Cooper

I was in the mood to take some pictures of Cooper today....so....here he is. :)

I love his big 'ole wet nose....

And his EARS. OMGosh, just take a look at those ears. They feel like silk - no lie. In the evenings, he'll climb up on the couch beside me and I will rub his ears for hours because they are as addicting as cocaine.

The big doofball.

What's Up with Us

H2O Week One Update:
Well, we've got the first week of the H2O challenge under our belts and honestly, it hasn't been all that hard. Not noticing any differences in the way that I feel, but there has to be some benefits to drinking water and cutting back on all the crap we normally drink.
My biggest struggle is in the mornings - I typically wipe drool from my mouth as I walk past the coffee maker and this afternoon as I was picking out cereal in Publix I was overcome with the glorious scent of fresh-ground coffee in the same aisle. I was overcome with the urge to sniff and lick the coffee dispensers but I resisted.
Steve is also most tempted in the mornings, as he is an orange juice whore. Yesterday morning I poured the boys some orange juice for their breakfast and left the container sitting out on the counter. Steve-o denounced me a "devil temptress" for leaving it sitting out in his sight where he pined for it for about half and hour.
But so far...no cheats and no slips.

Now we're going to try and start eating better. Not some sort of freaky-deaky diet or something, but more of a "lifestyle change". Less red meats (no biggie for me, but Steve-o turns caveman when it comes to red meats), less sweets, more greens, smaller portions, etc. etc.

------
Thursday, we're going to Atlanta for the weekend. Steve-o is teaching some basketball clinic at Rabun Gap so we're all going, and having a mini-vacation. I'm hoping we'll hit the aquarium, and I told Owen that we would go downtown to "the city" and ride the "train"(tram system) that he saw when we were there last week for his doctor appointment. I'd also like to go to Ikea and then stop by a couple of antique stores that we drove by when we were there last month to see TheLion King (but had no time to stop). I'm not really an antiques kind of girl, but when we drove by last month I looked longingly at all these funky cool chairs that would make for great photo props that were just sitting out on sidewalks waiting for me to buy them. Alas! No time to stop and no room to bring home, but maybe if I'm lucky, there'll be one left somewhere over there that would suit my needs! There's a chance, right?
-----
We took Owen to see a child behavior specialist in Atlanta last week where he was (finally) diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder - or to put it simply, mild autism. It's not as scary as it sounds, and to be quite honest, we're glad to have a "label" for him so that we can know how to help him succeed in school, relationships, and life in general. This is an answer that we have been searching for for quite some time and we're glad to finally know something, anything, so that we can move forward. More on that later.
-----
Cooper just came downstairs and was sitting at my feet when it occurred to me that he had been in the litter box eating cat poop. What is up with that??! Blegh.
-----

That's it for us.
What's up with you??

Labs Love to Swim

And Cooper is no exception....

New Birthday Tradition

As you may remember, Cooper was my birthday present from Steve last year. He's come a long way from adorable little puppy (i.e. poop and pee machine) but he's definitely still a ball of puppy energy, although now its more like gawky adolescent horse instead of roly poly ball of fluff.
Since Coop and I have birthdays that are so close together, we decided to take a picture of the two of us together every year to document how we change and grow, year by year.

So here's the first one - taken yesterday by Steve. :)

May 2008
Tammi - 29 years
Cooper - 1 year

Good Deed Tuesday! Share your deed or feel the guilt

How's this for a slogan?

Good Deed Tuesday
...because it's time to get off your butt and do some nice stuff.

:) LOL

I like animals. I always have. When I was younger, we had many 'o animal friends and prospective pets parading through our house (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE can I keep him mom??). One of the most memorable was the small black lab mix mutt that I just happened to "find" while out shopping one day by myself. And by "find" I mean that some people in front of Walmart had a box of puppies that said FREE on the side.
I begged hardcore for that one, but my horrible mean mother said no (because I'm the middle child and she likes me the least). I think he found a home with someone in our church. I made a LOT of phone calls that day trying to find him a home.

Even though we have the Fabulous SuperDog Cooper, I still frequently peruse the pet ads in the paper and can't help myself when we walk by advertisements for animals up for adoption at the Humane Society....I MUST look at all their sad little faces. They seem to beg to me, "i need a home, I need a home, won't you adopt me before they kill me?" They make me so sad.
No, we're not getting another pet anytime soon, I just like to know what's out there, okay??

So, last time I checked, I'm a photographer and I thought it might be helpful for the humane society to be able to publish REALLY COOL, professional-grade pictures of pets available for adoption, rather than the standard point and shoot snapshot/mugshot that you normally see. A good picture of a dog really jumps out at you more than the red-eyed blurry photo of the mangy mutt that needs a home, doncha think??
So I called up the humane society, said I'd like to donate my mad photography skillz and the director was thrilled! I'm going sometime on Saturday or next week to take pictures of the current pets. I'll try to do it twice a month for them.

Keeping in tune with the Humane Society Good Deed, Cooper asked me if he could be the face of this blog entry and of course I said yes, but only if he stops licking my ears while I'm watching t.v.

Easily Amused

Just now, Owen is sitting on the couch watching cartoons, Cooper is sprawled out across him sleeping.

Owen: What's that smell? What's the smell? I smell poop.
ME: Poop?! Where do you smell poop?
Owen: I smell poop (wrinkles his nose)
I come over and take a whiff.
ME: Oh. It's Cooper. He tooted.

Owen giggles uncontrollably for the next 3 minutes.

Apparently, the fact that dogs fart is new information and absolutely HILARIOUS.

A Few Miscellaneous Pictures...

...From our weekend in Atlanta.

Cooper, of course...who is quite handsome, I must say.


