Forest's First Birthday! Kind of…

Let me be clear from the start: I did not technically forget Forest's birthday. I knew our doggy's birthday was on Sunday, May 30th. The three-day holiday simply confounded my already lame sense of time. Yesterday I thought it was Saturday; and for a few hours this morning, I thought it was Sunday. So I kind of, sort of skipped right over his birthday without officially celebrating it. Whoops :(

If Forest was a child, this would probably be pretty traumatizing for him.  But luckily, Forest is an adorable dog with no sense of time.

I took this photo on Saturday, completely oblivious that it would be one of the last pictures ever taken of Forest as a puppy. (But just a FYI for you readers out there:  Forest will always be my little puppy, no matter how old he gets, so I will continue to refer to him as such).

So, yeah, happy birthday Forest!

Forest's First Birthday! Kind of…

Doggy Bed

Well crap, I haven't posted in two weeks. Sorry folks, but it's been freaking busy around here. Nick has a new work schedule so I'm now Forest's personal chauffer. Every morning I drop the puppy off at doggy day-care and then pick him up after work. Add that to my daily commute and I'm spending 1.5 to 2 hours in the car every weekday.  Yes, yuck. I've considered not taking Forest to doggy day-care at all, but that would mean locking him up in a crate for over 10 hours a day. Not only does that sound like a very unpleasant day for the puppy, it's also unlikely he'll actually last that long (as I unfortunately experienced when I tried to sleep in one weekend).

Further complicating our situation:

a) Things are a tad hectic at the office right now so I need to work longer hours.

b) The typical summer social events have quickly filled up our schedule; consequently, we don't have a completely free weekend until mid-August.  

c) I'm maintaining three To Do lists. I have the normal Things To Do list, like buy more dog food. Then there's the Things That Really Should Have Been Done Already list, such as register and implant an identity chip for Forest.  And finally the Holy Shit I Can't Believe We Still Haven't Done This list, which luckily doesn't contain any doggy related items (but contains other embarrassing tasks like "buy wedding gifts for the three weddings we've already attend this year." I promise people, those gifts are coming. Not to throw out lame excuses but we've been out of town a lot lately and I easily lose track of time. But yes, I understand that we still suck.)

Fortunately, even with all of this other crap going on in our lives, we still find time to spoil the puppy :) For example, we finally bought Forest his own bed.

Yay, puppy bed!

Forest loves to prop his head up on pillows and blankets, so we picked a bed with rigid sides.

Before we bought the bed, I made sure it was washer-friendly. Some dog beds just have a removable cover or can't be washed at all, but we can stick this entire bed into the washer AND dryer.

I've already washed it once to get all the pet store cooties off it, but if Forest keeps slobbering all over his toys in bed, it's going to need another wash soon.

Doesn't Forest look like a sad, old dog in this photo? He really needed a haircut, and it might have been a little too early for him…

"Um, it's 5:30 in the morning. Give the camera a rest, crazy lady."

Doggy Bed

A Plethora of Pillows

Forest is such a pillow hog.

A Plethora of Pillows

Live From the Kitchen - Squeaky Hippo!

How many squeaks could the Squeaky Hippo squeak if the Squeaky Hippo was unfortunately taken out of hiding instead of being frozen like an icicle, burned to a sticky puddle, fed to a pack of Dobermans, buried in the foundation, or cut into small pieces? A lot.

For those of you who don't think this is incredibly annoying, imagine trying to watch Fringe during this ruckus. Dang puppy.

Live From the Kitchen - Squeaky Hippo!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have a crappy sense of time; close friends and family might even say it's non-existent. For example, I routinely forget what day of the week it is. A "quick" grocery run usually lasts 30 minutes. Last time someone asked me how old I was, I actually had to pause for a moment and think about it. If I tell Nick I'll be ready to go in 5 minutes, he always asks "Is that in real time or Calli time?"

So when I published my last post on Friday, my brain didn't comprehend that Mother's Day was just two days away, making Sunday the perfect day to admit that I refer to myself as Forest's Mommy. And when I finally started working on a real Mother's Day post, I didn't give myself enough time to actually post it on Mother's Day. Sigh. Good thing Forest has no sense of time either.

So in delayed celebration of Mother's Day, here are some pics of Forest's grandmothers and aunt (yes, we have extended our lame reference to include immediate family members. Luckily they find it adorable…or now are a little scared of us and just acting like it's adorable as to not upset the crazy dog couple).

Nick's mom holding little baby Forest.

