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Monday, December 10

Breakfast!


Reid has mastered his "Cheese!" face. :D


He loves rice cakes and peanut butter... or nutella, or apple butter, or jam, or whatever. He eats anything I put in front of him. So easy!!


Deklan asked me if he could have a "toffee", and I couldn't think of a good enough reason to say no. So, he got a little mug with a teeny bit of coffee. I love his "Mmmm java" face. :D


Ham level: Master


Deklan, with his lineup of "robot trucks" (otherwise known as Transformers...). He likes to pretend that the police car is a 'bad guy', just like in the movies. :)


Thursday, December 6

Puppy Pictures!

Just in case you forgot how adorable puppies are... ;)






I've gotten a few more phone calls about them today, so with any luck a few more puppies will be headed to their new homes soon!

They're really getting really good at holding their business until I let them outside. It's been quite a while since they've had an accident on my floor when I let them out of their kennel. It should be fairly easy for their new people to house train them, at least, that's the hope. Otherwise the work I've been putting in to them will be for nothing!

I want to get a good picture of each individual puppy to put up on kijiji and on here, but not all of them will sit still long enough! These pictures are only two different puppies, hehehehe.

Bruin has lost his manly bits, as of yesterday... so no more puppies for us! It's been a fun experience, but I'll be happy when everything gets back to normal around here. :)

Wednesday, November 28

Snow falls on fuzzy dogs


I built a wall of snow around my deck today.

 It was a lot of work, and my arms are tired. However, my arms are not nearly as tired as my patience was, for my patience was being exercised to it's very limit with the task of gently coaxing curious, disobedient, and mischievous puppies out from the underbelly of the deck every day, day after day.

Now, when I let the puppies outside, they have no dark and muddy place to explore. Only snow and sunlight to play in! Take that, puppies!

My next task is to work on their recall. I call them "Puppies! Puuupppies!" and they look at me with a "Whaaat?" expression, and then sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. I think bribing them with treats will help.  

I'm also working on house-training them, today is the first day that they have not had a spot to poop or pee in the house! We had wood shavings in their box before, but now they are in a big plastic dog crate, with a comfy blanket for bedding. So far, they've only pooped and peed outside today. I'm hoping to keep this streak going! :) 

I'm hoping to get some more pictures of the puppies outside tomorrow.. I was too busy shovelling to get any pictures taken today!

Thursday, November 15

Outside Fun!

Today was a spectacularly warm and beautiful day. It was so inviting, I couldn't stay inside!

I decided to take the puppies outside to run and play, since it's been so cold and windy here lately that taking them outside would have been bad for their health.

The chores still needed to be done, so I pulled out Reid's playpen and put the puppies in it to keep them contained while I was busy in the barn.



This is MoonPie. He's new. He showed up last week while we were filling in the trench in our backyard, the one I never wrote about on here so I don't know why I'm referring to it, but at any rate... I was shovelling dirt next to my deck, and a kitten peeked out at me upside down from the underside of the deck. He said "Mraow?" and I said "Here, Kitty kitty kitty!" and he came right to me. Within minutes, Deklan was carrying him around, and the kitten just purred and purred and purred. Deklan said "This is MY kitty!" and Tyler just sighed. We have a shed kitty, now. :D


This puppy is one of the ones I really, really like... he's got such a lovely, sweet personality. I think he'll end up being mostly brown instead of black.


The cat was unimpressed by the attention the puppies gave to him.


Deklan tried to give the puppies a ride on his wagon, but they kept on jumping out. They were brave little stinkers! It was a pretty big jump! He'd stop and try to put them back in, and any puppies left in the wagon would take advantage of the situation and jump out. It made me laugh. :D


She's so cute and fuzzy!


MoonPie is channelling his inner mountain lion. He kept on stalking the goats, it was hilarious! He thought they looked tasty. They are plump, and most probably juicy, because they've been packing on weight for winter.... but still, goat?! Surely there are more delicious things for you to stalk, MoonPie.




