A Girl and Her Dog

copper dog has been with our family for 99% of his eight years, and in that time he's gone from a crazy puppy to a lovable bad dog to a wonderfully good dog.  along the way, he's also become a dear friend to our children, especially olivia. here's a little comparison of olivia and copper over the years.

olivia and copper were big pals from the very beginning. in this first pic, olivia is about 3 months old, and in the second pic, she was around 7 months old.

here, olivia is around 18 months old and is taking advantage of the comfort of her copper pillow

olivia is around 2 and a half here and is loving her copper pillow

i caught this shot this morning.  with his mobility so greatly reduced, copper cannot get into the middle of whatever the kids are doing, so we make it a point to go to him to snuggle, pet, and talk to him.  olivia often reads him stories...always ones about other dogs.  this morning, she was listening to kidz bop on the ipod, and she decided to lay on copper while she enjoyed her tunes.

we're giving copper's new med regime another 5 days before we call his doc back and ask for the big guns. josh built a ramp for copper so he can get from the deck to the yard a little easier, and josh also took the futon mattress off its frame so he could sleep on it (it's been "his" couch since he was big enough to jump onto it.  our goal, though, is for copper to be able to join us in play and take (short) walks with us and just generally have a good quality of life.  

My Closet Purrs

olivia "hiding" in the leaves

olivia in the wheelbarrow

q hiding in the leaves

q "helping" gather the leaves

q waiting to be transported by wheelbarrow

craft supplies! it was sooooo much fun to buy all this stuff, and i can't wait to start getting crafty!

our first crafty project will be to decorate/paint these salt-dough ornaments the kids and i made yesterday.

 josh and the pups cuddling. copper is starting to show some improvement.  the higher dosages/additional meds seem to be working.  i expect his supplements to be here monday/tuesday. here's hoping we can get our boy up and moving comfortably ASAP.

waffle enjoying the view from his kitty climber 

i think sookie is contemplating how to get to waffle.

that little seat waffle is sitting in is like a kitty hammock.  notice his left eye looks irritated...kitty flu seems to be flaring a bit.  he's a little wheezy and his left eye keeps watering, but he's still eating very well and is very playful.  i have my eye on him...he may end up meeting his texas team of vets next week...we'll see.

waffle luuuurrrrvvvvessss the mousey that's attached to his kitty climber. 

the last couple of days have been pretty busy.  jet lag stopped being nice and started kicking our asses.  josh was up at 3 a.m. two mornings in a row.  i was up at 3 a.m. only one morning, but i seem to still be trying to catch up! one good thing about a 3 a.m. wakeup is being able to go grocery shopping EARLY and without kiddos!

yesterday was a super busy day, but i got a TON done since i had an extra five hours in my day.  along with grocery shopping, i also did some baking/cooking, some craft-making, lots of cleaning, some food shopping for a special meal (my friend, taz's butter chicken), some leaf raking, some CAR shopping (we now have a new-to-us kia sedona named ruby), and some socializing.  today has been a little more low key, but i did get some stuff done.  i finally got my u.s. phone back in working order, and i finished up my christmas shopping.

while we haven't been home a whole lot the last two days, we have been home enough to enjoy watching sookie and waffle's relationship continue to grow. i found them chasing one another today, and i have seen them touch noses many times.  waffle is really, really happy...he's 100% back to his spunky, talkative self.  the other day, i finished showering/dressing and walked into my closet to put something away only to notice that my closet was purring. i looked around until i noticed waffle tucked into a dark corner giving me blinky love stares and purring as loudly as he could. my beloved frankus spankus used to do the same thing, though he was more stealthy.  he would tuck himself into a box or a suitcase or under a shelf and then start purring.  i love it when my closet purrs :-)

several weeks before we left hong kong, i started doing some amazon shopping for the kids and josh for christmas, and i also did some shopping for waffle. i found a nearly-eight-foot-tall multi-level kitty climber for less than 60 bucks, so i jumped on it.  it arrived a couple weeks before we got back. we unpacked it and josh assembled it today.  it is AWESOME.  waffle was playing on it before josh was even done putting it together.  josh positioned it so that waffle can sit on the various levels and look outside to watch birds/animals.

