Goodbye Sweet Josie

We had a major loss in our family this last week. Our sweet brindle hound, Josie was hit by a car on the evening of September 4th and died. Josie and Pluto, in a miraculous effort, escaped the massive fence Andrew had set up the week before Sept. 4th at around 8pm. Pluto came back within an hour with no Josie in tow. We continued to look for her throughout the night and the next day. This dog never missed a meal so it was VERY strange for her not to be home by the morning of Sept. 5th. Andrew found our fuzzy love on the side of Rocky River road about a mile or two away from our house on the afternoon of Sept. 5th and with the help of some very kind people, brought her home in the back of their pick-up truck.

I'm not sure how to explain to those who have not had a pet so integrated in their lives. But Josie was a constant and necessary part of our daily lives. She was Andrew and my first puppy together and was a soul firmly planted in our hearts. Something so normal, she felt like background noise that when gone, the world became quiet and a shade darker for her loss. Our hearts ache and we miss her so much. We love you little girl.

We are going to plant a japanese maple over her grave. Andrew found her collar on the side of the road yesterday so we are going to wrap it around the trunk of the tree. Pluto seems to be managing well. We think he knew when he came home. We allowed him to say goodbye to her before we buried her.

I hate to end a blog with such a sad topic so I will not. I will end it with sweet pictures of Silas. Give all of your puppies extra cuddles. This was a hard reminder of how transient life is.

8 Months old!!

This has been one heck of a month! Silas has learned all kinds of new tricks and has amazed us all with his happy demeanor. We moved into our first house!! Its a fixer uper but the basics are good to go. We installed a dog fence, replaced the garage door, installed a new kitchen sink, replaced the toilet inards and painted a good portion of the house within the first week of owning it. By we, I mean Andrew!! He has made this house what it is. Since then, family has come and helped with various projects. That has really sped up the process and made this house feel even more like home. Silas transitioned beautifully!

carrots are great teething toys!

Why go the easy way?

Towards the end of this last month Silas began practicing a true crawl, which is adorable might I add!! He explores and eats things on the floor I don't want to think about. There is no level of clean that prevents him from finding something disgusting to put in his mouth.

future mountain biker

Andrew and I both began our PhD programs in the middle of August. So Silas began going to The Goddard School part time. It turns out those ladies are magical and Silas LOVES going there to play for a few hours. He takes hour long naps there, squeals and smiles when I drop him off and is smiling or sleeping whenever I show up. We are still struggling with drinking milk out of foreign containers (i.e. not mom). But other than that, daycare has been a good thing for this far more active baby.

Saving Gotham one butt cheek at a time

If Silas only knew how close he was
to being kenneled up! =)~

Oh yeah, you might have noticed...we switched to cloth diapers! I'm proud to say, for the most part, its been a successful and smooth transition from disposables to cloth. We love the cloth diapers! It just seems they would feel SO much better let alone the environmental benefits! Silas has not been happy with diaper changing recently, but we're pretty sure its because he's getting so independent the whole process just annoys him now. 

Wool covers!

I have to say I am now a lover and advocate of cotton and wool as a diaper system. Wool is a amazing, natural and you can buy the cutest pieces from "work-at-home" moms. I lanolized these suckers and haven't had to wash them yet (lanolin, when wet, turns into a soap, so these covers naturally clean themselves). The only issue I had was about the middle of the first week I got this wet dog smell from my prefolds!! I tried everything! ( if you are into cloth diapers and want to know, email me ;)) I finally decided Rockin Green detergent ( supposedly the best for cloth diapers) wasn't doing its job. I researched, switched to Eco Sprout and Tada!! my diapers are all fresh again! Anyway, I'm sure I lost some of you. But this has been my lab at home. My lab at school is just getting started.

Finally, Silas has begun pulling himself up on furniture to standing ( mostly in the bath tub, his favorite place to experiment...so safe...). He'll be walking before we know it. Oh yeah, and solids have become more of a thing for our boy. Towards the end of his 7th month he has really had a taste of many different foods! Most of all he enjoys playing with them.

What a sweet boy.