The #1 question we get as new parents is how are the dogs with the baby. We were curious on how things would pan out with the two dogs, seeing as they are two of the most jealous creatures I have ever seen on the face of this planet. They each have their unique ways of demanding your attention at any given moment; Homer does so by licking anything and everything, while Sophie "talks." Putting a baby in the mix seemed like things could get interesting. I imagined dogs peeing all over the house in protest of something stealing their attention. I imagined Homer licking her into oblivion.

And then they surprised us.

Homer shows nothing but the utmost concern for the little, noisy, squirming baby. For the first few days he was on high alert when she cried, running around to get anyone who was near to pay attention to her. Now he likes to sniff her, make sure she's alright, then goes on his merry way. So far to date he's only sneaked in one lick.

Sophie hides her caring behind aloofness. Other than the occasional look of curiosity when the baby squirms or lets out a little squeak, you'd think Sophie could care less. That is until we wake up and find her lying next to the baby's bassinet.

There haven't been any "accidents" around the house except for one small toy casualty (which we can't really blame Homer for, seeing as his dog toys all look suspiciously like baby toys). But all in all the pups were accepting of the new family member.

The #1 question we get as new parents is how are the dogs with the baby. We were curious on how things would pan out with the two dogs, seeing as they are two of the most jealous creatures I have ever seen on the face of this planet. They each have their unique ways of demanding your attention at any given moment; Homer does so by licking anything and everything, while Sophie "talks." Putting a baby in the mix seemed like things could get interesting. I imagined dogs peeing all over the house in protest of something stealing their attention. I imagined Homer licking her into oblivion.

And then they surprised us.

Homer shows nothing but the utmost concern for the little, noisy, squirming baby. For the first few days he was on high alert when she cried, running around to get anyone who was near to pay attention to her. Now he likes to sniff her, make sure she's alright, then goes on his merry way. So far to date he's only sneaked in one lick.

Sophie hides her caring behind aloofness. Other than the occasional look of curiosity when the baby squirms or lets out a little squeak, you'd think Sophie could care less. That is until we wake up and find her lying next to the baby's bassinet.

There haven't been any "accidents" around the house except for one small toy casualty (which we can't really blame Homer for, seeing as his dog toys all look suspiciously like baby toys). But all in all the pups were accepting of the new family member.

Irresponsible Summer Fun

We were faced with a difficult decision this morning. Do we go about our usual Sunday ritual of the usual chores or do we pack up the dogs and head up to the mountains?

 Homer was excited that we picked the mountains.  In the spirit of being adventurous we ventured off to Donner Lake, instead of standby Tahoe. We went in hopes of warmer water, sandy beaches and that's just what we found.

The water was chilly, but not too cold. Being the fish I am, I swam, snorkeled, and annoyed Sir Sunderland to the highest extent while he was a sissy and wouldn't swim around patiently tended to the dogs.

It was nice for all of us to get out of the house. The dogs played in the water, we enjoyed a nice picnic with beautiful scenery and I finally got to swim. Nevermind that we now have no food for the week and might not have clean underwear for tomorrow, but there's always tomorrow.

Irresponsible Summer Fun

We were faced with a difficult decision this morning. Do we go about our usual Sunday ritual of the usual chores or do we pack up the dogs and head up to the mountains?

 Homer was excited that we picked the mountains.  In the spirit of being adventurous we ventured off to Donner Lake, instead of standby Tahoe. We went in hopes of warmer water, sandy beaches and that's just what we found.

The water was chilly, but not too cold. Being the fish I am, I swam, snorkeled, and annoyed Sir Sunderland to the highest extent while he was a sissy and wouldn't swim around patiently tended to the dogs.

It was nice for all of us to get out of the house. The dogs played in the water, we enjoyed a nice picnic with beautiful scenery and I finally got to swim. Nevermind that we now have no food for the week and might not have clean underwear for tomorrow, but there's always tomorrow.

May We Introduce...

Volunteering at the Humane Society is dangerous. Especially when you walk by a kennel containing this guy. Two days later we came home with the one year old black lab/mix of something we don't know, giant puppy who has already eaten the corner of our couch.
     As for Sophie, she is actually tiring out the puppy and the last to come inside from the snow. Don't let the dirty looks fool you, she loves Homer just as much as we do.

May We Introduce...

Volunteering at the Humane Society is dangerous. Especially when you walk by a kennel containing this guy. Two days later we came home with the one year old black lab/mix of something we don't know, giant puppy who has already eaten the corner of our couch.
     As for Sophie, she is actually tiring out the puppy and the last to come inside from the snow. Don't let the dirty looks fool you, she loves Homer just as much as we do.

