How's Lexi Grae?

Since I'm sure tomorrow's post will be all about snow, can you handle a cute puppy post today? :) I thought maybe you might need a Lexi Grae update! 

Miss Lexi has lived with us for just over three weeks now, and she has learned a LOT of things in three weeks. We are working with a trainer for advice, and he reminds us often that she's young and actually ahead of the game in a lot of ways! He seems pretty impressed with what all she can do and assures us that some of the things that make us worry are actually completely normal.

Last time we weighed her, which was a few days ago, she was just under ten pounds. She's getting so long! :) 

This girl LOVES HER SOME SNOW. After we got home from the staff retreat last week, we took her to our favorite walking path, and she explored the snow face-first the entire way there. 

She LOVED the trail. She was a champ and wanted to walk the whole thing herself. She also walked almost all the way there and back without being carried. (At one point, as we tried to pass the sledding hill, there were kids sledding down in front of us, a medical helicopter flying overhead, two flocks of geese flying over, and a train barreling through town. She sat down and looked me like "PLEASE MAKE THIS STOP." So we carried her and talked her through that, and then she was golden!)

She recently figured out the wobbly Kong, and it's one of her new favorites. If you're not familiar, this red beehive looking thing has food inside and is weighted on the bottom. She can bat the top and make it weeble-wobble. If she bats it on the right side, food falls out the hole. She was scared to death of it when we first introduced it, plus she wasn't strong enough to knock it over. She's a pro at it now.

Sweet sleepy baby!! This little donut toy was in a bag of toys we bought for her before we brought her home. I took it with us the night we picked her up, and she played with it on the ride home. It has become one of her bedtime/comfort toys. 

The night of the fundraiser was the first time she'd had to hang out without us for more than a minute. We were SO PROUD OF HER for being so brave! She was super excited to see us when we got home, but she wasn't crying when we arrived! I may or may not have cried with joy that she did so well.

She does love Ryan. (Smart girl.)

Lest the pictures and highlight reel here mislead you, this girl has SO MUCH ENERGY. She has crazy hours, and her teething game is strong. But when she rests...adorable!!

Ryan's Crocs are some of her favorite toys. She enjoys carrying them with the strap in her mouth like they're a picnic basket. She also enjoys sleeping on them. Sometimes she has a paw inside one...this time it was her face. 

More outside walk pictures from this week. She was having so much fun!

Before we brought her home, we got some crate/pen pieces that we could configure in multiple ways. We thought that would be a good fit for the different spaces we have here in our home and with our lifestyle. It worked okay for a little bit, but we're learning it's not working for the long haul. So we switched gears and got a regular crate. The trainer thinks this will be helpful for her with her fear of missing out on things...and though we've only had it for a day, it seems to indeed be true! When it arrived, she was super interested in it and hopped in right away. Shortly thereafter, she took a 2 hour nap in it!

And her big accomplishment yesterday was taking her first walk to the post office! We walked all over town and she handled it like a champ. There were semis, a school bus, a few horses and buggies, some dogs, lots of puddles, people, loud cars, and all kinds of ground textures, and she did great! We were SO proud of her!! 

So we're pretty proud of her! After a brief regression, she is back on track with potty training. She takes most of her meals from small Kongs and loves them so much. She has a blast with all her toys and is learning to fetch tennis balls. She knows her name, "sit," and "down," and is learning a few other things that I'm not even sure of. (Ryan is the main trainer.) 

She and Braeya are continuing to take things slow. Braeya has the choice of how much interaction she wants, and we don't push her to do what she doesn't want to. The trainer said that can take a few months, and that's fine with us. But Braeya is doing well and continues to enjoy long naps, which has been her best life for several years now. 

So there you go! A Lexi update!