Baxter turned four on Friday. For our lazy guy, the very best gift is a good nap. And that’s exactly what Matt and I tried to give him. However, things didn’t work out exactly as planned. I’ll let Baxter tell the story of what happened.

Hey y’all. Birthday Boy Baxter, here.

I knew something special was up when I was invited onto the couch. You see, I don’t get to sit on the couch hardly at all. And to be honest with y’all, it’s kinda hard to get comfortable when I know I’m not really supposed to be there. It just feels wrong.

Plus, Matt and Julia are usually there with me, and they always want to give scratches and kisses and snuggles. I mean, I like them alright, but a dude’s gotta have his own space sometimes.

Well, Matt not only invited me onto the couch, but he and Julia let me have it all to myself. Y’all, it was luxurious.

So much better than my chair. I didn’t have to fold my feet up to my chin or hang my head off the edge.

I stretched myself right out on that there couch and had a little doze.

Now I knew for sure something special was up when I was invited onto the bed. I get invited onto the bed more regularly, but it’s usually just to help Matt pick out his socks (I can’t see into the dresser drawer when I’m standing on the floor). But this time, when I was invited onto the bed, Matt helped me lay down, and he even tucked a pillow under my head. I didn’t just doze. I had a full on sleep! Talk about a birthday present!

I was an hour or so into my dreams when it happened. All of a sudden the pillows jumped me!

You see them in that picture up there how they’re all just sitting there on the bed? They look all proper and stuffy, don’t they? Well, don’t let them fool you. Pillows have a twisted sense of humour. They thought it was a great birthday trick to jump on an unsuspecting dude while he was sleeping.

I bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed. By the time Julia came to the bedroom, the pillows and I had all collapsed from exhaustion.

As soon as Julia saw us sprawled all over the bed, she knew exactly what had happened (she knows how weird pillows are). She gave me lots of pats and told me how brave I was for battling the pillows. She told the pillows they had to leave me alone because it was my birthday. We managed to go back to sleep, but I slept with my eyes open, just to be safe.

Aside from Julia: He actually does sleep with his eyes open. It’s creepy.

The rest of my birthday was more naps, lots of scratches, some good walks, a phone call from my Uncle Greg, a visit from Julia’s Dad (who shared his peanut butter sandwich), some chicken, sweet potatoes and cheese. And no more pillows. All good stuff.

Happy birthday, dude.