Whiskey the Dog

Still on the theme of getting to know us............

Our latest family member - Whiskey - has only been with us for 2 months and as we often say he is the funniest looking Labrador we have ever seen, and behind that phrase lies the story of how Whiskey came to join us.

You see for the last two years Luca had been begging, on at least a weekly basis, for a dog. As in his words "every boy should have a dog mum". It took Armand and I though 2 years to come round to his way of thinking. So once we had hesitantly said "we would see" to the idea of a puppy the debate began over which breed the dog should be.

Now my family in England have always had Labradors - the latest being Charlie a 3 year old Chocolate Labrador. And as we know from experience that Luca is fine around Labradors and they don't seem to affect his asthma I felt this was the only dog we could possibly have. After browsing through several breeders' websites the boys were also taken in and truly hooked by endless photos of Labrador puppy litters playing in gardens or snuggled up to their mums. The 3 of us were soon a lost cause!!!

Armand on the other hand had always had rescue dogs in his family and was just as insistent that any family pet needed to be a rescue dog.

The dilemma being: How many Labrador puppies were queueing up in animal rescue centres to be adopted? Answer: Zilch!!!!

So we found ourselves at an impasse, or so we thought until just before Christmas when we spotted an advert in a pet shop listing dogs available for adoption in a local rescue centre, one of whom was a 2 year old female golden Labrador called Bayley. Well Bayley sounded like the answer to the whole family's prayers. The only small snag as we saw it was that we were about to go away to stay with family for Christmas and arriving with a brand new dog in tow did not seem the best recipe for an easy and relaxed family Christmas. So we decided to enquire about Bayley on our return home on 27th December.

After a great few days spent celebrating Christmas with some of our English relatives we returned home, unpacked the car and set off to the rescue centre. On the way there I repeated the mantra I had been chruining out all Christmas.

"Now remember everyone we are only going to get a dog if it is a Labrador. It can't be any other breed. And we are only coming tonight to have a look, there is no question of us returning home with a dog now, we need to prepare ourselves before adopting a dog and so on and so on."

Well 20 minutes later we found ourselves safely back in the car, with 2 very excited boys strapped in to their car seats , a dog bed, sack of dog food, blanket, lead, collar and 2 bowls safely stored in the boot and on my knees a rather frightened and trembling mutt whom we have come to know and love as Whiskey..the funniest-looking Labrador we have ever seen!

In the beginning........

Well after years of reading other peoples' blogs I have decided to take the plunge and start a blog for our family. Our families and friends are spread over several countries so hopefully this will help us stay in touch. I am not sure how often I will be able to post but heh "nothing ventured nothing gained". As I am currently running about 6 years behind on putting our photo albums together, I hope that this may be a better option for keeping a track of our lives.

So who are we?

I am Sophie a - late "30-something" mother of 2 great little boys and wife to Armand. I work part-time in Human Resources, and whilst I would love to stay at home full-time I look on the bright side and really appreciate not having to work full-time. When I am not working I enjoy being with the boys and Armand, spending time with our 2 families, reading, cooking, reading blogs and gardening.

Our boys are Luca now aged nearly 9 and his younger brother Fabio who is 4.

Luca is a lively, energetic, articulate, caring, chatty, speedy, intelligent nearly 9 year old. Three sleeps and counting. He has a big heart and is always ready to help people who are suffering. He loves drawing, and has a true talent for sketching. He loves most sports especially his beloved rugby, which he plays for 2 hours every Saturday. He also has a passion for World War I and II history and in particular the story of the Memphis Belle and its crew. He has probably seen the film of Memphis Belle over 300 times over the years, and has already worn out one DVD of the film and is now onto his 2nd copy. He dreams of travelling to Dayton, Ohio, to see the Memphis Belle in "real life" Luca's English grandparents live a short 30 minute drive from Bassingbourne in Cambridgeshire, the base where the Belle was based during its tour of duty in WWII. Last summer he was lucky enough to be let into the army base and allowed to see the Memphis Belle memorial and to touch one of the Belle's propellers, which is displayed there. Luca attends Cub Scouts and especially enjoys the camping side of things.

Luca is also severally asthmatic and has to date over 20 known allergies, some to food and some environmental ones. Caring for Luca and keeping him safe provides our family with our own set of challenges. His medical issues are a normal part of our lives, however family life has had to be built up to allow for his needs and to keep him safe. This sometimes means restricting activities. Luca had his first allergic reaction at the age of 3 days old, and experienced anaphalactic shock when given his first taste of egg at the age of 10 months. Whilst Luca understands that he can not eat the same things as other children, it is not always easy to feel "different". I will do a post talking more about Luca and his medical issues another day.

Fabio is our laid back Mr Happy. Nothing much upsets him and he is such a smiler. He rarely cries and just gets on with enjoying life with his ever present smile. Fabio is still at the age where he is always ready with a kiss and cuddle. Long may it last. He just loves his big brother to bits and would love to be a big brother himself. Although that is definitely not in our plans! Fabio started Kindergarten in September 2008 and is doing really well. He seems to have a natural ability for numbers and can recognise all numbers up to 100. He is just beginning to read small simple words too. Fabio plays rugby too on a Saturday although with a lot less enthusiasm that his older brother.

Armand has lived in this area all of his life. Proud of his Italian roots, he loves to return to Italy, and we love to vacation in Italy. For the last 2 years we have taken our holidays on Lake Garda and are hoping to travel to the Tuscany coast this summer. Armand has a full time job working for the national government. Armand works hard to provide for us all but also finds time to have fun with the boys. He is the one who lets them push the limits whilst I tend to be over-protective. But heh that's a mum's role I guess! We have been married for 12 years this summer.

We live truly in the heart of Europe in an area bordering 2 other countries. Neither of us is national of the country that we live in, whilst I am British and Armand is of Italian origin (although he has never actually lived there!). We are bringing the boys up to be tri-lingual which adds another dimension to daily life. We truly enjoy the international aspect of our lives and cant imagine life any other way than our home-grown melting pot.