john's mom works

pic of the day: the first family walk with buddy our family got a little bit bigger today! buddy joined us today about 2:30 pm when he arrived from the long drive from nacodoches, tx. ann and another volunteer from st. francis anmal rescue over there were kind enough to take the time to bring buddy to his new home. buddy was a little nervous at first - it is clear that he has been mistreated at some point in his life, and he is particularly wary of men's hands. but in the less than seven hours he's been here the change is already phenomenal. he follows my husband every where he goes. he's happy to lean against us and almost get in our laps. he wags his tail and is happy to see us when we walk in from the other room. in short, i don't think it will be too long before he's 100% settled in and loving his new life. we went for our first family walk this evening. buddy definitely spooks when there are strange noises behind him, but he did well overall. he did pull...

pic of the day "me? up to no good? never!" so tonight, my husband is taking me out to a lovely italian restaurant for a date night. on a wednesday night, you might ask? well, yes. hey, you take it where you can get it with a sweet little man as the (much-welcomed) third wheel on most of our "dates"! we haven't been going out to eat lately, as a part of our efforts to get rid of debt and save towards having an emergency fund. and on friday, we're adopting a very sweet doggie who will need us to be around quite a lot in his first few days, since he will be not only adjusting to his new home but also learning to trust and love us. so the prospects of having some adult time weren't looking so hot for the next week or two. and then, my husband had a brilliant inspiration. he won a gift card in a golf tournament a while back ... so tonight's dinner will be free or very very cheap! and since one of my favorite people in the world is willing to come ...

pic of the day this is clearly not buddy :) it is nola, the new puppy belonging to our friends who came to the camp with us for easter. but john loves nola, too. breaking news first: buddy is coming to live with us on friday! we've passed the home test and jumped through the hurdles, and he'll be arriving friday afternoon. easter sunday was a big day: we brought john to the camp with us for the first time! for those of you not from south louisiana, "the camp" is a very fascinating local entity. most families have a camp somewhere. they're typically in the middle of nowhere, on the water. some people have hunting camps, some people have fishing camps. ours is sort of a general recreation camp. it's a well-loved ramshackle cypress shack on a small spit of land called graveyard island. about eight feet from the back door is the belle river, with a dock where the boats are parked. about eight feet from the front door is the gravel road, then the lake, wher...

pic of the day where did this big child come from, and what did you do with my tiny little baby?  i know i say this all the time. but where in the heck does time go? leaving for work this morning, my husband was still asleep and so was the baby. (the daycare is closed for good friday so my husband stayed home with john.) when i peeked in at john sleeping, he looked like a big kid (see the picture above). not like a sweet little baby bundle, but like a big ol' boy. sure, he's still small in size. but the way he holds himself, even when he's sleeping, has more child in it than baby. and yes, i'm waxing philosophical here a bit, but i can just tell i am going to bat my eyelashes and he'll be driving. he's coming up on a year already ... and then two ... etc. i know it's the natural way of things. i know every single mama in the world feels the same way. but i just look at this little creature that i nurtured in my body for 9 months and i think ... how...

pic of the day john shares his mom's guilty pleasure of reading trashy gossip rags 5:30 p.m. hurry to school to pick up peanut. enjoy his laughing/yelping in joy when his mama walks through the door to get him. distance traveled: 3.1 miles 5:45 p.m. hurry home so that peanut and mommy can go for a walk to the park. distance traveled: 4.1 miles 6:15 p.m. load john in the stroller and head on down to the park. should be a 1 mile round trip walk. 6:22 p.m. r ealize i was supposed to stop at the produce market on the way home from work. decide we can't go to the park after all. stop in my tracks and turn around. distance traveled: .65 miles 6:35 p.m. load john into his carseat. ignore his standard scream-when-you-put-me-in-a-carseat act. head to the produce market. did i mention the produce market is back near my work? distance traveled: 6.4 miles 6:55 p.m. back in the car. head to albertson's for the item or two i couldn't get at the produce market. re...

admiral john and his ducky flotilla a brief note on perspective: after feeling so yukky yesterday morning, i had a conversation with an amazing friend of mine. i haven't cleared with her whether i can mention her here, so we shall call her "n." "n" is seven months pregnant with her second child, a baby girl we'll call "r". unfortunately, "r" has spina bifida. and recently, "n" and her family have discovered several other complications, including a chromosonal abnormality that does not bode well for baby "r". the chances of baby "r" even coming home from the hospital are not good. but "n" is amazing. yes, she and her family are praying for a miracle - how can you not? but she has also begun the process of making peace with this overwhelming situation. she is positive, and beautiful, and strong. she admits to crying late at night as though that were a weakness. she and her husband and their son ...

pic of the day: a quick cat nap on gigi's (great grandma's) couch before we got on a plane to fly home on monday.