meals for 1.31.11 through 2.6.11

wish the meals looked a little more interesting this week... but we want a cheap grocery bill this week... and, well, i'm not going to lie - i don't feel like cooking! :) i also have 2 doctor's appointments this week in the late afternoon, and that makes it a little challenging when it comes to making a decent meal at a decent time, too... :)

my parents may be arriving this weekend, as well... i know that my mom will be staying until new baby girl is born and then afterward for a time, as well (and dad will either head south to see some Air Force friends or will be heading back to PA)... so the weekend meals may be adjusted accordingly... :)

here's what we'll be eatin' this week... :)

Monday: beef and peas and rice (didn't get made on Sunday)
Tuesday: hot cereal night (choices: cream of wheat, coco wheats, oatmeal) and toast :)
Wednesday: leftover beef and peas
Thursday: spaghetti & bread
Friday: english muffin or bagel pizzas
Saturday: leftovers or eat out
Sunday: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, another veggie, and mac n cheese

Hope you have a wonderful week... :) ENJOY every minute of it... :)

bags under the eyes...

an interesting new sleep pattern for a sweet toddler has caused her poor momma to suffer... :) and, well, if we're being honest, she's suffering, too...as are others...dad, people in public....
oh what a humbling experience parenting can be sometimes... :)

in the last few weeks, K has had a handful of instances where she wakes in the middle of the night and is not going back to sleep.
gone is the time of going in, comforting her, laying her back down, covering her with her blankets, and giving her the trusty paci and watching as she quickly drifts back off to sleep...

now, she does not drift back off to sleep quickly...
for the last two nights (and this is the first consecutive two night occurrence), she's woken around 2 or so in the morning...
when she wakes, she cries and cries...and not a whine or a cry that's normal... she's fearful of something...you can just tell in the intensity of her cry...
when i go in, she's standing in her crib, facing the door...sometimes with her blankets in hand...sometimes not...
she is awake...or she appears to be, at least, but sometimes, i'm not so sure...
of course, i try to calm her...she will usually quiet down, but she refuses to lay back down... she will usually sit down, her back against the rails of her crib...and she will just stare...
i will sit in the glider/rocker and be there to comfort her...if i leave, she will cry and not stop (we've tried)...
two nights ago, she stared for about 20 minutes...i watched her as she would struggle to keep herself upright as not to lay down...she was so tired and her body wanted to lay down but she would not let that happen!
last night, she did lay down, but only because i kept talking to her softly and telling her it was OK and that i was there and nothing was going to happen...
the other night as she became the leaning toddler (hehe), finally, i got up and told her to lay down... she resisted and told me "no....no....no" several times...but she finally gave up and down she went...
i cover her over with her blankets...and she will lay there and softly pet her blankets (she loves the softness of her blankets - always has)...
and she lays there...and lays...and lays....
and she will not fall back to sleep for quite awhile...
two nights ago, after about 40 minutes, i swore she was sleeping (petting her blankets stopped, she wasn't sucking on her paci, not moving or fidgeting, etc.), but when i got up to leave, she looked straight at me... i don't get up loudly either...
thankfully, i'm so tired that, generally, i cat nap in the glider until she's really out, totally... two nights ago, it was 3:30 before i went back to my bed... last night, it was 4...

of course, these wake up instances cause havoc each morning or early afternoon... she will sleep in a little, but in general, she's sleeping around 9 or so total hours each night - and that's interrupted... and for the first few hours upon waking, she's pretty content... but she's a weepy mess after this time... (i'll post some pics about that soon! :)) ...she is clingy... she wants to be held a lot...and she has little patience for playing - especially with puzzles (Lordy! :))... and she would rather watch one of her favorite shows or DVDs sitting next to you - which isn't bad, but honestly, i don't like plopping her in front of the TV for long periods of time...

nap times are marathons - she slept for almost 3.5 hours yesterday for her nap and woke up well past the time i would have let her sleep until (i was napping myself or i would have gotten her up! :))....

