Whew! What a crazy few months! I haven't been on here because I couldn't see straight for a while. Not literally but figuratively. Once again I will try to catch everyone up. Please pardon the disarray until I get my thoughts organized.
Well since April was the last time I was on I will start from there.
April:
We had been spending half of our time in Gainesville and half in Green Cove because Mike started teaching this month but is still not yet done with school at UF. During these trips we have slowly moved car fulls of our stuff so that the official move will be easier. Anyone who has ever done this obviously knows what we didn't. It doesn't make it easier it just drags it out and was beginning to make me very grouchy. During this month Smokey also developed a cough that sounded pretty painful and so we took him to the vet. They said he had bronchitis and because of his heart murmur (which was now a 5 out of 6) that he wasn't in great shape but meds could help and so we bought tons and upgraded our insurance to cover some very expensive X-rays. The meds helped for a while. While Mike taught we unpacked(sort of) and finished packing up in Gainesville. Needless to say I never want to move again. We finally moved out on April 26.
May:
The first weekend in May Mike finally graduated from Grad school. We had a great party at my friend Judy's house. Thanks so much for hosting Judy with lots of good food, friends, and family albeit a boring ceremony.
May 6 & 7:
The following week Smokey's cough started up again and it got to the point that he couldn't sit or lie down, eat or drink,let alone sleep. We took the arduous drive to the vet here the next day to be told he was in very bad shape and that they would recommend putting him down. I will spare you the details but I took Bella to walk around Petsmart while Mike stayed with him. It was very traumatic and when we went to get Mike we saw him and he finally looked so peaceful. We didn't want Bella to see them do it and I really couldn't face being in there either so I hugged him and told him he would feel so much better soon( I know selfish). He truly looked scared to me but we finally walked away. When we came back and Bella saw the stick in his leg she said "Mommy Smokey got a boo boo" She still asks for him and if she hears a dog bark she says its him but we explained to her that he went to Heaven to be with Jesus. We are grateful she is still young enough to not fully understand. As for us we are healing and we knew it would be difficult but we weren't prepared to see him suffer so much. We are also frustrated because we finally got a house with a fenced in back yard he could run around in or "sun" in and we lost him. At least he had a little time here. They gave us a paw print of him and we will scan a bunch of pics to post in memory. RIP Smokey dog we miss you!
I'm sorry I just had to get that off my chest. We are considering a new dog within about 6 months or so but we want to make sure we are truly ready. Mike wants a big dog. I would be happy with one Smokey's size so I think we are getting a Lab. Hey he wanted a Great Dane!
May 11:
We drove to Daytona to spend Mother's day with our mother's. It was nice to get home and be around lots of people after Smokey. We went to lunch with Pru and dinner with my mom. By the time that was over we felt like we had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner. SO we came home.
May 12:
I wanted to go to the St Augustine outlets for mother's day for me and we went to Sonny's for lunch. Mike is not a fan of Sonny's anymore so he decided to be a sport and go where I wanted yes it was yummy. Then Danny's parents(our landlords) had a cookout and we all got together and just had a great meal.
May 14:
One night after dinner Bella had her Binky in her mouth and was playing with Ethan so laid it down. Heather said"Bella why don't you go put your Binky in the trash" So she did. She was so exhausted that night that she fell asleep without it. We were amazed. Of course she was up at 6:30 screaming for it the next morning. She didn't ask for it the next whole day until bedtime and she just got so tired she fell asleep. We had some fits and ups and downs but we didn't give in and now she has been officially without it for over a month and a half ! Yay! She still asks for it every once in a while but we just remind her that she threw them away and that usually appeases her. Now if we could just get her to go in the potty all the time. She's done it many times but now I think she is just rebelling because we want her to. Everyone says she will do it in her own time but this is driving me cuckoo!
The rest of May was a whirlwind. Mike decided not to start his full time job until June so we tried to do as much stuff as a family as we could.
We went to Disney with Danny and Ethan and his parents and we also went to the Jax Zoo. Neato! We spent tons of time in the pool too. Getting a lot more sun this year than last year.