...Like a juicy Baby! But, aww... Babies are so cuddly. Purrrr. Purrrrrrr.



Soooooon....


Mwa ha ha haaaaa!


Wednesday, November 7

The Piglet Trio

I've been taking a Literature class with some other members of my family, and at this week's lesson our assignment was to rewrite a classic tale into a play. The catch was, we could not use any letter S's in what we wrote!

Linda, Critter, Quinlan and I were on a team, and our tale to re-write was The Three Little Pigs. 

Working together, we tweaked the story. I rather like what we came up with! Here it is, for your enjoyment!
 
The Piglet Trio

Once Upon a Time, 
the Piglet Trio, 
with a wedge between them, 
decided to build a different dwelling for each.

Pig One: I will make my home out of hay.

Down the road... 

Pig Two: I will make my home out of wood.

Up the hill...

Pig Three (the Clever Pig): I will dig my home out of the face of the Mountain!

Time rolled by, and the Piglet Trio lived contentedly, although alone.

One day, a hungry Wolf happened upon the hay dwelling. With terrible growling, he proclaimed

Wolf: Little pig, Little pig, let me come in!

Pig One: Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!

Wolf: Then I'll huff, & puff, & blow your home down!

HE HUFFED, and he PUFFED, and BLEW THE HOME DOWN!

Pig One: AHHHHHHHH!!!!

and he ran down the road, to the home made of wood. 

Pig Two let him in, for the wolf followed right behind.

The Wolf gave a great knock on the door. He growled

Wolf: Little duo, little duo, let me come in!

Pig One: Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!

Pig Two: Mine either!

Wolf: Then I'll huff, & I'll puff, and BLOW your home DOWN!

And he DID.

Pig Two: AHHHHH!!!!

Pig One: AHHHHHH!!!!

And they ran up the hill, to the home carved into the face of the mountain, made of Rock.

Pig Three (the Clever Pig) let the other two in, then with a triumphant laugh he let free a volcanic eruption to obliterate the wolf!

Wolf: Aaaaaiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeblerglegargle....

Pig Three: AHH HA HA HAAAAAA!!!

Then he became King, and ruled all the land from the Mountaintop Lair.


Thursday, November 1

Crazy Dog Lady


That's what they'll call me.


 Because when they come to my door,



 11 dogs will come running.



9 of them will be big, black, fluffy things, one will be a slightly smaller brown thing, and then one will be an almost unnoticeable teeny tiny black, brown & silver thing with big blue eyes.


I warned Tyler.... I told him that when I was little, our family dog Tosha had three litters of puppies (until one day she took a fun car ride to the vet's and came home with less parts than she went in with!). At that time, I was a kid, I was powerless to actually keep the puppies I fell in love with. Now, I'm an adult. I can do whatever the heck I want! If I want 11 dogs, I'll have 11 dogs! HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Dogs in the Van


^I really identify with the woman in the van. 

On another, somewhat related note, my boys are adorable. Deklan loves to play "mommy doggy" whenever Brady is out of the puppy pen. He lays down next to the puppies, and pulls up his shirt so he can "Nurse them, Mommy." Okay, Buddy! Whatever you say! :D

I usually have a baby gate across the door of the puppy pen (to keep the puppies in, and to keep the baby out..), and Reid loves to stand at it and watch the puppies playing. He said "Puppy" last week, Tyler heard him say it.. I didn't. :( I did hear him say "Kitty" at Granny's house this week, though! He's getting so big. He's almost ONE! Ack! 

Well, it's rather late, and ALL my babies are sleeping. My relatively hairless babies, AND my hairy babies. They whine in their sleep. It's super adorable. The point is, Goodnight! ;)

Monday, October 15

A glimpse into my everyday




This is me, checking my email.

It's like they have a sixth sense... they can be anywhere in the house, occupied with books or toys or a movie.. the second I sit down with a coffee to check my email, after finishing the morning chores, they appear.