Scratching and Fluffing

sookie is really loving having the kids back in her house.  she gleefully plays chase with them, patiently waits for them to turn their heads so she can steal their food, and doles out kisses non-stop. tonight, the kids played a game where they pretty much commanded sookie to kiss them.  she was happy to oblige.

i scratched and fluffed my nest so much today that i am expecting to sprout feathers any minute.

jet lag has really treated us well so far, and the only real change we are seeing is the kids sleeping late while we wake up earlier...josh wakes up before the sun has even thought about coming up while i wake up sometime between sunrise and a half hour earlier than normal.

today, the kids did not wake up until 9/9:30, so i got a bunch of organizing, straightening, and cleaning done while they slept.  i moved a dresser into the room, sorted and folded clothes, rearranged books, and put up a small christmas tree in livie's room before she woke up. all the noise i was making did nothing.  typically, livie's a rather light sleeper...just not with jet lag.

after putzing around for the morning, we had a fun play date with olivia's bestie, and then we took our beloved copper doggie to the vet.  

copper dog has been with us since he was around six weeks old.  he was diagnosed with hip displaysia very early and was on meds by the time he was six months old.  his pain has always been managed with a few twists and turns where we had to change his meds or dosage.  in the last several months, it's become very apparent that copper, now 8, has very severe arthritis in just about every joint.  he has some good days, but he also has a LOT of really bad days.  we have walked him each night we've been home...just a short walk halfway around the block...but for the most part, he's most comfortable laying down.  

today was a very bad day for our copper dog.  his back end kept collapsing, and he got stuck down in the yard...couldn't get up the stairs to get to our deck and back in the house.  i had to lift him into the van.  not that i want my big, furry boy to be in pain, but today was a good day to go to the vet...she could see him at his absolute worst.  we have some new meds, some new dosages for old meds, and some new natural therapies to try.  if these three changes don't help him, we will change another dosage on one of the meds he's been taking long term.  if the combined four changes don't help him, we will move to an injectible pain med.  if those five changes don't work....well, i don't want to consider that option.  we will be building a ramp to help him get down into the yard, and we will continue with his short walks (as per the vet's advice)...and we will lay down on the floor with him to talk to him, play with him, and love on him.

we took copper dog to the vet not only to discuss his arthritis pain, but also to discuss a rapidly-growing tumor on his nethers.  this tumor was not there a month ago when the vet did a house call for him.  the vet drew some material from the tumor and looked at it under a microscope...it currently appears to be benign, but we have instructions to watch it carefully and take him back if it grows rapidly in the next couple weeks.

after our rather sad and stressful afternoon adventures, the kids and i took a snack timeout back home, and then we walked over to pfluger park to play a while before dinner.  jet lag reared its ugly head again after dinner in the form of hyper, punch drunk, not-listening-to-a-damn-thing-i-said kids, so i packed them off for a slightly early bath and bed time.  that turned out to be a wise decision.  q fell asleep with his light blazing in the five minutes it took for me to lure waffle out from under his bed.

Unrequited Love

today was a super busy and fun day.  we started off with a playdate at chik fil a, and then we continued the fun at the franz' house.  after playing and hangin' out for a couple hours, it was time for me to gather up the kids to run a couple errands, but my friend, jeanette, offered to keep them, which was awesome.  i had booked an appointment to take our copper dog into the vet to see about new meds to help him with his arthritis pain.  i got home, packed him up in the van, which is difficult for him because one hip is very, very sore and weak, and then trucked off to the vet...only to find out that i'd booked the appt. for wednesday, not tuesday.  ooops.  jet lag is giving me brain fog :-)  once i got copper home and then ran back out to get the kids, there was just enough time for a quick snack at home before we headed back out for the bug's best friend's birthday party.  both kids had a ball.  it took q a while to warm up because he'd fallen asleep in the van and doesn't wake easily, but once he was awake, he was more than happy to join in all the games and fun with the big kids.

we weren't home a whole lot today, but when we were home, we noticed a new aspect to the relationship between our dog, sookie, and our waffle kitty.  mostly, we noticed that sookie was BEGGING for waffle's attention...she followed him all over the house whining and yipping at him.  he was more than patient with her, but he did swipe at her a couple times because she was being a big pain in the butt.  i am eager for these two to become friends and play with one another, but i hope sookie can ease up and not harass waffle constantly.

waffle snuggin' up on the bug

q looking super cute

waffle getting ready to swat his annoying shadow

copper has barely acknowledged waffle.  he sniffed him when he first met him, and waffle immediately started rubbing his cheeks on copper, but other than that brief interaction and the mousey-dare incident, they have ignored one another.  tonight, as we were preparing to walk the dogs, waffle decided to get into the action and plunked himself in a chair close to where the dogs were standing while we got their leashes on.  waffle reached through the bars on the chair to pat copper on his side.  i would love to know what that little pat meant to waffle...and i'd love to know why copper so studiously ignores his cat brother :-)

The Maytag Man

er...cat.

waffle is a nosey, nosey cat! 

i always need a good reason to sanitize the microwave :-) 

josh thought it was funny to partially close the microwave door on waffle and then call my attention to the fact that my beloved cat was in the microwave.  i did not share his enthusiasm.

