whew.

It has barely started and fall has been busy. Yesterday alone we had swimming lessons, a welcome-back-to-school picnic (for which I made 50 pumpkin whoopie pies), I made 50 birdseed hearts for a wedding and I attended a friend's bachelorette party. I've decided I'm too old to be up until 2:30am.

Sunday...ugh. 5 hours of sleep doesn't make for a productive day. Made 60 more birdseed hearts. They have to be delivered on Wed and I want to make sure they're completely dry. Grocery-shopped (that is it's own special kind of hell.) Attempted laundry and vacuuming. Didn't get as far as I'd hoped.

Even Zeep felt a little pitiful today. I guess he didn't get his beauty rest after being awakened at 2am.

Dragon threatened to eat all the deserts at the picnic. Deserts were saved by BubbaLou. Photo is slightly deceiving...dragon back is about 6' tall. It's a great feat to be able to climb up to the top of the dragon's tail, back & head because if you can't get down by yourself, you can't go up.
Next weekend, wedding. Weekend after- VT sheep & wool. Weekend after that- Warner Fall Foliage Festival. Weekend after that- birthday party season officially starts. I 'owe' two women baby sweaters. I think I'm gonna have to knit 12month sizes at this rate.

Pin Drop lll

BL had a hearing check up w/ the specialists on Friday.

Her hearing couldn't be better. No more fluid at all.

Now there's no excuses.

Pin Drop II

BL's surgery went very well and very fast. We had to be there at 6:45am, and were home by 9am. It took more time for BL to come out of anesthesia and settle down than anything else. She was well behaved, loved the pulse/O2 monitor on her finger. She wasn't scared and Sy said she was staring with the mischievous look that only a 5 year old has at all the lights and buttons in the OR (wondering how to take over the place, no doubt.) BL should be hearing normally by the end of summer (her eardrums need a chance to soften back up so they can vibrate properly.)

Pin drop

Bubba Lou goes in for surgery in June. Tubes to drain the fluid in her ears & removal of her adenoids so they stop blocking her eustachian tubes so the fluid can drain on it's own. According to the ENT, we've taken a step backwards since she last saw us and BL's hearing loss in the left ear is significant, right ear moderate. Her hearing should be normal by the time school starts again. I've been assured the loss isn't permanent.

I know it's routine surgery these days, but I'm still nervous. Who wants their kid put under anesthesia? (Well, you know what I mean.)

It went like this...

Daddy said
"If you argue too much when you're 5 years old, when you turn 6 your hair will turn yellow."

Bubba said
"No it won't."

Daddy said
"Yes it will. I saw it happen to a girl."

Bubba said
"Oh yeah, what girl?"

Daddy said
"A girl I used to know."

"What was her name?"
"Beulah"
"That's a made-up name. Where did she live?"

This would have gone on for hours had Sy and I not started laughing so hard we cried. You cannot pull the wool over Bubba Lou's eyes. No matter how hard we try to convince her chocolate is made of broccoli, or blueberries are just big rain drops, she never believes us. And I mean NEVER. It's impossible to fool her, she has a natural, built-in bullshit sensor (and she's happy to call you on it.) She knows what she knows and we cannot convince her otherwise.

She's going to grow up to interrogate prisoners. People will beg her to stop. They will confess all their sins just to shut her up. I can only imagine what's going to happen when she turns 13.

Sy and I have said (as I'm sure any parent of a girl has) that all you need to do to get prisoners or terrorists to confess is put them in a locked room with a few pre-teen/teenage girls (friends or not, doesn't matter) and only give one of them a cell phone. Set it to receive only, text only, no calls. People will give up anything to get out of that room.

Sad Day.

Bubba Lou had to say goodbye to her furry friend. Bun awoke on Sunday happy to see us, but unable to move his back end. A viral or bacterial infection was suspected. Monday saw Bun worsening and a call to the vet only told us the inevitable (hundreds of dollars in blood tests, to prove he had an infection that couldn' t be treated.) This infection is treatable if caught early enough, but when you can't see symptoms, paralysis sets in and then the antibiotics are too late. I've learned that fox, raccoon, and skunks carry this bacteria. They are common animals in my yard, and Bun has spent many a happy afternoon hopping around eatting yummy green things (that may have come in contact with animal droppings, saliva or urine.)

Some will call me a horrible parent, or an uncaring one, but I did not lie to my little girl about her bunny. I told her that Bun-Bun-Hippity-Hop couldn't hop any more (this she clearly understood as he dragged himself around the yard) and that he was very sad. I told her that we couldn't fix him and we didn't want him to be sad or hurting. I also told her that even when Bun dies and isn't with us any more, we can look at his pictures and paint a special rock for him to put in the garden.

I could have told her that he was "going away" or had "run away." She's too smart for that, and I would hear endless days of "I wonder if Bun is back" or "When will Bun be back" only to have to tell her the truth at a later date, without a proper goodbye. I gently told my daughter the truth and that she could think of Bun everytime she saw fluffy clouds in the sky, because they look like bunny tails. And that's where Bun is, up in the sky playing with the other bunnies that needed to be in a happier place where they could hippity-hop all day.

She cried and held her bunny. I cried and held them both. She told Bun she loves him, gave him a hug and a kiss and told him to have fun with the other bunnies in the sky. At bedtime, BL made it clear that she understood (as best an almost 5 year old can) that we were doing the right thing for Bun "because we don't want him to be sad and hurt bad and have poop on him and not be able to clean his ears." (Bun's tummy had quite a bit of pellets on it Sunday morning since he couldn't stand to relieve himself.)

Today BubbaLou told me she will miss Bun, but maybe someday we could get another bunny. "But not right now, maybe in a few months."

My, what big...everything you have!

His new favorite toy, a full-size basketball (slightly deflated.) He chased it around the yard for an hour, until I had to fetch it out of the woods one too many times. He can now easily graze off my table and counter tops and weighs in around 110lbs. My dog finally weighs more than I do! His back is just above my hips, I have to bend my elbow to rest my hand on his back now.
My little Easter Bunny. That's her crazy, maniac grin. It usually means trouble is about to ensue. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha. Catch me if you can!

Snow Angel

If this does not express the innocent joys of childhood and winter, I don't know what else would.

We've gotten another 12" so far today and it's still coming down hard.