Very VERY Special Day

Do you remember way back in May when this little scrap of just 4 months old arrived with us with a prediction of only 6 months to live?

Well. Today that little scrap looks like this......

And, even more importantly, today he celebrated his first birthday! It was a milestone that we never thought that he'd reach so there have been many tears.

Here are the photos of his very special day when he truly is a Prince for the day :o)

Birthday Cake and Presents

Not quite sure what to do

Getting the hang of it now!

Very special bowl for a Prince!

Straight on to the next present

Ooh! Smells good!

Thank you very much to Captain Jack, Princess Cherry and their lovely mum and dad

He was bored by the last present so big sister Flora helped

On tothe important business of cake!

Go faster Mummy!

Bran and Flora waiting patiently to share

Only very special birthday boys get fed in the chair

Showing off his new "beg" trick or his Christmas nails?

Clearing up the crumbs

Think he enjoyed them??

Thank you so much to all of you who have followed Hugo's story through 2009 - the ups and the downs - and for all the support we've been given. Without Fionna and Lizzies Barn who knows what might have happened to Hugo back when he was just 4 months old? Their unending support has been crucial to helping us get this far with our little man so massive massive thanks to our very special friend, Fi - you are a true angel and Hugo owes you his life xxx

In just one week - the first of January 2010 - the very start of a new year, Prince Hugo will have been with us for exactly 8 months - exactly 2 months longer than he was given. Here's to another year full of strength, bravery and fight from our little man and to all the adventures we hope to have together whilst hoping that he is here to celebrate his second birthday.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a joyous 2010 xx

Very Special Dish Served Cold ;o)

(In other news today, Hugo is to be added to the Lizzies Barn website as an official Sponsor Dog. We didn't honestly think that we'd have him long enough to be able to make this commitment, but we're keeping fingers crossed and going with it!!)

Very Strange Sleeping

I don't know if it's because the weather is soooooooooo much colder recently or just because Hugo is a little bit strange ;o) but just recently he's been very much taking advantage of having a big brother or sister to "snuggle up to":

And it's not like he's short on space or anything..............

Even his poor Mummy hasn't got away with being led on!

We weren't quite sure what was going on when we came out to the kitchen one day and found this!!

But soon realised!!!

Fortunately, a perfect sounding bed came up on Freecycle yesterday and we managed to get it for Hugo, in an attempt to give the big dogs a bit of space.........

Not sure Hugo's that impressed though.............

Some dogs are just never satisfied!

Very Special Water Baby

Yesterday brought 2 amazing revelations to Hugo's life.

The first: he can actually carry the football!

There have been so many diva strops and tantrums because he's had to drag the ball and then one of the big dogs will get it before he can get it to where he wants it to be, but yesterday he mastered actually lifting it off of the floor and moving. Woohoo!

Mind you, Bran wasn't quite so impressed ;o)

The second revelation: Hugo does NOT melt in the water!! I think we've documented his past history with water and so you will already know how pathetic he becomes at the mere sight of it.

Yesterday, we caught him doing this:

Apparently, the temptation of floating sycamore leaves is too great to resist!

Although the water WAS too cold tostand all 4 feet in at once ;o)

And he did get a bit keen on showing his "best side"!!!! LOL!!!

Sooooooooo. I think we'll be bringing in a supply of sycamore leaves in preparation for his next bath ;o)

Very Special Photos

Just 3 days after our last update, we woke up to a very poorly Hugo :o( He was vomitting diarrhoea and ended up having to spend the night in the vets on a drip. We were worried sick, as you can probably imagine, but Oliver took good care of him and turned him around. Just 24 hours later he was back home and boinging on the big dogs as if nothing had happened. We were exhausted and emotionally wrung out, but thrilled that he was still with us. Little devil ;o)

Anyway. Since that little blip, life is running smoothly again (touch wood) but we have taken some new photos of our special little man, so I'll just share them with you.....

This is a very poorly Hugo snuggling with his mummy whilst we were waiting for the time of his vet's appointment to come around :o(

A few days later, and feeling fine, Hugo slipped out into the garden to catch some rays on the bench (a rather difficult obstacle for such a tiny boy to master, but master it he did!)

But then decided to opt for the slightly less comfortable sleeping arena of the patio!

Later that evening, young master Hugo got caught having mastered another obstacle for the first time - my computer chair! He looked so handsome against the black chair, that I left him where he was and just reached for my camera ;o)

The following evening, whilst messing with the camera again, I took some black and white photos of all of the dogs.

Bran opted for the doting puppy look....

Flora opted for the doting puppy look......

Hugo refused to compromise his macho integrity and just did the "ear thing" again!

I then scored massive points by providing a huge box of cuddly toys! The dogs were absolutely thrilled!

Bran reallllllllly liked the tiger

and Minnie Mouse!

Hugo was not that bothered to start with and tried to entice Flora away from the toys with a wrestling session

He eventually agreed to a game of tug involving the toys

and then his curiosity got the better of him and he had a little investigate

and then got REALLY stuck in!!

He eventually settled on chomping on the strange frog

In the evening, the children decided to make best use of the box and Hugo went along for the ride

One morning, I remembered to grab the camera to catch the action as Sophie joins us.

I am usually first up. I let the dogs out into the garden for morning ablutions. They chase around the garden for a little while, then Bran and Flora come in to do this whilst Hugo gives me morning kisses........

And then Hugo will hear something that tells him that his mummy is about to join us......

And then the realisation dawns that she will be with us VERY shortly and...........

I hope these show you just how well our little fighter is doing at the moment.

Sophie has decided to arrange a sponsored walk from home to the much visited veterinary practice which is a distance of about 3.5 miles, so I will give you more details on that just as soon as it's finalised :o)