The Gentle Giant Continued & More Sad News

After waking up Thursday morning and realizing that, yes, our sweet Max had really passed away, I began to think that I didn't give him the time that he deserved on this blog. On Wednesday night, I wrote a few things about him, but for journaling purposes, I want to write a little more....I made these notes Thursday morning through teary eyes as I took the time to remember our 8 years with Max - or, as we liked to call him, Fat Max. :) So...here's to you, Max, our Gentle Giant.

Max Bumgarner: June 25, 2003 - December 7, 2011

-We bought Max from a family that lived in a trailer in Denton, NC. On a Sunday afternoon, Landis and I saw an advertisement in the newspaper for boxer puppies. Madi was almost a year old and we thought she needed a companion, so, off we went to Denton. We drove and drove looking for the address listed in the paper and we had a difficult time finding the trailer. After driving for over an hour, we stopped at the general store in Denton and called the number in the paper to get more specific directions. Finally, 2 hours later and very frustrated, we pulled up to the address. In the back yard, we saw Max's dad and mom - they were both huge boxers so we knew right away that these boxer pups were going to be big. We walked in the laundry room of the trailer and there in a gray storage box was about 5 puppies jumping up and down. We wanted a male puppy so we asked which ones were males. The owner told us that there was only one male left and he was the one with the white diamond on his back. We looked down and the beautiful solid brown one with the diamond shaped white spot on his back was the happiest of the bunch. He was the one trying his best to climb out of the bucket. Well, we let him....we let him climb out right into our hands and off we went with our sweet Max....which we decided on as the name as we drove home.

At this point, Max was only about 5 weeks old so he was tiny. We could hold him in the palm of our hand. He was a lively fellow from the beginning. We were nervous about letting Madi play with him at first because he was so little so we kept Max in the back spare bedroom a lot and only let him and Madi together whenever they were closely supervised. From the beginning, Max started to show his puppy ways - one day when we left him in the back bedroom alone for too long, he ripped up 2 corners of the carpet. (Just one reason why we put hardwood floors down soon after.) Max was also known for attempting to chew up remote controls, cords, etc....from an early age, he would eat anything - often times throwing it up. :(

Before we knew it, Max and Madi were able to play together and they were best buds from the very start. Even though they stayed in separate kennels while we were not home, they still had plenty of time to play together, and, when they were together, they had a blast! They would run and run and run around the backyard in circles until Madi got tired of Max running and then she would chase him back to the porch and make him stay there while she rested in the grass. After a good ole playtime in the backyard, both Madi and Max would come in and crash....Max would lay near me to rest for a little while so I could rub him but then when he got really tired, he would walk away and go find him a place on the cool hardwood floors and sprawl out all over the place. Max loved to be rubbed but when it was sleeping time, he wanted his space. Occasionally, he would sleep next to Madi, but most of the time, he had his own area.

Until the last year of his life, Max lived a happy, healthy, fun-filled life. Some of the things I will remember about him include:

-he loved the snow. He and Madi would run and run and run and then would stick their noses in it and shake their heads. I have the cutest pictures (that would take me forever to find the electronic version of) of Max with snow all over his nose.

-he hated storms - when it started to thunder, Max would pace and drool and pant. Matter of fact, here recently, big ole 99 pound Max slept in my bed during one of those bad storms because I could not calm him down in his room

-he loved Madi - she was his best friend - he loved to roll around with her in the backyard (when she would let him off the porch) - he respected her (he knew not to mess with her food and he knew when he could get near her and when he couldn't - she was quite moody with him - just like women can be) :) - when Madi went to the vet and he was left here, Max would whine and cry - it was quite pitiful. I don't think he could have handled her dying before him. He loved Madi to pieces - Madi was here when we brought him home from Denton and she was with him when he died - he didn't know life without her. :(

-he loved to eat - everytime I took him to the vet, they would fuss at me because he was too fat, so I would adjust his food or feed him the low calorie kind - that did a little good, but didn't help too much because he loved to eat WAY more than he loved to exercise

