Ambrose At Home

Here is some more video of Ambrose playing at home and in the yard. He made his second visit to the vet yesterday, all is well, in the 16 days between visits he has gained almost 6 pounds. He is getting a little feistier too, nibbling at things and people and such. He has not been sleeping well at night, which is annoying. So last night the girls and I took him for a long walk around our block. That did the trick, he didn't make any noise all night.

Gabe and Grandma Marcia flew to Denver several days ago, so this week as been very quiet around the compound, which Tiff and I like a lot. We made smores a couples times for a night time snack and got to spend some quality time with Ambrose. The girls even slept in Gabe's room a couple times.

More Pooch

Week number 1 with Ambrose was certainly entertaining. He was very shy for the first few days but the last couple he has really come out of his shell.

Tuesday we visited our vet to introduce Ambrose, they ran some tests and did some shots that he needed. The vet didn't like the fact that Ambrose wasn't being very playful, for a puppy. They gave us some pills and a liquid medicine we have been giving him orally, the vet said he had something that he caught on the farm he was living on, probably from another animal.

Those symptoms have seemed to clear up, in the last 48 hours he has really been a handful, but fun to have around the home and yard. Sure, he is not house broken just yet and it is frustrating when you see him pee and he is looking right at you. We take him outside and we try and wait till he goes again before we bring him inside. That's time consuming and sometimes he doesn't want to go.

Sleeping has been tough too. We have a kennel in our living room for him at night and when we leave. We discovered he can get out of it, so we made some modifications to it. But with the recent increase in his physical activity, we expect him to sleep more at night. He truly enjoys being around Abbi and Elli, whenever they walk by he follows them.

Since he spent all his time outdoors on the farm, he loves being out in the front yard. We noticed that he can fit his head through the bars of the fence. A few times, when people walked by on the sidewalk, he has easily fit his whole body through the fence, getting out of the yard. Hopefully he grows up fast here in the next few weeks and that will be the end of that!

Here are some scenes in the yard playing with some toys. Cousin Riley also makes a funny appearance. Notice the similarities between Ambrose and Riley, young and very interested in everything and anything that catches their attention.

Stormy Weather

We just ended one of the most wildest weeks of weather the Quad City area has seen in quite awhile. A month ago the Mississippi and Rock Rivers were exceeding their boundry as the spring rains did a lot of damage.

Now Summer time rains are doing the damage. The same areas that flooded just 4 weeks ago are repeating the process over again. Cedar Rapids is suffering the most, last I heard the city is pretty much shut down. 25,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, about a quarter of the city. Downtown Davenport is also under water.

Last night, Thursday, things got crazy. We expected a couples inches of stormy rainy conditions during the day, which should have been a part of the deadly tornado pattern that went through Souix City Wednesday, but the day was quiet. Elli was at Girl Scout day camp this week, but her pack decided not to go on Thursday, fearing the weather.

About 9pm things broke loose. I have never seen so much lightning before, which was the reason I got the video camera. But as the night grew longer, the lightning got closer which allowed us to see some clouds that looked like trouble. The rain poured hard and the wind blew, sirens were going off for a while. We put the kids in the basement for the night, but after 11pm things got calm.

Our New Little Bundle of Joy..........

We have a new addition to announce to the Ivanlam clan..........born March 18th, a husky we have named Ambrose.

Tiffany has been saying she would like a new puppy for the kids to train over the summer and we had been checking the newspaper classifieds. All the husky ads are priced $350 and up. But Friday I noticed an ad that had husky pups listed at $150. A phone call was made Friday night, the breeders were in Stockport, IA, a farm community about 50 miles east of Burlington. So we made the 2 hour drive Saturday night to pick one out.

Abbi and Elli thought we were visiting some old friends, when we got to the farm they saw the dogs in a kennel and I told them to go take a look and to pick one out. They were pleasantly surprised! We picked one out and headed back home with our nameless dog.

Tiff and I had been writing names down out of some old baby books, and Gabe gave a few choices as well. The ride home we narrowed it down to seven...Ace, Zeke, Gibson, Samson, Xander and Marshall, (McLovin' didn't make the cut!!). But the kids felt very strong about one name....Ambrose. So, following a short family meeting after the power when out during a Sunday morning storm, we decided to make it official.....Ambrose was the name.

He is white and has some color around his face and back that is a mix of brown and grey. He spent all his time outside on the farm so he is slowly adjusting to life inside. His first night was OK, he slept in his kennel next to Abbi who slept on the floor. A couple times during the night he started howling, Tiff noticed Abbi had rolled over so he couldn't see her face. She rolled Abbi back over and he fell back asleep.

He has eaten a couple times and has been drinking water but he has spent more time sleeping than anything else. I made a short film of our first 24 hours with Ambrose which is below. Abbi talks in a soft voice about his birthday, being so close to the kids' birthdays, saying "He is already part of the family because our birthdays are in March". Birthday week just got a little more crowded!!!!

Spring Soccer Clips

We've got some video of the girls playing soccer last weekend for your viewing pleasure. It's been a strange season, they have had 2 games postponed due to wet weather, so the season was extended into June, last game is this Saturday.

I have weaved some highlights of Elli and Abbi into one video. A few weeks ago I promised Whiteys to each if they scored 1 goal, $20 for a second goal and a new car for a third goal in a game. Elli scored, Abbi came very close! Thanks to Elli we all enjoyed malts from our favorite ice cream place. Both had chances in the film below.

Elli's friend Carly scores a goal, it's cute to see them celebrate! Also, notice Abbi take a girl down as she stops the ball with her foot.

Ool Open

Notice there is no P in it? Lets try and keep it that way!

Memorial Day weekend we lifted the cover off the pool to get it ready for the swimming season. In February the cover ripped a giant hole in the middle, so getting the water clear and clean was not going to be easy. We spent two days vacuuming and netting and changing the filter but we got it ready! Last Saturday Abbi and Elli could wait no longer, so we let them jump in. It was an 80 degree day, but it usually takes a few 80 degree days to warm the water up. The water temp in the pool was 68 degrees.....a little too chilly for me!