Happy Birthday Kaitlynn

Ten years ago today I heard those 3 little words that I wanted so badly to hear.......... IT'S a GIRL!!!

We never found out the sex of any of our babies, and delivering that baby not knowing, then finding out the same second you actually get to SEE the baby, well, there is NOTHING like it!

Kaitlynn came 2 weeks early, taking us by surprise after Collin had been 4 days late. She and Collin both had the same due date, February 22. So, the evening of February 11, 1999 I was not expecting to have a baby! I remember watching a great episode of ER, laying on my bed, not feeling great. I told Sam during one of the commercials that I thought maybe something was happening, but I couldn't convince either of us that it was serious. And I was DETERMINED to finish that show! (Years before the onset of TiVo). By the time the show was over, contractions were coming about every 10 minutes. I was thinking bad Braxton Hicks. I did NOT want to go to the hospital in false labor and get sent home. SO I just lay on the bed, trying to relax, watching Jay Leno. By 11:15, I told Sam to call my parents to come get Collin, just in case. My dad drove over right before midnight, and as he drove away with Collin, I remember bursting into tears.

If I had KNOWN this would have been my last day to be just his mom, I would have done things differently. I felt guilty I hadn't made the day special.

A good friend of mine from church was my doctor. She said to call her at home anytime, even if she wasn't on call. So a little after midnight, I called Elizabeth and said I thought I was in labor. She said she would meet me at the hospital ( only 4 miles away). I tried to finish getting my bag ready, and VERY quickly, things started happening. Contractions started coming at 2 - 3 minutes apart and I couldn't walk or talk during them anymore. I remember having to stop numerous times just to make it to the car!

We got to the hospital a little after 1:00 am, and 3 hours later, we had a daughter!!!! Around 6:00 in the morning, we called all the family and told them we had a baby, but wouldn't tell them what it was, they had to come to the hospital and see for themselves!  :)

Here she is at one week old. I can hardly remember her being that tiny!

Her first picture with Collin, at one week old. He had had a BAD cold and I would not let him near her.

2 months old. That is my mom's arm under that blanket.

4 months old

 

First Birthday! (Montgomery, Alabama)

2nd birthday (Clinton, Mississippi)

3rd birthday  (Edwards, Mississippi)

4th Birthday (Louisville, Mississippi) Yes, we were moving every year.

5th Birthday

7th Birthday (Mountain Home AFB, Idaho)

9th Birthday

Today. 10 years old.

Over 5 feet tall already, wearing a size 8 1/2 woman's shoe, she is a joy!

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you SOOOOOOOO much!

This morning, she said she wanted to sleep in, but she didn't, she was to excited. So we did presents first thing!

When I let her plan out her birthday, she said she wanted to sleep in, not do school work, have a friend spend the night, and chose the meals. VERY doable! And smart girl spread it out over 3 days. :)

Livie spends tomorrow night, so we will do her spaghetti dinner and birthday cake then. Daddy took her out for a Daddy date this afternoon.

Saturday she will get to ride some horses and maybe I can take her and Livie to Jackson and do something fun.

A fun few days!

A WONDERFUL daughter.

A mom who feels very blessed.

2 more puppy pics

I had to get a good one of Collin with Yazzi. He has been asking for a dog for YEARS!

Here she is one one of her regal poses. :)

She acted like a puppy today. Chasing the kids, bouncing, ears and feet flapping. Her feet are so big she doesn't have good control over them.

She has only had one accident, but that was my fault. I left the house for a few minutes, and as usual, when I am gone, I told Kaitlynn not to go outside. Well, Yazzi needed to go, but KK didn't want to disobey.

She has been going whenever we take her out to the grass. But as of yet, she has not made a single sound. Not one bark, one whine, one whimper. I AM NOT COMPLAINING, just wondering when the noise will start.

Can a dog be mute?

Yazzi Grace is home!

For those of you not following us on Facebook, we sent out a plea last week to see if someone knew somebody who knew somebody who had Golden Retriever puppies for sale. Melissa and Susan put us on the right track, and we found a registered 10 week old litter. Thanks you two!!!

So yesterday, I drove Collin and Kaitlynn to Iuka, Mississippi to pick her up. It was a 10 hour trip, including one stop at Wal Mart, one stop at PetSmart and one stop at Sonic.  :)

When we finally got there, I told the kids to stay calm, let's just look and talk to the owner first. Nothing was set in stone and if I felt uncomfortable or the dogs didn't look right, then we would just leave.

We get out, and there is a large pen with momma and the puppies, they see us, come running, and so much for being quiet. Kaitlynn squealed!!!

First we met momma dog. She was well cared for, very friendly and made a good impression. Her name is Missy. This was her second litter.

She came up to each of us and sat in front of us, so we couldn't go any farther without petting her.

Then  daddy dog.

He was a huge and gorgeous 85 pounds and a beautiful red color. He was also friendly. It helped me to be able to see and pet both parents of the puppies.

Then we had a choice of 2 girl puppies. We sat down and watched them run around and laughed as they climbed all over us an each other. How do you choose, Collin kept asking.

We stayed for awhile, finally one of the girls put her paw in my lap and just looked up at me. That eye contact was the clincher. We had found our Yazzi Grace! (named by Kaitlynn).

