daddy's shoes

welcome ruby

Well I knew that we are a dog family and that when we were finished grieving for Daisy that we would adopt another dog. What I didn't know was that we'd be opening our home to a new dog so quickly. While I am still not over the loss of Daisy, our hearts grew and we adopted Ruby, also a cocker spaniel, from a humane society in southern Virginia. We spontaneously took an overnight trip there to get her after seeing her online and talking with her caretakers on the phone.

Ruby has proved to be a much better car rider than Daisy, but she also showed some signs of being "country" as Alex put it. I'm not sure that she had ever seen stairs before and she was also very fearful of going into our bathrooms for the first few days. She also has a naughty chewing habit that we are working to break her of at this point. But like Daisy, she is very loving!

 

 

 

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love my doll

Jenna was given a doll for her birthday from her friends Luca and Siena. The gift was pretty much unrivaled by anything else she received even from mom and dad. What can I say? She loves this baby doll and she even has the doll sit with her to watch shows.

 

ball

Tyler and Jenna both love playing ball. Most recently they have gotten really good at rolling a small ball back and forth consistently. They really work as a team while doing this which isn't always the case!

Jenna has watched Tyler play soccer and she is desperately wanting to do the same. We suspect she may even surpass his athleticism.

favorite song

Tyler and Jenna's favorite song is "Move it!" They insist on listening to it in the car on their way to daycare. Jenna just yells "move it!" until I put it on and then HAS to hear the Moto Moto version directly following the first. And I love Tyler's dance moves where he shakes his arms in the air and does a neck roll. Good times!

robot truck

We have been having a rash of thunderstorms which rattle Tyler a bit. I was told as a kid that they were the Gods bowling, so i told Tyler a similar story about it being Grampy and God bowling together. It did seem to comfort him despite all of his questions about why they were bowling.

Shortly after Tyler went to bed last night, a really big loud truck drove by the house and woke Tyler up. He was very nervous about the noise and asked if it was just Grampy bowling. When Alex told him that it was actually a truck, Tyler decided that it must of been Grampy coming down from Heaven in a huge robot truck. Poor Grampy is getting blamed for every loud noise. :)

you can't see me

One of my favorite things that Jenna still does when she is nervous about seeing new faces is she covers her eyes and acts as though you can't see her if she can't see you. So cute!

I changed my mind

Tyler's new favorite phrase.

night night

2-year checkup

The doctor was very impressed by Jenna's development; she has already met all of her 2-year-old milestones and she is only four days into her second year! Dr. Plotnick mentioned her advanced speech and jenna's ability to jump which is a leap of faith most 2-year-olds struggle with. Her stats are:

Weight: 28 pounds, 3 ounces (50-75 percentile)
Height: 35 1/8 inches (75-90 percentile)
Head circumference: 19 3/8 inches (75-90 percentile)

marked improvement

Tyler has shown great progress in the last week at daycare as far as his behavior goes. He has been so adamant about doing things HIS way, but (fingers crossed) he seems to be getting with the program lately. Hope he keeps it up!

finger painting

happy 2nd birthday jenna

I did/do it!

Jenna's new popular phrase involves her fierce independence: I do it! This can be wanting to climb into her carseat,open the door, brush her teeth and countless other activities. She also surprises herself sometimes and will squeal with delight, I did it!

loss of daisy

Upon returning home from our photo session we pulled into the garage and I heard an alarm-like sound. I looked over at Alex and he had heard it too. I thought maybe the sound was coming from a neighbor's since we do not have an alarm. As I walked out of the garage the alarm sounded again and this time I could tell it was coming from our house. I ran inside immediately whereas I would normally walk in with the entire family together.

There I found Daisy deceased on the family room floor with blood around her mouth. I was able to signal Alex to take the kids straight up for naps without them seeing her close up. They didn't realize she was dead and said good night to her. Alex and I had time to bury Daisy and clean the floor before the kids woke up.

Once the kids woke up the difficult talks began. I explained to Tyler that Daisy went to heaven and is now up there with Grampy. Tyler insisted that Daisy would come back once Grampy fixed Daisy's leg (Daisy began limping two days prior and the vet thought that she had pulled a muscle. But she began yelping in pain seemingly randomly.) When I explained that Daisy wasn't going to ever come back, he began to cry. Eventually he asked if we could get a new dog. And when Jenna woke up she called and called for Daisy to come to her. It broke my heart.

We never heard the alarm again and have yet to figure out what it was.

photo shoot

 

 

 

gone running

may day