RIP Shadrack

Today our family dog of 15 years, Shadrack, was put to sleep. We got him when I was only nine and I can barely remember life without him. Shad is special because he has somehow lived a long, happy life despite having endured a number of traumatic events including: a 2 story fall out of my sister's window which put him into a coma for 3 days, Spinal Meningitis, a very brutal dog attack, an infestation of fly larvae under his skin, I know, SICK! That actually happened on 2 separate occasions. He has undergone two difficult hip surgeries, nearly suffocated from getting his head stuck in a graham cracker box while no one was home... the list goes on!

About 5 years ago he began to go downhill, he slowly became blind, deaf and barely able to walk. For those 5 years we have been fairly certain that he was going to die any day now so we never thought about putting him down. But he just kept on living. With my mom moving to Florida though, the time finally came. He definitely wouldn't have faired too well in a big move across the country.

My mom didn't want his final moments to be in a vet's office so she arranged for someone to come to the house and euthanize him. It was really sad, he was just sleeping (it's pretty much all he does lately) on the couch when the lady got here and he didn't even wake up. She injected him with two shots, the first to put him to sleep and the second to stop his heart. He did not budge the entire time. All of a sudden his stomach stopped going up and down and we knew he was dead... his eyes were wide open. My mom was hysterical which made me feel really bad for her. The vet took his limp little body away and just like that, he's gone :o(

D-Day

Well, maybe just moving day, but still! Of course, nobody likes to move but this one is particularly bad on account of we have to do it all over again (but on a MUCH grander scale, that being across the country) in just a few months. Our lease was up at our apartment this week but we're not moving to Alabama until July or August, the close quarters were driving us nuts though so extending our lease was an absolute last option... so what did we do? Move in with my mom and stepdad! I know, slightly immature but they're moving to Florida next week so we'll really just be care takers of their house while it's on the market to sell. And, it's a place to live while we're trying to figure out when/how/where we'll be moving next. Unfortunately, moving all of our stuff in before they've moved any of their stuff out has created quite a cramped environment. Plus, half of our stuff is in storage, all of it is still in boxes, I don't know what's what, it's driving me crazy! Although, I shouldn't complain too much because I'm too weak/muscular deficient to help move so aside from some packing, Jason has pretty much done everything. In fact, while I'm sitting here blogging, he's back at the apartment cleaning. I feel bad for him. Anyway, we're just anxious to move to Alabama, be settled in and not have to move again for a while. In the 2 years Jason and I have known each other we will have each moved 4 and soon to be 5 times! It sucks. On the plus side, Eli will finally have his own room! While mothers typically experience "nesting" before their baby comes, I seem to be experiencing it now. I can't wait to make a cute little nursery for him!