Mr. Mason

We've got our puppy!

Mason came to us through a local rescue shelter that Carie found through adoptapet.com.  I wasn't sure that he was "the" one but Carie fell in love with his profile.  There was another Cocker Spaniel mix that we were really interested in meeting, but unfortunately he was adopted before we got a chance to meet him. 

Then, THEN I met Mason and knew right away that he was part of our family.  His foster momma brought him over to meet us on Friday afternoon.  We were all sitting on the floor hanging out with him and it didn't take long for him to crawl into my lap to look for some lovin'.  He sure knew who to suck up to first! 

Mason is the name he was given from the rescue shelter.  We've discussed giving him a new name and ultimately left it up to the kids.  They've all decided that they like the name Mason, so Mason it is.  Hopefully he'll answer to his name at some point!  LOL

I don't often get all excited about "signs", but perhaps this is a sign that it was meant to be... Abby & Ellie's birthday is 06/06, Spencer's birthday is 04/26, and Mason was born on 06/26.

He sure is one adorable pup with tons of personality.

Good Move

Given the age of our kids and their love for pets, it feels only right to involve them in the selection process.  Given our approach of searching rescue shelters, etc... we aren't involving them in all the little details.  No, that's hard enough on the adults.  On the flip side, it just doesn't feel right showing up at our front door with a new family pet without their involvement.  It would be so much easier to find a littler of pups and let the kids loose.

Carie and I've visited the Humane Society to look at a couple dogs that were of interest to us and mostly to figure out their adoption process.  We were quite surprised to discover that they didn't see it at all necessary for the kids to meet the dog prior to adoption.  I can possibly understand not making it a requirement, but I can't understand not encouraging it.  The counselor made it clear that it wasn't necessary "but if we weren't sure that the kids would be good with the dog" we could put down a sizable non-refundable deposit and they would hold that dog for 4 hours.  I'll add that the adoption center opens at noon, kids get home from school at 4.  If we opted to not adopt that dog our deposit would become a donation.  Quite the contrary, I'm absolutely confident that our 3 kids will be wonderful pet owners.  I'm shocked actually that they would adopt a pet to a family without at least encouraging all family members meeting the pet prior to adoption.

On the flip side, I'm not so sure I want to take 3 young kids to the Humane Society unless we, the adults, have been able to identify a match. If we weren't in the process of selecting a dog to take home, I wouldn't have any qualms taking them over there. I think it would be cool for them to be involved with/support the Humane Society. But we are in the process of selecting a family pet and I fear that they would walk in and they would choose several dogs that they wouldn't be able to leave behind. We're up for adding one pet, not four! I'm trying to be the rationale one here. That's me, the party pooper.

So a few nights ago we did share this news with them and their response was priceless.  They clearly weren't expecting it and they were clearly thrilled.  It's proven to be a very good move on our part to involve them now and not later.  One bonus, I now have Abby to support my attempts at being rationale.  While they are all very excited this has also brought to the surface the raw memories of losing Hobbes and Carmen.

While Hobbes was my dog, my very first pet that I got 19 years ago, he was also very much Abby's dog.  While we added Carmen (a rescue dog) to our family when Carie and I were together pre-kids, Carmen was totally Carie's dog and then became very much Ellie's dog.  At some point in their toddler hood phase the girls somehow decided that Hobbes was Abby's dog and Carmen was Ellie's dog.  I'm sure there's some good science experiment here given that Ellie is totally Carie's clone and Abby is very much like me.

So when their time with us came to an end (Hobbes 3 years ago, Carmen 1 year ago) it was naturally particularly hard on the kids, hardest on the girl who had claimed that pet as her own.  All 3 kids continue to talk about Hobbes and Carmen on occasion.  They all have great memories of them and miss them dearly.  Just a couple of months ago Abby was clearly missing, Hobbes.  One quiet evening she took Carie outside to show her a star that she's decided is Hobbes star.  It was a very good moment!

