Wordless Wednesday {Ginger}

Ginger had a birthday this month. She is 10. 70 in dog years. {Sigh} Our first baby still thinks she rules the roost. She is so fiesty in her old age.  Slow going up and down the stairs.  Sleeping most of the day.

These pictures make me sentimental and not so wordless.

We brought her home when she was 8 weeks old and 4 pounds big. We had been married just shy of a year.  She was the runt of the litter. She slept in our bed the first night she was home and from then on thought that was her place.

We toted her around everywhere we went and I sent out birth announcements ( I would not make that up).

She waits for us to go to bed. She times when she wants to go out with when I'm ready to sit down. Loves Chris more than me. Tolerates each new sibling that takes her place.

We love our little Gingy....

Joys of motherhood

-Elodie kept us up all night last night. This came as a surprise because she is normally a good sleeper. Some nights you can hear her wimpering in her sleep but nothing uncontrollable. Last night was awful. She cried all night long and when we asked what was wrong we got the "I DON'T KNOW!" response. I vividly remember being a child and when my parents would ask me a question, before I even got a chance to respond, they would say "Now, don't say you don't know, because you MUST KNOW!" To which I would say "I DON'T KNOW!" Now I find myself doing the same thing with Elodie! What goes around comes around right? It all started around 9pm while I was still at work. Christopher's first attempt to calm her down included letting her sit in his lap and whispering consolling words to her. It didn't help! By 3:30am I was threatening to take Hello Kitty away and making her sleep in the car. Around 4:15am she ended up in bed with us still wimpering. I rolled over to see her light on, the hall light on, and I could hear that the TV was on too! That's when we kicked her out of our bed and sent her back to her bed! At 7:45am when I finally dragged myself out of bed, she was happily sitting on the couch watching tv. By that time Chris was up and had already gotten her breakfast. She greeted me with a "GOOD MORNING MOM!" just as happy as can be!

-This morning, Addysen and I took Ginger to the vets office. She needed a physical and an updated rabies shot. I hate the vets office. I always leave feeling like the worst mother ever AND Ginger ALWAYS gets so worked up walking in that she poops on the floor IN THE STORE! It never fails! So, I found myself picking up Ginger poop with a baby wipe, while pushing a stroller, and dragging Ginger back to the vets office. Thank Heavens for baby wipes right? At this visit we found out just how awful of a mother I am...

1. Ginger is overweight. She should be 5-8 pounds. She weighs 13.5. Her vet said "You see this bulge here and here? It shouldn't be there!" HOW RUDE! Way to give a girl a complex! Doesn't he know it's winter and she has been hiding under her winter coat all year! Our vet was happy to right us a perscription for diet dog food. I happily said no.
2. Christopher just gave her a haircut and we found a bump on her skin. When I showed it to the vet he casually said "Oh, that? Well, that there is a non-cancerous skin tact." All I heard was the word cancer! She is fine but apparently, since she is getting older, we will start to see more and more of them. I hate that she is getting older!
3. She has bad teeth. Did you know you should brush your dogs teeth once a day? I have a hard time remembering to brush Elodie's teeth and just this morning almost left the house without brushing my own teeth! We have toothpaste and a toothbrush for Ginger, I just haven't been the best with brushing them....at all! Turns out she has so much plaque build up that she will have to be put under for them to get it all out. He was happy to right me up an estimate and wanted to know if I wanted to schedule that appointment. After looking at the $250 bill I said, "I'll just work on brushing her teeth more regularly.
4. She has a little razer burn from the trimmers and I accidentally knicked her on the ear while helping Christopher trim her up....he made sure to point both of those out!
And
5. Her nails need trimming. So badly, that he made a note of it on the computer!! HARSH!

$65 later, one rabies shot, and a estimate for a $250 teeth cleaning we were out. And then I called Chris crying!

On a happier motherhood note, I went to Fry's. Spent $16 and saved $74! Take that Vet's Office!

Ginger's ready for summer too!

Usually we take Ginger to petsmart for her "every 3 to 4 month spa day". This cost us $40 per visit. For a dog? Yes. Because it's worth it and better them than me.



The other day we were lounging around and I said to Chris that I was going to schedule Ginger's hair appointment for sometime this week. It's getting pretty hot and her coat was really thick. I knew she was getting hot under all that fur and it was time. He agreed and we moved on.