-matter of fact, he wouldn't even play fetch - when we would throw balls in the backyard, Madi would go get them and bring them back - Max would never attempt to do this. Here's a funny story about that - one time when I took him to the vet the doctor asked me how much he exercised - when I said, "not at all," she suggested that I buy this marshmallow gun for him - the marshmallow gun shot marshmallows across the yard - the purpose was to get a food type item far away from him so he could run to eat the food and marshmallows are a low calorie food for dogs, so I tried this - well, after I would shoot the marshmallow, Max would walk as slow as he possibly could to get the marshmallow and then he would eat it. He did this just a few times and then he started standing next to the marshmallow gun, waiting for me to drop a marshmallow while loading it - he cared nothing about running to get the marshmallow - now, you can see why we called him "Fat Max" :)

-speaking of Fat Max - on one occasion, he got into a bag of dog food while we were working one day - when I came home, he had eaten almost the whole bag of dog food. I was so worried about him eating too much that I took him to the vet. As soon as we arrived at the vet, he began to throw up. He threw up a HUGE amount of food in the vet's office. I couldn't believe he ate that much! What a fat dog!!! :) Matter of fact, right before he died, he was so fat that when he leaned up against you for you to rub him, he could almost knock you over. :)

-he loved to eat ice - whenever he heard the icemaker, he would come running so he could grab a piece from the floor

-Max was good with Luke. He was so big that we had to be really careful about how much we let Luke and Max play. But, no matter how big Max was - he always had good intentions. The dog would never think about hurting a child. Matter of fact, he would often times lay on the floor next to Luke to show that he had no intentions of hurting him. He was such a sweet fellow.

-The only time I ever saw Max get aggressive or protective was about 3 years ago (before Luke was born). A guy that was angry at my brother came by my house to tell me a few things and he still had anger in his voice. I let him in the house because I knew who he was and I didn't think he would express the anger towards me. Well, I was wrong - this guy was having a difficult time cooling down. Max didn't like this. As the man's voice got louder, the closer and closer Max got to me and to him. Max positioned himself in between me and the man and stared the man down. I really think that Max would have attacked this man that night if he would have gotten any closer to me. Needless to say, this man calmed himself down real quickly with a 90 pound dog about 1 foot away from him and he left soon after that. I was so appreciative of Max that night. Max made a point and this man heard it. He definitely got some extra rubs!

-Max hated the vet and he hated a bath. For either one, I would have to literally drag him out of the car and pick him up for a bath. He would shake the whole time he was in the vet and the whole time he was in the bath tub. My, oh my, what a scaredy cat. :)

-Max loved me. Usually when I worked on the computer, Max would lay his head in my lap. Any chance he had to rub against me to get petted, he would.

-Max enjoyed playing with his pal, Rex (Mark and Melissa's dog). They seemed to have a bond - probably because they were both "fat". LOL!!! :) Max also loved certain visitors more than others - he loved Jason Tussey and Mark and Melissa the most. He also enjoyed being in the house with my mother in law during the day. He took to her very well once she started keeping Luke.

Bottom line, Max was a great dog!! I will miss him so much! Max had a good life - his life got a little less good after Luke was born because I just didn't have the time to pet him like I used to; however, he still had a huge backyard to play in, a leather sofa to sleep on, his buddy Madi to lay with and spend time with, plenty of good food to eat, and we still petted him as much as we could. I do regret that I didn't pet him on the day that he died. That morning, I rushed out of the house for work and then when I got home from work, I rushed to the hospital to see Granny and I never stopped to rub him. I will always regret this and the only way I know how to make up for it is to rub Madi a few extra times. I do not want Madi to die without me petting her. I loved Max but Madi was my first dog ever so I love her dearly.

She is handling Max's passing very well. We cleaned out the back bedroom, got rid of the old leather sofa and turned the back bedroom into a music/play room for Luke and Landis instead of a dog's room. So, now, Madi gets free reign over the whole house and she is loving it! :) Matter of fact, she is lying beside of me on the couch right now as I write this. Madi is old - 9 years old. Her eyes are not as good as they used to be and her hearing is also leaving. She takes allergy pills every other day and hip supplements for her arthritis. I don't know how much longer she will make it, but, what I do know is, I will make sure I spend time with her each day.

