Snoozin in the Clouds

I really hate breaking my blog silence with this post but it has been on my heart to share with Floyd's fans, friends and family that he crossed over the rainbow bridge 4 weeks ago.

I announced this on Instagram shortly after it happened but sharing it here has taken some time to come around to.  We have met, connected and began so many friendships (who've turned into family) from this blog and solely because of Floyd.  Our family is honored to know that Floyd brought smiles, happiness and laughter all across the world because of the blog.  And the joy he brought Floyd brought to our family is immeasurable.

Mister and I brought Floyd home with us when he was 6 weeks old.  From that day he was a constant in our life.  Always there, always sassing around, always snoozin.  As you can imagine (and anyone with dogs knows) once they are in your life, you just expect them to be there, always.  I won't lie, I still look for Floyd, expect him to be sitting at the front door window and to come slinking around the corner.  We miss him constantly.

About a month before Floyd passed away we had been at the vet for his yearly check up.  Everything checked out okay except our vet told us she could detect a heart murmur in him.  We had noticed that Floyd had been slower and seemed to be getting hotter on walks, even when it wasn't too hot out.  However, we knew his dramatic personality and simply getting older,  we didn't think too much of it.  Once we knew he had the murmur we scaled back the walks, waited until it was cooler and kept an eye on him.

The day before he passed away he began to act off and a little weird.  That morning he wouldn't come in from outside, even for a piece of grilled chicken.  We knew something was off then.  That evening he seemed slower and a little out of sorts.  He would just stand in one spot for a few moments and then move on.  I sat on the floor with him and we snuggled in a blanket.  I quickly noticed his chunky paws were cold.  His paws were ALWAYS very warm so this was concerning.  I also checked his gums and they were pretty pale (while feverishly texting my favorite dog experts and Floyd's favorite aunts, Kait and Casey).  I called the doggie urgent care and they said we could bring him in or wait until morning and take him to our vet.  Thankfully (seriously!) our vet had an opening come available that morning and she was able to get him in right away.  (Side note we love our vet and even more so now with how she helped us handle this situation.)

I went over his symptoms and recent behavior and she decided to do an ultrasound to see if he had a blockage.  She quickly came back and told me that she found a tumor in his spleen as well as lots of blood on his abdomen.  She showed me a very full vile of blood she had taken from him in the short time he was getting an ultrasound.  She said the tumor had began to burst and was trying to get blood from other areas of his body (hence the slowly down).  

I quickly (while sobbing) called Mister and he came to the vet right away.  After that we talked through the situation with our vet.  She explained that there was a VERY good chance the tumor was cancerous and even if they were able to remove it, the cancer would most likely come back within 6 months.  She also advised that there was a good chance he would need a blood transfusion and he may not survive that.  And even it wasn't cancer, again he would likely need a transfusion and there could also be other tumors in his body that were cancerous. 

This news + the heart murmur + his age + his anxiety issues (which had gotten a lot worse in the past couple of years) we made the hardest decision of our lives.

I imagine no one that has ever been in that position feels like it's easy but we knew it was the best decision for him.  We did not want to suffer, to be in pain and to be released of his anxiety.  

 Floyd was the best bubba to us and so so so loved by so many but no one harder than Mister and I.  We still miss him and talk about him (and in his 'voice') every day.  We try to comfort ourselves knowing he is snoozin in the sun all he wants, eating all the peanut butter he wants and getting alllll the belly rubs; living his best life.

The grief comes in waves but we are doing our best to get through it.  It is extremely hard to get used to how quiet our house is without him (sans that almost 2 year old we have ;) ).  

Thank you to all of you for your wonderful messages, prayers and stories of remembering Floyd.  We are so grateful for all of his 'fans' and the love the blog world has always shown us.

Happy Birthday Floyd!

Today marks Mr. Floyd's 8th birthday!

How in the world?!

We sure love him SO very, very much and he makes us so happy and laugh every day.

