Good bye Rose, Hello Lula

For Christmas Santa brought Rose, our hamster. The blondies instantly fell in love and Tucker decided her name should be Rose, and so it was. Rose was a good addition to the fam-damily. Though we didn't appreciate when she nibbled on our fingers she didn't seem to mind being held and the blondies spent many an hour playing with her. She only escaped once and Chris, of all people, found her and had to capture her. Back up, Chris is AFRAID of this little fur ball. He didn't like Rose and didn't approve of Santa bringing her so for him to be the one to capture her was a big deal! Quite comical actually! One morning I held Rosy, that's what we affectionately called her, and noticed she was bigger. I thought she might be pregnant and ran to the computer to research, she wasn't. We soon noticed other maladies and sweet Rose was obviously sick. As the days went on she became worse and worse. It was quite clear Rose would soon die...but she wouldn't die. I tried giving her an enormous dose of morphine but the stubborn thing wouldn't take ANY of it. She needed to be put out of her misery and soon!

Chris, being the loving guy he is-insert a chuckle, matter of factly said he'd "take care of her". So he got all pumped up, made sure his BB gun worked AND that the blondies were fast asleep, but in the end he just couldn't do it. He called a buddy in our ward and he agreed to do the dirty work. And that was the end of Rose.

The blondies knew she was sick. We talked about her at dinner that evening and I assured them she was so sick that tonight she would die. They didn't know what Rose's fate was. I broke the news to them the next morning over breakfast. Crappy way to start the day. Tatum quickly whipped up a few tears. She asked while sobbing, "Tell me you didn't flush her in the toilet!". Seriously Tatum? Thankfully we didn't. I assured her she was buried in a lovely box. Then she asked, "Will she get a headstone?". Ugggh, I hate that they know all about headstones. Tucker went and sat on the couch and angrily yelled at me, " Why did you tell me that!?!?!". He wouldn't let me hug or console him. They soon dried their eyes and before breakfast was over Tatum wanted to know if we could get another. So....

Meet Lula. They picked her out all themselves. The only requirement was that she not have red eyes; red eyes are scary! She's a blondie, just like T&T, they liked that. She has yet to let us really hold her, she's flinchy and squirmy. T&T are quite persistent, eventually Lula will see it their way!