Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Guinea Pig

Today is all about our guinea pig Sandy. She is the cutest piggie in the whole wide world, in her parents' humble opinions :)

Sandy is a touch over a year old, and she loves us. I got her for Steven for his birthday last July, and they just adore each other. It's precious and I wish I could sneak pictures of the two of them.

These are a few pictures I have gotten away with. I took the first one a little after we got her. She's so tiny in that picture!

The Sandy Story:

Steven and I had talked about what pets we'd like to have--we both work at a vet's office, so it's a little difficult to not end up with one :) I had rescued a rat a couple years before and had enjoyed her, but Steven had more of a tendency toward guinea pigs because of their sociable behavior.

We've been in an apartment that doesn't allow pets, but come on, it's a guinea pig, a guinea pig doesn't count.

Last spring I went walking with a couple friends from work, Lisa and Nikki, and they helped me plan the birthday surpise :) (Well, Nikki was all about the piggie purchase, and Lisa was there to ask "What if he doesn't want a guinea pig right now?" and say "Maybe you should buy a small bag of hay in case he sends her back!") About a week before Steven's birthday, Lisa, Nikki and I went to PetCo after our evening walk. I called Steven, for my cover, to let him know that I was going to dinner with the girls, but his voice mail picked up (I got home before he heard it). Sandy was the third guinea pig I noticed--the other two ended up being a little too squeally for my taste, and when the girl picked Sandy up, I knew I needed to hold her! She went home with 'Aunt Nikki', and stayed there until the afternoon of Steven's birthday.



I got to leave work early that day, went over and got Sandy from Nikki's house, and put her cage in our office/exercise room. I wrapped her bedding and hay bag and hid them in the living room. I was worried about him wandering up to find her, so I set up a foot soak in the living room shortly before he would be home, and played "The Princess Bride," one of his favorite movies. Then I went to bring back sushi.



We had dinner when I got back, and then it was time for presents! He opened the bedding, looked at me, and asked "where is it?" I smiled, went upstairs, and came back down with the little guinea pig of 2-3 months in my arms. His eyes were wwwwwiiiiiiidddddeeee and I could tell that he loved her :)

We have "couch time" and Sandy runs back and forth between us, eats hay (and yummy treats!), and after a bit of running about she takes naps on us.





"Whatcha doin?"
I love this picture. This is my cell phone wallpaper :)









Check this out :)