We made it home a little after 6. The puppies were so hyper that I was nervous how to get her home, thinking she would be crazy in the van. I had brought the cat carrier as a last resort, but we never needed it. She took turns sleeping in the kids laps the whole way home. Well, she did pee at Sonic!   :)

Kaebrie was more fascinated with the new crate than Yazzi was. Can you tell she dressed herself yesterday?  :)

Here she is!

This morning, breakfast could wait. It ws puppy time!

I put the crate in our closet last night, so I could hear when she needed to go out. She didn't make a sound all night. Don't worry, I am not going to believe that this house training is going to be that easy. But it ws nice having a quiet night when I didn't expect it.

We are going to be a little late starting school today.  :)

Yes, it looks like we have another cat too. This is Maxie. Sam fell for that white cheek in a half a second. It was so cold the other night, he snuck her in the study window and I caught him on the computer with the cat sleeping in his lap. I am not convinced she doesn't belong to somebody yet. She is so friendly and is de-clawed, so somebody took care of her at one point. We will see!

And that catches you up to date!

The next animals on the way?

Chickens. But more about that later.   :)

I would NEVER be guilty of this, NEVER.

Well, mainly because I don't have a laptop and have to stay by the main computer. Things would have the possibility of getting really bad if I could take a computer and lock myself in a closet though!

But they would find me. They ALWAYS find me! :)

Picture

I have been asked about the rather strange picture on the blog header. What and why were the general questions. :)

Yes, I took this picture. It was last summer at Sam's parents house in Alabama. I was following around Christopher, trying to get a picture of him helping Poppa in the garden. Their job that morning was to find the caterpillars that were on the plants and kill them.

Poppa was laughing saying that Tiff wouldn't touch them. I looked closer to see what they were squishing and was surprised at how pretty they were.

I asked him to put one on the table so I could photograph it. Yes, he looked at me like I was a bit off my rocker, and reminded me that he was going to kill it as soon as I was done, but he sweetly did as I asked and put her down.

I like the eggs that she carries on her back. I like the colors against the black table, I like the garden flowers blurred out in the background.

Yes, I really like this crazy picture of a mommy caterpillar seconds before her squished death, so I used it for my blog header.

Any questions I forgot to answer?
:)

Bye Bye Dog :(

Well, we are once again a dog free house. But now we are not happy about it.
In hind sight, I should have handled getting Bowser / Murray differently. I should have INSISTED upon a vet examination BEFORE we agreed.

Instead, we were excited and hasty and didn't think through all the details. After having her for over three weeks, and after getting VERY attached, I took her to the vet yesterday to get all her shots updated, NEVER expecting a fatal diagnosis of heart worms.

Something that is VERY preventable, but she wasn't given the once a month pill and became infected when she was a puppy through a mosquito bite. She doesn't show any symptoms yet, so it took a blood test to diagnosis it.

There is a treatment they can TRY, for $700.00. But it isn't guaranteed to kill all the worms, and your dog isn't guaranteed to make it through the treatment.

I came home fighting tears, Kaitlynn was with me and was crying, having understood that the vet said Murray was very sick.

Called Sam. Called the old owners and they were SO nice. They offered to pay for half the treatment. But we decided to give her back. As attached as were were after three weeks, I couldn't imagine the pain of watching her die in a year or of having to put her down. And that is a LOT of money as well.

So we brought her back to her original home, along with the dog house, leash and food. Came home and put away all the stuff we had bought her (bed, food bowls, brush, treats, t0ys) and tried to comfort three crying kids.

sigh

I REALLY wish I had done it right at the beginning and spared us all this.

Anyway, this showed us that we DID want a dog. Right now we are considering a puppy, one that starts out healthy and we can keep healthy with proper care on a regular basis.

What kind? Which breed? The options are staggering! But we will let you know when the new arrival gets here. Kaitlynn has been given the honor of naming the new dog with agreed upon parental veto power.

More to come!

Hanging Stocking

The girls got a tire horse for Christmas and yesterday the weather was sunny , Sam was off, so it was time to hang it up!

It took several tries to get the rope tossed over the big limb.

Success!

After a few minutes the entire family came outside to watch and ended up playing. We just called it recess after lunch.

Here is the group!

Sometimes they chased the dog............. and sometimes the dog chased them........

But listening to all the laughing and squealing was wonderful to hear.

Even Christopher likes her and seems to be over his nervousness of this particular dog.

The rope had be thrown a second time before Daddy could knot it. He did it, knotted it, and hung the horse, named Stocking.

Kaebrie likes it best when Kaitlynn pulls her up the hill then lets go and runs under her feet.

We wore the poor dog out.

Bath Time

Another first for our family was giving Murray (yes, she is officially named now) her first bath. She did better than I expected her to, but it did take some coaxing to get her in the tub ( and Sam lifting her too).

Now, I was tired. It was late, and I asked that we wait. I was reading in my favorite spot in the house.

Can you see why I didn't want to leave this spot?

Sam wanted to do it then because the little 2 were sleeping and if they had been up, they would have wanted to help. Now the house is great, but the master bathroom is lacking in space, and there wouldn't have been room for 6 humans and one wet canine. So off we went, where I stood on the potty to take some pictures.

She did really well!

Except for giving me begging looks to get her out of there!

All done!

Kaitlynn was also pretty wet.

They are loving having her!