About the Pets...

We have two cats: 6-yr old Tigger, the female, and almost 2-yr old Butters, the male. They tolerate each other. :)
At our old house, Tigger was an outdoor cat, so she was also a hunter. When we moved into our new house 1 1/2 years ago, we had her declawed and kept her inside because of coyotes around here. We also got Butters right after we moved in and had him declawed as soon as he was old enough - and he's always been an indoor kitty.
Well, this summer, we decided to start letting them outside during the day since the coyotes seem to have mostly disappeared.
Lo and behold, our declawed Butters is a mouser! And, I have actual proof of it right here.

Here he is guarding his mousie already dead).

Tigger had to investigate... I don't think she believed that he actually caught a real mouse...

Here he is wild-eyed and starting to play with the mousie before eating it (pictures I did NOT take.)

He's still playing...

while Tigger looks on in disbelief.

Daddy and Dain just thought it was all a lot of fun!

Pool time!

Today, Dain and I went to the pool, as it was around 90. The pool was crowded but we found a spot, lathered up the sunscreen, and went in. I usually take Dain into the big pool in his floatie, which gives him a sense of security. Today, however, he got bored in it after about 10 minutes. So, I took him out and he played his heart out while I held him in the water. He had ahold of one of those "splash bomb" water balls, and he kept chucking it (he can throw it a good 5 inches away!). So we started a game of him throwing it, me telling him to "go get it! go get it!", then holding him out to get the ball. He thought it was great fun. After about the 3rd or 4th time, he would throw the ball, then yell "Gedit! Gedit!" I love how he's talking a little bit more and more each day! It's so much fun.
Tomorrow, we have plans for a family day at the pool with my parents, my brother & sister-in-law, and their kiddos. I hope it's not as cool as they say it will be (around 76). If we get any good pics I'll post them later on.

Bragging Rights! And "Mother of the Bride"???

OK - I know that I look REALLY goofy in this picture... is that a smile? What? Well, at least Dain looks really cute! Anyway, I'm showing this picture as a comparison point. This pic was taken in December, 2007. The below picture was taken in June 2008, about 2 weeks ago. Here's where I'm going to brag... since March, I've lost 30 pounds! I had started my pregnancy at about 20 pounds overweight, and then it helped me gain an additional 40. I kept it on for a year, then got SICK of being heavier than I've ever been in my life. So... look at the picture below. That's my half-way point! I have 30 more to go. Yay me! :) Here is a great picture of me with my dad on June 29. We sang in a concert at our church (a stirring salute to the Armed Forces) and these are the formals we wore. Do you like my "Mother of the Bride" dress??? (All nice and sparkly... and heavy and itchy...) Thankfully I don't have to keep it. It's property of the choir!

I may blog at some point about what has been the driving force behind my weight loss... but that's for another day. Maybe when I've lost the other 30 and can show off my before and after pictures!

Rough Day

Today was a bit rough. I took my brother to the eye doc for a post-op (he had lasik done last week) and Dain had a NASTY diaper... the kind that leaked all over his pants! So - stinky clothes and stinky car seat. Then, after we got home, Dain did a faceplant against our ottoman and got a nosebleed (his very first!) from both sides! He's had a runny nose for a few days anyway, so that mixed with the blood wasn't too much fun. His nose must be tender because anytime I wiped it today he got fussy.
Plus, he never took a nap ALL DAY.
Then, I got an email that a friend of mine died today from very aggressive cancer. (I found out he was sick again only about 2 weeks ago.) I don't know if it was ever confirmed whether he accepted Christ before he died. He only said that he was at "peace." (Please pray for his wife, Jen, and 4-year old son, Derek.)
Also, I had to go to the doctor to get a suspicious mole removed. That's never fun.
At least Dain went to bed easily tonight.

D'you know what?

Dain has started talking more... somewhat intelligibly. For a week or so (and we still hear it now and then) he demanded to know "what?" and "why?" all the time. But now... it's "d'yewnowut?" and "d'yewnowhy?" all the time. Cracks us up! Whenever he says "D'you know what?" we always say, "what?" Then he'll babble something in baby speak. Then, if we ask him "Do you know what?" he'll say, "what?"
He also has decided that my name isn't Mommy. Nope! Everyone calls me Becky, so he does too. But it sounds more like "ecky!" or "yucky!"
Great - my son thinks I'm Yucky! :)

Update on Dain's eyes

I'm sorry - when I was on my soap box I forgot to give the update for Dain's eyes. Good progress has been made with the patching. We usually patch Dain's left eye once a day for as long as he will wear it. This can range from 1 to 4 hours, depending on how much it bugs him. (If we're in the car, forget it!) He is now using his right eye a lot more. The issue now isn't trying to get him to use both eyes equally... now it's to try and get them to stop crossing. If Dain uses his left eye, the right crosses in, and vice verse. Dr. P did mention the "S" word again (surgery) because I think at this point he's starting to think of it as more of a possibility to help Dain to uncross. I'm hoping that we won't have to go that route. After all, Dr. P fixed my eyes without surgery! However, I'm getting the feeling that I wasn't quite as bad as Dain, and I didn't have the problems start as early.
Dain is being such a trooper throughout all of this!!! The only time he complains about wearing glasses or his eye patch is when he's either bored or tired.

On my parenting soap box....

Here is finally a picture of Dain swimming in the pool! He's been having so much fun there! He loves to lounge around in his floatie, as you can see.

While we were at the pool on Saturday, Jeremy and I let Dain walk around the kiddie pool. He can keep his balance in there pretty well. Then this little kid (I'm guessing he was around 3 or 4) walked right up to him and pushed him down before I could stop him! Of course, I grabbed Dain out of the water right away. He was sputtering and surprised, but thankfully he didn't cry. The little boy's dad was sitting right there but didn't see the incident. I felt that it was appropriate to tell him what happened, which I did. The dad told his son that he shouldn't do that because it was "dangerous" and because Dain was "too little." I never once heard him say that it was wrong. Then he made his son sit out of the water for maybe 3 minutes, with a threat of going home if he did something like that again.

I'm thinking... WHAT?!?

If it were my son (at that same age), he would have been out of the water for the rest of the day, and he would have been told that it was WRONG to push other kids and why it is wrong.

I've been reading an amazing parenting book lately that advocates dealing with the heart of the child, not just the behavior. The author points out that regrettably, most parents these days think that parenting is about caring for the child, i.e. providing food, clothing, and shelter, and maybe some quality time. This incident seemed to back that up... the child was not corrected for what he did, just slightly punished to the convenience of the father.

OK - enough on my soap box! Of course, I am still (and always will be) a parent-in-training also! :)

Totally different topic - here is a fun picture of my cat Butters. He managed to get under this blanket by himself. I thought it was cute. :)