Thursday, April 23, 2009

Goodbye, Rosie!

Today I had to take our beloved dog, Rosie, to the vet to be put to sleep. She was a central part of our lives for almost 9 years. We adopted Rosie and Taffy in October of 2000. I had just gotten my job at STA Travel so we knew we'd be staying put for a while. I talked Kevin into going over to PetSmart to look at the dogs up for adoption from local shelters. As soon as I saw Rosie and Taffy, I just knew we had to take them. They had been abused and abandoned, and when they found Rosie she had almost given up. They had to keep them both at the shelter for almost 2 months since they were in such bad shape. Kevin didn't want two dogs, but I convinced him that they would keep each other company while we were at work. I remember in those first few months we would watch them for hours as they wrestled and played. It was so amusing to us. It was a hard time, too, because since they had been abused they were so scared of other people. But eventually they came around and we had so much fun walking them all over Gainesville, taking them hiking to San Felasco, and taking them with us to visit our respective parents in Tampa and Jacksonville. They truly were our kids. We moved to Colorado in 2003, and those were the best years of their lives (even though Taffy is still with us, those were definitely her best years, too). Our first year out there we lived in an apartment adjacent to an enormous city park. Rosie got to go there almost every single day. She and Taffy would run and tackle each other. Well, it was Taffy doing most of the tackling. Then the house we bought the second year was 4 blocks from a nice park, and we went there almost every single day, too. We took them hiking on trails that allowed dogs off leash, and they had the most fun ever. When we moved back out here in August, I started taking Rosie and Taffy hiking again. We got to go on several before I noticed Rosie wasn't recovering as well as she used to. She was standing funny and dragging one of her feet. That's when she was diagnosed with neuro mylopathy, a disease that causes her to lose feeling in her legs, and ultimately the ability to walk. So these past few months her condition deteriorated so rapidly until this past week, when we realized she was only walking about 5% of the day and was losing bladder control. So I wanted to post some pictures of her in the good old days, because that's how I want to remember her.



Rosie enjoys getting her butt kicked by Taffy.





On one of her favorite days at the park.





Chilling on the couch.





One of the rare occasions she got the Frisbee from Taffy.





She didn't care much for balls or Frisbees, but sticks were a good substitute.





Her favorite position on the couch.





She loved the snow so much.





Another happy day at Roland Moore park.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

More Fun in Walden

I can't figure out why this text is underlined or how to turn it off, so bear with me. New words and phrases learned recently include:

bump
like
sauce
beets
Ernie (they went from saying "E" to "Ernie")
wheel
go away
mommy help
toothpaste
hold


Hang on, Marty. We're going back...to the future!





Look how long Elise's hair is getting! She has the cutest little ringlets on the ends. I just know when she gets her first hair cut that it will be the end of her curly hair.





Mommy and Linnaea.





The new fashion trend in Walden: a bikini and snow boots.





Brushing our teeth on our new pink potties. I think that was the last time they sat on them. They were interested for about a day but have not wanted to sit on them since.





Elise set up her bunny and bear to eat lunch.





We're practicing going camping. We hope to camp a few times this summer so I had the girls practice sleeping in their tent.





Peek a boo!




Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Clarification

I thought I should clarify a point I made in my last post, and add some details I forgot about. The girls will be starting day care on June 2. The day care in Walden requires they be two years old.

Also, I forgot to add a bit about the songs Elise likes to sing. Her newest favorite is "la la la, Elmo Wor!" (translation: La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World...) She also gets really excited when she has Grover on her diaper and chants "Elma, Gogee, Elma, Gogee!" because Elmo is on the back of the diaper. Her other favorite song is the Do Ray Me song from The Sound of Music. When we drove to Steamboat last week to take Grandma Sue to the airport, she sang "Do me me! Do me me!" the ENTIRE way.

That's all I forgot! I hope you enjoyed thoses stories.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

So here we are, still in winter. Sigh. We were teased by temperatures in the sunny 50's earlier this month but lately we've had lots of snow and even if it does get up to 50, it's freezing. I've decided to put the girls into day care two mornings a week and we are all very excited about it. On one of those days it was warm, we visited the park at the same time as the kids from the North Park Child Center. Elise and Linnaea had the BEST time playing with the other kids, and there are 3 two year olds to make friends with. When the group had to leave, Linnaea burst into tears and Elise tried to go with them. So I think they are ready for some socialization and mommy-free time. They really have been doing so well with learning words, colors, and letters. I estimate they know well over 100 words by now. We're still working on counting to three (we're stuck on two). And I think Linnaea is ready for potty training. Twice this week she's grabbed one of her bath bowls, sat on it, and said, "Pee pee! Pee pee!" So we've got two pink potties coming in the mail from Grandma Sue. Photos to follow.



Swingin' at the park on one of the "nice" days.





Playing dress up.





A picture of Linnaea with a smile--no eye squinting! Her pacifier is her bunny's tail.





Elise channels Olivia Newton-John circa "Let's Get Physical."





The future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades...





Wearing mommy's boots.





Elise truly loves all things music.





Elise explores at the wildlife refuge. We saw lots of poop that day but no animals.





Walking towards the bridge at the refuge.





Linnaea picked this outfit out all by herself.





Today they dressed themselves again. The backpack is Elise's standard accessory.





Linnaea's ready for the beach!





Grandma Sue reads about clownfish.





More dressing up. Linnaea loved Grandma Sue's shoes because they didn't have backs--easy to get in and out of!