Wondering why there hasn’t been a blog post here in sometime?

There are multiple reasons some good and some bad. First the good…

As you might have been able to tell from the photo above a new member of the family has finally arrived!

Blake, my first child, was born on June 8, 2010 (6/8/10 cool ay?). As of this post he’s now 12 days old. My wife went into labor the evening of the 7th and I’ve been up ever since. Ok well maybe it’s not that bad, but at times its seemed like it. Most importantly I am very relieved to report that Blake and his mom are in excellent health. We’ve been having tons of fun with him and soon enough I’ll be sharing some videos that were made for sheer goofy fun.

If you’re looking for good news on this Monday look no further. If you’re curious as to why this time turned out to be so trying click for more. The bad news…

As you might recall not too long ago our youngest dog Zoe was diagnosed with cancer as noted in my blog post Ruff Week Month. 1 day after returning from the hospital with Blake, Zoe took a turn for the worse and her cancer again caused an internal bleed. Our morning walk was cut short with her collapsing on the sidewalk, I took her to the emergency pet hospital as soon as possible where she was nurtured back to health with fluids and rest. I was very happy to be able to take her home that same evening, but later that night she continued her downward spiral with internal bleeding starting up again. I quickly took her to the emergency vet yet again and after 5 hours of tearfully agonizing in an exam room I made the difficult and painful decision to put her down. With no means of stopping the bleeding and a focus on keeping her final moments pain free it seemed to be the logical decision, but emotionally it was the most painful moment of my adult life. I’ve never felt such sorrow and guilt in my life. It’s still tough to think about. I spent several hours balling my eyes out after Zoe’s passing and even still it strikes a raw nerve.

Zoe was an incredible dog (smart, loyal, fun and tons of personality) and it pains me to no end that her life was cut short at the age of 6. My wife and I had hoped to enjoy simple moments of taking her for a walk with our new son. Unfortunately while we’ve been settling in with Blake we’ve been experiencing intermittent and unexpected bouts of grief. It would seem its the little things that often trigger such feelings… mail being delivered without any barking, a silent moment when you return home through the front door, a morning lick that no longer occurs to get you out of bed or even a late night check to make sure you’re ok in your office when you’re blogging/processing photos.

My wife and I have always considered our dogs to be our children so we rarely cut corners in their care. For many this may seem insane, but if you’ve ever owned a pet that you were close to you’ll understand. When Zoe was first taken to the emergency vet in May I didn’t blink an eye at the quote for her surgery. A few thousand dollars was money well spent in my eyes in the hope that she might live a full life into her teens. While she only lived a month or so after being diagnosed with cancer moments like the one in the video above (taken 1 week before her passing) exemplify why I’d have paid even more. Such moments of joy in life are fleeting and I’m incredibly happy I got to share this and many other great moments with an incredible dog friend and family member.

[tags]baby, dog, announcement, joy , grief[/tags]