Thanks for hanging with me as I reflected on the life of Max. :)

Unfortunately, Monday morning, we received more sad news in our family and, even though we are sad about Max, this news didn't even compare - it is extremely sad and life changing for my grandparents, my mom, and my aunts and uncles - early Monday morning, I learned that my 49 year old uncle Jamie died of a heart attack late Sunday night. My mom, aunts, uncles, and grandparents have had a tough few days. None of them have slept much. They are in shock and can't believe this happened. My uncle Jamie had special needs his entire life but he has always found a way to overcome them. At a young age, he was diagnosed with a terrible heart condition that the doctors said would kill him. He somehow managed to beat the odds and live way past what the doctors predicted. Not only did he live but he established his own cab company that he has run successfully for several years now and he owns 3 rental properties that he manages. My mammaw and grandaddy have helped him with his business and have helped take care of him his whole life, but, in return, Jamie also helped them. My grandparents are going to be lost without him and I feel so bad for them. Luke, Landis, and I spent the afternoon visiting them and will, of course, be joining the family as we say our good-byes these next few days during the visitation times and funeral. Please keep our family (especially my grandparents) in your prayers. They need a strength that only God can provide right now. We will miss you, Jamie. We love you!

During sad times like this, the child like spirit can cheer anyone up (at least for a little while). In between all the craziness going on in our lives, Luke and I went on a Mommy Date on Saturday and we had a blast! It was great for us to get away and spend time just us two for a little while. It was Polar Express Day at the Greensboro Children's Museum so after Luke's nap, we headed to Greensboro.

When we arrived, I knew it was going to be a lot of fun. The museum was playing Christmas music over the loud speakers and there were happy, playful children everywhere. Anyone's spirits would have been lifted just walking into this place - there is nothing like the sound of happy children at Christmas time and my Luke was one of these happy children. He was ready to play as soon as we arrived.

His first stop was the enclosed space just for the toddlers - in other words, the toddler play area. Luke started by riding everything that he could possibly ride. He rode the giraffe, these boppy jumpy things, the red car, the blue rocking horse, the see saw, and the bumble bee scooter. After riding everything he could, he crawled into the big airplane to sit down and "drive". The airplane was hooked up to a camera that projected Luke onto a TV screen. I showed Luke where to look so that he could see himself. I told him to do certain things like wave, touch his head, and blow a kiss so he could watch himself and realize that this camera was capturing his every move. He loved this - you will see some cute pictures and video of him playing in the airplane below. In the toddler room, Luke also enjoyed crawling through the tunnel. As he crawled, he touched every big wheel that had different textures. He also enjoyed throwing balls in and out of the shape holes in the tunnel. After playing in the tunnel, Luke found some large and small blocks. He enjoyed carrying the large blocks from place to place trying to stack them as best he could or trying to load them in the red car. After quite awhile, Luke said he was ready to leave. In his words, "Do you want to get out?" (He phrases everything that should be a statement as a question. It's quite confusing sometimes. For example, in this situation, instead of saying, "I want to get out", he says, "Do you want to get out?" He does this with everything. Another example would be at dinner time - instead of saying, "Mommy, I am done." - he says, "Mommy, are you done?" (having nothing to do with me being done or not but instead implying that Luke is done). We are working on getting this straightened out. I make him repeat things back to me in a statement form before I complete the task that he is requesting. For example, when he says, "Do you want to get out?" (out of his car seat). I say, "Tell Mommy - I would like to get out please." Slowly, I think he is catching on but it is taking awhile. Here are some pictures of Luke playing in the toddler room at the museum...

This is the airplane that had the video camera attached....he is waving at himself in this picture...








After we left the toddler room, we visited a room that was set up like a snow scene. They had rakes and other equipment that allowed the students to scoop up snow so they could play in it. Luke enjoyed making piles of snow and then picking them up and throwing them (just like the leaves on Thanksgiving). In this room, there was also a tent. I told Luke that tents were used for camping and that you slept in them so Luke went to the tent and laid down inside and pretended to sleep. Here is Luke playing in the "snow"...




