On Dogs....

As if 6 dogs are not enough, we are now fostering...possibly keeping yet another little lost soul who has wandered into our lives.

It amazes me how troubled people are with their pets. Many people can not even cope with having ONE dog. Being a big dog-lover, I can not understand it at all. I have fostered a decent amount of dogs (nothing compared to many other GREAT animal people I have met lately, who foster a lot more than I do), but enough to know that many of these rescued, second-hand dogs are the best! I often wonder why in the world people give up these precious family members. It makes me mad. Especially since a small handful of responsible and caring people end up having to care for, foster and house many unwanted animals that other ignorant, selfish, irresponsible and impatient people have dumped and abused.

All of our dogs have come to us with a story...one that I will never know for sure. But, they have all come to us as abused, neglected, given-up-on, but blessed souls, that we are so happy to have met. It amazes me how resilent and forgiving dogs are. They are truly angels.

Most people know that an Alcoholic would not be dumb enough to go into a bar and expect to not have a drink, would he/she? But, alas...I was dumb enough to end up going into the APL on Sunday with Ken and the kids...for a "fun" Sunday outing to "visit" the dogs in the shelter there. Me...a dog-aholic! We were at church (St. Augustine's) on Sunday, which is literally walking distance from the pound. After church, we actually had nothing planned for once and the kids really wanted to go check out the pound. I had promised them that sometime, we'd check it out, so why not today? I knew we would not get a dog...at least I thought my will-power was stronger.

I did not make it past the 4th or 5th cage!
Jeremy was a little ahead of us, and I heard him saying, "Mom...come check out this strange dog. She looks soooo FREAKY with these weird eyes! What's wrong with her?"

So, I walked ahead to see this "weird dog" and there she was! POLLY! A mangy, skinny, depressed looking pooch, with one blue eye, one brown eye and a shaved patch on her head. She wasn't even barking, like many of the others...she was just sitting back on her mat, quietly, looking very sad, scared and hopeless. On her cage, there was a sign, "Please adopt me! I've been here way too long. Reduced Fee- only $40.00"

Being concerned about this dog, I ended up talking with one of the volunteer workers there, who said that Polly had been there since last Oct/Nov and had really passed up her "time" there. She was a transfer last Nov from Ashtabula's pound (who knows how long she had been in Ashtabula's pound!), and had ended up at the APL. They were giving her one last shot at being adopted with the "sale price". They said she had really given up hope on life, and had entered a state of depression, not even barking or looking at people anymore, and just sitting on her mat, in a sad state. The volunteer said that people would always pass her up in her cage because she was odd looking, appeared too quiet and depressed and did not "jump out" in a friendly fashion to catch anyone's attention, but they said she is really a very good, well behaved dog (as most rescued dogs are!).

OK, that did it. "Bring that dog out of her cage and let me look at her, I say!" The kids were also not helping, by saying things like, "MOM...We can't let her stay in this place...we've got to help her!" One of my favorite quotes from Kateri (who had tears in her eyes), was "Mom, she looks like a good listener."

So, we got her out of the cage, walked her around and took her to a quieter room to be alone with her and get a good look at her. I noticed right away that her tail had been chopped off...no not docked like a Rott or Doberman...it was hacked off and about 1/4 of it was left hanging...a sad looking state. She was the sorriest, saddest looking dog I've seen in a long time. She had a shaved patch on her head because they had removed a tumor on her head, which was benign, and healing nicely. Her 2 different color eyes gave her an almost eerie, spiritual and very unique look. I was thinking she'd be very scared and aloof from us, and maybe even aggressive, considering her depressed and fearful state. But, she almost immediately started wagging her tail, licking all of us, trying to sit in our laps (even though she is a fairly big dog...about 45 lbs). It was then that I saw a shimmer of HOPE spark in her eyes, and the depression and sadness was slowly dwindling away faster than she could lick us. HOW could we ever put her back in that cage now?? Yes, I am a dog-sucker! Ken looked at me, "Why did we come here...I should have known this would happen!!"

There was no going back then...we were taking her home! As soon as we spent about 10 minutes with her (decision was made after about 1 minute), I started filling out the paperwork, paying the pound staff and we were off. It all happened so quickly.

Polly was so happy to be going outside with us and settled down nicely in the van on the way home. She was shaking slightly, but overall very calm. Once home, she met all the other 6 dogs and did fairly well with all of them. A little touch and go with Penny and Mia, with a few growls, but no fights, although I am still keeping a close eye on all of them, ready to jump in if a fight were to break out. The thing that amazes me most is that Polly is so WELL BEHAVED!! She is totally housebroken...no accidents at all, does not jump, does not chew or destroy things, barks at a minimum, is super-great with all the kids (very gentle and submissive to them) and is overall a sweet little lady. She can not use the stairs at all though. We had to teach her to use the stairs...and now she can go up them, but still has trouble coming down them. The vet at the pound estimated her age to be about 2 yrs old, but judging from her calmness, I am thinking maybe she is a little older, but who knows. I am still debating whether we are keeping her or fostering her to find her a home. I just really wanted to get her OUT of the pound and think of options afterwards. She is still a little shy here and confused about being in a home atmosphere. After all, she had been in the pound since last Oct/Nov....more than 3 months in a cage, and was a stray before then. Overall, I think she seems pretty darn happy here, well behaved and definitely LOVED by all of us!

