Sampson the Wonder Dog

Sammy is the most interesting Pug I've ever met. Jason got him when he moved to Kansas City in 2001 when we moved there for medical school. A pug wasn't his first choice but according to him it was the "manliest dog he could get that wouldn't get over 30 pounds!" Sam lived with Jason for two years in Kansas City and then moved to Augusta when Jason's training took him back to Wichita to an apartment that was pet free.  In 2004, Jason got a job at Hospira, a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in McPherson, and moved Sam with him. At this point Sam had the run of the house - no kids, no other pets.

In 2005, Jason and I got married and when we got back to Kansas from our Honeymoon we did something that rocked Sam's world - we got another puppy. When we brought our new German Shepherd, Jager, home the first night he was about the same size as Sam, maybe a little smaller, and nothing but a ball of fluff. Sam's dominance immediately reared it's ugly head. Jager was forced to wait until Sam was done eating to begin on his and was chased off from any "treats" that happened to fall to the floor. Until Jager arrived, Sam had been known to randomly tear through the house at top speed until he wore himself out and  lay down in the coolest spot. He tried that one or two times after Jager entered the picture and when he found out that the rapidly growing ball of fluff would chase him down and tackle him Sam gave that up for good.

Hayden came into our lives in 2008, further disrupting Sammy's once cushy lifestyle. In fact, the first time Hayden cried the day we brought him home, both dogs barked at him because they didn't know what else to do! After the first few days, both dogs pretty much dismissed the baby and left him alone. That was until he became mobile. Sam quickly learned to stay away from the munchkin as much as possible.

Jager is about as good of a dog as anyone could ask for. He knows basic commands, he's good with kids and his bark is loud and gruff enough to scare off anyone. (The only problem with the dog, other than the shedding, is that he does NOT play well with other animals) Sam really doesn't have any good tricks, especially now that he's gotten older and almost completely blind. He does have one unique talent, though, and that is yodeling.

I don't remember how Sammy's talent came about exactly but I do know that Jason's brother Scott was the first person to get him to do it. How do you get a dog to yodel? you ask - that's easy! In an incredibly  high pitched, slightly off-key tone yell "wanna go outside?" Drives the poor dog nuts! He starts howling and yodeling and it's hilarious! Well, hilarious to everyone but Tucker. This is Tucker's response to Sammy's talent:

I guess not everyone's a fan!

New Years Resolution

So I've made a lot of posts today and I really hate that I got so far behind! But with the holidays and everything that's been going on I just haven't had the time that I'd like to spend recording the little accomplishments and funny things Hayden says along the way!

Now that Today is Monday and the second day of the new year I'm hoping to get started on the right track and keep this thing going on a much more regular basis!

Happy 2012 from Mr. Tucker!

Last Cowboys Game of the Regular Season

Hayden knows his mom is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and he's such a good kid that if you ask him "What do we say when we watch football" you get a very emphatic "Goooo Cowboys!" That being said,  I thought Hayden would be super excited to watch the game with me Sunday night! Especially since it was the last game of the regular season, the 'Boys were playing the Giants (who I despise) and the winner of the game go to the playoffs!

The problem started after lunch. He'd slept in until 10 so he was NOT wanting to take a nap. Jason even tried taking him downstairs to watch Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace. For 15 minutes before they go down he repeats over and over "Star Wars The Clone Wars". (We recorded a couple episodes of the cartoon on Cartoon Network and now anything Star Wars is "The Clone Wars").

After the movie the boys came back upstairs (Jason was surprised that both of them stayed awake throughout the entire thing) and found me mixing up some guacamole to have for supper that night while we watched the game. During the end of the Chiefs game, the network displayed a bracket of the teams in the playoffs in the NFC. They were already listing the New York Giants as the division leaders and I started complaining because it wasn't guaranteed that New York would be in (and I was personally hoping they would lose the game in horrible fashion!)! Jason (who always has to be the opposite of me!) replies that because they beat the Cowboys a few weeks ago they were automatically division leaders. To which I retorted "bullshit" (and yes I'm also 15 years old!). Hayden had been dancing around the kitchen eating a small bowl of candy (his reward for going poop in the potty). He happened to be standing right next to me when I let the word slip and of course he repeated it. The first time we couldn't understand it though because his mouth was full of candy but then he kept saying it over and over. Jason starts laughing, unable to stop, while I try and correct the poor kid! He stops finally and I chuckled and said "Hayden I love you!" Hayden looks at me, says "bullshit", grins and walks away.

At 7:30, after a long bath, Captain Sassypants Hayden was too whiny for either of us to deal with. Jason told him that if he laid down in our bed he'd let Hayden watch Dora. Five minutes he was out cold and slept all night long.

And the game? Let's just say it was a huge disappointment. So for next week I will be a Falcons fan!

New Years Eve

With Tucker only being 15 weeks old, we weren't planning on anything too exciting or extravagant for New Years Eve. Being the puss that I am, I didn't feel ready to leave Tucker with someone else over night. Hayden was seven months old before we left him over night (even with grandparents) and it may be that long before we do the same with Tucker! So this year we offered to host a small get together with the Millers and the Shaws and Jason invited another couple who live a street over and also work at Hospira.

Hayden and his hat:

The night was pretty uneventful - the adults talked and had a few drinks while the kids ran around screaming, laughing and playing. Tucker fell asleep about 8:30 and we finally laid him down in our bed around 10. At 10:30 Hayden started getting whiny, accusing the other kids of "not sharing" and just otherwise indicating he needed to go to bed. So I asked him if he wanted to lay down with Tucker and go to sleep. He said yes so I turned the t.v. on and hoped that he would go to sleep.

No such luck. The other two older kids were in and out of our bedroom as well as Hayden getting up and down and at one point Chris even tried laying down in our bed with Brayden to try and get him to go to sleep. At 11:30 Jason went back to our room to use the restroom and found Hayden standing in the hallway. Don't know if he was waiting for someone to scare or what.

Midnight came and the 3 toddlers were still awake and pretty crabby at this time. Ten after twelve our guests had packed up and gone home and we were left with  lots to clean up. We put Diego on our t.v. and had Hayden go lay back down while we loaded the dishwasher. We still had the baby monitor on from early in case Tucker woke up and the only sounds that were coming from it was that of Diego. Jason says "what do you bet he's asleep?" We quietly walked back to the bedroom to find Hayden very much wide awake, sitting up in bed watching Diego. I think he takes after his mom!