Many of you know Floyd is full of his own quirks, personality and loves to do his own thing.  This has never changed since the moment we've had him.  The one thing Floyd does best is doing his own thing.  Part of that is stubbornness of being a hound and I'm pretty sure the other half is just Floyd.  

Knock on wood, he has been so sweet with LM.  He was the star of the show for so long but we are pretty sure now he knows LM is just part of our pack.  

Every day when I bring LM home and let Floyd out,  Floyd runs right up to his carseat and gives him one lick across the face.  I can't decide if its 'Oh, you're still here, yay!' or 'oh man, mama brought you back again'.  I'm going with the first one because it makes my heart happy.  

Every morning when he wakes up he sticks his nose in LM's door to check on him.

He does a great job when we take LM on walks and makes sure everyone knows we are walking his bother and they need to stay away.  

Happy birthday Floyd, we love you SO MUCH!! 

Fridays with Floyd : Snuggle Buddies

First, Happy 6 MONTHS LM!!!

When tummy time turns into snuggle time...

Then my heart exploded into a million piece of happiness.

Don't worry, both boys were very supervised while catching a quick snooze on their bellies ;)

Fridays with Floyd : Big Brother Role

Lately the second most common question we've been getting (besides how's Little Mister?) is, 'how is Floyd doing?'

And I am happy to report, he's doing well!

It's not secret around here that Floyd has always been #1 top dog (human if you ask him) and we were not sure how he would react once we brought Little Mister home.

In short, he's been great!

Once Little Mister was home we brought home a blanket of his, his hat and when he started wearing clothes in the NICU I would bring his previous days outfit home each evening for Floyd to sniff.  I have no idea if this helped or not but I am thinking maybe it did.

When we came home with Little Mister, I made sure to come in and grab Floyd and we all walked in the house together.  Again, no idea if this helped but I sure think so.

And now that we've been home for a few weeks, he has really fallen into his role of big brother.

I do think he is exceptionally tired because he is not getting his 8+ consecutive hours of sleep during the day but he's adjusting.  And beginning to learn to catch snoozes when he can.

When he's not snoozing, he will follow me in the Little Mister's room and sit right behind me while I change his clothes and diapers.  Or sit at my feet while I feed Little Mister.  Or in my lap while I pump...I would file that one under jealously and taking advantage of a free lap.

There are definitely times when Little Mister cries and Floyd looks at us like 'can you puhhhlease make him stop doing that?'  But overall he tolerates all the new noises very well.  He's only gotten up and gone in another room a time or two.  I think those big ears are coming in handy for blocking out sound.

He walks really well with the stroller and seems to strut a little down the street...'hey guys, did you see? I have a new brother!'

When we come back from doctors appointments and I sit the car seat down, Floyd comes running from his crate and makes sure Little Mister is still in there...and usually gives him a quick lick across the face.  

(I swear I didn't stage this though my heart did burst into a million happy pieces)

Yesterday Little Mister was having a rough reflux-y day and was finally chilling in his bouncer and I walked into the kitchen to make bottles and Floyd hopped down from his nap spot on the back of the sofa and over to the ottoman to stare down and look over Little Mister.  I could be totally making up his intentions in my head but it really seemed like he was watching over him while I was a few steps away and concerned with how upset he had been all day.

And then there are also days when he looks at him like 'oh, I see you are still here...'

Overall he's handling his new role exceptionally!

I think he may even secretly be starting to love him...

Fridays with Floyd : Salty or Sweet

As I've mentioned, Floyd is just about the first question out of our friends mouth once they find out we're expecting. 
It was ours too.
 

I've read plenty of stories about dogs and their intuition and protecting their mamas once they know they are pregnant.

Early on, there were a few times that I knew Floyd could tell something was up.

But more so here lately, his senses are definitely heightened.
It really warms my heart to know that he feels the need to protect me.
To a certain extent ;)

A few occasions lately Mister and I have hugged/kissed and Floyd comes barreling around the corner and barks at us.  I told him we were not starting that habit and to cool his jets.  

'Stay aray from my mama!'