as he settles in and becomes more comfortable in the house, waffle is really ramping up his curiosity.  we have found him in the dryer, in the dishwasher, in the microwave, behind the washer and dryer, and with two feet and his head inside the washer.  he, of course, has done all the obligatory exploring...cabinets, top of fridge, bathrooms, bedrooms, and so on.  after looking for several minutes and not finding waffle (and having a small panic attack), josh found waffle sleeping in one of the bathtubs behind the shower curtain.

not only do we have happy/exploration evidence of waffle settling in, but we also have other great evidence...purring.  waffle did not purr for the first 36 hours he was here.  he now thunders whenever we pick him up.  ...playing...waffle played laser tag and catch-the-mouse with me late yesterday and again today.  we had a short period where we were certain sookie had snarfed mousey, but we later found mousey hiding in some shoes. at one point, i threw mousey kinda close to the copper dog, and some sort of unspoken communication passed between waffle and copper.  i think the gist was copper daring waffle to come get the mouse and waffle politely declining :-)

waffle and sookie are sorta becoming pals, but because they both are possessive of me, there have been some minor turf wars (started by sookie).  we react by telling her no and then withholding scratches/lovin's for a few minutes.  i hope she gets it soon....i am sure she will because she and baby kitty were able to share me pretty well.


speaking of baby kitty, i got to see and scrub and love and hug on my sweet marshmallow kitty this afternoon.  the kids and i headed out to elgin to find gabi's house and see the kitty.  with gabi's help, we got there in no time and with no trouble, and we had a great time visiting.  i had to keep shooing the kids away from baby kitty so i could hog her all to myself.  we also met lots of baby kitty's cat and dog friends and generally had a great time petting and admiring all of them.

7700-Mile Journey and Homecoming Recap

kiddos posing with their dinners.  we have been missing grill-cooked food for so long!  it was delicious.  tomorrow, we add the yummy grilled sausage to some gumbo that our friend, lan, brought us.   i can't wait, which is ridiculous considering i am still full from dinner tonight :-)

we left our apartment in hong kong at 8:30 on saturday morning, which was at 6:30 p.m. on friday texas time.

our flight was delayed for an hour due to a passenger becoming too ill to travel, but once we were airborne, things went smoothly and the 13-hour flight actually flew by (har har har). getting waffle onto the plane took just a little extra time, but that process went very smoothly...except that quinn cried his eyes out for almost 10 minutes. he was super sad to not be with waffle and was very worried about him.

our arrival in chicago was also uneventful. we got through customs and immigration in less than five minutes. waffle and one other kitty were waiting in the oversize luggage area. waffle looked scared, but was otherwise doing well. i had to change his bedding because his water spilled all over it, but otherwise he was comfortable. when we tried to check waffle in for the flight from chicago to austin, we learned that the temps had dipped too low for him to be allowed in the vehicles that transport the luggage to the plane, so he got to ride in the cabin with us. we had to get a new soft-sided carrier for him, but other than that, it was super smooth getting him on the plane with us. he even got to sit in a seat next to me because the plane was not full.

while we were in chicago, we got to meet up with the b family, our chicago friends who visited hong kong this past summer. we had a great time catching up with them over some lunch before it was time to board a plane for texas.

when we got home, we found that the dogs DID remember us and were thrilled to see us. we had a great time loving on them and taking them for a short walk. once we got the kids' rooms set up and got them bathed, it was time for lights out. jet lag reared its ugly head with q waking up around 3:45 and taking a while to get back to sleep. the kids did very well being up all day with no naps today; we are hopeful that they will sleep well tonight.

today we spent time unpacking our suitcases and getting a little more settled in. we had a fun little playdate with the franz family, josh put up the christmas tree, and i made an attempt at visiting baby kitty (b-k). b-k's new family lives in elgin. i used google maps to get to her new house, but it turns out that google maps doesn't know squat about elgin. i do not have a working cell phone right now (mine is still locked...has been since i lost it in a taxi in HK), so i drove around and stopped at two different gas stations to ask directions and use a pay phone. no dice. i am hoping to reschedule with b-k's mommy to visit this coming weekend.

this afternoon, i whipped up a couple of our family favorites: pumpkin bread and beer bread, and i did some grocery shopping at HEB. i did find grocery shopping a little bit overwhelming. i have gotten so used to shopping for one meal at a time. as much as i loved looking around the HEB, i think it's going to take me some time to get used to doing big shopping again. 

we are finishing out our first day home with a quick walk with the dogs (and kids in the wagon) and a delicious dinner of elgin smoked sausage on the grill, sweet potato fries, beer bread, and pumpkin bread/coffee with brian and rayo.  

Mills Pond 2010

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**photos by greg benson**