"I sit you, Mommy." says my big boy.

"Waaaaaaarrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" says my cuddlebug. (Loosely translated, that means "Pick me up now!!!!" in Baby-speak.)

So I sigh, and smile, and find room on my lap for two little bums. Then I check my email, and play a quick game of Angry Birds, with my little cheerleader yelling "Get the piggies! The bad piggies!!"

Someday they will be too big to cuddle with Mommy. I'm going to get as many cuddles as I can before that happens. :)

Tuesday, October 9

Puppy Pictures!




 I'll be adding more pictures as the puppies get bigger. Aren't they cute?? Most of them are black, but some of them are brownish. I'm excited to see how they change as they get older! :)

A birth story! Part Three

Continued from Part Two, found here

"They have to give her a c-section."

Ty didn't even pause when the Vet told him. He said "I'm not losing her." He knew that c-sections are expensive, but he wasn't going to let Brady die. If we had said no, and taken Brady home to take her chances, she wouldn't have been able to give birth to the stuck puppy, and she would have likely gotten sepsis and died. For us, it was a no-brainer.

We debated on what to do, since we had both the kids with us. Ty had to work in the morning, so I said that he should just go home with the kids, and I would stay with Brady. Ty said that he wouldn't sleep anyways. I said I didn't want to wait out in the car with the kids the whole time, so we decided to drive home and see if Ty's Mom would take the boys overnight for us. The Vet had to wait for her assistant to arrive before she could get started, anyway, so we had a bit of time.

We were driving home, and we happened to take the route that leads by my sister's house. The lights were on! It was after one in the morning. I said "Maybe Adeena will take Deklan, and Reid can just stay with us. I'll go in with Brady and you can try to sleep in the car." Ty agreed, so we pulled in, and I ran up to her door and knocked. I said "It's just me! I'm not a stalker!" ;)

I explained the situation, and she graciously said that Deklan could stay the night. I ran back to the car, and brought Deklan in. He was upset because of the stressful situation with Brady (who he loves), and was not impressed to be left behind, even at his beloved Nah's house. Adeena tells me he eventually settled down, I hope so! ;)

I drove back to town, because Ty was falling asleep. I'm a much better driver while sleepy than he is, I don't fall asleep while driving. I just don't.

Reid and Ty slept in the car while I went inside to be with Brady.

The vet tech had arrived by then. They had Brady on a steel table, and were doing all sorts of medically necessary things, like giving her an I.V. and shaving the hair off of her belly. Brady was frightened, but true to her nature she was calm and gentle. I doubt it even crossed her mind to bite or growl. She was such a good girl! I was really, really proud of her.

The Vet was so kind, and so good with Brady. She told me that they would need an extra pair of hands with the puppies. I said "Sure, no problem."

I watched as they gave Brady the drug to make her fall asleep, and it didn't take very long for her to be out. They took her into the operating room, and laid her on her back. They intubated her, and swabbed her belly with disinfectant. It was hard to see her laying so still, and in such a weird position.

Ty came in, having been awakened by a protesting Baby Reid. By that time, Brady was covered with the sterile operating drapes, and only her head was visible. Ty couldn't bear to see her like that, so he stayed back from the door. I was able to compartmentalize what I was seeing, although I found it distressing that my sweet doggy was laying on the operating table, I also was fascinated by the procedure.

I watched the incision, watched the Vet gently draw Brady's uterus out of her body, and watched as she carefully cut an opening and pulled the first puppy out.

She broke open the sac, and pulled the puppy out. She handed the pup to the vet tech, who wrapped it in a towel, and handed it to me. There was a table set up outside of the operating room, and I took the puppy there and started working on it. The towel was dry and scratchy, and I rubbed it on the puppy's sides and back, cleaning out it's mouth with my finger. The vet tech brought me a suctioner to clean the mucous out of the puppy's throat, and after a tense 30 seconds, the puppy drew it's first breath! Success!

