Ginny Turns 6!

Our dog Ginny turns 6 today! And what a year she's had since turning 5... 

1) That little human baby we brought home in January 2020 started rolling around soon after Ginny's 5th birthday - and then sitting, and crawling, and now walking! 

2) Both my husband and I have been home nearly 24/7 throughout the last year, thanks to the pandemic - meaning verrrry limited crate time for Ginny, and leading to lots of "what is going on, what am I supposed to be doing now, why are you all home all the time?" whining. 

3) She mysteriously fractured a toe in July 2020 (no idea how - she just started limping all of a sudden) and needed to wear a splint for a few weeks - and then a cone while her pressure sores from the splint healed.

4) And if all that wasn't enough... we moved houses on her too! Ginny loves her new, large fenced-in yard, and all the spots in the new house where sunlight streams through the windows, leaving sunny patches on the floor... but she also misses her old house, I'm sure. There were some kind neighbors who always stopped to say hello to her on walks (humans and fellow dogs alike), whom she hasn't seen since we left. And for several months there, her furniture kept slowly disappearing from the old house, everything kept changing, and she had no idea what was happening. 

Poor Ginny's been through a lot lately - but she's hanging in there and doing her best!

To celebrate Ginny's birthday, here are some of my favorite pictures of her from the last year:

Ginny turns 5!

Our poor dog Ginny had quite a year since she turned 4 on March 25, 2019. Over the summer, she had a blockage in her anal duct that required manual compression at the vet (and a couple weeks in a cone so she wouldn't lick the area while it healed). Then in the fall, she started vomiting (more than usual), including little bits of blood, which had us concerned that she'd eaten something she shouldn't have, and led to us taking her to the emergency vet for x-rays. The x-rays didn't find anything, and after a couple weeks of a modified diet and some anti-nausea medication, she was back to normal.

I was also pregnant for much of Ginny's fifth year, which Ginny didn't always know how to handle... At the beginning of my pregnancy, we found her hiding in the strangest places around the house - behind my nightstand in my bedroom, under beds, behind couches, etc. Eventually, she seemed to get used to the idea that something was "different" about me, and she even took to snuggling against my pregnant belly sometimes. She enjoyed all the people who came over for our baby shower in October - but not the baby items that started slowly taking up all of "her" space in the house.

When we brought our new baby home in January, Ginny was mostly excited. She wanted to be where the baby was, and followed us from room to room, often watching the baby in her crib, bassinet, etc., wherever she happened to be. She still does this a bit - but some of the excitement has since worn off. When the baby starts to cry, Ginny gives us a look like "Why aren't you taking care of that noise?" and often leaves the room (though I can't say that I blame her!). She also seems to be jealous of the attention the baby gets. When we put the baby on a blanket on the floor for some exercise or tummy time, Ginny often gets right down on the floor with us - in between us and the baby, blocking us from interacting with the baby or taking pictures of her, until we acknowledge Ginny first. She also sometimes whines at me when I'm sitting on the couch nursing, complaining that I'm not able to play with her or pet her at the same time.

Ginny turns 5 years old today. Here's to another year of exciting changes as our baby grows (and Ginny learns how to adapt)! :) I think she'll appreciate the baby a bit more once she's older and starts sitting up and interacting with Ginny (someone else to pay attention to her!), and especially once she starts eating solid foods (someone else to drop food on the floor for Ginny to eat!).

Nursery Art: 22x30 Laini Taylor Quotation Watercolor Finished

Last week I showed the process of painting the pattern in the background of this 22"x30" watercolor, completed for our nursery back in September of last year. Today, I'll show you the photos of the letters being painted, as well as what the finished product looked like.

As with the first quotation painting, I used a mix of dark green and black watercolor pigments to get this nice, dark, rich color for the letters, because I wanted them to stand out from the busy background.

Once it was dry, I unstapled it from the gatorboard, and then trimmed the edges off so it would fit into the size frame I wanted. I custom ordered the frames - white metal, no mat, and no-glare acrylic on top, to protect the painting and make sure the quotations were still easily readable underneath, not obstructed by glare.

Here are the two finished quotation paintings, leaning up against our yellow nursery wall, waiting to be hung up! (And a dog thrown in for scale reference!)

I also painting three smaller watercolors for the nursery - a fox and two owls, to go with our subtle "woodland" theme. Next week's blog post will be all about those paintings!