He comes home with us tomorrow!

Rough 48 hours in the McAuley Household

We realize now that Lady has probably been holding on for Shadow's sake for years. I mean, the girl is 18 years old for pete's sake.  I'm guessing she sensed that Shadow was sick and wasn't confused at all when he was gone, she knew.  She was having a rough time of it anyway, but immediately stopped eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom once he was gone.  She just crashed.  Matt put off the inevitable for as long as he could, but it was just time. So about 24 hours after Shadow was gone, we headed back to the vet, it was heartbreaking.

I find it quite poetic that they went at the same time, and as hard as the last couple of days have been, I'm glad they went basically together, it's as it should be.  Lady, you were one hell of a dog.  You will be the dog that all other dogs need to measure up to. You took care of my husband for 18  years, it's time to let someone take care of you.  Love you Lady-Bird

Sweet Shadow

Shadow was acting a little funny so Matt took him to the vet.  The poor thing was full of cancer and probably in quite a bit of pain.  We went in the next morning to relieve him of his misery.  It was very sudden.  His mom is Lady, she is our other dog and she is 18.  We never dreamed we'd lose Shadow before we lost Lady. So we spent the night spoiling him with sausage and eggs and let him stay on the couch (usually a big no-no).  He got lots of love, and if you have ever met Shadow, that's all he ever wanted *nudge*, *nudge* PET ME *nudge*, *nudge* LOVE ME

My poor husband is very upset.  He basically held him from the diagnosis until the next morning.  Shadow is Matt's best good friend.  And although he could be a pain and ate all my socks...he was a sweet and very good dog.  Our house is going to be so weird without him.  You will be terribly missed good buddy!

Dudley

My sister finally got a dog!!  She found one online that was literally 5 minutes from my house, so she made the trek from Des Moines down to Kansas City to pick him up.

I took about 30 pictures- all blurry.  Between a pup and a toddler, my chances of a sharp picture were nill

He is such a sweet dog, such a snuggler.  Charlie LOVED him

He just kept hugging him and hugging him and hugging him.  Dudders was a great sport about it

Such a sweet dog, he's lucky I let Melinda leave with him

This dog just won the lottery.  These girls are going to love him!

Bridgette's Homecoming

B had homecoming last weekend.  We were out of town for it, but we got this sweet, sweet picture of her and her dog Fred.  I am in love with this picture

Fred

Bridgette got a dog of her very own.  My feelings about a 17 year old getting a dog aside, he is truly a sweet, good dog.  He comes over when she does.  I told her it's $5/hr for us to watch him, but he's pretty easy and already well trained.  He's not quite a year old already, so at least he's not a puppy!

Shadow and Charlie

Our dog Shadow is struggling with some arthritis. It is getting better and he is on lots of doggy drugs, but it's just hard for him to get around.

We've had problems with him going to the bathroom on the patio. I think the unevenness of the yard hurts his leg. It's annoying, but it's not his fault. We've gotten him to go right off the patio in the yard. It's not ideal, but it's in the grass. We still have some patio issues, but he's trying.

Charlie has just started tormenting these old dogs. He runs after them and as soon as they get comfortable, he's all over them.

Well, Shadow went out in the yard, right off the patio and lifted his leg and Charlie walked right into it. Dog urine...all over my kid. One of those glamorous, parent-of-the-year moments. He looked at me covered in dog pee and shook his head and waved his arms like 'what is this all over me?' Well Charlie, stop tormenting the dogs!! So, I dragged him inside and washed him off, changed his clothes, washed his shoes which took the brunt of the hit and played in the living room for the rest of the night.

Our nightly routine is that Charlie gets fed, we grab some water and head out to the back to play and let the dogs out. I sit on a deck chair or pull him in his wagon. We play with the dogs and check out the strawberry patch and the birdfeeder.

The very next day after the first incident, we let the dogs out. I stepped back inside to grab something from the laundry room and Shadow didn't make it off the patio, he must have been dying. I come out and Charlie is playing in it like it was a puddle.  Slapping his hands in it to see it splash, kneeling in it and all.  I FREAK and pull him out of it.  I get the hose out to get a quick wash down just to get it off of him immediately and proceed to hose down the patio.  Well, Charlie wanted to play with the hose and I figured, the kids been covered in dog pee for two days straight, what the heck.  It was warm, so I let him soak himself with the hose before taking him for a formal disinfecting. 

We'll laugh at these moments in the future right???


You can see how the front of him is soaked...

 


while the back is completely dry



I would like to say that our patio doesn't always look like this, but it always looks like this.  I line the chairs up and stack his toys away and the very next day, Charlie has rearranged the entire thing.  'it's not messy, my kids are making memories' right Pinterest?

This one is funny because I was playing with the water pressure. He knew I had something to do with it, but just couldn't figure it out

And while we in our back yard, check out the rose bush!  When they start to die, Matt clips them and seriously, the next day, there are 20 blooms to replace them.  Just beautiful.  Bridgette and I have been waking up to roses on our side tables, what a great way to wake up

Good Dog Shadow

Shadow is so tolerant of Charlie

We are trying to teach Charlie how to stay to his back, he was a little obsessed with Shadow's face.  He can't be allowed to touch dog's faces - that's how he could get bit (speaking from experience!)

And one of Lady for good measure.  Lady is kind to Charlie, she wouldn't hurt him, but he comes in the room and Lady is like 'I'm outta here, I'm too old for this crap'

Playing with the Dogs

Trying to keep up

Charlie and Lady

Charlie and Shadow

Uh-Oh... Charlie figured out how to get out of eating his chickpeas

Spring is here, baby is on the move

Lilacs!

It's already turning pink, which means it's all going to go away too quickly, you can see the deeper pink it was the first day below....

Oh and this is Lady, she's old and stubborn, but pretty much the sweetest dog ever

After such a rough winter, spring was a very welcome occasion down here. We have a ton of lilacs that line the back corner of our house, they are in full bloom. If you turn on the attic fan, our whole house fills with the smell of lilacs. It's heavenly. The giant crab-apple in the back corner is pure pink and is gorgeous. For whatever the house lacks, the back yard makes up for. I love our back yard.

Milestone on the baby front- two days ago I saw the baby move through my stomach. I think I could have seen it before, but could never catch it in time. I actually teared up a little. It was so amazing. For all the crap that your body goes through while pregnant, I can never be in a bad mood when he's swimming around in there, even when he kicks a too hard. It's just the most awesome and totally bizarre feeling. I even poked at him and he kicked back at me!

Had my 2nd round of blood work yesterday. The lab place was packed and the tech was all flustered. I'm not so good with the needles, so let me tell you how excited I was that the lady about to stab me with a needle seemed out of sorts. It wasn't bad though, it never is as bad as I think it's going to be. I thought I'd be giving a lot more blood than I have, so being 6 months and only giving blood twice, I'm ahead of the game.

I have another ultrasound next Friday, then the appointments go to every two weeks. I've been in slight denial, but that statement from the doctor was a little reality check that this baby is coming. I'm trying to enjoy my down time, my couch time, my sleep, well, really, my freedom, while it lasts. Wow, that was a lot of commas, cousin Kate probably just had a grammar heart attack.

Sam Attacking the door stopper