January 3, 2016
Expect a Ziggy-heavy 366 project this time around. He’s a much more willing subject, even though I don’t think he likes it when I have my camera up to my face.
Category: dog
January 2, 2016
We went by Ellie’s house today on our walk, and they greeted each other like long-lost friends. Ellie was especially excited.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad
We went to City Park today where the boys had their photos taken for a local charity, and since they were dressed nicely, I made them be still for photos. It was not a resounding success.
At least they were good for the other photographer.
More attempts at cute photos:
Ah, here we go. The trick is to not make them pose. (Duh.)
At least Ziggy is easy.
Quick Christmas recap
Christmas 2015: It was hot.
There.
Oh, well, there’s more.
I made us all steak and crispy gnocchi for Christmas Eve dinner (and now I’ve found that they love gnocchi so win!) and put a batch of eggnog French Toast in the fridge to soak overnight. And then drank the rest of the eggnog with Winter Pimm’s, which I’m sorry to say is impossible to buy in the US but is really good in eggnog.
I also spent made lemon cake and lemon bars from the lemons on our tree in the backyard. I am quite proud of that, I have to say.
Christmas morning, the boys were kind enough to not leave their room until 7 am (remember that one Christmas when I got up before them and got to enjoy my coffee and sit in front of the fire? (Of course I mean “the fire channel on TV.”) Yeah, that was nice. Maybe it’ll happen again when they’re teenagers.
So at the stroke of 7, the gift opening commenced!
Gifts from Santa were opened first…Linus got a 3DS game that he’d been coveting, Oliver a couple of books and a Rubic’s cube, and Miles got some accessories for his faux GoPro. I think Oliver got a bit cheated, Santa-wise. Dang that Santa. Sigh.
Their favorite part is opening the gifts from each other. Miles got Linus an Amiibo, Oliver got Miles a DVD with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and some kinetic sand, and Linus got Oliver a Diary of a Wimpy kid activity book and a little binder for Pokemon cards.
I got to open my gifts next. A silly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ mug, some dog toys (well, they’re for me in that…the dog will stay occupied while I work?) and an Instant Pot. I’m really excited by that, I’ve been wanting a pressure cooker for a while. I made hard boiled eggs in it (easy!) and a pot roast (may have overcooked that.) So if you have any pressure cooker recipes that you like, send ’em my way.
My mom and Larry came over for Christmas dinner, which was delicious.
It snowed!
Later, we went to Chris and Steph’s house where we, you know, ate a little more, and Ziggy wore himself out playing with the other dogs.
All in all a pretty calm (I was going to say “chill” but it was SO FREAKING HOT AND HUMID I cannot even use that word) Christmas, and hopefully next year the boys won’t be so dang hard to shop for.
It’s Christmas Eve Eve!
And the boys’ Christmas present is feeling much better. Which equals more hyper and more chewing on random things, like my favorite pillow that I brought back from London, and the loop on Oliver’s stocking.
I mean, nothing too bad, nothing that can’t be clumsily repaired or anything. But still. My main concern is my beloved ottoman that I got this summer. I’m sure it’s extremely tasty. Oh, and his harness. So that means we can’t go for a walk until I go get a new one, which means he has a lot of energy that he may funnel into chewing inappropriate things.
We’re just learning as we go along. But even with the occasional accidents (Ziggy does not like going outside in the rain, I mean, I don’t blame him or anything, and it’s been raining all week) he’s been a good doggy.
He also keeps my treadmill warm for me.
In other news, I’ve taken all three boys shopping for gifts for a brother and Daddy, and it was nice yet again to get that one on one time with them. For my records: Oliver went first, and shopped for Miles; Miles went second and shopped for Linus; and finally, Linus shopped for Oliver.
We also watched Home Alone for the first time, which the boys found hysterical.
Oliver said it sounded scary, because being left home alone is basically his worst nightmare, so I had to prove that it actually isn’t a horror film.
Holiday decorating has taken somewhat of a backseat this year, between Ziggy and annoyingly warm temps, but I did get this adorable Wapuu ornament. Awwww!
We took the boys to see Star Wars last weekend. It was entertaining! High praise considering I’m generally not a fan of the franchise or anything. It was very bright when we took this picture. Heh.
Today I’m off work and the boys are at holiday camp, so I am going to enjoy my day with some solo shopping (for a dog harness) and a movie with a friend.
Well, this has been a week
And it’s only Thursday? Argh.
Monday was possibly the worst, with sickness of the human and canine variety, but Tuesday came in a close second. I drove the kids to school (each trip is about an hour round trip – longer during rush hour, maybe a little shorter when it’s not) in the morning. And then a couple of hours later, I got a call from the school nurse. No, not Linus. This time it was Oliver.
I was in the middle of the first of two interviews I had scheduled, so I asked if he could hang out in the nurse’s office until I was free. She said okay, so around lunchtime, I made the trek to get Oliver.
