With the arrival of the new baby, there have been more visitors to our house than usual.  Last week, my sister and her kids came to help Asia with the baby and to enjoy the pool a bit.  Our house is generally a pretty quiet zone, so four additional people, one of whom has zoomie matchbox cars, can be pretty stimulating to a puppy.  Fortunately, my sister has three dogs of her own, and for the most part, everything went exceedingly well. (Aside from her waving her hands in the air and dancing though the kitchen, singing, “I know, I know, I have to ignore the dog!”

For two and a half days Ray got to play by the pool with the kids and watch Disney while still getting to enjoy a little quiet time when it was needed.  His sitter still came to take him on his scheduled noon break for the sake of consistency which is important.  But how much did Ray enjoy himself?

Miko

Today is National Black Cat Awareness Day and since our black cat(s) past and present are some of the most special kitties we’ve had, we are dedicating today to Miko and to Jazz-man.
A few fun facts:
When we went to Animal Care, we were there to adopt a different black cat, but Miko jumped in my lap and snuffled my face so intently, that I wasn’t about to leave without him.

Miko and Jazz before him are our only cats who do not run and hide when strangers are around.  In fact, they both are more than willing to be adored by all.

Miko “owns” everything, including the baby.  No other cat  is allowed to linger in her room without Miko’s permission.

Miko purrs over nearly everything and loves to be told how beautiful he is.

Miko is our fattest cat and our pickiest eater.

Jazz was an outside cat but once was feeling poorly.  He came inside, laid on the sofa for three or four days and then got up and resumed life outside.

The Jazz-man often went walk-about.  (He was not neutered-I know, I know)  He was usually gone for about two weeks at a time but once he left for nine months.  He came back just a few weeks before we were to move to another part of the state.  He was skinny and tired and was sitting at the foot of our steps, as if waiting to see if he was still welcomed.  He was.  Our prodigal son was back. 

I had been known to pull over to the side of the road and call “Jazz man” at any black cat I saw.

Jazz used to sit on the picnic table outside our neighbor’s window and look in.  Our neighbor was named Tom so we had a peeping Tom tom peeping at Tom.

I love having a black cat in residence.

The baby has been home for a week now, and while we’ve been working with Ray on Positive Conditioned Emotional Responses to her smells and sounds, Ray has been working on his antler chews, hanging with monkey and just basking in the all around awesomeness that comes with being Ray-Ray.


My antler, my monkey, and me.

How well did it go?  What you can’t see in the pictures is that Jae was actually sitting on the coffee table and Ray basically ignored the cat and the baby.  Actually, I’d call it more of showing a polite interest while respecting everyone’s personal space.

To say that I’ve had an amazing August would be an understatment and with today being my birthday, I’ve felt incredibly spoiled with all of the well wishes, flowers, cupcakes and support I’ve received.  Lest all of that go to my head, I humbly submit the following.

Ray has been a growing machine since Day One, and I’m constantly amazed at how big he seems to get, daily.  One thing that hasn’t changed, is that he has had this “baggy pajama haunch” forever.

Crappy photos courtesy of my sister’s iphone.

I’m pretty sure he will grow into it, so I’ve never thought too much about it until last night my sister noticed his “big butt” was exactly the same as my big butt.  I think the comment was, “You know how you’re all butt and nothing else?” 

The worst part?  Before taking the picture, my sister kept telling me to remove the wedgie to which I replied, “I don’t have one, that is all butt in there!”

Yeah, not one of my more glamorous moments, good thing Clinton Kelly didn’t see me.

Oh well.

Yes, last week was Baby week in honor of my beautiful daughter giving birth to her beautiful daughter.

Ray has been awesome and I couldn’t be more proud of him as well.  We’ve been conditioning him with jackpot treats when the baby cries, though she doesn’t cry much.  Even when she does, her amazing parents are right there in a flash to take care of her.  I did notice one day over the weekend, I was watching TV and Ray was busy with a bully stick or kong and seeping through the edge of our noise was the sound of the baby crying.  When the sound finally registered with Ray, he sat up and seemed to wait for his treats. 

I love this little boy.

The fact that I hate (hate, hate, hate) this picture of myself should tell you how much I love this little (big!) block head.  This guy is definitely not playing for the DINOS team. (Although if he did, I would certainly respect that.)
Every morning when I get him up, we have a cuddle time for a few minutes which is one of the best parts of the day.  He stretches and downward dogs himself out of the crate, staggers over to me and flumps against me as we fall cuddling to the floor.  Hugs, belly rubs and lots of kisses ensue until he is awake enough to where he’s ready to go outside for his morning toilette.

Do you have a special morning routine?

Ah, the end of Baby Week…or is it really just the beginning?  We’ve been preparing, we’ve been practising, and today is the big day.

Look who is coming home today.  We will be taking the utmost care in introductions and only be doing so when everyone is calm, happy and relaxed. 

So, no guesses on the earlier name posts?  Ok, the day two post has been updated with links to reveal identities, but if you want a hint, we’re looking at nearly all defenders, one Bear and three Ravens.

The musical reference?  Lola, of course, so the Ray in this case would be Ray Davies.

Finally, the $25 donation will be going not to a Rescue or Shelter as previously noted.  Of course, no one other than family members actually guessed the names correctly and in light of our own little miracle baby we are making the donation to Sawyer, whose Auntie is the head of Smiling K9’s.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

I guess when someone declares it “Baby Week,” they should then post an entry each day that week. 

So I had a big debate with myself and everyone else I knew who had a dog…do you prefer male or female dogs and why.  Obviously the what and why were as varied as the people I asked.  My issue with a male was really the “marking” and all other things associated with the red rocket.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that neutering early can help with that, so the decision was becoming easier.  Easier to go with the first choice. 

I thought it would be cool to foster at least two puppies with the idea of adopting one while getting the other ready for it’s forever home.  My husband didn’t think it would be fun at all.  Now looking back at those first baby weeks, I have to file that in the “what the hell were you thinking” bucket, although in the back of my mind I keep remembering everyone who says two are easier than one.

*Ok, so far no one has gotten the names of the four football players, so how about this:  if you are as skewed in the brain as I am, tell me why it would be tremendously droll to name these two Ray and Lola.  After all, we’re talking about $25 for your favorite Rescue or Shelter.

We’ve been working with a trainer one on one to get Ray-Ray prepared for the arrival of his new niece.  We purchased a baby doll that cries and moves a bit and have been working on creating a positive response to baby sounds and baby getting attention from family members, especially me.  (Ray’s mama).

I was surprised that the whole bring home a blanket or article of clothing thing was not nearly as important.  The point being that we go out into the world every day and come home with new smells on us.

Along with preparing Ray, we have been kitty proofing all of the fluffy blanketed baby bedding that looks like a perfect kitty hide-out.

What types of preparation have you heard of/done to prepare your fur babies for a human baby?

This is Ray all cleaned up and no longer green.  I think this is what they call a dog pile.  Or at least it is a pile of cuteness.  Notice how small they all are.

We are dedicating this week to babies and declaring it Birth Week here at the Peace-a-Bull Assembly.  Everybody has a unique story about how and when they were born, including dogs from Rescue.  There are uneventful births of all kinds, there are the Puppy Mill horror stories, there are the “my pet just had a litter of puppies” stories, etc.  Ray, as you may remember, was born in rescue and while that might sound like a bad thing, I think it was the best thing that could have happend to him and (most of) his little family.  It is sad that some of his siblings did not survive, but Ray was fortunate.  He was born inside a home and started off with an advantage.


Mama holding Mama