First an apology.............no updates for 5 days? Sorry folks.....busy, busy, busy!

Next, a friend continued to pester me to weigh the puppies. Finally, I relented last night. Well, I suppose the puppy food topped off by Geddie "Whale Milk" Momma is working. I haven't pulled out old puppy weights, but I am going to wager that these puppies rally the weights of the Riley x Abi litter and the Deion x Kinley litter.

drum roll...........................................................

10 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 weeks 4 days old. The smallest puppy is 8.3 pounds. I love fat puppies, but these guys are just plain big........hardly a fat roll on any of them, just bulk. Here are the two 10 pound boys Mr. Light Green and Mr. Purple. Everyone got real collars last night, they have no trouble wearing them.

Both of these puppies were 15.2 OUNCES when born.........

Remeber that day?

And finally, a Shout Out to Geddie's sister Karma in Canada..........she whelped 8 puppies yesterday! It will be fun to watch the first cousins grow ; )

We are so cute! Especially since Erin has been getting sleep ; )
Playing some, but still sleeping the most during the day. Sleeping promotes growing, evidently.

Have a Great Friday!

When I got home from school yesterday, poor Mr. Blue had broken out in hives again......but ALL OVER! He was shivering and out of it. Rush to the vet. The shot from Saturday had worn off and his poor baby body was still reacting to his insect bite from Friday. A shot of a longer acting steroid and antibiotics to prevent "puppy strangles" and a ride home with puppy still in misery. He was crying and itching and when I put my hand in the crate to soothe him, he pushed at my hand and nibbled on it like he just wanted relief. By the time we got home he was passed out and continued to sleep for 3 hours. His hives went away and guess what??????????????????????????????????????????????????

HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! ONLY WAKING ONCE TO EAT AT 2:00 AM WITH HIS SIBLINGS!!!!

I fed the puppies a mix of puppy food, baby rice cereal and goat's milk..........mmmmmmhmmmm. Nutritious and Delicious.

Here is Mr. Blue finally comfortable............poor guy.

Another sleepless night......better than Sunday night, but still not enough.....I can't stop yawning! I feel mean.....I've been taking little Mr. Blue's name in vain due to his barking and screaming at all hours of the night. What kind of a person am I? He had a steroid shot on Saturday!!! He thinks he's starving or is dying of thirst! I will hold him a few extra times today to make up for it.

It's all worth it. Look at this face! Miss Lavender.

A friend sent me a text about another RR breeder's 5 week old litter.........7 pounders.
I hurried and grabbed Mr. Light Green, put his tub of lard on the scale....6 pounds 13 ounces!
OMG.
I respond with a text saying "Poor Starving Puppies" hahahaha
It is rumored that Geddie is producing Whale or Seal milk......possibly.

Miss Rose....aka Wide Load. Her ridge isn't short, it's all smashed with fat rolls at the top.

Since she seems hesitant to feed on their every squeal, I chose to start the weaning process. I have to feed the puppies their gruel while Geddie is outside. Not because she will eat it, but because she is TOTALLY OFFENDED!!! When she comes in, she sniffs them, licks here and there, cleans up their bodily messes and then plops down to nurse them. Really? I just see her like a normal mother.........No one else can feed my babies! But the rest of the time she goes over to the box, whines at the crying puppies and walks away........what a bitch.
Yesterday I told her to get on the dog bed, she did.........I put the smaller puppies on her.......oh the heaven of a soft bed and your puppies.......what a princess.

Last night I suspect Geddie woke the puppies up every two hours.....JUST TO PISS ME OFF!!! She then wouldn't feed them, so, led by Mr. Blue, they would scream for 20 minutes. So, at 1:30 AM I go out to the front room for the SECOND time and let Geddie outside because she was walking around on the hardwood floors PURPOSELY tapping her toenails! An hour later the puppies are screaming and Geddie is whining. WTF? I am tired, angry and about to blow. I go to the box and find Mr. Blue sitting over in the corner screaming while the rest are sleeping. I grab him, throw him on top of the puppy pile and like lightning Geddie is in the box ready to nurse. Huh? Oh, don't hurt my puppies I was just about to nurse them. PULEEZ.
At 3:30 when the same scenario presents itself........I go out and tell Geddie "YOU WOKE THEM UP, YOU FEED YOUR PUPPIES!" She jumps in immediately.
I don't know what this game is, other than she wants to sleep on my bed AND be with the puppies.........get over it or "YOU'RE FIRED"
Maybe a nap this afternoon? As if.

