Eggshell Green

My dog looks like a chicken

When Fez lies on his tummy and spreads his back legs, they look like drum sticks and he looks just like one of those spatchcocked chickens.

Here’s a picture from when Abby was a baby. The two of them were coincidentally both lying on their tummies playing with their toys. How cute!

Pretending to be a human baby

Tags: baby, fez

We have strange pets

Our dog Fez, possibly the most pathetic dog in the world, had an extra two toes (dew claws) on each of his hind legs when he was born. Not only that, he’s one of those dogs that likes lying on his tummy with his legs spread out like a split chicken.

Fez as a puppy lying on his tum

Spatch cocked doggy

Look at those drums

The hubby’s mum has a boy dog called Max. They also have a girl dog called Petals. Petals likes to hump Max – backwards. She’s giving him a back massage, they say.

I don't think this is gonna work out

And then there’s Floss, my sister-in-law’s dog. She also likes to hump – but she likes to hump their boy cat! They really seem to enjoy it despite a bit of hostility at the end…

What’s the point of having pets if you can’t laugh at them huh!

Tags: animals, fez, pets

Happy Tiring New Year

Welcome to 2011. Wow, another year gone huh. And I’m tired. Are you tired? It’s funny how all this holidaying and doing nothing makes you tired. The weather probably has something to do with that too.

Hands up everyone! Abby and her cousins.

We spent our Christmas in Palmerston North this year visiting the husband’s family there. It was a busy day, leaving Wellington in the morning, arriving in Palmie two hours later for a Christmas lunch at the mother-in-law’s, then over to the father-in-law’s for dinner. I ate way too much food and suffered indigestion so didn’t get much sleep that night (I should’ve learnt from my last pregnancy) . And then Abby decided to wake up with the sunrise at 5am the next day. That’s what happens when you don’t have curtains!

Fez after too many festivities

We then spent several nights with the sister-in-law, and ate and ate some more. Fez had a great time playing with the other dogs, and his mum Floss.

Abby had fun meeting lots of different animals. She got to touch alpacas, horses, some new cats and dogs, and met a budgie. She even got to sit on a miniature horse but didn’t like that at all!

Meeting some miniature horses

Oh hai

During the week we were away, Abby decided that it was time to walk more on her own. It’s still a bit strange seeing my baby walking whenever she pleases. She still needs to pull herself up on something to get on her feet, but it won’t be long before she’s completely independent with her walking. And it won’t be long before there’s two of them to run after! Good lord, she’s already wearing me out and I’ve even had lots of sleep-ins lately. I better enjoy the two weeks the hubby has left off work before I won’t have the time to!

Tags: animals, baby, Christmas, farm, fez

A bit about Fez

Fez is our little dog.

His mum Floss is a stumpy smooth Jack Russell; his dad is a Huntaway-Border Collie cross who jumped the fence for some sexy time. I should also mention his dad has only three legs – what a champ.

We got Fez at Easter in 2009, when he was about two months old. He was the runt of the litter, and has two bigger brothers. All three pups had extra toes on their hind legs. Fez had his removed for safety reasons at the same time his other bits were.

Look that head, and those ears, and puppy dog eyes!

I fell in love with his dopey big head when I first saw him. He’s dopey alright – he’ll turn around and bump his head on doorways. Or he’ll walk too close to you and you knee him in the head. Good thing he’s got a thick protective skull :) I also fell in love with his gentle nature, happy to be held and never snapped like the other pups. He’s not at all a yappy dog either (unlike the one the next door neighbour’s landlord owns).

He’s a smart little dog – dopey, but smart if that makes sense. He knows at least 16 commands: sit, lie down, up, off, jump, no, come, wait, ok , fetch, stay, inside, out (of my way), outside (of the house), on your mat… He also obeys (most of the time) other commands like “where’s your ball” if we want him to go get a toy to play fetch with, and “not now” when we don’t want to play, and “shake” to get off excess water after a bath.

Visiting his mum, when he was 10 weeks and still small

Fez is an excitable dog. He rushes to greet visitors, always happy to see new people who might play fetch with him. He’s forever wanting to play fetch, and also good at making puppy dog eyes if you ignore his pleas.

He humpfs and sighs when he’s trying to sleep. He whimpers and twitches as he has doggy dreams. He sometimes snores too, and the lets out the occassional silent stench.

He absolutely hates the vacuum cleaner. Once upon a time he used to chase it around for fun, then he got whacked by it and its been a fear ever since. Funny thing is he still loves the lawn mower, and will follow the hubby around in a spiral as he mows the backyard from the outside in.

Notice the toy that he's dropped at Abby's feet, hoping she'll play fetch too

He’s the best dog we could ask for, especially now we have a baby. He gets a bit jealous of Abby though, but he only wants to be loved too.

He’s now a year and three quarters old, but he’ll always be our puppy.

And I just wanted to share this video to show how awesome dogs are.