If it is just Floyd and I out on a walk, he has been known to bark and lose his cool if we pass another dog that he normally would have just walked on past. 

'Stay aray from my mama!'

And on the flip side of his multiple personalities, he has actually been really, really sweet lately.

That or his jealously is already building and he is stocking up on snuggles...feel free to weigh in your two cents.

Lately when it is just him and I on weekend mornings, I make (decaf) coffee and sit on the sofa and read.  He has been coming and snuggling with me and laying his head on my stomach.  And then I die of cuteness.

 Last weekend I was in Little Mister's room sitting in our glider and here he came to investigate and then laid down and just snoozed while I was in there.  Precious.

   So it's really a toss up, but I hope we are leaning towards the sweet side.

The #1 Question

Once people find out we are expecting, the first question we immediately get is 

'How is Floyd going to handle this?'

Is it really that obvious had bad we spoil him?!

Don't answer that...

Truth be told, Floyd was one of our very first and most thought out concerns when we were discussing having a child.  

How would he do?

Where would his crate go?

Would he be so mad at us he wouldn't snuggle us anymore?

 

I think it is pretty clear that it has always been us three musketeers and we have been concerned about upsetting the pack in Floyd's eyes.  

Currently he definitely knows something is up.

He knows his room is different and will randomly go in there and just sit and look or lay around.

'I'll miss you Closet...'

And the biggest change is that he knows his crate (house) has been moved.

We relocated him to our bedroom and after a few rough first days, he is actually doing okay in there.

He has never been a fan of change and we knew that we wanted to initiate this change of moving him sooner rather than later.  

We have done quite a bit of research and read books/articles concerning bringing a baby into a home with a dog and they have offered a lot of great advice.

With that being said, we actually think it will go well! (All of our fingers crossed!)

Whenever we have friends with babies over, Floyd usually gives him one good sniff (and sometimes a lick across the face) and then trots off.  He doesn't seem phased by them or overly concerned about them.  He does not love crying and will tilt his head back and forth.

 And so far, he doesn't seem to mind when I hold a baby.

We are really just hoping and praying (seriously I pray about it every day) that the transition goes well and as smooth as possible.

I think armed with the knowledge we've read and advice from friends, things should go pretty smoothly.  We believe that once Floyd realizes the baby isn't leaving he will become used to the idea and hopefully they will be besties in no time ;)  

Some of the things we are going to do to make this transition easier are:

-send home a baby blanket from the hospital before we come home for him to sniff and snuggle

-make him a part of the coming home process

-continue to work on Floyd staying in his 'place' while nursing and/or tending to the baby

-continue to spoil and love on him as much as we do already :)

We know that there will be a lot going on and a lot of change but we want to make things as smooth as can be for all of us in the pack.  

Any advice for us on making this transition smoother would be greatly appreciated!

Lake Life

We had the pleasure of heading up to the Michigan/Indiana border this weekend and visiting our friends at their lake house.  

(P.s check out Kady's Etsy shop, she makes the most adorable items, Little Mister will be fantastically dressed!)

We have been counting down to this past weekend for a long, long time.

One of Mister's most happy places is to be on the lake, on a boat, on a tube, on jet ski or just generally being in the sun.  

The boys had so much fun you could hear them laughing across the lake.

Floyd was loving life sniffing his absolute heart out.  

If we would have let him, he would have sniffed the entire lake perimeter. 

When he wasn't sniffing, Floyd was using the dock as his own personal runway with a built in fan.

It was a doggie filled weekend, though Floyd did not understand Tucker's love for fetching his ball from the lake.

And when we weren't playing with dogs, we were waiting on this plate of deliciousness to come out of the smoker.

Oh. My. Lanta.  I wish I could describe to you how amazing that brisket was.  I think we were all drooling along with the dogs.

By Sunday morning, Floyd was lake-d OUT.

All in all, it was a great weekend filled with sun, good friends, laughter and lots of doggie snuggles...perfection.

Fridays with Floyd : Project Manager

Why is that short weeks take the most out of you?

