7-23-09:  The pups are now 1 week old.  Several are trying very hard to get their little legs underneath them.  They look like drunken sailors as they try to figure out how to stand and walk.

Their eyes and ears should be opening in a few days.  They are wiggle worms and trying to take these "First Mug Shots" was a challenge. 

Thank goodness Erin came home (to get her puppy fix) and helped me out with getting new face shots.  The first ones I took were not very good.  Try holding a squirming puppy with one hand and snapping a photo with the other!  

They handled their first nail trim very well.  Good thing, because it will be time to do it again soon.  Trimming those little nails is like threading a needle. 

Tess is getting spoiled with nutritious additions to her meals to help her milk production.  The pups are now all over 1 pound, with a couple of porkers weighing in at 2 lbs.  Even the little guys are catching up.

Puppy Weight at 1 Week: (lbs/ozs)

Pup #1 Male - 1/10 1/2
Pup #2 Female - 1/6
Pup #3 Female - 1/8 1/2
Pup #4 Male - 1/12 1/2
Pup #5 Female - 1/12 1/2
Pup #6 Male - 1/5 1/2
Pup #7 Male - 2/0
Pup #8 Male - 1/8
Pup #9 Male - 2/0

They are noisy little things.  From sweet mewing sounds to screaming their heads off.  At first, we though Tess was squashing them.  Not so.  She's a good mommy and scoots them out of the way before she lies down.  They scream because they are yanked that there's no "spicket" available.  It's hilarious.

Tess is leaving the whelping box now. The pups are nursing hard and then napping.  Tess likes to come out in the living room and visit with us, Gus and Alli.  As soon as she hears one of her babies, she's back in the nursery checking on them.

Gus and Alli have been very good about giving Tess her distance while she's in the nursery with the pups.  She did allow them to come in the room when I was with her.  She even let Gus lick one of the puppies...then he groomed Tess! We've always said that Gus should have been a female.  He's always groomed his girls.

Erin is only 1 hour away so she will be making regular trips home to spoil the puppies (you really can't spoil them when they are this little).  We also have additional puppy socializing helpers lined up.  Our neighbor's daughter and her friend can hardly wait until the pups are old enough to play with and Momma Tess is ready for a break!

Ever consider what they must think of us?

I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow.

They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!

~Anne Tyler