Baby Names...help!

Some of the Preschool girls at Homeschool Co-op: Kateri, Luanna, Emersyn, Sri and Augustine.


Another shot of my 5 kiddos at the new City Hall building.

We are back into the swing of things with homeschooling (after the holidays) and have started back with our Homeschool Co-op classes. Isaiah and Jeremy are taking a Photography class, Lego building class and Vegetarian Cooking. Isaiah is also taking a fun, history celebration class and Jeremy is taking an arts/crafts class too. Each child takes 4 classes on Tuesday. Oliver is taking a Science experiments class, a couple different Arts/Crafts classes and reading class. The girls are in the Preschool classes, which consist of arts/crafts and reading/phonics classes. I am co-teaching for the Vegetarian Cooking and am also teaching one of the arts/crafts Preschool classes. The girls are with me half the day.

I am feeling well. The baby is moving around a lot...pretty much any time I think about him/her, the baby will move. I've been having lots of the Braxton Hicks contractions as well, which make it difficult to sit in the same position for very long. Seems like the contractions come mostly in the evenings.

We thought we were set on names....but currently, we are still deciding on names for boys. We've pretty much had the girls' name set since the beginning, even though our boys are not crazy about it. I've found it is difficult to decide on a name that all of us like. Ken and I pretty much agree on all the names...it's getting the kids to like the names that is hard! We thought we had a boys name picked, but the boys are still protesting. Ken and I like Elliot. The boys want Anikan (after the Star Wars character). Jeremy has already started mean nicknames, like "Smelly-it" and said he will call the baby that if we name him Elliot! Brat! I do think that the boys will get over it and accept the name eventually...but we're thinking maybe we should have a "compromise name", that we all like, if that's possible.

Lately, Ken and I both are having strong, strong feelings that this baby is a boy. So, now we are really paying closer attention to deciding on this boys name. The "compromise" name that we are thinking about now is Daniel. Ken and I both like this name as well, and all the kids are also fine with this name. We still are not set on a middle name yet. As middle names, we've considered Francis, Jacob, Jesse, Jeffrey....and more. So, all you family and friends out there, who are reading these posts....Elliot or Daniel? And, give us some fun thoughts on middle names too.

For a girl, we have picked out Miriam Francis. The boys (esp Isaiah) do not like the name Miriam. He wants Casady or Juliet for the first name. I like those names as well, but have had my heart set on Miriam for awhile. Again...thoughts on these names as well from all of you.

With all our other pregnancies/babies, the kids were too young to have any opinions on names...but now since they actually have opinions, it is making this name decision process harder for me and Ken.
Thanks in advance!


Isaiah, Jeremy and Oliver with cousin, Ashley and Aunt Diana, who was leaving to go back to college (Univ of Virginia) after Xmas Break.


Kateri and Luanna with Morgan, our big black lab, who is also a great pillow.

The kids at the new City Hall entrance with me, as we came to check out the new building and moving progress on Thursday.

Well, things are all moved and starting to get set up in our new offices at work. I had Ken and the kids come up on Wed night, and help me pack everything! We took about 4 hours, but we got it all done...tons of boxes! I was not the only one at City Hall to get injured in this move. Our Finance Director took a stumble down the stairs, while moving boxes and she broke her right arm! It looks like she will have to have surgery to put pins in her arm as well, since it is a bad break. Very sad! I am thankful that I am OK now and all is well with me and baby. The only hard part now is unpacking all these boxes, that now sit in my new office at City Hall! I am hoping that maybe I can come in over the weekend and get a little done at a time, so as to not over-do it again.

I visited with my midwife, Pam, yesterday, and baby is doing great and moving around a lot. The baby kept kicking off the fetascope, as Pam tried to listen for his/her heartbeat. It was pretty funny. She said it is a feisty little baby. Baby appears to be in the head down position already, but Pam says the baby still has a lot of room to grow and move all over still. I am officially 25 weeks and 3 days as of today! Baby is probably about 1 1/2- 2 lbs now, although he/she feels a lot heavier to me!