I promise I had a more posts planned for this week but (nesting) life kept happening.

We started cleaning out Floyd's room/closet over the holiday weekend.   This quickly steam rolled into painting and a new closet system. 

So safe to say, this week has been full of nesting type activities and cleaning like a mad lady.

Per usual, Floyd has been ultra helpful.

He's the #1 project manager in our house.
You can see he is VERY strict.

While Floyd is cracking the whip, I am going to go hang up little things on little hangers. 

The Faces...

...of Floyd

I never would have thought that when we brought Floyd home that he could possibly have so many facial expressions.  

If you've been around us for more than 5 seconds you know that we have entire conversations based on what we think Floyd is saying and thinking.  

Most of these conversations come based on the MANY facial expressions he makes.

It may be hard to believe that I swear he has as many facial expressions as a human.

They amaze me every day.

 Mostly I think he is saying, 'really mom,  more photos?!'

and this is just straight up SASS

but the cute always wins me over

He knows how to work those hound dog eyes, no matter what he is trying to say with them.

Grandma's = Treats

Floyd is well aware that when he goes to his Grandmas's house that he's going to get spoiled.  

If you thought he was spoiled at our house, you should see the special relationship him and Grandma have.  They are best buds.

One of Floyd's favorite things about Grandma's house (especially in the summer when he gets to vacation there when mama and papa are out of town) is that she feeds him lots and lots of Pup-Peronis. 

He can look at her and she gives him a Pup-Peroni.

He can look at her again 3 seconds later and she gives him a Pup-Peroni. 

You could say he has the system mastered.  

I think it's a combination of these faces, he knows how to work those hound dog eyes.

So when a magical box of Pup-Peroni swag showed up on our doorstep, Floyd requested it was immediately taken to Grandma's house so that her supply would be fully stocked for his next weekend trip.

The other thing Floyd really loves about summertime and Grandma's house is that she lives on a golf course! ALL the sniffing possibilities you could EVER imagine for this hound dog. 

We are convinced he could sniff for hours out there.

As soon as we walk in the door and he gets his first round of treats, he INSISTS on bee lining it to the course.

 'I will sit for one photo and then we are going to the golf course!!'

'This is NOT going to the golf course.  You can see that it is over there and we are here...'

'I am really over this. You promised the golf course THEN I get the treats.'

Floyd knows that as soon as he comes back in from sniffin, he gets treats from Grandma.  It's really a win win for him all around. 

And lucky for all of Floyd's friends, Pup-Peroni is offering you guys to take the Beef Up Your Summer quiz to tell Pup-Peroni about activities you & your best dog enjoy doing together during the summer.  Those who complete the quiz will be entered to win a curated box filled with up to $300 worth of toys & treats, including a one-year supply of Pup-Peroni dog treats, to help the owner & dog Beef Up Summer together.  How awesome is that?!

Natural Balance Delectable Delights : Floyd's Verdict

 As much as Floyd generally LOVES to eat, there are days that he wants nothing to do with his food.
I would say about once a week he skips breakfast and doesn't eat anything until after his evening walk.  On the flip side, some days he has no interest in dinner.
I'm not sure how or why he does it but as a mama, I'm of the opinion people (and pets!) need to eat!

I do wonder sometimes if he's grown tired of his food or if I simply did not put enough coconut oil on it that time.
OR if he's been at Grandma's recently and has been spoiled with some extras on his bowls of food, he tends to hold out on us...

While perusing PetSmart recently, thinking of his issue with not always wanting to eat, I came across Natural Balance Delectable Delights.  I knew within .5 seconds of spotting these that Floyd would be in heaven if I brought some home.
Moreover, I was happy upon spotting these because after reading the label I knew these were made with wholesome, grain free ingredients.  That makes for one happy mama!
So brought them home I did. Duh!
I choose Fish n Chips and Duck-en itas for my favorite basset hound.