After that, three more puppies were brought out, each needing a different degree of stimulation to get them breathing. One was being exceptionally difficult, and the vet tech couldn't get him going. The Vet called her back into the operating room to assist with something, so she handed him to me, and I was able to get him breathing after a few scary moments.

The vet tech brought out poor puppy # 6. It was a sad moment. He was frozen in a horse-shoe shape, and it was obvious he had been dead for quite some time. The vet tech covered him in a towel, and took him away shortly after.

That was it! No more puppies. The four c-section babies were all squalling and crying on the table, crawling around, looking for their Momma. I put them in the basket with the 5 that we had brought from home. They had been kept under a nice warm electric blanket for the duration of the surgery, and there was a lot less room in the basket when we added the hatched babies to it! ;)

I washed my hands, and then Tyler and I went to the waiting room while they finished sewing Brady up.

It was a long wait, and eventually we went back to the other room, where they had Brady laying on her side, her puppies lined up on her teats. Eight of them were nursing happily, one of them was chilled and uninterested in nursing. It was little # 5. We gave him a bit of milk via tube feeding, but it didn't help. He lasted through the night, but died the next morning. :(

The other 8 were fine, healthy puppies! Brady slowly came out of the anasthetic, and she looked at all the puppies with a "Huh??" expression. When she went to sleep, she only had 5 puppies. Now she had 9, and they were all already dry and cleaned.

Once she stood up and walked, we were able to take her home. I held the puppies in the basket, and Ty sat in the back so he could have his hand on Brady to help her calm down, because she was still disoriented and nervous.

We got home, Ty let her walk around outside so she could go pee, while I went in and cleaned out her whelping bed and laid a fresh towel and clean papers down for her. I put the puppies under the heat lamp, and Ty brought Brady in and we got her settled down in her bed.

I sent Ty to bed (this was at 4:45 a.m., he had to wake up at 6:00) and I stayed up to watch Brady. Coffee was my nearest and dearest friend that morning, let me tell you.

Brady finally settled down, and sniffed each of her puppies. I was worried that she would reject the ones born by c-section, but no, she sniffed them and licked them and accepted them just fine. :)

It was a long, hard day, but seeing all those puppies lined up against Brady's belly was a lovely sight. I was so glad we made the decision to take her in to the Vet's. It would have been devastating if we had waited until morning, only to have to take her in and have a c-section anyway, and likely 4 more dead puppies.

Deklan absolutely *loves* the puppies. He adores them. And Brady is so good with him, Deklan sits in with her and watches the puppies, and she doesn't mind at all. She's never growled or snarled or acted at all aggressive, which can happen with some dogs. She's such a good girl. :)

I'll upload some pictures of the puppies later! :)

A birth story! Part Two :)

Part one can be found here. :)

Brady couldn't get comfortable. She wouldn't lay on her side, and when I would gently encourage her to lay down, she would pop right back up. Her breathing was heavy, which is expected during labour, but the quality of it was worrisome to me.

After the first puppy came, over the next four hours, three more puppies were born. Each one was in distress, and I had to stimulate them to get them to breathe. As more puppies started nursing, I expected Brady to get more comfortable, and start to lay on her side more. She wouldn't, and I got more concerned.

At 8 o'clock, she had stalled completely. The four puppies were doing well, but her belly was still huge. I knew there were more puppies in there.

At 9, I sent Ty to his Mom's to see if she had any oxytocin. I thought a little jolt would help rev her labour back up.

I decided to check and see if I could feel a puppy in the birth canal, to maybe help her out. Sure enough, there was a pup there, that she just wasn't pushing out on her own. I pulled him out, and he wasn't breathing, and didn't have a heartbeat.

I worked on him, and managed to resuscitate him, but I believe he was in a coma. He was breathing, but he wouldn't wake up.

