My Belle

This is my dog
Belle.
She is a pain.
She whines,
she eats food right out of Stella's hand
and, did I mention,
she whines.

But I love her.
Even though she drives me up a wall
most days.

DRL and I got her 5 years ago.
Just before our first wedding anniversary.
Okay....I got her.
I wanted a baby.
But we were sooooo not ready to go down that road.

This weekend,
Belle broke her leg.
An injury that,
although a complete and total accident
was wholly my fault.
I won't get into the details,
but I am slowly
trying to work through the guilt I feel.

Guilt really is
an awful
awful
horrible
emotion.

I hate it.
I want it to go away.

But that's another story,
for another time.

Belle is having Surgery today.
Now.
And right now,
dear readers,
right this very minute,
although I want to ask for your prayers
for me to finally forgive myself,
I need your prayers
to whomever/whatever/none-ever
that you send them to
for Belle to get through today
with flying colors.

Thank you.

Mean it.

Cheers,
A

PS: Special bloggity shout out to my bff Nadia.
Happy 30th birthday.
Love you
mean it.
xo

Side? Go? Peese!

This is what Elena says when she wants to venture outdoors, and if we don't oblige screaming ensues, followed by a flood a tears and a dramatic enactment of hyperventilation.  Even if it's raining. Or nighttime. Or the apocalypse.  My child would gladly be smote with fire and brimstone for the chance at a mere moment outside this cursed box her father and I have the audacity to call her home.  Me, I'd rather sit on my couch eating cookies and watching the Biggest Loser...but I think Elena might be onto something...

Here are some photos I took of her enjoying her nice, lush, toiled over for the last two years so it doesn't resemble a vacant overrun lot of weeds and crabgrass, yard.

Sand Transport.

Sandboxes are the BEST!

Pretty in her dress.

In case you forgot we own a dog. She likes the sun, too.

Looking cute with her shades.

Poking Buddy with a stick

Note:  The dog BARKS incessantly and probably deserves the poking.

She is going to be a gardener, just like her gramma.

Puffs the Magic Dragon

Elena has seen the light that is Gerber Graduates Sweet Potato Puffs. And Banana Puffs. She thinks that they are the best ever -- next to her two teeth, the brim of Dad's hat, and the dragon puppet in the Baby Mozart video. (That's right folks, you needn't adjust your monitors....The second tooth has arrived. After much discomfort and tedious pushing, the second tooth has broken it's way through Elena's swollen gums to join her first tooth in all it's minature glory.) It's really quite fun to watch her try to feed herself. She knows that she should grab one between her thumb and forefinger and slowly bring it to her eager, wide open mouth -- but she opts to slam her hand down on the high chair tray, grab as many puffs as possible, and then slam her open palm into her face hoping that one of the puffs will land in the gaping void that is her mouth. Currently she's batting about .281 -- and I offer assistance as much as I can.

Needless to say, Dog Sister is fervently enjoying the newest addition to the food library de Elena. The stars fly to the floor and Belle is there with lightning speed to make sure they don't sit uneaten for more than 3/100ths of a second. Next up - Cheerios. Maybe we'll get some video and post it -- it really is fun to watch the whole process.

On another note, we got a nice new giant flat screen TV yesterday. The old tube HDTV crapped out on us and rather than go through the time and effort to get a quote to fix it -- we bought a new flat panel LCD. It's glorious. I never realized how crappy the picture had gotten on our old TV until we turned on the new one. While watching CSI: Miami, I could clearly see the failed attempt to cover up a shaving nick on the face of Mr. Wolfe, and it made me giddy.

Happy Birthday Dog Sister

Belle, aka "Dog Sister," is about to turn 3. In honor of her birthday, I knit her this very fashionable sweater. It's the first knitting project I've ever completed, and I'm very proud of it. Dog Sister doesn't seem to mind it either...