clapping monkey, laughing baby

Soooooo tired. We got home from a wedding at 3am this morning and Owen was bright and chipper for the day at 7am. Being exhausted and having a baby who's a bundle of energy brings your spirits right up even when you're bleary-eyed. We were playing with Owen this morning and decided to capture his laughter in action with our video camera. Nuno has posted the video onto YouTube so I wanted to share it (clip at bottom of entry).

Since Hot Tot had to stay home while we were at the wedding, we felt like she deserved a treat. So we brought her to the annual Spring Fling Pug-a-Lug. She's always stayed close to us in the past, but this year she was running everywhere. She wouldn't even stay still long enough for us to get a photo of her and Owen together. They were both wearing their matching Dwell Studio guitar shirts.

It's funny, whenever we go out people stop us to tell us how adorable Owen is. I'm sure all parents of babies experience this. Wherever you go, even for a quick stop to grab a carton of milk, you hear how gorgeous your baby is and how fast they grow up. It's always very flattering and sometimes makes me a little sad to be reminded that this wonderful time will pass quickly.

Well, we found the one place where we were left alone to enjoy our time with Hot Tot. Yep, the dog obsessed Pug-a-Lug goers seem to have no in-your-face baby loving going down. haha Dog lovers united!

pugalug spring fling

Today was the Pug-A-Lug Spring Fling and, as always, it was a great time!

We arrived to have a bunch of people recognizing Hot Tot right away. I guess the Halloween costume gave her a bit of notoriety in the circle of Niagara pug owners. One lady immediately came up and recognized Hot Tot from the Rankin Run yesterday. Turns out she saw us with Tot in my boss' backyard since she lives behind him.

Like always, Tot keeps close to Nuno and I. She always gets shy at these events. We try and encourage her to meet the others.

So she started to warm up a bit to the others in time. I guess it's a little overwhelming when you find yourself surrounded by so many pugs all at once.

But she eventually ventured to hang out with the others.

Whenever I tell stories about attending the Pugalugs, I can never truly show the scale of attendance through the photos. That is until today. Someone had the brilliant idea of a group shot!

By the end, Tot found herself getting tired and relaxed on the cool gymnasium floor.

All the pugs are really so sweet. I'm not sure these sort of events could be held with any other breed of dog, but for pugs gentle disposition it totally works. The event always brings the cuteness out of Tot.

pugalug

Oh how times flies! After Boston I had a commitment to work on a wedding invitation for one of Nuno's cousins upcoming nuptials. It took every single free moment outside of work to complete the project and took a lot longer than I initially anticipated. Then came a whole bunch of events that just take over precedence to blogging which include two engagements, one wedding and one funeral. Life can get so crazy and busy but you just have to keep on truckin'.

So, the big event for this weekend (besides our Mac and Me party Friday night which can be read on my sister Katie's blog, So Bad It's Good Movies), was... PUGALUG! St. Catharines had their first ever Pugalug just up the road from our home in Port Weller Community Center. Nuno and I dressed Tot in her fanciest collar and dress and drove over. We were quite unsure what we were getting into when we went to Pugalug, but upon entering we found over 30 little leash-free cuties romping, playing, chasing and bum sniffing. Tot was so shy at first hiding under the chairs and sticking to corners.
Tot didn't seem to want to leave our sides like a child experiencing their first day of kindergarden. She then started exploring and before we knew it she was pretty much ignoring Nuno and I and riling up all the other pugs in games of chase! It really was an absolute blast, Hot Tot was just so very happy and it was great seeing her having so much fun.

Tot made so many friends!

here I am, and this isn't Hot Tot. It was a little one who was an unexpected lap-jumper.