Ken, Isaiah, Jeremy, Oliver and Kateri all think the baby is a boy. Luanna keeps saying it is a girl though. Although my first impulse at pregnancy made me think the baby was a girl, I am also now thinking boy. And, every single dream I have had lately of this baby indicated boy. Usually, I go with my dreams, so I guess I am going to have to switch to my guess of boy as well. But, I am obviously not set on my guess. It's kind of fun thinking of the possibilities of either sex, having everyone guess and it also makes it more exciting to find out after the birth!

Too much packing!

I did something extremely stupid this past weekend! At work, we are moving to a new building, so everyone is packing up their offices. There are boxes everywhere and I am also busy packing up my own little office, and files and books. Once you start packing, you realize how much you do have. Well, I was in the office alone this weekend (with 5 kids, it seems the only real time I can put in is in the evenings and weekends), and was packing and moving boxes a lot. I was loading and moving boxes like crazy, not even realizing or thinking that maybe I should not be exerting all this energy and doing this, with being 6 months pregged. Moving huge 20-30 lb boxes all over the place can do some damage on a pregnant lady I guess. I also was searching for things in boxes that someone in the office needed (and had already packed)...that was a hopeless and useless search for me. After about 20 minutes or so, I started experiencing SEVERE pain in my belly. I seriously found it difficult to walk and the pain was quite intense. I think I pulled some muscles near my big belly. I sat down and called Ken, and he was quite upset with me that I had done this, although Ken really never gets mad...he was just worried. I honestly forget about being pregnant sometimes or just feel like I can pretty much do anything anytime, despite being pregnant or not. I hardly ever get sick or hurt, so I sometimes feel like a Super-Woman, which, in this case could have killed me or Baby T. I knew I had to drop what I was doing and just head home. Once I was in the car, contractions hit me non stop. I was soooo scared that I was in pre-term labor! It was difficult to drive, so thank goodness I live only about 7 minutes away from City Hall. Once home, I just lay down and went to bed, but the painful contractions were hitting me non-stop for the next 4-5 hours. It was like real labor. I just kept praying...please don't let me go into labor now...it's too early (25 weeks!)...Baby won't survive yet! I tried to ignore the pain, push it away and just force myself to rest and finally just dropped to sleep late Saturday night. When I woke up on Sunday AM, I felt much better and refreshed and the contractions had obviously stopped. So now I am trying to be much more careful at what I do, how much I lift, and am still wondering how the heck I am going to get the rest of my office packed up now. I think I will head into the office tomorrow during the day (with kids in tow to help) and to have some others in the office help me. We are moving to our new City Hall on Thursday!

January 11, 2008

Hello all!
I've been getting complaints that I am not updating my blog as often as I should :)
OK then, I will try to do it more often in this new year!

We've been busy getting back on track with homeschooling. I am trying to get the boys work all done by the time I have this baby, so we may start rushing through books from now through April. We are starting back with our Homeschool Co-op next Tuesday (it is only once a week on Tuesdays), so we'll be busy with that soon. I am teaching a Vegetarian Cooking class again with my vegan friend and fellow homeschooling mom, Pidge, and I am also teaching a Preschool Snacks, Puzzles and Craft class, so I will be busy on Monday nights plannning and getting things ready for classes. The kids absolutely love the co-op and since the classes are all very fun...why wouldn't they?! There are about 50-60 families in the co-op with over 100 other homeschooled kids. Homeschooling seems to be getting more and more popular as the years go by. At least it seems that way to us, since we are always meeting more and more homeschoolers.

I have also been in a lot of discomfort lately. This baby is growing big fast. I can feel the pain of the stretching at the top of my belly the most. It often burns and I can not get into any comfortable position. It is hard to touch my toes now. And, I still have 3 months to go. I remember these last 3 months as being the most uncomfortable and painful. I am also having a decent amount of the Braxton-Hicks contractions...my body is practicing for the big day. So, by the time labor really hits, I am so happy that it's almost over, that the pain doesn't really bother me as much by then.

Happy New Year!

The Kids on Christmas Eve...setting out their stockings and waiting for Santa!

Hi all! We had a very busy and fun Christmas season. I finally have a little time here to write. We were busy with family parties, anniversaries, and holiday celebrations. It is so fun to have all the young kids, so cute and excited about everything. It was great to see Luanna experiencing her first Xmas here at home with us. And, next year we will have a new little one joining in on the festivities with us. Even the dogs enjoyed all the fun!

To start the new year, I started experiencing some Braxton-Hicks contractions. How fun (note the sarcasm). I am now 24 weeks along. Belly is getting bigger by the day it seems. The baby kicks and moves quite a lot and is usually the most active at night when I want to sleep.

Here are some photos of our Christmas. I tried to pick some of my favorites of each child.


Kateri with her pink cowgirl boots. She had asked Santa for these!


Jeremy with some nice, warm, red ear muffs.


Luanna with her new American Girl Bitty Baby Asian doll.


Oliver, very excited about his Power Ranger TV Game.


Isaiah playing with his new Driving Game that hooks up to the TV.