Snow + Lauren = NOT GOOD

Saturday marked my first official "I hate the snow" day.  Allow me to tell you why:

• Sir Sunderland decides to go skiing today, thus needing my AWD Subaru. I drive to work at 5 am and safely park in the parking lot. Sir Sunderland comes at 9am and switches cars. I then take his Front wheel drive Honda Civic to the bank and post office then park on the street at work. This is where I get stuck. Go back to work, finish my day and head out, in a rush to pick up the Little. 20 minutes later (and late) with the help of a barista's boyfriend, I am off  pick up my Little. We somehow make it to and from her house to what's left of the party we were late to.
  
  

• Take Sophie out to the bathroom, slip and fall on my knee. 

• I go out to dinner and the Nutcracker with some girlfriends. After the show I went down the street to a girlfriend's house to check on her cat. I pet the cat, play with him and get in my car to leave. I then proceed to get stuck on her street. Phone call to Sir Sunderland, him and his brother show up to dig/push me out. 
• Sir Sunderland and I get home, with arms full of things I slip, hit the spoiler of my car and land on my butt where I lay on the ground proclaiming, almost in tears "this is the worst day ever."

Snow + Lauren = NOT GOOD

Saturday marked my first official "I hate the snow" day.  Allow me to tell you why:

• Sir Sunderland decides to go skiing today, thus needing my AWD Subaru. I drive to work at 5 am and safely park in the parking lot. Sir Sunderland comes at 9am and switches cars. I then take his Front wheel drive Honda Civic to the bank and post office then park on the street at work. This is where I get stuck. Go back to work, finish my day and head out, in a rush to pick up the Little. 20 minutes later (and late) with the help of a barista's boyfriend, I am off  pick up my Little. We somehow make it to and from her house to what's left of the party we were late to.
  
  

• Take Sophie out to the bathroom, slip and fall on my knee. 

• I go out to dinner and the Nutcracker with some girlfriends. After the show I went down the street to a girlfriend's house to check on her cat. I pet the cat, play with him and get in my car to leave. I then proceed to get stuck on her street. Phone call to Sir Sunderland, him and his brother show up to dig/push me out. 
• Sir Sunderland and I get home, with arms full of things I slip, hit the spoiler of my car and land on my butt where I lay on the ground proclaiming, almost in tears "this is the worst day ever."

Tahoe

*This is an entire post about a trip to Tahoe, without any photos of the Lake*

We wanted to get out of the house over the weekend without breaking the bank. Naturally we headed up to the Lake (Tahoe) with Sophie panting in the back seat. After stopping at the first beach that didn't include risking a $100 parking ticket or a hike, we took our lunch to our favorite part of the lake.
There's a historic site where you can go and walk around the rich people's mansions from back in the day that's right on the beach. Lined with pine trees and sand, it is one of the only dog friendly beaches. Sophie got to ran around with the other dogs while we tried to coax her into the water. We enjoyed our picnic on the beach, put our feet in the water and finished the day imagining how life would be as rich folks with guest cabins, nanny quarters and a tutor on site. Sophie especially enjoyed herself, as Tahoe is pet friendly. When she was barking outside an art gallery as we sipped our beers (it was an art reception, apparently) they invited her in. Her leash wound around a stand for a bajillion dollar statue, while the curator talked about how cute and scruffy she is. Are these people crazy?! We also walked into a store full of figurines, martini glasses, etc. and intended on having Jake stay outside with her while I browsed. That was until the girl behind the register let us know that she could come in and that they're not a "you break it you buy it" type store. Tahoe people are a whole different breed, and that is exactly why it's such a great escape from the heat and non-Tahoe atmosphere down here in the valley.

Tahoe

*This is an entire post about a trip to Tahoe, without any photos of the Lake*

We wanted to get out of the house over the weekend without breaking the bank. Naturally we headed up to the Lake (Tahoe) with Sophie panting in the back seat. After stopping at the first beach that didn't include risking a $100 parking ticket or a hike, we took our lunch to our favorite part of the lake.
There's a historic site where you can go and walk around the rich people's mansions from back in the day that's right on the beach. Lined with pine trees and sand, it is one of the only dog friendly beaches. Sophie got to ran around with the other dogs while we tried to coax her into the water. We enjoyed our picnic on the beach, put our feet in the water and finished the day imagining how life would be as rich folks with guest cabins, nanny quarters and a tutor on site. Sophie especially enjoyed herself, as Tahoe is pet friendly. When she was barking outside an art gallery as we sipped our beers (it was an art reception, apparently) they invited her in. Her leash wound around a stand for a bajillion dollar statue, while the curator talked about how cute and scruffy she is. Are these people crazy?! We also walked into a store full of figurines, martini glasses, etc. and intended on having Jake stay outside with her while I browsed. That was until the girl behind the register let us know that she could come in and that they're not a "you break it you buy it" type store. Tahoe people are a whole different breed, and that is exactly why it's such a great escape from the heat and non-Tahoe atmosphere down here in the valley.