An hour after I assisted Brady with #5, I checked her again. # 6 was there, but his chin was tucked down against his chest, and his shoulders were stuck against Brady's pelvis.

We tried to turn his head, but he was stuck fast. For those of you thinking "What the heck did they think they were doing!" Tyler and I both have years of experience working as pig farrowers, so we weren't out of our league attempting to help our dog with a difficult birth. This was something we couldn't help her with, though.

At 11:00 p.m., we called the emergency number at our local Vet's office. At midnight, we got a call back, and they told us to come in.

We were hopeful that the vet could assist Brady in delivering # 6, so we all went in together. Tyler and I had both been up since 5:00 a.m. the previous morning, and I had only had 5 hours sleep before Ty woke me up. We went together so that we could keep each other awake. Deklan & Reid slept in their carseats, and Ty took Brady into the clinic to be assessed.

When Ty came walking out, I knew what he was going to say. I could tell by the look on his face. "They have to give her a c-section."

To Be Continued in Part Three.

A birth story! Part One

Brady's birth story, to be precise!

For any newbies out there, Brady is our 4 year old chocolate lab. Tyler and I got her as a puppy when we were newlyweds. Before we were "we", Tyler and I bonded over our shared love of dogs, and specifically, chocolate labs. Our first Christmas together, we gave each other chocolate lab nick-nacks, coincidentally. After we were married, we had no real plans to get a dog right away, but I just happened to see an ad for chocolate lab puppies in the paper one day. I told Ty, and we went "just to see" the puppies. Ha! "Just to see." Riiiight. ;)

Of course, we fell in love with the teeny tiny little girl, one of two chocolate females in the litter. She was so sweet, and gentle.. she didn't try to bite our fingers like the other female did, she just looked at us with her big ol' puppy eyes, and we were done.

She was the cuddliest, sweetest, most lovable puppy in the world. She grew up to be the sweetest, gentlest, most laid back dog ever (except when it comes to food, she's crazy about her food!)

From the very first, Tyler talked about having a litter of pups from her one day. I wasn't that keen, but I wasn't so against it that I put my foot down. I figured, if Ty really wanted it, so be it.

Fast forward four years, and we adopted a big, beautiful Bouvier male. Who just happened to be intact.

Sigh.

Brady got pregnant, and we marked the date on the calendar, and life went on.

We built her a whelping bed as her due date crept close, and watched for signs of labour.

On Saturday, September 29th, her water broke. I had made plans to go to visit my brother and sister-in-law that day, and I reluctantly cancelled. I couldn't leave Brady alone after her water broke, in case she needed help.

All day long I watched her, but nothing happened. No puppies.

All day Sunday, we watched her. Nothing happened.

Monday morning, Ty was sure she was in labour. She was panting and nesting, she couldn't settled, she was definitely uncomfortable... he woke me up at 5:30 a.m, before he left for work. He was sure she would have puppies by 9:00.

I got up, I watched her... nothing. Nada.

All day long, I kept checking on her. I let her outside to walk around a few times, and she didn't seem to be in any distress. She moseyed around, laid in the sun on the deck for a while... she was fine, I thought.

Around 3:00 I let her back in the house, and she wanted to go to her whelping box.

At 4:00 I checked on her, and she was laying down. She seemed a bit uncomfortable, but fine, I thought.

Reid wanted to nurse, so I took him into the other room to try to get him to nap. Ty got home at 4:10, and he went to the kitchen to put his lunch pail down. I heard "Oh, Sarah, she's started! There's a puppy! It's face is covered!"

I thought "Oh crap!" and rushed to the kitchen. Sure enough, the pup was still covered in it's little pouch. I ripped it open and grabbed the puppy up. He wasn't breathing, so I rubbed his back and cleaned out his mouth with my finger, and blew air across his face. I held him upside down and scratched his back and belly, saying "C'mon, puppy! Breathe, puppy! Let's go!"

