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| With a week to go before Jagger arrives we kept busy with swim training (M & G enjoying the sand volleyball court before his practice). |
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| Salt is unaware of who is about to enter his life. This picture might explain why I have been so behind on this blog lately! |
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| A week before Jagger day I was able to go down to GDA with my friend Nicola (top row, second from right) to pick up her guide puppy Isaac. This litter are Golden-Lab crosses and were born on the same day as Jagger's litter! |
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| If I cannot find G & M I always look first in Nomsa's room. They love hanging out there with her! |
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| A pre-dinner stroll around our pond. |
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| Of course this happened. |
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| Is this the work of Maria & Gio? Sure looks like it... |
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| Jagger Day arrived at last! My dear friend Nora came along to be my puppy assistant. |
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| Our puppy group. There are actually 4 boys and 4 girls in the litter but since one boy and one girl were flown to the school's Cape Town branch our class only has 6 pups. And, yes, for those of you fact-checking the blog, there is a rogue puppy in this picture- one Labby from the "I" litter who was picked up today. |
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| So in love. |
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| First stop was to pick up Maria at the Cronk's house where she had just enjoyed her very first playdate (more pics of that to come). |
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| Napping is a frequent Jagger activity. |
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| The first dog Jagger met after leaving GDA was the Cronk's dear boy Walter. Love at first sight. |
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| Next stop was to be reunited with his "brother from another mother" Isaac at Nicola's place. |
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| Too much cuteness, really. |
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| Photos from Maria's first playdate. Not only was my wonderful friend Adie generous enough to take care of Maria while I went down to Joburg to get Jagger, but she also documented the fun for me... Dance Party! |
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| Dress up time! |
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| Once we finally got home Jagger promptly fell asleep under my desk chair. This remains his very favorite place to nap, as long as I am sitting above him! Meeting his new brother/father/uncle/?? Bruno! |
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| I wish I had video-taped this. Maria is giving instructions to Bruno about taking care of his new puppy. |
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| How I love a big round puppy belly. |
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| Back to the volleyball court before swim training, this time with our new baby. Jagger meets sand... |
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| Puppies sleep about 20 hours/day at this age. |
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| Twins. |
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| Isaac came over for a |
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| We had quite a gathering the Sunday after Jagger arrived with 6 families (18 children!) here to meet the newest Belli. These two girls kept busy getting matching tattoos. Trying out the brand new Bounce in Pretoria. It is currently the biggest trampoline park in South Africa and only 10 minutes from our house! Can SA get any better?! |
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| Tuesday morning Nicola and I took our boys to GDA for their very first puppy class. |
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| After 90 minutes of training and playtime (puppy piles!), this is what the car ride home looked like... |
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| Can you find the puppy? Salt and Bruno are enjoying some puppy-free time. (Guide Dog puppies are not permitted on furniture.) |
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| Today we opened up some boxes of Gio's old clothes. Maria put together this outfit from there (the skirt is hers!). The cookie monster shirt of Gio's fit him when he was 18 months old. (Maria is 38!) |
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| Gio, 18 months, same shirt! |
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| And speaking of shirts, here is Jagger in his special guide dog puppy outfit! |
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| One of the items on our puppy socialization list is to expose Jagger to people sleeping on the grass. Thanks to our painting crew's nap time we checked that off. Not so sure digging a hole is on that list, though. |
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| Selfies with Nomsa... |
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| Swim class time! |
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| If I stand still for even a few minutes Jagger settles in for a sleep on my foot. |
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| Maria's school photos came home in her backpack this week. Adorable. |
We are currently on holiday in Gansbaai outside of Cape Town. I will write soon about our adventure here... xo. Clara