Interesting day.
Went to bed last night thinking that since the puppies were all settled in their new digs in the front room, I would get some sleep..........whatever. A mother's ears plague me; I hear everything. 3 benedryl, 4 ibuprophen and 2 glasses of wine could not save me. (I had a migraine)
So, the morning starts the same as every other. Mastiff starts in at 6:15, then Geddie starts pacing, puppies start whining ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I'LL GET UP!!!! GEEEEEEEEZ! Everyone is fed and pottied, so Zero and I head to bed for 2 more hours THANK YOU BABY JESUS.
Mr. Blue puppy popped up with a perfect halo of hives on the top of his head yesterday; they were still there this morning with some of his wrinkles swelling or are they just fat rolls? Either way, I decide to call the vet and he says, better come in. Suck.
Pack up the pup and his brother for company. Dr. Edmunds finds the culprit in 5 seconds. A lesion inside his upper lip.....an insect bite. Poor baby. Nothing 2mg of Dexamethazone won't cure and we are off..........

Here's the new digs:

And here is a trick......one of these is not like the others:

Oh, so the reason for today's title.....the puppies had their first FOOD tonight!!!! Baby Rice Cereal and goat's milk.......mmmmm tastey.............they had no trouble licking the pan clean. Ridgebacks and Food, like a Hotdog on a Stick (or cheese on a stick) and Lemonade. Look at the picture above, it was taken after the puppies had their first meal topped off by mom....I see a smile on Mr. Blue's face. Cute.

TEETH..........UH, OH...........

Today may have marked the beginning of the end for Geddie. She actually SAT UP and nursed the puppies this morning. She has been having a bit of trouble wrapping her simple little brain around the fact that the puppies move now and panics when they rush to her. It is quite entertaining, really. They whine and cry, she runs to check on them, she steps one foot into the box....then out......then in.........then out........then she gets all the way in the box, shuffles around looking for a place to plop down without crushing puppies. How she does it, I don't know, but never even a smooshed HAIR on a puppy in 3 weeks! Last night I pried open a few mouths (to verify NO overbites, hooray) and SHAZAAAAAM.....TEETH! Just front teeth so far, but I am sure a full set will be in by the end of the weekend.
Stay tuned for pictures of the First Meal Mess.........when it happens.

I took some crappy cell phone pictures last night, enjoy:

First, Mr. Light Green praying to the Snowboarding God, Shaun White (see yesterday's Blog about the newspaper)

Miss Pink stretching out with brother Dark Green

And Mr. Yellow Fellow snuggles up to Momma Geddie

Looking for a new hobby? Try reading old newspapers! ; )
Last night I found myself reading the newspaper as I was putting it down in the puppy box. But who wouldn't, right? Come on, it's pretty cool to read about the Olympics 2 months after they are over. I feel a bit guilty knowing that the puppies will be pissing all over our fantastic athletes and today I will flip-flop this saying: It's better to be pissed off than pissed on! I think it should say, It's better to be pissed ON by an Aegis puppy than pissed off!

On the subject of puppies and their weights: I very quickly threw the puppies on the scale last night..............drum roll.............clear my throat.....................Mr. Light Green weighed 4 pounds 14 ounces! Geez Freakin' Louise! The light weight of the bunch, Mr. Yellow Fellow was a normal sized 3 pounds 8 ounces.

They will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. I spoke with my friend Nancy last night. She had puppies sired by our boy Leroy 5 years ago, she says the boys were 8 pounds at 4 weeks. oh. eeek.

I will try the puppies on some mush this weekend......I am sure they won't have any troubles.

Sometimes you really have to grin and bare it! (Shup up, you do to)

Lovely, perfect, wonderful Miss Merritt had been sitting on 8 points (one major) for 10 months. She has been hitting a ton of shows since November 1 and FINALLY broke the mark and sits now at 11 points! I can't blame it on anything. It is what it is.

Beautiful, tall, silly Miss Leeloo struggled a bit in Canada but pulled out two good wins this weekend to come away Champion Invictus The Fifth Element!!! Never underestimate a good BITCH........hehehehe    I love that word BITCH BITCH BITCH and then BITCH some more.

Handsome, dorky, spoiled Sir Lincoln has held the reserve spot a bit, but now sits at 7 points with a major at 15 months.

Here's Leeloo

Now, on to the FATTIES!!
I am afraid to weigh the puppies tonight. If they gain any more weight.....I may be suspect of the female Mastiff that lives here.....perhaps she is a she-male?

KIDDING!!

I will be moving the crew from my bedroom out to the living room/kitchen area soon. Geddie is happy to spend time away from them now and I would like to sleep without all the noises. Lick, lick, lick (Geddie cleaning up) suck, suck, suck, moan, moan, squeek, squeek and now the occasionaly BARK! That's right, a couple of the puppies are testing their barking skills. Every now and again I'll hear a growl........now THAT is too cute! They don't have teeth yet, I changed their collars for the THIRD TIME yesterday and they actually move off of the blanket to potty on the paper. Such good puppies.

Geddie just came down to the basement to visit me....she says "I would like you to clean the box"

Tootles to All!

We have made it 2 weeks!

Day 1 weights......11 to 15 ounces

Day 14 weights.....2 lbs 11 ounces to 3 lbs 5 ounces

Oh MY.

Geddie deserves a spread in National Geographic.