Finally, he took a breath. Relief! I held him up to Brady's nose, and said "Here, Brady! Here's your baby!" She looked at him with big eyes, sniffing him all over. Then she started licking him, which of course is the best thing to keep a pup stimulated. I worked on him a bit more, too, to keep him breathing. A few minutes later, he started whining. When he let out little cries, I knew he was resuscitated enough that he was going to be fine.

I put him against Brady's stomach, and he started nursing. She looked at me quizzically, but didn't push the baby away. She was still sitting up on her stomach, and I couldn't get her to lie down. That was my first clue that something was wrong.

Continued in Part Two

Tuesday, October 2

Happy Birthday Jared!

You share your birthday with four of Brady's puppies! :)

The rest of them were born October 1st. She delivered 5 of them herself, then unfortunately # 6 got stuck. We ended up taking her to the vet clinic, and the rest of her babies were born via c-section.

It has been a very, very long day. I have had 5 hours sleep since September 30th. Poor Brady was in labour for 25 hours, that's longer than both my labours combined.

She's doing okay, she pulled through the surgery, and hopefully she'll show a bit more interest in her puppies soon. I'll be up for a while longer until I make sure she's okay, then I'll probably go to bed once Ty gets up to go to work. He's just laying down on the couch in the living room, hoping to get an hour's rest. My poor man.

Coffee time!!

Have a great day, Jarity Jay! :)


Wednesday, September 26

A Beautiful Day

I don't like to think about the fact that Winter is swiftly approaching (although, apparently I like to passive-aggressively remind the rest of you that Winter is swiftly approaching... Christmas is only three months away, remember?), so today was simply wonderful.

It was so sunny and warm! Deklan, Reid & I went for a long walk, just to soak up some sunshine and to get some fresh air.



Just look at that sky!! That's straight out of the camera, no touch-ups or colour enhancements.


Reid loves to go for walks. He's an observer, he likes to sit and watch things. He talked to himself happily the entire time. :)


This is just to remind everyone that Deklan has the most gorgeous eyelashes, ever. This is his "I miss Daddy" face. He starts to get pouty around 3:00 PM if Ty isn't home yet. 


 Ah! His eyes! So gorgeous.


Look at that smile!! He melts me. He is so sweet. :)

That's all for today...

Tuesday, September 25

Riding the Tractor


Ty's Dad has been away a lot this Summer for work, up to three weeks at a time. The last time he was away, Tyler borrowed his Dad's tractor, to help get firewood put into the basement. It goes a lot quicker using a loader bucket than it does using a wheelbarrow!

Deklan absolutely loves Grandpa's tractor. Having it parked in our backyard for two weeks was like heaven! Every morning he would look out his toy room window to make sure "Poppa's tractor" was still there.

Deklan had to tell me about it every day that it was there, too.
"Mommy! Mommy! Poppa's tractor!"
"Yes, baby, I see Grandpa's tractor. It's very nice, isn't it."
"Rah!"
"What colour is Grandpa's tractor?"
"Red tractor!" :)

Last night, Tyler went to take his Dad's tractor back, and Deklan of course had to go, too.





Deklan has taken a real dislike to my camera lately, but he was so happy to be driving the tractor with Daddy that he actually smiled for the picture! It makes me happy to see his smile.

Monday, September 24

An Unexpected Rekindling



I was done with blogging.

No really, I was. I hadn't thought about my blog in a very long time.

Then, yesterday, or maybe the day before, my Mom asked me when I was going to write a new blog.  I said "Never!" because I'm a brat like that.

Despite my brattiness, our conversation did get me thinking about my blog, again. Today I spent over an hour just scrolling through my old posts, smiling and re-living the days and the moments I had written about.

So, I decided to take it up again. I always enjoyed blogging, and I really do love to go back and read the posts from years ago, especially the ones about Deklan (who is now three years old, for those of you who used to read my blog faithfully in the oldendays!)
I would really regret it if I didn't chronicle Reid's early years, I think.

