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April 29, 2008

Adventures in dog-napping

Mary Ann was dog-sitting for us for a few days, and today I had to go pick Sugar up.  I called Mary Ann ahead of time to let her know I was coming, and while on the phone she mentioned two Cocker Spaniels that had been seen roaming her neighborhood.  They looked like someone's pets, she said, but obviously needed help.  After a search around the neighborhood, however, they had disappeared.  

But when I turned the corner into her neighborhood, there in the middle of the street, was this sweet little dog, just sitting there, staring off into the distance.  I pulled up slowly next to him and shooed him off of the road so he wouldn't get hit.  When I told Mary Ann about it, we decided to go and get him.  He wouldn't go to her, and climbed up into a little patch of woods near her house.  I took the leash from her, and crawled up after him.  He had gotten into a very tight patch full of thorns.  He let me pet him and get the lease around him, but getting him out was an exercise in ripping up my arms and legs with thorns.  Seeing him up close, I realize he's probably been abandoned a lot longer than we had thought.  He was quite timid and scared until we got him into Mary Ann's backyard, where he began to get very happy and excited, and he really loved the boys.  

Now, I gripe about dogs a lot, I know.  But it's really just because my dog is so annoying.  Seriously, I can't even tell you.  And I fell in love with this other little dog in the ten minutes I was in his company.  We are going to try to see if someone has advertised a lost dog that matches him, but if not...  Mary Ann and I just might be squabbling over him.  

April 27, 2008

For a very annoying cat, he's quite debonair

Ewan reads Thomas


Bryce and I could listen to this for hours.

April 25, 2008

Random, I know

I was going through some of our pictures today, and came across this one from our bluebonnet excursion. Bryce was trying to get some individual shots of Fynn, and suddenly something white flashed by. I think it's hilarious.
More to post later - I have lots to gripe about.

April 23, 2008

Maybe next time...

Now I find out I was supposed to starve myself all this time in order to have a girl

April 21, 2008

Finders, Keepers

Okay, so I stole it. Here goes:

Maybe I should exercise.
I love queso.
People would say that I’m a mooch.
I don’t understand why I hate to exercise.
When I wake up in the morning I groan.
I lost my wallet in the 10th grade, and I’ve never gotten over it.
Life is full of confusion.
My past is full of impetuous, bad choices.
I get annoyed when people shove objects in my face.
Parties are fun if the right people are there.
I wish I had more square feet.
Dogs are shedders.
Cats are the awesomest bit of awesome in all the awesome land.
Tomorrow I'm catching up on laundry and housework.
I have low tolerance for whining, or repetitious sounds.
I’m totally terrified of losing a loved one, or dying myself.
I wonder why I'm so tired all the time (pregnancy not withstanding)
Never in my life have I eaten a worm.
High school was a time I didn’t live up to my potential - except in drama. I rocked in drama.
When I’m nervous I talk fast, and ramble.
One time at a family gathering my uncle insulted my sister, and my brother got in a fistfight to defend her honor.
Take my advice: Don’t take my advice.
Making my bed is the first step to me having an okay day. When I do it.
I'm almost always wanting a Coke.
I’m addicted to freakin’ food!
I want someone to tell me what’s up.

Gee, pessimist much, Kelli?

A rash of bad luck...

About two months ago, Fynn sprouted a tiny little rash next to his nose. I didn't think much of it, maybe some dry skin, so I wasn't too bothered. But then it started to spread, and get angrier. We held off until his 15 month checkup, where we were told it was impetigo. The doctor prescribed a very mild oral antibiotic, and said to call her in ten days if it didn't improve. Well, it did improve, for about four days, when it came back even worse. The doctor then gave him a much stronger antibiotic, one that smelled like a dirty pair of underwear and gave him the worst diaper rash he's ever had. It did, however, make his rash a bit better. For about five days. So now I have to take him to a pediatric dermatologist, one that doesn't have an open appointment for another month. I'm so frustrated, and need to try to figure something out. Today was Fynn's first day in a month that he has been off of any antibiotic, and in just 24 hours, the rash has gotten twice as bad. What's he going to look like in a month?! If you have a strong stomach, check out these image results of impetigo. While Fynn's isn't anywhere near as bad as most of these, that's also because he's been under some treatment. I'm nervous about what will develop after a month of no treatment. This may be a bit of a rambling post, but I'm so sad for Fynn, who seems to have been born under an unlucky star. He has had more extremely high fevers in his 15 months that Ewan has had in four years, he's had his leg broken, a pressure sore developed, bad reactions to vaccines... The list goes on. When is the poor boy going to get a break? And me, too?