That evening I worked and when I came home I found this.
My first thought was that Chris had made the appointment and had taken Ginger to PetSmart while I was gone. But nope. Christopher did it himself! He said it took forever but I think he did a great job and even cut her shorter than PetSmart would have done! And not only that he saved us 40 bucks! I'm thinking I'll take that 40 bucks and make my hair appointment now. Not with Chris though- we've done that before and while he is good at cutting my hair, it's much more fun to go to a salon. And yes, there have been months where I've had to choose between getting my haircut and Ginger's haircut because there was no way I was going to spend 80 bucks in one month on haircuts!

Now Ginger is as fiesty as a 3 year old puppy and we all love her a little more.

Waiting ...

Around 4:30pm every afternoon, this is where you can find Ginger. Waiting. It's almost like she senses when it's close to Chris coming home. She plants herself right in front of the door to the garage and patiently waits for the first bit of attention from dad when he gets home.

Show and Tell

Every Thursday is Show and Tell at Elodie's school. I guess one week one of the other little girls in Elodie's class brought their dog for Show and Tell. Ever since then Elodie has been begging to bring Ginger to school.

Because Addysen's morning nap coincides with Elodie's school time, I knew there was no way I could bring Ginger during Show and Tell. Okay, so Addysen's morning nap was more important. I said it!

I convinced Elodie that a picture of Ginger would be just as good as bringing Ginger to her class.

When she got home from school I asked her how Show and Tell went. She told me it was great and all the kids in her class ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the picture of Ginger.

And honestly, aren't you ooh'ing and ah'ing too? She is a cutie when she wants to be. Eye boogers and all!

Poor Ginger

Tonight we took our family picture infront of our tree for our Christmas cards. We always get the question why we don't just use our yearly family picture for our Christmas cards. 2 reasons, 1- We have taken and sent a picture of us infront of our tree since the first year me and Chris were married. And 2-if we used our family picture, Ginger wouldn't be in it. And she is just as much a part of our family as anyone else.

I must say, adding a second child, a 9 month old especially, to a family picture makes it really tough to get a good shot. Last year, it was just the 4 of us and I think within 3 shots we were done. THIS YEAR is a different story. We must have taken 15 shots. And while it would have been easier to call someone over to take the picture for us, we were all dressed, heading out, and it was just easier to set up the tripod.

And in the process of trying to get Addysen to look at the camera we have sweet little obedient Ginger. Christopher put her in the spot I wanted her and she didn't move. This picture was taken after everyone had gotten up and we were done taking pictures. She wasn't moving. It wasn't until we all coaxed her over to where we were that she was finally convinced that she could move. She took her dad very seriously when he said "DON'T MOVE GINGER!!"
The scare tactic always works with her!

RIP little ducky...

Ginger is very picky about her toys. Usually, her toys aren't even dog toys! She'll find one of Elodie's little stuffed animals on the floor and claim it as her own. Right now she insist that a golf ball Addysen likes is hers. Anytime Addysen is playing with it, Ginger sits patiently next to her waiting for her chance to snatch it from little Addysen's hands. It's pretty cute.



Last Easter Elodie got a little duck in her Easter basket. Ginger of course thought it was for her. And Elodie nicely gave it to Ginger to play with. By the time this passed Easter rolled around, Ginger's little duck was looking bad. I had thrown it in the wash a few times but after a while, even a good cleaning didn't help the duck. It started to get a hole in it so I tossed it and replaced it with a new duck in Ginger's Easter basket this year. She was very happy.



She loves her ladybugs. I got her these cute squeaky toys from Costco that she could care less about. And of course, she will always love her bone.



Most days Ginger can be so sweet to her toys. And then there are other times. I don't know if she gets mad, or if maybe she had a bad day, who knows, but sometimes, Ginger can be aggressive with her toys.



Christopher thinks this duck got a hole in it and before we found it, Ginger smelt the stuffing inside and the duck didn't stand a chance after that. Who knows what's going through her mind.



She obviously feels bad afterwards. I'm sure she wishes she had her little duck to play with NOW! Look at this face! When I was taking her pictures, her little ears were tucked back and her tail was between her legs. She couldn't even look me in the eyes!! So funny.



