We Said Goodbye to Scooter

I could have sworn that I blogged about this already, but I think this was actually what caused me to stop blogging.

I downloaded the pictures from my cell phone the other day and found these. They made me cry all over again.

Last September, our super-loved 7 year old Boxer, Scooter, began tripping and walking into things. That was a Wednesday.

By Friday, he couldn’t stand upright without support. The local vet recommended we take him to UC Davis for further testing.

The next Tuesday we had an appt for him to go to the neurologist at the UC Davis Vet hospital. I couldn’t go to the appointment with Doyle because I really did not want to know what was happening. This was our first “oldest son”. This is the dog that would throw dog toys into DJ’s playpen to help try to stop DJ from crying when he was an infant. This is the dog that would run to whomever was crying to comfort them by laying his head on your lap. The same dog that growled at us at 9 pm if we didn’t stop talking and let him go to sleep. The dog that weighed 92 pounds yet thought he was a lap dog.

I vividly remember the call from Doyle. The neurologist believed that Scooter had a brain tumor. His quick deterioration was not a good sign. We knew what the next step had to be, but we prolonged it.

He came home and cuddled with his favorite goose. (We had to put his snow boots on him to help him walk around the house. It had “grippies” on the bottom and helped prevent him from sliding on the floor.)

We babied him. We always have. Even the kids babied him.

Cody could see all the attention that we were giving Scooter and I am sure he knew something was wrong. Every chance he had he would go up to Scooter and hug him.

  

It was heartbreaking to see the misery in Scooter’s eyes. He never made a peep to show he was in pain, but you could see it in his eyes that he just wasn’t the same.

We had scheduled an appointment for him for Friday to put him to sleep because it was to the point that he couldn’t stand, sit or lay down without falling over and needing assistance.

Thursday night, we all said our goodbyes to Scooter. (This is making me cry all over again!) I grabbed my camera phone and started snapping away as all my boys bonded one last time.

The most heartbreaking of it all was DJ. We found him laying in his bed with the covers over his head silently crying. When we asked him why he was crying all he could say was “I’m going to miss him”. Throughout the week, DJ had not said a word to us about Scooter. He wouldn’t even talk about it. It broke our hearts to see him so upset about it.

We asked him if he wanted to lay with Scooter and cuddle with him one last time. The two have been sharing Scooter’s bed since DJ could crawl. Even within the last year we would find DJ (and now Cody) laying in Scooter’s bed with him.

Our poor guy fell asleep crying next to Scooter.

 

Even Xena came over to say goodbye. These two slept together every night. We usually found her in his bed instead of her own.

We haven’t gotten used to either of them being gone. (Especially since we still find their hair laying around the house and Scooter’s hair in the car! :) ) The house is quiet without Xena constantly meowing at us. There is no dog’s head on my lap to comfort me as I grieve for them. Yes, they are pets, but more than anything they were part of our family.

We miss Scooter and Xena A LOT and even made sure they celebrated Christmas with us

Our Boys

I have mentioned before just how hard it is for me to get DJ in front of the camera and willing to take pictures.

Today, I set up the indoor studio because I needed to practice taking headshots for a session this weekend.

DJ was MORE than willing to take pictures! Mostly because Cody was trying to get his picture taken first.

Here are the many faces of DJ.

He looked so handsome just posing for me!

Then he got silly…

Then he was flirty…

Then he got serious…as in “seriously mom, are you not done yet?”

Then he was modelesque..

And my favorite picture from today…I am just melting into his eyes!  

After DJ got off the studio, my other son jumped in…. 

Scooter patiently waited for his turn then as soon as DJ was done, he walked onto the backdrop and sat down waiting for his picture to be taken.

Cody wasn’t as cooperative today. He had his favorite stuffed animal, Brobie, in his hands and couldn’t wait to for me to be done. He’s still cute, though! =)

Holiday Portrait Session....

It is that time of year when my kids dread seeing me with a camera in my hands!! Yup, it's time for their Christmas portrait session!

