Sunday, March 29, 2009

Tough Love...

Two weeks ago yesterday our little girl Abbie Mae decided that life just wasn't complicated enough for us! And I mean that in the loviest way possible. But she has turned our little world upside down in the last few weeks. She's a sweet little dog, who has always been very emotional and has shown tendencies toward anxiety or anxious behavior. She's gotten to the point where she's about 90-95% house-trained. There were the occasional accidents when we'd left the house and she was mad at us. :) And loud noises made her jump out of her skin... Even when I'd sneeze she'd give me THAT look and then sigh and jump off the couch next to me for a safer distance. So funny.

Then we moved to Lincoln and we just happened to find the perfect little place for our family RIGHT between the Lincoln airport and the biggest railroad junction in the city (where they load empty rail cars with coal/ rocks/ other loud objects in the middle of the night). So last fall Abbie went through a phase where she wouldn't settle on the bed at night. She would shake like a leaf and jump off the bed, scratch at our doors, want BACK on the bed, would jump onto my nightstand and shake, etc. I didn't get more than an hour or two of sleep each night, until I just convinced myself to ignore her. I thought it was just because we had moved and she was getting used to the new place and all the airplanes, etc. But more importantly, Kevin was in Dallas for 8 weeks and I thought that she was just reacting to his absence. Then Kevin returned and Abbie went back to "normal"... Until a few weeks ago. She started shaking again and would jump off the bed, then want back up, then back off... She scratched at our door and we tried covering the door with pillows. She'd knock them over and scratch, so we piled the pillows higher. Then she scratched at the nightstand or the garbage can. We even tried just leaving the door open a little bit so she could come and go as she pleased. But we caught her scratching at NOAH'S door next. BIG mistake, little girl! Fortunately, Noah has been sleeping through all of this lately.

Bottom line: I spent four nights on the couch downstairs so that Kevin could get a few hours of sleep so that he could be to work by 6am. Oh little girl... What is UP????? This is probably a great time to interject a picture of just how CUTE she is:

I finally ended up calling her vet and he put her on anti-anxiety meds and.... After four years of having her snuggle with us at night, he's asked us to crate train her. For those of you not familiar, this is a way of training a dog to be in their "safe place" or their own little bed/ kennel whenever you leave the house and when you go to bed at night. Typically, this is best done when they're puppies because it also helps to housebreak them right from the start. Dogs generally won't have accidents in their bed because it's their special place and they don't like to be shut in with their "accident." I remember that we tried to crate train Abbie when we first got her, but we had grumpy neighbors and very thin walls (The first week usually involves a LOT of barking at night until they get used to it!) and frankly we just decided that we liked having Abbie on our bed with us. So we let it go...

Four years later, we're crate training her because of anxiety. Kevin and I are really quite sad over this because we really miss our "Little B" snuggling with us at night and I hate the fact that she's so medicated. Her vet would like to eventually wean her from the meds, but I don't know when. It's just so heartbreaking!!! I cried the first few nights as she barked ALL night. She's still barking and she absolutely HATES her kennel. So far she's had accidents in it every night. I'm praying that things get better soon. We've made the decision and we need to stick with it. And honestly, she really hasn't been interested in sleeping on our bed or even being in our bedroom at all lately anyway. We had a weak moment last weekend. She'd been in her crate for two nights and we decided to take her up to bed with us just to see if she'd snapped out of it. Sure enough... as soon as we settled into bed and turned off the lights, she jumped off the bed and scratched away at the door. I guess you could say that she's made her bed... :)

Hopefully she'll train very soon and will learn to love her bed. The goal is that even when we're home she'll go to her crate for comfort and will want to rest in there on her own. NOT happening right now! I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be too long. I have to remind myself that Abbie IS a dog and that it's okay for us to TRAIN her. But Abbie has been so much more than a dog to us. She was our very first baby. When she came to us, I finally started calling myself "Mommy." I just hope that she still knows that I love her so much, even after I shut the crate door and go up stairs to bed without her.


Love,
Abbie Mae's Sleep-Deprived Mommy!
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

My Son-Shine


A few weeks ago the clouds parted and the cold air faded for a few glorious afternoons. With 75 degrees and an anxious little boy, it was inevitable... Outside to play!!!

I know that every mother thinks that her child is the cutest and funniest little imp EVER... But when I see his smile and his sense of humor (that's evolving everyday), I'm just sure of it. :) My "Sun" overwhelms me with joy.



Love,

Noah's Mommy
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BTW - Sorry about the advertising for GAP... They really should pay people, shouldn't they???

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Frosting and Sprinkles...