Elodie was really upset about the duck. She couldn't understand why Ginger would do this to her toy. She was fine though once we told her Ginger was going to put a new toy on her Christmas list and hopefully Santa would bring her one.



We love you Ginger. Good thing your toys come from the dollar store!

Ginger's New Favorite Spot

Yes, that's the toilet! I don't know why but in the last couple of weeks, Ginger LOVES this spot. If you can't find her, just look behind the toilet in our bathroom! I'm sure the cool tile has something to do with it, but there's cool tile in our entry and in our kitchen!

Silly dog!

A Friday funny...

Time out is our choice of discipline. We even use it on Ginger...don't laugh..it works! When Ginger starts barking for no reason..birds, wind, other dogs, especially cats on the wall in the backyard we give her a warning..."Ginger, if you don't stop barking your going to be put in time out!" This usually works but occasionally, say
5am, a warning is not an option. 5am is when the stray cats like to walk across the wall in our backyard. Time out for Ginger is the garage..but since we just found a scorpion in there the other day, she probably won't be spending much time in there! YUCK!

ANYWAY, that's all back story...

This morning Ginger was barking and Elodie sais "I won't be put in time out because I'm NOT barking...Ginger needs to go to time out because she IS barking!"

I'm glad to know my child doesn't bark! Whine, pout, cry, scream..of course! But bark?! Not Elodie!

Reunited...

When Chris and I were newlyweds, I worked as a manager at the GAP. While I was there I would buy things here and there for nieces, nephews, and for my own little baby stash. One thing I bought were these ladybug rattles. There were 3 of them.

Fast forward a year after we got married to when Ginger came along. My original intention was to save the ladybug rattles for a baby but since Ginger was techinically our first baby, I decided to give them to her. She loved them....just her favorite toys!

Picture of Ginger: October 2002

One got completely destroyed..if I remember right, Ginger tore a hole in the ladybug then pulled all the stuffing out. Then we moved to Arizona and just assumed that the other 2 ladybugs had either gotten lost or were destroyed as well.

Fast forward 5 years and while Chris and I are out in our garage, dejunking boxes that hadn't been looked through in years, we stumbled across the other 2 lost ladybugs!!! Ginger was SO excited and for the last couple of days hasn't been without them! It's so cute to see her prancing around with her ladybugs and getting so excited when you throw one for her to fetch! The little puppy side of her has come out again and she is so happy to be reunited with her ladybugs. We are now taking bets to see how long the other 2 ladybugs will actually last!!

Picture of Ginger: February 2008

In every picture...there is always one!

So we finally got our family pictures taken in front of our Christmas tree for our Christmas cards. It's usually not a big deal and as Elodie gets older it is much easier to get her to look at the camera and smile without someone having to take the picture for us. This year, we just used the tripod and the timer...a little photo editing and voila! I won't spoil the big reveal so you are extra suprised when you get your christmas card in the mail but I did want to share one picture that just cracked me up!

My sweet little Ginger was not having the family picture this year! She pretty much growled at us and refused to look at the camera for every shot we took....with the exception of this one picture where she is actually looking at the camera WHILE SHE IS STICKING HER TONGUE OUT!



You would expect this from maybe a 6 or 8 year old and I guess since Ginger turned 6 this year maybe she is entitled too....LOL! Silly girl.

Do you ever wish you could do this?

Not necessarily bury your head in dirty laundry, but just bury your head in general! This is how I found Ginger this morning...and most mornings when I'm doing laundry. For some reason she loves to find her way through piles of laundry and sleep. I usually have to pull laundry out from underneath her to get her to move! Silly dog... This picture made me laugh...not that she was asleep in the laundry pile but that she was so far tucked underneath the pile all you can see is her tail! Can I blame her for wanting to hide from the outside world...somedays, if I had the option (especially now that I'm pregnant) there isn't anything I would love more than to curl up in bed and throw the covers over my head and just sleep...drown out the daily worries that come from being a wife, a mother, a friend, a visiting teacher, having a church calling, a home, a part time job...and the list can go on. But since that really isn't an option and I can't exactly have the life my sweet Ginger has...I'll just take a deep breath and plug along! And in reality..I wouldn't really want to trade places with Ginger! Even if she does get to sleep alot!

