What Gets This 4 Month Old Revved Up?

Faith is a sucker for animals. She loves them, doing everything in her immobile power to get mobile and touch them. When she sees Maggie our beloved old golden (who is sadly not doing too well by the way), Faith goes crazy with her arms and legs shooting out in all directions. She loves to get close to Maggie and touch her fur, which gets Maggie all beside herself, and she can't help but give the kid giant full face and feet washes.

Yesterday, I was doing a little photo shoot for Faith's official four month mark and she suddenly spotted Maggie across the room...generating tons of squeals and efforts to move herself in the dog's direction. With a little help from Mom, she was scooted in for a closer look. Maggie is doing everything in her power not to sit up and do the spontaneous face wash.


This is torture for both Faith and Maggie...

Two Minute Break

I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a week! We are in transition mode this week.

Ken's back from Nationals. YIPPEE! The children's homeschooling ended this week. YIPEE! Which means major playroom clean up for next term (BOO), and planning for a lighter summer school term (LOVE PLANNING). In the back of my mind I am beginning to plan and prepare for our brave (or crazy) back to back vacations in the Outer Banks with Ken's family and then Orlando with my family. And the pool has opened up...so that means the kids interrupting Faith's nursing to sleep three times just to see if she's asleep yet so they can head to the pool. Plus, I'm in major, FlyLady mode, trying to tackle the zones in the house and maintain the zones. All the while, I keep looking at my once beautiful gardens that are now weed infested or overgrown, hoping I'll soon be able to dig in.

Maggie is thankfully doing better, although still hobbling along at times. Her new medications seem to have perked her up a bit, and I haven't seen any more shaking episodes. And now, I hear my little one waking up for her first night time feeding...I'm off again...so it has been this week!!!

Dealing With Fall Out

And the fall out continues! These teeth just keep coming out. The tooth fairy is doing double time. This picture is minutes after Grace yanked out the other front tooth (still a bit bloody). I would shown some other close ups, but all the blood was a bit too disturbing. She really worked on this one.

Grace continues to inquire about the Tooth Fairy. Her friends have clued her into another reality. She's explained that the Tooth Fairy couldn't possibly have all of that money to give away without holding a job. My rebuttal was that being the Tooth Fairy IS her job. It didn't go over. At this point, we have a light hearted game we play where I never admit the truth, and she smiles and says, "MOM!".

I did have a little fun this last time, and said that once you don't believe in the Tooth Fairy, she stops her delivery service. Grace thought about this for a moment, and decided, it was worth believing in the Tooth Fairy just a little longer.

I Hope They Have Mirrors Up There

Tonight, before our prayers, Grace asked me what a soul was. Ever tried explaining that to a six year old?? That's a tough one.

She knows about Christ coming back again. She knows where those who believe in Christ go. She knows Jesus will be waiting to take her home because she loves him. She even knows that one day she will receive a beautiful new body. But trying to understand how a soul leaves the body behind and that which we cannot hold in our hands is what will go to be with Jesus...that take some explaining.

Naturally, Grace thought it would be her brain that went up to heaven. But after some fumbling over explaining just what a soul is without using big adult words, she seemed to be satisfied with my answer. I always get excited reminding her of that amazing new body we will one day be given. And she always feeds on that excitement as her mind tries to imagine just what kind of new body she'll recieve.

Tonight, her eyes twinkled as she said, "I hope they have a mirror up there because I want to see what I look like with my new body." I don't know what is more funny, me assuming that there would be mirrors up there, or her hoping for one.

My Poor Eighty Pound Baby

It's in her brown eyes. I can see it. I've been steeling myself the last week for what looks to be coming soon. She's been my big baby golden girl for so long. Over nine years. Nine loyal years. In the last two weeks, Maggie's turned a corner that her Deramaxx medicine can't fix, and it is getting worse. Her hips are quitting on her.

