More years than she has feet.

Today is my baby girl's birthday. Look at you, Gracie Lou! You're five!

Even though there's a baby on the way, you'll always be my best girl. We keep telling you this but you're not sure; maybe it's because he kicked you in the face from in utero a few weeks ago. But really, you're going to love him. We promise. He'll have so many fun toys and smell so good and you will be the center of his little life. You're already the center of ours.

We've had such a good year - no injuries, no puppy flu, just that weird sneezing thing that I'm pretty sure you do to get attention. You've made new friends in Charlie and Desi and you're learning to tolerate CoCo. The best is when Penny comes to visit, though--your little face just lights up and you can't wait to pull her back leg out from under her. But as much as you love your puppy friends, you just want to be with me and Daddy, and that's okay with us. We want to be with you, too.

Our little family (and mama's tummy) is growing, and we're so glad you were our first. You will always, always be my baby. I hope you know that.

And then everything went KABOOM

When I last left you, I was trucking away on work and a baby blanket and putting off some sewing.

And then my computer did a complete nose-dive and totally ruined my week. I lost everything (but got 99% of it back from my handy-dandy online backup service), including a day of work and a night of crafting. It was ridiculous and I was mad and it was my own stupid fault. While trying to install a second monitor, I inadvertantly obliterated my operating system.

My computer is back to normal, but my furry friend and I are still recovering from last week's stupidness. I was stupid with the computer, and Gracie was stupid in general. She has started to dig through my garbage when she's upset with me and ate an entire banana peel (which I made her throw up). She also rolled in urine-that-was-not-her-own on that same day.

Gracie, Gopher, and I are hoping for a much better week.

The party continues

We've had a hell of a weekend, starting with an unexpected visitor in our chimney (I'll tell you about it when the situation is resolved and I'm no longer foaming at the mouth with anger) and culminating with both of us working today - Justin on schoolwork, me on work work. The summer portion of Weddingpalooza is gearing up, and we're trying to get ahead so we can attempt to enjoy the forthcoming 28 hours (spread over three weeks) in the car without worrying about real-life obligations. I like to spend my car time completely passed out in the passenger seat while Gracie breathes on me from the back seat. Priorities! Also, in the course of three days, it rained too much to go to the drive-in, I burned an entire chicken on the grill, Justin burned fish on the grill, I finished some test-knitting (very secretive but also very exciting), and I watched six episodes of Weeds.

Holiday weekend, indeed.

Gracie's birthday celebration raged well into the end of last week:

At least someone is having a good time.

I've been dreading this day all year

Happy birthday, Li'l G! You're four today, and I can't say I've been looking forward it. I hate that my baby is all grown up. I want time to stop so you can be with us, just as you are right now, forever. But I think that no matter how old you are, you'll still love Ball, ice cubes, and giving your babies the business. I can live with that.

Snuggling with Cubby and Gopher

You started off last year with a bang, having your right dewclaw removed in September. We were both pretty miserable about it, and I was worried you'd never play ball again. But you're just fine now, One-Thumb Gracie, and you've relearned how to hold your bone without that dewclaw. Daddy called you "Lieutenant Dan" to make me laugh ("Lieutenant Dan, you ain't got no thumbs!"), and you loved going to the vet's office to get your bandages changed (even when you pretended you couldn't walk once they were taken off). You're a trooper, kid.

You're also a really good snuggler, and you and I had plenty of opportunties to nap together during the winter months while I was waiting for work to pop up.

I'm not supposed to be here right now.You kept my spirits up and brought me your babies when I was sad. There's nothing quite like waking up covered in spit-stiff stuffed toys, and I thank you for that. In fact, as I write this, you're working over the stuffed baby moose I gave you an hour ago. You are both sitting in front of the vent, unaware that the air conditioning is off and the windows are open. I'm wondering which one of you is going to figure it out first. My money's on the moose.

Happy birthday, little one. You're the best thing that ever happened to us.

October 2006

Love,

Mama

Broked

Things are kind of falling apart around here. It seems that everything we purchased in 2006 is now in need of repair, including Justin's dresser (wonky drawer), the grill (the drip pan completely rotted away), and, as of today, our bed. Justin had just changed into his mowing clothes after work, and Gracie and I were snuggling on the bed while he put on his socks. He got up, Gracie jumped off, and I scooted down to the corner. BAM, bed on the floor. Well, boxspring half on the floor. The wooden bed rails have long, 1" or 2" pieces of wood running down the inside to hold up the boxspring. One of those rails splintered in two. As best as we can tell, the rail on the other side of the bed wasn't properly anchored, which caused stress on the side that broke.

But at least I got a chance to vacuum 4 years' worth of dust once we moved everything.

This all started when our best purchase of 2006 broke in a major way last week. Gracie threw up a few times in the middle of the night one night, not her usual I'm-hungry-bile, but pretty much everything she'd eaten during the day. That never happens. I wouldn't have worried except there were some spots of blood in the last round, around 4 a.m. We headed to the vet at 8:30, and by 10:00 we were home, several blood tests and $200 lighter. He could tell she wasn't feeling well just by looking at her - she barely wagged her tail and was not her usual perky self. Honestly, her eyes were dead. It turned out she had a fever and "unspecified gastrointestinal distress," meaning some sort of infection that was making her insides sick. He gave her a shot for nausea and sent us home with antibiotics, nausea pills, and something to coat her intestines to make digestion easier. She spent that day sleeping in front of the air vents, trying to stay cool.

Oh, my poor baby. She was DOWN. She didn't follow me around the house, didn't play, and slept with her favorite red ball next to her head. It was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. She was so bad on Friday that I decided that if she wasn't better by the morning, we were going back to the doctor. Luckily, by Saturday night, she was back on track and taking all of her toys out of the toy basket. She's been making up for lost time ever since.

It's horrible watching your pet go through that. I knew that she just had a bug and nothing was seriously wrong, but it's so hard because she can't tell you what's wrong and I just wanted to make her comfortable. The vet did show me how to tell if she's nauseous (the way she arches her back and looks uncomfortable when she stands), which is good to know, but I just wish she could tell me, you know? Without throwing up.