In the early hours of Sunday morning I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
Ken and I are so grateful and elated he is here. It is humbling to love this precious new life.
We named him Sawyer, he is so small and sweet!
We’re home now and the adventure is just beginning…
I’m tired of winter food.
I want the lighter fare of summer.
It’s been the kind of weather that if you find a sunny spot outside that is sheltered from any wind-no matter how gentle it may be- you can stay warm. But in the house it feels cold. Until you turn on the heat then it gets too warm and stale. So you complain.
I’ll complain again around late August when I’m tired of heat and humidity and want to make beef stew and hear ducks overhead.
I finally have the go ahead to be a little more active. It feels weird.
I can’t stop making baby stuff.
My husband had a big day at work last week, he gave a speech and I sat with my children and cried. Partially out of love and partially out of hormones.
I also cried during an episode of Happy Days yesterday, so I’m not sure what that all means.
Sam doesn’t look like Sam in this picture, his sisters have already had a laugh over it but it is still my favorite.
This might have been the first big function our oldest didn’t attend- we missed you, Hadley. Having grown up kids is hard. You can’t help but be proud of their independence and their newly sprouted life skills but at the same time you want them home so you can pick out their clothes and they can ride in the minivan with the whole family.
That’s all.
Sometimes I do some really dumb stuff, this is how I learn. Looking back at the dumb stuff always make me shake my head in disbelief…really? I did that?
Add in pregnancy and a traveling husband. My husband will deploy again shortly after this baby is born- his 7th deployment! Until then he will be here and there and everywhere and hopefully in the delivery room when the time comes (When? When will the time come???)
I have a history of events that just happen whenever he is away. Whether it’s the hot water heater flooding the house (1998 and 2007) or a raccoon that breaks into your coop and removes the beaks from all but one hen (2000). Car accidents, broken bones, the dog dying. If it seems like a weird, freak thing it will happen when he is away.
A couple weeks ago on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon he drove out of the yard for a trip to Virginia. I made the kids some lunch and as a treat set up a little picnic outside. We were eating and saw little Sally O’Malley (the cat) in the kitchen window so I went inside and brought her out. She doesn’t go outside. She pranced and danced around the yard close by like a little ballerina. It was the sweetest thing ever.
Then I realized it wasn’t a brown leaf in the yard she was playing with…it was a brown bat. A bat? Out in the day? I know enough about bats and rabies to realize this was not a very good thing at all. We put her in her cage and killed the bat- it was showing it’s fangs and acting quite scary. I called an emergency vet that was nonchalant and hinted she should probably be put down as she hadn’t had her 12 week rabies shot yet. So I called more vets and kept getting similar answers. The state wouldn’t test the bat for rabies because there was no human contact or broken skin. I couldn’t believe I would have to put our sweet little Sal down. Just because I brought her out for less than 30 minutes and she found a bat.
We kept her caged for a few days and I didn’t know what I was going to do. The last vet I had called ended up calling me back and found a woman willing to rescue her and keep her quarantined (the state says 6 months).
This woman has rescued over 200 cats through the years from being put down. She has little Sal in a sunny little bedroom with a big window all to herself. No cage…it was breaking my heart to imagine her in a cage for 6 months. She sends me pictures and has marked Sept 19 on the calendar as the day we can have her back. She asked for no money or food. I can visit her anytime. Her selfless act of kindness has had me in awe.
There are good people in the world, she has inspired me so much and I am so grateful. Sally quickly became part of our family, I miss her so much! I try and never spoil my kids but am just the opposite about our cat. Cats should be spoiled and Sally was the perfect queen of our castle.
I feel lucky this has somewhat of a happy ending- I hope. I feel confident she won’t come down with rabies, though with small kids and pregnancy the vet wouldn’t let us keep her as the risks are too great and I get that. If you know Laura from Jaffrey hug her…she is an angel!
