how to love a doggy

This past weekend, we lost one of my favorite little buddies.  Our dog, Scout, passed away on Saturday afternoon.  It was random, sudden, and totally shocking.  He was only 22 months old (for those of you not so quick in math, that's just shy of 2 years old...almost 14 in dog years...way too young).  We are so, so sad.

If you have known me for long, you have seen my transition into the world of dog-lovers.  Well, to be more specific, Scout-lover.  While I am much softer towards all animals, Scout had found a way to make me really love him (when I formerly had no interest in loving an animal).

We invested in him.  We trained him.  We spent countless hours trying to teach him not to eat dad's socks, where to go to the bathroom, and how to love on the new baby we were bringing home.  And due to the nature of my work environment, I took Scout with me.  So we spent our days together.  How could I not grow to love him?  

I am not comparing our loss to the loss of an actual human, but there are certainly parallels that exist.  Scout was loyal.  Perhaps more so than many people that we know.  He frustrated me to no end some days, and yet he taught me how to extend grace at the end of it (children, anyone?).  Being dog owners taught Jamie and me about sacrificing for others.  Being more responsible.  Planning ahead.  He was my sanity and sense of normal when we brought Hammond home and nothing was normal.  I came to find joy in watching Scout do things that made him come alive - swimming, hiking, running, playing with other dogs.  

Scout swimming after tennis balls last weekend in NC

Scout was a part of our family, and without him here there is a piece missing.  We are going to miss him so much.  But we are also so thankful for a happy, smiley baby boy to help us keep things in perspective and to give us laughter and smiles in the midst of our sadness.  I know he will miss his buddy, but I'm also grateful that he still has such a child-like mind (and memory!).

You may call me crazy, and you may not understand - he was just a dog.  Trust me, I've been there before.  But, I'll leave you with one last thought - Scout taught us how to have a greater ability to love.  And that can never be a bad thing.  

Congrats Kelly + JP!

 This past weekend we celebrated the engagement of Jamie's sister, Kelly, and her boyfriend, JP!  Pictures of the event to come, but first, Hammond and Scout knew they wouldn't be able to make it to Barnsley Gardens to celebrate...and they wanted to find a way to say congrats.  

After all of these attempts (and many more not pictured), we decided to go with this one...

Lots of fun to come in these next few months!!

let me tell you 'bout my best friend...

Do you remember that song, by Harry Nilsson, called Best Friend?  You know...People let me tell you 'bout my best friend.  If you're having trouble recollecting, here's a video to help jog your memory.  

Now that we've got that out of the way, that song is constantly stuck in my head these days.  You want to know why?  Because we have so many of these moments...

It's pretty entertaining watching them look at and interact with each other.  They are such good buds.  Hammond laughs so hard at Scout, sometimes just when he looks at him.  And, if you couldn't tell, Scout is always close by wherever Hammond is.  (I think part of this is so that he doesn't miss an opportunity to lick up his spit up...gross, yes, but efficient too. :)

There are definitely days where it might be a little easier without a dog to worry about.  But, more often than those days are the ones when I can't imagine life without Scout!  And I think these two are going to be two peas in a pod as they grow over the years.  Lots of fun to come!

happy birthday, scout!!

Yesterday, this little guy turned 1!  We celebrated by bringing him to my office for the day (he's usually a Tues/Thurs only dog), which is one of his favorite places.  He gets spoiled with love and attention, and of course it gets him out of the house for the day.  Then, we had a little dog play date in our big back room with some of the other dogs...another of his favorites.  Finally, we ended the night with a big ole' dog bone. Oh yeah, and I made him take this picture with a birthday hat on. :)

As Jamie said, "you're doing this all for yourself" (which isn't entirely true), but of course, Scout had no idea what was going on yesterday.  He doesn't know he turned 1, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate, right?!