So while we're trying to contain our excitement over the idea of this new addition, we're balancing memories and aching hearts from those that we've lost.  I'm so glad we made this move and we all have this in between time to have these feelings.

Adding to the Family???

A few years ago we were in a phase where we knew that our two dogs were in the final years of their life.  We didn't know when it would happen, but it was clear that it was sooner in our life time than later. 

At that time while we were very sad to see our very long time family pets go, we (the adults) were ready for the break.  Ready to lift the guilt about not having "enough" time (compared to the attention our pups got pre-kids) to devote to our dogs.  Ready to have less depending on us.  Ready to not have to clean up the backyard.  Ready to not have to deal with surprises brought inside or the inevitable mess (grrrr) that was left behind.  I can't remember a time where I've not had a dog in my life.  I got Hobbes, my very own dog, as a pup when I was 21 and I'm now about to turn (uh um) 40.  Carie and I together got Carmen (known as Carie's dog) from a rescue home several years later.  I think I was ready for a short break.  Oddly Carie didn't grow up with dogs but she was also ready for a break.  After all, we had just made it through (sometimes literally) infancy and toddler hood of twins and a singleton.  Our lives had drastically changed and we were ready to step back a bit.

We lost our last dog, Carmen, just before Halloween last year.  In the first few months after her passing we had no desire to "replace" her.  Not only did we want that break from all of the above, but we wanted time to heal from the passing of both Hobbes and Carmen.  They were both very special pets to our kids!  We didn't want to "replace" her.  We wanted the kids to reflect on them and their lives with us.  Even recently the kids will talk about Hobbes and Carmen.  It's fun to hear them speak of them and their memories.  It's touching when we are asked to go outside to look up into the stars as the kids point out stars that belong to Hobbes & Carmen.  This is just how they've processed it all.  It's been a good and healing 11 months.

In the past several months the kids have started watching a show called Dogs 101 along with other animal shows. We have some serious animal lovers in our house so we weren't surprised.  They love watching and reading anything about cats as well but unfortunately this Momma is highly allergic to them.  My kids are sad that we can't have a cat as a pet!  They are looking forward to the time when they move out and can choose to have a cat at "their" place.  I'm doing my best to brainwash them to never having a cat simply so I can come visit them.  LOL

For now they've enjoyed learning about the different breeds of dogs.  Along the way, unannounced to us, they started creating a list of dogs that would be a great fit for our family and a list of dogs that wouldn't be a great fit for our family.  When we stumbled across this list we got a hearty chuckle.  It was too damn cute!  But I also knew it was a sign.  At some point I mentioned to Carie that I was semi-close to being open to the idea of getting a new dog for our family.  At that time she laughed at me and said that I couldn't be serious.  Seriously?  Training a new dog in our winter months?  I said I was semi-close to even talking about the future possibility of someday being dog owners again.  Key words... talking, future, possibility, someday... all talk not necessarily action.

Then more recently it came up again.  Yeah, I'm still in that place where I'm warming up to the idea.  I'm not opposed to it but I'm not quite yet sold.  AND my one stipulation is that we take our time and do some research to figure out what we really want.  In theory this new pet will be with us for a very long time and we need to find a good match.  At the same time we're not looking for a purebred or anything.  We would very much like to look at the Humane Society and rescue shelters.

I've pointed out that we also need to be realistic in the amount of care a new puppy/dog will require and I've pointed out again our schedule as I've outlined in a previous post.  We need to make sure that we can give this new pet our time!  I'm not saying that it isn't doable... I just want us to really think about this next phase of our lives.  And then of course to absolutely no surprise to Carie, she's going to be the one who bears the brunt of the "work" that comes with such a new addition.  Yes, the kids will be highly involved.  They are at a great age to take on some of those responsibilities.  But I'm not going to kid myself, it will ultimately fall back to Carie to make sure it's all getting done.

