Disbelief

This morning as I was getting breakfast ready for Lauren and myself, I heard a noise in the family room and looked over to see that Buford had climbed up on the couch and was making himself cozy!  I was in complete disbelief!  I grabbed a point and shoot camera that was handy and snapped a couple of pictures so I could show Tracy.  We have never seen the dogs on the furniture!  We never encouraged it and they never tried and that's just the way it has always been.  In recent months, it's obvious sometimes when we get home that someone has been on the couch though.  We have a microfiber couch and sometimes there are lines all over it from nails digging to find just the right spot.  Since Puddin is the only one who scratches at her beds, we knew it was her.  However, she's tricky enough to never let us catch her.  I'm guessing that maybe Buford has been watching all this activity and decided to try it himself...only he wasn't smart enough to wait until we were gone! :)

I admit that it does make me worry a little because Macy suddenly changed her habits and began jumping up on our bed maybe 3-4 months before we found out she had cancer.  Once we learned about the cancer, I thought maybe she knew something long before we did and just decided to make the most of it and laying on the bed made her feel better.  Hopefully, that's just a crazy thought and we still have healthy pups on our hands! 

Celebrating Greyhounds

We feel a tiny bit of celebrity status around here!  I just got a look at the 2013 Celebrating Greyhounds calendars and was thrilled that they chose some of my photos :) 

We have three photos in the wall calendar:  the first is on the inside front cover of Buford and Lauren...

 

 

 

...the second one is of Puddin on the bottom of the month of June...

 

 

...and the last one is a cover photo of Puddin!  Granted it is the back cover, but I was excited to see such a big one nonetheless!  This happens to be my favorite action photo I have ever taken and it was done by actively thinking and manipulating all the camera settings on my own which makes me even more proud :)

 

 

Lauren and Buford also made it into the desk calendar in the month of May!

 

 

 

I recognized some other very familiar hounds in the calendars too.  Congratulations to all who made it in this year!  I have taken so few pictures lately that I hope I have something that I can submit for 2014, but there's still time for that!

I Want To Pet Her

We have promotional VAGA magnets on our refrigerator that Debbie had made up – there is one of Macy and another of Buford. Lauren always looks at them and talks about them while she’s playing with her alphabet magnets, but nothing hit quite me as hard as a recent conversation. Here’s how it went.

Lauren: I like Macy!

Me: Me too, honey. Actually I love Macy. Macy used to be your doggie too, you know.

Lauren: Where Macy went?

Me: (feeling my heart beat a little harder) She had to go to heaven.

Lauren: I want to pet her!

Me: I want to pet her too, I wish I could give her a big hug sweetheart!

Lauren: (in a sweet, sincere, pleading voice) Please, mama, let me pet her! Please…please…I want to pet her!

With a shaky voice and pushing back a tear, I simply said ‘if only I could, I would definitely let you pet her baby girl’ and quickly changed the subject. There was one other time when out of the blue Lauren brought a tear to my eye. It was several months ago, we were outside playing and Lauren stopped to look at the memorial stone that we have for Macy. She said “Look, mama, that’s Macy! Macy went night night.” It’s amazing how Macy still impacts our lives on a daily basis. Lauren is truly a dog lover and that makes my heart happy. She is amazing with her “Boo” and “Pop”, as they are with her! I’ll always wish we could have spent more time with Macy.

