Tiny fashionista

Miss Lola has already developed quite the flair for fashion. Her daddy snapped a shot of her this morning after she'd put together this interesting combination. I have to say she has a unique fashion sense. What do you think?

Proof that cute grins do not require teeth

Seven full days after pulling the first of her top front teeth, Amelia finally pulled the other one that had been hanging on by the tiniest bit of tissue for the last two days. 

She's all kinds of fired up over the bounty of attention she's been receiving since becoming an official snagglepuss and is looking forward to the Tooth Fairy making a stop at our house tonight.

I am just glad she finally yanked that dangler out of her mouth and now looks like my cute little miss instead of resembling a younger version of Nanny McPhee.

Friday five

Very tired and sleepy pals. 

Lola is "A Child of Children's"

Lola has been selected to represent our county as "A Child of Children's," which means the story of her surgery for unicorinal crainiosynostosis is being featured in various media outlets to promote Children's Hospital in Birmingham, AL where her surgery and recovery took place. 

We received this week copies of Healthy Horizons, a magazine and wellness resource guide, in which her story is featured. It warmed my heart to open the magazine and read about my little angel. We are honored she has been chosen for this and are proud to share her story, which you can read below. Just click on the photos to be able to read the copy.

A different kind of cat house

Amelia recently put her creative skills to use to make a "cat house" for our ornery seven-year-old tom Mojo.

He jumped right into his new digs as soon as she put it on the floor. It bothered him not one iota that he barely fit into the house fashioned from a diaper box.

Amelia, being ever mindful of making her work aesthetically pleasing, made sure to color inside the box so Mojo could bask in his home surrounded by art. If you look closely, you can see a bit of her interior design in the above photo. 

Mojo seemed to enjoy his snug quarters, but, sadly, lost them to our new kitten Riley when Amelia determined he needed a cat house more than Mojo. It's no wonder Mojo has been in such as foul mood since Riley joined our family. Lucky for him, though, Lola will likely be in diapers for several more months so there's a better than good chance the mood might strike Amelia to construct another one for him.

Hair-do du jour

Lola's hair has gotten so long in the front that she spends a lot of time brushing it out of her eyes. She refuses to wear bows, barrettes or clips, and I am not ready for her to get a hair cut; so I came up with a solution that keeps her hair out of her eyes and doesn't involve a trip to the beauty salon.

Check it out. It's a little reminiscent of Pebbles Flintstone, but I think it's precious anyway:

Welcome Riley!

We recently added a new member to our family. Riley Buttercup joined our little unit a couple of weeks ago and has quickly made himself at home. 

This little bundle of energy originally came to us under the pretense of us cat-sitting for Grandmaw while she and Pawpaw were on vacation. However, after sitting with Riley for about 10 minutes I could tell Amelia had fallen deeply, madly and truly in love with this kitten.

After a couple of days with us, Jeff and I knew there was no way we could let Riley go back to Grandmaw's house. We discussed this with Amelia and she promised to do her part in taking care of this little stinker, who at the time we were calling Shanna because Amelia and I both thought he was a girl. I have to brag on Amelia because, true to her word, she has fed and watered Riley everyday and emptied his litter box with minimal complaint.

Jeff called Grandmaw to let her know we'd be keeping Riley, and she was honestly relieved because she'd just adopted out the last of four kittens she'd bottle-fed back to health after their mother had been hit and killed by a car. Plus, Grandmaw and Pawpaw already have three dogs and two cats of their own and weren't too keen to add to their menagerie.

Once it was determined we'd be keeping the kitten, I loaded up the girls and the cat and headed to the vet for a check-up. This visit was where we discovered Shanna was a boy and Amelia changed his name to Riley. I was proud to learn that, despite having spent a couple of days at least outside scavenging for food, Riley was worm and disease-free, which meant it would be safe to have him around our cat Mojo.

Jeff brought Mojo home to me seven years ago. He was also a stray that showed up at Grandmaw's, from where we also got our dog Daisy (Grandmaw's place has long been a dumping ground for strays.). Mojo has been with us since before we had children so he likes and is very comfortable in his role as alpha male.

I was worried at first over how Mojo would receive Riley because his usual modus operandi with small critters that annoy him is to pounce upon them, break their backs and then play with them for a tortuous while before finally, and I'm sure to them, mercifully, killing them.