Which leads me to my huge surprise that SHE is the one who is obsessively researching dogs, taking quizzes to identify what type of dog would best suit our family, what types of things we should really consider, etc...  SHE is the one obsessed with researching rescue homes.  SHE is  the one glued to the Humane Society's website, pouring over each picture, each story.  Somehow Carie and I have swapped places in life... momentarily.

How long can I hold her off... that's the question!  How long will it be before the kids catch wind of this possibility?

That "Pony" I Spoke Of...

Introducing...

Happy girl #1... Eliana with her new fury friend Midnight. Midnight is an Abyssinian (Abby) guinea pig. She is fury with rosettes all over her body. I wanted to take this one home with me Friday night when I was out researching our options. But I waited as we really wanted them to choose. I was excited when Ellie fell in love with her.

Happy girl #2... Abigail with her new fury friend Chocolate. Chocolate is a Crested guinea pig with an adorable little rosette on the top of her head. Her coloring is beautiful and the lighter highlights totally remind me of the coloring in Abby's hair. Her fur is soft and fuzzy, but not nearly as long as Midnights. Abby knew instantly that this was the one for her.

As of Saturday morning we hadn't yet made our special plans for the day. Leading up to the day the girls didn't really have any ideas and come Friday afternoon the doctor confirmed that Abby isn't quite ready for pool water. She has one primary wound that needs to heal a bit longer and then we can go swimming!

But given the new birthday gift plans, we knew that our day would be entirely focused on all things guinea pigs... and it was. The girls (& Spencer) were so excited that it was a challenge to get them to leave the poor guinea pigs alone to acclimate to their new space. But I'm happy to say that the first 48 hours of the transition has gone well.

I'm happy to report that my allergies are holding up! I have to say that we were a little concerned given my cat allergies. This was one area that we would have ideally researched more thoroughly before taking the plunge. But I held the guinea pigs in the store for a good long while and I did okay. I can't even hold a kitten without having a huge reaction that lasts for days.

The Future Of Our Pets

Seems uncertain! If I were a small animal in our home, I'd be weary of the young boy.

The poor caterpillars! A good number of them survived, some did not. Despite our efforts to keep hands off, they were loved very very much... by all the little people. Perhaps sunbathing them wasn't such a good idea!

The survivors turned into chrysalises that are now hatching into beautiful butterflies. As the butterflies hatch, they again gain quite the attention from the little people.

Spencer has announced (during one of his visits to the restroom) that he wants to flush the butterflies down the toilet. Oy!

Then this morning he was all protective of them, telling other kids to not poke at them because that “is a bad idea”. Said with passion from the boy who was just thinking that flushing them down the toilet was an option.

We also have new fish, again! It feels like we are on "Rosa Beauty the XII". In reality we haven't gone through that many, it just feels like it. Each time Ellie names her new fish the same name, Rosa Beauty. I do not much like the short lifespan of these friends. I suggested we wait until we return from vacation to get new fish friends. My audience thought that was a bad suggestion. So our tank is lively again with colorful fish and peace and harmony has returned amongst the little people.

But in the process of getting new fish and making a few trips to the store to complete this effort, they have discovered other little rodents that they would very much love to have. They've always enjoyed visiting these rodents - at the store - and visiting has been sufficient. That no longer seems to be the case. The kicker is, they have completely convinced Carie and the four of them are devising plans on where we could put a home for such little rodents.

I'm not yet sold on this idea and we are now doing research... which I can see turning into research about what we should get, not whether or not we'll get them. Unless of course Carie's position is swayed, but they've got her hooked pretty darn good. I suggested that maybe this would be a great wish to ask for Santa to fulfill. Ellie thinks it is crazy to ask for a pet from Santa because Santa can't get pets. Oh but Santa can do anything!

I may have just bought myself 5 more months. :)

Weekend Plans

There seems to be so much to do, but when to do it is the magical question!