Before and After

Since I never post enough about Ginger..and this is something I've never taken a picture of and something I want to remember..here ya go.
Ginger just had her spa day and we absolutely love the way she looks when she is shaved. It's crazy how much hair she grows in a short time of 3 months! What else is funny is that when Ginger was a baby I wanted her hair to grow....and when she was a puppy she didn't have any hair. I can even remember calling the breader because I was scared he hadn't sold us a true pom. He reassured me that all pom puppies have little or no hair when they are small but develop their adult coat as the get older. Now that Ginger has developed that adult coat I try to keep her hair as short as possible! I'm never happy! With the summertime fast approaching I know Ginger sure appreciates the short do. And she is so fun to sunggle and love on when she has short hair!

Here are Ginger's before and after pictures...so cute! We love you Ginger!

Update on Ginger...


Back from taking Ginger to the vet this afternoon....overweight with dirty teeth...I'm the worst mother ever! She weighs in at about 13 pounds and the average pom her size should be about 6 to 8 pounds...oops...She is just a happy, healthy, inside dog....So the vet gave us a perscription dog food that Ginger is suppose to get only twice a day...poor girl..she is use to having her food out all the time available when she wants it....and she doesn't usually eat that much so the whole weight issue is a huge mystery to me. We have to start exercising her more which is a good thing for me...I've been wanting to get the girls out for walks more often so this will be a good motivation..hey, maybe I'll even lose a few pounds. I have to wonder though how much of that weight is hair...she must lose atleast 1 or 2 pounds when we get her shaved...I'll have to reweigh her after we take her for her spa day on Saturday...the vet's office is right in the same store.
We also had to buy a toothbrush and toothpaste...poultry flavored!! Ginger's teeth were looking pretty yucky but I had no idea you were suppose to be brushing dog teeth everyday like people teeth..who knew the once every couple of months to the groomers wasn't enough...I didn't, and I'm Ginger's mommy! She let me brush her teeth tonight...kinda reminded me of the first couple of times we started brushing Elodie's teeth..."what is this thing in my mouth but it taste good"....she's a good sport and we love her. Besides being over traumatized by all the other big dogs at the vet's office, she is doing great...pooped out from her experience and sleeping as we speak! We love you Ginger, the $125 was well worth it!

Ginger....


Last night Chris and I were in bed talking and Ginger had assumed her usual position in our bed. We got to talking about Ginger and all her little querks...and it occured to me that I have never taken the time to write down things about Ginger. She is such a sweet little girl and is so much apart of our family. There are definitely things about her that I don't want to forget. Before Elodie was born, when Ginger was our only child, I had a scrapbook for her. Unfortunately, that stopped once Elodie joined our family. Talking about all her querks definitely motivated me to create a layout about our sweet little ginger at age 4. Until I can sit down and do it, here are my thoughts for the layout.

Ginger:

-She still sleeps with us! 4 years later we still have her in our bed. Some nights she sleeps the whole night with us, other nights she jumps off and sleeps on her own bed. Her favorite spot in our bed is underneath the covers between your legs. This can be very uncomfortable because Ginger becomes a wet log once she is asleep and is impossible to move!

-When Ginger eats, she takes one piece of food at a time and goes in a corner to eat it. She was the runt of her family and I think it was her only way of keeping her food when she was little. I guess she hasn't figured out yet that she is the only one in our family who wants her food!!

-She loves ice

-She doesn't really like for you to throw her bone but she will give it to you just to see if you will throw it. As soon as you reach for the bone, she's grabbed it and off to chew on it somewhere else. It's like she is testing us to see if we will pay attention to her. And that's good enough for her!

-She is the hugest snob towards other dogs!! She doesn't like being around them and if she has to be around them it takes her forever to warm up to them!! We took her out to the Big Dirty this year and she spent the whole weekend running from Chewy (Amanda and Heath's little dog) She wanted nothing to do with him!

-Treats are a must. You can get Ginger to do anything for a treat.

-Underneath the table is her safe haven.

-When she is out of food or water she sits in the kitchen scrapping at her bowl until someone comes and fills them for her! It can be a bit annoying if your in the middle of something else, but she is so persistent!

That's all I can think of right now...I'm sure there is more and I will have to add to it!