Scout, it's been an adventure having you as a dog for the past 8 months!  But, I'd say Jamie and I have learned a lot that will prepare us for parenthood.  And of course, we love you more than we had ever imagined!  Plus, you're the cutest little guy I know.  (And somehow you turned me into a dog lover...obviously!...which is a feat in itself!)

big brother

Between the new shock collar (have I told y'all about this?  we now have a collar w/ a remote so that we can shock him when we need to...from far away...like when he's digging in the yard and we're inside or trying to eat something he shouldn't...sounds awful but it works wonders!  anyhow, between that) and the fact that there's been lots going on in the soon-to-be nursery, I'm afraid our little Scout is having quite a bit of anxiety.

Since we've been doing lots of work in the nursery, and then we brought home lots of new things from the shower this weekend and laid them out in there, Scout has been acting so weird.  He'll walk into the room and smell everything (which is better than him trying to eat it all!), and then walk out and plop down outside the door.  This is not a normal spot for him to land, so it's been kind of funny.  Example below...

this was him last night...nursery is on the right 

and later on in the night, I found him here...halfway in,

halfway out....just staring

(oh, and here's a glimpse of the nursery!  once we get a few

more things completed, i'll do a post on it...soon!)

Really makes me wonder if he knows that something's up.  And how in the world he's going to respond when one day we leave the house and come home with a baby!!  

Or maybe he knows that he's turning 1 YEAR OLD tomorrow?!  He'll be joining me at work, and we may or may not have a little birthday party planned.  

Either way, I do love this little guy.  And am still convinced he's going to be a great big brother!  

and while i was out...

...I got this text from Jamie.

Hi mom...dad let me out and I went straight for the mud.

Happy New Years Eve

We're concluding one of the most amazing weeks yet with a super relaxed NYE.  We definitely debated on whether or not we needed to take advantage of the last year we can go out without worrying about a babysitter.  But, in the end, we just decided that after a full day, we'd make a night of it...at home.  

This morning we took Scout to a park on the Chattahoochee, where he could run around and chase after sticks into the water.  It was a beautiful day, and he had a ball.  

I love this photo.  Man + his dog + nature.

After treating ourselves to a really yummy home cooked dinner (I'm talking filets, veggies, and cheesecake for dessert), we realized that we couldn't find our dog.  Want to know where he'd snuck off to?  

This is underneath our bed.  He'd seen me cleaning out and organizing under there this week, and I guess he decided it'd be a nice place to hang.  He's been acting slightly odd this week...maybe he really does know there's a baby on the way? 

after I'd cleared some of the clutter to try to woo him out

And now, this is what we're doing...cheering on the Auburn Tigers in our pj's.  

And I'm pretty confident the below photo will be an accurate portrayal of us before 11pm.  

actual photo taken last night at 10:30pm :)

Wow...guess this means we are officially old.  Oh well...Happy New Year!  I have a hunch 2012 is going to be our best one yet. :)

Scout at the beach

Over Thanksgiving, we got the chance to take Scout to Charleston with us.  And he got to experience the ocean for the first time!  It was so fun to watch him...he had a ball.  As I'm sure you're all dying to see some, below are some photos of Scout on the beach. 

And yes, I just posted a whole lot of pictures of my dog....like he's my first born.  What has happened to me?!  I've totally turned into a dog lover.

jowlin'

So, this might be slightly embarrassing...

But, in the spirit of sending off one of my favorite photographing co-workers, David Naugle, thought I'd share a few photos he took yesterday.  [Sidenote: Somehow I became the random stand in for various photo shoots around the office.  One day I went through all the photos DN has taken of me and sent them to Jamie, one email at a time, for a good laugh.  They are hilarious.]

I digress.  Ever heard of jowlin'?  It came around before planking.  You know that face your dog makes when he shakes his head back and forth...the way his lips go all out of control all over the place....that's kind of the idea.  In fact, here's a whole website devoted to Jowlers.  

Official Urban Dictionary definition:

The violent shaking of one's head side-to-side in order to obtain a photograph of one's face distorted from the intense side-to-side motion.

Pretty sure Naugle has photographed most of the company jowling (and if a video comes my way, I'll be sure to post), but for now, here are a few of my favorite lovely shots.  

And then, just for fun, he took some photos of me and Scout.  

I'm sure going to miss having a professional photographer around all the time.