Saturday is still currently up in the air. We could...
- Work on taxes
- Work on our pile of CL stuff
- Make a visit to the fish store, as promised
- Clean the fish tank, preferably prior to above trip
- Do laundry - somehow this exploded this week
- Go to open swim time
- Paint
- Go to Lincoln as requested by Mom, a full day away
- Finish cleaning out her parents storage shed in Lincoln

I know so many fun options! But some are requiring attention sooner than later.

The first two items pretty much fall squarely on my shoulders and also fall into that sooner than later category. Carie will be of great help on #2, especially when it comes to being available for people to come get the stuff. But at this point in the juncture, everything is waiting on me to get the items listed. As far as taxes go, I must complete them soon. We need that return!

The fish store is inevitable. Ellie's fish took a turn for the worse the other day and she is heart broken. We aren't sure why Rosa Beauty kicked the bucket, but she hasn't been looking so great for quite a while now. It was probably just her time!

Painting, what can I say? This is the never ending project. It isn't like we have made any progress since the time I fell off the ladder, nearly 2 years ago. But it is high time to wrap this up! My goal is to be done before Spencer's b-day. Thankfully Carie thinks this is a great goal as well.

Laundry, it just never ends. Somehow though, this week it got a little crazy. Poor Carie has been doing laundry all week long, it seems. No, I know she has! Unfortunately, you can't tell. Unfortunately, all the bedding could use a washing as well.

Swimming, it is just cheap and fun for everyone. Why not!

And last but not least, we could go to Lincoln for a visit. I'm torn. If I didn't have all this other stuff looming over me, I'd say yes. But I'm certain that all this stuff isn't going to be magically resolved on Saturday either. I guess if we do go to Lincoln we could finish moving the items left by Carie's folks.

Sunday is a busy day, no way around it at this point. The girls' (likely just Ellie) will sing in Church. If it wasn't a sing day we'd consider skipping, but that isn't the case. Ellie really knows the song and sings it amazingly well. We'll then squeeze lunch in, somehow, and then Carie will take the girls and potentially a friend to the Rose to use our season tickets. I am just discovering that it is a 2 hour show this time around (many are 1) so it will be tight to make it back to Church for choir rehearsal at 4:50. We'll regroup for dinner and hopefully then we can all veg out!

The kids have been out of school and have another day off on Monday, but back to routine on Tuesday.

The Dog

I am "this close" to sending her back to my parent's house!

Over the course of the week she has made it crystal clear that she is PO'd with us and I'm "up to here" with it.

I get that she misses Hobbes. I get that she now probably misses Jake (my parent's dog). I get that she doesn't get the same level of attention from us as she did with my parents. I get it!

But I'm so done with the messes - go outside already!

Lonely

As each day passes I think Carmen is realizing that her buddy isn't coming home. I can tell that she's feeling sad and lonely.

While we all miss Hobbes terribly, I think Carmen is most affected by our loss. They were there for each other in times where we weren't there for them. The kids have done a great job realizing Carmen's sadness and have really stepped up in comforting her. It is truly great to see.

The girls' have done a great job talking about Hobbes, how they miss him, and how he's gone to Heaven. They've truly blown me away throughout this experience.

We feel quite guilty having plans to be gone on vacation next week. Long ago we had arranged for the dogs and fish to be taken care of while we were gone. Those plans are still in place though we are now contemplating taking Carmen to Lincoln to stay with my folks. My mom kinda volunteered that as an option Saturday afternoon after she saw how great they did together. Carmen and Jake got along extremely well; they actually seemed to like each other's company. The girls' are very excited with that option because they think Carmen needs a friend while we are gone.

I guess we'll see how things pan out this week.

Hobbes 1991 - 2007

Hobbes entered this world in September of 1991 and came into my life that October as a wee puppy very full of spunk and energy.

He's been with me through the many changes in my life. His first challenge was to live with the nice, and the not so nice, college roommates in the little rental house in south Lincoln. His final challenges were to navigate life with many little bodies amidst. There were definite perks of all the small people as there were many great opportunities to enhance his dog food diet. Though he had had enough of the Cheerios! He did so well with the additions of all of our children; he was a great family dog. The girls' are absolutely confident that we had two dogs just for them. To them, it didn't matter that we had two dogs long before they entered the picture. To them Hobbes was Abby's dog and Carmen is Ellie's dog.

