Spring cleaning

So our sweet little Mia puppy has been in desperate need of a spring cleaning.  I'm simply not a small dog person.  I love our little puppy but as far as proper grooming and hair care, I've always been pretty awful at keeping her presentable.  It's amazing how quick that long hair can get tangled and ratty!  During the winter, I mostly just hack at the hair around her face so that we can see her eyes.  See that little tuft there sticking up on top of her head?  Yeah, that would be my fault.  So anyway, Jason pretty much told me last time I cut her hair that I made her look like she had some strange hair loss disease.  Oh well.  It was free and our budget needs that these days!

Well it's been a while since I hacked away at Mia's hair, and it had really gotten out of hand.  So, it must be done, I decided.  Mia didn't agree, but I didn't give her much choice...

And can I just say, that somewhat like my youngest child, this dog is impossible to get a picture of!  None of these before shots really do the mess that was her hair justice.  But maybe you get the idea...

(yeah, like I said, I hack at her hair...)

So knowing I had quite a job on my hands,  I decided what better time to tackle said job than when I am home alone with my almost 2 year old with no help and no distractions for her..  Seriously though, this was a calculated (and somewhat selfish) decision.  See my days as a mom of 4 require careful calculation.  If I am to get any time to myself to plan meals, catch up on email, shower (?!) I have to carefully plan the timing of Anabelle's nap so that she is actually down for a nap a good hour before the older girls get home from school.  Very selfishly, I did not want my hour of "quiet me time" to be spent locked in the bathroom grooming my mangy precious dog.  

So there.  I decided to tackle Mia's hair issues with my little helper close by...

And such a helper she was!  Until she decided that she was not a huge fan of the bathroom door being closed (a necessity to keep sweet Mia from bolting), and I'm pretty sure she figured out rather quickly that she now had free reign of the house.  So she destroyed the rest of the house played while I groomed.

(this is Anabelle the day before, by the way, when I left her to herself for about 2 minutes...)  Just wanted some milk, mom...

So why I thought it was a good idea to clean Mia while AB was awake?..  Well, I already told you.  Calculated decision.  It might have taken twice as long because I had to pause 84 times to make sure she was playing and not destroying, but it still got done and I had my hour of free time later that day.  I think after AB figured out how to make water come out of our water cooler is about the time I decided maybe she'd like to watch Toy Story while I finished grooming.  Another great (and calculated) decision.  This indecisive girl was on a roll!  

Anyway, back to Mia.  I got as much of her long hair clipped as I could (as evenly as possible) and then I started working on the tangles closer to her skin.  This is where the "strange skin and/or hair disease" phenomenon usually enters in.  I HAVE to get rid of those massive tangles and some of them are just so close to her skin, but I can't cut all of her hair that short.  It's happened before- went something like this.

Fast forward several hours and Mia puppy is clean and (somewhat) presentable.  I have continued throughout the week to hack away at hair that is obviously longer than everything around it.  I got her face pretty well shaped but Jason pointed out that I neglected the whiskers and she looks sort of "old man-ish".  Oh well.  

 I'll hack away at those whiskers soon enough but I don't think she looks TOO bad...

Pree' puppy

When we first got our little Mia puppy, Naomi was only 2 and abolutely adored everything her "pree' puppy".  We would say, Naomi that's Mia, and she would say, "No, that's Pree' Puppy"  (pretty puppy).

Mia went for a visit to friends when we were in the states and ended up being away from us for over a year and by the time we were re-united with her, Miss Anabelle was a very active part of our family.  I've decided that now that Mia and Anabelle have become buds, Mia is one of the most patient puppies in the world.

Anabelle plays with her like a doll, trying to feed her from a spoon

Here she is getting kisses...

I guess though for sweet Mia, the torture is worth it, knowing that she's going to be rewarded anytime Anabelle is in the high chair..

Sweet pree' puppy, we love you!

Mia's lair

So our sweet little Mia puppy rejoined our family this past February after almost 18 months of staying with some dear friends in Lebanon while we were in the states and then getting settled in our new home.  Of course the girls were over the moon to have her back but I think it has been somewhat of an adjustment for little Mia.  Don't get me wrong- she loves us dearly (I hope!) but she also loved this other family dearly and it has just taken her a little time to adjust.

Plus, she's not really a puppy anymore.  She's 4.5 and a wee bit eccentric.  She had her own little lair at our first house in Lebanon and my friend tells me that she did the same thing at their house.  At our first place, it was one of those under the bed boxes that was under our bed (I'm so logical in the way I store things...) but it didn't have a top on it so I could access the stuff easier.  Well, Mia quickly turned it into "her place".  She would gather random things from around the house and put them in her "lair".  It's really the only time I've ever heard her growl at one of the girls (she has still yet to growl at Jason or me)- when they invade her lair to try and retrieve something she's stolen.  Which funny enough, was (is) just about always one of their webkins stuffed animals!  For some reason she was obsessed with those things.  And she didn't chew them to pieces.  She would just hold them in her mouth and then surround herself with them in her lair.  She was particularly partial to one webkins dog and to one of Naomi's stuffed monkeys... (click here for that story..)  OH, and Naomi was so excited to have Mia back that she even gave her Curlis/Curtis the monkey but Jason and I quickly took her back.  Possibly we are more attached to the significance of Curtis than she is?!

Anyway,   My friend tells me that at their house it was socks.  Mia would gather random socks from around the house and hold them captive in her spot under the bed.  Funny little dog.  Before, we always knew when she had hijacked something she wasn't supposed to have when we arrived home and she greeted us and then immediately made a beeline for her "lair".

Well, maybe it's adjustment anxiety, maybe it's just that she's a crazy, eccentric (but still super sweet little puppy), but for whatever reason, Miss Mia has developed quite a lair in her/our new home.  I thought I had our "under bed" area pretty well filled up.  See, storage is a big issue in apartments here (as in , there isn't any...) so I very purposefully looked for a bed that would allow plenty of hidden storage.  We have sleeping bags, suitcases filled with extra pillows, blankets in bags, beach towels and several "under bed boxes".  Well this time she didn't go for one of the boxes, she developed her own little place at the very back against the wall, wedged between hard side suitcases and garbage bags stuffed with sleeping bags.  There is a little spot (maybe 2 ft by 2ft) that is very definitely HERS.  She gathers socks, bits of balloons, last week it was Easter eggs, the girls stuffed animals (she has a few favorites).  Curtis the monkey is always under there (once I realized she wasn't going to chew him up, just cuddle with him, I let him stay).  She's also somewhat fixated on one or tow more webkins animals that the girls aren't too happy to give up.

Sadly, she is also pretty fixated on the little rubber shoes we have for Anabelle which I'm sure have some fancy name but I have no idea what it is (anyone?)  To be honest they were a gift that I kind of turned my nose up at (I never put shoes on any of my others just because they are so expensive and they outgrow them so fast at that age!) but this little things have been AWESOME.  They stay on and keep her little piggies warm which has been a huge thing this winter.   So here's the deal. As much as I love Mia puppy and want her to feel secure.  I can't let her have the shoes.  So I have found myself doing this a lot...

I'm greeted by this (yep, she's guarding the shoe!- still hasn't growled at me though...)

  and retrieving all of this...

Anabelle's happy to have her shoes back!!

And everyone is under strict instruction to keep the shoes out of Mia' reach!!