The Many Names of Lulu

It was brought to my attention that I have too many nicknames for my dog. My husband said he is surprised she even knows her name since I call her everything but Lulu! My friends and family have also pointed out this inconsistency. Honestly, I can’t help it. I don’t know where they come from, I just call them out. Here are the ones I can think of right now: Lu, Luis, Lupintine, Teensy Tine, Teensy, Teensy Tinertons, Tine, Lieutenant, Lutenberg, Baby girl, BG, Momma’s girl, Boof, Boofertons. Yes, I’m a crazy person. Speaking of crazy, Lulu’s birthday is this week so of course I’m throwing her a big party. I ordered invitations but they’re not in yet, so I hope her guests won’t mind the short notice. I’m super excited and have lots of things to do to get ready for the big event. It’s in the afternoon, so I’m keeping it simple with the human food. My husband has vetoed having a kiddie pool due to the giant muddy mess it will surely create. I guess I can respect that. We did spend 8 hours staining our deck yesterday (no I’m not exaggerating). I’ll be sure and take lots of pictures. It’s going to be fun!  

And amazingly enough, I only took one picture of Lulu this weekend! It’s a new low for me, usually I take at least ten. Here’s my girl resting on the couch after a big time at the dog park on Saturday:       

sleeping beauty

Every Day is Dog Day

I’m aware that I exhibit a higher level of craziness commitment to being a “dog mom” than most. For those of you that know me/my family, it’s very clear that this quality is genetic (thanks mom). My good friend Megan gave me some pre-puppy counseling and I remember the one thing she really emphasized was “Fit the dog around your life. Don’t fit your life around the dog.”  Ha! I gave it a good try, but I don’t think my odds were very good going into it considering I took a Friday off the day I got Lu, and also the next Monday so she would have an extended period of time to spend with her new momma! We also didn't go out to dinner for a month because I had separation anxiety felt guilty after being gone at work all day. Oh well. I am who I am (sorry hubby!).

Yesterday, my equally insane dedicated mom came to Little Rock with her Lab Claire (Lu’s cousin). They picked Lulu up around 4 pm and headed over to the dog park. I joined them as soon as I got off work. This was Claire’s first visit to the DP, so she went a little crazy in the water area. There were only a few dogs there, but she ended up splashing enough to get all of them wet (including Lulu). I took the girls home with me so my mom and her husband Randy could do some shopping and have dinner. The two muddy dogs and I had a nice time playing in our backyard, and Lu was worn out by the end of the night!

Splashing around!

Play fighting 

Claire took a little break

My sweet Lulu gives her cousin lots of kisses!

Claire got a little tired of it.

Tired, snuggly pups (this lasted 2 minutes, tops)

What's Cooking?

Just ask Lulu. She was busy helping her daddy in the kitchen this week. I’m sure he appreciated the help since I was too busy taking pictures to contribute (that’s always my excuse). We had some friends over for dinner Tuesday night, so there was a lot of prep work to do. Erik swept off the deck and Lulu brought all her toys in from outside to help. The dinner went really well, but we stayed up way too late. Lulu was exhausted because she doesn’t like to go to bed when the party is still going on. I on the other hand, have no problem! 

She brought all these in from outside on her own

Cooking with daddy

Good helper

She can stand on her hind legs for a really long time!

She got tired of helping (I know the feeling)

Wine Country

Erik and I took a little trip up to wine county this weekend in honor of my birthday month. No, not Napa Valley…Altus, Arkansas. My good friend Jessica and her husband Rick met us there, and we had a great time! We stayed in a really cute house that had an amazing view of the town and an old church (see pictures below).

My wonderful parents kept Lulu for us (again), and she had an equally good time in Conway. The best part about Lu staying there is that she is worn out when we pick her up. This worked out nicely considering the amount of wine we drank the day/night before, because all I wanted to do when we got home was sleep! 

beautiful view

St. Mary's Church

This was in the old cemetery

Jessica surprised me with these tasty petit fours!

My little mountain goat!

Lulu resting at home

On her perch

She passed out early on her back

Right in the middle of our bed of course

Sweet little fur ball (Lulu not Erik)

Out cold...

Watch Dog

Lulu’s new thing is looking out the front window. After she chewed a piece of our blinds off, she has a nice little hole to make this even easier. To prevent further damage, we’ve now started to leave the windows up just enough for her to see out. She likes to know what’s going on in the neighborhood. If someone walks by, she’ll let us know. One of her favorite hobbies is to bark at everyone walking to church on Sunday morning. She also enjoys bird and squirrel hunting (she doesn’t know that she’s not very good at it) and eating the annoying brown things that fall off the Oak trees.

Checking things out

Lu on her perch

Watch dog!

Eating the pollen pods.

I had to order this shirt! 

More doodle merchandise! 

Sad Week

You may have noticed I haven’t been blogging as frequently as normal this week. My sweet husband lost his granddaddy on Monday, so we’ve been out of town for the visitation and funeral : (

It was late at night when we got the news, so we were in bed asleep with Lulu. She could tell her daddy was upset, so she cuddled up to him and put her head on his chest. She’s such a good girl! 