On a lighter note, here are some cute pictures of the man in question:
Ewan told me, "Fynn's thinks he's eating spaghetti!" When I went into the room, he had a mouthful of yellow yarn. Unfortunately, once I had the camera, he refused to look at me, but he was very proud of himself, and I thought it was funny that Ewan thought of spaghetti.

"I can eat yogurt by myself, thank you very much."

Thanks to Grace for these cute pictures she took at lunch last week. I love this coy look of Fynn's.

And, as mentioned before, this is Ewan's current signature look.

April 19, 2008

"See! He's her lobster!"

Yesterday afternoon, I was making a quick Target trip, trying to fit in some last shopping before Bryce and I seriously buckle down and go on a strict budget. We passed Red Lobster, and Ewan said, "Someday, I want to go to Red Lobster." I said, "Oh, sure someday we will." I thought it was funny, so I texted it to Bryce, and he calls back mere minutes later saying he's already called his mother, and that we would be having dinner there.

Now, we eat at Red Lobster, like, never, because let's face it... It can be yummy, but it can also be... um... gross. But you can never go wrong with cheddar biscuits, for sure, so off we went. While waiting, we observed the live lobsters, of course, and I became a little more than mildly distressed when they came to take one out right in front of us to take it to be cooked. It was moving around, and struggling, and I couldn't help thinking, "Do you know what's about to happen? Say your prayers, my lobster friend. Say them well." (I mean, really, would we go to steak joint and watch the cows frolicking in the pasture, then see them be led away to the slaughter?) I can't help thinking of that poor lobster, and I wonder if that Friends episode is true where Phoebe talks about lobsters holding claws in the tank, and that they are monogamous for life. (The best Friends episode ever, by the way.) Is there a little lobster funeral going on somewhere? Is the widow wearing a black veil, carting her two children by the claws in a tank funeral? It's a lobster concentration camp, for Pete's sake!

Then Ewan insisted he was going to eat lobster. We'd never normally get lobster, too darn expensive, but Bryce decided if he and Ewan shared the platter, it would even out. (Kind of.) When they brought it out, Ewan was quite freaked out by the antennae thingies, and insisted Bryce remove them before he'd go anywhere near it. But once that was done, the boy completely pigged out and loved him some lobster. Although now he says it was gross and will never eat it again. And that's fine by me, I'm not fond of seeing my food kicking right before I eat it. But I know the truth, I saw him relishing every bite. I suppose it's the experience that counts.

But that poor orphaned lobster family.

April 16, 2008

Baby Blues

Before it's too late, I wanted to get the boys in the bluebonnets for pictures. The last time Bryce and I did this was a couple of months after we were married. It's long overdue; as pure-blood Texans, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

Checking out the landscape.


He has been so feisty lately, and this picture just about perfectly sums up his attitude.

At least Fynn is amused.



Afterwards, we went out for ice-cream, and Ewan really enjoyed his. This is him "clean."

Fynn was very happy to use his own spoon.

These are blooming outside of my house right now. They are lilies that came from a single bulb that grew in my grandmother's yard. After she died, I pried the bulb out of the frozen ground with my bare hands the night before her house sold. She would be very pleased to see this display.

