It has been ChAoS here, my friends. Utter chaos. I mean it’s usually pretty chaotic, but lately it’s been above the usual. I promised my kids a ski trip weeks ago once the discounts kicked in after the holidays so that was yesterday. Sadly, Micah’s broken wrist left me with a convenient puppy sitter and I didn’t have to drag the 4 year old along either. So we went and we had a great time and now I’m staring at piles of snow gear, skis, snowboards, boots - throw in piles of dishes (bc someone can’t wash them with his broken wrist and there’s still no dishwasher), the backed up laundry, and Christmas still scattered around… I’ll spare you an actual photo but you get the picture. Step carefully if you come to visit. Before I dive into cleaning, lesson planning (we WILL start school this week!), and run Micah in to get his cast today I wanted to update you on what has been going on with the sweet little puppies.
Thankfully the laundry room where the little puppies reside is an oasis of peace and cleanliness. Each day they are weighed and checked and then left to sleep and nurse on Lucy in peace. For the first few weeks I keep the kids out of the puppy room unless we are doing their daily check. It’s best in their fragile state and for their development to be left with Mama for now. But it is practically torture for my kids to have those sweet, squishy, adorable puppies just lying there and they aren’t allowed to pick them up and hold them all the time.
In honor of our crazy trip this summer we have chosen National Parks as our theme. It was so much fun to pour over our National Parks book and pick out places we’ve either been or want to visit someday and name a puppy after it. Ribbons are used at this point to differentiate puppies because they are too tiny for collars until they are closer to 3-4 weeks old! And so here they are in birth order:
#1: Glacier - white/brown spots female - holly ribbon
Named after Glacier National Park in Montana, it was a new park for Tim and I this trip and we were awed by it's incredible beauty. Each kid got to game their favorite puppy. This was Moriah's pick :). Glacier is white with sable coloring. Her facial markings will look a lot like Lucy's as she develops.
#2: Smoky - tri-color male - plaid ribbon
Named after the National Park closest to our home that we've NEVER ACTUALLY VISITED, Smoky is a tri-color like Hamish. Just a note to say that the puppies colors will develop more as they age. Some will lighten in coloring and some of the tris will develop larger white and brown patches.
#3: Zion - tri-color male - no ribbon
We visited Zion in Utah last year during our trip to the Southwest and we loved it!! Zion is a tri and he shredded up the last piece of his ribbon and I have no others to chose from so he is the ribbon-less puppy :).
#4 Yellowstone - sable/white male - Red snowflakes on white ribbon
Yellowstone in Wyoming is our favorite national park - there is so much variety! Malachi especially was taken with it and so this was his choice for his favorite puppy (although I tried to talk him into Redwood because this is the reddest puppy we appear to have this litter).
#5 Acadia - tri-color female - Christmas tree ribbon
Acadia was my choice - I grew up visiting my grandparents in Maine but we never made to Acadia and I've always wanted to go! I love Maine.... one day we hope to do a Northeaster state trip:). Acadia is the runt, born at 11.5 ounces when everyone else was somewhere between 13-16 ounces at birth. She worried me a bit on day 3 when she dropped an ounce (they can plateau but dropping can mean trouble). We made sure she had some extra time on Lucy, started weighing her a few times through out the day and I got a can of puppy formula and a dropper ready just in case. But since then she has been steadily gaining and she should be just fine.
#6 Denali - dark sable/white female - Candy cane stripe ribbon
We sadly never got around to visiting Denali while we lived in Alaska or during our trip. It might have something to do with the fact that is was 600 miles away from our village. And only 30 percent of visitors actually see the mountain (visibility is an issue) and the mosquitoes can be AWFUL in the summer, so we just never made it work. Zippy chose the name Denali for her favorite.
#7 Katmai - tri-colored male - brown ribbon
Katmai is Elias's favorite puppy and he dreams of visiting one of the remotest national parks in the country and seeing the grizzly bears at Brooks Falls. Katmai himself is the grizzly bear of the litter weighing in as the largest puppy by far! You can feel his girth just picking him up.
#8 Shenendoah - tri-colored female - white snowflakes on red ribbon
Another park that isn't too far from home that we've never visited! But photos from this park are amazing and maybe one day we'll make it out there!
#9 Redwood - black and white male - swirling snow ribbon
He may be the youngest but he almost catches Katmai in size! He may not have a bit of red on him, but Redwood fits being named after some of the biggest trees in the world that we were so impressed by this summer.
I hope you have as much fun with the names as we had in choosing them! I apologize for the lack of diversity in the ribbon colorings. I completely forgot to get some before they were born and given the time of year... Christmas was what was on hand lol. I will have something better for the next set of photos! The puppies are doing so well - even tiny little Acadia. I will fill you in more on some of our puppy handling time in our next post.
Only two puppies are left to reserve! Apply here or email us at bramblymountainfarm@gmail.com
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