ABCZ

My baby boy Kodi has been having a ROUGH time lately. First, he got au aural hematoma (which is a fancy word for a broken blood vessel in her ear flap). It made his whole ear blow up like a big puffy pillow the size of a softball. It was awful We tried to wait it out, but it was getting worse, so they had to do surgery to repair it.

Well - the surgery involves making an incision from top to bottom on the underside of his ear to drain the fluid, then they shave both sides of his ear and suture it together like a quilt, to keep the sides together so it doesn't "blow up" again. Ugh. They were unable to keep a dressing on it, so I had to bring him home half drugged and bleeding like a stuck pig. They wanted to keep him there for the afternoon, so it wouldn't be messy, but there was no WAY I was leaving him to sit in a kennel by himself all day. So, we came home and he slept with his head in my lap for the next 9 hours. It took about 24 hours, but the bleeding stopped, and that is doing better.

Then...this weekend, he began having seizures. In hind sight, we realize that he had the first one on Friday night (we thought he was having a dream). Then on Saturday morning, he had two within about 10 minutes. We took him in, and were lucky enough to get in with our regular vet (who ROCKS). The vet hopes that this is just due to stress and is a temporary thing, so he is on anti-seizure meds for 20 days, then we'll see.

It's funny, we were joking about the seizures causing brain damage and wondering how you would even TELL if a mastiff had brain damage. :) They act like they do most of the time anyway. But now, on these drugs, he really DOES act out of it. It's funny and sad at the same time. My big lug.....we've been doing lots of snuggling lately. I hope he feels better soon. I bought him a new monkey to suck on, so that has been maing him happy. He's worth it.

And by that I mean, they come here to die, not that they are blissfully happy. I have a certain, somewhat infamous, black thumb. It is probably not THAT bad, except for the fact that my mom and mother-in-law are FABULOUS gardeners, so we pale by comparison.

Anyway - I'm better than I used to be. There are a few notable things that I have kept alive for more than a single season now, including Crepe Myrtle trees, bacopa and star jasmine. And for some reason, my cyclamen and geraniums LOVE to be abused. Despite my lack of attention, they absoloutely THRIVE. It's a mystery to all.

Earlier this winter, I planted about 50 bulbs of several varieties in one of my wine barrels on the patio. And then I brought a few inside to do in the window sill so that Anna and I could watch them. One of them cracks me up. I think he's trying to commit plant suicide by diving out of the pot. Normally plants grow TOWARD the sun. This one is growing AWAY from it, and diving straight out of the pot. It's not even that the bulb is tipped over - it's actually straight in the ground and then out at a 90 degree angle from there. Weirdo. That's what he gets for coming to Plant Heaven.

Anna was a little red picnic ant at her ballet recital this winter. They had a blast.

Anna and Sylvester Kitty, that is. Anna was having a tea party the other day, and decided to invite Sylvester Kitty. I think they both actually enjoyed it! So sweet.

Anna DEFINITELY loves the jewlery, and I have no idea where she picked that up. It's definitely not from me. Don't get me wrong - I love jewlery - but mostly the pieces that have sentimental attachment. A mothers' ring, a sentimental locket, an anniversary band someday, a family ring - those things thrill me. Jewlery for jewlery sake just doesn't excite me. Not the same for Anna. She loves the shiny sparkly stuff. And not the cheap stuff - the REAL stuff. I don't know if she gets it from Grandma, Aunt Linda, Aunt Dani or Aunt Tracy. Maybe a little of each.

The other day, we were walking through the department store and she kept stopping at the jewlery displays ooohing and ahhhhing. She finally decided there was one SPECIAL bracelet that she HAD to have. Now, under normal circumstances, there's probably a 50/50 chance that I'd cave and think of some reason to buy her whatever the 'thing' was she wanted. Life is short. In this case, what she "wanted" was a $400 pink saphire bracelet. YIKES!!!

I tried to explain that that was a "Mommy" kind of surprise, not a little girl surprise.
"I'm NOT a little girl anymore! I'm a BIG girl now!"

I tried to explain that it's not play jewlery.
"I won't play with it. I just want to wear it!"

