04/23/2015 What a week it’s been. I have not had a full nights sleep since the dwarfs puppies were born. The first night Frito woke me several times to go potty. At that time we had her and the pups downstairs. I thought being away from the other 3 barkers would be better for the first few days. After running up and down the stairs hundreds of times a day my knee begged us to move her upstairs. OMG, so much easier. While they were downstairs I had to follow her down, take her out the front door and wait until she went to the potty. Then, back to bed for both of us. Me? Once I’m awake I don’t go back to sleep very easily, it’s the curse of an overactive mind. I spent the last week functioning on a few hours sleep and several hours long naps during the day. Sometimes only 2 hours after I first woke up I found myself back in bed. Having 7 puppies is not easy.
Now that Frito is upstairs with the kids we are wondering if we are going to have problems in a week. When these 28 feet decide they are hungry, all HELL breaks loose. They are so loud, screaming and crying and making all these weirdly amazing noises, a few of them can already crawl out of the bottom of the dog crate they are in. They are now blocked in by cardboard and clamps. Bill will soon need to build a structure to contain them.
We were afraid Frito had mastitis, a common problem among nursing females, human or dog. It’s an infection in the milk ducts so we put her on Amoxicillin, a very low dose so it won’t affect the pups. I was also doing warm compresses and wrapping the swollen teats in soft red cabbage leaves. YES, I was doing that. If she had it, and I don’t know for sure (I am a hypochondriac animal owner) that she did, she is now fine. Saggy teats and all. I’m so freaking happy I don’t have 8 boobs. OMG, I would cut them off.
Aside from the puppy incident we have been busy with friends coming by. Sam and Chelsie were here for dinner the day Frito gave birth. These two are really special to me, just love them. On Saturday evening Brian and Addy from Canada came for dinner. We met them doing Because We Care with Nidia @ Camp Bay. We have worked together several days doing TOMS shoes too. On Saturday night after they left Bill didn’t feel good and he went to bed. He felt awful most of the morning on Sunday, causing me to cancel our plans for Sunday company. He was feeling better late on Sunday so we rescheduled our company to Monday. Lynda and Dave came on Monday but the dinner we served was blah., less than stellar, blech. It wasn’t good. Need a pizza dinner do over.
I am trying to get the downstairs cleaned up before my friend K.P. comes from Sydney Australia on Sunday. I keep thinking that being here won’t be any different for her than Australia, I mean, they’re both islands, right?? Totally forgetting the fact that Sydney is a hugely modernized developed city in a very large educated prosperous country. So unlike Roatan.. We are going to do desk delivery on Monday to Pandy Town and also school supplies to Pandy Town and to Calabash Bight. Bill and K.P. and I will deliver the school supplies and desk and whiteboard (and cupcakes) and new TOMS shoes for the kinder down in the valley near us. I recently was given a lot of brand new school books, math, science, health, workbooks, reading books, teacher manuals, all in English. Nidia and I are deciding which school will benefit the most having these books.
We were supposed to go to friends for dinner tonight but Frito has been weird all day, kind of freaking me out. She keeps taking one pup and trying to carry him downstairs. The problem is, he’s too fat for her to get him in her mouth. She seems very panicky about him and has tried numerous times. I even carried him downstairs and she once again tried to get him in her mouth. She seems distraught and has been under all 3 beds at one point or another today. I don’t know if it’s because Alexi is here helping Bill or not but she is not the same dog she was yesterday. Maybe it’s hormonal. So, we are staying home to keep an eye on the family and they are happy to reschedule too because they have workers there and don’t know when they will be done. It all works out just fine.
Last Sunday we took Highway and Lola to the lagoon for a swim. Highway starts whining as soon as we turn off the main road and head to Parrot Tree, he knows where he is. Lola doesn’t like the water. This has not changed. She hates it!!
Bill got one of the upper cupboards done and hung, still a few more to do. I didn’t want doors, I like the simplicity of not having to open them. Sheer laziness? Maybe. Who cares?
I apologize that this post is centered on puppies but that has been my life for the past 10 days. Next weekends’ post should be more exciting because I’m sure KP and I will be on the move once again.
I have a few more things to do before I can call it a day, I pick KP up tomorrow @ noon and plan to pick up school supplies before I get her. This saves me a trip in to Sandy Bay on Monday to get the school stuff we’ll deliver out here on the east end. I hope the weekend is good to all of you. I’ll be back next weekend when I recover from another week of puppies and fun!
A little soundtrack for you, this is what our days sound like.
Mermaid on a Raft 
Awww, they are too cute and you look like a happy puppy mum! You both are such caring people and I see the love for animals. Hopefully, you can get some rest with all these puppies!