The things we do for our kids...

Whitney & Jasmine's first night together.

Whitney's beloved cat Jasmine gave Chris and I quite the scare last night. Whitney found her on her bed in a huge puddle of bloody pee! "Santa" brought Whitney the cat of her dreams for Christmas in 2002. Whitney loves, loves, loves this cat! Ever since we have lived in fear that something would happen to the cat. We also had the joy of giving the cat a bath since she was soaked in her own urine. Take it from me, not a fun experience. Of course, these things always happen on Saturday nights when no vet is working! Thankfully, we finally got ahold of a vet in Ozark and he said she most probably had a really bad bladder infection. He told us to bring her in this morning and he would take a look at her. Bless his heart, he didn't even charge us the $100.00 emergency rate, just the normal $30.00 visit rate. Though I'm pretty sure Chris was working his magic on him. The vet said she can't eat dry cat food anymore because a small per centage of cats develop crystals in thier urine from dry cat food. Who knew? Of course, Chris had just bought her a 20 pound bag of fancy cat food. Anyone in need of cat food? From here on out she will only be dining on Fancy Feast served in a crystal wine glass. Seriously, the things we do for our kids!

1. Live with a cat even though you are highly allergic.

2. Live with a litter box. Yuck! Because you can't take the chance the cat will go outside and run away or get hit by a car.

3. Deal with a flea ridden cat even though the cat never goes outside. FYI down here in Alabama your indoor pets can get fleas because people carry them in on thier shoes ect. Learned that one the hard way last summer.

4. Travel across the country with cat in the van. I don't reccommend it.

5. Spend the entire day printing and posting lost posters around nieghborhood when cat decides to play hide and seek but doesn't let you know your "it".

6. Hold a birthday party every year for said cat's birthday complete with cake and gifts.

Like Father, like daughter

Even I am amazed sometimes by how much Whitney is like her Dad. The other day I was telling him how she loves for me to bring her a glass of water after she gets in bed for the night. When we were first married Chris would always want me to bring him a glass of water after he got into bed. Come to find out, his Grandma always brought him a glass of water in bed and it is a favorite childhood memory. Anyways he related this story to me about how the other day when he was at the gym this man came up to him and said, "You have got to be Whitney Weaver's father!" He said "she looks just like you". Turned out he was the librarian at Whitney's school. He went on to tell Chris what a great kid she is and how they're always saying at the school if only we had a few more Whitneys around.

A boy and his dog...

Here are some shots of Chris and his baby, Sadie. He brought this little "suprise" home about a month ago. Even after I had allergy testing done to prove that yes, I am allergic to dogs! I was not amused. Ashlyn was excited at first but now is quite jealous of the dog. Sadie is taking away from her spotlight in the sun and she is not amused either. She keeps telling Chris she's scared of "Shadie". This is a ploy she uses with Chris and Gavin to gain attention. It has done wonders for her in the past but sadly those days are gone. At least where Chris is concerned. FYI Natalie, he wants to breed her purely for the unselfish reason of giving Sterling one of the puppies. Chris Tarbet told him that Sterling has always wanted a Boxer for as long as he's known him. Oh yes, you might be wondering what that lovely thing on her head is all about. Chris had her ears cropped and now she has to have her ears taped for up to the next 6 months. Poor dog is the laughing stock of all the other neighborhood dogs.

Just wanted to post a picture of Gavin so everyone can see how quickly his face is healing. It is amazing! He is feeling great. Though he is not enjoying having his activities limited.

Back to the ER

About an hour after I typed up that post on Gavin, I took him in to see our dentist. As we were walking in he said "I think I'm going to throw up". Awesome little guy that he is, he made it to the bathroom but threw up very violently. Plus he seemed uncoordinated and slow witted. The good news was that the dentist said he didn't have any permanent damage and it looked worse than it really was. Then we went back to the ER where they did a CAT scan on Gavin's head. Everything looked good but he does have a concussion. It makes me sick to think about what situation we would be in if he hadn't had his helmet on though. The Patterson's came to the rescue once again and watched Whitney & Ashlyn for us. I think Ashlyn was probably starting to think Emilie was her new Mom! The doctors were amazed because Gavin was not in pain. We give credit to the blessing Chris & Chris Tarbet gave him the night before. (Thanks Tarbet family, we love you!) He was in a lot of pain and very upset until he got his blessing. After that he was very calm and when the doctors would ask him what hurt he would say nothing. The worst part is that twice a day we have to shower him and scrub his road rash. This does make him sob and scream in pain. My wonderful husband refuses to have me do this to him. He said "he doesn't want me to have to do that to him, because he knows it would break my heart". I feel guilty that he has to do that to him but also very grateful. I told him that was one of the sweetest things he's ever done for me.

My poor Handsome Mansome...

This helmet is only 6 months old and WAS in pretty much pristine condition. The photo doesn't really do it justice. Needless to say he will be needing a new bicycle helmet. After Chris got into cycling he found out all about helmets and bought both kids really good helmets. (He says most helmets for kids are worthless.) Feel free to ask him for his advice on what to look for. There is nothing he likes better than sharing his opinion with others. =)

We spent last night in the ER with Gavin after he had a fight with the road. Poor little guy was racing his sister on his bike down a hill when he lost control and flew over his handlebars and did a face plant. We were out for a family walk and the kids had gone around the corner ahead of us. When Whitney came racing back yelling Gavin was hurt and bleeding everywhere. That minute or two seemed liked forever as we raced down to him, wondering what we would find. These pictures just break my heart! He is drugged up on Lortab in these shots. Then we had the joy of giving him a shower and scrubbing all his road rash. His two front teeth are not looking good and his poor lip is so swollen, it hurts me just to look at it. But thankfully he was wearing his helmet and things would be so much worse if he hadn't been. A big thank you to the Patterson family for watching Whitney & Ashlyn while we rushed to the ER. We owe you guys! There is nothing worse than seeing your child hurt and in pain.

Carlos & Grandma's visit!

My beach baby.

Grandma assisting Gavin in trying to catch a fish.

Carlos is a photographer's dream.

I love this shot!

Chris is braver than I!

Fun in the Sun!

We just spent a wonderful week with my Mom and my nephew Carlos. We went to the beach, where my Mom managed to get sun burnt even though she spent pretty much the whole time under the tent and wore 70 SPF sunblock!

Following the crowd...

I finally decided to jump on the band wagon and join the blogging crowd. =) It seems to be a great way to keep in touch and I'm looking forward to keeping up-to-date on what everyone is up to! Though I must confess, I'm not the most computer savy. It might take me awhile to catch on.