Pets:
Boudreaux - is getting older and it shows. He is a lazy family dog.
I wish we made more time to walk him, but its hard. The evenings fly by and
honestly I think he likes being a house dog. His big issue continues to be his
ears. He “always” has had ear infections and this year was no different….actually
worse. He developed a hematoma. His ear looked like a sopapilla. He had 2
surgeries this year to fix it.
Teddy- we lost Teddy this year. It was by far the most shocking
thing that happened this year. After 10 years of him being a part of our family
this was very difficult for Ava and I. I surely thought he would have been
around at least until he was 12-14. I thought he had a few more years in him,
but it was his time. He lived a great life with us.
Timmy – with the loss of Teddy there was a void in our family. We went
a few months trying to move forward, but we needed another small pooch. Hence
Timmy….a puppy. I tried for months to adopt and give a needing dog (another
yorkie) a family, but since Boudreaux wasn’t fixed we weren’t ideal candidates.
I knew a puppy would be work, but this is like a 3rd child. I guess I
forgot the “”puppy stage” with Teddy and Boudreaux. I just keep telling myself
it will get better in a few months when potty training is down and he is fixed.
Most of all I Ava is happy with our new addition. However, she still has missed
Teddy and will talk about him. We all still miss him. Teddy can never be
replaced.
Family:
Nathan – my hunk! My mama’s boy!
He has changed so much this year. He has embraced being a toddler and that annoying
little brother to Ava. He is so active, smart, and loving. I swear he thinks he
is a big kid. He tries so hard to keep up with Ava and has been so advanced in
everything. It has to be a 2nd kid thing. He is still huge compared
to other kids his age. He is 34lbs and wears size 2. He is all boy too. Loves
trucks, balls (might be left handed) and obsessed with Mickey Mounce right now.
Sometimes, most times, he is rough. I think it’s a combo of his size and
dealing with an older sister. He can absolutely hold his own in his class. To
the point where he is slightly aggressive
or I like to say leader. There have been
a few incidents in his class where either he has been bit of bites (I remember this
stage with Ava, but she was always the kid who was bit) all over not sharing
the trucks in class….the class is predominantly boys so this is inevitable. Its
funny how tough he can be but that boy is scared of everything, well pretty
much any loud noise. The vacuum, the blower, etc. It will startle him and he runs
looking for me/Ryan. Nathan has also become quite the little dancer. He has
some great moves. As soon as he hears music his little body is moving. He is
also doing great in his class. His teachers love him. He knows all his body
parts, starting to count, say his abc’s, loves books and talking very well. His
favorite word is “No”. We are waiting for this stage to be over. Nathan is
still as great eater. He loves meat, beans, potatoes and pasta just like his
dad. His favorite vegetable is green beans and favorite fruit is bananas. He
hates cheese and anything that has it like grilled cheese or mac n cheese (how
can this be my kid. Ha). Most of all he loves his Milk. We go through 2 plus
gallons of milk a week. I guess this is
why he sleeps so good. He is so active, eats well, and passes out about 7:30 and sleeps until Ryan
wakes him about 6:45. On the weekends we let him wake up on his own. Nathan
still lets me rock him before bed. I love this special time with him, buts its
only for about 5 mins then he starts saying “night, night”. Overall he has been
joy and has completed this family.
Ava – my mini me and Ryan’s
princess. She has turned into a little girl with a mind of her own. She is like
my little best friend. I started keeping her with me on my Fridays off so we
can have a special one on one time. She can be a joy to be around but will get
her feelings hurt (we call it butt hurt) when she doesn’t get her way. We are riding a fine
line between her being privileged to her be spoiled. I mean of course I want to
dress her up cute and buy her the latest toys, etc. but I want her to
appreciate everything she has. We praise her when she does well and her daddy
might always buy her something when they go to the store, BUT I have started to
tell her as long as she listens, has manners, does well in school, nice to
family/friends, etc. mom and dad will continue to provide her with what we can.
The moment she lets us down all that will be taken away. This is driven harder
by me than Ryan. I go as far as telling her and showing her about less fortunate
children and remind her once she is old enough she will do good deeds for
others (Star of Hope, etc.). For now we donate to Good Will and adopted a kid at
Christmas. It was a hard lesson learned when I bagged up some of her toys and
she had to give a gift away rather than receive this year. We are just trying to
instill good morals, to be appreciative and giving to others. As far as her
grandparents…they flat out spoil her and Nathan. They are the only grandkids on
both sides. So that is a whole other battle. Her love for Nathan is better. She
will be sweet and play with him, but its mostly screaming and locking him out
of her room. In school she is doing well. I catch her often on the school
camera raising her hand/sitting by the teacher, getting stickers, pick a toy
from the treasure box etc. Academically she is reading short stories and her
writing is getting much better. Socially she loves school and has her favorite
friends. She is in cheerleading and loves it and good at being loud. We keep telling her about “big kid school”. She
seems excited but I don’t think she totally gets it yet. She is such a picky
eater now. She loves sandwiches, noodles, strawberries and milk. She loves to
snack and since her last dentist appointment we are trying to make them
healthier snacks. She likes celery, granola bars, pretzels and cheese. We still
battle bedtime and “bed hop”. Either Ryan or I will lay with her and most the
time fall asleep with her. Then realize we are asleep and go to our bed…then at
some point in the middle of the night Ava ends up in our bed. It doesn’t bother
us that much and know she is only little for so long. I keep remindeing her
once she starts big kid school she needs to stay in her bed.
Ryan and
I – are still are the same job. Thankfully I’m still there! We still enjoy our
hobbies. Try to have date nights, weekend get away when we can but toally understand we are
at the stage in life when our kids need us the most and they are our world. We
make it work and I’ll have to admit we are a great team!
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