Goodbye Brodie Bear

I am going to use this blog as therapy today to eulogize our beloved dog. On Thursday we lost Brodie, a big part of the family. He was the sweetest , most gentle, easy going dog I have ever been around and I have had my share of good puppy dogs through my days. Brodie was Rebecca's dog from her TCU days that she adopted at 6 months from an neighbor in an apartment . Being the dog person that Rebecca is she took him in and gave him all the love he could handle for the better part of 9 years. Seven and I came along back in '03 and the four of us could not have gotten along any better. In fact we always had to get onto Seven because he would always want to show Brodie how much they got along and Brodie was never the wiling recipient of Seven's affectionate ways , if you get my drift. I could dive off into a thousand different stories of our dogs and how much they are a part of our day to day lives, but the remarkable part of Brodie was his disposition. The best example I could give is how he was around Hurricane Jacob. Jake is all over the place moving 600 miles a minute and when he approaches Seven he either completely leaves the room or gives a snarl before his exit. Not Brodie though. Brodie would let Jake climb all over him, hug him , kiss him, let Jake pull his ears all while just looking up at Rebecca or I as if to say "No big deal guys but this does deserve an extra scoop of Dog Food or perhaps a Rawhide would not be out of the question!". Brodie's disposition was cool , calm, and collected. The only thing that would get him out of his nonchalant ways would be the occasional thunderstorm. He was the most low maintenance dog you could ask for in that way. What Brodie did have was Canine Epilepsy. For the past four years we have dealt with seizures with Brodie that were unsettling no matter how many times before you had gone through it. We were able manage most of his seizures with medication from the vet but the seizures never went away. In fact Brodie was my alarm clock 7 days a week at 6am as he would sit next to my side of the bed and grunt until I got up to give him & 7 their morning cheese with his medication. He would have a seizure about once every 3-4 months it would seem like. The seizures themselves were about 1 minute long in length but nonetheless a traumatic event to the guys health and to witness. This Thursday he happened to have a seizure while we were at work and he could not quite snap out of on his own. I actually came home early that day out of the blue at 4:30 since I had a client appt that ended in the afternoon and decided to come back to the house. I found the grumpy bear in the mist of his last seizure and felt absolutely helpless as I held him and said goodbye before he drifted into a peaceful sleep. The house feels so eerily different and lonely without him. Seven deeply misses his brother as do Rebecca , Jacob and I. We love you Brodie, we miss you so much!

Big Boy Room!!!

Okay as promised I have finally finished Jacob's big boy room. It has taken me forever. One reason is because I am way to picky and couldn't quite narrow down exactly what I wanted to do. Secondly, have you ever tried to paint a room with a wild child running all around your feet and legs. Sometimes I could only paint to a certain height on the wall because I could go too low or someone would have their fingers all in it. What a mess. So here it is! Tell me what you think? I did all the painting by myself free-hand and that is probably what took the most time. In the Jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight...

Another Milestone Checked off the List !

We have been waiting a while to get little mans hair cut. We finally broke down today and checked his first haircut off that milestone list. He was getting the early signs of a full on Billy Ray Cyrus mullet going on in the back so we needed to get it trimmed. So here are the pictures from our trip to Cool Cuts 4 Kids in Keller today.

Photographer Needed!!!

Okay everyone I need your help. Jacob's first birthday is just around the corner and I am getting all the preparations out of the way. So expect to see your invitations in the mail next week and keep your calendar open for Sept. 5th @ 5pm open for cake and a party. What I need help on is a photographer. I really want pictures of his first birthday party and everyone that came along to join the fun, but I am a horrible photographer. I also didn't want to worry about taking pictures the entire time because I think I will have my hands full enough with a 1 year old running around and entire house filled with about 50 peopple. So if any of you have photography experience and a good camera or know of someone that I could hire for a really cheap price I would really appreciate it. Hey I will throw in some cake as a bribe! Just send me an email with their contact information.

11 Months

I can't believe it Jacob is already 11 months old. He has changed so much in just the few months that we have known him. Trying to get a chair picture is harder than ever now that he is completely on the move and there is no stopping him anymore.

Music

So I was playing around on the computer tonight and I figured that I really needed to add some music to my blog. I found a couple of my favorites songs, old and new. Tell me what you think? Half of them make me tear up thinking of my little boy and how much I love them. And a few are just because I love the melody and music. So for any of you readers out there are there any new or old songs that any of you really love, let me know. I would love to add some to my list. I always look at music as an escape or a way to capture a feeling that I just can't quit describe in words myself. I always use music as way to remember a time or moment in my life and it seems to help me get back to that feeling.

Daycare

Okay I am a little stressed right now because it is finally going to happen on Monday. I am going to be dropping Jacob off for his first day of school. I am so happy to be going back to work, but also have the stomach pains about leaving my child all day with someone else. I know they are going to be great with him and he will do really well. I am just so use to being around him all day long, just the two of us. No matter what kind of day we would both have and how often I thought to myself I just want to back to work and be a human again and not have to listen to you whine and cry. I would always sneek into his room and cradle him at night. I really do love him so much and I am going to miss all the time we have been able to spend with each other. He is now 11 months old and I wouldn't change a thing about him. It has been a hard 11 months, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. It was actually a blessing in disguise that I got laid-off at the time and looking back on it, it was the best thing that could have happened. Now I just need to get the courage to actually drop him on Monday morning and not pack him away in my work gear to bring him to the office. I don't think my new boss would appreciate me bringing my child to work on my first day. Or maybe she would? Just look at that face, how dare I go back to work?

Sneek Preview

Here is a sneak preview of Jacob's new big boy room!!! I have been working on it for the past couple of weeks and I am almost complete.

Hurricane Season is Upon Us

It's been a while since we have updated our blog so thought I would grace you with a post. We have started to affectionately refer to Jacob as "Hurricane Jake" as he can transform any room from organized to chaos in a matter of seconds. Dictionary.com defines Hurricane as anything suggesting a violent storm. I think anyone who has had the opportunity to watch after Jake now that he is upright and walking would attest to the fact that the nickname is appropriate in a good way (we love and thank you Nana, Mimi & Big Daddy). Just last night we spent the evening at our good friends house for an adult birthday party. These days adult birthday parties are few and far between but they are a much needed break. All of the adults there had kids of there own , I guess the point is that anyone out there with a child could nickname their child "Hurricane" as no clean room is safe with an infant/toddler on the loose. To offer up some photographic evidence I give you the before picture of our living room or the calm before the storm back when Jacob was merely a newborn:

Fast Foward 11 months and take a look at the living room:

This is only one of his play areas as the majority of the house seems to mimic this look. Our friends parents were at the bday party and offered up some good advice for those of us who are now parents ourselves. They said that we need to take advantage of all the fads/craze/in things that your kid is involved with and cherish all the moments we have because when you look back on it , it will have gone by so fast. This is so very true as a year ago our lives were so very different that I can hardly remember a time without Jake. So I guess I will try not to fret over the living room or house being a complete disaster after a "Category 5 Hurricane Jake" play session sweeps through because soon enough he will be able to pick up after himself. Until then we are going to have to batten down the hatches and board up the windows and doors because this Hurricane does not appear to be letting up anytime soon.