richness! Not much else going on. We're going to see Flock of Dodos tonight with some friends, and Riley has his next veterinary appointment tomorrow. Funny little side note: my parents are now thinking of getting a dog. My dad says it's because there are too many wild cats eating his song birds. I have other theories.

Take care!