Every once in a while I can guilt the man into a blog. Since it will probably be a few months before you hear from him again, I thought I would take a shot at it.
It’s amazing to me what can happen in a year. With everything that has happened in our lives in the three short years we have been married, you would think that I would have come to grips with it already. One friend said that we have fit 15 years into a 3-year marriage. Funny. I was just thinking the same thing…but in a good way (love you, honey). But I digress. Just one year ago, we had this little blob that ate, slept and pooped. That was pretty much it. She had a good set of lungs on her, even back then (maybe that should have been our first clue). Now, she is walking all over the place. She climbs up and down the stairs (supervised, of course). She picked up Kylie’s socks the other day and tried to put them on her feet. She tries to put shoes on….oh, and the bottom stair has become her seat. She walks up to it, turns around and backs up and sits down on it like a chair. It’s the cutest thing. She’s learning to walk backwards. And she is starting to show a lot of personality. She’s stubborn and a bit obstinate…who would have guessed?
The biggest problem we have is that she is basically refusing to communicate. All she says is “Da”. She can say other things, and does periodically, but she’s not consistent. She clearly knows what we are asking. For instance, I asked her if she wanted to eat. She practically ran to her high chair and held her hands up. But forget getting her to ask for it. We are working on it. We understand that as long as she is getting what she wants without asking for it, there is no incentive to ask for it…but at some point you have to give in and feed the child. There has been lots of screaming and gnashing of teeth…Mallory is screaming and Kylie is gnashing her teeth. She is at least pointing now.
Kylie is less than a month from starting her senior year. No college has been picked yet. She goes to band camp next week for the last time. I wonder if she thinks about this being her last time. There will be many of those this year. She doesn’t get very nostalgic, so it may not matter to her. I think this will be an interesting year filled with lots of excitement and growing pains.
For your viewing pleasure, I have uploaded lots of new pictures. There are some new ones in Kylie’s folder and Mallory’s 12 month folder. I have also created some new ones: Becky’s Wedding, 4th of July and Mallory – 13 Months. Hope you enjoy.

He’s gone. My big boy…My constant companion for the last 10 1/2 years is gone. For the last couple of months, Major had been limping on his left front leg. Now, I knew that the circulation in that leg had been bad for at least a year. When I clipped his nails, there was just something different about the nails on that paw. They were growing funny and were brittle. But he was old. This was a new experience for me. I’ve never had a dog get old. They have always either disappeared or been hit by a car. But my man lived a sheltered life. He had no choice but to get old. And with that came the knowledge that, at some point, I was going to have a very tough decision to make.
Three years ago, he was diagnosed with hip displaysia and arthritis in his back (they only gave him a year and half…shows what they know). So when the limping started, it was just one more thing. One more sign of how old my friend was getting. He had also gone blind in his right eye. When he would go down stairs, he would go at a slight angle, I assume, so he could see better. I was convinced about the blindness when he walked right through a house plant. Then, about two weeks ago, I was bringing him in from the backyard, and I noticed that the left leg was about twice it’s normal size. We watched it for a few days. It would go down some and then get really big again. We decided that it was a circulation problem and that we needed to schedule a time to take him in…but things were busy, as usual.
Last Tuesday night, 6/10, I went outside to let the boys in and I noticed that the left side of Major’s chest was huge. Our friend, Richard, looked at him and said he thought it was cancer. After everyone left that night, I laid down on the floor with him and just loved on him. I would blow in his ear to aggravate him. I would stop petting him so he would dig his nose under my hand to get it back on his head…just like the good old days. He acted like he felt fine. He just had a really hard time getting up from the floor. And he still had so much personality. At one point, Johnathan and I were sitting on the bed, while I bawled my eyes out. He got up, walked around the bed and stopped to look at us before laying back down. He just tilted his head to the side as if to say, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?” So we struggled with whether we should just wait and see if it went down or if we needed to take him in on Wednesday. Of course, both of us had crazy schedules, but we decided that it was best for Major to take him in. We took him and dropped him off for the vet to run tests. It only took about an hour for the vet to call. It was cancer. The tumor was where his neck attached to his shoulder and was cutting off the circulation. It was fairly advanced. It was also in his eye (the blind one) so it was probably some sort of lymphoma. The vet was honest and said that there were treatments; however, due to Major’s age, he was not going to push me in that direction. I wouldn’t have put him through that anyway. So after much debate, many questions, and many, many tears, we made the decision not to bring him home.
When we finally got to see him at the vet, he was slightly sedated. They had already put an IV in his leg. Johnathan, Kylie and I were all there. We just sat and loved on him for about 30 minutes. Then, the technician asked if we were ready. “Ready as I’m ever gonna be.” They sedated him more so he was already asleep before they pushed the drugs. It was very peaceful, very fast. They left us alone with him. Sitting there with his lifeless body is forever etched in my mind. I’m glad that I was there for him, but I will never forget it. It still makes me cry. And somehow, it seems wrong to be able to take a life so easily…even if it is just a dog.
I remember the first time I ever saw him. My neighbor pulled him out of his coat…a surprise replacement for his predecessor that was hit by a car. He was only 5 weeks old. Tiny little thing. I had to crush up his food for him so he could eat. And he did not like to be touched… at all. He was never a needy dog. He liked attention…and occasionally, he demanded it. But for the most part, he was happy just to be in your presence. He got me through a divorce and a couple of other relationship breakups. He was the man of the house when I was single. He “tolerated” the new husband that took his spot in the bed. And periodically, he licked the face of my most precious creation. He let us put reindeer antlers on him at Christmas, and never did eat Cole, no matter how annoyed he was. And I swear to you the dog smiled. He will forever be my favorite dog and one of my best friends. I miss him.

