Thursday, September 26, 2013

Puppy Love

What's a house without a dog?

Brian and I have been wanting a dog for a long time, and really the only thing stopping us from getting one was not having space for one. Now that we've got a house and are settling down we are so excited to add a furry member to our family.

We started researching what kind of dog we wanted as soon as Brian accepted a job offer, and Corgi's kept coming up as the perfect breed for our little family. Corgi's are great with kids, they love lots of snuggles, and they also need exercise and want to run around and play. They are also a good size since they are small enough that Brian is okay with them on the couch (which is a must for me), but they're not tiny, yappy dogs.

Once we decided on a breed we got in contact with a breeder and found one near us with a litter due at the perfect time called Stafford's Corgis. Stafford's Corgis is a wonderful small breeder in Spencer, VA who truly loves and cares for her dogs and pups. She's been great at giving us advice on owning a new puppy, as well as letting us come and visit our puppy as often as we want.

6 Weeks

We first visited the litter when they were 6 weeks. Celie (the breeder) told us that one of the two fluffy girls would make excellent pets for us and that the lighter of the two was going to be the best fit for our family. We played with the pups for about an hour and we agreed the light fluffy girl was the best for us. We named her Ginger.


Ginger at Six Weeks
Neville the Tri-Colored boy

Waffles the Fluffy Girl

Ginger and Neville

Me holding Ginger for the first time

Brian holding Ginger for the first time

Ginger loves belly rubs

The whole litter tired after playing, Ginger is the one on the top left

9 Weeks

Even though we wouldn't be picking up Ginger until she was 12 weeks old, we couldn't resit another visit at 9 weeks. It was great getting to run around with her in Celie's back yard. She didn't know her name, but she knew that she and her litter-mates were called puppy. It was really cute to see her face light up when she realized that when I was calling puppy that I meant her. She'd run over to me as fast as her little legs could carry her and as soon as she got to me she'd want to be picked up and held.

I may be biased but I think our pup is the best pup out of the whole litter.


Ginger after a big run

Ginger loves Brian

Who could resist squishing that face?

Celie the breeder and Ginger
The whole litter at 9 weeks, Ginger is top left

12 Weeks

We brought Ginger home last night and she was so good even though the car ride was an hour and a half. We fed her a little bit of food and let her explore the house and the backyard. When it was time for bed we put her in her crate and she only fussed for 5 minutes before sleeping through the whole night.

She is already well on her way to being potty trained, and she's just as cute as cute can be. We are so happy to have a little furry addition to our family.


Monday, September 23, 2013

Our House


 We got the keys!!!


Now that the house is officially ours here's a tour...





Our house is a split level. Meaning when you walk in the front door you can either go up half a flight of stairs to get to the main level, or go down half a flight of stairs to the spare bedroom, laundry room area.




At the top of the stairs on the main level is our living room. Those two doors go out onto our deck in our back yard. If you turn right while standing in the living room you'll see the kitchen.


There are a lot of pictures of the kitchen because it is my favorite thing about the house. I love the peninsula, and the fact that we get two pantries. The white door in this picture is a typical sized pantry, and the previous owners added the cabinets between that door and the fridge.


All the appliances came with the house, which is a huge blessing. We have an amazing fridge with double doors and a slide out freezer. Also the stove top and microwave are new and super nice as well.




I love the back-splash in the kitchen it really makes it look finished.












This one of the two "kid's rooms". It's a pretty typical bedroom with a nice window and closet.












This is the second of the two "kid's rooms". It's almost identical to the first except that it's painted blue.







 This is the main level bathroom, it's pretty typical.














 This is the Master bedroom, it's hard to tell in this picture but the walls are painted brown and there is a darker brown accent wall.



This is the Master Bath. Again it's hard to tell in this picture, but it has a double vanity, and two really cute oval mirrors above the sink.



 Here's our walk-in-closet which both Brian and I are super excited for because that means he'll have room for his clothes in the closet too!


Down stairs is where the spare bedroom and third bathroom are as well as the garage and a storage/laundry room. Here is the laundry room with the washer dryer the sellers left for us.


 In the laundry room/storage room is a second fridge that the sellers left for us as well as some shelves for storage.




This is the spare bedroom which we'll use as a playroom/guest room. It's really nice since it is almost as large as the master bedroom and has it's own bathroom and walk-in-closet as well.
















 Here's the walk-in-closet in the spare room.





 Here's the bathroom attached to the spare room.














One of Brian's favorite parts about the house is the over sized two car garage. I like it because I could park two cars in it and Brian would still have a lot of space in the back of the garage to use as a work shop space.






Brian's other favorite thing about the house is the back yard.We have almost .4 acres with a deck a nice retaining wall and lots of side yard space.






Our backyard line goes just passes where Brian is standing in this picture. Basically right up to the neighbors shed.
We are so excited to have the house be officially ours so we can start planning our next adventures; like getting a puppy, and preparing the nursery for the future little Marler.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Baby On The Way

I'm Pregnant!


We are happy to announce that we are expecting! Our little one is due April 1st 2014 and we couldn't be more excited :)

I had my first doctors visit a week ago and up until that point it seemed so surreal that I had a live, little miracle growing inside of me. I mean I was definitely feeling all the usual symptoms of being 9 weeks pregnant, but it was still such an abstract concept to me. When Brian and I looked at the ultrasound screen and saw our little baby's heart beating away it really sunk in for me. We're having a baby!

Today I am 10 weeks pregnant, and in the middle of my "morning" sickness phase. Luckily it hasn't been as bad as I know it could be, and pickled ginger has been such a huge life saver. 

I will keep posting updates about the upcoming baby bump, cravings, gender, and all the other exciting announcements to come. We feel extremely blessed and are so excited to share our news.