While she's been stiff over the last year, this is different. It is too sudden. Too severe. Something is happening in her body, that no amount of arthritic medicine can fix. The last two days she has come down with a brief case of the shakes. The worst is just watching her try to stand up. And it saddens me, when I think of how much of a people dog she is. She's stopped trying to go up the stairs at the end of the day to turn in for the night in our bedroom. Now she sleeps alone. In the last month she's stopped even trying to climb on the couch with us for a movie night. I tried to help her up two weeks ago, and she growled as she tried her best to climb up. She never growls.

We just came back from the vet. She had the works done: grooming, summer shave, medicine for ear infections, vaccinations, etc. I got a call today saying that she needed to come in for a urine sample. Something maybe up with one of her kidneys. I'm not sure I conveyed to the vet well enough the sudden changes I've seen. Her concern was in the numbers, but I don't need lab samples to tell me what's up. My girl is telling me with her eyes.

This week, I feel like she has aged two more years overnight. I'm dreading the possibilities. When it is her time, I just want her to pass peacefully as she sleeps doggy dreams in the night. I can't even give her a walk anymore, which she longs for, without the consequences being too hard on her the next day. Now the only place she runs is in her dreams, as I watch her body twitch and her paws go.

But I watched her today. The old girl still finds joy in things where gravity works with her rather than against her. She can still wiggle around in the cool green grass on her back and do the silliest paw dance with her feet straight in the air as she uses the grass as her back scratcher and the clouds as her dance floor. And she still loves to loaf in the warm morning sun. But the minute she sees me head from the porch into the house she's up to follow me back inside.

Forever my loyal friend.

Smiles Finally Captured!

Faith's smiles have eluded the camera until now, but I've been dying to share with you all the happiness she exudes every day in our house. Here are just a few I was able to coax out of her. It's time to go get her first photo shoot, now that she's smiling upon prompting!

He Loves Me

Musical Play Zones

I don't have the brain cells this morning to blog anything deep. Ken and my sister-in-law just left with a packed truck for the national show. I've endured two nights in a row of placing stickers on hundreds of promotional folders and mug boxes until 1:00 am, and then off to feedings through the night. But it is over. The adults in my life are gone, and I'm in a house with two more dogs (love em') and three little children for the next five days.

I did just off load the camera and had to post a few updated pictures of my scrumptious little baby. It's funny how many set changes she goes through in a day. The bouncy seat, the lap, the bed, the pillow, the johnny jumper, then back in the lap, off to 5 minutes in the Bumbo (which she still isn't thrilled about yet)...

...the lap, the porch, the swing, the couch, the new play gym (just sprung for and absolutely love)...

...the floor, the cradle, another bed, back in the lap, up in the wrap, in the car seat, in the car buggy (we just shined up after 4 years in storage)...


...and it goes on and on.

But where does she want to be most? Standing in Mommy's lap, carrying a sing songy conversation about the places she's been in her day. Every other location is just a temporary holding ground of 15 minutes max before she's squawking to be back face to face with an adult.

She could really care less about the toys, and junk that surrounds her world. She wants people not objects. And she rewards you silly for listening to her attention requests. She's going to be my social butterfly of the family. She's good with people. Nobody scares her. Not even the man at church with the giant mustache. Everybody receives her dripping smiles. She holds a magic in her face I only wish I could have with people. It has taken me years to figure out the balance of relationships and I still feel awkward, but for her it is so simple...

...just smile. One no-strings-attached smile from Faith, and the stars courtsey before her, while every human being in a 10 yard radius gets sucked into orbit, waiting their turn to hold the brightest star in the room.Faith gumming her brown Indio in her happy place...
MOMMY'S LAP

Putting In My 5 Cents Worth

Yesterday toodling along in the car, I heard a report on the AM radio news that blew my mind. Something along the lines of:

"Due to the recent surge in the price of metals, the value of a single United States Nickel is now worth more than it's face value...the U.S. Federal Reserve is still minting Nickels even though it costs them 7% above and beyond the salable value, plus the cost to make them. Imagine a company that produced a product and sold it for $100. What if the cost of all the components that went into the product cost them $107, above and beyond the cost of manufacture?"

What in the world is this country doing losing money minting money??? Is that not totally ridiculous?