April 15, 2008

Lessons from Elmo

Today, Ewan had to change shirts due to a spill, and before he had put on a new one, I noticed his back was quite red where he'd been trying to scratch it. He then told me, "My back itches so much!" I told him to come to me so I could look at it, but before the sentence was out of my mouth, he'd put on a new shirt and was heading out to the backyard. I heard him say something about a tree, so I watched him out the window and witnessed this:
There my son was, moving his back up and down against the tree to scratch it. I just asked him where he learned it, and he said from a little girl on Elmo's World who likes to scratch her back on trees. This is what my son takes away from an episode of Sesame Street. I thought he was going to tell me he learned it from watching the dog or an animal from TV. He repeated this again later in the evening, and Bryce was able to witness it that time. There we were, hiding behind the curtains, laughing hysterically, and then we ran and sat down as he headed back in, pretending we'd been sitting in the living room the whole time.

April 14, 2008

Ho Hum

Well, I really wish I had something exciting to tell you. I just don't. I know this blog has been very non-exciting, and extremely NOT updated in far too long. I just got kind of blogged out there for a while, and am just waiting for the juices to start flowing again. Perhaps with the return of our favorite shows, 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs and Lost, I'll have something to say. Perhaps not.

The boys are doing pretty darn good. Fynn looks more and more like a boy (rather than just a baby) every day and he is so feisty, I worry for the future! If you put something on his high-chair tray that he does not want, he will not hesitate to throw it in your face, with a look of sheer disdain. He also loathes any attention that is paid to Ewan, and will strike both the attention-giver and Ewan in anger at such a display. That being said, he also loves Ewan very much and lights up whenever he's around. Now I'm just hoping for a stretch with NO FEVERS. Ewan is enjoying preschool, although he has taken to wrapping his entire body around my legs when I go drop him off, begging me to not leave him there. But when I come to pick him up, he cannot stop talking about all the things he did that day and he does love it so much. Right now he's really into counting "restaurants with 's' in the name." He's up to eleven, and as we drive down the street, he is constantly pointing out more. Also in the car, every sign we pass, he reads to us and asks if we saw it. It gets quite funny.
Just to have something to share, I'll tell you something reeeeeeally gross. Bryce and I went to my parent's house this Sunday, and he was helping take down their satellite dish. As he walked around the side of the house, he noticed a trashcan full of stagnant water, full of breeding mosquitos. He dumped it, and out spilled the corpse of some large rodent-thing, long dead and badly decomposed. He took it out to the curb, and as we left, I looked at it. It was so big, and its skin was literally shiny - silver looking. It was so disgusting. My dad decided it was a squirrel. And as gross as it was, last night laying in bed, I thought of this poor squirrel, trying to get a drink, and falling in, unable to scramble out, and drowning. And that made me very sad. Meep, Squirrel. Rest in peace. May you frolic in a land of acorn orchards where the bird seed flows like a beer river, and the drinking bowls are shallow.

April 09, 2008

*UPDATED* Let's just put it this way...

... I can see these emergency lights from my driveway.  And I turn onto one of the said streets to get home.  And I can post this only because my blog is private.  I can't believe Ashley had to call me and tell me about it.  Apparently I've been in Lala Land all night.

*Concerns about my neighborhood or us needing to move are not necessary.  That's not what I was implying or suggesting with this post.  This type of thing can happen anywhere.  I mean, Darlie Routier slaughtered her own children in a giant, expensive home in a giant, expensive neighborhood.  Crazies are everywhere.

April 08, 2008

Enjoying randomness

Have you ever been watching the news, and towards the end, they include a story that you just can't believe made the cut?  Sometimes they come up with the most ridiculous, nonsensical, or just plain ordinary stories to include on the news.  Tonight, after a piece about how a sheikh paid $2.7 million for a female camel, because females run faster in big races, my mouth was hanging open in disbelief.  I mean, why do I need to know this?  But then the newscaster made up for it by looking deathly serious into the camera and saying, "We just thought you should know."  I want to take him out for lunch and buy him a steak for that.  

April 04, 2008

See what you do to us?

I dedicate this article to the Man Bloggers.  That's why I do not provide snacks on Wii night.  Deal with it.  

