Catching Up - A Blessing for Fox

Blessing Day for Fox came a little later than it does for most babies, mostly because he had been so uncomfortable/sick/fussy with reflux and/or colic.  But it finally came, and it was a special day for the family.  In our church, a blessing is somewhat like a christening for a baby in other churches, although it isn’t exactly like a christening.  At a baby’s blessing, their name is officially stated, and then a prayer is said over the child (Jeromy did the honors), with some sort of blessing pronounced.

Fox looked quite dapper on his special day:

Afterwards, we went to Mandy and Jeromy’s to take some pictures (and eat some food!):

We were quite happy that Robert’s mother, Grandma Lynda, was able to come, too:

In fact, it was Grandma Lynda who made the beautiful little outfit that Fox was wearing:

It was Grandma Lynda who also made the beautiful dress that Paisley wore on her Blessing Day:

Mandy is going to have them treated and preserved so that each of her grandchildren will have a special outfit to wear on their blessing day…One of those family heirlooms to be treasured forever!

Catching Up – Pumpkin Patch 2013!

Okay, even before Halloween, there was the trip to the pumpkin patch.  Once again, the whole family went with some family friends and had a great time:

This was a first for Fox, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t quite get what it was about (other than his mother was taking yet more pictures):

But Paisley has it down!  This first picture was even shown on one of our local newscasts:

What cute little pun’kins!

Catching Up – Halloween!

The Christmas season is already upon us, meaning that there will be lots of fun things to post about.  However, the OCD part of me will not allow me to write about any of that until I catch up on what has already happened around here!  So before Christmas, before Thanksgiving, there was Halloween!  Now, Halloween is not a big deal to me any more (it mostly just means handing out candy, and Robert actually did that this year) – but, over at the Lackey household, it was quite the event(s).  Lucky for me, Mandy is a great photographer who not only likes to take pictures, but doesn’t mind if her old mother steals them for her personal use.  Since I wasn’t there, I will try to relate the events to the best of my memory of the story:

A couple of days before Halloween, there was something called “Boo at the Zoo” and Mandy went with a very good friend of hers and all of their crumb crunchers.    There was “trick-or-treating”:

And Paisley played all kinds of fun games:

And Fox – Well, he mostly just sat around looking cute:

Even though it was tons of fun, I think they were there for quite some time, and Paisley reached a point that she was just done:

That was too bad, because there was a party at the church later that night, and the whole family went:

Mandy had been asked to be one of the official photographers, tasked to take family-type shots of all of the attendees.  She used Jeromy and Paisley as subjects for some test shots, and our little bunny was so tired, even her ears were drooping:

On Halloween night, the little family went “trick-or-treating” with some other family friends, hoping that Paisley would have more fun and more confidence about going up to strangers’ doors if she was with a group.   At some homes, she still needed a  little help from Dad…

But other homes seemed safe enough that she could do it herself:

I was quite tickled that Paisley wanted to be a bunny this year…just like her mother did when she was a little girl.  Here’s a side-by-side of my two sweet bunnies:

Even Halloween has come full circle!

Old Wet Hen

Now that the fall season in Texas has lasted all of one week, we will be getting our first freeze here in a couple of days.  I guess the hot days of summer are truly gone…for a couple of months, anyway.  This means that Opal Chicken will have to wait awhile for her next bath.  Believe it or not, I think she might miss them!

It isn’t like we bathed her all the time, but she certainly got more than one bath this past summer.  It began when the temperatures started climbing way above the 100-degree mark; even with fans blasting in the chicken coop, there was just no way to really keep her cool!  And a hot chicken is a very sad sight!  So I started bringing her in during the hot part of the day and putting her in a dog crate in the craft room.  Once it the temperature started cooling down, she would go back outside.

“She stinks to high heaven!” my husband declared.

“She does not stink!” I countered.  “She just smells…different.”

“She needs a bath!”  He wasn’t backing down.

After seeing how wild the dogs can be when Robert bathes them, I wasn’t quite sure how Opal Chicken would take to this.  But time after time, she would just sit calmly in the tub, letting Robert suds her up:

He would  take her out and sit her on top of something, and then pour clean water to rinse her off:

The only part she didn’t enjoy was the indignity of Cookie doing some sort of inspection:

But after that was over, now all clean and sweet (and cool!), Opal Chicken could strut around and enjoy her day:

 

Wheels!

This summer we finally accomplished one of our goals!  We have been looking around for quite some time to find a camper trailer, and Robert finally found one that was still in really good shape (except for a leak in the roof – discovered after we bought it, during the first major rainstorm).  We bought it at such an insanely low price, that even with the leak (which Robert is in the process of repairing), it was a really great deal.

