A Peek at Life as a Natic

I have added a few more pics of little Preston on our photo gallery.

Envy holding Preston

Click here to take a peek!

Aww!  She is such a cutie!!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Preston’s first days here

All packed up!

So around 4:00 PM on Saturday, Alisha was released by her doctor but we needed clearance from the pediatrician so that we could have Preston released.  His weight loss and his jaundice were being monitored and that is what was kinda keeping us there.  They had planned to test them both through the night (weight at midnight and jaundice at 4:00 am).  After getting word that Preston had lost another ounce, we decided to immediately start supplementing formula with the feedings.  He was still being breastfed to allow for Alisha’s milk to come in but we would feed him about 20 – 30 ml of formula afterwards to satisfy his hunger.  He would SLAM those bottles down and it was obvious that he was very hungry.  This was definitely the reason for his fussiness earlier that day and through the evening as well as his constant need to eat.  After he would eat, he would PASS OUT for like 3 straight hours.  It was crazy.

 By 8 or 9:00 that night, he had already gained back an ounce and by midnight an additional 1/2 ounce.  It seemed like the formula supplements were working which was good to see.  We then just needed to be sure that he was not jaundice before being able to take him home.  We woke up the next morning and once the pediatrician got there we were cleared to go home…. but not so fast.  Getting released took FOREVER!  We knew we were able to go home at like 8 or 9:00 AM but did not get out of there until around noon.  That was frustrating.  I was packed up, Preston was changed, and I was ready to get outta there asap… but it dragged on forever. 

His going home outfit!

After getting released we headed home to spend time with our family and introduce him to Envy.  She just sniffed him quite a bit and tried to lick him.  We will not let her do that though as it is not all that sanitary.  She didn’t seem to be a bit jealous or mind him at all.  We really went out of our way to make sure she felt loved and appreciated.  We gave her treats, gave her one on one attention, as well as attention with Preston.  We had a great relaxing night with our families and then headed off to bed.  Preston was not quite ready to sleep after being in everyone’s hands all night LOL.  He was up for the long haul.  He was quite hungry but before long Alisha’s milk came in.  We are so happy to be able to feed Preston breast milk only!  We were up frequently at first but by the middle of the night we were getting some pretty good rest. 

All day he was great.  He just slept, chilled out, and ate.  He is such a good baby.  The only times that he cries is when he is hungry, or is being changed.  He hates to be naked.  At least we know he wont be a porno star!  This evening Alisha decided to give him a bath so we took some time to enjoy that.  Poor thing cried for a good bit of it (hates being naked) but it was still kinda cute LOL.  He is so cute!  He loves to hold onto his blankets or clasp his precious little hands together while he sleeps.  It is so adorable!!

We are having so much fun with Preston.  We love him so much!!!

Cuddling with Envy

Thanks again to all of our blog followers.  Our daily hits have quadrupled since we have had Preston without counting the day he was born or the day after both of which are just incredibly high.  Thanks for caring about our little family!  Feel free to comment on any pictures or posts even if we dont know each other that well or at all.  Dont be shy!

I woke up one morning and saw Envy passed out looking pretty funny LOL. 

So we have been feeding Envy raw for a little more than a year and she has loved it.  We know that it is the best for her but there are some downfalls.  Unfortunately it can be very expensive.  To avoid this cost, we go to the Tyson plant here in Cumming and buy 20 lbs of chicken thighs all frozen together for about 12 bucks.  That is a STEAL!!!  The crappy part is that we have to then separate that block of 20 lbs of chicken, individually bag it, and freeze it so that we can use it as we need it.  Then each day we must remove the food from the freezer to thaw for the next day.  Then the bags leak from being frozen, so we have to thaw them in a bowl.  Then feeding is quite dirty.  Since it is all raw chicken or other meats, we have to clean the floors after she eats.  This was the largest of the hassles. 

With a baby on the way, we knew that the floor being littered with salmonella and chicken is not the best idea.  We are moving her back to kibble dog food…. reluctantly.  Alisha and I don’t want to do it, but know with a baby on the way we must do so in order to keep the house safe for Preston.  My mom and I did a lot of research the other night and we decided to try out a relatively new food from Merrick called Before Grain.  The ingredient list is spectacular and is all natural with no grains (dogs should NOT be eating grains in their food and I can almost guarantee that your supermarket dog food has tons of it!!!).

For a previous post about dog food see here.  It will tell you which foods are best and why.  Keep in mind that these foods cost more, but you feed much less so the cost per month is actually the same or less… and they have less waste and is healthier… WIN / WIN!  READ IT!  You will be shocked to read what is in your dog food.  Look up the one you are feeding and read the laundry list of negatives.

Today I went to Rucker, a horse and pet supply store off of exit 17 in Cumming and bought her the Salmon Before Grain.  I got home with the bag of food as well as fresh tilapia and chicken in a Publix shopping bag.  She went NUTS!!!  She didn’t care at all that I had fresh fish or chicken.  She smelled and smelled that bag for at least 3 minutes.  Alisha finally just opened it and gave her some and she went crazy eating it LOL.  Check out the video below to see Envy loving her new food – and that was after she calmed down a bit!! 