And his "cousin" Wrigley. They tire each other out quite nicely whenever we get together.



She's no canine, but I loved this picture of my little niece Sammi. Isn't she a beauty? :)

Good Idea Bad Idea

Good Idea: Taking Cooper The Untrained Psycho Dog for a walk.

Bad Idea: Trying to do it on a bike.

----

Picture this: Crazed and wide-eyed dog lunging down the street with girl on bike, eyes wide in terror, trying to maintain balance, not run over the dog, or pull on the wrong brake (and catapult herself over the handlebars), and anticipating road burn as dog jolts into neighboring yards to pee on mailboxes or poop in grass.

We went four blocks. It was crazy, jerky, dangerous, and my hands still hurt from him pulling me about 125 mph down the road. Do NOT try that at home kids.

I've GOT to get this dog in obedience training.
With a side of Ritalin.
And a Xanax for me.

What choo talk'n bout?

Binky Thief

Progress

Score one for us!
Cooper went all day yesterday and did not pee or poop in the house ONCE!
Yessss!!!!!!!!!

Of course, this throws out my theory that he has a bladder/bowel problem and brings to light the fact that he is probably, in fact....a little stupid. Oh well....better late than never, right??

Just Cooper

Here he is...the flea bag, in the flesh. Definitely grown out of the roly-poly fuzzy puppy stage and is quickly entering the gangly, ridiculously awkward leggy stage of life. Like me, in 7th grade.
I thought I'd take his picture to remind myself that he is very cute and lovable, despite his many aggravating habits, like picking up fleas, pooping in my house, chewing on shoes, and stealing my bras and hiding them in his pet bed.
He's worth the aggravation, doncha think??

Just Cooper

Just one I took of Cooper yesterday. He's grown A LOT in just the 3 weeks we've had him. His legs are longer and he's not so little anymore - he used to fit pretty nicely on our laps for a little snoozer, but now he's pretty gangly and his legs hang off you all over the place!

I'm still trying to get one of him and the boys, but with no luck so far....
2 boys with photographer's child syndrome + one rambunctious puppy = disaster.

Anyway, here he is....in all his 3-times-a-day-pooping, peeing-on-the-carpet, shoe-chewing, ankle-biting, cat-chasing, AJ-butt-nibbling, trash-can-picking, fly-eating, ball-fetching glory:

Name that Puppy (again)

This weekend we got Cooper's pedigree papers so now we have to send in our end of the paperwork to officially get him registered.
Obviously, we're not going to change his name, but we need to spice it up a little bit so that he fits in with his pedigree line. Basically, he needs a ridiculous sounding fancy name to put on his papers.

Lemme give you an example.
Cooper was sired by Hunter Buddy Stone. The dam was Zeus's Cool Hand Daisy. Their respective parents were: Hunter Duke Etheridge, Rockroad's May Do Your Thing, Zeus's Cool Hand Luke, and Bosworth's Lady Daisy.

So....we'll keep the name "cooper" in there somewhere...just need to spice things up a little. It's a fun game...we've tossed around quite a few names this weekend....like:
Cooper's Magically Delicious Wonderland (brainstormed during wholesome breakfast of Lucky Charms)
Cooper's Delicious Treat
Forever Poop Coop
Cooper's Island Safari
Twinkle Tinkle Little Star Cooper
Vicious Cooper Seabisquit


So....let's hear your ideas! If we use your name, you'll get a special surprise of no monetary value whatsoever....but we will admire your creativity. Crazy, funny, odd, slightly offensive...we don't care - let's hear your suggestions! Cooper needs a fancy-schmancy pedigree name!

The First of Many.....

Cooper's first casualty: the cord that powers our cable modem.
He chomped right through it two days ago. The problem is that it's a strange voltage (10.5) and unlucky for us, every single electronic store in the city is out of the necessary adaptor we need to hook it up. Good news is that a phone call into our cable provider yesterday and they kindly offered to next day air us a new one. For FREE. Knocked my socks off. Imagine that - actual customer service! How refreshing.

Anyway, in the meantime I'm using my laptop.

And the neighbor's wireless.
Thanks, neighbors.

As for Cooper....in the meantime....he has a great affinity for sandals.
And my hair.
Which he's chewing on as he climbs all over me while I try to type this.

Isn't he fun??? :)
Everyone needs a puppy to spice up their life a little.

It's A Boy!

No, No.....not our baby. Not our human baby anyway!

Meet Cooper.

He's my birthday present! Steve came home yesterday after work with this little bugger in his arms and a red bow around his neck.
I've been telling Steve-o how much I miss having a dog for quite a while now...how it'd be nice for the boys to have a dog, blah, blah, blah - really laying it on thick. At Christmas-time I suggested it again and he said NO WAY. I (sort-of) resigned myself that it would be awhile before we were once again canine owners and tried to put it out of my head. It really is a little impractical....new baby 2 months away, young children, potty-training a dog, business of life, etc. etc......but I happen to think the best gifts are highly impractical. :)
He's really good...only had one accident in the house so far (thank goodness the majority of our house is tile!) and is really good. Fun, but not too crazy rambunctious and the boys absolutely ADORE him. Especially A.J. - who I think it fast becoming best buds with little Cooper. AJ refuses to go anywhere in the house unless he's sure that "ooper" is right on his heels. The two of them sat and watched a movie this morning together and Cooper is constantly covering AJ's face with doggie kisses. Last night Cooper slept curled up beside Owen all night long.

I think he'll fit right in, don't you? :)
A little out of focus, but it makes me laugh. Taking a picture of this puppy is like trying to take a picture of a fart in a tornado.
Right after I took this one, he bounded toward my camera and licked the lens. *ahem*
He has a few lessons to learn about what is and is NOT ok in this house.