Just a quick update. We went to the doctor today. Mallory is now 19 lbs. 11 oz. I was right. She did go through a growthspurt. The good news is that her body sped up, and her head slowed down. ;) She is 30 inches long and in the 75 percentile. Her head came down to the 75 percentile (from 90%)…no more bobble head. Her weight is still only in the 25 percentile so she’s a long, skinny baby…but at least she’s not a long, skinny baby with a big ole head.
Developmentally, she is on track with her due date not her birth date, which I guess technically means she’s ahead. That’s good. She got three shots (poor baby). But she did really well. I had to hold her hands down. The nurse said at this age they sometimes react by reaching down and grabbing the syringe…apparently, that is not a good thing. So I was holding her arms, the nurse was giving the shots, and Mallory was turning red and crying. I felt so bad. After the third one, I picked her up…I swear the child wasn’t breathing. It was one of those where their mouth is wide open, their face is beat red, and you just know that as soon as they can get that breath, a sound that could rival Mt. St. Helen is going to come out. Eventually, she caught that breath and just started squalling. But the amazing thing was that almost as soon as I got her up to my chest, she laid her head on my shoulder and stopped. The nurse said she did really well (in her non-kiddie voice…I honestly don’t think I have ever heard her real voice). She said that one of the shots burns really badly when it goes in. I said, “She’s a tough cookie.” The nurse agreed.
Only one negative outcome. Remember the gap between her teeth that I talked about last time, and how it was suppose to be a good thing? Well, too much of a good thing is bad. Her gap may prove to be a little more than the other teeth and braces can handle. Of course, we wouldn’t do anything until her permanent teeth come in, but oral surgery is a possibility. We’ll see. That’s several years down the road.
All in all, a good visit. We go back in 15 months.

I know, I know. I can’t believe it has been so long since I blogged (much longer for Johnathan…in case you’re counting).
So much has happened in the last 6 weeks. Mallory has learned how to stand up all on her own. They have told us at daycare that she has taken a couple of steps for them…for us?…not so much. That’s okay though. Once she starts walking, it’s all over but the crying.
She has gotten two teeth on the top. They are so far apart you could drive a mack truck between them (but I hear that’s a good thing…we’ll see). She still refuses to say “mama”. Yes, I said “refuses”. When she does say it, I get all excited and then she looks me right in the eyes, smiles and says “dada”. Jerk. A sign of things to come, I guess. Other signs point to the fact that she’ll be a tomboy. She is running over all of the boys in her class. She tackles them, steamrolls them, and I actually saw her grab one by his waistband as he tried to crawl away from her. Her teachers say they have to watch her closely because she has no fear. (Great.)
Other than that, I can’t really think of anything that stands out. We had her first birthday party. It was fun with a lot of kiddies “running” around. She dug into her cake, and after some prodding from a “friend” she put it all in her hair.
We go to the doctor this week so we’ll see how she is progressing. I think she has just gone through a major growth spurt lengthwise (she may grow into that head yet). I’ll let you know how it goes.
Now, on to Kylie. After some work on her grades, she got to go to prom. She picked out a beautiful dress (I’ll refrain from ranting about the dresses “they” design for teenage girls to wear and how inappropriate they are…trust me, that IS me restrained). She went with “this kid named, Andrew”. Somehow, he has ended up being her boyfriend now. I was in Seattle so only Johnathan got to meet him. However, Johnathan has said that if he had thought it would turn into something more than just prom, he would have given his “I have a gun” speech (every boy needs to hear one of those in his lifetime). Anyway, she looked like a pretty princess.
Junior year is now behind us. One more to go (yeah, like it ends when they graduate from high school). This summer she plans to work…a lot apparently. She has worked every day for the last week or week and a half. She’s trying really hard to pay off her car. It’s good to see her take so much initiative.
Now, for the question of the day. “Did she load any pictures?” Well, of course. I added Kylie’s prom pictures to her folder. I added some to Mallory’s 10 month folder. And I created Mallory’s 11 month, 1st birthday and 12 month folders (wait until you see the rocking horse video…cracks me up every time). At least I hope they all load. As usual, they are queued up…and I’m going to bed. Good night!!

