Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Tigger Pooh

Tigger Pooh has made into this blog before, but as we all know, not enough can be said for a faithful bear. Madigan and his Tigger Pooh (aptly named since he is a Pooh Bear wearing a Tigger costume) are nearly inseparable. We have reasoned with Madigan that taking Tigger Pooh to the barn might put the dear bear at the mercy of the cunning crazy white dog's teeth, so in that event alone are they parted each day.

Tonight, I found Madigan strapping Tigger Pooh into Declan's carseat, ever so carefully... he did have to use his foot to cram him into the base of the seat, but our family moto is: "Use whatever means necessary to ensure the saftey of your bear's travel".

I do start to wonder, sometimes, at this bear and the influence he's had in all of our lives. This evening I plopped Madigan into a quick bath before bed time, scrubbing him down with his shampoo/bath wash, working efficiently to expedite the process. After thoroughly washing down his little tummy, I quickly moved onto Tigger Pooh to give him a swift scrub, completely covering the little orange head with soapy lather before I realized that something was amiss. Tigger Pooh, who was gingerly sitting in front of his boy, submerged to his torso in the bath water, seemed perfectly at ease with the situation. Wow.

For bed time, I had to rapidly improvise and retrieve the "back up Tigger Pooh" from my hope chest where he is stored for such crises. Tigger Pooh #1 was given a brief holiday and can currently be found fanning himself.

 

 

 

 
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Saturday, September 24, 2011

I love my horse!

Miss Devany - 4 months

Thursday, September 22, 2011

My boys being boys













Shoes!

Madigan put his own shoes on his feet! And he got them on the right feet! We are all exceedingly impressed.

 
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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Declan, I love you.

Declan, tonight, as I gave you little kisses all over your face, I heard your first baby cooing noises and I wanted to pause time, indefinitely. I was filled with utter delight with you and who I see you already becoming and simultaneously I felt inexplicable pain that life is so fleeting and THESE moments pass us by so quickly, shoving us into the next moment, next day, next season. Your spontaneous and frequent smiles, your scrootching noises, the way you snuggle into my neck so contentedly, your big blue eyes, and your expressive hands - observing these things (and so many more) brings me endless joy and makes me wish to savor every moment I'm given. It is moments like these that make it worth sifting through the suffering in this life.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Life on the farm

For the complete picture click here.









Sunday, September 11, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

What are birthdays for

if not to provide the perfect opportunity for chaos to ensue, thus gently (though definitely not subtly) reminding us that not only are we decidedly not the center of the universe, but rather daily participants in a continual cycle called life.

Yesterday, my birthday, was wrought with unexpected turns, beautiful fall weather, unwelcome moments, and great friends.

The chaos (well, the abnormal chaos, I should say) began when I got a reminder call from a horse trainer that he was expecting Caspian to arrive today (yesterday) for training and that he was expecting me to deliver him (the delivery part I had not previously anticipated). Because my horse trailer is currently filled with 40 bales of hay, I knew I would not be able to extract it from it's current parking spot through the mud and prepare it to haul. So, I called my dear friend, Susan, and she generously offered to use her trailer to take Caspian. We loaded Caspian, transferred Declan's carseat over from my truck, grabbed the cell phone which had the directions and headed out (you mommy's out there... notice anything missing?).

After driving for nearly 2 hours through traffic, we realized that the directions we were using had taken us nearly 1 hour out of our way and as we neared our destination, my phone battery started dying. I frantically wrote out the last bit of directions on a scrap piece of paper so that we wouldn't be abandoned to our fate, stranded on back roads in the heart of TN with a horse and infant for company. We finally arrived at our destination with a starving baby who required immediate attention. While Susan valiantly distracted our host in conversation, I hopped in the backseat to nurse Declan privately. After a few minutes, I thought to myself, "Lovely, I don't have his diaper bag", at which point he started the very arduous routine of producing a rather large "blow out". I laughed out loud at the irony of it all! I finished nursing him, called for Susan and buckled the soiled gem into his carseat. We spotted a gas station on our way home, where sat 4 gray haired gentlemen in rocking chairs on the front porch - a scene I might have expected from decades prior. Though we weren't hopeful, we decided to scout the place for "nappies" (diapers). I greedily snatched up the sole bag, sized 16-23lbs, paid with cash (since of course their credit card machine wasn't working) and prepared the boy for getting on some clean shorts. The diapers were the length of Declan from his neck to his crotch, but it's amazing how one will improvise when one is desperate. I couldn't help but smile when I looked into the backseat to see that little blue-eyed boy sitting there looking around as content as could be in nothing but a diaper which covered his entire torso. I though to myself how much life should be celebrated, in all it's chaos and in every unexpected turn (in the road).

Sunday, September 04, 2011