Tags: fez, pet, puppy

Abby crawling

For your viewing pleasure – Abby “crawling” as Fez looks on (though he’s more interested in her music box).

Tags: baby, crawling, fez, puppy

Abby Update at 32 Weeks

Abby is now seven months old! Wow, has time flown. I’m due back at work in three months – eek!!

At 30 weeks

• Went on her first plane trip to Auckland. Not so fun when she got tired and had her usual bedtime cry!
• Moves around in her walker in all directions. She only used to be able to roll backwards but she’s all go now.
• Moving onto lumpier solids – gradually.
• Sits up well and can rebalance herself most of the time.
• Can hold her water bottle by the handles and drink by herself in short bursts. She likes to chew on the teat and fling the bottle around though.
• Plays in the bath.
• Shakes her toys.
• Plays with Fez.

Abby's first plane ride

Mmmm tasty dog-chewed rag...

At 31 weeks

• Caught a cold – boo.
• Likes dropping things to watch them fall.
• Bangs her toys to make noise.
• Can “give you five”, but only down low.
• Noms on rusks.
• Sits and happily plays with the toys in her toy box. Still needs cushions around her because she likes to jerk backwards without warning and she has a flat-enough head as it is.
• “Chews” food with her gums.
• Has breakfast and lunch with mum at the table. Her dinner is earlier than ours though so she ends up watching us gobble our food while she has to make do with a rusk.
• First tooth requires brushing. Ridiculous task – how do you make a baby spit out toothpaste? She just eats it. I put water on the brush, lean Abby over the sink and hope gravity does most of the work.

It's all smiles with her rusk

Bouncing in her slippers

At 32 weeks

• Over the worst of her cold, and just needs to blow her nose if only she knew how…
• Might be teething again as the red cheeks have reappeared.
• Has outgrown her 3-6 month clothes and mummy is sad to be putting them away.
• Zooms around in her walker – mind the Fez! (Sorry about the cellphone quality of the video.)

Tags: baby, fez

How to: Make a jumper bed

If you have an old jumper lying around and your dog has outgrown his current bed, you can make a quick bed out of a jumper and a rolled up towel.

It’s easy peasy.

Round off the bottom of the jumper

1. Turn the jumper inside out and round off the bottom of the jumper. You may need to bring the arms together to measure how much you need to cut off the bottom. Sew the cut bottom edges closed.
2. Turn the jumper right side out. Position the arms along the bottom edge of the jumper and stitch the bottom edge of each arm to the base of the jumper.
   

   Attach arms to base, and ends of arms together

3. Stitch the ends of the two arms together.
4. Roll up an old towel and stuff the arms with it to make a raised edge to the bed.
   

   Stuff with a rolled up towel and you're done

5. Put your dog in its new bed. If you’re dog is like Fez, he’ll jump in by himself before you’re even done…

To wash, just remove the towel and chuck it all into the washing machine.

You can also stuff an old cushion, pillow, or folded up blanket into the jumper for an extra cushy bed.

Tags: craf, fez

Abby Update at 6 Weeks

So the magical six weeks has arrived…

In her sixth week Abby got chicken pox and her first lot of jabs – what a lucky girl! She also found out her hands are super tasty and has gone through yet another growth spurt. She is now 5.5 kilos and managed to grow two centimeters in a week – imagine the growing pains!

Abby finds her thumb

My weekly email from Kidspot tells me about a thing called the Arsenic Hour, where young babies are extra fussy in the early evening and only having light sleeps (usually in your arms). Abby had one of those evenings yesterday keeping mummy and daddy busy for about four hours. It didn’t help that she was probably in pain from her immunisation. I tried giving her Pamol and she threw up all over herself. I tried giving her Pamol again after her next feed and she threw up all over herself, me and the bed. I don’t think she likes Pamol.

Getting big and cuddly

Expressing milk is becoming harder as I have to keep adjusting to the increasing volumes that we should be feeding her. I’m going to make an appointment to see a lactation consultant to see why breastfeeding is so traumatic for Abby (she screams as soon as you hold her close to try and breast feed). Sometimes she latches and suckles and I think “Yuss!” but after a few sucks she pulls away and the screaming fit starts. Breastfeeding would be better for the both of us as she’ll get what she needs as soon as she needs it and I save hours each day, and have more sleep, if I don’t have to express.

Abby sleeps as Fez looks on

Fez is extremely good with Abby, as he is with all kids. He’s however beginning to show signs of jealousy such as snuggling up close and getting his face in the action too when we are playing with Abby. At the same time he also seems protective of her and sleeps next to her when she’s on her bouncer, and sometimes sits at the bedroom door when she’s crying as if to say “Do you know she’s crying??”.

This is the last week that the hubby is on holiday. It’s back to work for him next week so I’m not looking forward to being on my own during the day again.

Fingers crossed that by the end of this week she’ll be right as rain and be a good settled baby with a firm routine – yeah right!

Abby at 6 weeks 4 days

Tags: baby, fez, puppy