It's Aug. 31st Already???

This one just cracks me up!

I can't believe how quickly June, July and AUGUST have disappeared!! Losing Patches has been hard. We even "see" her in the new commercials for a new drug to help people quit smoking! Sable is Sable and is doing fine as are the cats and even us to some extent but we all have our moments. Our latest thing is to teach LJ that Sable is a good dog and be nice. She really thinks all animals are"bad".

Anyhow, we just had another weekend with Geoff's parents. Lj was in adult-heaven! 4 of us attending to her every wish... (we should all be so lucky!! LOL!) We had a really nice weekend. Lj loves her Grandma and Grandpa. We got some really nice pictures but I have yet to download them to the computer. I'll post them later. I've missed a lot lately... Lexi's 18 month old birthday and our 6 month's anniversary with Lj but as always life happens. We never forget but still we have sickness and sadness and just life happening in general with a toddler. Going back to work is still an adjustment for all of us. We are getting there though and our little LJ is as precious as ever!

Sorry no news lately...

It's been hard to make posts lately. Last Saturday we said "Good-bye" to Patches. Despite our love for Lexi and strong will to document our life with her, this whole experience has been hard for our family and it's hard to post when you grieve. Lj is fine although she is still adjusting to me going back to work. Seems change is not an easy thing for our family. Lexi is dealing with me returning to work and Geoff and I are really grieving for Patches. She did give us each a sweet gift on her last morning. She became "Licky Dog" for me for a few seconds as I said goodbye and clung to Geoff on the way to the vet. I know we will always second guess our decision but in the end, we know she is in a better place.

Thank you Carolyn and John for all you did to make the second half of day much easier.

Working up to saying goodbye...

to our dear little Patches... About a month ago I kept noticing how "fat" she looked and kept thinking she was eating too much cat food. We'll Sara happened by one day and told me that she looked sick and that her belly was swollen. So we took her to the vet. Turns out that she has a heart problem. Her heart at this point is enlarged and not working properly which is causing fluid to build up in her abdomen. The vet drained it and she lost 7 lbs.! She left us that morning a fat dog and came home looking like she was starving to death. Her bones are all protruding and you can feel every bone down her spine. We have her on some heart meds and other things to keep the fluid from building up but in the last 3 weeks she has gained at least 4 lbs back. Her belly gets bigger but her bones are still showing. The meds they put her on gives loose stools so they told us to make her rice. Well, she won't eat it. We began to mix it with chicken but she still won't eat it. We had her eating meats for a while there but now we are lucky if she eats a few ounces of anything all day. Yesterday, she ate 1/4 of a hotdog. Today 3 bites of chicken. She is drinking water but that's about it. She also has these shivering spells where she seems to be freezing. We need to ask the vet about this.

It's so sad to watch our once very active dog go through this. We used to call her "Licky Dog" because she constantly was in your face licking and had to be touching you at all times. Now she just sleeps and drinks water. We have another vet appt. on Thursday and are going to discuss the future and the quality of her life at this point. Who knows, her heart may give out before then. It's very hard prepare to say goodbye but I fear the end is near.

It's already been a week???

Gosh, I knew going back to work would be hard but I was not prepared for it! Tired beyond tired at night and just feeling like I never have enough time with Lexi. Things are starting to get easier and that is nice. We spent last weekend hanging around the house catching up and then on Sunday afternoon, we had dinner at Sara and Chris' place. It was delicious and so much fun to the see the boys. They are too cute!

Last Friday after I got in with Lexi we went out back to play and dig around in the milkweed flowers. Lexi let me do some potting of plants as she played around me. I got so tickled at one point because she walked over to the little wagon where the dill weed and parsley is rapidly disappearing because of the Swallowtail caterpillars. She found a caterpillar and showed it to me. She tried to say "butterfly" but it comes out mostly as "buttr". Now everytime we go out she is looking for them and gently touches them to make their hidden antennae come out. I can't wait for her to see the Monarchs!

On Saturday, Geoff spotted the first Monarch during breakfast and I went out just in time to watch it lay eggs. Lexi and I watched her fly around. My little sweetie is on her way to loving something that I do. That makes me very happy.

Saturday evening Carolyn and Brittney stopped by to see Lexi after they had been back to school shopping. When Lexi saw Brittney's shopping bags she went nuts. Looks like her Daddy is in for it ... just look at these bags!

On the Eve...

of BACK TO SCHOOL! I hate this night every year. I won't sleep well tonight and will begin letting my mind race about all the things I have to do to get ready. Today, I took a ton of stuff to Mom's to get her set up to babysit. I am sure I've forgotten something. My goal is to have limited things in tow when I bring in the mornings.

Today we took Lexi back to church. We've been out of town a lot lately so it was "new" to her again. But her Nanny just happened to have nursery duty so we knew she was in good hands. I had a pink dress in mind to put on her. It is the first dress I ever bought her a long, long time ago but when I looked in I found a nine months size dress that is sleeveless so I decided to go for that one since she may not get much wear out of it depending on how hot it stays here this fall. It was precious! These pictures don't do it justice. She wore her new dress shoes and her feet just look so big! Anyhow, here's our little cutie!

I love how the back only buttons part the way and you can get a peek-a-boo of those ruffled bottoms.

Little Miss Mischievious!

This morning we awoke and began our day early.... we headed to Savannah to get Lexi some new shoes. Her sandals were too small and making her big toes red so we took advantage to the Stride Rite buy one get on 50% off sale. She went from a 3 1/2 shoe to a 4 1/2! Oh MY! All I have to say is her little body better start to catch up with those feet! Needless to say, Lexi loves her some shoes! This afternoon I had to sit in the floor with her changing from one new shoe to the next. (That gets old quickly!)

We also took our little precious one to get her first hair cut. She was NOT impressed. She started out in Daddy's lap and then wanted refuge from Mommy. We did manage to get some bangs cut and the back of her hair but we didn't force the issue.

Afterwards we went to the dreaded Wally-World and bought her a new doll. I've been wanting to get her a dolly for awhile now that she could "feed". This one has a pacifier, bottle, teddy bear and sippy cup. She loved her immediately and went into Mommy mode. It was so sweet to watch.

But then ... as we unpacked groceries we heard giggling ... and more giggling... so suspicious! When I peeked around the corner Lexi was sitting in the big chair with the ottoman with the biggest grin ever. I just watched as she found her way down and then began her journey UP again. Our little rascal did some trouble shooting and found out how she could use the toilet tissue paper as a stepping stool. She was so proud of herself for getting UP the chair and then going DOWN again. As we watched she got more and more brave and then began to go down the ottoman feet first! Yikes!!! Every time she hit the floor I looked for broken bones!!

We finally got her interested in her nighttime bottle and afterwards I gave her her first Keebler's Fudge Sandwich cookie... Ahhh ... heaven to an 18 month old! She gobbled it down! Finally, around 8:00 pm I began bedtime routine. She let me rock her to sleep and sing silly nonsense songs to her all about her day. These moments are the most precious of all. I kiss her sweet face and cuddle her so tight and just eat up me some "LJ time". Life does not get any more perfect than this. Every time someone new talks to us I PROUDLY let them know how we all became a family and how much I love her and what a blessing she is to our family.