Meet Rylie

Last year we spent Christmas with my family in New Jersey. This year we drove down to South Carolina to spend it with Ryan's family. I had to work until 5pm, so we did not get on the road until 5:30pm on Friday for an 8 hour drive. We only stopped once to switch drivers, eat, and get gas before we were on the road again, arriving in South Carolina at about 1am. As soon as we get in the door Ryan stops me in the living room saying, "I have to go to the bathroom!"

I looked at him oddly and said, "Oook. Go ahead." Oddball :P He doesn't need my permission to go! But he barrels out of the living room as I say hi to my mother in law. Suddenly he is back holding a tiny ball of fluff with a red ribbon.

"Sorry she is early, I don't think I could keep her hidden until Christmas."

A puppy!

Oh. My. God.





We sat right on the floor together as Lil Miss Sugarbee proceeded to chew off her red ribbon and give us snuggles. Oh she is so adorable.



I totally did not see it coming. We had talked about it just a few weeks before when he was asking me what I wanted for Christmas. Jokingly I said "A puppy, but you know that!" and he quickly shot me down. So quick that I was actually a little hurt by his tone! But he told me later he thought I guessed (or my sister in law told me!) and was panicking! He had picked Rylie out online in South Carolina while still in California. My mother in law then drove two hours to get her and bring her home the day before we arrived so she would be there waiting for me. Love them all!





Rylie is a combination of our names, Ryan and Allie. It was a joke we had for ages about how celebrities have their names combined in the media (see TomKat, Bennifer etc) and loved that our names actually made a decent name. We didn't want to name a child that way, but we had no shame in doing it to a dog! So Rylie has been dubbed for ages before she even existed!





So far she naps quite a bit, pup is only 2 months old as of December 25th! She will run around like crazy and then pass out snuggled in our arms or somewhere else in a cute position.



These daytime naps sadly do make her wake up at night wanting to play. After we thought we got it out of her system the first night she was up at 3am to go outside. Ryan gallantly took the first run. I got the second one at 8am. One night she did sleep from about midnight until almost 8, but she usually has to get up once or twice during the night. They say at her age it tends to be every five hours that they need to go outside. Oooh boy. Rylie is in for a schock, Virginia is a lot colder than South Carolina!!





Rylie is also teething, so she looooves to chew everything! Including us! We are trying to encourage "No Bites" but sometimes she gets caught up in the moment.





We made a little nest in the back seat for her on the 8 hour drive home, but her crate (in the box) blocked her from seeing us and she did NOT like that.



Before we were even out of Ryan's neighborhood she was in my lap in the front seat. After awhile Daddy's looked more appealing so she jumped over.



Lucky for us she spent most of the drive napping. The first time we stopped for her to go, and us to eat, she decided she did not have to go! We were pretty nervous but we stopped two more times and each of those she went. No accidents in the car! Whew. And considering she slept most of the ride (and tore her giraffe apart in Daddy's lap the 10% she was awake) she slept pretty well last night. Rylie woke up at 6:55am and Ryan took her out. I took her out again at 7:30am before I left. I got a text that Ryan took her to McDonalds then the dog park but someone did not want to get out of the car....



She is mostly crate trained, we have had a few accidents, but we are hoping this week when Ryan is home with her he will be able to get her more comfortable. We are more than likely going to hire a dog walker to come in during the week when I am at work to play with her. If not I work close enough to home that I can drive home to walk her and feed her.



So far she is a big fan of our kitchen in the apartment and follows me in there every single time I go in. Sorry for the photo heavy post, I am quite excited for our new family of three! I am glad Ryan gets until the 4th to be with her because he most likely will not see her again until April when he graduates and we PCS! Hopefully Rylie will remember her Daddy (who is SO cute with her) and video chatting will help. I know we have a few months of sleepless nights until she is on a schedule but it is so worth it

My husband didn't want me to be lonely anymore with us apart, and he definitely helped that with my Christmas Surprise. Thank you Ryan.

I will post more on Christmas later (I have to upload my pictures that are not on my iPhone) but I hope you and yours all had a wonderful holiday.