Enjoying Our New Couch

Meanwhile....
Sorry Mom, we just can't keep the adorable things off the couch. I am in the midst of training Sophie to vacuum up her fur, so far not a huge success as she is scared of the vacuum.

Enjoying Our New Couch

Meanwhile....
Sorry Mom, we just can't keep the adorable things off the couch. I am in the midst of training Sophie to vacuum up her fur, so far not a huge success as she is scared of the vacuum.

Still Alive!

Time flew by this week, with little to no time to do much. It was my girlfriend's wedding on Saturday, with celebrations beginning Thursday. A 1pm wedding out in a beautiful meadow in a strapless dress means SUNBURN. I am in some serious pain, but golly was it worth it!
I meant to mention sometime this week to all you concerned dog lovers that Sophie is doing 100% better. She is eating her high fiber dog food which seemed to be the fix for her upset stomach. We discovered she had a weird dietary tract thing after her $350 blood work and xrays. As long as she is feeling better (and not puking all over my carpet).

One Sick Puppy

This is what a sick dog with digestive tract problems who won't eat her new high fiber food looks like. Poor thing, if only she understood that the new food will help her feel better.

Sophie

Tonks & Arthur

Allow me to introduce you to our two bunnies, Tonks & Arthur. The HUGE one is Tonks. We got her when she was half her size and we were unaware of her age. In the first 6 months we had her she sprouted into this monstrous thing and I swear continues to grow by the day. A year later we thought she could use a pal and got Arthur, a dwarf lop bunny. They are litter box trained and hop around our house as if they're cats. They know their names and respond (when they want) when called.
We wanted a pet when we first moved in together and Sir Sunderland is allergic to cats. We couldn't have a dog at the time, so after some research we discovered bunnies were the next best thing. A month later Tonks landed in our laps, free off of Craigslist. We paid for Arthur from a breeder, extra in fact, because he was the cutest of the lot.
They're not your typical pet, but they're awesome! How do they fare with Sophie? Sophie is more afraid of them than they are of her. We were lucky to get a hunting type dog that doesn't eat our bunnies, but for that matter Tonks is half the size of Sophie. We stopped with the pets after we got Arthur, figuring the Sunderland zoo was complete, which it is (for now....).

Our Easter Decorations (Part 2)

Our Easter Decorations (Part 1)

Stomachs of Steel!

Just a quick update to let all those concerned know that Sophie and I are well and healthy. Lesson learned?

• Tofu in hot and sour soup does not go bad and only gets better with time, regardless of what the label says.
• If chicken is half-frozen that means there is no salmonella or
• Sophie is truly what we've always suspected she was.....a garbage receptacle or a robot.

Sophie gets a new dog bed

Sophie, our 4 year old, loveable Craigslist puppy, is what we believe to be some sort of pointer mix. Hunting dogs with high levels of energy that need fields to run around and things to herd. If given the opportunity, she will run for hours, which she did do last summer, resulting in paws rubbed so raw she didn’t walk for a week.

We live in a 2-bedroom apartment, with grassy areas and a large open desert next door. While she has plenty of room to exercise, she is left in the apartment while we are gone, often for hours at a time. This has resulted in numerous incidents, involving Neosporin (apparently she has an acquired taste for it) chalk and not to mention her first vet visit, which resulted in a stomach xray and a $300 bill to let us know she had “garbage gut.” We leave the tv on for her, which works for the most part, but some days I think she just gets a wild hair in her and must do something to avenge us for leaving her alone.

Enter: her dog bed. She has had the same dog bed for a year now, a nice square one from Costco. It is her one piece of furniture she knows belongs to her. The place she goes when she is in trouble, when told to lay down, when tired, etc. One day I suppose she decided she needed a friend to play with, and the dog bed took on just that role. We came home to fluff and stuff spread across the living room. It was salvageable, so it was re-stuffed and given back to her, much like a child’s teddy bar that lost an eye. We continued to come home to unexplainable fluff around the house, which was thrown out, resulting in a less than comfortable dog bed for Sophie. We don’t know what drove her over the edge, but she had enough. I came home to find the dog bed slashed. Clear across the center. Fluff everywhere and this time, it wasn’t going back in. She accompanied me out to the garbage where it went to remain forever.

Jake, always the disciplinarian, was sure to let us both know that she would not be getting a new one. That was until he realized how much of an important fixture that raggedy dog bed had become to our dear Sophie. When told to “go lay down” to get her away from begging at the dinner table, she would mosey over to the place where her dog bed used to be and walk around in circles until finally settling on a rug that was coincidentally closer to the dinner table. She had no place to lie during our family time in the living room, resulting in her trying to squeeze her way onto the couch. After a few weeks of this, we finally brought her back her precious dog bed. An even better one that makes her look like a scruffy princess sitting atop her pillow. Jake still stands strong that if she chews this one up, that’s it, but we all know, she’ll always have her sanctuary even if she does continue to chew them up.