Goodbye Puppies

After a grueling 7 weeks of bottle-feeding, poop-cleaning and a lot of fun, it is almost time to say goodbye to the puppies.

They are going to good homes. My friend Christy is getting the boy and Sabrina is getting one girl. The fate of one of the girls is still up in the air. Either she stays behind or go home with Christy.

It will be tough to say goodbye to the puppies. I will miss these poopy bundles of love. Lizzie, the oldest, is the only one I've named. She is Dizzy Lizzie, frantically going in circles in search of mama's milk. I also call her Green Girl, GG for short. I had to tag her foot with green food coloring to distinguish her from the other girl. Dizz is clearly the fearsome leader of the pack. She is the first to bottle feed, the first to open her eyes, the first to lap from a bowl and the first to run out in the grass. She looks like a bunny rabbit when she hops on the grass. I am thinking of keeping her.

I chose not to name the other two puppies, hoping that the anonymity would lessen my attachment, but that's a lost cause. Girl B is the playful one. She wants to play when her brother and sister want to sleep. But she loves her tummy rub. When she is ready for her nap and I come close, she would roll on her back so I would rub her fat stomach.

The boy is the smallest and the sweetest of the bunch. I used to swath him in a blanket and just hold him and he loves it. He is the cuddly sweetheart.

The last 7 weeks was consumed with taking care of puppies and I whine a lot about it. But now that my day of "liberation" is close, I am now experiencing ambivalence about letting them go.

How do I say goodbye to my three little pigs?

Life Interrupted

The past month was a flurry of activities, puppies, family visiting from out of town, the move to a new house, friends, doctors visits and it was difficult enough to come up for air, let alone write a blog. And I miss writing. This blog gives me a lot of perspective, lets me vent and allows me to organize my thoughts and emotions. There was none of that for the past month.

Where should I start? Oh yes, moving to a new house. I have finally settled in. There is still a few things to sort out in the garage and the office. Odds and ends that I have shoved inside a closet or a box either needs to go somewhere in the house where it is useful or decorative, or it goes in the trash or to Goodwill. Another month, everything will be where it is supposed to be.

And my front door has become a revolving door. There seem to be a constant flow of family and friends stopping by. My parents visited for a while. Although they understood that I am in a middle of chaos, I still have to spend time with them, which I didn't do enough of during this visit. But they finally met some of my good friends. It was unfortunate that they had to witness an argument with a good friend of mine that went all the way south. My parents are off to visit the next sibling and I'll try to make it up on their next visit.

And then there are the puppies. They are now 4 weeks old. Their eyes are now open and they can see and play. They've tripled in size, and they also eat a lot more. But Ladybug cannot feed them anymore. She had eclampsia, a common condition in small dogs when they have puppies. Her tiny little 6.9-pound body's calcium was depleted because she was trying to produce milk for her pups. She had a seizure and she was shaking and panting. Thankfully she survived after a visit to the emergency hospital. The puppies are supposed to be weaned from her and she cannot feed them again. Feeding pups in the wee hours of the morning is no fun. After a few days, Lady is back to feeding her pups at night and the puppies are bottle-fed during the day.

It was a blissful two weeks until last Sunday. She had another seizure and back to the emergency room she went. An hour later, she's barking in the back room. She's a regular screecher, my Ladybug is. She can be annoying. So when they said they have to keep her overnight, I knew it was not going to happen. And I was right. She barked her head off and wanted out. She went home that afternoon.

And now the puppies are back to bottle feeding. But they are also starting to lap so hopefully it will become easier. Puppies anyone???

Today is the first day I've had peace and quiet. I missed it. I miss by old routine. I have been whining and complaining this past month about my life interrupted. It has been a rough month. But I remember another part of my life that was halted abruptly and I had to put everything on hold.

Perspective. That's what I need. The past month has really been a cake walk. So back to the puppies. And back to my life interrupted.