Living longer? I'm all for it!

Mom just read this to me...
Living longer

I'm four!

Its not every day I get woken up by mom singing to me. Seems that on Monday, I was born. Well, not really MONDAY, like, the day, Monday like, September 21, 2005!

We celebrate my birthday twice each year. First on the actual DAY I was born, and then on my 'gotcha-day' which is November 21! Two parties for ME, in one year? Yes, I am TOTALLY my mom's child!

In celebration of my four years that I've been on the earth (sent from Heaven-above, mom assures me!) Mom gave me a paper bag to shred! It wasn't wrapping paper, but maybe I'll get something wrapped for my gotcha-day!

(Mom is slacking and didn't think to upload the photos before writing this...)

Day at the lake

For Labor Day we went up to the lake and I had the best day ev-ah!!

As soon as mom took my leash off I ran into the lake and started splashing around.

Dad's cousin, Micah, and I started playing catch with a tennis ball.

We raced each other to see who could get to the ball faster. I don't know if he was really slow (or if he left me win) but I got it every time!!

I had so much fun splashing, swimming and I even made a new friend!

The next door neighbors daughter had a puggle puppy named Henry!

He was really small (or maybe I'm really big?) I liked playing with him. He had to wear a life jacket in the water though!

Mom never put a life jacket on me, I just had to learn how to stay buoyant!

Only 11 more days until my birthday! September 21 I'll be four years old!!

Mom always sings 'happy birthday' to me, but my REAL birthday is celebrated on November 21 when dad got me for mom!

Tongue-tied Tuesday

I haven't much to say today, so I'll post a photo Dad took of me this weekend.


Being a puggle is tough work and naps are needed regularly.

Yummies!

I have, what some may call, a "sensitive stomach". Through trial and error (lots of smelly error...if you know what I mean) we found out that I have the dog equivalent of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS.

I've always been on special dog food, you know, the kind that we can only buy at the vet's office.

Mom says, its "gold" because of how much it costs...but I just call it food.

After being on the "gold" food for 2+ years, mom thought it was time to find less expensive food. We found Purina ProPlan food that tastes yummy, smells realllllllly good (well, it took mom a while to get used to the smell, but I liked it right away!) and makes me feel good! We buy in bulk.

But, since I'm a single puggle, I don't go through a 20 pound bag of food fast, dad bought a big air tight container to hold the rest of the food.

Mom has a smaller one she keeps in the kitchen to feed me from each day...but this is the goldmine!

Once every few months the goldmine runs low, and mom has to fill it.

Filling the goldmine = happy puggle

When its filled to the tippy-top, mom lets me grab some!

Hmmmm, I love yummies!!


**Mom note***

The 'gold' food we bought from the vet was close to $50 for a 20 pound bag! It was Purina EN dry dog food. (The EN stood for gastrointestinal).

The thought of switching his food, and upsetting his stomach really worried me but after a lot of research, found the Purina ProPlan Sensitive Skin and Stomach formula would be the best switch.

I GRADUALLY introduced it to Jack over the course of about a month.

Started with a few pieces, and he would seriously PICK OUT the new pieces and eat those first, then move on to the rest of the old food. Towards the end of the month, he started to pick out his old food, and not eat it! Hahaha.

He didn't (and hasn't) had any stomach upset since making the switch 5(-ish) months ago. He really looks forward to meal time now...seriously, he'll sit underneath the cabinet his food is in, everyday around 4.30 (dinner isn't served until 5)...I'm soooooooooo thankful to the folks at Purina for making a food that really DOES what its supposed to.

Mom Post

Yesterday the boys went and played golf, which gave my mil and I the day to do whatever we wanted. So, we went scrapbook shopping (with birthday money, of course...I still haven't gotten paid- grrrr) and I found soooo many things that I wanted to use for my summer '09 scrapbook...including TWO of those fat pads of fancy papers...anyway, I got 'em and couldn't believe how nice it felt to spend money on such frivilous things (seriously, I haven't taken home a paycheck in almost 12 weeks!)

Okay, I promise this is going somewhere! haha

So the mil and I go back to her house and we start pulling out what we wanted to scrap. Since we just went to Disney for my birthday, it was an obvious choice...while the mil has been working on our wedding album and stuff.

She pulled out a picture of Thanksgiving '04 and showed it to me. I stopped and stared at it for about 10 minutes. We had gotten Jack just four days BEFORE that picture was taken.

I couldn't believe how small he was! How big he is now. How much has changed in 4 years. And then I realized just how much I DIDN'T know Jack then.

Duh, he was terribly cute, but he and I didn't have a relationship yet, you know? He was just a little baby and we were both learning about each other- who we each were...

It made me wonder how I'm going to react to our kids (you know...when we have one!) Will I know then when they come out? Will I cry when I look at their baby pictures when they are turning 4? The obvious answer is, YES, I'm going to cry over everything with them. I cry and get choked up with Jack...haha. Speaking of which, I cannot believe in November I'll have had my best puppy friend for 4 years! Eeek!

My mil finally brought me back from my daydream cloud when she mentioned that my mouth was open (and had been for 10 minutes- while staring at the photo)...

Anyway, my scrapbook is coming along quite well...I'm going to have to make another scrapbook for Jack (yes, he totally already has one! haha)

Buh-bye Kitty

Every so often I need to remind the animals in our neighborhood that this is MY backyard. And, while I don't mind sharing (actually, I'm really good at sharing) I do not like having visitors in my yard that have not signed the guest book. (And by guest book I mean, check with me first).

Last night, it had just gotten dark outside and I saw a flash of orange. This caught my attention. Then it moved again.

me: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM- Lemme outside! Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooof
mom: (Thinking I was hurt) Jack, are you okay?

And then she saw what I saw. An orange tabby cat.

mom: Go get 'em buddy!

With that she opened the screen door and off I went.

Around the first curve of the burn barrel, in and out of the trees, made my way around to the corner and I was so close to the fluffy orange beast I almost caught it, but I didn't.

After the cat reached a dead-end in the corner, it ran the other way, right under the fence and right UP a tree.

mom: GOOD JOB JACK!
me: But I can still smell it! Where'd it go?!
mom: Look buddy, up in the tree!

All this noise got the attention of our next door neighbor dogs, two labs. If the cat wasn't so lame, it would have realized the tree it was digging its claws into was right ABOVE the labs.

I had a good laugh, peed and came inside where dad gave me a cookie for enforcing the rules. You either sign the guest book- or get kicked out!