Happy Birthday Susan!

Christmas is over...
And Darci's Birthday has come and gone...
That means it's Susan's birthday.
(Happy Birthday Mom!)

But Hudson is too tired to celebrate, so you'll have to take our word for it.

Happy Birthday Darci!

From all of your friends in the neighborhood.
Happy Birthday.

Happy Holidays

at a distance

a visitor stops by to say hello.


and then disappears.

Doctor's Orders...

I've been feeling pretty lousy over the past week. I have an Upper Respiratory Infection. They've been making me sleep, it seems like that's all I ever do anymore. And eat; I started eating again. I think this thing is on it's way out, just a little more sleep and I should be back to normal.

birthday wishes

to my granny in ohio: i hope you're having a great birthday! i can't wait to meet you, my mom tells me all sorts of nice things about you. she says you live in ohio and i don't know how far away that is but i'm not allowed to go outside so you'll have to come visit me, ok?
thanks,
hudson

now my mom wants to write you something...
hi mom. happy birthday! wish we could be there to eat some cake and ice cream. i love you tons and am so glad you're my mom, and my friend. hugs to you!

way to go, dad!

you know i've always looked up to you, but today (and even though i'm sick as a dog), i couldn't be more proud that you're my dad. mom just told me the story of how you saw me on the internet and gushed over how cute and chubby i looked. thank you for adopting me, i'm the luckiest cat in all the world, how cool is it that my dad is a painter?! mom says that once i'm feeling better i'll be allowed in the studio to watch you paint, and she even said that maybe someday, when i'm a little older, i can maybe be a painter too. i hope so, cause i want to be just like you. i love you dad, you give the best headbutts.

ps. i'm sure if poppa could type he would say that he is very grateful that you are his dad and that he is so happy that you are done with school...now you can play all the time! yay!

Batman and Robin

I'm not sure who's who but Poppa sure can move.

[DISCLAIMER: Please don't try this at home, these animals are trained professionals.]

unlikely duo

In preparation for their upcoming photos with Santa, we used our bedroom as a mock studio (yes, the fancy lighting and one-of-a-kind backdrop was our idea). If only we had installed that loud speaker, like we had talked about two years ago, we could have blared christmas carols to create a more authentic experience. Instead, we hummed jingle bells and in between rounds we asked, (in our best North Pole accent) "what do you want for christmas, little boy?"
It came off sounding more like a disgruntled employee than a jolly old man, which we thought...
what better way to get the boys ready for their big day at the mall?!

ps. hudson would like a fancy drinking fountain or a miniature (fully-functional) bathtub.
poppa is less stingy and only asked that he have good health for the new year.

Getting Comfortable

Hudson had his checkup today at the vet and did well, but they want to get him down to sixteen pounds. So the word today is: Diet.


Later in the day he finally found his bed (...by the way... these beds, from costco, are much better [and cheaper] than the ones at the pet store) and went through every position you could imagine trying to get comfortable... If you can't tell from the picture... you might take a look at this video.


Eventually he gave up.

Couch Potato

We are beginning to figure out why he is so heavy...

lunchtime

Water and sunflower seeds. He might have eaten some millet as well, but he'd bite my fingers if I tried to feed him millet seeds by hand. Not that he doesn't try to bite my fingers anyway.

old blue eyes

Hudson had an upset stomach this morning. He threw up a few times. We're taking him to the vet tomorrow for a checkup courtesy of the humane society (not because of this morning).

He also broke one of his toys this morning. As you can see, he's sitting on what's left of it.

Hudson makes himself at home

The people at the humane society told us that we should keep him secluded in the bathroom or a small bedroom for the first few days. But as you can see... that wasn't necessary. (I wonder if sleeping this way has anything to do with the fact that he weighs twenty pounds?)

Introducing Hudson The Cat

We adopted this guy from the humane society (OregonHumane.org) on Monday. His name was Ozzie, but he didn't respond to Ozzie at all. So we took that opportunity to change his name to Hudson (his friends call him Hudsey).

The thing about this guy is... he weighs twenty pounds... literally.

In other news...

Hamster Hairloss

Poppa lost most of his hair and became very lethargic, soiling his bedding and only coming out of his house for food and water. The veterinarian determined only that he did not have mites. After a few visits the vet finally said "Well... hopefully he pulls through."


But, suddenly I developed a rash on my face that looked all too familiar. The dermatologist determined that I had "something similar to ringworm" and I took Itraconazole (200mg/day) for a week. I saw an improvement right away and called the vet to suggest a comparable medicine for Poppa. He agreed and Poppa finally cleared up after two weeks of treatment (Ketoconazole in a banana flavored suspension).

Poppa was doing a lot better (and still is, compared to that photo), but he started losing some of his hair again. We are currently administering a second treatment and have a few ideas about how he may have reinfected himself. Hopefully this time around it will be a permanent solution.

Poppa's adventures

"Poppa the hamster is the cutest little thing you ever did see."
...he weighs three ounces.

You can get an idea about how small he is in this picture.
(He is also very fast.)

Introducing Poppa The Hamster

This is an older picture, from when we first brought home Poppa the Hamster. He is a dwarf Russian hamster and he enjoys eating eggs and sleeping.