One of those days

So today is a blogging kind of a day. It's been a long one. Hannah's sick with an ear infection and now I've got her cold. This is after 2 rounds of antibiotics for me for unrelated sicknesses. Lovely, huh?

My kids are really good kids. I mean, I really can't complain because they're usually so sweet and mostly obedient. But today Olivia has been really giving me a hard time. Maybe it's because I'm sick. Maybe it's because Hannah's sick and Olivia wants more attention. But boy has she been a handful.

And then there's Max. Yes, Max. Our sweet little puppy that we wanted more than anything in the world. Do we love him? Of course! Well, at least the girls and I love him. Mark says Max makes him a bad person. The housetraining issues I expected. Chewing on furniture, I expected. Jumping up on us, I expected. But there are 2 things I never thought about. Him rolling in nasty smelly stuff and him getting out of our yard and running far far away.

Last week Max was neutered. He's been wearing this collar for the past week and I wanted to get a pic of him before we took it off. He really only fought it for the first few minutes then he learned to live with it.



We have a fenced in yard with a gate on the driveway. It's one of those automatic iron gates and we only recently got it fixed so that it would close all the way and with Max's cone collar, he couldn't get out of the yard. Well, of course yesterday there was a big thunderstorm with tons of wind and it broke our gate! Who would have thought?! So now it won't close all the way again but I didn't realize that until this morning when I let Max out. He went to the lake behind our house and found the nest where a neighborhood duck lays her eggs every year. And he ATE her eggs! Well, he ate at least one of them. He brought it to me like it was a present. Poor ducks!!! And of course he rolled around in it too so now he smells like rotten egg. Never mind that 2 weeks ago he rolled around in chicken parts that someone left by the lake for some insane reason. So now, literally the ducks are mad at us! They've been pacing behind our fence and quacking real loud. That's unusual for them. So I'm kinda scared to go check her nest to see about her other eggs since she's so ticked.

Now that should have been enough doggy drama for the day but this afternoon I went outside and made sure the gate was shut before letting Max out again. A few minutes later I got a phone call from our vet's office saying someone had found Max and called their number. I was like "WHAT! I just let him outside like 5 minutes ago!" so she gave me the number of the man who found him. I called and he was a police officer that lives around the corner from us. He was so nice and I told him I'd be right over to get Max as soon as I could get the girls in the van. Then he offered to bring him home to us in his car. This is a very nice policeman because Max stinks tremendously right now. So here comes the police car pulling into our driveway to bring us our dog. I have a feeling this may not be Max's final brush with the law, but I sure hope it is!

Mark came home from work a little while ago and took the girls to eat at Chili's (kids eat free there today!) He's so awesome to give me a break! He know's I'm not feeling well today and has only heard bits and pieces about my doggy delimas, but knew it was not a great day for me and he's been working late a lot lately. Our 9th anniversary was 2 weeks ago and he had flowers delivered to me at home. It was so sweet and such a surprise! I love my awesome husband!!

Our New Addition

Okay, so it's been nearly 2 months since my last post. Yes, I am a slacker, but honestly it's not like a have a huge following, so I know you've all been surviving without me. : )

Our latest big news is that we're getting a puppy soon! He's 4 weeks now (in the pic) and we'll be getting him before Christmas. He's a miniature schnauzer and I can't wait to get him!



Mark has named him Tiberius Atellus Maximus. It means something that he thinks is cool. I don't care as long as we can just call him Max. : ) He is such a cutie! I'm nervous though. I've never had a pet of my own. I mean, growing up we always had pets but let's be honest...I never had to be responsible for them! I sure wasn't the one doing the housetraining, keeping them fed or taking them out at night. I just played with them when I felt like it...typical kid. : ) So I'm under no dillusions that my family will be different. I understand that Mark & I will be the responsible ones (read as...I will be the responsible one since Mark is at work most every day). And I'm okay with this. Mark's been wanting a dog forever and I've just now gotten to the point where I'm wanting one too. The girls are excited and carry pictures of the puppy around but I'm not sure if the little ones really understand that we're getting a puppy. I know Cassie does and she's ecstatic!