This video was shot in HD so click HD for a better quality video.  It may load slower but looks so much better.

A shoutout – Rucker had a great price on this food!  If you are buying food and are looking for a great price, or want to use a much more nutritious dog food, go see them.  They deserve it!

For the ingredients for Before Grain click here.  You will be amazed!

envy always falls asleep in the funniest of positions.  When I leave in the morning she usually ends up sleeping on my pillow… literally with her head on my pillow just like a human. 

The other day we were chilling in the living room and looked over to see her all curled up in the chair:

Tonight Envy has been sick as hell   Not sure why but when we got home she had thrown up in her crate twice (I think) and has been throwing up ever since.  She kinda had a bit of a variety of food that she does not typically have including chicken livers, chicken, eggs, and a new treat – freeze dried duck and sweet potato.  Other than the duck she has had each of those separately and maybe mixed with one other but never all together in one day.  I don’t know if that did it or there is something else going on. 

I have setup her bed in our bathroom and an airmatress for me and I am staying here for at least a while to make sure that she does not end up throwing up on the carpet.  She has thrown up each time outside which is nice (as well as a first.. she never cares where she throws up) but being up here I may not have enough time to get her outside if it is coming.  I thought that she would have thrown up by now being that we have been up here for well over an hour, but thankfully she has not!  Hopefully she is over it and we can start to rebuild her stomach back up.

She had been sick for quite some time previously but fortunately we have had her back on a full raw diet for the last 2 months or more without any episodes of throwing up.  It has been so nice.  I really hope this was just a fluke and we are not on our way back down a rough path.  My guess is that it will all be fine and it was just a weird episode.  We shall see!  Wish us luck!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Envy’s new steps at pictures.neilnatic.com  or here.

Saturday morning my dad came over to build some steps for Envy so that she doesnt have to jump on and off of our new bed.  Being that it is a lot higher than our old bed, we really dont want Envy to jump so much as it is pretty rough on her joints. 

My dad brought over some wood that was leftover from another project at his house and we began to plan how we were going to do the steps.  Let me tell you, this is a lot more complex that you would think.  It took us almost 5 hours to build the 3 steps that we built not including the time to apply the wood putty and spray paint them. 

They are great and turned out perfect.  After 5 coats of paint, there are parts that just will not take as well as the rest, but the flash makes them look worst than they really are.  All in all… they are PERFECT!  Envy hauls ass up and down them with ease!

Thanks a ton dad.  I know this was a lot more work than either of us expected, but it turned out great.

While eating a bone, Envy was surrounded by children playing and petting her as she chewed.  Paul was even crawling all around her acting like a dog himself

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for more pictures of Envy at envy.neilnatic.com  or here.

As many of you know, we love our dog Envy like a child.  In fact, for now, she is our only child.  This past weekend she was a trip.  We had to take a ride in the car but the back seat was packed with stuff so she had to sit up front with Alisha in the TL.  She was not thrilled about it but she made the best of it :crackup:  She got tired of sitting up on the ride and decided to lie down on the floorboard of the TL at Alisha’s feet.

A few days later, we had the bed made and were getting ready to head out when Envy decided that she was going to lie on our bed anyway.  The only thing that you could see was her cute head sticking out from behind our 10 pillows :crackup:

En, you are a trip!

*edit* – these pictures and other more recent pictures are added to the end of Envy’s gallery.  To see the newer pictures, just click the last page of her album in our photo gallery.

As you should know, Envy has been eating a raw diet for quite some time now which she absolutely LOVES!  Unfortunately, I happen to not love it as much as she does because she was being stubborn and would only eat when I would cut it up into pieces for her.  I have been tired of spending 30 minutes to feed her lately and decided tonight I was going to try something new tonight. 

I took out her chicken to feed her tonight and thought as i was slightly defrosting the pieces I planned to cut up and feed her, I would just try to hand her a full piece of chicken and see what she did.  After a little coaxing, she was eating it right off of the patio without me cutting it up or doing anything.  She ate like a champ too.  She ate nearly two leg quarters and a chicken breast before calling it a night.

I am SOOOO glad that she ate on her own without me babying her.  Now I don’t have to waste so much time feeding her everyday!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Envy at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.

Many of you have seen Envy’s odd obsession over light reflections.  You know when you see the reflection of the sunshine off of your watch?  Yeah; That.  Well this of course works with a mirror as well.  Alisha used to use a mirror and do her make up on the bed while watching the morning news and such and Envy soon started to associate the mirror with light and not she obsesses over the mirror.

Well this morning while Alisha was getting ready she opened the cabinet door where we keep the mirror and Envy would not move from that cabinet.  She was sitting or standing with her entire body inside of the cabinet and just staring at the mirror the whole time.  She would not move for anything!

Check out the video of her to get an idea how serious she was about this mirror!  :crackup:

Also check out her album in the gallery at http://envy.neilnatic.com for more pictures of her in the cabinet  :crackup:

So the other night I was on the phone with Courtney configuring her new Dell laptop and I went into our room and saw that Envy was laying in this adorable and twisted position… I just had to share :crackup:

As always, you can find more pics of Envy at http://envy.neilnatic.com