An almost lazy Saturday morning

These are the best kind of Satruday mornings. I am obsessive compulsive enough that I can't spend a lazy Saturday morning doing nothing. It makes me feel, well...lazy. I prefer to spend my Saturday mornings being somewhat productive but not "I have way too much stuff to get done today" crazy.

So, Dominic woke himself up with a coughing fit a little earlier than he likes to get up. But once he was up, he thought that maybe it was time to start the day. But after some playtime and breakfast, he decided that he DEFINATELY hadn't had enough sleep after all. So I carried him upstairs and put him back to bed with John. After I kissed two of my boys good "nap," I managed to coax my other boy (you know, the furry one) out of his bed and into the bathtub. He's not speaking to me right now, but I'm confidant that he'll be begging for lovin' soon enough.

I started to go in and clean the bathtub, but decided there was no rush. So here I am enjoying the first cup of coffee from the pot that I brewed an hour and a half ago. Well, it seems Mojo has forgiven me, he wants to play. I think I'll go play for a while before I clean the tub.

Mojo the brave

I'll start by saying Mojo almost NEVER barks. We had him for a good month before he even made a sound. He's become a bit more protective since Dominic came along and will occasionally let out a soft warning bark when a strange car goes by or the mailman startles him. This is a bit of a concern as we were hoping for a slightly less complacent dog, but we love our Mojo so we deal with it.

My second preface is that John works out of town sometimes. This week, he was working out of town and working nights. The last plan I had heard was that he would work his 12 hrs Wednesday night and then drive the 3+ hrs home Thursday morning, getting home around 10am.

So, I'm sound asleep early Thursday morning (2:45am) when all of a sudden Mojo jumps up, starts barking and tears down the stairs. They weren't his little warning barks either, they were "I'm gonna rip your face off" barks. It was abundantly clear that someone was coming into our home. I would love to say that I tore down the stairs after him, but I am a bit of a chicken. I stood at the top of the stairs, putting my robe on, croaked out a "hello?" and prayed to God that it was John. My silly husband thought that he would quietly come in and just crawl into bed. I reassured him that Mojo gave him a much friendlier welcome than I would have given to someone crawling into my bed in the middle of the night. Apparently Mojo's first bark came when John opened the screen door. He was bounding down the stairs before John even had the key in the lock.

Needless to say, Mojo has gotten plenty of lovin' today and even a special yummy treat. I will never again question my dog's alertness, protectiveness or bravery. I will sleep soundly at night knowing that my watch dog is on guard.

GOBR and a mommy-mobile

We had a busy weekend. We are in the process of becoming a foster home for rescued boxers. We would bring a rescued dog into our house and work on training it and determining its temperament so it could be adopted into an appropriate home. Our goal is to find a new permanent member of our family. The advantage of fostering is that we can essentially "try it before we buy it." If we get a foster dog that as John put it "we can't live without," we get first dibs on adopting that boxer. So this past Sunday, we had our home visit. A volunteer from Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue (GOBR) came to the house to get to know us better and to make sure Mojo would be good with other dogs. Of course Mojo passed with flying colors. And after spending Saturday putting our fence back up after the wind storm, I'm confident we did as well. So hopefully, we'll soon have a playmate for Mojo, whether temporary or permanent.

When we weren't having our home visit or cleaning for our home visit, we were shopping for a car. We take too many long distance trips to be comfortable in the neon. The trips with Mojo are especially tight. In addition, the neon is quickly loosing its reliability. Which I suppose is to be expected of a 2003 vehicle with 113,000 miles on it. So yesterday we purchased my mommy-mobile. I'm comforted in the fact that although it is a mommy-mobile, it is still very much a truck. We bought a 1999 Ford Expedition complete with a V8 engine and 4 wheel drive. (Insert obligatory male grunting.)

I'm trying desperately to think of any errands that need to be run today. Unfortunately, I'm coming up blank. We might just have to go cruising.

So that's what we've been up to. Everyone here is happy and healthy. Since I can't go anywhere unless I have something to wear, I'd better get my laundry started. Until next time...

We're still here

I know, I know...I'm not very good at keeping this updated. I really don't have any excuse other than I'd just rather spend my time playing with Dominic. Come on, do you really blame me?

Ok, so we went to his surgeon. Everything went well, especially the x-ray part. I have to admit, I was imagining a screaming child with his arm taped down. Fortunately, the three girls doing the x-rays were cute and my son is a HUGE flirt. They just talked to him and he had no idea his arm was taped to a board.

The doctor told us that he wanted to do the surgery at the end of this month. But when I called to schedule the surgery, the nurse told me that he had just met with pediatric surgeons who have seen more cases of ulnar dimelia. They suggested waiting another 6 months. This will give us the opportunity to watch Dominic use his hand and figure out which of the existing digits to use to create the thumb. So we'll go back to see Dr. Lacey over the summer.

Dominic had his 6 month check-up with our family doctor, Dr Chillcott, on Friday. Everything is well. He is now 16 lbs 5 ozs and 27 in long. He's right on track developmentally and physically.

In between those appointments, Mojo went in to have his tooth pulled and his yearly round of shots. He enjoyed a few days of painkillers and has now bounced back to his usual self.

That should get us updated for now. Gotta go get my grumpy little man!

History...to the future

I do not want to make this a political post, so I'll try to be brief.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. "
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

I get chills when I read that quote. Because finally, his dream has come true.

And I am so very grateful that my children will grow up in a country where an African American can be president. When I look Dominic in the eye and tell him that he can be anything he dreams, it is the truth.

Praise God! And may God continue to bless this great nation.

Suspense

So, I'm sure everyone is waiting, wondering what happened...Did Dominic fall asleep? Was Santa able to come? Is it true that Mojo and Dominic were good boys all year?

The answer to all questions is yes. Dominic was asleep by the time I finished messing around with the camera trying to get the pic on the blog. Mojo was much easier. We opened the door to our bedroom and told him to go to bed. Not another peep out of him until morning.

We had a wonderful Christmas. Had my family over for traditional Christmas eve dinner and gifts. We surprised our parents with collages of family pics. We had a quiet Christmas morning. Mojo was funny. He would take his gifts into the nursery/Mojo's room and put them in a pile. When he heard someone else opening up a gift, he would come investigate. "What d'ya get, what d'ya get?"

Then we went to John's family to enjoy the chaos. John is one of six children. Dominic is the seventh grandchild. They are ages 19, 15, 13, 7, 2, 1 and 6 months. Not to mention another on the way. (before you get excited, it's not me!) Somehow, even with all of the noise it is very relaxing.

Dominic got tons of toys. We were pushing it before, but now we definately need a bigger house. Mojo also got a lot of toys. He has been extremely playful since Christmas.

New year's was pretty quiet as well. I got off work at 7:15 and then we headed back out to John's family's. It's an open invitation to everyone for new year's every year. Nothing fancy, just tons of food and laughter.

We spent the day yesterday packing up christmas and finding room for all of Dominic's new toys. I am much less anxious without a living room full of toys.

We have an appointment to day with Dominic's hand surgeon to plan and schedule his surgery. So maybe later, I'll post an update on that. Gotta run, it's an hour drive....

Waiting for Santa

So, here it is 1:00 am Christmas morning. We would like nothing more than to play santa and go to bed. But alas...