Friends

I don't think that I have posted any pictures of our puppy Rex. This is a fairly recent one of him with Spencer. As you can see she loves him. She is forever petting him, feeding him, giving him commands and yes even cuddling with him. He is very accomodating. He is close to 75 lbs, so when he is excited he can be too energetic and knock her down by accident to which she looks at him and sternly commands, "NO REX!!" Usually with an outstretched pointer finger.

Mostly she loves him. As I look at this picture I'm thinking that he's in desperate need of a good grooming. I should get on that before we go to Mexico. He doesn't love hair cutting, combing and nail clipping so it can take a day to two to get all of the grooming tasks completed.

Rex is celebrating his first birthday this week. He has been with us since May. It certainly is extra work having a dog and there are moments when I have thought about whatever could have possessed me to get a dog, but mostly I love him to death.

He has such a protective instinct that I no longer feel scared when Rob travels with work. Which is good because I'm getting too old to go for days on end without sleeping and single handedly looking after 4 kids like I did for years when we lived in the States. Back then, when Rob would go to camp or ski trips or conferences I would be up most of the night listening to every sound and pacing around the house. By the time he would come home I would be exhausted. That's part of the reason why we picked a Giant Schnauzer. He is protective and I wouldn't have to worry about anyone breaking in - certainly not unannounced anyways. :0)

So, there's a recent pic of our boy. He is sweet and a nice addition to our family. Happy Birthday Rex! Thanks for all you've added to our family!