I was worried about what we were going to do with Lulu when we had to be gone. My mom was out of town this week so I didn’t really have anywhere to take her. Luckily, my step dad Randy volunteered to take care of her for us. He was a lifesaver and Lulu had a great time playing with him and her cousin Claire.

In other news, Lulu has gone on a chewing rampage lately. She started with the blinds and then moved on to the knobs. She’s also chewed up so much of our rug that we had to roll it up last night and put it in the attic. Our living room looks naked without my bright pink rug, so I’m not too happy. 

Randy sent me this picture of the girls on a walk. Precious!

She went to town on the blinds...

then she ate one of the knobs.

All that chewing wore her out!

Mi Perro es Loco (My dog is crazy)

I’ve been using this Website (restaurant.com) where you can buy discounted gift certificates to local restaurants. They had a special where you could pay $2 for a $25 certificate, so I had to load up! Well, I got super excited about the deal, so when I bought 4 gift certificates to Casa Manana (one of our fav Mexican places), I didn’t notice the part at the top in bold type that said only valid at the west location. That’s really far from our house and we NEVER go there. Ugh! A few days ago we had to run an errand out that direction, so we decided to make a night of it and use one of our certificates. We didn’t ask if we could bring Lulu, but I knew they had a big outdoor patio so I didn’t think it would be an issue. When we got there the deck was pretty empty, so we walked right in with Lu and sat in the corner.

Ever since Lu was a pup, we’ve been taking her with us to dog-friendly restaurants in our neighborhood. You would think the more she does this, the better she would behave, but that’s not true. She acts a fool every time like she’s never been out before. She can’t sit still. She has to wind around the table and chairs until her leash is completely tangled and we have to get up and readjust. She was no different at Casa Manana. She decided she was too good to sit on the ground, so she hopped up on the bench with her dad and put her head on the table. I don't think our waiter was too happy about that, but he didn't speak English so he couldn't really get on to us. There's never a dull moment with the Luper!

Help yourself, Lu.

The food is much closer from this position!

I'll have what he's having!

The Birthday Extravaganza has begun!

One of my favorite holidays is my birthday, April 11. I have such wonderful friends and family that always go above and beyond to make it an extra special occasion. I’ve already gotten a cake from my nephew Cole, flowers from my Dad and Sondi, cards from my grandma and a few of my friends, a cute wall hook from my sister-in-law and two pairs of fab earrings; one from my mom, one from my Dad and Sondi…and it’s not even my birthday yet! I’m feelin’ the love, thanks everyone!

Lulu’s birthday will be here before I know it. She will turn 1 on May 4^th. I’m going to try to plan a fun doggie birthday party for her…nothing over the top, just a little backyard soiree with her closest pals.

We’ve been spending a lot of time on our front porch since the weather has been so nice. Lulu loves it out there. Erik built a wood barricade so she can’t run off. We are hoping to build a wrought-iron fence around our front yard so we don’t have to worry about that anymore! 

Hanging on the porch waiting on me to get home.

Lulu wanted to join in the game!

She likes to be right in the action

This is how she sits. Directly on her bottom.
Erik and I laugh every time!

The Hunt

Today was the big day! Lu finally put her egg hunting skills to the test against her cousin Claire. My mom held the dogs back so they could watch while I hid the eggs. She let them and go and they both raced to the eggs in full speed. As Claire started to figure things out, Lu totally lost all recollection of the "find and open" tactic we had been practicing for days. She started wondering around behind Claire and picking up the empty eggs and carrying them around. FAIL! I had to help her by putting an egg in her face and opening it so she could see/smell the treat inside. It took her so long to figure this out that by the time she had gotten her first treat out, Claire had found all the eggs. Oh well. At least she had fun doing it, that's what really matters right? I'm a little competitive, so that was really hard for me to say. Here are the results:

Claire: 18 eggs

Lulu: 2 eggs

My egg hunting experience went a little differently (yes I still hunt eggs). A few years ago, my mom found some "big kid" eggs. They are designed to be harder to find. Some of them have suction cups so you can stick them under things. Some are clear so they blend in with their surroundings. Some have strings so you can hang them. You get the point. Last year was the first time my husband got to experience hunting with me. Needless to say, he didn't do too well. I found the majority of the eggs pretty quickly. This year was no different. It got a little more physical because we were in close quarters, but I still came out ahead. He got a mad at me because he would have a drawer open and I would lean down over him and grab the egg. I can't help it if he's slow. I had to explain to him that an egg is fair game unless someone has it in their hand. Here's how it ended up this year:

Lexie: 13 eggs

Erik: 8 eggs

so close!

It's right there!!!

That one's empty Lulu

It's empty, keep looking!

Empty.

Yep, you guessed it...empty!

Empty

Claire had to double check a few empties after she saw Lu going for them.

My little Easter bunny!

Good girl Claire

Exhausted after the hunt.