Our new puppy

I thought that I would add a post about the newest member of the Hamilton tribe, Sienna, our new whippet mix. She came to us from the big island. Poor baby was going to be given to a pig hunter. I won't go into it, but it is a terrible life for an animal to live. Thankfully, she was rescued by a very sweet couple who found us to adopt her. It broke their hearts to give her up, but we are so very happy to have her. She is just a pure love, an absolute sweetheart. We are so glad to have her. Even my "I-don't-really-like-dogs" husband loves her. We had a trainer come to the house yesterday and teach us what to do to train her. She said that Sienna is an A+ dog and that she is very smart. So far the training is going well. Sienna is starting to respond to me as the Alpha and that is amazing. She listens very well and has started sitting and submitting without the commands already. I am very impressed. That will make my life SO much easier. Thanksgiving went well. I cooked all morning and everything turned out to taste pretty good. I am glad since this is only my second time doing Thanksgiving. We had our neighbors Diane, Jim, and Hope over for dinner. Diane was even sweet enough to help me clean up afterwards. I got very motivated and cleaned up downstairs and hung up some more of our pictures. I have to get more picture frames so I can put up more candid pictures of Matty. I have decided that I am going to do big frames full of my favorite pictures of all of us. I am going to have to get some more baby/boyhood pictures of my husband though. And maybe a couple more of me. The house is really starting to come together though. I just have one more room to set up and part of the downstairs closet to clean out. And of course, I still have to paint. These walls are difficult to paint so I have been putting it off a little bit. But we have friends coming to stay with us until they can get an apartment, so I really need to get on the ball. If I really push it, then I can get it all done no problem. Hopefully, I can get my son to cooperate. James is sick again, poor guy. And of course, he gets sick when they are working him with very few days off. Well, this isn't getting my house ready for guests. More later.


Pictures of Sienna:

Teething time!

We officially have our first tooth coming in! Matty's bottom right incisor has broken through. I will post the pictures below, but it is hard to see. We had a great time with my mother-in-law here. We went to the Dole plantation, drove around the island, saw surfers at the North Shore, went to the Audubon Society's nature trail, and ate at Macky's shrimp truck. It was a blast! I am so thankful for our neighbor's Jim and Diane. They have been great friends and tour guides since we got here. I am so thankful that God put them in our life. They have been a blessing. It has been a little lonely here and I know that I need to branch out and meet new people. I went to a website called Honolulu Mommies, a part of the Mommies Network, and have started introducing myself. Thank you Katie for letting me know about that! I tried to go to a coffee yesterday, but I didn't see any mommies, so I will try again at the next event. It has never been easy for me to make new friends, but I really do need to try. Matty is such a busy baby. He is trying so hard to crawl. He is definitely getting much closer. He can inchworm very well though! His new thing is that he loves to be naked. Whether he is in the bath, getting dressed, or getting his diaper changed, once he is naked, Matty is never happier. He is so funny! He loves to stick his tongue out and it is sticking out all of the time now! He is such a cutie! We have started feeding him baby food in the evenings, on top of breastfeeding. He eats everything like a pro. There doesn't seem to be anything that he won't eat so far. That makes me very happy! James and I are still trying to find the balance to being married and being parents. We have decided that we are going to find a church and also we have bought some books to read to help us in our quest for balance. No one tells you that marriage becomes a lot harder after you have children. You have to carve out time for each other and some days there just isn't any time left. We are grateful that Barb allowed us a night out to ourselves while she was here. It has been months since we have gone out, just the two of us. We have gone out without the baby a few times since he was born, but mostly we were out with friends. It was so wonderful to kind of reconnect and focus on us for a change. I love my husband so much. He is my best friend and an amazing father. I am so blessed to have him. So before we hit dangerous marital territory, we are trying to fix some of the bumps in our road. And we are trying to make more time for each other. It gets hard sometimes with his work schedule and the baby's needs, but we will make it work. :) On a different note, we have decided to rescue a whippet from the big island. This poor puppy is in desperate need of a good, stable home. She seems to be the perfect kind of fit for us. I have been wanting another whippet since my Ace died last year. I had had him since I was 15 and it broke my heart to lose him. I had Bear, but he never really bonded to me. He is a guy's dog and is very happy to be with my in-laws in Texas. But Coco really needs us and we decided to take her. Hopefully she will be able to be here next week. I know that I am probably crazy for having a dog with a baby, but I miss having one and I would feel better with extra company when James is working at night. Well, this is becoming a long post so I will write more later.

Matty's first tooth coming in.

Matty with green beans on his face.

Matty eating his apples and cherries.

James and I on the way to North Shore.

James and Matty at the pipeline (North Shore surfing spot).

Surfer at the pipeline.

James, me, Matty, and Barb at the Audubon.

Matty on Jim's shoulders at Audubon.

Diane, Jim, and Matty at the Audubon.

The waterfall at the end of the Audubon trail.

Dole Plantation

These are some pictures of our trip to the Dole Plantation. I will add more later. For more, go to Flickr.

Been busy

I am so sorry that I have not been updating this blog more! I have been busy trying to get things in order in the house. And my mother-in-law is here this week so we are trying to show her a wonderful time. For our friends and family, the best way to see the newest pictures of Matty is on Flickr. If I haven't sent you an invite, please leave me a message and let me know. I promise to update more in the next few days!