Farai turns 6!

Allow me to introduce Farai Shadow-dagger Simons.  Farai turned 6 years old Sunday!  She is a glorious black labrador retreiver.  I actually started this post then, but am just finding the time to finish it today.  My philosophy is that it's never to late to celebrate!

I adopted Farai and brought her home when she was 10 weeks old, and she has been my faithful companion ever since.  I think I will do posts dedicated to the dogs sometime in the near future, so I will stick to the party for today.  Suffice it to say, the dogs are family to us.  Furry, cuddly, adorable, zany, and sometimes exasperating family.

We had Farai's party the week before since my family was in town to help celebrate.  They have been a part of these celebrations for several years, and no longer find it strange. 

Solomon, or Saul, as we more commonly call him, was Guest Numero Uno.  He is a 3 year old chocolate lab with about as much zeal for life as can possibly be contained in his 90 pound frame.  He still retains a lot of his puppyish features, and I still think of him as my puppy.

Here are the canine guests being corralled for a picture.  I forgot to take a picture before I pulled the cakes out, and they completely lose their minds when the cakes come out!  Thanks for helping get a party hat pic, babe!

The scene was set!  Decor at dogs-eye level, naturally.

Here were the cakes.  (Human at the top, ha.) Farai's cake was chicken which I shaped into a dome and then "iced" with greek yogurt and decorated with a marshmallow flower.  It was delicious according to the dogs.  Saul got his own cake without a flower.

I can't wait until she's old enough to throw dog parties with me!  And oh my gosh, am I excited about the birthday spectacular that we'll host for HER first birthday!

I was so glad that my mom, brother, and his girlfriend (below) could be here to party!  They are awesome!

I'll wrap up this post with a picture of me and my girls.  I am one happy momma.

7 weeks and counting...

This week our funny baby is 7 weeks old.  She is just starting to share her first few social smiles over the past week.  She has one of those smiles that just lights up her whole face!  It's magical.  Here's a little grin that dad caught on camera today.  It's a cell phone picture, but I love it.

She is holding her head up more and for longer and longer periods of time now.  She is so strong.  It catches me by surprise sometimes when she kicks those legs or looks around or arches her back in a big cat stretch.

I took her up to her dad's office last week to weigh her, and my jaw just dropped when we saw the number on the scale was 12 lbs 1 oz!  She is really thriving, and focusing on developing her cheeks! They are just so kissable.  I can't resist them.  Clearly, the girl is eating well.  I am so thankful for that.  She is also sleeping really well.  Starting the end of last week she began sleeping through the night occasionally.  Three times in the past week she has done it!  (I consider sleeping through the night to be more than 7 hours of sleep.)  So I am just continuing to do what I am doing, and hoping that the frequency of these nights continues!  I love you, Babywise!

She is also transitioning from being a serious sleepyhead to being more and more wakeful during the day.  She has stayed awake almost all morning every day this week.  I love to see her looking around and absorbing her surroundings.  We walk our dogs, our two labrador retreivers, in the mornings and she just looks up at the sky and the trees and all around her.  I love to watch her take it all in.  I watch her.  She watches the sky.  She also really likes to look up at the ceiling fan in the living room.  It is dark bronze with dark wood blades on a white field.  She is mesmerized by it.  I guess she likes the contrast.  She also likes looking at the books on her bookshelf.  It looks as though she is searching them as she gazes at the shelf, and then slowly stops and fixes on them one at a time.  So funny.  I love the wonder with which she approaches the world.  It inspires me, and I have found myself asking the Lord to renew my heart and increase my wonder at the world and at the works of His hands in my life.

Human Puppy

We welcomed the first human puppy to the pack on June 28, 2010. I had a planned c-section out of medical necessity (there will likely be more on this at a later date - not a fan). So, we arrived at the hospital at the appointed time, and before I could even wrap my mind around what was happening I was looking into this tiny face and falling absolutley and completely in love. Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos of the big day.

First pictures daddy took. Talk about a newborn! I was hearing her cry across the room and was in awe. Nate came over and whispered "twelve-eleven" to me sweetly and gave me a kiss, and in my stupor I thought he was telling me her weight, but he was really telling me her time of birth. I had a momentary freak out until he realized my misunderstanding and clarified. Whew.

First family picture. First time I got to see this little wonder we'd been waiting on and dreaming about.

That's my wonderful recovery room nurse in the nursery scooping our baby for us so we could have her in recovery. Thanks, Magda! That time in the recovery room was so special to us.

The end of a long, wonderful day is just the start of this journey we've been waiting our whole lives to begin. Welcome, little girl. As daddy sang to you this morning before we left for the hospital, "you've gone and stole my heart and made it your own."

Hello world!

I didn't think I would ever get into the blog scene. I'm not that hip. However, recent events in my life have opened up the opportunity, and given me something, er, someone, that I LOVE talking about! I have come to accept the fact although I find caring for the critically ill a fascinating and stimulating challenge, I am mostly met by blank stares when I talk about work. This blog will revolve around my new career as a homemaker and mother, and will hopefully feature an occasional post by the new daddy. Thanks for reading!