Since it is used, there is the possibility that there were dogs and smokers in it.  We are going to replace the carpet with a hard floor and reupholster the couch, etc., as well as buy a new mattress.  It is important to us that it is fresh and allergen-free because one of the major things we are looking forward to using the camper for is taking the world’s most beautiful girl camping as soon as we can.  Also, since she still can’t come in our house until we are down some animals, we thought that maybe she could come spend the night sometimes and we can camp out in the driveway.  Fox will be coming as soon as he is old enough to enjoy it, but for now it is Paisley’s special thing.  In fact, we have named our new home, “Paisley’s Palace”.

Here are some pictures of how it looked when we bought it:

There will be new pictures when we get the re-do finished!

Robert also surprised me with a little something he came bringing home one day.  I have been aggravating him like crazy about moving to a small town…a town small enough that I could ride a bicycle to the grocery store, the library, and what-not.  I could just picture me waving to my friends as I ride by, just like Jessica Fletcher does during the opening song of “Murder She Wrote”.  Of course, if I was going to be hauling groceries home, I would need a big basket of some sort.  Well, I’m not moving to a small town any time soon, but half of the dream came true when Robert showed up with this bad boy:

An adult tricycle!  How fun is that!

I guess with all of these wheels, there’s a plan to get me out of the house more…

Paisley Turns Three!

It seems like it was just yesterday, but Paisley actually turned three a little while back.  Once again, I have not been timely in my posting, but I want to share highlights from Paisley’s party any way.

Mandy warned me early on that with a brand new baby, she would not have the time, nor the energy, to throw the blow-out birthday bash that she gave for the first two birthdays.  For the life of me, I don’t know what she was talking about…it was darling!  The theme came from Paisley’s favorite things:  Favorite colors – yellow and pink, and favorite drink – lemonade.  Thus, the Paisley Pink-and-Yellow-Lemonade-Party came to be.

There were decorations:

And Refreshments:

And Cake:

The World’s Most Beautiful Girl even had a dress with lemons on it:

Fox was dressed for the occasion, too:

Paisley had fun hob-knobbing with all her guests (shown her with her cousin, Joshua):

And of course, PRESENTS:

And singing and candles:

Grump-Pa and Dee Dee were both sick and were not able to make it.  However, Robert’s mother, “Grandma Lynda”, came for the event and she and Paisley had a great time together:

Grandma Lynda was a big help by manning the kiddy-treat table…Mandy had those little plastic cups with the decorative inserts that allow the kids to decorate their own cup as the party favors.  Grandma Lynda helped everyone with those:

In fact, I must say that Grandma Lynda was quite appreciated all the way around.  She helped me shop for some upholstery fabric for an upcoming project, helping me to figure out what is suitable and helping me understand what I needed to be watching out for.  Also, since Fox was right in the midst of his colic/reflux woes during this time, she offered to spend the night at Mandy’s house to help out.  She stayed for two nights and Mandy told me that Lynda was a real pick-me-up for their spirits and brought a great sense of calm to their home during this time.

I think Paisley’s party was wonderful.  Actually, although Mandy had been worried about whether or not it was “enough”, she later told me that she ended up being more that satisfied with it, and was able to truly enjoy it, because it wasn’t quite so much and was less hectic.  I think that a sense of peace might be the best gift of all!

Fox at Home

Fox has been a different “Grandma” experience for me than Paisley was.  I think part of that is due to the fact that Paisley was the first grandchild (and child for her parents), and also because I stayed over at the Lackey house for a couple of nights or so in my effort to help out.  The Fox experience was complicated by the fact that I was okay for a few days after he was born, but then I got sick.  While I felt like helping, we all knew that a sick baby and/or toddler was the last thing they needed over there, so I stayed home until  we didn’t think I was contagious.  Even at that, most of my “helping” has consisted of taking Paisley for little outings or hanging out with her at home, in an effort to provide her with a little special attention and to give her mother a chance to concentrate on Fox.  Poor Fox has had problems with “colic” – later diagnosed as reflux – and just some general digestive issues which have been causing distress for him and loss of sleep for his family.  All of the pictures I have are pictures which I have pilfered from Mandy; however, it’s probably good since she takes much better pictures than I do!

Paisley has been generally taken with her new brother – except for the part where he keeps everyone awake at night.  Paisley found it a little hard having to share her parents' attention at first, but she has been a real trooper as of late.  I believe these pictures were taken when they first brought Fox home:

 

Mandy has taken quite a few pictures, as time has allowed.  I had really thought that Fox would simply look like a male version of Paisley.  Not so.  So far, he reminds me of Mandy when she was this age.  But really, he just looks like his own little person:

 

He has the most incredible feet, and I find myself “gobbling” and kissing them every chance I get (although I don’t know how many years that will last!):

 

The family had a photographer come to their house not too long ago and take pictures.  They are beautiful:

 

 

I guess the thing that has surprised me the most is how much I love this little guy.  I had worried that there would be no way that I could love another one as much as I love the World’s Most Beautiful Girl, but somehow… it happened!   He is wonderful!