If you want to get the low down on the nickel that costs more to make than it is worth, visit this article.

Nature Detour To Eagle Nest Live Camera

Even though our nature study has been focusing on Rodents, this link to a Live cam over an Eagle's Nest was passed on to me, and I had to pay it forward.

I've checked in a few times over the last couple of days, and usually the Eagle is watching over what looks to be two eaglets in the nest. The kids and I have enjoyed in the past watching over and counting the days until Loon eggs hatched via live cam via The Wildlife Federation. This company, Infotec Business Systems will soon be featuring a Bear Live cam --- CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT!

By the way, we are just about to wrap up our reading on Rodents by finishing the last chapter in The Burgess Animal Book that covers Rodents. The children have really enjoyed getting to know the characters like Happy Jack Squirrel, Whitefoot the Woodmouse, and Trader the Rat. Trader has been the most fascinating. Did you know that there is a rodent out there who is kind enough to TRADE for whatever he takes. He's apparently very keen on shiny things. So, say for instance he takes a spoon that has been left out, he'll make a trade. You might find in its place, grass he's collected, or small stones. Isn't that crazy??? The kids love him.

Latest Quotes of Family Wisdom

Jack picking up a two piece swim suit of mine off the top of a pile of clothes headed off to charity. "Mom how come I never see you wear this suit? Was this suit for when you were 31?"

Jack running through the house, "Last one there is a rockin' egg!"

Ken watching as I pull freshly washed and dried dollar bills out of the pile of laundry in the dryer, "Now that's what I call money laundering!"

I've Been Quartered By Four Horses

Our scheduled summer beach trips are almost upon us, and Ken and I are doing a last ditch effort to get back into shape before we have to squeeze and wiggle our way back into swim suits.

So in order to get motivated for the occasion we took pictures. Yep. Of ourselves. Scantily clad up against a wall like the criminals of candy and fat gluttons that we are. Let me just announce that my mirror in my master bathroom has been LYING to me! I knew I had some work to do, but those pictures...oh my gosh...those pictures of me are HORRID. I've got fat in places I never dreamed of. The worst is the picture of my entire backside. I had no idea what everyone else in this world has been witnessing for the last who knows how many months. I never knew I was getting a good sized roll under the band of my bra!!! Not to mention a bunch of other scary places.

So, with those pictures fresh in my head, I took to the treadmill and did something I have never done. I pressed the "Burn Fat" mode. I usually just manually control my speed and elevation, but I decided that I needed a personal trainer to kick my tail for 30 minutes. I HAD NO IDEA. As the title says, I feel like I was hitched up to four horses and they took off at a full run in four different directions. Everything hurts. The wicked treadmill essentially had me run for two miles straight at a very fast pace with very little rest.

I'm supposed to visit my DVD friend Tammi Lee today to work on those abs and arms. I don't want to. After a full day of three kids. I just don't want to.

I need to go look at those pictures again before I burn them.

10 Years of Marriage...& Counting: The Date

Ken and I spent the next two evenings chatting on the phone trying to get rid of the absolute awkwardness that would be between us with just 10 minutes of info on each other. I found out very quickly that I really liked this guy. It was decided that we would have a dinner date at an Italian restaurant and then head off to a comedy club called "The Funny Bone".

On the evening of the "big day" I begged my Marine Corps Father to at least acknowledge the existance of this young man. I told him I thought this might really be someone special. Dad, was super hard on guys. Not that he gave them a rough time. Not at all. Quite the opposite. He didn't give them the time of day. So I beseeched my Father to do something more than a drive by peer from a distance down over the stair banister thingy. When the doorbell rang, it seemed like the entire family (minus my Dad) came running to greet the new kid.

Ken was dressed to the nines...my kind of nines at least. Again in a polo shirt and nice pressed shorts. I was taught frugality at an early age, so I had managed to scrounge up the tiniest pair of Goodwill jeans I owned, and a black sleeveless top. My younger brothers drooled over the cool Blazer waiting for us in the street. And thankfully, my Father did manage to work up some eye contact.