Today, Hobbes left our family to move onto his new home. While his spunk and spirit has been gone for a bit now, his body is now in peace.

We'll miss you buddy!

Rosa Beauty - Take 2

This afternoon I happened to discover that a pet store near us will test aquarium water for free. Bonus! So tonight we made a trip to the pet store. We wanted to get it tested as soon as possible so, if needed, we could make a better home for Pepper Shell. I so cannot write these names with a straight face!

I'm excited to say that the results came back normal! It just means that it was Rosa Beauty's time to move on. The girls' knew the plan going into the evening. They knew we needed to check the aquarium water to make sure it was okay, and then treat it if it wasn't. But they also knew that if it was okay we could go ahead and get a new fish.

They patiently waited to hear the results and were ecstatic when they heard they could choose a new fish. Ellie chose a beautiful orange-ish looking guppy and without hesitation named her Rosa Beauty. There were some other name options floating around the van on the way home. Ellie's consistent response was "I don't like that name either". She was pretty set on Rosa Beauty so Rosa Beauty it is. Again, we have a male guppy. But from here forward he shall be referred to as she.

Today we've talked a lot about how we take care of our pets and how sometimes despite our best care, they still die. The girls' know that they took proper care of their fish friends and they didn't cause Rosa Beauty to die. Ellie is doing much better tonight!

As we are having this excellent discussion on how to take care of our fish, Abby gives us an appropriate example of how not to take care of our fish. Hitting the fish on the head with a hammer, for instance, would be really really bad.

As Anticipated

Ellie is devastated.

We told the girls' after lunch. They didn't suspect anything was going on until we told them. Ellie was clearly sad at the news. I felt so sad for her!

Abby was of course bummed, but it wasn't "her" fish that died.

Ellie chose to use the fish net to get Rosa Beauty out of the tank. We then said our goodbyes. Then we cuddled.

I'm sorry Ellie!

She of course wants to get another blue fish and name her Rosa Beauty. We’ll first test the water to make sure everything is okay with the tank.

Abby wanted to know if she could use the fish net to get Pepper Shell if she died. Ummm… yes, but we hope that Pepper Shell doesn’t die!

Well That Didn't Last Long

It seems that we have experienced our first pet death.

As they turned on the aquarium this morning and searched for their fish friends, Rosa Beauty wasn't in sight. Carie somehow distracted the girls and sent them downstairs for something as she continued the hunt for Ellie's friend. Finally she (he rather) was discovered at the bottom of the tank. It didn’t look promising. Ellie will most certainly be crushed.

Carie is feeling a bit discouraged with all the recent animal death. Yesterday it was a bird, today it was a fish. Thankfully though "Fluffy" the bird wasn't a "pet" and his/her disappearance can be easily camouflaged. I don't have the heart to tell the kids that Fluffy died and mommy scooped her up last night... not on the heels of Rosa Beauty.

Instead the story will likely be that Fluffy learned how to fly and she flew away to be with her bird friends.

Fluffy was a bird that appeared to have fallen out of the nest that resides on top of our garage lights. When we noticed that a nest was being built there we didn't have the heart to take it down assuming that momma bird was going to lay eggs. Sure enough, she did and we've been watching these baby birds grow. We noticed a huge difference in their size and appearance after we returned from our weekend away.

Then yesterday they found one of the birds sitting on our driveway. I don't know if it accidentally fell out or if it was trying to fly or what. But the kids were in awe and stood at a distance to watch it. They promptly named it Fluffy. Fluffy chirped and hopped around. Carie called me on my way home last night to let me know about Fluffy so I could pull into the driveway carefully. Fluffy looked okay then and again when I checked on her later that evening. But then Carie checked on her again and it wasn’t good. The kids will most definitely notice Fluffy's disappearance today!