Happy Birthday!

I thought that a quick little shout out on Facebook and Instagram would be enough, but you know what? It's not. This may seem a little silly... I mean, he doesn't even have thumbs to be able to work a smartphone, let alone know how to spell to sign into either account -- but I wanted to share on the blog a little birthday love for my furry boy, Nizmo. 

The first time I met Nizmo was during the summer of 2012. Justin and I had just met at work and were starting to hanging out. One day we decided to go kayaking down the river behind Justin's house. This was the first day we were hanging out outside of work, so not only was I nervous to finally be having one-on-one time, I was also stressing about the kayaking. I've done it a million times, but what if it were to flip? What if something terribly embarrassing happened? Deep breath. I can do this. 

I pulled into Justin's driveway, walked up to the back door, and was greeted with Justin saying, "Be careful. Just watch your toes around Nizmo." Why?! Was he some sort of toe-biting puppy? Did my painted toenails drive him crazy, so crazy that he turns into a toe-ripping-off terror? I was already a little uneasy because I knew he was a pitbull. Everyone and their mother's uncle has preconceived ideas about pitbulls (which by the way are SO mistaken, but that's another day and another post). I had never really been around one before so I was cautious... and then to be told that my toes were in danger!? Was it too late to pretend to be sick and go home?

But no worries, none of the above were reasons why this vicious dog (extremely sarcastic for those of you who don't know this puddle of puppy mush) was out for my toes.  Nizzy-boy can't be left alone with unattended toes because tennis balls are soooooo last year. Nizmo plays with a bowling ball.

Sometimes when he is carrying it and leans forward too far his back legs come off the ground. It is literally my favorite thing on Earth.

Another quirky characteristic about this boy is that he is constantly in pursuit of his tail. If J and I are watching TV, Niz will get bored, stand up, and proceed to chase his tail in circles until someone, ANYONE pays attention to him. Except if it's Baxter... then he just gets annoyed (sometimes). I mean, if a little thing the size of my head tried to help me chase my tail, I'd get a little grumpy too. 

In general, he literally is the happiest, cuddliest dog in the entire world. He loves to run around at ungodly speeds and almost knock you over! He also quite enjoys tearing apart every ball, toy, or item that fits in his mouth... 

And last but not least, he and I share a love for peanut butter. If I'm eating it, you can bet your entire life savings that he will be too. I just can't say no to those puppy eyes! The only rule is, I get to lick the spoonful of peanut butter first... not the other way around. He's okay with that.

So I'm pretty much the equivalent of a crazy cat lady (but obviously about dogs), so I made a quick cheesy video of Nizzy and some of the reasons I love him! Obviously I'll show this to him someday when he's old enough to read the captions -- until then, you can enjoy it!