The Sewick Six

Okay, so there is still one member of our family that is missing from our blog. Our dear, sweet golden retriever, Churchill. She is our first official "doggie daughter" and was actually part of our family before we thought about having kids. She (yes, "she" - Scott named the dog - what can I say!!) has been with us since the summer of 1999. She's our great protector and our loyal friend. She will be nine years old on May 5th and I just dread the day we no longer have her in our home. Don't get me wrong - I will not miss her sleeping in and on our bed or the doggie-hair tumble weeds rolling across our hardwood floors. But I'd miss her low grumbles every morning as she stretches and gets going to assist in waking the girls and I would miss seeing her adorable little nose pushed up against the glass of our front window as I open the garage door when I come home.

As you can tell from the pictures she is aging...but she has been white in the face since she was three. Churchie is our high-strung companion - she worriers about every little noise that she hears. Fireworks send her immediately under our bed (mind you, she hasn't been able to fit under our bed since she was about six months old!!) and the sound of a car backfiring is enough to give the dog a heart attack. But don't even think about trying to get into our backyard when the girls are out playing - no sir. You will be met with a face full of white teeth and a mean ole growl. She'll put herself right between the girls and the gate and won't let anyone into the house / yard without Scott or I telling her it is okay. For that alone - I love this dog. I can always tell when the girls' friends show up at our back gate and I get fair warning when one of my "adventurers" think they need to leave the yard.

Last week we had a bit of a scare with Churchill. Because of the glorious weather, we were out cleaning up the yard last weekend. As many of you know that have pets, when spring comes, it is quite a chore to clean up for an entire winter's worth of "dog". With shovel in hand, I was walking around the yard and noticed what looked like blood on the grass. My heart just sunk - I knew what it was. Churchill had been having "accidents" in our house for the past week, which is very, very unlike her and this was just confirmation that we had a problem. I got her into our wonderful vet (our vet's dog is Churchill's brother so we have a special "family" connection") to find that Churchill had a fever and the equivalent of "doggie flu". They actually called it "colitis" at the vet's office. After an antiobiotic shot, some new dog food and a handful of huge Spartan-green pills, Churchill is on the mend and doing well. She is our good ole girl again - up at 5:30 with me on Tuesday / Thursdays ready to walk with her Grandmup (my mom) and fiesty as ever when I leave without her when my running shoes are on!!

This little scare made me realize how much this dog has meant to our family. She was the first one in our home to greet each and every baby we brought through the door. She was the one that my poor mother had to come and get out of my face when I was in labor for Madison because Churchill thought something was wrong with me. She's the one that sleeps on the cold, hard tile in front of the front door when Scott isn't home to make sure we are all safe at night and she is the one that doesn't even blink when the girls decide to crawl on her like a jungle-gym.

I just hope we give her back as much love and affection as she gives to all of us.