I was all too happy to be out of my family's sights and equally nervous to actually be finally on an actual date with this guy I didn't even dare to deserve. As we were pulling out of the housing development, Ken said something I'll never forget. It broke the ice for me. I still can't put my finger on what it was. "Are you nervous?", he said. There was something about stating and answering the obvious that put the whole scene at ease. The windows were rolled a bit down, and the wind was swirling in the car about as much as my stomach was flipping over. I stared at him with the silliest girly gaze of wonder.

I remember hearing him in the car. Hearing the air exhale as he breathed through his nose. Something anyone else could do and it would annoy me crazy, but with him, I remember feeling like it was an assurance that he was alive. The guy at the wheel, that looked like he stepped out of that catalog was real. (I still love to listen to him breathe.)

So we ended up going on an amazing date. I won't bore you with the minute details. I quickly learned that I was in the presence of a young man who really knew, KNEW, how to treat a young lady, thanks to two older sisters and an outstanding set of parents. Our conversation sailed happily wherever the winds of topics blew. When the date was over, we drove home. There was still an hour of daylight, so we took an evening stroll around the neighborhood. He learned that I wasn't afraid to pick up a frog, and I learned on our return back to the house that he had just ended a 3 year relationship with another young lady. **double gulp**

After what amounted to be a perfect ten for a date. I dodged the kiss (or so he says) and we hugged good night. And than he said something that would have me dumbfounded for the next week..."It's probably best that we just stay good friends."

WHAT!!!??????

After all of his pursuit? After all the good vibes? I get the "Let's just be friends" line????

I wasn't sore over it. Even as I was still feeling myself getting crazier over him by the minute. I even had this tiny little picture of us in a key chain we had gotten at the comedy club to obsess over while I was in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I knew he was too good to be true. Not him per se, but the situation.

I packed for Colorado that night, thinking that maybe we would be friends. Who knows. Despite that stupid line, I felt good about the whole thing. Maybe God was giving me a gift, after all of our talks together that summer. Maybe he thought I could use a night on the town and some innocent fun. A Cinderella moment. It was just nice to go out on a great date with a handsome young gentleman who could make me laugh so effortlessly.

So what if he didn't call me again? I'd go back to my life and think about him again. Just at a little less of a distance this time.

Release The Chickens!!!

...Because Faith has just turned 1/4 of a year old. She's really turning into a beautiful little girl. (Not that she wasn't already, but her personality is catching up with her cuteness). She's experimenting with her voice and every once in awhile she surprises herself with a little shriek of glee.


The last week has brought huge milestones including her ability to grasp and mouth a few of her toys. She's also found strong interest in the wide world of textiles. Faith will try with great effort to touch any type of clothing and study it intensely. The world in full color has brought on a whole new level of entertainment and distractions. Her highness misses nothing, and this makes it difficult to nurse when there is a swarm of children around the rocker. Faith continues to strive for a new family record for earliest walker - her feet are always in motion, and her favorite position is at a full stand. And those long sweet conversations during meal times with Mama are absolutely priceless folks!


Faith follows us with her eyes around the room and expresses her excitement as we approach her with a super duper happy feet dance. The children still love on her daily, and their hard work is returned with an abundances of smiles and coos. And at the end of the day, Daddy has that special something, when Mommy's bag of tricks either get boring or run out. Daddy can turn those frowns upside down, and Faith is at peace again in those big protective Papa arms.

Happy 1/4 Birthday Sweet Pea!
How precious you are to us.

Mommy & Me

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program of "Young & The Restless...The Christian Version", to acknowledge and celebrate a few milestones in motherhood. Today, Faith officially turns...drum roll please...1/4 Years Old. I always imagined that we'd have close moments, but I never imagined them with her snuggled up against the nape of my neck for a morning snooze.

These times are so special. I look forward to each day with Faith. In this month dedicated to all Mothers, I am so thankful for my other two blessings that certainly exceed their weight limit for a back carry and alas, rarely take naps at all. And while my mother didn't carry me on her back, I am forever grateful that she certainly did spiritually with her faith and prayers.