Finally, I had to settle with her being pissed off at me. But I did chuckle when she went home and told on me to Grandma, Auntie Linda & Aunt Tracy. THEY understood how you could want a saphire bracelet that bad, when OBVIOUSLY I couldn't.

Such a funny little girl. It's fasinating to see her develop her own personality, separate from us all together. We're pretty blessed.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Sometimes, we all have a moment when we realize that at the ripe old age of 4, Anna has probably outsmarted all of us.

This weekend, Anna and my mom were going somewhere in the car, and somehow it came up that "Mommy is smart." (I am guessing that my mom said something like "Mommy is a smartASS" and Anna misunderstood - but hey, it's probably pretty close to the mark.)

Anna said, "My daddy is smart too. Not all daddies are smart, but my Daddy is VERY smart."

My mom agreed and then tried to continue the conversation with, "...and Anna is smart, and Alisa is smart, and Grandma is smart."

Anna objected, saying, "No, I don't think Grandma is very smart." Naturally, my mom took offense to that. Anna explained by saying, "Well, you weren't very smart a few minutes ago when you couldn't figure out how to get my seat belt on."

(I'm guessing a few minutes of silence ensued at this point while my mom figured out how to respond and Alisa tried not to piss herself laughing.)

Finally, my mom says, "Well, then I guess I'm not smart enough to take you fun places or buy you surprises either."

Anna quickly recanted, "Oh, actually I think you ARE smart enough to do that, Grandma."

My mom and Alisa took Anna to see the new Charlotte's Web this weekend. We wanted to go too, but duty called. We're sooooo close to getting our next inspection on the house and we needed to take advantage of the break in the rain.

I wasn't sure how it would go, given her long ago reaction to the original, but she loved it. It was a hit. And she learned an important life lesson from Grandma: Popcorn needs to have extra EXTRA butter on it. Hey, it's Grandma's perogative, right?

So, when she came home, she was playing in her playhouse out back while Curtis and I worked on installing the new outside lights and waterproof outlets. All of a sudden, we hear, "Mommy & Daddy - come here! QUICK!! There is a spider web up here!" I laughed and replied, "Ohhh no. Daddy does spider webs, not mommy."

She said, "No silly! I don't want you to tear it away. I want you to tell me what words it says in it. I can't read them." Awwww.....I guess Charlotte was a bigger hit this time than last.

We have always said bedtime prayers with Anna. We used to say the Lord's Prayer, but now that she prays too, I think that one takes too long. For a long time she favored "Now I lay me down to sleep...". Now, she finally 'gets' that a prayer can be anything that you say to God - not a specific verse to recite.

So, lately, we've had our fair share of cold, trauma, etc. The thing is, once you're on Anna's prayer list, you STAY on Anna's prayer list. We suggested that she coulod move some of those people to the "THANK YOU for making them feel better" side, instead of the "HELP them feel better" side, but she's not interested. It's a pretty impressive list she keeps. It goes something like this at the moment:

Dear God, Please help Mommy and Daddy and me and Oma (recent surgery) and Pa (I think just because Oma was there) and Michael (our church friend's son who broke his neck) and Riktor (friend with brain cancer) and Kodi (my dog with an ear owie) and Mariah (my Mom's dog) and Grandma (who knows?) to feel better. I love you, Jesus. AAAAAamen.

She's so sweet, and so thoughtful.

OK - I've been "tagged" by Renee and Karen now, and I haven't done either. So - Renee's is quicker. I'll do your later Karen. :)

tagged!

Page 123 meme –

Pick up the closest book to you. No cheating! It must the closest book to where you are seated at this very moment.

Open it to Page 123 *taddaaa! hence the name of the game, folks* and go down to the 5th sentence. Post the following 3 sentences after that.

**MY ANSWER***

It took several minutes for the cheering to die down, then she began, "Members of the People's Assembly and Fellow Egyptians, with great pride, and your support and prayers, I gladly accept the National Democratic Party's nomination for President, and on behalf of our late President Salaam, I announce that I am a candidate to be your president.

The applause was back even louder than before.

Khalid al-Khan was stupefied.


Hhmmmm.....I haven't read this one yet. But apparently it's about the next Democratic presidential nominee, so it must be horror. Poor Egypt...*grin*

Karen - you're TAGGED!!!