He just needed a little medicine and a breathing treatment, but before too long, he was fine. Whew.
And then two hours later, we had to make the trip again, this time in afternoon rush hour, to pick up from school. (I don’t usually drive in the mornings, only when Mary Catherine travels for work, which fortunately isn’t that often. And it’s fine because I travel for work too.)
Okay, driving to school three times in a day probably didn’t warrant four paragraphs. I’m being overly dramatic.
Wednesday was fine. No one was sick. Ziggy’s digestive system is definitely responding to his meds and disgusting wet food. Yay! Finally got my correct Christmas cards in the mail (from the other family, not Minted) so now I just have to go stand in a very long line to get postcard stamps.
I did write a scathing (well, for me) review on google of the place the boys had their party at last weekend. I’m not ready to think about that yet, much less blog about it.
But how in the world is it only Thursday?
Tomorrow will be good. I don’t have to drive to school at all! Ziggy has a vet appointment, and fingers crossed he gets the all-clear and his vaccinations so we can start going on walks again!
In other news, happy birthday to my mom! Since we gave her her birthday gift last weekend (a giant framed copy of this), now I can share:
My mom’s birthday gift 7 years ago was an engagement ring from Larry. So glad she said yes, and not just because we got a free cruise. Ha!
Sickness everywhere
I feel like the past four months have been nothing but illness around here. Our next door neighbor is a pediatrician and she opened her own practice a couple of months back and I’m fairly sure we must be her best patients. I remember telling her before her practice opened that we’d probably hardly ever be there because the boys hardly ever get sick.
And then they proceeded to be sick constantly. Last week they were all coughing and having a touch of asthma, but Linus just couldn’t shake it. We got him on steroids last week, he was okay over the weekend, and then this morning, he woke up wheezing bad again. So back to the doctor today. The kid hasn’t been at school since Wednesday.
In fact, I just got a call from my friend Alicia, because her daughters were so worried about Linus (he’s their favorite.) Anyway, he’ll be back at school tomorrow, whew.
The Zigster is another matter. He has been having digestive issues since before we got him. We thought they were resolved, but apparently not. So I took him to the vet near us today and it turns out he has hookworm. I was having nightmare visions of surgery to remove a lego or something, so I’m quite relieved it’s treatable.
The vet thinks he might also have IBS of some sort (irritable bowel syndrome) which would mean having him on bland food for a while. For now we have him on this wet food that is so disgustingly repulsive. I swear, I was able to bring a sample of really gross stuff (I won’t go into detail) without gagging but opening that can of food almost had me barfing everywhere. Yuck.
He won’t be able to go on long walks until he’s better (plus, we don’t know if he’s been vaccinated) but at least we reinforced the iron fence this weekend so he can’t get out.
Pics!
My new model
The boys hate staying still for pictures, but Ziggy loves it! Well, I might be projecting.
Linus is home sick today so they’re just chillin on the sofa.
Ziggy got here last night, and it went surprisingly well, especially after I moved his crate into the bedroom so he wasn’t alone. I feel like I just brought home a newborn for the first time. I guess it was almost 8 years ago exactly that Oliver came home…
Anyway. Expect lots of pictures. Lots.
A new addition to the family
Meet Ziggy (I think.)
That face. I could not resist. You know I am not a dog person. But I kind of figured that it was inevitable that we would get one, one day. I knew it would be good for the boys. Linus even said the other day that he wanted a puppy for Christmas.
Let me back up a little.
A few weeks ago, my coworker (who lives here) mentioned that his roommate had found a dog wandering around in the street. They took him in, tried to find his owner, took him to the vet, and advertised, to no avail. No one claimed the dog. I saw a picture and said, “aw, cute.” My coworker said, “you want him?” I said, “no friggin way.” (They couldn’t keep the dog for various reasons, but not because of the dog, if that makes sense.)
Actually, I’m not sure what happened after that. I guess he mentioned the dog again here and there. I saw a few more pictures. I asked a few questions. I talked to George. I asked more questions. And it all culminated in my coworker and his roommate bringing the dog to our house last night.
We took him for a walk. The boys walked him. They got him to sit. We took him to our friend Steph’s house to see how he acted around other dogs (this is important, since our friends get together with dogs all the time.) On the way, we passed the pub, and the dog went right up to the door, eager to go in. I think George was won over at that moment.
We got to Steph’s, and our friends that really know dogs checked him out. They played with him, held him, observed him around the other dogs. And he passed their tests with flying colors. So we asked my coworker and his roommate if we passed the test. We did!
We need a few days to get the house (and ourselves) ready for a dog, so we’re going to get him on Thursday and bring him home.
I know there are people who are going to think I’m crazy. Especially anyone who knew me as a child (I was absolutely terrified of dogs.) But this dog is kind of perfect for us. And I do want the boys to grow up with a dog. So here we go!
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