June:
The first weekend in June we had a two family Garage sale. We have never done this before and were psyched to get rid of some stuff and make a little money. We didn't realize how much stuff we had. Heather put the ad in the paper and I thought we'd start about 8 am. NO. She has done this before so she scheduled it for 7 am. Yikes! Well we overslept and we ran out to throw everything out(literally) and there were already people waiting at 6:45. SO unorganized yes but good otherwise. The morning of Mike was helping me get everything out and was grumbling about how bad it was going to suck.I think he said it was going to be a waste of time. But then it became a competition I think with Heather and Danny about who sold more. Next thing I know people were barely out of there cars and Mike was saying "Hi how are you!" with reckless abandon. You would think he was a car salesman. Danny's parents came and took Ethan to the beach and Mike's came and took Bella to Marine land and so we finished up in the dead heat and found ourselves with no children. SO what do four (including Corey) intelligent childless adults do? You guessed it we went swimming and got drunk. Not just a little drunk either. Keep in mind this was in the middle of the day(so we all lost track of time and sunblock) and got incredibly burnt. And if that wasn't bad enough we were still expecting the kids back with the padres. I won't embarrass anyone in particular, but it was like a scene at a frat party. What the hell were we thinking? We have not been sun burnt or drunk like this in YEARS! See what happens when you get a little freedom. :(
Washing Machine woes:
SO when we moved into the house the couple before us left their washer and dryer. Not in great condition but seeing as we didn't have any it was great for us. I am constantly doing laundry it seems mostly because I can't stand to see it pile up. Well one productive day I decided to wash pillows and very promptly broke the washer. When I first told Mike he asked me if I did it on purpose so I could get a new one. Of course not...not me. So we reconvened our prior search for a new washer. When Mike makes a big purchase he analyzes it for what seems like months.. SO I thought we were in for a long ride. Luckily Danny and Heather allowed us to borrow some washing machine time with them. Not bad but not the laundromat either. Finally, we went shopping for a washer. After many stops we finally opted for the whirlpool front loader. We did not purchase the stand because we thought it was unnecessary especially considering the dryer was "old school". Boy was I wrong! I have to get on my hands and knees to transfer the clothes. But I discovered a new thing-Bella the laundry queen. She loves to do laundry. She loves to push the buttons and tells me what she is transferring over like "mommy's panties" and "Bella's panties". After a few weeks though I made the call to get a pedestal so Fred found us one at scratch and dent that is amazing. We also have to use High Efficiency detergent which sucks because A. It is more expensive and B. we had a huge thing of detergent from Sam's still. But it uses way less energy so its better for the environment and our utility bill and we gave Danny and Heather the old detergent as sort of payback for letting us use their washer. Thanks D & H!
Fathers Day:
Heather had a cookout with all of her family in town as there were getting ready to head out of town for a cruise. Ahhh a cruise one day soon we will go...but I digress. She had over 13 people staying in her house and was still nice enough to invite us over as well as Danny's family for dinner. Great food great friends, good times. Bella and I got Mike a hammock, some typical Fathers day socks, and a book about poop(Mike's favorite subject) Mike got up early and went golfing with Danny.
Rob and Tony visit:
Well Rob and tony have not been up to visit since the move so they came to see us while Mike was at a golf tournament for work. We went to lunch and let Bella run around the mall with uncle Tony while Rob and I shopped. We found a Yankee Candle and Tupperware to get in trouble with. We waited for Mike to get done golfing but with the pre game driving range and rain delay he was gone for over 8 hours. Finally he was done and we went to dinner at this cool pizza place we have here that is total dive but has great salads and pizza.
Heather shower/Bella's new bed:
Heather has been gone for a week on her cruise so I have been finishing up planning for her shower. We plaed the typical games: How big is Mommy's belly? Jodi won, and baby trivia. Did you know that the average baby uses 7500 diapers in the first year? Isn't that insane? ! While we were enjoying that Mike and Fred put together the pedestal for the washer and Bella's big girl twin size bed. Grandma Fred and Pru bought it for her to match her dresser, bookcase, and toybox. But first they (yes I mean Fred and Mike) went shopping(yes I said shopping) for some sheets and a comforter. They came home with a super cute Little Mermaid one and I have to say I was impressed. They went to four stores and the only instructions I gave were make sure there is purple and green in it and something Disney. So they put it together and took her Mickey Mouse toddler bed into the baby's room. No we are not pregnant yet but we have already assigned that room to a future sibling. She loves her bed and I had to lay down with her the first few nights but we are getting back into a sleep routine once again. Especially because it means less time with her in our bed! Mom also came up with Pru and Fred and helped me go get the food and everyone helped clean up after so I had very little to do the next day. It was a great shower and a great family visit.
Bellaisms:
Also I would like to tell you about the funny things that Bella says. Sometimes I don't know where she comes up with these things.
When she comes into our room in the morning there is no "good morning" or even "hi mommy or daddy" its-
"what would you like to eat?" meaning what are you going to make me?
her new word is "Fortissimo!" courtesy of Little Einstein's I am assuming but she says it so clear!
She has a puppy purse and she says" he's just a little puppy mommy, his tummy is hungry, got to feed him"
As you may know with toddlers you have to repeat yourself a lot. SO if we have repeated ourselves too much according to her she will say "I just told you mommy" which I am pretty sure she gets this from me repeating myself to Mike because he is deaf. Well not really but he definitely has selective hearing.
She loves to sing and she knows most of the words to:
- Twinkle twinkle little star and the Pooh version
- Jesus loves me( and Daddy and mommy and Ethan and Heather and Danny and Grandma and Mamaw etc for every verse)
- ABC's
- Part of your world (from the Little Mermaid and especially the line "where they don't reprimand their daughters") She will sing this one from the rooftops and was very happily doing so in Publix yesterday much to everyone's chagrin.
- You are my sunshine
- Rock a bye baby
- Hush little baby
- Little Einstein's, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh theme songs( which funny enough she told Mike yesterday that her favorite show was Higglytown Heroes even though she rarely watches it).
Then lately she gets in a mood that if you try to sing with her she'll shout"NO Singing!" I guess our voices aren't as lovely as they once were when she couldn't tell the difference. Now she has to compare us to Ariel and well we all know where this is going.
Puzzles:
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