I uploaded the videos I promised…or at least I set them to be uploaded. Each one takes a while, and I’m going to bed. So hopefully, they all will load for your viewing pleasure. I added one in Kylie’s album and 6 in Mallory – 10 Months.
Just remember…no matter how badly Johnathan talks about him, Cole is a good dog. ;) (of course, if all of the videos don’t load, you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about)
Good night!!

I am so ready for the end of cold and flu season. We started April off right with croup. I went out of town for one night, and Mallory kept Johnathan up all night long. (Don’t feel too sorry for him, he took off work the next day…but Mallory went to day care). He said that her nose was so stopped up that she just couldn’t breathe very well. She was okay for the next couple of days, but that weekend she kept a fever between 100 and 101 (spiked to 102.5 one time). And I guarantee you that the child did not stay awake for more than 45 minutes at a time. She also didn’t eat well. She would cough really badly (didn’t sound like a seal though), and she would whimper like her throat hurt. One time she got mad and just started kicking (no, I’m not worried that she’ll have a bad temper…why do you ask?) On Monday, the fever had broken, but we went to the pediatrician anyway. We told him that we came for a visit since we hadn’t seen him for over a month. :) He said she had croup. Great. He gave her steroids for her sore throat (it was all red). As he was emailing the prescription to the pharmacy, he said, “Now, this is a liquid steroid.” I said, “Good…cause she doesn’t do pills very well.” He didn’t even look at me. He just chuckled, nodded and said, “Funny.” I thought so. We kept her home until Thursday. When we got to the day care, there was a notice posted on the door that one of the children had croup. Yeah, that would have been nice to know a little earlier. Anyway, she has since recovered, but it was really sad. You could tell that she just didn’t feel well. And how do you explain a sore throat to a 10-month-old?
The second tooth is coming in. It took it a little while longer to actually come through the skin, but it has finally made it. I think the tooth fairy is on rapid fire now. She’ll have a mouth full of teeth before long. Just enough to terrorize Elizabeth. :)
I uploaded some pictures in Mallory – 10 Months (I have lots of videos but for some reason I couldn’t get them to load tonight…I’ll try again soon). Mallory wore her camo dress the other day (thanks, Papa and Katninny). It’s really cute. But then she decided to have some fun. She hid in her highchair and the woods near our house. See if you can find her in the pictures.
Let’s see…what else is new…oh yeah, I whacked all my hair off. It’s about up to my chin. You’ll see a picture of it. I was just so tired of it. The only way I really liked it was in a ponytail, and a ponytail is just not appropriate for all occasions. It will take some getting use to. It has been about 6 years since the last time I cut it short. It’s hair. It’ll grow. She was able to take off 8 inches and still leave me a decent amount. I want to donate it. Locks of Love requires 10 inches, but I just didn’t have the patience to go for another 2. My neighbor said that there is another organization that will take 8. That’s where she donated. But until I can get the information from her, my ponytail is riding shotgun in an envelope.
I have to share something that I found disturbing. I have noticed recently that more and more women are talking on the phone in the restroom at work. And I don’t mean near the sinks. I mean, in the stalls, doing their business. I heard one say that she had to step away from her desk to talk on her cell phone because she has to be “professional”. Hmmmm…how ironic. But this takes the cake. I walked into the restroom before leaving work, and I heard elevator music. My first reaction was, “Are you kidding? They’re piping music into the bathroom??” Then, I noticed that one of the stalls was occupied. (Are you thinking what I’m thinking? “Oh, surely not.”) Then, I heard, “Thank you for calling Southwest Airlines. All of our representatives are busy. Please stay on the line…” Yep. To top it off, she left without washing her hands. She’s one of “those”…you know, the kind that doesn’t wash her hands…and doesn’t care if a customer service rep hears her pee.

Ten months old and we finally have a tooth! I noticed yesterday that the first one was about to erupt. There was already a hole. Then, this morning, she “bit” my nose (I prefer to call it a “kiss”), and I felt a sharp little thing. How cool!
Something else I did yesterday was put up new pictures and videos. Kylie now has her own folder. I added a couple to Mallory – 8 Months and I created Mallory – 9 Months. Enjoy! As soon as the tooth is visible, we get pictures of it.

