being one

One year.  I remember hosting birthday parties with family and close friends to celebrate the one year birthday for each of my children.  For our son, we had a big birthday bash with mazes and hay rides at a local farm.  For our daughter, we had a tea party at a local country inn.

Those birthday gatherings seem like such a long time ago.   I remember how daunting it felt as new parents, planning the first of what now seemingly feels like a million birthday parties for our kids. We experienced the exhilaration (as well as lack of sleep) of the introductory year and marked that special point in time with a celebration.  A time when we realized that just when you thought you couldn't love any more, someone comes along, proving you have much more love than you ever thought you could ever give.

Our little pup just turned a year old.  And as much as it has been frustrating to learn how to train a dog, walk a dog in cold weather, or find a collection of chewed up socks and underwear beneath our bed (our dog loves to hoard those things), this marks yet another realization about how time flies and that all of my babies...are growing up.  It felt like just yesterday when we brought our fur baby home (as I wrote about here).  

I was not raised with pets in my childhood home (fish don't really count),  so I thought the attention from our children to our new furry family member would be fleeting.  But their bond with their dog is everlasting and it has been amazing to watch my them give love and compassion to their "baby".  Our daughter finally has the opportunity to have a younger "sibling".  And it's been interesting to watch our son understand the unconditional love of man's best friend.  I love watching them kiss and cuddle with our pup without hesitation, judgement or reservations.  Just pure love.

And now once again, the initial "baby" stage in our home is complete.  There is no more potty training.  No more temper tantrums (if you don't include mine).  Just a little more independence.  And with each of these life stages, I've learned how much my children have accepted their responsibilities to help guide our pup to become a big dog.  As much as these beautiful babies will always be in my heart and as a family we will always be together, I have (slowly) learned to accept their independence as well, as they gain their own confidence to stand tall and be strong on their own...and become one.

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Peanut Butter and Sweet Potato Dog Treats

Adapted from Allrecipes

(makes approximately two sandwich bags full of little treats)

This was really a really simple and easy recipe to make.  Next time I would make the treats even smaller (more bite sized), as I found we had to break apart the treats prior to feeding it to our pup.  It was a hit!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of baked sweet potatoes, mashed (I had left over sweet potatoes, which I used for this.  One cup of canned pumpkin works too)
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup water

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Beat the eggs.
• Mix in sweet potato and peanut butter together.  Add to eggs.
• Add the cinnamon then the flour, slowly into the mixture.
• Slowly add the water until the mixture becomes a soft dough (think playdoh).
• Roll out the dough and make into shapes (we used heart shapes and candy cane shapes turned into socks...our pup loves socks!).  Try to make small shapes.
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the treats are firm (it will harden as it cools).

Serve.