Simple Pleasures

Today in the grocery store, a box of Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch started calling my name.  I can't remember the last time I bought Cap'n Crunch.  Until today, that is.  I can't wait until breakfast tomorrow.

"What a week I'm having!"

That line is from Splash, when Eugene Levy has been through a week of broken limbs, being hosed down in the street, and falling down stairs. He says it with the best whine, I can totally hear it now, and it perfectly captures how I'm feeling. I love that movie. Have I ever told you about my love affair for Tom Hanks? Another time, then.

Let's start with the fact that for three weeks, one of my kids has been sick. Two weeks ago, Fynn spent nearly five days with a fever up in the 103s. I finally got him all better, in time for Ewan's birthday party, when Ewan popped up with a high fever the following Tuesday. As of this Monday, his fever hadn't even started to get better, so off to the doctor we went, and she determined he did actually need antibiotics. But it took three days before they started to show effectiveness, three days of Ewan having screaming, crying panic attacks because he couldn't breathe and because his fever was so high. Fynn's well-baby checkup was on Wednesday, and he was vaccinated. I've never had trouble with their vaccinations before, but last night, Fynn had a 104.2 fever. Now, I'm usually pretty cool and collected about illness, but fevers make me completely panic. Not to mention one that is 104.2. So while he was getting love and cold water from Daddy, I was doing some research online (not a good idea in this case) and I the first website I found had hundred of accounts from parents whose children had received the very shot Fynn received. Accounts of very high fevers. Seizures. Autism. Death. I went into the bedroom and said, "You will give that baby a blessing RIGHT NOW." He did, and I was completely astonished at how quickly that fever cleared up. It was like a magic wand had been waved. I've never had such a faith reaffirming experience in my entire life. He still has a fever today, but not nearly as high, and hopefully it will clear soon. So after having spent three days this week at Target pharmacy, hopefully we'll all finally be well at the same time.

I have to interject here to say that in the middle of typing this, Fynn was done with his lunch, so I walked over to him to take him out of the highchair, bumped into one of my very pretty plates hanging on my wall and it broke (one with sentimental value that I've had for ten years.) Just thought you should know.

Last night, we received some extremely distressing news about members of our family, which I won't go into, but it's not good, so there's that. Besides the illness, family problems and broken plates - on Wednesday I got into the car to go pay for Ewan's preschool, and the battery was dead. Bryce hasn't gotten home early enough to fix it yet this week, so I've been driving his car. After discovering this morning we were out of bread, I decided to do the weekly grocery trip. Kids all strapped in, halfway down the street, I realize I'm driving on a completely flat tire. In fact, driving on the rim. (But I have an awesome mother-in-law, who immediately came and sat with the kids so I could take her car. Thanks, Mary Ann!) Thursday Ewan threw a royal fit and refused to go into preschool, which resulted in us sitting in the parking lot for nearly half an hour because neither one of us would back down. I did finally win, after several times threatening to dismantle all electronic fun-ness out of the house.

Yucky sidenotes:  my dog peed on the rug, 3/4 of the way into the book I've been reading all week, I realized it actually stinks and can't finish it, and the news about the pregnant man was all over everything.  Ensuring that if I don't have morning sickness, I'll still be nauseated.

Forgive me for being a downer, because I will end on good notes - we got good news about the pregnancy, Ewan is finally better, the sun is shining, my testimony in blessing was strengthened, Mary Ann rocks, and I have eggrolls and Coke in my fridge. And it's FRIDAY. Things are looking up.

April 01, 2008

Daddy's got a new tax deduction

For those of you who have not caught on, I am expecting another baby in November.  I haven't made any official announcement until now because I was waiting to see the doctor to make sure all is well.  And it is.  I had three miscarriages between Ewan and Fynn, so I've been pretty pessimistic and nervous.  This morning at the doctor, I was sure I was going to throw up from nervousness.  But everything looks beautiful, and Ewan is especially excited.  He swears it's going to be a girl, won't accept that it could be the other option.  I'm a little more worried about how Fynn will take it, as he gets very upset if I even love on Ewan.  It should be interesting!