Hannah & Olivia just made 3 this week. Can you believe that?!



They had a Dora the Explorer party last weekend and it was lots of fun. The girls were so excited about their party. Now they think every party is for them. : )

Is it sad that I listed our puppy news ahead of my kids' birthdays? : )

You're it!

My bff Melissa @ Little Mrs. Married tagged me in her blog so I'm actually responding promptly! Yay me!

1. What is your favorite color?
lately, purple

2. Are you afraid to die?
When I'm 100 and old and lived my life fully, then no. Right now, I don't want to die at all. Not that anyone really WANTS to, I'm not afraid of where I'll end up. I'm a Christian so I know I'll be in Heaven and it will be incredible. But for now, I AM scared of pain. No thank you.

3. If you could trade in one of your talents for another talent - which talent would you want to have & which talent would you be willing to give up? (I stole this from Stealing Sunday.)
This is a really hard question. I mean, I like the talents I have. I'd love to be able to play more instruments proficiently, be more creative, be great at sports...but I wouldn't want to give up singing or being organized or that stuff. So I'm going to plead the 5th and stick with what I've got, k? : )

4. Puzzle, cards, or board games? If you picked cards or board game, what are your favorites?
puzzles

5. Have you ever volunteered? If so, what for?
Yes, youth group for about 10 years, youth worship team for about 7 years, other worship teams for about 5 years, nursery at church with my kids as needed, volunteering at my kids schools when needed, helping friends when they're in a bind, etc. I LOVE to volunteer! It's so much for fun than regular working.

6. What are your pet peeves?
When people cut in line in the drive thru at restaurants instead of driving around and getting in line with everyone else. It makes my blood pressure rise!

7. What is your favorite family tradition?
We don't have many real traditions...I love going to my Mom's house on Christmas Eve and then spending Christmas morning at home with the kids and that afternoon in Slidell with Mark's family. I like that routine. We do an advent calendar with the kids...that's fun. I can't really think of anything else right now. Oh, I love decorating for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving.

8. If everyone was going to give you a gift card for Christmas this year... where would you most want your gift cards to be from? Top three places.
Hobby Lobby, JCPenny's, Target

Five Question Friday

1. What is the first nightmare you remember?
I remember dreaming that all my toys came to life...and not in a fun, let's play, sort of way.

2. Even if you're not a sports fan, what is your favorite sport to watch/play?
I'll watch football if it's on and the game is good. I prefer playing volleyball or softball.

3. If you could pull off one piece of trendy fashion, what would it be?
skinny jeans. They totally don't work on me now though...maybe one day!

4. Did you make good grades in school?
Yes. School came pretty naturally to me. Thank GOD! I never did well or liked any of my science classes though. I always had a difficult time taking timed tests. Other than that, thankfully, school was pretty easy for me.

5. What magazines do you subscribe to?
People, Lucky, and Redbook. We had some frequent flier miles and were no where NEAR getting a free flight and they were going to expire. So I cashed some in on free magazine subscriptions. The Redbook should have stopped coming months ago but it's still coming. But People is by far my favorite. I like magazines becuase they're easier to read than books. I LOVE reading books, but with little kids and lots of time in the carpool lane, magazines just work better. I don't have to concentrate as hard.

Ok...your turn!

Ta Da!!!

We have a clip, people! It came out today and didn't seem to bother Olivia at all. I'm so thankful! Now we can stop thinking about it. Plus sorting through poop is not my idea of a good time. Thank you Lord for happy, healthy tummies!

Whew! What a Morning!

So this morning I was in our van taking Hannah & Olivia to school. Cassie was already at her school. We weren't even out of our neighborhood yet when Olivia started choking. It sounded more serious than a normal little choke/cough, so I pulled over and got out (in the pouring rain, no less) to check on her. After some serious stress over the choking, she stopped. I asked her what was wrong, she pointed inside her mouth and said "hair clip". I was like "What? Where's your hair clip?" since it was no longer in her hair. She said "In my mouth". I asked her if she swallowed it and she said yes.

