our first baby.

In June (June 6th, to be exact) of this year we will have had Gus for 6 years! I can't believe he's been a part of our family for that long. Gus was our first baby. We picked him out of 5 male pug puppies and he's been one-of-a-kind ever since that first super hot day he came home with us.

Our first picture of Gus as a puppy.

In August, it will have been 3 years since we adopted Lily from another family. We had high hopes that Gus and Lily would be best friends, but really, Gus just tolerates Lily. Not exactly what we had in mind, but we've been so happy to have 2 precious pugs to come home to, cheer us up and make us laugh!

Since both dogs have been a part of our family for so long, and because we consider them to be our babies, I'm so unsure of how they'll react to the baby when we bring him/her home. In my opinion, Lily won't be as affected by the new addition as Gus will be. 

Lily is a go-with-the-flow kind of dog. She's pretty much always happy and kind of clueless to most everything going on around her. 

Gus is the complete opposite. He's always been the alpha dog but he's definitely noticed that things are changing around here. Starting back in October when his eye was poked, he started having really bad skin issues -- to the point that he would chew on his paw or arm until it bled! And, I started to realize about a month ago that those skin issues were probably triggered by the stress of his eye, but they have continued because he's stressed that things are changing around the house.

 Gus hated this life jacket, but he loves the water and sinks like a rock in the pool.

Not only do I smell different than I used to (thank you hormones), but we moved their crates to another room and the room that they used to live in was completely cleaned out and looks totally different than it ever has. What I think really set him over the edge, though, is that we had to board both dogs for 4 days when we went to Houston. When we picked them up from the vet, Gus was obviously stressed. He had diarrhea and what we thought were hives all over. He was super needy and clingy.

Both J and I have been looking into the best way to prepare our dogs for the baby, and we've found some good advice. But, overall, I'm very nervous how Gus is going to react and how his health will be when the baby actually comes home. 

In the mean time, we continue to tell him that we'll continue to love him and that he's going to be a great big brother (please, feel free to snicker that we're telling our dog these things, but seriously, we have to try something!), but I guess in a little over a month, we'll find out how he does! 

I love this picture of Gus -- our first fur baby!

morning, noon and night.

We went back to the dog opthamologist today and she said his eye is looking much better, but now his poor little skin is so red and irritated {his back left paw was bleeding this morning because he's been chewing on it so much}. We're not sure if maybe he has an allergy to something he's taking or what, but we've added a steroid and another antibiotic to our medication mix.

Here's a glimpse at everything we're having to give Gus. I had to make a chart to keep it all straight!

I really hope that once we get this skin irritation and eye issue under control that Gus will go back to the same frisky pug he's always been -- cause we're missing his hijinks.

odds and ends.

So, you guys know that I've been a little less than enthusiastic about sitting down and putting together a coherent blog post lately. Well, here's my attempt at telling you what's been goin' on with me.

• A little over two weeks ago was OU/Texas {has it really been that long??}. And, it was by far one of the more fun times I've had in Dallas the first weekend in October {or third, or second ... but you get the idea}. Not only did my Sooners pull out the win, but we got to see tons of people and enjoy a little down time -- a rarity on such a crazy weekend.

• In some bad news somewhat connected with OU/Texas, Gus is having eye issues. On Thursday morning {before we hit the road for Dallas} when John was set to take the dogs to the vet, he noticed that Gus' right eye was red and weeping. So, he took him to the vet immediately. We called later and they said he'd be just fine. John picked up the pugs on Monday morning, and Gus had some eye drops we had to give him and we scheduled another appointment for Friday. Cue Friday -- the vet didn't like what he saw, which really freaked me out. We made an appointment with a veterinary opthamalogist {yep, they exist} for Monday and were sent home with several more drops and a salve to keep his eye lubricated. On Monday we met with the opthamalogist and she didn't seem as concerned. She gave us ANOTHER drop and an antibiotic and we're going back to see her tomorrow. The worst part about it is that some of the drops really sting and it breaks my heart to see him all squinty. :(

• Last weekend we drove to Tulsa for a wedding. The groom was one of J's pledge brothers, and we got to see tons of people we haven't seen in years! It was a beautiful wedding. And, the couple was off to Maui for their honeymoon {where we went almost four years ago} and I couldn't be more jealous. The weather there is great this time of year {and really, is there a bad time of year?}.

J and some college buddies enjoying the glow accessories at the wedding!

• This weekend we had some friends come in town for the OU game against Iowa State. It was their first football game in Norman since before they had their little girl, and we're glad they chose to stay with us again. And, my parents made the trek to Norman again -- a long and very tedious drive, but I'm so glad I got to see them!

•Today is my Mom's birthday! Happy birthday Mom, I'm glad you were in town this weekend so we could do a little celebrating together!

My mom and nephew, Hunter. Thanksgiving '09

• And, last but certainly not least. I have a little news to share with my bloggy buddies: I'm pregnant. I was 11 weeks yesterday and have my second doctor's appointment this Thursday when we hope to hear our baby's heartbeat and maybe see the first glimpse of our newest family member! And, ps, if I haven't told you in person and you're having to find this out on the blog -- I'm so sorry! It's been so tough to keep the news in and I've been trying my best to tell everyone I can before doing any kind of announcement!

35 Years Young

Today is Gus' birthday. He turns 5 and I cannot believe that we've had him in our family for that long! I remember going to the breeder's house and just wanting to "look" at puppies.

Gus was the smallest of all the puppies and all of his brothers would crawl all over him to get to us, but he would stay in the back and let them have all of the attention. He was {and still is} the most handsome of all the boys, and we were immediately drawn to him.

The breeder told us that if he was going to keep any of the puppies, he would have chosen Gus. We took him out of the pin and put him in the grass for the first time -- and he's LOOOVED grass ever since!

Gus has definitely kept us on our toes for the last five years -- "running away", chewing on Lily's blanket, getting trash out of the trash can, getting into the trashcan and so many other hilarious things. We love to come home to he and Lily because they're always happy to see us!

Happy 5th {35th} birthday Gus!!

How can you resist those eyes?!

Poor guy almost lost a claw!

Gus' summer 'do -- I thnk we'll give him a mohawk again this summer!