Well, today is the day.  The first of the babies is going to their new homes.  Jimmy's family is coming for him this morning, and tomorrow, Oliver is heading off for his new life.  Its always a bitter sweet time, saying goodbye.  But exciting too!  I know the joy of bringing home a new puppy and their is nothing quite as exciting as that!  I captured this picture this morning while I was having my first cup of coffee.  Myiah came into the kitchen to say hi and she just LOVES puppies, so she stopped to have a visit and she and Bruce exchanged many a kiss for my camera.  Too cute!  She probably knows that they will be heading off soon to start their own journeys and felt like saying goodbye.

When I got out of the shower this morning, I realize i had forgotten to secure the pen, so all four babies were free free free!  And although I missed capturing it on the camera, three of the four were happily carting around this cool green rubbery ball I have for the dogs (its a great super durable toy for those that want advice on a great dog toy).  I did manage to get a good one of little Mr. Bruce happily playing with it.  As you can see in the next picture, he was absolutely beside himself happy that he won the battle and took home the prize!  He looks like the cat that ate the canary!

This is the age at which these babies start to really learn fast.  Its a challenge to outsmart them sometimes.  Yesterday morning, and every morning now for the past week or so, they have been up at about 6.  I usually hear Mr Oliver first, singing his morning songs.  Usually, they go back to sleep and settle down after 5 or 10 minutes, but yesterday morning, after about 15 minutes of singing at 5:45 am, they just went dead quiet and I thought...."finally, I can catch another bit of sleep".  But then i heard a different noise.  It went pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter.  And then more pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter.....pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter.  I realized something was amis.  I got up to find all four had figured out how to bust out of the pen and they were running through the house, having just a BLAST!  fun, but not safe.  so I resigned to getting up and got them all corralled again, and started making their breakfasts.  When my roommate got home after being out for an hour later yesteday, she found the same thing!  Free Puppies!  So, last night involved strategic placement of two kitchen chairs and some duct tape (just kidding) to make sure they were kept confined.  Well, Mr Oliver did NOT like that.  He LOVES freedom.  He let me know with about 30 minutes of singing at 5:45 am this morning.  And, he appears to have taught his song to his littermates, and let me tell you, they are NOT candidates for Canadian Idol!

This was the scene in my living room last night which is pretty typical for this house in the hours before bed...but the difference is that I am usually on the couch too!  Don't know how i even fit, but this is my dog blanket, sans me.  Its funny though, how quickly the peace can be disturbed at the slightest noise.  One little sound and 4 dogs are bounding off the couch to investigate.  Last night, after taking this picture, I heard some funny rustlings from the puppy pen in the kitchen.  I went in to investigate and guess what I found?  Little Oliver was humping his teddy bear in the dark!  I turned on the light to catch him in the act...and he looked over his shoulder at me and had just a pure look of "oh shit" on his face.  It was THE funniest scene ever, and it happened too fast to catch on camera.  But the look on his face will forever be in my memory and just makes me giggle!  I guess I will have to have a talk with his new mom and dad about working on his boundaries.  Oh, and as you can see, yes my little Christmas Tree is still up.  I am so busy right now...honestly it will probably still be up come April!

All the babies passed their vet exam and were EXTREMELY brave for both the vaccine and the microchip, and its not a small needle!  I was very impressed with them all.  They spent the whole day at the clinic with me and honestly, they hardly made a peep.  Mr. Oliver did his usual protesting at first, but then he quieted down and relaxed for the whole day. 

I am a bit behind in my blogging, but on Jan 1st, some dirty little babies got a much needed bath!  Their whites just weren't looking too white anymore!  So after some good washing and drying, all four had a good run around the kitchen to help them warm up and dry off.  They LOVED attacking the damp towel and killed it a few times over!

Well, sometimes it takes time to find a name that fits.  I know the names will likely change and thats just fine by me.  Naming a new baby is one of the special parts of becoming new puppy owners.  But, having said that, it becomes just wrong to keep saying "boy 2" or "little man 2".  So, after taking his personality and his character into account, I have decided that for the time being, puppy 2 is going to be called "Bruce".  It just seems to suit him because he is quiet, gentle, but a strong little guy.  The name Bruce to me has connotations of someone that is patient and calm, but intelligent and tough. 

Wow...was it ever a beautiful day today!  What a way to say good-bye to 2012.  After that lengthy cold snap, we finally had weather that was somewhat "boston friendly" and we took advantage of the almost zero temperatures.  We took the ENTIRE crew out for a walk.  In total, 8 bostons and one pitbull had just a phenomenal time in a very gorgeous off leash park not too far from my home.  I had not taken them there before and they LOVED it.  I wish I could post all of the pictures I took!  HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!  BEST WISHES FOR 2013!

It gets more and more difficult to get pictures of these babies when they are awake!  I asked for a new camera for Christmas so I could hopefully get some good action shots that aren't blurry but even with my awesome present, its still pretty hard!  You have to try to catch them in still moments, mid-play.  This little gem (and I have started to call her Gemma because of her beautiful blue eye) is still the most gregarious little baby in the litter.  She is going to make someone incredibly happy with her gentle playful personality.  She is quiet but very smart, and she catches on so fast to new things.

Wow...all the hype and now its all over.  Christmas came and went soooo fast.  We had a small Christmas here where dogs outnumbered humans by about 3 to 1.  Chai loves helping unwrap gifts and gets right into it.  Then she kills the wrapping paper and "helps" with the clean up....LOL.  Now I have a bit more time to write again, so hopefully can get some pictures and updates on here more frequently.  I got some really cute pictures of the pups today....had to post the one of the little lady with her crystal blue eye.  She is so endearing!  They are at the height of their chewy phase now and everything goes into the mouth.  They are playing tug o war and tumbling around like crazy!