My P-Girl

My Piper is such an amazing child! Sometimes things happen that really show your child's strengths and today was one of those days. Although the story is quite heartbreaking, my daughter's resilience shows through.

We took Piper's favorite kitten to Grandmommie & Grandaddy's house today for no particular reason, Piper just wanted to take him. Keep in mind that her favorite kitten was one of the strays found by the creek that was painfully underfed and flea infested to the point that its black fur was falling out. We were feeding him well and treated him for fleas, but he was still pretty rough looking (in my opinion, not Piper's).

Piper had him in his little cat carrier most of the time we were there but somehow he happened to be out when the neighbor's Labrador Retriever named Dallas came over. You can easily guess what happened, but Dallas grabbed the kitten in his mouth and the result was not good. What really surprised me though was my daughter's reaction to the whole episode. She witnessed the whole thing and immediately began screaming and fighting Dallas (I should mention he is well over 100 pounds, a very large dog) for the kitten to the point of being bitten herself. Her mothering instinct took over and she was going to get her kitten from that dog. A large group of family saw what was happening and ran to assist her. It was so traumatic for all of us, but especially my brave little girl. She was so torn up emotionally but thankfully the dog bite was not too bad. We had to bury her kitten and her cousins put flowers on the grave, but she was not ready to see it yet.

What I realized from talking to her later was that she was not upset with Dallas, she was upset with herself for being unable to "save" her kitten. Just like any mother, she was not intimidated by the enemy, he just made her fight that much harder. She thought she should have been able to take on that huge dog and win, that's just her heart. She has a lion's heart and I love her for it!

Fave shorts

Cohen wears these shorts every single day. He wakes up asking for his "brown shorts" if he did not sleep in them, and they are starting to show their wear. I bought 3 more *similar* pairs for him and he will hold them up and say, "Yeah, I like them but where are my brown shorts."

Piper says she is going to bury them in the yard so he cannot find them. And I am starting to agree with her!

Our "Farm"

When Piper asked her father for a "farm" I think she had in mind chickens, cows, pigs, ducks, etc. Well, our farm has turned out a little different.

First, there is Maddie, a lovable little hamster that the kids got from their Nana for Christmas a year and a half ago. She is really good with the kids and tolerates their rough handling well.
Next, is the ever growing population of cats. We had 2 mama cats (Copper and Bubbles) that each had 4 kittens. You would think that would be enough to find homes for, yet, the kids found 5 more abandoned kittens at the creek and brought them up to the house last week. So now we have waaaay too many cats! This is just a few of them:
Also, we have our 60 pound "puppy." He has no idea how huge he his and cannot resist jumping on every person that shows up in our driveway! Piper named him Max before we even met him, but the name seems quite perfect now.
And last but certainly not least, is Freddy the donkey who came with the house when we moved. He is hysterical, and if you have never heard a donkey bray, that is a treat indeed! He loves the kids and comes out most days when he hears their voices. Although we are not responsible for his feeding and care (the owner of the house takes care of that), I consider him part of our brood.

Laundry and a loud baby

I am so proud of myself for sticking to my plan to dry laundry on the line outside my kitchen window. I had a feeling the dryer would be back in full force after Abe was born, but so far so good! I love saving money on the power bill and being kinder to the environment is an added bonus.
On another note, Abe is the loudest baby EVER! His cries are piercing unlike any other newborn I have ever heard. Not only are the cries loud, he breaths heavy and sighs in his sleep; and while nursing, he gulps and sighs and groans! It is so funny to listen to him! Everyone else seems to get a good kick out of it too, except my other children (who, mind you, are quite loud themselves) who are constantly telling me to keep "the baby" quiet! Here is a picture of the little guy this morning, I was trying to capture his illusive smile but I seem to have caught the tail end of it.

After a couple months off...

and the birth of our third child, I am going to give this blogging thing another try! I really would love to look back on these days and remember them with fondness. The early months with my other two children are kind of a fog, although at the time I thought I would never forget them.

The first week we were home my Nanny (the kids great-grandmother) visited and brought a yummy lunch and gifts for baby Abe. I just love this picture of her with the kids!
She is a spunky lady at 78 years of age. We had a great visit and I really appreciated her gift of food!

Other than that, Abe is growing like a weed. He has finally stopped nursing around the clock (when his eyes were open anyway). He seems more satisfied and goes about 2 hours between feedings when he is awake. He spends several hours a day watching and listening to Piper and Cohen. It seems that their non-stop clattering about the house soothes him.

We are staying home most days except for a weekly trip to gymnastics for Piper and grocery shopping occasionally. I have actually enjoyed being here around the clock although I can't seem to catch up on the housework (maybe because I spend so much time on the computer).

Speaking of computer time, I probably need to wrap it up now!

Sci Works

Sci-Works was pretty fun this morning! We met Sam before going in and she was a tremendous help with the kids. We toured the entire place and made it outside to check out the otters, which the kids refer to as otteruses (cross between otter and walrus). Everyone got plenty of exercise and we even headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch where they played some more. Cohen walked all over Sci-Works saying he was ready to go to "Chicken Leg" instead of Chick-Fil-A, so we all got a good kick out of that!

We are heading to the Spa La-Di-Da in the morning for some manis and pedis for Piper and Sam! I am looking forward to it just because I know how much Piper loves to go!

Right now I think I am ready for some rest and relaxation, after cleaning the kitchen and bathing everyone of course!

Off days

Seems like we are having a lot of off days in our current homeschool set-up. I am either not making school "fun" or I am trying at the wrong time of day. Not sure how much I should push because I want school to be a good experience, not something dreaded.

Once I can get Piper into the groove she does so well and seems really intrigued by our activities but it is getting her attention and ditching the bad attitude that I am struggling with. Today we did the usual Saxon Math lesson, one lesson in 100 Easy Lessons and a couple worksheets. Overall I am pleased with her performance, I just wish I didn't have to poke and prod so much getting through each lesson.

Tomorrow should be fun though, we are heading to SciWorks with MOPS and lunch with several other mothers. Then Piper has soccer practice at 5:15pm. Fred is meeting us at SciWorks to drop off his daughter Sam who will spend the day with us. She is really quite helpful with my kids since she is quite a bit older.

It's been a busy week, but I am thankful for busy sometimes!