Deklan is three, and Reid, my baby, is 10 months. Yikes! Reading that made my heart jump. Just two more months and he'll be a year old! Yowza.

He's such a bright, happy, sunny baby. He lights up my life and brings me so much joy, every day.

Deklan is as fiery as ever! He's opinionated, imaginative, sweet & sensitive. He still loves trucks and tractors... well, anything with wheels and a motor, really.

They are quickly becoming the best of friends. Reid adores Deklan, and is content to sit and watch him play. Deklan likes to include Reid in his playtime, and even gives him toys so he can be part of the action. Reid doesn't do much more than chew on the toy, but that's apparently good enough for Deklan! ;)

I have much more to tell you. I'm actually excited to keep going!

Hello, Blogverse, my old friend.

(Especially for Adeena, here are some pictures!! :D)





Friday, August 10

It's very late, so late that it can also be described as early. 12:36 a.m.

Yikes.

This is what happens, though, when you have a nearly 9 month old baby boy who is going through an intense growth spurt.... he nurses every hour, on the hour, or more, which makes it exceedingly difficult to get anything done around the house. Therefore, any tasks that need attention must be paid attention to later on in the day, once the hungy little man is sleeping.

I finally got Reid to sleep at about 11:00 p.m. Since then, I've done the dishes, cleaned my bathroom, had a shower, and of course sat at my desk to shut the laptop down and wound up playing two games of chess against the computer. Then somehow, the internet got opened, and I needed to play another round in my online Scrabble game. And then I ended up on youtube (somehow! I don't even know!) and then finally, I realized that I hadn't even glanced at my blog in months. Months! So I knew, it was time.

Time to write a blog.

So here it is.

Goodnight. Or, I should say, Good Morning.


Monday, April 16

Baby Reid


Reid is almost 5 months old... and he's a big smiley guy! :)

Friday, March 16

My Boys

Reid was laying on the floor, and Deklan wanted to lay down beside him and get a picture taken. "Cheeeeeese!"

Reid is almost 4 months old! Ack! Where does time go??

I just noticed that there is a dog hair on Reid's chin in this picture.... gross! Oh well, we have dogs.... dog hair flies. :P

Wednesday, February 8

It was chilly outside,



but that didn't stop us from getting out there and enjoying the sunshine!

We did have to bundle up, and it would have been better if there wasn't such a cold, piercing wind, but hey... can't have everything. Especially when it's February and there's not 6 foot snowdrifts everywhere. (Still can't believe the weather...)







Deklan kept busy pointing stuff out to me (because obviously I hadn't noticed that the farm next to us has a BARN, Mommy, a BARN!) while I held Reid and attempted to shield him from the worst of the cold wind.



He had trouble catching his breath at times, and so our foray into the outdoors did not last long, but it was still nice.



Spring can't come fast enough for me!!! I can't wait to get out there and dig in the dirt and plant a garden, clean out all the old musty leaves from the flowerbeds, pull out the overgrown plants and start construction on our little shed. We have to take the roof off of it, so since we have to do that anyway we're going to extend it, making part of it into a shop for Ty, and the rest is going to be a barn. Yay for animals! :)

I'm glad February is a short month... come on, March! Then April! Then May! Hurray!

Thursday, February 2

*Sigh*



They're not very clear pictures, but they get the point across I think.... my baby is so TUTE!

Today I had my last midwife appointment with Susan. She was an amazing, compassionate, capable, wonderful midwife and I would have her be my midwife again in a heartbeat. It made me sad to say goodbye.

Reid was a little older than usual to be still under the care of a midwife, but when he was 6 weeks old she was gone to Haiti! So his last appointment got pushed back.

He is a chunky, chunky monkey, weighing in at 15 lbs 10 ounces, and he is 25 inches long (maybe more, I can't remember whether she said 25 or 25 & 1/4). He's doing so well, and I am so thankful to have such a beautiful, healthy baby boy.