So what does one do when your 2 year old child swallows a 2-inch piece of metal?! Do I call the doctor? Drive to the hospital? Call my mom!? Olivia is behind me in her car seat crying and holding her chest. She is my child that can have a double ear infection that's horribly aweful and never complain. She has a high pain tollerance, so her crying scared me. I called the pediatrician and they told me to come in. We drove straight there. Of course it was pouring down rain and I'm trying to drive carefully but quickly. We finally got there and they said she seemed fine but wanted to get some x-rays done just in case. To make sure it wasn't caught anywhere dangerous and had gotten to her stomach okay. So we went down the street to the hospital for x-rays.

This is what they found


Yes, it's in her stomach. The x-ray tech came out of her little room with a shocked look on her face. She said they saw lots of strange things in kids' stomachs but that was one of the biggest she'd seen for such a little girl. 3 different nurses all gathered around in surprise. There were super nice. They had us wait until the radiologist reviewed it and then called our doctor. They said they might have to go in with a scope to remove it. But the doctors decided they'd give it a couple of days and see if it would pass on its own. Fun...what great timing for potty training. But if it didn't come out soon, they'd x-ray her again to see where it is. The nurse said the concern was that it might perferate the intestines as it moved through. Great. So the option is, wait and see or if that doesn't work she'll have a hole in her intestines and need surgery. I don't like those options.

But apparently once foreign objects get to the stomach, 90% of them come out on their own and it won't hurt her to sit inside her awhile.

Now, if you're a mom out there, you've probably lived through this same day (pretty much) so you know what I'm talking about. You might even be laughing at me for freaking out so bad about it. But in our 5+ years of parenting so far, this was really our first "emergency", so I know we're very blessed that this is the worst we've had. Please pray for this clip to pass safely out of Olivia very soon. Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd write.

Start of School

School started today!!! Can you hear my enthusiam?! Don't get me wrong, most of the summer has been great. The girls were all big enough this year to help entertain each other and they played great together. But the last 2 or 3 weeks they have been at each other's throats, whining all day long and making me wish I was working outside the home for about 80 hours a week. So they were just as excited as me that school started today. : )

Mark brought Cassie to her first day of Kindergarten this morning. I didn't go because I stayed home with the babies and also because I thought it might go a little more smoothly without me (to whine to if desired...she doesn't whine to Daddy as much). Mark said she was super excited about school right up until the moment she sat at her desk, then the lip started quivering. I was glad I stayed home once I heard that. I've never considered myself one to cry on my child's first day of school but if SHE cried, then all bets would be off!

Cassie - the big kindergartener


I brought Hannah & Olivia when it was time for their school to start. Let me just say, I love their school. It's a mothers day out program with preschool too. We've been with them almost since they opened and I just love the people there. Plus I love that I can go to the grocery store by myself while the kids are there! : ) But anyway, we got there a little early (yay for me!) and there were only 3 other kids in their class at that point. All 3 were crying. Not just crying, mourning over the loss of their parents down the hallway, trying desperately to get the door open to chase after them, tears everywhere and little feet kicking in protest. And here come Hannah & Olivia, with no reaction at all except to notice "new" toys and forget that I'm even in the room. They did look at the crying children curiously as if they were wondering why they would cry in a room full of happiness (a.k.a. toys, puzzles & books they've never seen before). I doubt they noticed when I left. Oh well, that's a good problem to have I suppose. The other kids settled down and they all had a great day.

Hannah wasting no time


Olivia getting down to business


All in all, it was a great day...I even got a little nap! Yippee! I'm a little nervous about always having to have Cassie there on time since now she'll get in trouble if we're late. And it's another new routine to get used to, but I know they're all 3 going to have a great year. Cassie learned her first cheer today in PE class. "He-eyyy, Yo-oooo, listen up listen up listen up, Yo!" I can't tell you how hard I laughed at that one!

Have a great night!