Our little family update - Hi guys!

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Mandy
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Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Mandy »

I know I know... It's been a really long time. I do lurk around a bit but my time on the computer outside of work has been limited for a while now.

I posted in this section because I don't really know any of the people and pets that post regularly in the regular discussions page - and I knew many more of you posting in this area. I do miss the lively chats :) and all of the great people and chows that I care about - but I don't miss a lot of the chaos that has been happening on this site for the last year or so. That is the main reason I haven't been posting.

I don't think I mentioned it on here before, but I am pregnant - almost 8 months actually. I am due in June. This will be our first human kid and I am BEYOND nervous. I would have been happy with just my two wonderful furkids, but life throws interesting curve balls at us sometimes. Things have been going well so far and both pups have acted VERY strange since my pregnancy started. Chewie has gone as far as completely knocking down a locked gate to the upstairs (for those of you that don't know - he has 2 bad knees so we don't like him going up and down the stairs much,) busting into our room, jumping up over 3 feet onto our really high bed (which he shouldn't be able to do anymore), just to make sure that I was okay during a storm. He is very protective of me, and wants to be anywhere that I am. It is very sweet. Cayenne practically ignores my poor husband now (she was his baby) and wants to get all of her love and scratchies and kisses from me. Chewie is 3 already - going to be 4 next october (can you believe that? Seems like yesterday that I was posting his puppy pics on here!) Cayenne will be 8 this summer and has been doing really well.

Anyway - I just wanted to send nice thoughts out to all of the folks I remember from way back when that helped me through some hard times with my pups and let you know that I still check in and never forget.

Here are two recent pics of my sweeties in their beds (the LOVE their fluffy beds) and then just one of my favorite happy pics of them.

Chewie with his bunny
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Cayenne after Chewie just had a lick fest with her face
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Happy pups
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Miss you all.
Mandy, Chewie, & Cayenne
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Auddymay
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Auddymay »

So good to hear from you Mandy! You did drop the baby bomb, but it was like a hit and run. Blah blah blah, oh BTW, I'm pregnant, blah blah blah...lol. Haley was born June 12th, her dad and grandpa June 2nd, and of course, our Lily's is June 6th! Please post more, I, for one, miss you much!
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Mandy
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Mandy »

Thanks Auddymay. You have been one I have kept up with! I love seeing Lily on her snow throne. She absolutely looked like a queen. Those pics made me miss the snow - but only for a minute :) It's so strange - I remember back when lily first appeared on the scene - it is almost like Chewie was her big brother. They grow up so fast don't they?
Mandy, Chewie, & Cayenne
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chowfrnd88
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by chowfrnd88 »

Mandy, yay, I've missed your posts and photos! Congratulations on the baby! I'm glad Chewy and Cay are doing so well.

Did you get a chance to see Chewy and Cay's pages in the calendar in the b-day forum?

Great to hear from you, don't be a stanger for too long!
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Auddymay
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Auddymay »

Exactly that Mandy! Chewie did seem like the big brother leading the way, with Lily, Koda, Chi Ching, CoCo, and later Gracie being the tag behind little kids! I miss those simpler times! BTW, C&C will make great gaurdians to your little boy or girl! Do you know which?
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Judy Fox
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Judy Fox »

Lovely to hear from you Mandy and the pictures of the chowdren are beautiful.
Good luck for June!! :D
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Ginger Bears Mom
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Ginger Bears Mom »

Hi Mandy, I am relatively new to the forum, you have beautiful chowdren and I have no doubt you will have a beautiful baby as well. Congratulations on your baby, don't be nervous, it will come to you naturally. This from someone who at 38 found out she was pregnant and mind you someone that had never planned on having a child. My chow baby Ginger Bear was enough for me. Ginger turned out to be a very good big sister/mother to our daughter who is now 13. When prego GB always watched out for me more so than before, after intros to her new sister she did the same with our daughter. She either slept under her crib or at the foot of her bed as she grew older. Keep us posted!
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Layla
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Layla »

Great to hear from you Mandy. I remember thinking C&C were the most beautiful chows I'd seen when I first joined! Good luck with the baby :D
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Thank you Elodie!
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LEO's mum
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by LEO's mum »

Oh, I love Cayenne & Chewie's smiles! So nice to hear from you again. Best of luck with your bigness!
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Mandy
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Mandy »

Hi all!

