It's a Boy!

My niece, Crystal, gave birth to her first little one (and my sister Karen's first grandchild) yesterday. This handsome guy is named Skyler James, he and his Momma are doing just fine. Crystal, Skyler and Karen should all be coming home tomorrow. This is the first of three grand-nephews or nieces that my family is expecting for 2007.

Weight: 6 lbs 13 oz
Length: 19 inches
Born: January 23, 2007
Time: 4:55pm

Hansel

Been a terribly busy weekend, with my friend Leclii visiting and taking puppies back with her. One that was due to head north for Jenny to foster...Hansel...got seriously sick just before Leclii's departure. So I sent Freckles on up with Gretel to Jenny's to foster. And off I went to see what could be done for Hansel. Sadly, I ended up taking him to the emergency vet and having to put him to sleep. Here's a photo taken this weekend of little Hansel. Worried that Hansel had something the whole litter had caught, I took Ducky into my own vet on Monday and they found nothing. Wasn't 100% comfy, so I had tests run for Elliot and Sara (these are the ones left at my house now) and they were negative as well. So, sigh of relief that the pups are okay and it was only Hansel who wasn't well.

Any other time I'd have thought having 3 little puppies to care for would be stressful and overwhelming. But....after having 8 of 'em for 2 weeks...caring for 3 is a piece of cake! Couple more weeks 'till they're ready for adoption. The local shelter said they typically go fast...though I'll probably be somewhat picky on adopters. Here's a few good shots taken over the warm weekend.

ELLIOT

SARA
FRECKLES

Round Two

Took the other four pups to the vet today for their shots and deworming. Here's the weigh-in:

Ducky - 5.6 lbs
Elliot - 5.0 lbs
Sara - 5.0 lbs

and...drum roll please....

Freckles at a hefty 7.4 lbs!!

WORMS!!!!

Ugh! I thought the puppies must have pulled some threads loose from their bedding, but nooooo. The wormer the vet gave those four puppies yesterday worked well, 'cause last night (and this morning) I had the joy of cleaning up poop with roundworms. In case you've never experienced this and would like a visual...here's the website for roundworm info:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/worms.html

Guess I'll get another joyful night after the other four get treated today!

First Vet Appointment

I could only make an appointment for 4 dogs at a time at the vet's office, so I took four today and will take four tomorrow. Was pretty easy...fed 'em all first and these buggers fell asleep, had to wake them up for shots. Here's the weigh in:

Samson - 5.6 lbs
Gretel - 5.4 lbs
Hansel - 5.0 lbs
Delilah - 4.8 lbs

The staff at the vet facility was really helpful. They have their own adoption center there, and the lady said someone had came in just that morning looking for a hound puppy. I gave her all my contact info and hope to hear back! Need to make up a flyer with cute puppy faces to post there as well.

Five Weeks Old

The puppies are five weeks old now and I feel like I aged a decade or two this past week. It's a LOT of work to care for a litter of 8 puppies. If I ever do this again, haul me off to a shrink! Luckily, my friend Leclii will be here next weekend to haul off four of these cuties. So, here's the rollcall of puppies....see one you'd like to adopt!?

DUCKY


FRECKLES


ELLIOT


SAMSON & DELILAH
{These two have been adopted and go to their home next week!}


HANSEL


GRETEL


SARA

Ringing in the New Year

While my family took in record amounts of alcohol, lighting off fireworks, dancing & singing the night away and making drunk phonecalls at midnight to wish me and other less fortunate family members a Happy New Year! (Check out my sister's blog for a good laugh)...I was busy being Puppy Momma.

(Above pic: Leclii's boy Sampson getting a bath)
(Photo to right: Freckles crashed in the crate)
Here's a few puppy photos from the weekend. They're much better smelling and I'm getting the feeding and cleaning routine down pretty well. My friend Jenny was only here for the weekend, so I'm facing the week of work and puppy care all by myself. In two weeks, my friend Leclii is planning on visiting and take two pups back for her family to adopt and two back for Jenny to find adoptive homes. Now...if any of you are looking for a cute puppy to live as an indoor dog, please reply to my blog...these pups are gonna need homes!

Took several group shots of the whole litter, but they weren't cooperating much.