Our baby before our baby.. Rest in peace Snowplow.

So i have had these pictures uploaded for a few days but have been avoiding this blog post as much as possible.... It is with great sadness that i send this post... Our sweet "baby before our baby" Snowplow Avalanche Hill went to be in heaven with friends, aunts, uncles, brothers & cousin pets on November 2nd 2009. He was a HUGE part of our family. He was a best friend to us. He was part of our family for 11 years (+2 years with Brad and Michelle) and I hope this post does his memory justice..

His part in our family started with a very funny story of a pounce on Brad's (Ryan's older brother) lap with an end result in claw removal.. For those of you who know the full story I can believe there is a smile on your face right now.. Anyways Ryan and I were asked to take him in.. Of course me being me had an initial thought of "HECK NO!" that equals cat hair which means more cleaning. Come to find out in true Ryan form he had already told them yes... SO we headed over one day to meet snowplow (formerly Snowball but my Brother-in-law decided it wasn't "manly" enough).. I fell in love with this cat... note I use this term very loosely because he always behaved as a dog. He fetched, met you at the door, came running when you called, etc..

Snowplow had the best sense of humor and always wanted to be part of the party. While Ryan and I spent most of our college years staring down a beer bottle.. Snowplow spent the years in an out of beer boxes :)However this is where he spent most of his years.. If Ryan had his legs stretched out ...snowplow was there! (You will notice this throughout this post)

He was our little boy (before we had a kid) SO what comes with that? Well of course humiliation... We decided to put him in a Christmas sweater one year. We brought him back Tshirts from Mexico, we put him in Halloween costumes etc.. He was a GREAT sport!
I love that Ryan looks like he is 12 in this picture :)
He was always the life of the party (college friends... do you remember the green room?!?)
Ryan heard somewhere that you can potty train a cat.. Plow made a very good effort of it but after a few months of the mess I threw a fit and Ryan threw in the towel..
He was the most beautiful cat known to man.. I mean just look at him!
He loved to get belly rubs from his daddy... most of which resulted in teeth marks in Ryan's arm, foot or hand (remember he had no claws so this was his only defense)

His daddy loved him more than me most of the time.. Just kidding but I think we were pretty close in the running

His mommy loved him so so much!! (Yes I had braids.. it was 2001 and we went on vacation.. don't judge!)

He was part of every family Christmas card..

He was a wonderful big brother when we adopted our strays Fester and Tiger

His daddy built him a perch/cover for his outside food..

He managed to get stuck under the deck when Izzy and Ryan built it at our Hampton house.. note: he did not slide under in a weird spot but rather he got under and then the boys accidentally screwed in the boards on top of him.. I went out to check on them and heard snowplow whining (this was not rare) I looked down to see this.. needless to say the boards were up in a second and his daddy "rescued" him..

Again.. all Christmas cards He was a very resilient cat. He actually had 3 bouts with cancer.. The last one the vet told us to take him home, make him comfortable and let him go in peace.. HELL NO! Ryan took him to another doctor who said if we go a little into the muscle he should make a full recovery.. So we did.. he had a longer road to recovery and we were worried for a bit that we made the wrong decision.. but in true snowplow form he was back in good condition in about 6 months.. that was 3 years ago so I think we made the right decision.. Below is a picture of him with his cone.. the cancer was on his hip so he had to wear a cone in order not to pull out his stitches..
We would let snowplow hang outside with us all the time.. sometimes we had a hard time finding him at the end of the night so we put his collar on and attached a bike light.. which affectionately became known as the "dork light" because that is what parents do right? They do things that make your friends call you a dork.. Oh well we loved him and his "dork light"

Ryan didn't make it a habit to put him in a headlock but I think this picture is hilarious!!

Plow and his little brothers.. who are still combing the house looking for him... so sad..

Halloween one year... professional (with the dork light of course!)

Fathers day 07..

Love love love this picture.. all the boys wanting to go outside..

A random costume we found a Target.. He HATED it.. but was still a good sport.. If we ever needed a good laugh just put on the giraffe hat :)

He LOVED boxes.. and was not fickle as to which ones.. beer, packing, cereal, etc.. all boxes were loved by Plow!

He even got Tiger in on the action. again on the bed with his brothers... they spent a lot of time just lounging around..

Then life began to change.. We were expecting a baby.. and he was well aware there was something going on.. He LOVED to climb up in bed at night and literally hug my belly... yeppers.. that would be the belly...

We loved this little man so much and were very nervous about the impending arrival of his little brother (Chaz)
and then he was here.. the first introduction was outside the house.. snowplow doesn't seem interested in this picture but he was very curious about who was getting all our attention all of the sudden.. Funny thing is Snowplow developed a VERY loud whine pretty much the day we brought chaz home.. it never stopped :) We found it funny most of the time but there were a few instances where my blood would boil at the "whine" waking up the baby..

Daddy was very good at letting snowplow know his "spot" was not taken there was just a friendly addition... notice the bundle of baby in each picture..

One night all the boys were asleep on the couch Ryan was up with Chaz (I was enjoying mommy sleep).. Chaz was about 4 months old. Ryan saw a perfect opportunity for a photo shoot.. and I think he was right.. there are about 50 pictures and I will cherish them forever.. in succession they are a riot!

There are actually some of Chaz screaming but I won't post them as they look like he is hating his brothers.. and he LOVES them!!

curled up with Tiger.. On brothers changing table.. this used to make me so mad.. not anymore now i wish i could walk in and see him hanging out on the table....

He also thought it was a great idea to hide odd places.. many a time we would find him in a cabinet, drawer, on top of the fridge.. this time it was the wrapping paper closet..

He warmed up to Chaz very quickly and became quite the protecter of him.. everywhere chaz was snowplow was...

Giving the baby kisses..
yep here is another one. .in the pots and pans..

but he couldn't outwit the 1 year old.. chaz found him!

he was also known to sleep in the most precarious positions...

Good times! Christmas '08
Again with his brothers..

Chaz absolutely adored him. Although we always knew snowplow would go before chaz could remember him for a lifetime we were very happy that they became such good friends during the time they had together.. Chaz loved "No-plow" he loved to pet him, hug him, sit on him, chase him, etc.. and when snowplow would walk away before he got the chance...meltdown..

One of the last sets of pictures I have of the boys was a wonderful afternoon in September.. Chaz and I were playing outside with the 3-D sidewalk chalk. Chaz decided "no-plow" needed to put on the glasses.. in true snowplow fashion he obliged to the odd request by the 2 year old. Such a great cat/dog.

and then Chaz wanted him to color with him.. again such a good cat/dog.

I have lost many friends, family, pets, etc in my life and I have to say.. this was up the list for me.. I think it is because he is the first pet loss of our family. The first of Chaz's. And because nothing is more heartwrenching than seeing your husband melt when he has to tell you the news.. We were literally a mess for a week.. Time will heal but we will not forget. Snowplow was a great pet/friend. We will miss you LOUD whine, white hair on my pretty brown pillows, weight of a ton on my legs in the middle of the night, food all over the floor, etc.. I will miss it all!