at the end of may, our beloved furry family member, einstein, crossed the rainbow bridge to doggy heaven. 

one of my very favorite pictures of him, when he was still a youngin’ + romped in the yard

einstein was an eleven-year-old shih tzu, who was loved, poked, fed, spoiled + prodded at by all of us. he loved with his whole heart; so much so, that it was his heart that gave out on our sweet boy.

he was our first baby. the one who taught us how to be responsible for another being. the one who i would literally carry like a baby in those early years of marriage when i had baby fever, and mr. re-nest knew way better than i did when the right time was for us to grow our family. (that dude is always right!) he’s the one we stressed about when little mr. re-nest #1 was on the way…how he would react, did he know there was a baby coming, would he be aggressive? he’s the one who would snuggle under the covers in our bed + sleep there the whole night. he slept all day in our closet + he consistently smelled like doritos.

the night we brought him home. this was our “doggy announcement” to family. 🙂

so not thrilled with the hot dog costume!

in need of a groom, but hanging in one of his favorite spots. basking in the sunshine.

i decided to write because not only was he an amazing dog, but because this weekend, i started working through some of his stuff…the toys, his bed, his clothes (yes, he had clothes…when he would get super-hyper, putting him in a sweater or sweatshirt was like kryptonite…no joke.) it was so hard. so much harder than i ever imagined. and, along with it, i was able to add a little something in the re-nest house that helps us honor him + remember him.

another one of my fave pics…taken by the great kelly safarik, who is probably one of the biggest animal lovers i know. she was doing my pregnancy photos + she surprised me with taking these of einstein. it’s always been in our house + now, we have his special puppy paw print with it.

losing a pet is so unbelievably hard. and, if you have ever experienced it, my heart is with you + breaks with yours. thank you for letting me share our story + journey with our sweet boy. we will never, ever forget you, sweet einstein. we love you to the moon + back.