This time I was ready for them and had not one, but TWO baby wranglers to help me keep them in line (thank you Mama and Tita Teri!!).

Funny part is they both wanted their pictures taken this year. Unfortunately, they didn't really want them taken together.

I am pretty happy with the results, though!

Warning: there are LOTS of pictures! :)

Just like with his Halloween pictures, DJ did not want to be cute. At first, he did not want to smile for me and got mad when I took a picture of him "accidentally" smiling. I couldn't help myself - he's got such a cute smile!



The more serious, supermodel DJ...



...the mad "stop taking pictures of me smiling" DJ. Even his mad faces are cute!



We are so lucky to have a compliant dog like Scooter! He lets the boys do just about anything to him and does not make a fuss about it at all!



After looking at the pictures of the kids on the dog, I was realizing I should have put reindeer antlers on Scooter. :)

Cody is always SO happy! This picture truly reflects his personality.

The one thing DJ treasures most are his animals!

Cody loves Scooter, too!

I like this picture of Cody and Scooter because they both have that "mamarazzi, are you not done taking pictures yet?" look

Funny part about the photo session is that Scooter was the most compliant between the three. He held his pose the best for all the pictures! :)

Oh that face and those chubby fingers! This picture just makes my heart melt!

I'm not too sure what he was doing here, but I had to post this one because it makes me laugh. It has a Victoria Secret feel to it. Especially with the way he's touching his foot and everything! :)

Our cute little men. They really do love each other.

"Don't mess with us!"

Silly Cody. He was making farting noises with his mouth and dancing to the beat.

Happy Halloween!!!!

This weekend, I attempted to take pictures of the boys in their Halloween Costumes. I swear, with all the kids I have taken pictures of so far, mine are definitely my hardest subjects!

This year, DJ decided that he wanted to be something "scary" and not "cute" for Halloween. He decided on a vampire.

(WARNING: LOTS of pictures)

DJ did NOT want his picture taken at all.

Isn't he a cute, oops, I mean SCARY vampire? He didn't want to smile for me, but I think it worked with the costume! :)

Here is the full view of my Vampire. He was trying to be mad at me, but he couldn't help but break into a smile.

Doesn't this face say it all????

What's a Vampire costume without a set of fangs?

Maybe the fangs are a little big.

His scariest Vampire impression!

Cody noticed that DJ was getting his pictures taken so he decided to strike a pose.

As mentioned in a previous post, Cody is a HUGE Yo Gabba Gabba fan! So this year, we decided that he would be cute as one of the YGG monsters.

Unfortunately, they don't sell costumes. SO...mommy got to work and sewed one for him.

Here is a picture of the Muno head with 2 of the kids' Muno toys.

And here is our very own Muno Cody! Isn't he a cutie? He hated the head so he's NOT happy!

It didn't take very long before he started ripping the head off. Poor Muno!

OH SO MAD!

Just like DJ's picture...his face says everything!



Since Cody wouldn't wear the head, I decided that SOMEONE had to!

Mug Shot

Name that Clone Trooper!

Clone Trooper #1:



Clone Trooper #2:



And I had to throw in a picture of Scooter looking pretty after a grooming. :)

Boys and Bubbles

My brother is in town for a few days. His visits always call for a trip to Toys R Us for DJ. His visits also always include gifts for Scooter. If Scooter doesn't get a gift, he tends to mope around.

At today's Toys R Us trip, DJ and my brother discovered that they sold pet toys now. Scooter received chicken scented/flavored bubbles.

Funny thing is the air totally smelled like chicken!

Scooter was scared of the bubbles at first and wasn't sure what to do.



Cody, however, had his mouth open and was trying to catch them in his mouth.



DJ didn't care for the chicken bubbles so he blew his own bubbles.



Cody finally got tired of bubbles and decided to mow the lawn. :)



We are going to miss this beautiful San Diego "winter" weather!!!!