After leaving the snow room, we headed to the small train table. I don't have any pictures of this because I just took the time to enjoy watching him play and think. There were several kids at the train table and Luke was so sweet about not taking anyone's trains. He patiently waited until other kids put a train down and then he would pick it up. He would look at me with a look that said, "Can I play with it now?" And, I would smile and say, "Yes, you can play with it now." And, Luke would grin and start pushing the train through the tunnels and around the track. Eventually, the other kids had moved on to something else and Luke had the whole train table to himself. At this point, he went around the table and collected all the trains and parked them in the roundhouse. He made sure they all had a place. :)

After the train table, our next stop was the BIG train. The train is big enough for the kids to go into and play. It is set up like a real train - a place for the conductor and then the rest of the cars have chairs and tables set up for pretend passengers. One of the train cars has a table with a tea set in it. Luke went to the tea set and moved every piece to the platform outside of the train. He made sure to line them up perfectly. He did this several times. Luke is starting to take an interest in pretending so I showed him how we can have a tea party with the tea set. Another little girl sat down with us and we pretended to pour our tea, drink it properly, and then we also pretended to cut our chicken and eat it. Luke would look at me and grin and copy everything that I did. Here are a few pictures of us playing with the tea set..

After our tea party, we visited the newly added Curious George exhibits at the museum. The first thing Luke saw was the space shuttle slide that you will see in the next pictures....Luke loved this - Mommy did not like it! Inside the shuttle that you see was a small set of winding stairs that I couldn't go up so I had to let Luke climb inside all by himself and then go down the slide. Well, he did great about 8 times and then he started getting braver and braver inside the shuttle and he leaned over to look out one of the windows that I told him to not look through and he lost his footing and slipped head first down about 3 stairs. Thank goodness a little girl was coming up behind him and stopped his fall and thank goodness the only thing he hurt was his cheek. He rubbed it up against the steps and chapped it a little but that was the only injury. The fall did scare him enough that he moved away from the shuttle for a little while. Here are some pictures....as you can see he loved it until he got hurt...

After the fall on the space shuttle slide, we explored a few more Curious George areas. Luke played with the fake elevator buttons and open and closed a few "secret" doors. He played putt-putt for awhile and explored the pretend grocery store. He enjoyed filling his shopping bag with the stuffed pieces of food. Then, to my dismay, Luke found another slide - a huge airplane that you could climb in to and pretend to drive and then a slide was used as the exit from the airplane. Once again, I couldn't go with him down the slide so I let him slide by himself. The slide was enclosed like a tunnel so I knew he wouldn't fall out. Well, I watched him get in the top of the slide on his bottom the correct way and then I heard a few bumps and when he came out at the bottom, he was on his belly face first and slid into the bottom of the slide with his face. He came up crying with a scratch under his nose. When Luke gets hurt he will cry but when you ask him, "Luke, did that hurt?" He will shake his head, "no" and then walks away from you. He doesn't want anyone to mess with him when he's hurt - he tries to be tough. :)

After 2 falls in the Curious George area, we were done and ready to move on. Even though it was cold outside, we went outside to the garden area and explored. There was a huge tunnel full of straw that Luke walked through several times - he enjoyed that and then he found the bunny rabbit cage. He really loved watching Chuck and Steve (the bunnies). I let him have his candy cane while he sat and watched the bunnies play. Here are some pictures....



After being outside for way too long - Luke's cheeks were red from the cold and his hands were freezing, I fought a mini-toddler meltdown and we went inside. We had been at the museum for almost 2 hours so I thought maybe he was ready to go but as soon as we got inside, Luke was ready to play some more. He climbed in and on the fire truck, the police car, and the race car. Then, we went to "Creation Station" and made a Christmas ornament. Luke was so excited when he saw the "dot dot" paint like he has at school. He added his "dot dots" to the ornament all by himself and then he looked at me and said, "Now, it's time to color" as he picked up the markers and began scribbling. He was a pro at decorating (I guess because they do this at school everyday). After creating his ornament, he moved on to the house and kitchen set up. He went straight to the kitchen and unloaded every cabinet and drawer that there was. Then, he opened and shut the door a 100 times. :) And, he ended his house visit by picking up an iron and ironing several articles of clothing. Here he is playing in the kitchen...
Our next stop was the doctor's office. Luke enjoyed checking his ears.
While at the doctor's office, Luke also played with the babies for a minute. He would pick them up and move from them place to place. Surprisingly, he didn't stay interested in the babies too long - Daddy would be proud! :)

After leaving the doctor's office, we stopped by the "post office" - I am so glad that we checked out this room because I think this ended up being his favorite place. For the longest time, Luke put boxes on the conveyor belt while I turned it. He loved to watch the boxes travel down the belt and then fall off. For part of the time, a sweet boy, probably about 7 years old, played with us. Luke would put boxes on one end and the little boy would try to catch the boxes at the other end. Here are some pictures of our conveyor belt fun....


