That’s right, more puppy news. My internet has been down since the day after Christmas, and I’ve been missing it immensely. But getting to spend more time with the puppies has been awesome. Here’s a video I took of them last week. Now they’ve got their eyes open and are working on standing up and walking, rather than the sea-turtling movements they did at first. Here’s the video, enjoy!

How is it that no matter how hard I try, I can never ever make the cat jump… one of those fantastic upside down backward sideway flips??  Yet every single time my husband makes the effort, she flies at least two and a half feet in the air?  I laugh at the little girl each and every time.

Not my cat, but like mine I still giggle.

PS - Thoughts are still with Ivy!  Signed, Kathy T.

Hi all.  Kathy T. writing today for Ivy since she is unfortunately experiencing family medical problems.  My thoughts are with her right now.  Since she's not here, there are no new cute newborn puppy pictures today, but I give you instead photos of our cat, Kitty.  I'm not so good with names in case you can't tell.

For our cat and our dogs, I've picked up a Christmas present each. The dogs get a couple of toys with squeakies inside.  For the cat I found a little ball that we can fill with fresh catnip.  She's already sniffing around the tree trying to find that tantalizing smell.  Of course my daughters naturally wrapped it already but I expect fo find open soon. Opened by Kitty.

The cat thinks she should have a present at Christmas, I'm sure.  On Christmas morning as we open our gifts, she's right in the middle meowing and pawing at us until we give her something, too.  Then she's happy.  The dogs are kind of happy all the time … to them if you scratch their belly or kiss their head, they're thrilled to pieces.  Companionship for the dogs is Christmas enough, but they'll get their squeaky toys anyway.

Do you buy gifts for your pets?

Since it’s the last Friday before Christmas, enjoy this fun version of “The 12 Days Of Christmas.” Merry Christmas, Shak-ers!

Annabelle decided to take a break from her puppies this morning and hang out with Mr. Ivy for awhile, so I popped in to see the puppies, take some pictures, and change out their towel. I should have changed the towel before I took pics, ha. Messy little babies.

Annabelle having the babies so soon was a surprise to us. The vet was off on her estimation of when Annabelle was due, and was also off in estimating 4 puppies since she only had 3. That said, we couldn't be more thrilled.

The black and white one is the crybaby of the group. Whenever Annabelle leaves the box to hang out or go to the bathroom or anything else, he just cries and cries for his mommy. Poor little guy. I expect as time goes on, their personalities will become more distinct, but there's that for now.

I promise, this won't turn into the all-puppies-all-the-time blog, but give me a few days to get adjusted, haha. I'm still stupidly excited.

I have never known anyone since the minute they were born, except these puppies and my kids. So exciting.

Annabelle has had her puppies. The vet told us she wasn’t due until January, but clearly that was inaccurate- she has had 3 healthy, full term puppies. They’re adorable! I’ll post more pictures when I can, I’m so excited.

This weekend, my dogs had some breakthroughs. First, Annabelle and Tiny decided to curl up together for a nap. Now, they’re playing together. They’re really getting along well! I’m so proud of both of them for getting along with each other so well. In honor, here’s a video of 2 shih tzus playing:

I borrowed this picture from HeffTech on Flickr because I don’t have a single picture of my own dog in the snow. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, we rarely get enough snow in the Nashville area to be able to take pictures of our dogs in the snow. Second, my dog HATES the snow.

So, we’re theoretically supposed to get some snow tonight. I’m looking forward to it for myself, because I love snow. But my dog? Ay yi yi. Tiny cannot stand being in snow. He prances around it like it’s poison. I don’t know yet how Annabelle will like the snow, but she’s no fan of rain. I’m glad we live here where there isn’t much snow and not in Minnesota. Tiny would hate winter, ha.

So, what about your dogs? Do they love the snow or hate it? Or are they totally indifferent?