all of this has me really puzzled... it doesn't seem to matter if it's me or if it's Ry who goes in to comfort her... and, if i send Ry in, he doesn't remain consistent with what "we" agreed to do when she wakes up...his need for sleep wins out... we do NOT want her to get out of her crib and get used to that being a way to escape from HER own bed. we don't want her thinking it's OK to wake, cry, and then move to our bed, either... and the only time she's slept in our bed is when she's sick and i have to keep one eye opened as she cat naps through the night...
and, while Ry has never brought her to our bed during one of these middle of the night wakings (i've only let him get up with her ONCE and that will be the last time :)), he did take her OUT of her crib and went into the living room and let her lay with him in the recliner for a few hours... that was NOT ok... so, we just let dad sleep to keep the peace... :)

part of me is wondering if she's really a lot more knowledgeable about the "big change" that's about to happen in her life - her new sister will be here soon... is she trying to soak up as much time with her momma, one on one, as possible? does she sense the change that's coming?
is she having dreams that are so bothersome or scary that she cannot get back to sleep?

i'm really not sure, but if it continues, i think i'm going to have to invest in a good concealer... Lordy, the dark circles under my eyes are so unattractive... :)
(then again, maybe K is just preparing me for my upcoming sleepless nights with a newborn??! :))

time will tell, but i will not stop praying for peaceful dreams and for K's ability to settle herself back down and drift off to sleep should she wake in the middle of the night...

until then, maybe i should go enjoy a quick nap? :)

:)

meals for 1.24.11 through 1.30.11

i thought it would be good to plan ahead a little in hopes that my dear husband would LOVE to grocery shop before his beloved J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets play for a possible Superbowl spot... :) so, depending on today's outcome, it could be a good week of eats...or, it could be a sad and depressed week of meals :)

here's what will be fillin' our bellies (ugh, some that are bigger than others :P ) this week... :)

• Monday: tacos
• Tuesday: macaroni soup
• Wednesday: creamed chicken leftovers (over bisquits)
• Thursday: Pioneer Woman sloppy joes (already made & frozen) and mac n cheese
• Friday: leftover soup
• Saturday: leftovers or eat out
• Sunday: beef and peas over steamed rice

Hope you all have a great week :)

book dumps

one of my {many} weaknesses is books... if you walked into my bedroom, instead of seeing nice, organized bookshelves, you'd see piles and piles of books... they're lined up against a wall... yes, a book shelf would be nice... but, in all honesty, i find that, no matter how many book shelves i have, they are always full and i need more shelves... :) i have storage bins full of novels...and novels on a ledge in the basement...a full book shelf in the spare bedroom... i love books... :) and, if i think about it, i guess this is an "ok" obsession to have...i can think of worse things to collect... :)

well, admittedly, even before i was ever THINKING about having a child, i started collecting children's books... for years, i've dreamed of being a book editor or publisher for a children's book company... gosh, i can't even put into words and tell you what a DREAM job that would be for me... :) but, i regress... :)
before i was ever married or thought about having babies, i can tell you i had a pretty decent collection of children's books. being a teacher helps with this, too! :) and, to this day, i have boxes of wonderful stories in my basement - waiting for the day when K is ready to read them... :)
one of the FIRST things i put in our nursery before we had Katherine, was, yes, you guessed it, a book shelf full of books for the new baby... Clifford...Eric Carle..."Corduroy"..."Are You My Mother?" and of course, many other titles...

thankfully, Katherine also shares my love of books... :) at least twice a day, she'll come into our living room and dump her book bin onto her little kiddie couch. she'll pile the books up around her and read through each one... sometimes she looks at the pictures...sometimes she just turns to her favorite parts and looks and tells you in "toddler speak" what's going on... sometimes she'll sit and point to every item on the page and tell you what it is...
these pictures were captured by Ry... one day when i was making dinner, K unloaded her book bin, plopped her two pillow pets down on her couch with her (one being used as a leg rest :)), and began to read her books. :) unfortunately, you can't see all of the books that are scattered to the left of her... that side is always for the "done" pile... :)

i love that she loves books... :)

boundaries...

i wonder, oftentimes, if people really pay attention to what they're doing in public... now, i think the world has changed greatly since i was being reared by my parents... there is very little privacy now... we have social media sites that keep us all updated, to the second, on other people's lives... admittedly, i am one of those people who loves to see what's going on in my friends' lives on facebook...

but, seriously... and please understand that i'm not trying to point fingers or make fun of people...i'm not trying to judge people, either... i'm just wondering where the line stands with boundaries any more... maybe i'm the naive one? i don't know... but i guess i was raised to keep things that don't need to be publicized as private or among a small, intimate group of friends...or at least not posted on facebook, on a blog, or on TV...

here are some examples...

~twice, in the last few weeks, i've read on other people's blogs that they're bathing with their husbands... ok, now, i'm not a prude - and hooray for you for having some time with your spouse... but honestly, is that REALLY something that your readers need to read about on your blog (which happens to read by thousands of people)??? i really just clicked the link to your blog to see what awesome dessert you served today...or what awesome and creative craft you did with your kids...or what struggles you faced as a mom on that day. instead of talking about being in the bathtub with your man, can you say, "my husband and i were enjoying some well-deserved alone time??" instead, i leave your site with a picture of you and your spouse in the bath tub... ew...

~why do young girls take pictures of themselves in the bathroom and put the pictures up on facebook? they're NOT going to the bathroom, but it's obvious that they're in the bathroom... and the poses... seriously... why are we not teaching our daughters to have some pride and not to sexualize themselves by showing breasts, stomachs or underwear sticking out of their pants or spaghetti-strapped tank tops? we really need to mentor these young ladies...we need to teach these girls that they want to be the TOP apple on the tree...and make a future man reach and work hard for you because she is worth it... and maybe i feel this way because i taught some of these "babies," but no one wants to see you cheapen yourselves...

~for the most part, my only "adult" TV time is around 2 PM each week day... i can catch some non-cartoon-ish shows since the kids are napping... :) i usually watch some baby show...or some talk show... today, i have "Bringing Home Baby"on in the background... in case you don't watch, the show is about the first few days of a family with a brand new baby, and it captures their struggles and celebrations... today's show has a woman sitting on the couch nursing her newborn baby girl. a friend, who happens to be a male, arrives at their small apartment and comes in to meet the sweet baby. he walks in, as the mother is nursing (she is wearing a nursing tank top and is very well covered), and he gets close to the baby's face to see her. now, really...could he not wait until she was finished nursing?? he's right in the woman's breasts, for God's sake!!! (and, with this being said, i nursed my daughter for 14 months, exclusively... i never felt comfortable enough to nurse in a public situation - not even in front of my own mother. i am a very private person... but it would make me really uncomfortable if i was nursing my baby and a guy friend came in and got super close to my baby's face as she was attached to my breast.... wow....)

these are just a few examples of instances where i think the public struggles with boundaries... fortunately, while i'm a "just" a participant in these situations, i still feel slightly uncomfortable for the people in the situations. and, i would be lying if i felt the discomfort ended here... i think there are other times, too, where i feel boundaries are not respected on a more personal level - like when people come to your house and do things that you just can't believe... that's a whole 'nuther post, however... and i will save that for another time...

but, in the meantime, i'm going to shield my eyes as i look at things around me... i will still, without a doubt, be amazed at what people reveal, no matter how private or personal, but i can tell you one thing...don't count on me being the one to reveal things like this. and if i happen to "slip up," please consider yourself as one of my closest friends who i must feel so incredibly comfortable with that i could share such information... :)

gettin' ready...

at my last OB appointment, the doctor walked in and asked, "so, do you have everything ready at home?"
i looked at him like he was nuts...

"noooo, not yet....i have time..."

he asked how old my daughter was now...
"mmm, just over 2 years old..."

he raises his eyebrows and responds by saying, "well, i guess if you think about that old adage, 'a watched pot never boils' your thinking is right....you have time and you don't want to do everything and just sit and wait..." :)
(maybe he knows something i don't?! :) )

i really love this doctor... he was actually the one who was on duty for the full 23+ hours i was in labor with K...and he delivered her after being up for a lot of the night... i remember his eyes were so tired looking...but he was so peaceful and calm... i loved that about him on that early October morning... :)

so, i got to thinking... i really should start getting things ready for the birth of this little baby girl... time is moving quickly... and, it's not a lie to admit that my energy level on some days is next to "empty" - especially on the days when i have the 2 other kids here all day...
and for some odd reason, time just seems to fly by other days as we busy ourselves with the things we need to do...

a few weeks ago, we purchased a pretty chest of drawers from a local unfinished furniture place, and Ry's worked hard at "polystaining" it. it will go in K's room, the nursery...which will now remain as K's room until this summer, at least, while her baby sister will stay with us in our bedroom for the first few months...
the new bureau is K's...and the current chest of drawers/changing table that matches the crib, which currently houses K's clothes, is going to be emptied, and K's new bureau will be filled with her clothes and items. then, the chest of drawers/changing table will become the new baby's...

tonight, i went through a bin and a few bags of clothes... it was neat to see some of the clothes that i remember my tiny sweet K wearing yet again... :) i got excited that we'll get to use them again... :) i was sad to repack the "baby's first Christmas" outfits, as well as the Halloween/pumpkin sleepers and Thanksgiving outfits... we won't be enjoying those outfits this time around...
but the things we CAN use...little sleepers...onesies...socks...little hats...little mittens... awww! :)

admittedly, the amount of clothing is overwhelming... i have 1 1/2 thirteen gallon trash bags full of clothes to wash... wow... (and i hear *cha ching cha ching* in regards to our water and electric bill as i wash, too)
and the blankets... :)
and the winter fuzzies to put on/in the car seat...
and little snow suits...
and little plush jackets...

but i'm puzzled... :) i have a TON of stuff in my unfinished basement (Hoarders would have a heyday here)...but i do know that i've tried to do a great job organizing all of K's clothes (and she has a lot...)....
but i'm missing a few essential items... things that i know i will need.... burp cloths... and my swaddle me blankets... i will spend some time looking for them tomorrow.... but they are not listed in my little notebook of inventory... and they are "must haves" without a doubt....

i have a lot of laundry to do... but a watched pot never boils, right? :) hehe

in all honesty, i kinda feel like i may not make it to my due date... just a feeling i have... of course, at my last appointment, my sweet doctor could only say that she was happy in there and that he couldn't tell whether she was head down or not... so, maybe i will have more time than i think... one never knows, though... i felt like i might go early when i was preggo with K, but it was 5 days past my due date before my water broke... and that last week was ridiculously annoying for me as i played the waiting game... :)

so, if history repeats itself, i will have time to work on getting things ready... it's hard to believe our lives are going to be different, yet again, in a few short weeks... it's unimaginable.... :)

meals for 1.17.11 through 1.23.11

the goal for the week is a MINIMAL grocery list :) and, we want to have some yummy eats, too. quite honestly, i'm almost to the point where having cereal for dinner sounds good. :) hehe :) and, well, that will probably be happening sooner than later... :)

for this week, we will be eating well and the grocery list is pretty short... :) 16 items so far, plus a few other goods, too, i'm sure... :)

here is what's going to be on our plates this week... :)

Monday: Ry's off for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday :) (yay!)
lunch: eating out between doctor's appointments (a special & rare treat :))

dinner: egg sandwiches - a favorite simple meal from my dad :) -- toast 2 pieces of bread (Sunbeam is the best :)) and butter them. scramble an egg, put it on your bread with a piece of American cheese on top... simply yummy :)


Tuesday: skillet lasagna

Wednesday: leftover homemade pizza

Thursday: leftover skillet lasagna


Friday: grill out - hot dogs and mac n cheese

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: creamed chicken over noodles


hope you all have a great week with food that warms your belly! :) ENJOY!

home for the holidays :)

(this is for you, Sarah, so you don't feel like you're the only poky poster when it comes to Christmas recaps :))

We had a wonderful Christmas this year... :) we loved being surrounded by our family here at our own home... :) traditionally, we travel to PA and DE to spend the holidays with our families...but this year, we did not travel one mile to any family member's house...we were able to stay put and have family come to us... it was really nice... :)

first, we enjoyed Christmas with my side of the family... and, a few days later, Ry's family arrived to celebrate a belated Christmas with us... :) (unfortunately, it doesn't appear that i got any pictures of Christmas, part 2! oops!)

it was really a joy to watch Katherine this year... last year, she was sick with the flu (pitiful :o( )and barely over a year... she didn't really "get" the concept of opening presents, and she felt terrible... so, this year, we knew we were in for a treat when she kept talking about "gifts" and wanting to look at them under the tree... :)

K slept until a very late 11:05 on Christmas morning... if this is how she is at 2, we don't know what to expect when she's a teenager :) hehehe :) we had some late nights before Christmas, and quite frankly, she had recently had a stomach virus...and those 24 hours really messed up her sleeping & nap schedule... so we were still struggling to get back on a more semi-normal sleep/wake up schedule...

after breakfast (which could have probably been lunch for most of you) and everyone looking presentable, we started to open presents in the early afternoon... :) we had a lot of fun! :)

at first, K wanted to "pay" with each present she opened... we were so excited to see her joy for a new toy, but we knew that if she played with each toy, we'd be there until 10 PM waiting for her to finish... :) so, we went from a slow and careful opener to hearing, "neeeeext" when she finished opening one gift :) hahaha :)

we also loved how she ripped off tiny strips of wrapping paper for each gift... :) made for a fun clean up... :)

here are some of our favorite memories of the day... :)
K decides the bag is super fun to play with... so we put it on her head and called her our little present :) lots of fun :)

opening some clothes from grandma K :)

Mr. Potato Head... :) we love to see her Picasso-like creations... :) wow :)

the joy of a raincoat?! i could not pass this little spring sweetness up... it's navy blue with white polka-dots...the pockets are big daisies, and there's frilly looking yellow "ribbon" around the sleeves and hood :) simply adorable :) we can't wait for it to rain :)

opening up her Mega Blocks... love her look... "Daddy, what are these for?"

K loves music... she recently saw a show where the kids were in a bell choir and she was in love with the bells... :) my mom/Grandma K found these sweet kid's hand bells at Cracker Barrel and picked them up for K. aside from her wanting to pull off the note stickers, they're a big hit :) (err, big ding? :))

one of her favorite presents, for sure... the doodle "pad"... she loves "painnn-ting" on it and has lots of fun with intricate designs. :) and, laying around her you can see some of the books she got, too...

another favorite...her medical kit :) she loves to give shots and walks around with her stethoscope wanting to listen to your heart. when she holds the scope to your heart, she says, "ga-gum...ga-gum...ga-gum...." to imitate a heart beat (like Patrick Swayze did on "Dirty Dancing." :)) we love our little doctor K :)

the first present K opened on Christmas "afternoon" was her Build-a-Bear creation from Grandma K... she had been so curious about the box, which she saw at my parents' house at Thanksgiving... :) she never opened it, though...

so it was the first thing she went to open once the festivities began... :) inside, was Clarice, from the Rudolph cartoon....

and while this isn't the best picture of K, it makes us laugh because she immediately tried to ride Clarice.... as you can imagine, poor Clarice's cotton stuffed legs were no match for K's petite frame. :) maybe next year, we should get K a pony? :)

Christmas with my family was cut a bit short.... Ry, my mom, and I got a pretty tasty Christmas dinner together... we had honeybaked ham, sweet potato casserole (homemade, thank you Paula Deane!), mashed potatoes, creamed corn (homemade...a little different), green bean casserole, pineapple stuffing, rolls, and a homemade apple pie... but my parents had to eat and run, literally... the impending snowstorm moving toward Philly made them decide to leave right after dinner... they made the right decision, though... 4 hours after getting home, the white stuff started to fall... :) we were so sad to see them go quickly...but we were so glad and BLESSED to have the time we did... :) it was a great Christmas....definitely one to remember. :)

meals for 1.10.11 through 1.16.11

another week of joyful eating...but lacking ham this week :) hehe :)
i've already adjusted this menu twice... ry's working late a few nights at the end of this week helping out a friend, we have more leftovers than anticipated in the fridge at the beginning of the week...so we'll see how this one works out :)

Monday: leftover ham and cheese thingies and four-cheese rice
Tuesday: Matzoh ball soup
Wednesday: leftovers (fried rice from Sunday)
Thursday: leftovers (soup)
Friday: sour cream pancakes
Saturday: leftovers/eat out cheap
Sunday: homemade pizza

hope you all have a wonderful week :) enjoy every minute........ :)

warm fuzzies...

go ahead... say "hello" to our new "family member"... :) this is a picture of our new Jotul wood burning stove... i can't wait to load up little Jotul with some wood and ENJOY the warmth it will provide... we spent about a week researching our options... we had to make a pretty quick decision because we wanted to take advantage of our 2010 tax credit of 30%! :) in all honesty, we really felt like we needed to do something to help with our heating situation... while our house isn't "old," it's been a drafty house for us in the last 5+ years... we have replaced 7 out of 11 windows (the 4 we didn't replace are a huge bay window in our living room and some windows in our unfinished basement). we have also replaced our front door and sliding door in our upper part of the house. while it has made a difference, we still spend many winters cold and layered with long sleeved shirts and fleeces. we have a thick blanket and a puffy down comforter on our bed that keeps us warm... our electric bills are astronomical, and we are a little conservative with our heat - we keep it set at 68...and sometimes turn it up to 69 or 70 when we're really cold (or when family visits and they're freezing :))...
plus, in my research, i have discovered that our heat pump is not really that great for weather below 32 degrees. yes, we live in the "south," but i will say that we have plenty of days from Nov./Dec. into March where we are below 32 degrees... and our heat pump isn't new... when we were having temps in the teens a few weeks ago, i swear that the heater ran non-stop one night...and yet, we were still chilly...
sooo, a wood burning stove is our solution... :) we have a little bit more to do (venting) in the finished part of the basement so that the heat can effortlessly travel to our primary living area...we spend most of our time upstairs (we have a split level house)...
needless to say, when we light the little Jotel tomorrow, i will take some pictures of the little guy warming up our house... :)
bottom line: we're ready to enjoy some warm fuzzies... :)
:)

instant smile...