When it's nice out or on the weekends, Floyd prefers to have his breakfast on the porch.  You may think I am joking but he will wait on the porch for me to bring his food out.  The man knows what he wants!
So last weekend that is just what we did.  We had breakfast on the porch.  With a little extra something.

He did not know what surprise was in for him.

But boy was he glad when he figured it out!

I had a strong feeling Floyd would love the Delectable Delights but I didn't know quite how much he would love them.
When I say he devoured them, he straight inhaled his breakfast.

  He then continued to lick his bowl over and over again.  Yes, his ears are ALWAYS in his food and water bowl.
Then he continue to walk back inside and stare at me with a look in his eyes that said, 'yes mama, I would rike some more of dat prease'.

So the verdict on these yummy new delights was a resounding two paws up from this house!
He wanted to me tell all of you doggie mamas out there that you should probably head to PetSmart and pick up Natural Balance Delectable Delights for your furbabies....

Shhhh don't tell him but I have a few more for next time he isn't interested in his meal. 

Fridays with Floyd : Bark-a-lounger

We ordered this bed for Floyd and since it arrived it has been raining and raining and raining and he hasn't been able to test it out.

But finally last weekend, it was nice out and Floyd was able to enjoy some porch sitting.

It took some treats and coaxing for him to learn how to get on the bed BUT he's figured it out, finally.

Mister sent me these pictures this past weekend and I was jumping for joy.  

I think he looks so adorable.  Not to mention it will help keep his paws cool.  Our porch can get pretty warm and sometimes it is too hot for his chunky paws to walk on.  The bed solves that issue!

We can only hope he continues to lay on it.

Weekend Wrap Up : Birthday Hangover

I apologize for the delay in our weekend wrap up this week but Floyd's birthday got the best of all us.

It was equal parts busy and relaxing, just how Floyd likes it.

First of all, I am a terrible mother and forgot to hit publish on his birthday post on Friday.  So if you didn't catch (puppy pictures!!) check that out here. 

Friday night we laid low, snuggled with Floyd on the couch and watched Spotlight.

Saturday we ran around town, visited the Lacelet girls at their studio, lunched through Costco and then spent the rest of the day with ol Floyd. 

Including a photo shoot on the porch.  

He was THRILLED.

Sunday we brunched at Sleepy Bee then Floyd and I went on a very special walk.  We drove to a  local trail and let him sniff his heart out (he was in heaven) for a long afternoon walk.  After all the sniffs, and attention from other walkers, it was nugget time.  Being Sunday and all, Chick Fil A was closed but we headed to his second favorite, McDonalds.  He DEVOURED them.  He may also have had pepperoni, peanut butter and lots of treats.  Floyd and I wrapped up the afternoon doing another favorite activity of his, napping.

And an honorable mention from the weekend, I made this homemade sloppy joe recipe and it was SO good.  I used ground turkey and omitted the honey, just fyi.  Also this is simmering in the house today and I have high hopes for it.  

Happy Birthday Floyd!

The big man on campus turns 7 (!!!) on Sunday so naturally we are celebrating all weekend long.

So far on the agenda is the P A R K, nuggets, lots of peanut butter and even more sniffing and snuggling.

I also ordered him this bed for the porch for this summer.  I'm hoping he loves it.

Turns out I have about 47 million photos of Floyd (shocking, I know) but here are just a few of my favorites.

We love you SO MUCH Bubba, you light up our world every single day!

Happy Birthday FLOYD! 

Fridays with Floyd : Relax

One thing Floyd has mastered is being relaxed and the importance of a lazy Sunday.

Last weekend Mister and I laid down for a Sunday afternoon nap and Floyd followed suit.

As always, he continued snoozin much longer than we did.

I love nothing more than his sweet snoozin face.  Along with the 'sleep smell' he puts off while he's cozy.  I snapped some photos of him for as long as he would let me.  You'll see I began to get the stink eye.  Do NOT mess with him while he's sleeping...he is NOT a fan.  

I've been caught.  

The stink eye comes out... ;)

Hope everyone has as a weekend just as relaxing as Floyd's.