Chloe Chaos

Chloe, our first kid, who happens to be covered in fur and have four legs, recently went under the knife to have the ACL repaired in her left hind leg. As it turns out, Chloe is an anatomical misfit. She's part Black Lab – a breed known to have leg problems – and part Boston Terrier. Obviously, her parents should've never co-mingled, but, we're glad they did as we're big fans of Chloe, even if she is prone to injuries like a torn ACL.

In a nut shell, this situation and her surgery couldn’t have left our pocket books lighter and our hearts heavier.

I have to commend the little pooch; she’s quite the trooper. The surgery was more invasive then anything Katy and I (knock on wood) have ever had to go through, yet her spirit is still up.

Actually, the little hop-a-long gets around quite well on three legs. I hate to sound like a jerk, but sometimes it’s quite funny. Like when she still tries to catch bunnies in the back yard. She couldn’t catch them when she had four legs, so, in my non-medical opinion, invasive surgery on her leg clearly didn’t make her more intelligent.

That’s okay. I love her passion for ensuring the backyard is void of anything that moves, by chasing everything she sees in it from bunnies and squirrels to fluttering leaves. Basically, when it comes to our backyard, she’s like an elementary school hall monitor who actually takes her job seriously. Totally ridiculous, but unbelievably cute.

Beyond that, she’s got a fun loving, quirky personality. Considering her mix, you can imagine she looks a bit odd, but we also find her pointy ears and crooked smile adorable.



She enjoys finishing the last couple drops of my beers before I toss them in the recycling bin and she cleans up the floor after I make lunch in the morning. She’s a fetcher and a lover. All in all, she’s a fantastic dog, who also happens to be a huge pain in the ass right now.

As in, right now, this dog is on more pills than Keith Richards at a Pink Floyd concert and we’re responsible for ensuring she takes them exactly when she needs to. Also, I’m carrying her up the stairs every night when we go to bed and carrying her down the stairs every morning before I go to work.

This wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t act like she was a feisty old lady and I was a mugger who was trying to knock her over and steal her purse.

What’s worse, she’s been licking her stitches like they were covered in bacon. She's been so relentless that we had to get her a cone head to wear when we’re not around because her activities were compromising the stitches. Basically, our poor little Chloe and this whole situation is just a mess.





It’s tough because we know what’s good for her and we want to do what it takes to make her better. She just doesn’t get it and is simply confused by the whole thing.

Just in time, I think we’re starting to understand why people say that having a dog is good training for having a baby.

Like Father, Like Son…Already?

For the past few weeks Katy has started to feel Lil’ Man bouncing around the womb.

Beyond being a wondrous pregnancy related experience, she says it kind of tickles and can be distracting; particularly during important business meetings, which happen to be junior’s favorite time to cut a jig. So, as Katy is trying to be serious, Lil’ Man wants to make her laugh.

I find this hilarious. First, I think you’ve got to give the kid a break; there isn’t much going on in there, so I imagine entertainment is at an all time premium. Also, it reminds me of how Katy and I met.

It was the summer of the 2001 and I thought the best thing I could do with my recently obtained college degree was to continue waiting tables for the summer. So, I parlayed my serving experience at a chain Mexican restaurant into a job as a server at Brit’s Pub, a busy, Brit themed pub in downtown Minneapolis.

As it turns out, it really was the best thing I could’ve done, as Katy and I met there as colleagues.

When I started, she had already been working there for awhile and had a specialized job managing parties and events. Actually, she created the job she had at Brit’s, which I thought was pretty impressive for someone who spent her late teens and early twenties hanging out in Seattle working in coffee shops.

As an event manager, Katy catered to demanding customers who dropped thousands of dollars to host flawless parties. As a server, I specialized in joking around with customers and talking dirty in broken Spanish with the amigos in the kitchen. Clearly, the similarities between us were striking.

But, as we quickly discovered, there was something really special between us, and we like to think that we’re two different pieces that fit together well to make a better whole. And, luckily for me, Katy likes a man with a unique sense of humor.

Since I used to get to make her smile on the job, and that’s where all of this began, it’s sort of heartwarming, in a really odd way, to see that, perhaps, the apple already hasn’t fallen far from the tree.

Keep making your mom smile, Lil’ Man. From my experience, it’s simply the best advice I can give.