Their first encounter resulted in Mojo sniffing Riley with suspicion and then hissing at him. I imagine Mojo was issuing a warning hiss meant to convey, "Hey, kid, you need to know I am in charge around here. Stay outta my way."

Apparently, Riley is too young to understand such messages because he spends a great deal of time trying to get Mojo to play with him, which usually ends with Mojo slapping the fire out of Riley a few times and then scratching him one good time when he refuses to give up. After such episodes, Mojo usually looks at me as if saying, "Why did you bring this tiny devil into my house?"

As for the relationship between Daisy and Riley: it's all copacetic. Daisy is the most-easy-going creature ever. I believe we could bring home a python that she would not only accept, but allow to constrict her and her only response would be a pathetic look toward Jeff as if saying, "Um, excuse me, if it's not too much trouble, when you get a chance, would you mind removing this snake from around my neck? No rush, though. I'll just wait right here."

Currently, Riley is having a divine time playing with the multitude of toys scattered upon the living room floor, sampling the food in Mojo and Daisy's dishes, figuring out how to come and go using the pet door and steering clear of Amelia's grip. She is so enamoured of this kitten that she cannot stop herself from wanting to hold him all the time. However, judging from the bite and scratch marks on her hands, Riley has better things to do than be snuggled in her hands for extended periods.

Dairy cows 101

My best friend Hollie and I loaded up in my van a few weeks ago and took our kids to a mobile dairy demonstration at a local library. We'd been planning this trip for a while, but somewhere along the way neglected to check the weather. 

Had we flipped on the television to catch the weather report we would have been clued into the fact it would be hot enough to melt the gonads off of a brass monkey. It's probably a good thing, though, that we were unaware of the weather situation because being two gals who don't care to get all hot and sweaty, we likely would have called off the trip and sat at home under the air conditioner.

The trip started well enough with everyone settled into their seats with their eyes focused on an episode of :"The Animaniacs," (sending out a big thank you to whomever declared vans should come equipped with DVD players.) However, upon arriving at the library we discovered: 1. the aforementioned heat and 2. we would need to climb a small pebble, glass and stick-covered hill to get to where the demonstration was being held. 

I would just like to recommend to the library folks that in the future should patrons need to hike to an event it would be a grand idea to post this information on your website or Facebook page so they can wear some manner of footwear other than flip-flops.

Anyway, we hauled our toddlers, diaper bags and ourselves up the hill while the older kids zoomed up it with the speed of youth. Hollie wisely allowed Cooper, her baby boy, to walk alongside her. I, however, chose to navigate rather unsteadily to the top while holding Lola on my hip, toting my bag on my other side and wearing totally unappropriate footwear.

At the top of the hill we found Cocoa the cow and her handler/presenter Amanda. The older kids, Amelia, Jesse-Grace and Duece, were pretty interested in what Amanda had to say, but Lola and Cooper weren't too keen on gaining knowledge about how milk gets from the farm to our refrigerator.

Notice how well Amelia, in purple, and Duece, in red, are paying attention. They're soaking in all the information just like the little sponges they are.

 Lola, on the other hand, isn't even looking at the demonstration because she was way too interested in poking at the ant hills and the ants living in said hills that she discovered and that I spent the better part of the presentation trying to keep her out of. 

Keeping Lola out of the ant hills was a breeze compared to the hassle Hollie had with Cooper. He was completely enamored with Cocoa and wanted to be as close as possible to her, something which his poor momma tried desperately to keep him from doing. Look at that boy! Don't let that sweet face fool you, he was causing chaos for Hollie just seconds before this photo was taken. 

After teaching us and the other 110 or so sweltering guests all about dairy cows, Amanda invited the kids up to pet Cocoa. Amelia, who declared she looked just like a real farm girl in her pigtails, reported Cocoa was very soft, but sweaty. Nice to know us humans weren't the only ones about to keel over in the heat.

Cooper finally got to get up close and personal with Cocoa and, judging by the look on this sweet face as his big sister Jesse-Grace brings him in for a touch, this moment was well worth the wait. Looks as though Duece quite enjoyed his visit with her as well.

Cocoa, for the record, just seems happy to have had some milk, which is in the glass container at the top right of the photo, removed from her heaving udder. I don't know that I would have been as content as Cocoa appears if I were four months pregnant, sweating like nobody's business and bursting with milk. However, I do know what it's like to be engorged, so maybe her contentment is genuine, bless her heart.

Celebrate freedom!