What's been happening!?

Two months have passed since I last blogged. The reason simply is that I have gotten hooked on Facebook. I love it and I have found so many people with whom I have lost touch with over the years. It is just a wonderful thing to go on there and find people! I also love being able to update family and friends on all the happenings at my house all at once. So that's my excuse and I will get better. Here's a rundown of the past 2 months.

November 14, 2008
Eric and I celebrated our 16 year anniversary. I can't believe that much time has passed. It has flown by because it has been fun and unbelievable. I never knew being married to a person could be so great. We have made so many great memories and I really feel like we have only just begun. He's exceeded my expectations for sure. I still love him today even more than on our wedding day. Our celebration was going to dinner with the kids. We celebrated our anniversary a few weeks early at Blue Ridge. We left the kids with Nana! It was fun.


November 23, 2008

This was a bizarre day at the Short house. I wanted a beautiful picture of the kids for Christmas cards. This is a near impossible thing, to get 3 children, one of which is beginning her terrible 2s to sit still all at once. So we went over to Daddy's with the kids all dressed up to get some photos by the pond with the fall leaves as the backdrop. Whatever. Jordis did not cooperate. For some reason she thinks she has to throw her hands above her head and say, "CHEESE!"

So we decided to go over to the train tracks and take some shots. I had seen this done in some pictures a photographer had on her website. So off we went to the tracks. The kids were happy there. Jordis was so preoccupied with the tracks that she didn't care that I was taking her picture. When all of a sudden out of nowhere comes a train! Trevor yelled, "TRAIN!!!" and started to run off the tracks. It was right there! Spencer instinctively grabbed Jordis and ran off the tracks. They were so scared but I wanted my picture. I had them go back but the next photos were of 2 scared looking boys and a girl with her arms in the air with her mouth saying, "CHEESE!"

We came home after the train incident and started getting the Christmas decorations out. The boys decided to play keep away with Jordis with her ball. Spencer sat on the chair and Trevor on the sofa. They were throwing it back and forth and she was trying to get it and was so mad. Then she got on the sofa with Trevor to get it from him right as he threw it. I walked in to say, "STOP TEASING HER!" We all three went for the ball at the same time, leaving Jordis alone on the sofa. She tell off while standing and was hurt. I tried to calm her but she was obviously in pain. I could feel her collar bone poking up where it was broken. I took her to the ER, leaving Eric at home with the boys. After exam and X-rays, they confirmed that she had broken her collar bone. She was given pain medication and sent home. There is nothing they can do since she won't leave on a brace at her age. It would heal in 3 weeks. Poor baby.

December 6, 2008
Happy Birthday To Jordis! She turns 2. We had a fun birthday party for Jordis. Boy how she loves being the center of attention!


December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas. The entire month of December is spent getting ready for Christmas and within 5 minutes it is over. All the gifts are open and it is over. What a wonderful Christmas we had except for the stomach virus which went through our house. Trevor was vomiting all day on Christmas Eve and Spencer woke up Christmas morning vomiting. Even with that going on, it was still a great Christmas.

Cheetah

What a sad couple of weeks it has been. On Tuesday, Oct. 14, Cheetah, our 15 year old dog, passed away. She was very sick for about the past 6 months. Eric and I got her 4 months after we got married after we were feeling that "baby fever." We knew we were too young and it was so not the time for a baby. So we got this cute little brown ball of fur instead. She was our only baby for 5 years before we added real babies to our family. Then Spencer came along and they were best friends. She was very jealous at first when she realized he was here to stay. She acted like her leg was hurt, limping everytime Eric talked to the baby. We were worried until we realized that she was switching legs. She was very attached to Eric and wanted him to focus on her. He did and she got over it. Then we added 2 more human friends for her and another dog. She adapted to the additions and all the many moves we made with her with ease. As long as Eric and I were with her she could handle anything. That is how it was for her at the end of her life as well.

She began having heart trouble about 2 years ago. She slept more than anything and prefered to be near us at all times. She has been on medication for over a year for her heart and fluid in her lungs. She recently has had kidney problems as well and had to have special food. 3 days before she died she started having seizures. They were getting more and more each day and the last one started at the top of the stairs, causing her to fall all the way down while seizing. I heard her but didn't get there in time - she had already made it half way down. She was suffering at the end and we just couldn't let her suffer any more. We did not want her to have a painful death.

The boys told her goodbye through their tears. At such a young age, they understood that she was suffering and they were ready to let her go. Eric met me at the vet where we said our goodbyes. She licked Eric all over his face as he talked to her. She wanted to make sure he was ok. I was just hysterical. Dr. Harding injected the needle and quickly her breathing slowed down and she went to sleep. She was finally at peace. It was probably the hardest thing we've had to do in our entire marriage. She is in a better place and our family isn't the same. But we are getting better each day.

Goodbye, Rocky

The past few days have been interesting. A cute little Jack Russell Terrier showed up on our street Sunday and decided he liked it here so much he would just stay. The boys found him walking down our street and fell in love with him. They played with him for a while THEN came and got me. I admit he was extremely adorable (he looks like Eddie from the old show - Frasier) but I told them to leave him alone so he would go back home. Well, he didn't. After it got dark he was still laying on the front porch. So the boys made him a bed out there and gave him water. Eric and I weren't sure what to do. The humane society here is not like the one we knew in Florida. Here, they actually do euthanize animals after a certain time. So that wasn't even an option. He stayed here all night. We walked, with the dog, to the bus stop the next morning and all the kids knew him. His name is Rocky. I spent the entire day calling people (I have made more friends in Auburn than I realized). I finally tracked the owner down and he came and got the dog at around 4 pm yesterday. There were a lot of emotions. Trevor was the most affected by him. He wanted to keep him but felt sorry for him because he thought he might have been missing his family. I was also sad to see him go. Of course Spencer is our animal lover and would keep every homeless animal in the world if he could. Eric played tough guy and said, "We don't need another dog!" Although he did ask me at one point while Rocky was here what we were going to name him! I know him. He liked him too and would have "allowed" us to keep him if we hadn't found his owner. The only one who wasn't crazy about him was NALA!!!

When I finally reached the owner, he didn't seem too alarmed that his precious Rocky had been missing for 24 hours. I would have been out looking for either of my dogs all night until I found them! And I would have been so thankful for the person who cared for them. The past 2 or 3 times Rocky has gone missing, one of my close neighbors have been the ones to find him and call. So he knows that this is the street he goes to! He would have been very easy to find. He wasn't wearing his tags this time so that is why it was so hard for me to find his owner.

One important lesson we all learned from this experience is that there are so many homeless and mistreated dogs out there. IF/WHEN we get another one, we will adopt from the humane society. But the truth of it is, I don't think we have seen the last of little Rocky.

Happy Birthday to me.....

36 years old...Can't believe it. Today I am thankful for my life - I'm thankful to my Mother for a wonderful childhood that carries me through my years as a parent. I have happy memories that I can share with my kids and a great role model for a mother. My memories of my childhood years and the things she taught me, the values she instilled in me, the sacrifices she made for me make me a great Mom.

I am thankful for my happy life as a wife. Since the age of 20 (still a child) I have had the most amazing partner in life. Eric has helped me to become the person I am today. He has been my protector while still respecting the independent person my Mother raised me to be. I am not the same person I was when I met him. I am much more self assured and strong.

I am thankful for my children who keep my in check. They let me know what is and is not cool! They keep me young by dancing around and singing with me when I get too serious.

40 will be here before I know it and I am looking forward to it!