After the post office visit, we ended our museum trip back in the toddler room. This time, Luke played with the animals in the barn. Then, he found two cars and took them to the "cheese mat" - the mat is intended for children to slide down, but Luke used it as a ramp for his cars. He enjoyed watching the cars roll down the hill. After the cars rolled down, I would push them back up for him. We both had fun playing this! Finally, as we heard the announcement that the museum would be closing in like 15 minutes, Luke decided to play with the Legos. He started off by lining up the Legos like a train. Matter of fact, he lined them up and started saying, "choo-choo." Once his train got too long, he began stacking the Legos. He played at the Lego table for the remainder of our time. As soon as Luke heard the 5 minutes before closing announcement from the museum, he looked at me and said, "Let's Go Eat!" Oh my - well, let's go, I thought! :) Here I was worried about having to tell him that it was time to go and obviously, I had no worries at all - it was like Luke all of a sudden decided that he was done playing and it was right on time with the closing of the museum. I couldn't believe that he played as long as he did. We arrived at the museum at 1:45 and left the museum as they were shutting the doors. :) We had a great time! And....got our moneys worth! :)

As you know, I'm always reflecting on my adventures with Luke and always thinking about what I can notice about him. I like to make sure I notice as much as possible because he is growing TOO fast. Well, here's a few things that I noticed...

-I've noticed that at places like this that are "busy," Luke doesn't talk as much as usual. I guess he's taking it all in and then starts talking about things after he has had time to process it. Usually this process time starts in the car. Once we get in the car, Luke will begin talking about all of the things that he did or saw. I love our riding time together - no music, just me and Luke having a conversation about everything that we just did. :)

-I've noticed that Luke is getting better at playing by himself for longer periods of time and I've also noticed how much Luke is beginning to like to pretend. And, for this reason, sometimes I sit back and watch him play and sometimes I join in so I can begin showing him how to play creatively and how to pretend. Whether watching or playing, I have a great time!

On a side note and to go along with the car conversations that I mentioned - here are a few things that he said either going to or from the museum that were cute -

"This is very important." - He said this on our way back and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, so I said, "What is important?" and he said, "My straw. This straw is important." He was talking about the straw that went in his drink....so, my response..."yes, buddy, that's right. Your straw is important." :)

"This is a straddle." - All of sudden, I looked in the back seat and Luke had his legs up in the air in a straddle position. I said, "What are you doing?" His response - "This is a straddle." Well, yes, but why are you doing that right now??? Oh well, it won't hurt anything....:)

Finally, my favorite of all -

"That's the beach." - He said this as we passed Grandover Resort. I guess he was thinking that anything tall that looked like hotel condos meant we were at the beach. I told him the correct name of the place and what it was but also told him that I was proud that he remembered there were hotels at the beach. I sure do wish we were in one of those hotels at the beach right now. :)

So....that's enough rambling for now....I'm tired....it's Wednesday night - it, once again, took me 3 nights to get this posted. We have been ridiculously busy. I look forward to some quiet time very soon. Here are some pictures that I took around the house this week...Luke in his tunnel...

This is the back bedroom that we cleaned out. There is a small TV/DVD player in this room so Luke was watching his Roary video on his Elmo couch in the "new room."
We are trying to get rid of the treadmill that you see and then all of that other stuff will be gone after Christmas so after that wall is cleared, the room will be very nice. It is still pretty spacious right now - we are enjoying the space. :)
Luke watching Roary.

Luke and Madi bonding....

And...some videos....

#1 - Luke playing with the conveyor belt.

#2 - Luke showing off for the video camera inside the airplane.

Have a great rest of your week, everyone! To my educator friends, only 5 school days until Christmas Break!!! :)

Toddy