Amazingly enough, Mallory has an ear infection. We started seeing “stuff” come out of her ear (I’ll spare you the details), so we assumed that they were “draining properly”. Well, I got a call from day care stating that Mallory had screamed and pulled on her ears when they laid her down to change her diaper. . . great. Johnathan called the ENT. Apparently, the tubes are not for drainage. They are for ventilation. If “stuff” is coming out, then there is an ear infection that needs to be treated. . . super. The good news is that we can use the post-op drops that we got from the ENT. Hopefully, we can avoid more antibiotics. We have been doing the drops for 3 days now. She seems to be getting better. The “stuff” has stopped coming out. She is sleeping very soundly. And she’s tugging at her ears less. That’s a good sign.
She’ll be 10 months this Saturday, and I can’t believe how fast it is flying by. It seems like just yesterday when she was this tiny thing that really didn’t do much. Now, you can’t take your eyes off of her, or she’s pulling the dogs’ hair and turning over plants. It’s funny for me to turn my back, just for a second, and hear these little hands slapping the hardwood floor because she’s crawling as fast as she can to explore the world around her. And man, is she fast. Our new favorite game is her chasing me around the couch. . . both of us crawling. It kills my knees so she’s actually faster than me. But she loves for me to jump out and say “boo!” She just belly laughs. The game she plays on her own is “Look, ma. No hands!” She pulls up on something, lets go and sees how long she can stand. She’s really good at this one. The funny thing is that she’s not cruising. No steps whatsoever. She doesn’t seem to care about walking yet. Just standing. And she still doesn’t have any teeth (that will be important later in this blog). She is gnawing on anything she can get into her mouth, even her own hand. But no teeth. I just know that, one morning, we’re going to get up, and she’s going to have a mouth full of teeth. But for now, nothing.
Johnathan had a birthday last week. That man is so hard to buy for. I thought about getting him a Wii. . . but his brother and his mother have one. And the only time that we really have time to play is when we hang out with them. . . so we’ll just mooch off of them for a while. Instead, I decided that a night away from home would be fun. I booked us a night at Opryland Hotel. Lindsey and Tonja offered to keep Mallory (I actually remember some begging and pleading in there somewhere). So I whisked my husband away for a night away from teenagers and baby monitors (although I did text with Kylie to make sure she made it home okay in the ice and snow). It was nice. Very nice. Every time I have ever been to that hotel, I have looked up at the balconies and thought how cool it would be to sit up there and overlook one of the atriums. So I made sure that we had an atrium view (we even had to sacrifice and take a handicap room where the only difference was a bigger bathroom. . . we managed to get though it). We got there in time to check in and have a glass of wine before walking to dinner at a restaurant in the hotel. Dinner was excellent. Then, we got to sleep a little late the next morning (any parent knows what a luxury that is when you have an infant). We thought it would be more fun to order room service for breakfast rather than get dressed and go out. We ate with the balcony doors open, listening to the indoor waterfalls. Then, we had coffee out on the balcony (ah, a dream realized). The only regret was that it wasn’t long enough. But it did make us realize that we need to get away more often.
Kylie has been working a lot and spending every second she can hanging out with friends so we don’t see much of her. That’s a teenager for you. She’s on Spring Break this week. She and I went to lunch the other day (sushi, her favorite). And today, I’m leaving work early to meet her. We’re getting pedicures (time to start wearing flip flops). She stays up really late. . . then, sleeps really late. It’s so funny. She spends a week screwing up her sleep schedule, then, struggles to work it out when she goes back to school. That’s a teenager for you.
I’ll close now with a funny Mallory story. I walked into day care one morning, and her teacher said, “You have a fighter on your hands here.” What?? It seems that the oldest child in the class. . . we’ll call her Elizabeth. . . is “bullying” the other kids. Well, apparently, Mallory got her fill. She was pulling up on one of the gates and Elizabeth started pushing her. Mallory went at her red-faced, claws out, mouth wide open, yelling “aaaaaarrrrrrrr”. She was mad (and not gonna take it anymore!). The teacher said that if Mallory had teeth, she would have hurt her (little blessing. . . thank you, God. . . because Elizabeth’s parents are lawyers, haha). When I picked her up later that day, I asked how things were between Mallory and Elizabeth. The teacher said they were “cool”. Elizabeth needed to be put in her place. . . and Mallory was just the girl to do it. So it appears that our little princess has no problem standing up for herself. And she has her dad’s temper – long fuse with a big bang at the end.