Puppy Dog pillow

When Cameron was about 18 months old, we thought it was a good enough idea to get a puppy.  (for more on that, go back a few posts)  She quickly decided that he was going to be her best buddy and it was love at first sight.

Fast forward a few months to the Country Cousin restaurant in Chehalis.  We would often meet my parents there for dinner as it's about halfway between Longview and Tacoma.  Country Cousin is one of those types of places that has a little gift shop next to the pull tab machines in the lobby that sells just about everything from homemade jams to Mt. St. Helens snow globes to key chains with your name on them....you get the idea.  On one wall, they have about a 6 foot high bookshelf that's stuffed with just about any animal that you can think of - including most dog breeds.  One night when we were there, Cameron was being a little fussy so my Mom was holding her in the lobby trying to distract her with the stuffed animals.  There were probably about 100 different animals and mixed in there somewhere was one single black lab dog.  Cameron obviously spotted it from a mile away and proceeded to cuddle, kiss, hug, and drool all over it.  Granny decided that there's was no way that Cameron was going home without it.

Well, the rest is history, but Cameron hasn't let that puppy out of her sight in the last two years.  It instantly became a fixture in her crib and when she moved to her "big girl bed" it went right along with her.  The catch is that she really doesn't cuddle with it - it is her pillow!  We've asked her time and time again if she ever wants to use a real pillow, but she won't dare leave "puppy dog pillow" behind.  We've managed to sneak him away a time or two for a trip through the washing machine, but other than that, he doesn't leave her bed.  He's not quite as fluffy as he once was and he smells a little (quite a bit, actually) like drool, but we love him just the same.

I asked her the other night how old she was going to be when she started using a real pillow and she said, "when I'm 23."  Well, I guess that little stuffed dog has a lot of cuddly nights ahead of him!

Pregnancy? Piece of cake....

Talk to any woman that's been pregnant - or a man that's been around a pregnant woman, for that matter - and you'll hear stories upon stories about morning sickness, swollen ankles, endless cravings, and worse.  For those of you with first hand knowledge of things of that sort, don't hate Sara, but she has no idea about any of that.  Even when she was pregnant with Cameron, she never had any morning sickness.  She was plenty tired and was always hungry, but nothing that couldn't be cured with  an early evening nap and a health snack.

As good as that sounds, it's been even better this time around.  Personally, I think it's because she's in tip top shape, but no matter the reason, this pregnancy has been a breeze.  (relatively speaking) She really wasn't crazy tired, hasn't had to keep a bag of pretzels or grapes especially close by, and has even managed to shave her legs from time to time!  Don't get me wrong, she's at 24 weeks now and is starting to get a little uncomfortable now and again, but overall, things are going well.

Most importantly, TBG (Tiny Baby Green) has been healthy and happy from the word go and is kicking and punching her Mother's stomach from the inside as I type.  She's always had strong heart rates, measures out correctly at every appointment, and seems to be on schedule for early February.  It's coming along fast, but it also can't come soon enough.

heartbeat is as strong as ever!

 15 weeks

19 weeks 

22 weeks

Long Lost Hurley Buddy

Many of you probably remember a few posts ago (but almost two years ago in real people time) when I wrote about the newest 4 legged addition to the Green family, Hurley.  Well, Hurley buddy is a 75 pound goofball that wiggled, licked, chased, and played his way into our heart and we love him like none other.  We really think that he's the perfect dog; he's amazing with Cameron and lets her get away with just about anything, he sets an amazing pace when Sara or I take him on runs (and never gets tired - he ran 10 miles with me last weekend!), he's very well behaved at the dog park, and he's just an all around great dog.

Our typical M.O. when we're at work is to put him out in the garage and he can come and go through the dog door as he pleases into our fenced back yard.  For the last two and a half years, this plan has worked flawlessly until last Tuesday.  I came home from work at around 5, walked into the house, and expected to see him staring at me through the back door.  No Hurley.  Okay, I figured, he must be still in the garage.  I walk over and open the door, but still no Hurley.  The panic started to set in as I realized that we didn't loan him to another family, take him to the dry cleaners, or any number of crazy things that I could think of.  I immediately set out on foot walking through the neighborhood.  I was that guy whistling and shouting up and down the street.

Sara came home from swimming lessons with Cameron and we went into rescue mode.  What had happened to Hurley?  Did he jump the 4' fence that he's never even seemed interested in during all of his years?  Did he dig under the fence - no, only the beagles next door do that when they come into our yard.  Would someone try and steal our buddy?

In any case, all we knew was that he was gone and we were devastated.  I drove around the neighborhood until about 10:30 that night and Sara stayed home with Cameron making up excuses about why Dad wasn't home and hoping that she wouldn't ask about her buddy.  On that note, as far as Cameron knew, Daddy was making the longest trip to the store in the history of Safeway.  Luckily, we never had to break the bad news - not that we could have without losing it anyway.  Our neighbors across the street - whom we really only know enough to say hi in the driveway - even jumped in their car and spent a few hours driving around the hood.

Still no luck and no sign of Hurley so I came home and Sara and I concocted every worse-case scenario that we could come up with.  We finally went to bed and planned a big morning of searching and hopefully rescuing.  There was obviously no sleeping going on (Sara was up at 4 and I was up not long after 5) and we quickly decided that I would go to work and Sara would stay home printing and putting up fliers.  About the time that she spent $80 on non-refundable lost dog fliers at Kinkos, the home phone rang and it was a guy saying that he found Hurley!  Any guesses as to where he found him?

At the DOG PARK!

Looking back on it, we think that Hurley was able to push the bottom of the gate open and he somehow made his way 3.5 miles from home to the dog park.  We typically go there a few times a week so I'm sure that he got far enough away from home to realize that he was lost and found his way to another familiar place.  In any case, a nice couple got our phone number off of his tags and gave us a call.

Sara went to pick him up and he came home and slept for about 36 hours straight.  We were a little concerned because he wasn't eating or drinking for the first day and a half that he was home.  We took him into the vet and received a clean, albeit worn out and a little banged up and bruised, bill of health.  Three out of four of his paws were pretty torn up and one of his back "ankles" was a little swollen, but he's on the mend.  He's getting back to his old ways and I think I may even take him for a run tomorrow.

We'll never know exactly what happened to him (it's not that we didn't ask, but he's a dog and can't talk) but we're happy to have him home.  Maybe next time it will be one of the cats that goes missing.  (just kidding)