Farewell Old Friend :(

I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was days before my 21st birthday and my then-boyfriend pulls up with a cardboard box and a little beagle-mix puppy inside. I'd never had a dog before and fell instantly in love. I named her Copper off of the Fox and the Hound - but her coloring seemed to fit the name as well.

She was a spunky pup - often getting into trouble. She had more energy than I knew what to do with. I can remember her chewing on her leash with such force that you could actually lift her in the air with only her teeth clamped down on the leash to hold her there. She thought this was the greatest game.

6 months later I decided she needed a friend and adopted Buddy - a full blood Beagle. They were immediate soul mates and have been a constant in each others lives for a long time. They had pups together twice (don't worry, they were all given to good homes) and she was the best doggie mama I ever saw.

She has seen me through some major life events - the failure of my first marriage, the passing of my brother Joe, the rough roller-coaster of a relationship I had with another man after my divorce. She licked away my tears more times than I can count. She loved me unconditionally.

Years later I met Sean - a dog lover - and they became immediate friends. She loved to snuggle and had the worst breath on the planet, a deadly combination.

In her old age she was changing. Her personality was slowly going away. She was less interested in affection and attention and seemed very anxiety-ridden most days. She only seemed to care about food and would pace the house day and night in a paniced state -as if there were some meal somewhere that she was missing. It had become stressful on us to keep up with her demands, and for us to also keep up with the demands of our new addition to the family - Brenden.

Copper was great with Brenden. She never once was aggressive or jealous of him. She thought he was pretty cool because he usually was coated in food and he would voluntarily feed her his snacks :)

She was a different dog, but even at 13 and a half, I didn't think she was anywhere near her end. She had some personality changes, she slept more, she had trouble walking up and down the stairs, but aside from that she seemed healthy and was also the sentiment of our vet at each visit. Friday, July 10, 2009, I left for work in a hurry. Sean was already gone, as he was pulling a 4:30 a.m. shift. In my rush to get myself and a toddler ready and out the door on time I merely fed the dogs like usual and went on my own way. I never stopped to really say good morning, or pet them. When I got home that afternoon and Sean said she passed away, my heart broke into a thousand pieces and I kept thinking - why didn't she tell me she was sick. I would have given her one last belly rub, one last doggie treat, one last...

She went peacefully, in her sleep. She had seemed normal all day for Sean too. She fell asleep and didn't wake up for us, but for her, she woke up in a better place. A place where her joints don't hurt anymore, a place where she can run and play and EAT whenever she wants.

To Copper: You were a big part of my life. A piece of my adulthood dies with you. You were a good, loyal friend and I will miss you very much. You were my family and my friend and even though I may not have said it a lot, I love you very much.

Mommy and Daddy time

Don't get me wrong, I love being with my son more than anything on the planet - but so much so, I wasn't making time for Sean and I to have some quality time as adults and it was starting to take its toll.

We picked a day that Brenden would be at daycare anyway, which he loves, and both took the day off from work. So yesterday I dropped him off at daycare and then we had a whole day to do whatever we wanted. We started the day with some necessary carseat cleaning. Its amazing how many cheerios can hide in the crevices of your child's carseat! They look so much better now. Then we decided to go out to lunch. Since I am the pregnant one, I got to pick where. I was craving a good Chinese/Japanese buffet and decided to go online and see what some of the newer restaurants close to home were rated. We found a place just down the road from us that was rated 5 stars by all that reviewed it so we decided to try it out. If you live in the Concord/Kannapolis area I highly recommend the Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet! It used to be a Ryan's Steakhouse and from the outside didn't look that fancy, but on the inside it was a really nice restaurant. Marble floor tiles, very clean and pretty restrooms, clean buffet tables always full of fresh food, excellent service. Sean and I PIGGED out. We didn't notice any prices listed anywhere and as we wrapped up our meal we wagered guesses at how expensive it would be. Sean guessed $10 a person, I suspected $13 a person - simply because they had a lot of seafood items on their buffet as well. Much to our surprise we got our bill and it was only $6.45 per person for lunch! (Score #1)! We'll definitely be going back!