 

I finally started turning the blog into a book. I have completed the first two books, one for 2008-2009 and another for 2010-2011.  That last one was a real tear jerker for me, but I think it was also therapeutic to some degree.  Lauren loves looking through the books and always points out each dog and what they're doing so even though she can’t possibly remember Macy, she’s still a small part of her life :)  

Countertop Baby

For this story to make sense, you have to know that Lauren's buddy, Buford (aka Boo), has chewed quite a few of her toys over the last couple of years. I guess he thinks if it's left out on the floor, then it's fair game! As a result, Lauren has learned to pick up her toys every day before we leave the house. She knows that if she puts them in her toy box or somewhere up high (like the counter) then he doesn't usually touch them. Here's a recent conversation between us:

L: Where's my baby sister?
Me: She's still in my tummy, honey.
L: I want to see her.
Me: We have to wait for her to grow bigger before she can come out of mommy's tummy. What are you going to do with you baby sister when she gets here?
L: I going to kiss her...and feed her...and share all my toys with her!
Me: You are? That's so sweet of you!
L: Yes, I going to keep her mama.
Me: Wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that because mama wants to keep her too!
L: Oh...one more thing! I also going to put her on the counter so Boo won't eat her!

Tracy and I busted out laughing and we told her that was very thoughtful and smart planning!

Here is the handsome little devil himself!  I agree, he looks very innocent :)

9 and 4

This post is long overdue, but better late than never!  It's hard to believe, but my sweet boy turned 9 years old on June 20.  I left for Hawaii for work again on June 18 so we celebrated the day before that.  Lauren and I had to wish him a happy gotcha day from a distance also.  As of June 29, we've had our buddy for 4 years!

We followed tradition of course and I made him a birthday cake with chicken livers, cream cheese, and decorated it with a little bacon.  Sounds appetizing, doesn't it?  Well, it certainly is if your a greyhound :)

You may have been wandering why my blogging has definitely been lacking lately.  One reason is simply because I have been on travel so much for work!  I have hardly been home a full week at a time since the beginning of May!  Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who does a great job of taking care of the dogs and the house while I'm gone!  The other reason is simply from pure exhaustion because.....we are expecting again!  The baby is due on December 23.  I have been so much more tired with this pregnancy than with Lauren and once I get her to bed I just don't have the energy to write or even read blogs!  I'm halfway there now and in fact had my 20 week ultrasound this morning where we learned that we are having another girl which made me very happy :)  I have been taking pictures every month with Lauren and the dogs to remember this special time in our lives and here is one from a couple weeks ago.

Peculiar Habit

Wondering where I've been? Or maybe you haven't even noticed that I had disappeared for a while ;)  I have been around to very few blogs in the last month or so and haven't updated my own either.  My travel schedule at work has been crazy lately and it seems that I'm in a different state every other week. I've been cycling through Hawaii, California, and Maryland regularly over the past several weeks and am getting ready to start it all over again! Needless to say, I haven't taken many pictures of the pups lately! On top of that, on one of those trips, I accidentally dropped my Canon 7D camera in the kiddie pool when my daughter fell in the water. We were in Kauai at the time and I was left with no camera for the rest of the two week trip! It was only in the water for a second or two (literally), but it was enough to ruin it! I was so bummed for a long time! I sent it off to Canon for a repair estimate and they wanted nearly what a new one would cost so I decided not to do it. My husband came home with a new camera for me last week! Yay!

In the meantime, I found a draft post that I had started weeks ago and never posted. 

Buford has a very peculiar habit where he places his toys on chairs in the dining room and the living room - he doesn't do this anywhere else in the house. You might think that Lauren puts them up there or maybe he just gets excited and flings them in the air and they land on the chairs, but that's not the case. I have seen him walk over and drop off a toy many times so I know it is him. It makes me smile every time I see one there. He has done it for years and I finally decided to take some pictures. No clue why he does it, but it makes me laugh!

GIG 2012

We had another great year at Greyhounds in Gettysburg (it was our fourth year at this event).  We drove up on Friday afternoon - fortunately it's only a couple hour drive for us.  We stopped about an hour into our trip to have lunch and walk the dogs since Puddin can be a little stinker in the car sometimes.  She loves to go and wouldn't miss out on a trip, but after about a half hour or so she starts whining and whimpering and doesn't stop.  We've tried to tire them out before hand, but have never stopped en route before and that is definitely the trick.  After a short walk, she was content and never made a peep the rest of the trip :)

I had Tracy snap a quick picture of me and the kids before we headed over the vending area on Friday.

We met artist Kent Roberts and had him do an on the spot caricature of the kids!

If you follow the blog, you know that my daughter (who just turned 2 in March) calls the dogs "Boo" and "Pop".  This is the final product (except I obviously did something to the color when I took the picture because it's not actually this dark).  Now we just have to frame it and find the perfect spot to hang it!

Eventually, we made our way to our favorite spot - the VAGA tent!  As soon as I walked up I saw this big sign of our handsome boy!  I had no idea that VAGA had done this promotional piece and was so excited to see it.  Of course, we had our cover boy model in front of it too!

Lauren was beyond herself happy to spend the weekend with so many dogs.  I'm pretty sure she tried to pet and kiss every dog in sight...even the fake ones :)

Thanks to Kristen's tireless work, just about every dog at GIG got their nails trimmed.  Buford was not happy about that - look at that tail sucked up towards his belly!  It was over soon enough and could quit being a weenie and go back to his normal self though.

It was pretty chilly all weekend, but that just meant that we could actually go out to a restaurant for dinner and leave the dogs in the van since I don't like leaving them in a hotel room by themselves.  My concern is that they would start rooing and then soon all the other dogs would join in! 

On Saturday, I helped out at the VAGA tent.  We got to see lots of our VAGA friends.  Jaime doesn't care whose back she uses as long as someone is there to hold up her head :)  She is such a sweet girl!

 

We also got to hang out with Bunny and Kuster as well as meet Steve from ShutterHounds!  When the treats came out, Parker suddenly remembered all his training and stayed right in sync with Kuster, it was pretty cute! 

This was Buford on the way home.  Yes, both pups were dog tired!  Tracy and I were talking about the dogs getting older and noticed that they both wore out much quicker than in years past and had to take more breaks this time around! 

Sibling Rivalry

This sums it up!  Buford attempts to run, but always has to put on his brakes as Pud gets into position to nibble on his face and neck!

Then Puddin goes on a run, while Buford comes to me looking for some love!

Pearly Whites

Buford has always had wonderful teeth!  His 4th gotcha day will be here soon and he has not had a dental since he was adopted.  At this rate, he will never need one either.  I attribute his pretty white teeth AND non-stinky breath to two things:  he must have been blessed with good genes...and he loves bones!  Whenever we are out with the pups, people comment on what beautiful teeth he has :)  I'm a very proud parent, and I would like to say that it is because we are diligent and brush their teeth, but other than giving treats we can't take the credit for it! 

Sometimes he reminds me of a baby sucking a pacifier the way he chews his bone - he has done this for years and I finally decided to take a video of it!

Buford and his bone! 

On a side note, who else is going to GIG this year?  We plan to be there and hope to see some of you too!

Stretchy Dog

Stuffies are generally not taken outside around here because the kids completely forget about doing their business and always go bonkers with a toy in the yard.  Here's one example of the stretchy dog stuffie sending Puddin into a crazy frenzy :)  She is such a spunky little girl in the back yard and loves to do zoomies! 

Puddin really only plays with stuffies so she can take them away from her brother though!  He always begs to take his toys outside, but then she snags them right out of his mouth which is what happened this day.  When she got tired of running (she made several laps without the stuffie too), he was happy to have his toy back!

Camera Practice

I have taken so many pictures lately that it's hard to sort through them all.  Not sure if I ever mentioned on here that I got the Canon 7D not too long ago, but I like to practice every chance I get and the dogs are so easy to get great photographs of :)  There are no stories to go with these, just posting some pictures so I don't loose track of them.  Enjoy!

Please excuse Lauren's totally mismatched outfit above - I didn't take her out in public like this!  This picture just makes me smile though :)

Action shots are more difficult to get right since I no longer have an automatic sports setting to figure it all for me, but at least Puddin gives me plenty of opportunities since the girl loves to run!