Family Fuller

Sorry we haven’t blogged in awhile - I wanted to give Sevi her dues. The week after she died was hard on us. It always felt like something was missing - in fact it still does - but it is getting better and we know we made the right decision. It is hard to go from having a dog to not having one. Like Chuck said he (and me) had to walk her morning and night for almost 13 years. I keep thinking of her, especially when we cook and eat - there is no one to clean the floor and eat the scraps. She was a great dog and where ever she is I am sure she knows we miss her!

So back to family life. Holden turned 9 months a week ago. He is very busy cruising all around the living room. He really does not want to be held very much right now. He plays on our train table “coffee table” all the time. Walks around it, goes to the couch, to the table next to it and back. He doesn’t fall much any more, but still has a hard time figuring out how to get down. He is trying hard to keep up with Colin, much to Colin’s dismay. He always wants what Colin has and that gets Colin pretty frustrated. Of course as soon as Holden is playing with something, Colin wants to take it.

Holden likes to play tag/chase with Colin who will get down and crawl around with him. I don’t really like it when he comes in the kitchen because lots of time the floor isn’t all that clean (the back door opens into the kitchen). I tell them to get out of the kitchen because it’s not clean. So today Colin says “come on Holden. Get me. Let’s go into the dirty room.”

Everyday they play together more and more. I think Colin is really starting to enjoy having a brother.

On to the house - let me give a brief run down:

1. Fireplace - we knew when we bought the house that we need to replace the tiles at the top. We got $ at closing. The guys does it and then right after I asked if he could take a look at some cracks in the firebox. He says they aren’t a problem but the one outside the firebox in the mantle looks bad and we shouldn’t use the fireplace…great.

2. Sewer line - we knew this also needed to be fixed and got $ at closing. They had to dig out part of the patio to get to it. Right after they filled it in the furnace broke.

3. Oil tank - so it turns out we needed a whole new oil tank. We briefly entertained the idea of going to gas, but the energy company never got back to me. The oil guys had the best customer service and it was much cheaper to just replace the tank. We ripped out the entire patio this time (which was all cracked anyway) and now we have a new tank, a big muddy pit out our back door and a new project for the spring!

4. Immediately following the oil tank I tried to wash a rug and the washing machine broke. It just wouldn’t spin. We new we wanted to get a new one but we figured with everything that had to be fixed we would wait, ah but that isn’t what our house had in store for us - so now we have a new washer and dryer. Of course on the VERY first load we accidentally through a disposable diaper in the washer. All the clothes came out with little gelatinous balls all over them and all over the washer. We managed to get them off after wiping, rinsing and washing things a few times.

5. Rodents - the day after the disposable diaper mess I noticed mouse droppings and heard little feet scurrying away. So I guess we now have a mouse too.

That is the current state of affairs. We are waiting for our humane mouse trap to arrive.

Maybe we should have rented for a while longer

It’s with a heavy heart that I report that Sevi is no longer with us. Over the past few weeks her condition drastically worsened; the weakness in her rear leg led to further weakness in one of her front legs, and for the past week or so every time getting up off the floor/ground (which wasn’t often) was a heart-wrenching ordeal. Combined with the fact that her breathing became very labored, Jess and I knew that it was time.

I can’t adequately describe how hard it was to come to that decision, but in our hearts we know it was the right one. She hadn’t been herself for some time, and after almost 13 years with her I could tell she was getting no joy out of life at this point.

I feel unequal to the task of describing how special she was.

I can’t think of anyone who likes dogs who didn’t fall in love with Sevi. She even made dog lovers out of some non-dog people (and probably contributed to a few people getting dogs who might not have otherwise). It feels like just a short while ago that I brought her home from the pound in Chapel Hill - hard to believe she came into my life when I was 22. While I know she lost some of her star status once the kids came along, I believe she had a good, fulfilling life.

From the email my Mom sent me this evening: “We will always miss her, but in my mind’s eye is a picture of her on the front porch at Block Island–so graciously in her element, gazing out over the front lawn.” Thanks so much for that Mom, it sums up so much about her.

We’ll always love you Sevi girl - we’re sure you’re chasing squirrels (and catching them) wherever you are.

We went out to dinner tonight because our house smelled like oil (long story - we got a broken sewer line fixed, suddenly had no heat, turns out to be a oil fuel tank full of water and it is buried under the patio - related ??? who knows, but in any case it is going to cost us $$). The boys were great at dinner. Colin played with his little toys and Holden was just full of personality…which leads me to the blog about Holden.

Lately he has been waving, kind of saying “Hi” and “Dada”. Today though it seemed like something just clicked and he became so interactive and just full of life. On the changing table he was playing peek-a-boo with me. He would pull this blanket in front of his eyes and I would say “Where’s Holden? Where’s Holden?” and then he would wait a second, pull down the blanket and start laughing. We did it about 10 times - it was amazing. When Chuck got home tonight, Holden just lit up. He cruised towards him along the table and started waving (his little grab wave). Chuck would wave and then Holden would start doing it again. At dinner he was bouncing all around his chair and give me a modified cute face. It was the best.

Colin has been doing well aside from the constant colds (that we all have.) He is going to preschool 4 days a week, from 9 until 11:30. He is making friends and having play dates. I think he is really enjoying it. He is ALWAYS singing songs, most he learned from school. He also just started counting in Spanish the other day - also from school - took me a second to figure out what he was saying. He has started really pretending and has a great imagination. He has these long thoughts that kind of go all over the place, but he just keeps talking. If you listen closely and try really hard to figure it out they almost always have some connection.

Here are some good pics with explanations:

All the kids kind of have longer hair so we are letting Colin’s grow a bit (you will be happy grandma). This is his hair after a particularly sweaty nap one day:

One of my new favorites of me and Holden:

Colin the giant

Polar bear attacking the penguin - I know, I know polar bears and peguins don’t live together and are on opposites sides of the world.  Colin also reminded me (right before I finished his costume) “Penguins don’t have orange feet, they are black.” - He was right but the orange feet were already made so this little penguin had orange feet.