Raising the most beautiful girls in the world…
Archive for December, 2008
My word for 2009.
Dec 31st
I have always loved New Year’s Eve. Of course, I love lists and I love planning and organizing. So, the New Year feels like an extensive of this. Starting something new, a clean slate, getting organized and making goals for the new calendar. Love it! I’ve always made New Year’s resolutions too, except for last year. Last year, I picked one word to focus on throughout the year. I first saw this idea at a blog that I follow, Ali Edwards. My word for 2008 was balance. This really worked for me last year. I got a great job that allows me to maintain the best family/work balance I could imagine. I managed to balance a lot of other areas of my life that were conflict. Overall, I think it was a good word for the year.
This year, I have been thinking about it a lot. 2009 will be marked with three little babes under the age of 4. There are some new job possibilities on the horizon. This means, undoubtedly…sleep deprivation, more wrinkles, struggles to lose the baby weight, struggling to strike new balances in our lives and relationships… and yet, above all else, I want to enjoy it all. I know it will fly by and soon I’ll be posting about 2010.
So, my word for this year is presence. I want to be present in my life this year. All of it. I am just going to give in to whatever comes our way, embrace it, love it, and be part of it. The wonderful sweet smell of a newborn nuzzled under your neck sound asleep, the grubby and sticky fingers of a one year old playing ring-around-the-rosey for the 90th time, the constant “why????” of a three year old… I was going to use the word serene for awhile. But, really to arrive at serene I think you have to be present first. You have to give in, accept, and be open to the beauty of whatever the situation is.
Life has been so sweet to us. Dave and I talk all the time about how much we love our lives, and how we are grateful every single day for how our lives have turned out so far. This year, I’m going to just be open to whatever new things come our way. I’m going to embrace them, face them head on, and jump right in. Fully present. Riding the wave. Can’t wait.
Happy 2009!
First harvest.
Dec 31st
Guess what we had for dinner last night? Yep, Swiss Chard from my garden! Yum. Even the girls ate it. Of course, we would starve if we depended on my fall garden. The only other things that have made it are brussel sprouts and broccoli. Everybody has to start somewhere, right?
I am a little tiny bit panicked…
Dec 31st
Somehow Olivia has decided to ramp it up a notch lately. Maybe it is the post-Christmas sugar let-down. Maybe it is the four teeth that just can’t seem to make it through the gums. Maybe its the persistent ear infection. Whatever it is, let’s just hope it is a phase. Because I honestly don’t know if I can keep up when I am this humongously pregnant. And, especially given the fact that in 6 weeks I am going to have another small little human who needs my constant attention (and ever present boob). She is climbing EVERYTHING. Turn around, and she has scaled the dining room table. Blink and she’s pulled a spider-man and is on the counter. Her second favorite hobby? Emptying drawers. Clothing drawers, kitchen drawers and cabinets, sock drawers, DVD drawers, it doesn’t really matter what’s inside, she prefers to have it on the floor. I have to admit, she is pretty dang cute as she shrieks and runs from the crime scene whenever you hurry to stop her.
I figured I had it under control until we went to the doctor’s office this week. As I am checking them in, the girls ran over to the play area that consists of a small table and chairs and some toys. I’m signing paperwork, 15 feet away from the toy area, when the receptionist says to me, “Uuummmm, I don’t think that is very safe.” She points over to the toy area and I see that Olivia has forgone the kids play area and has IMMEDIATELY scrambled up the waiting area chairs and is now standing on the corner table, hanging onto the table lamp with an enormous grin that says “Just try me, I can easily throw this to the ground.” And suddenly I have become THAT parent. You know, the one with the crazy ass monkey children that you look at with one eyebrow raised, thinking “if those were my children….”
And as I was pulling Olivia back down to planet earth, I realized that in several weeks I am going to have another newborn child to love and cuddle and discipline and instill with all of life’s lessons, you know, all those wonderful and soul consuming things. And, I had a moment of complete, utter, and total PANIC. I’m going to need my Jedi master bag-o-tricks for this one.
Farewell to an old friend.
Dec 24th
Bella has had a rough go of it lately. She had become cranky with the girls and was frequently acting out of sorts. We took her to the vet and did a full work up, but found nothing (we were convinced it was cancer). We treated her for joint stiffness and stomach ailments that the vet and we both felt were due to old age. However, late last night she took a turn WAY downhill.
Dave and I were watching TV and chatting when she came into the living room and acted like she was going to throw up. She has had a sensitive stomach, and we’ve put her on a restricted diet because of it, so we didn’t think much of it. But, after putting her outside and waiting a few minutes, we realized she was crying at the door. We let her inside and realized her stomach/belly was swollen to about 4-5 times its normal size. It was hard as a rock. Within ten minutes, she was frothing at the mouth and groaning/wailing. We madly scrambled to look up a 24 hr vet clinic, since it was already 10 pm. We called and they said to bring her in immediately. Dave drove her and said she wailed the entire way.
After quick x-rays it was determined that she had a full torsion or twist in her intestines which had pushed her stomach up and over to the side, blocking up her entire abdomen. She was already in labored breathing, and our options were very limited. Unfortunately, she did not make it.
I did not want her to end her life in a 24 hr emergency vet clinic right before Christmas, but I also know that she had a great 10 years with us. Dave and I got Bella as a little puppy the year we were married. She has lived with us in four states and been with us through graduate school, buying our first house, leaving the Air Force… She watched as we have grown our family from two to four (soon to be five).
For those of you who knew her, she was incorrigible to say the least. Barking, jumping, demanding, eating people food off the counter…all bad habits that we never broke. But, she was also loving and full of personality. And, except for the past few weeks, she was a great dog with our kids. I never worried for my safety when she was in the house with us. And, I always got a kick out of the fact that she thought of herself as human instead of dog. Sneaking time on the couch, wanting to be right in the mist of the action, never satisfied to be on the outside of whatever was going on. We will miss her.
Ava's school Christmas party.
Dec 21st
She was so excited for her Christmas party that she wanted to go to school an hour early. 
Snow in Houston?
Dec 10th
Well who would have guessed this would happen? Folks from around here say they don’t see snow much…maybe every 20 years or so (well, there was that magical Christmas Eve four years ago where it snowed just in time for Santa’s visit). Anyway, pretty cool eh? Of course this would happen while Ava is asleep…she’s been begging to see snow and we keep telling her there’s not much chance it will happen while we’re in Texas. Boy were we wrong. Problem is, I’m not sure waking her up to see it is going to work very well. Hopefully it’ll still be on the ground tomorrow morning!