Then we went to the Carolina Mall to walk off our big meal. It was nice to just stroll through the mall with Sean and not have to chase a toddler around or worry about whether it was close to his naptime, etc. We got to walk around and have nice adult conversations. We went to a shoe store that seemed to have a lot of SALE signs inside. We found a pair of sale shoes for each Sean, Brenden, and myself and walked out of there spending only $22 total! (Score #2!)

Then we went to the movies - which we NEVER do. Movies are so expensive and so are babysitters. Its just not worth it to go out on evenings or weekends. We went and saw The Proposal and it was SO FUNNY! We laughed the whole time and indulged in popcorn and twizzlers and the bliss of an uninterrupted movie. I forgot what a date felt like. When the day was up our "grown up time" batteries were recharged and I was quite happy to go to the daycare and pick up our little guy to come home to us. We ended the day with a nice evening of playing and coloring.

All in all I can say yesterday was a very good day and made me realize that its important for me to make time for myself and my husband, in addition to the time I make for Brenden, my job, housework, etc. Its tough to do, and its easy to put yourself or your relationship last - which is the problem I've been having. However, its amazing how one little day of "me" time has really left me feeling recharged and refreshed - both as a mother and a wife.

Brenden's little brother has a C-section date!

I had an appointment with my OB today. I was told I passed my 1-hour glucose test by ONE point - whew! They went ahead and scheduled my Csection date. I will have it on 09/08/09 at 7:30 a.m. - that is, of course, unless the baby decides to come sooner than that, but as good as everything is going I suspect I'll make it to my scheduled date. It makes it so real to know his birthday already. It felt like a big milestone just to know when they plan to do the surgery.


Brenden has Water Play every Friday at daycare. This past Friday they added paint to the mix! Brenden was clearly more interested in the paint than he was the water. Seeing how much fun he had made the chore of washing the painted bathing suit all worth it!

Animal sounds

One of our bedtime routines is to read a book to Brenden that is full of different animals. We started making the animal sounds and doing this every night. Within a few short weeks he could imitate the animal sounds. He's not being 100% cooperative in this video, but you still can see how cute he is making his different animal sounds

The "spider scream" - take two!

He continues to grow and change every day. He's getting stronger and smarter by the minute. He loves to play on his toy slide and has now figured out how to climb up the slide part and then hop off of the back and say "tah dah!" Its amazing to think a few short months ago he couldn't even figure out how to climb up the ladder on his own. He loves to run and climb up and down stairs. Sean has started taking Brenden to the mall on his days off just to give him a nice air-conditioned place to climb up ramps and stairs. He loves it more than a park, and with the 90+ degree weather we have had lately, it seems to be the perfect play spot. He still loves to play with his fish puzzle (Thanks Tina!) and pretends to say all of the colors (in which every color is pronounced "bweeee"). His favorite thing to do now is to take one little sip of his drink, hand you the cup and say "moe moe" (more). And he will refuse to drink until you at least pretend you've filled it back up. Ahhh toddlers!

Here are a few precious toddler moments:

Washing my hands like a big boy!


Playing with my sprinkler - and OF COURSE drinking the water



Wearing my Daddy's yard work shoes - I put them on all by myself!

Could I look any more rotten??!! I KNOW I'm not allowed to stand on my chair, yet I tried to show Mommy that I can do it anyway!

I hit my 30 week mark today. 9 more weeks to go (they will do my c-section at 39 weeks). I'm slowly getting the house cleaned and making room for all of the infant things in the attic. I am excited to see him and have him in my arms, but am NOT excited about the impending C-section. Its been tough trying to hold and carry Brenden while pregnant, I cannot imagine how much more difficult it will be once I have a large incision healing in my core. I just don't want to have a physical limitation that prevents me from being the perfect Mommy to Brenden.

17 month old toddler and 7 months pregnant

My little guy is 17 months old now and a full blown toddler, subject to mood swings, tantrums, moments of "what were you thinking?!", babbling and imitating mommy and daddy. Its a fun yet exausting age! He can make several animal sounds now. One of these days I'll get him on video doing it and post it here. Its very cute. He can say lots of words and also tries to repeat EVERYTHING you try to say. And if he can't figure out what to say he makes up his own words. He is getting a bottom molar and that has caused a few bad moods. He definitely tries to pick fights and test his boundaries when he's teething. I suppose its the "if I'm miserable, so is everybody else" mentality. However, when he's not teething, he's a fun, sweet adorable little boy!