Hope you are all doing well! I haven't had much chance to check in lately but I thought I'd post a note to let you know how things are here with the new arrival! Kennedy Marie was born 6-21 and has been both a challenge and a joy! I just went back to work this week and putting her in day care was SO difficult. I also had gotten used to having the pups around all day! I know it will all work out but man is this tough!

Cayenne has decided that Kennedy is her puppy and REALLY wants to groom her. She keeps trying to nibble her hands and feet - not bite, just "groom" her. We obviously can't let that happen :) but the licking is okay! She does like Kennedy quite a bit. Chewie has decided that there is another creature that needs protecting and will put himself in front of her wherever she is. He has always been my protector and you can see the indecision that happens when she is in one place and I am in another. If kennedy is across the room and he will position himself right in between us. Neither one of them are fazed by her crying, screaming whatever. They just look at us like, "are you going to do something about that?"

Here are some picture all of us...

Bye,Bye to pups before I went to the hospital
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Chewie the protector
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The family (Cay licking Kennedy)
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Here is Kennedy
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Miss you all!

Hugs
Mandy, Chewie, & Cayenne
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janet
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by janet »

mandy, kennedy is beautiful!!! and you look great too i might add. congratulations.
when my kids were babies my two chows did the same thing. they wouldnt let anyone near the bassinet until i gave the ok.
all the best to you and your family, fur and human.
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chris
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by chris »

OMG Congrats girl! She is beautiful. :-) The chows I had before Steel where around before my children and then when they were born and they were the same way. Thor & Grizz would protect my kids, and my female Grizz would sleep under their cribs. :-)
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by vicster605 »

Awwwwwww Your new baby Kennedy is just BEAUTIFUL!!!! What a Happy Family!!!! Congratulations =D=
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by chowfrnd88 »

Mandy what a gorgeous family!! Congratulations! Of course you would be the one to be in labor and pause to smush your cutie pies and smile for a photo!! :D You're one fo the bestest chows mamas ever!

I've been thinking about you a lot lately, I'm glad all is well! Hugs to you and Chewie and Cay!
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Auddymay »

I can't tell you how many photos I have of Haley when she was a little peanut like Kennedy, and my Boxer Bud is always right there, just like Chew! Beautiful family portrait. In Kennedy's first headshot, I was thinking, "She looks like Drew! No...I see alot of Mandy there..." Then I saw the second shot! Now I'm not sure who she looks like...lol! (She is just beautiful, BTW.)
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Mandy
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Mandy »

Hi Everyone!

I haven't posted in a while and thought I put a couple of my favorite Kennedy and puppy pictures. Cayenne is Kennedy's mommy. She just loves her to pieces and licks her every chance she gets. Chewie is definitely the protector but still gives her kisses on occasion. They are just adorable together.

Chewie with Kennedy
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Kennedy about to get licked
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Chewie giving Kennedy love
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Check out the wet head from Chewie - now it's Cay's turn
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Chewie the protector
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Cayenne going in for kisses
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We actually had some snow here in NC. Here are a couple of my favorite pics
Is it time to go out yet???
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And here is one of my favorites of my little peanut!
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Mandy, Chewie, & Cayenne
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kingalls
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by kingalls »

Awww! Kennedy is such a cutie! C&C look great, too! Great pictures!
Karen, Kohana, Takoda, and our Chow Angels Nahkohe and Shiloh
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Dogdad
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Dogdad »

Mandy, What a cute baby and family. It is so nice to hear from you again

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Auddymay
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Auddymay »

How sweet. Chewie reminds me of Bud our old Boxer. Always there, watching over his charges. And your nanny is too cute with Kennedy. But please, share in what ever forum you wish. There are many wonderful people that have joined in recent times, and I know they would all love meeting you, and you them. So, please ma'am, may we have some more?
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by Lisa_D »

Hello, I just wanted to say that your baby is gorgeous as well as your chowkids!! :D Absolutely beautiful!! :)
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by redangie24 »

Wow well I missed some great news!! Congrats on the new baby. C&C look just as beautiful as they did the first time I saw them. Kennedy is precious. Ah, I miss babies. I just want to babysit though none for me!! Isn't funny how chows instantly want to help take care of the baby too? Hope to see more of you.
Have a Chowfastic Day!!
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by CoraP. »

Adorable pictures!
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ngraham
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Re: Our little family update - Hi guys!

Post by ngraham »

Hi Mandy,
I'm at work, just reading through some of the threads. How wonderful about the baby!!!! Kennedy is beautiful! I think she looks like Drew. LOL I am so happy Cay and Chewie adore her. I knew it would be that way. Koda loved Ryan when Amber brought him home from the hospital and then my rescue, Tai took over where Koda left off and Ryan and Tai have grown up together. Now at 80 pounds, Tai is big enough for Ryan to ride, but they are still best buds. Ryan eats and Tai is right there being Ryan's best friends as he drops food. The other day Ryan was sitting out on my back porch and Tai was sitting next to him. Out of no where, Ryan put his arm around Tai and patted him. If I could have grabbed my camera without disturbing them, I would have loved a picture of it. It was definitly a Kodak moment.
Tai is a rescue. His owners took him into my vet to have him put to sleep because they couldn't keep him and couldn't find anyone to take him. My vet told him that he knew someone who knew how to handle the breed and had just lost a chow and asked him if they could wait 24 hours before he put Tai to sleep so he had a chance to call me. He called me and asked me to come to the office and when I did, they brought Tai out to me and told me he needed a home where he'd be loved. It hadn't been that long since I'd lost Koda. But I looked at that beautiful 4.5 month old chow face and fell in love. He'd never had any vaccinations or been groomed right. So he got his shots and came home with me that day. He stunk... even after he'd had a bath. LOL But my vet neutered him and gave him his shots at a discounted price. Tai also had to have entropion surgery done on his left eye at almost a year old. But he's healthy and with me, where he belongs.
I'm still working at the same place and I just bought a house in December. The people that owned where I was living decided they wanted to tear down the duplexes. I knew I was going to have a hard time finding someone to rent to me with a chow, AND 2 shihtzu puppies and 2 cats. It took awhile but I found a house that was in the town I was living in, the house had just been gutted and remodeled, so most everything in it was new, and it has this huge fenced in back yard where my babies can run to their heart's content. My Koda would have loved it. He so loved being off his lead.
It was 2 years in February that Koda crossed the rainbow bridge and I've still never gotten over it. It hurts every bit as much today as if it happened just yesterday. I have times where I pick up one of the pictures that I have framed of him and cry because I miss him so much. But Tai has been a real blessing to me, and he, more than anything or anyone has helped me begin to heal. Tai has alot of Koda in him. Tai is almost twice the size Koda was, but he's every bit the lover and momma's boy Koda was. And as Lou has told me lots of times, Koda tells Tai how to make me smile and feel loved by a chow boy again. Tai now has siblings. We have 3 shihtzu... Gizmo who is 1 year old, Lola who is 1 year old (she's a rescue) and now our new puppy Bo who is 9 weeks old. Tai adores Gizmo, has learned to tolerate Lola and is now in the process of learning how to tolerate Bo. Lola was neglected and abused up until the time I got her at 5 months old. She'd never been to the vet, her diet was potato chips and now her teeth are soft and it's hard for her to chew things because she didn't have the nutrients she needed as a little puppy, she'd never had a bath or been groomed and boy did she smell awful. And she was terribly scared of people because she'd been screamed at so much for going potty on the floor. But they never let her out and had no piddle pads for her. It took her about a week to learn to piddle on the piddle pad if she wasn't outside. So I took her and it took months for her to start to trust me. But now she's mommy's little girl. I still can't walk up to her and pick her up... probably never will be able to. I have to let her come to me. But she's come a long way in 9 months.
So that's the update here. Congratulations on the baby (really belated LOL) and give Cay and Chew hugs and kisses from me. :)
Nancy and Tai

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