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.

Not sure I like this 'food'...

She had exciting baby rice as part of her dinner – well, it was exciting for her. I took a taste and it was pretty bad. She managed about a tablespoon of very runny rice but did really well, without making a big mess like I expected.

Her Jolly Jumper is probably the best $25 we’ve spent. Got it off Trademe and it was such a good deal because it’s almost new (can’t even tell it’s been used) and she lovvvves it! I had to take a video of her jumping in it – she has the hiccups and she’s slipping around a bit on the wooden floors, then Fez comes along for a sniff which distracts her until he leaves, then she’s back to jumping before stopping to taste the harness straps.

Abby and cousin Bridget

Abby’s been out and about a bit lately including the second PIN catch up where she got to play with some other tiny people. I even managed a solo-parent shopping trip to get supplies for my paintings.

Playing on the mat

As for me, my breast milk has dried up so no more expressing – yay! It’s weird not having big boobs anymore, but it’s good.

Abby in her carseat

However I’ve been feeling a bit off lately. Tummy’s been playing up and feeling a bit nauseous … I am hoping that I’m just run down, or it’s a tummy bug, or it’s just my body readjusting back to what it used to be, before all those hormones related to pregnancy and breastfeeding. Does that sound right? I hope that’s all it is!

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

Someone called just after 6 this morning saying they spotted him down the road. He took off and was heading towards the bus tunnel (yikes) she said, but luckily didn’t go through it. The hubby picked him up after about 40 minutes of searching. He was pretty scared. In fact he was backing away when the hubby tried to approach him. But at least he’s unhurt. He’s back to normal puppy mode now and having a snooze after gorging on some dog food.

We have closed the basement door so he can’t get through that gap again. It’s usually closed but we had overlooked that yesterday. It’s hard owning a small dog because you underestimate the gaps they can fit through. I’ve put his collar back on with his name and our number written in permanent ink just in case.

Whew! He doesn’t know how much we have worried about him but he’s very happy to be home.

Now I can go back to worrying about when this baby is going to come!

Fez curled up, safely back at home

He is microchipped and registered, but my baby brain forgot to put his collar on when I went out today. I hope he’s not hurt, and if someone has picked him up I hope they take him to the pound or the SPCA.

If anyone has seen this little pup wandering around Wellington eastern suburbs, please let us know!

He needs his parents! :(

Lost: Fez our puppy

I don’t know about tigers but I bet my puppy dreams of jumping on the bed, chewing everything in sight and doing wees and poos wherever he likes, without being told off. His paws often twitch so he must dream of rampaging around. I think I would too if I was a puppy.

But woe is he because he is our puppy and we like to keep him disciplined. Dogs must think that all humans are bipolar. “Good boy” one minute, then “NO! Naughty boy!” the next. If it weren’t for being mean we’d have more than a couple chewed cables and the occasional accident on the floor.

Fez is a kiwi dog – he chewed the face off his kangaroo, and getting hard into his koala bear. It’s not our fault the giant $2 bag of toys from the Sallies has all these Aussie toys in them!

Fez chooses his first victim

Another victim

This little sad pup wanted to be comforted so we had him sleep with us on our bed – what a treat for him!

He didn’t want to be at the foot and insisted snuggling up next to me, breathing his puppy breath on my neck. I let him stay there until he fell asleep and then pushed him further down so I could get some sleep too.

It was heart wrenching seeing him in pain and not being able to do anything about it but comfort him.

I also had to get up twice to take him outside to go toilet. His satellite dish doesn’t fit through the doggy door and the knowledge of having to take him out kept me awake.

I was *very* tired this morning, so lucky for me that I had the day off.

Here’s to all the mothers out there who have done such a good job raising us.

Today he was neutered, had his double dew claws removed and a microchip implanted.  Not only is he a eunuch now, he’s a crippled eunuch labelled with a number.

He seemed fine when we picked him up, but the drugs must have worn out because he is one sore little pup. He has to wear his satellite dish because he was making his stitches bleed. He’s a bit of a sorry sight but still so cute, especially with blue bandages on his feet.

I am taking a day off tomorrow to take care of him and make sure he’s not doing any more damage to himself. Yay – no work! I love my puppy – my sorry little puppy.

A sorry little sight