Here he is saying cheese for the camera. Isn't he so handsome?!



Here is his new play center I bought from a coworker. I love used stuff! Especially toys - they use them for such a short period of time it just doesn't make sense to buy brand new.


He loves the slides and also the door that opens and shuts on the side.


And here he is showing us his pearly whites while coated in mashed potatoes. He really likes to show off at dinner time. As you can see, the high chair is gone and we are in booster seat mode now!

I am 7 months along and feeling pretty good. I have had some ligament pains that my Dr is suggesting is an effect of my recent c-section with Brenden. I will have to get a maternity support belt to help lessen the strain on my weak muscles. Other than that everything is good. I have nice low blood pressure. I'm gaining lots of weight, but not too much. My belly is the "perfect" size. Again- compared to my pregnancy with Brenden, this seems too easy. I keep waiting for something to go wrong! Here is my 7 month pic - excuse the quality, it self-taken with my camera phone. Its very much the typical "basket ball" tummy. The baby is active and kicking and rolling around. He likes to keep me awake during the night with his movements - a sign of things to come, I'm sure. I cannot believe he will be here in less than 3 months now! I'm definitely feeling the urge to nest now. I just wish I had the energy to follow up on my urges! Ah well.. its tough working full time and chasing a toddler while dealing with pregnancy fatigue so I guess I can let a little of the housework slip through the cracks!

Almost halfway done with June!

How was it that it was just May and now all of the sudden its mid-June??!! Brenden will be 17 months old on the 16th. I can't believe he's almost a year and a half. He's getting so big and independent now. Today we officially retired the high-chair and he eats at the table with a booster seat. He got to where he was having a fit every time we put him in the high chair so we tried the booster seat and he loved it. The booster does have an attachable tray for extra-messy meals if needed. He drinks out of a big-boy cup very well. They've been teaching him this at daycare since he was an infant but now we have less and less spills. He can imitate sounds and also imitate figures he sees on the TV which is new. Like if he's watching the Wiggles and they are dancing he will imitate the same dance moves. Here are some pics for this month:


Enjoying a popcicle treat after my hair cut (Mommy cuts my hair with the clippers). I was very well behaved and sat very still for her.


I think breakfast is better UNDER the chair!


Our local park put in a "splash pad" and we tried it out for the first time today. Brenden was a little fussy to begin with (teething!) so he didn't last long, but he still had fun, and it was a nice way for both of us to cool off. They have 2 sections - one for big kids and one for toddlers. They only charge a dollar per person to get in. You really can't beat that, considering the park is about 3 miles from my doorstep. Its nice to know he's got a place to go when he gets bored.

Here he is playing with the squirter


And another little squirter...

I took a video of him saying banana. I don't know why, but I think its just the cutest thing he says. He always draws out that last part of the word and it sounds so cute and sweet - nanaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

As for Pray2 - he's doing great and quite the active little guy these days. I find my tummy muscles are more sore with this pregnancy. I'm not sure if its because they are still weak from having a C-section less than 2 yrs ago, or lugging around a toddler while pregnant adds to the strain. I've had to be careful how active I am or I end up really sore at the end of the day. I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow. I can't believe how fast this second trimester has gone by. I've suddenly realized I have a LOT to do before this baby gets here. I'd better get started!

More Beach Pictures

On our last night there we took some family pictures on the beach courtesy of a tripod and a remote control - I love technology. I love that you can even see little Pray-to-be in the pictures too.

The Pray family



Daddy and Brenden


Mommy and Brenden

Just some random funny Brenden stuff to add. The other day I asked him if he was tired and he said "Rawr!" It took me a few minutes and then I realized he thought I said "tiger" and not "tired" lol. Toddlers are so funny!

As for me, I'm feeling pretty good. Baby2 has suddenly gotten VERY active and kicks me like crazy ALL of the time. Unfortunately he doesn't kick towards my outside, he kicks towards my organs. Its still very neat to feel him move and know he's healthy and strong. I am 25 weeks along and my 6 month OB appt went well. Next month I do my 1 hour glucose test. I hope the results are okay. I'm definitely starting to feel big now. Its hard to believe I have 3 more months of growing to do! I forget how big pregnancy makes you. Here is a view of my 6 month belly: