Speedy

We are sad to have lost Speedy this week. Speedy was one of my brother's cats that he adopted when living in Boston 12 years ago. Speedy and his brother Juno were adopted and taken in by the most loving human caretaker ever, Rich. He loves these cats with all of his heart, and it was really hard to watch him lose Speedy to liver cancer.
Pets are really hard to lose, I lost a cat several years ago when he wasn't yet one year old. It's hard to see them deteriorate and be in pain, they're just not having any fun anymore. They really become part of the family, and they always remain a part of the family even though they pass on.
As most things, the pain of losing a pet lessens with time, and you start to focus on the fun you had with them instead of the last few weeks/days of their lives. Laughter is the best medicine for things like this, it helps ease the pain of the loss. With that, I give you this story:

I was telling the kids the other day about Rich's cat Speedy passing away. I told them that Speedy got very sick and died. James replied, so innocently, "Upon the cross?"

We'll miss you Speedy!

Wait a minute... when did THAT happen?

Apparently James knows how to spell! We were pulling up to the hair cut store today and we parked in front of a different place, just a couple spaces over in the parking lot. James looked up at the sign above us and read off the letters in a quick pace, "G-o-l-d-e-n-t-a-n... what does that spell?"
I was so flabbergasted that I made him do it again. Sure enough, he repeated all of the letters, only with a slight stumble on the "t". Oh my gosh! I knew he was learning letters in school, but he really is LEARNING his letters! LOL.
Such a smart boy!

Another thing that has blown us away is Kaitlyn's resistance to nap in the afternoon. She's only two and a half and she's already starting to want to skip her nap. I remember that she transitioned from two naps to one really early, at eleven months, so maybe she's going to transition to no nap early too. Oh goodness. May the LORD help me cope. ;)

Christmas Gifts from James

James came home from school today with a few gifts for Mom and Dad. It was really hard for him to have to wait until Daddy got home from work for us to open them. After Nathan arrived at home, we asked him if we should wait until Christmas and he shook his head quickly, "No, you should open them now!"
One gift was a white oven mitt painted with his hand print as Santa wearing a red hat and having a white iridescent beard. James wrote his own name on the oven mitt too. ;)
The other was a wreath ornament that had been made by putting a series of rings on a piece of string and tied into a circle. So cute!
Kaitlyn probably won't be giving us a gift from school this year since she has missed the last week and half (only three actual days of school though) because of her fractured clavicle. She seems to be healing, but she still gets hit with pain if I lift her the wrong way or if she falls down. She doesn't seem to mind the brace, in fact, I think it makes her feel better to wear it. Poor thing.
Nathan just wrote the Christmas letter for this year: watch out. ;)

Slacker McSlackski

Oh my gosh I have been slacking on the blog! I do have excuses though! Here is a rundown of what has been going on in our house since before Thanksgiving:
-I got sick, horrible sinus infection and a cough for which I had to be on antibiotics for two rounds. I even had to cancel shoots and reschedule.
-Kona had to go to the vet for pancreatitis (sp?) and spent Thanksgiving there with them = lots of money.
-Rosco (one of our cats) started having blood in his urine so I decided that I should take both cats in for their waaaay belated check-ups (shots, bloodwork, etc.= lots of money again). Rosco ended up having to have surgery (today) to remove stones from his bladder. LAST WEEK, he had to have some teeth removed... he was born with an extra set of teeth on the bottom- only one molar was duplicated on each side. They were decayed and infected, so they had to come out. So he has had two surgeries in the last few weeks = lots of money. There go the Christmas presents. Ha.
-Kaitlyn fractured her clavicle (collar bone) after falling from the car. NO, we weren't moving... she was climbing up into her car seat as she does 3 times a day and slipped and fell. It was one of those slow motion things where I couldn't possibly have gotten to her fast enough, although I tried to get there fast enough. So she had to have x-rays and is now wearing padded straps that go around her shoulders like a backpack and then attach in the back in a big X between her shoulders. She should be fully recovered in a few weeks.

So besides all of that happening in our house, I've been swamped with work (a good thing) and have been trying to start an Etsy store along with a store on SmugMug. I am extremely excited to be moving into 2010, as I look forward to a new product line and the introduction of packages for Baby's First Year and for family portraits.

Whew!

We are really getting excited to go to Iowa pretty soon. Too bad it's so freakin' cold! HA! I look forward to great conversations with Beth, lots of fun in the snow with the kids (Nathan and Chris too), and drinking coffee with Marilyn and talking smack to Gary. We miss you, family in Iowa!