This photo was taken almost a year ago during the 4^th of July holiday when Nick's family met Forest for the first time I had the fantastic idea to keep Forest a secret until that weekend so he would be a surprise. I am not smart.

My family right before a yummy Thanksgiving dinner (including Dad because I thought it would be weird to cut him out of a family photo, so Happy Mother's Day Poppo!).

My beautiful mother is on the far left and my sister (mother of Leo – see here and here for more) is in the middle holding Forest. The photo is a little blurry because Forest thought this was the perfect moment to give my sister a quick kiss. That's a sly puppy right there.

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there!

Happy Mother's Day!

Really wish we'd remember not to do this in public...

I don't have a clear recollection of how this happened, but I think it started out as a joke. Baby Forest was so similar to a real human baby (no bladder control, threw up regularly, odd eating schedule, kept us up all night, needed constant attention) that Nick and I started referring to each other as his Daddy and Mommy. Yes, I am aware that this is totally lame, but unfortunately it's now habit.

Meet Forest's Daddy:

This is one of the most adorable photos I've ever taken of our puppy. The breeder had turned Forest over to us that morning so we had been puppy owners for maybe one hour. Forest was a tad apprehensive of us and his new surroundings. At one point Nick gently picked him up and cradled the little dog in his arms. Forest rolled those perfect puppy-dog eyes up at Nick, as if inquiring "Are you going to be my new daddy?"

And Forest's Mommy:

A little while ago I posted this photo as my profile picture on Facebook. I could have used the full photo but decided to crop out Forest's nether-regions. Really didn't want people thinking of puppy junk when they saw my Facebook posts. 

Really wish we'd remember not to do this in public...

Fuzzy Photo of the Day

A fuzzy photo from the past…baby Forest getting one of his first tummy rubs from Nick. Cue the "awwwwwwww"s.

Fuzzy Photo of the Day

Forest, the Ungrateful Puppy

Nick and I spent a couple thousand bucks building a fence in the backyard for our little puppy (which is crazy right? that money would have been much happier spent at a bar). We envisioned Forest romping around the backyard, pooping wherever and whenever he wanted. We imagined freedom, if only for a few minutes a day. We love Forest, but he's technically still a puppy with daily spurts of ADHD craziness that can get wearisome. We discussed how wonderful it would be if Forest could exert that energy outside, away from wood floors and Squeaky Hippo. So we saved our money, researched fences, called for estimates, paid for a land survey and finally hired a company to build a fence in our backyard. We were convinced Forest would LOVE it.

Instead, we have a very confused puppy.

This looks like a puppy who wants to go outside, right? Maybe roll around in the grass or take a dump. I mean, this is a puppy who's got options.

But no. Forest only wants to go outside if we're going outside. If I don't accompany him, Forest will just sit by the door, looking all pathetic.

The first time this happened, I figured it was just withdrawal. Nick or I have always escorted Forest outside, so either our puppy was lonely or thought he was going to get in trouble. But the emotional tether this puppy has to us must be constructed out of steel.

Side rant: We live in a split-level house so the kitchen is on the second floor and leads out onto the back porch with a staircase down to the lawn. Our house is kinda on a hill, so the porch is pretty high up. It actually has one set of stairs, then a landing, then another set of stairs to the lawn. When we first bought the house, the porch didn't have any stairs. How stupid is that? We had to pay extra money to build stairs so we could access the backyard from our back porch! Total scam :(

So if I relent and walk out onto the porch, Forest will venture to the top of the stairs and then wait. If I walk to the top of the stairs and he's feeling adventurous, he might go down to the landing by himself, but most of the time Forest won't stray more than a few feet from me. I literally have to guide him down both sets of stairs and stand on the grass before he'll play in the backyard. This is totally NOT what we had in mind when we paid extensive amounts of moolah for a fence.

Action shot of Forest butting his nose against the screen door trying to get inside. This is equivalent to a high-tech force field for him.

I've tried shutting the back door and ignoring him, but he'll just whimper and scratch at the glass. One time I left Forest out there for 20 minutes and hid in another room, but he still just moped around the door. Anybody have any ideas on how to acclimate Forest to his new freedom? Or did we wait too long to build a fence and are forever stuck with a clingy puppy?

Forest, the Ungrateful Puppy

Fuzzy Photo of the Day

Now that the snow has melted, you can clearly see the spots on our front lawn where Forest habitually relived himself during the winter months. Perhaps peeing on the driveway wasn't such a bad habit after all…

Fuzzy Photo of the Day