After a 21 day "vacation" from each other, Katherine and Thomas were "reunited" on Wednesday morning. :) He waited patiently for her to wake up... and when she came RUNNING into the living room to see her Thomas, they both ran to the kiddie couch to watch Sesame Street together... :) I caught this picture as I was getting their breakfast/snack ready... :) Adorable... :)

meals for 1.3.11 through 1.9.11

here is what will probably be on the menu here for the next week...
we are sick of eating, quite frankly... we've had so much food...
and i don't want to grocery shop, other than for the basics, to help with our tight January budget...
and, as you can see, we have a theme here... ham :) we have a lot of ham left from our Christmas meals from both my family and Ry's family...so we'll be doing a lot of things with ham in the next week... :)

• Monday: omlettes (ham, cheese, onions, & green pepper) and toast
• Tuesday: ham and cheese casserole
• Wednesday: fried rice with ham
• Thursday: leftovers
• Friday: ham and cheese crescents
• Saturday: leftovers
• Sunday: leftovers

we have plenty of stand-bys, too...so if some of these ideas don't work out, we'll use the back-ups! :)

hope you have a wonderful week with good eats :)

maybe before 2012...

MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)
HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)

i kinda feel like i had to have a little "reality" there... :) i haven't blogged in a few weeks...i totally skipped talking about our Christmas and saying "goodbye" to 2010 and "hello" to 2011...
yes, please feel free to nominate me for your slacker award...

hopefully i will get around to putting something up at some point...maybe before 2012 :D

yes, that's my mantra...
maybe before 2012...

here's the latest, in the quick form...

we had a wonderful Christmas... K came away with some great presents...and lots of them. she loves her blocks, her doodle pad (the magnetic kind), her books, doctor kit, a basketball hoop, bathtime crayons, and an easel...pretty much everything. :) we appreciated our gifts, as well...things like new silverware, new frying pans, and new khacki pants for work are some of our favorite things :D
we have enjoyed 2 Christmas celebrations so far...once with my parents and then with Ry's family, too...
Christmas with my family was cut short, however, due to the 12 inches of snow that was forecasted for the Philadelphia area... my parents had to leave right after our yummy Christmas meal on the 25th... but they made the best decision since Philly had some serious white stuff and they made it home about 5 hours before the snow started to fall...

i have been so lacking in energy...and, 18 days later, i'm still struggling with this sinus situation... i don't have a fever, but i feel tired most of the time...and being 35 weeks preggo probably doesn't help... the good news is that we may be able to supplement our income with my sultry (translation: hoarse) voice...... :)

we've had family here since Dec. 21st until Jan. 1st, minus a few days...

my sweet girl is cutting her 2 year old molars... she's been pretty pleasant, considering, but she's had a touch of the "momma cold" too... she has a nice croupy cough, but thankfully, the coughing is rare...

the dogs have been under the weather, too... Beezer and Shorty had a food fight (not the throwing kind :)) last week...shorty came away with a nice puncture wound at the top of his head... (120 lbs. vs. 20 lbs. - easy to figure who would win) it's finally healing, but not after he reopened it making it look like he had been in a war on Saturday... i doctored him up again and have been watching the wound...and it looks better. Beezer also had to make a visit to the vet after a week or so of unusual behavior...crying when getting up and just looking odd (his eyes)... thankfully, it was a relatively cheap visit with 2 prescriptions for an antibiotic and some pain meds... he had a fever, signifying an infection somewhere... and, at 10 1/2 years old, he's riddled with arthritis... having two ACL surgeries on his knees doesn't help, but he also has arthritis in his hips and elbows... the cold weather has affected him greatly this year... the pain meds are for that situation... thankfully, he seems to be much better...

thankfully, Ry has remained healthy! :)

so, that's the latest, in a simple form... :)

:)
we hope you all had a wonderful holiday.... :) hopefully i'm back to blogging...at least for now... :)