This Valentine's Day was full of smiles, hugs, kisses, and SUGAR COOKIES!!! Don't forget the sprinkles. My boys took me to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants that we discovered when we lived in Indiana: Texas Roadhouse. Rolls and cinnamon butter, anyone? Then we came home and frosted Valentine's cookies! We pulled the step stool up to the counter for Mr. Noah and let him go to town (Right now I can't imagine the day when he won't need that anymore). I think he ATE more sprinkles than he put on the actual cookies (Please see video below), but that's all part of the experience. I hope he'll do this with us again soon. OH, THE SPRINKLES!!! I'm still finding some here and there. :)

Hard at work...

Noah's handiwork. Not bad for a first-timer!

Then I told him that he could pick one!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... What else can I say?


Of course, he still shared...

Notice the change in outfits AFTER the sprinkling and before he munched. I LOVE having a 2 year old!




Well, I'll end this DELICIOUS blog with two words and a picture:

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING!!!


Have a YUMMY day!

Nicole
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

And My Favorite Was.....


MATT GIRAUD!!!!! Yes, it's that time again when we all sit for up to four hours each week and watch hopeful Idols either jump for joy and sit back down on the "safe couch," or cry and watch their dreams crumble. Until that bright beautiful day in May when it comes down to just two and we learn who INDEED is crowned the next American Idol. If you can't tell, Kevin and I are American Idol nerds and have been from Season One when Kelly gave us all hope for the future of American singers! Actually, she's still one of my favorites. I think that there are very few idol contestants and winners that can hold their own against Kelly Clarkson. David Cook is one of them. :)

So back to last night... May I just say that the boys KILLED it! Allison did great, but I didn't like her song (not her fault). But Adam, Matt, Kris, and Danny were amazing. I hope they go far. Adam is one of kind and I've been a fan since day one. Danny has the most amazing "grit" to his voice that Kevin and I both love. Kris was so good with his guitar! He definitely had a John Mayer/ Jason Mraz vibe about him that I liked. But the leader last night... In MY humble opinion... is Matt. Human Nature is my favorite Michael Jackson song and when they announced that he was singing it, I literally jumped off the couch. Seriously, I've watched it about 20 times already today. He was SCATTING in FALSETTO, people!!! In-credible. And after each time, Noah would clap and give his Yaaaeeey and then sign more. You got it, kid!

Even though we're AI nerds, we haven't voted since Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood. It's not that we don't want our voices heard (Believe you me!). But I think we're just more curious to see what "America" would do on their own (.... Ehem... Follow Simon Cowell...). But ever since we saw Matt in Hollywood week, Kevin swears that if he keeps singing the blues like that, he will pick up the phone for him! It will be interesting...

I've decided to keep an American Idol poll going this season.

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I've taken the liberty of casting my first votes from last night. So feel free to participate each week! I've set it up so that you can vote for as many as you liked. So even if you can't ever get through on the phone, you can still cast your vote HERE!

Seacrest OUT,

Nicole
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Saturday, March 7, 2009

A few items of interest...

First, I know some of you out there are BYU grads. I'm sure you received some post cards or phone calls in the past requesting information for the big alumni directory. Well Nicole ordered one this year and it came in the mail yesterday. I really didn't expect it to be as cool as it is. Good thing they sent the electronic version because this book is BIG. We spent some time looking up everybody we could think, including every member of our immediate family that graduated from BYU.




Second, I saw this video of Louis C.K. on Eric Snider's website (THE best movie critic btw) and we thought it was pretty funny. I guess we should all remember how amazing our world really is and not complain so much.




And finally, the most important part of this post. Do you have any little songs that get stuck in your head sometimes? Are those songs ever 20 years old and you used to see them on commercials on Saturday mornings? If you ever tell anyone about this little song do they just think you're crazy? Well I discovered validation this week. For almost 20 years now whenever someone says "It don't matter if you're black or white" I don't think of Michael Jackson... I think of Barenaked Ladies!




~Kevin

Monday, March 2, 2009

He Speaks!!!!!


Yes, it's true! My little boy is now proficient in about oh.... 6 or 7 words! And the best part is that he's so excited when he manages to say them. I would cheer for him and it soon caught on that he could cheer for himself, too. :) As you can see in the videos, Noah has a very enthusiastic and completely ADORABLE "YaaaaaaaaaaEeeeeeeeeey!!!"

So turn off the music over to the right... ------------------------>

And enjoy! (Poor little boy has been sick lately, so you'll have to excuse the cough)







Have a "YaaaaEeeey" Day!

Nicole
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