Mollie Dog

This is Mollie Valentine.

(I know that picture is really blurry, but she's scared of my camera. So when I get it out, she won't be still)

She is 6yrs old and we have had her since she was about 10 weeks old.

She has turned out to be like a teacup breed of Maltese, although she wasn't advertised as that. We knew she was a Maltese and expected her to weigh between 6-10lbs like her parents.

She weighs 2.5lbs. She has never weighed more than 3lbs. She's soooo tiny and bony. We've had her on high-calorie dog food and it doesn't matter. She just doesn't gain weight. (it would be nice to have a bit of that problem)

Yesterday was not a good day for Mollie Dog.

I took her to get her teeth cleaned. Her breath was really stinky, so we decided it was time for a good cleaning.

When I took her in, one of the assistants told me about the procedure. Because of her size, they wanted to do bloodwork to make sure her tiny body could handle the anesthesia. Then, they also wanted to put a catheter in to keep her hydrated (again because of her size). I asked for an estimate for the procedure and was quoted around $300. (this included pain meds for afterwards as well as her heartworm meds for 6months). However, if she needed any extractions, they said the price would increase.

They told me they would start the procedure around mid-morning and that I should be able to pick her up late afternoon.

I received a call around 1:30 or 2:00. Here is what I recall of the conversation.

Me: "Hello"

Vet: "Mrs. Jackson, this is Dee, the Vet. Mollie is waking up from anesthesia and she's doing fine. But, I'm sorry to say that she has no teeth left."

Me: "Excuse me?"

Vet: "Yes ma'am. I'm sorry, but her teeth were just awful. They were infected and we really didn't even have to work to get them out."

Me: "So she has NO teeth left?"

Vet: "Right, but I assure you she's going to feel much better."

Me: "I didn't know she was feeling bad in the first place."

Vet: "Her teeth were really bad and just practically fell out."

Me: "How will she eat?"

Vet: "She'll do fine on soft food."

The conversation went on for a bit longer but the details after that are unimportant. We hung up and I felt completely sick to my stomach. I would go back and forth between thinking I was going to throw up and then feeling like I was going to cry.

She is just a dog. I get that. But, no teeth? That's just not right.

In the conversation, I was told to wait until around 5:00 to come and pick her up so they could continue to watch her. Philip was supposed to get home around 5:00 so I decided to wait until he got home to go get Mollie, so I wouldn't have the distraction of all my busy blessings being with me.

As it got closer and closer to 5:00, the knot I was feeling kept getting tighter and tigher. It traveled. Going from my stomach, up to my throat, back down to my stomach, etc...

Philip came home and it was time. Emma Kate asked if she could go with me. Although I would've rather gone by myself, I said yes. I later had a thought that her going with me was probably God's way of keeping me calm and Christian-like when I spoke with the 2 Dr's.

The vet is only about 5 minutes from our house, but with each passing minute during the drive, I was getting madder. And sicker. We went in and they called us back into an examining room. Two Dr's that helped with her procedure came in to talk to us. I won't go through the details of that conversation, but 2 things happened:

1. I calmy let them know how unhappy I was that no one called until AFTER it had been done.
2. I actually felt much better about Mollie's prognosis after hearing their explanation.

Then it was time to see our Mollie Dog. Surprisingly she looked almost normal. They had said the main difference we would probably notice would be that her tongue might hang out or be wobbly. Because she doesn't have a place to "rest" it and therefore doesn't really know what to do with it.

We brought her home and she acted much better than I anticipated the first 2 hours we were home. As evening rolled around though, she just wasn't herself. She wouldn't go into her "house." (which is very strange b/c that's where she likes to sleep and its her safe haven away from all the noise and chaos of our house). She also would barely sit or lay down. She just stood.

When it was time for Philip and I to go to bed, she still wouldn't go in her house nor lay down outside of her house. I put her in bed with us and was able to curl her up next to me. She stayed in our bed the entire night (which is a big no-no for Philip. When we first got her, I wanted her to sleep in our bed and he immediately nixed that. In hindsight, I'm glad she has her own bed and we have ours. Thankfully though, I think he knew how critical last night was and he didn't make me put her down). She slept pretty good. I heard a couple of moans from her, and I had to make her lay back down a few times.

She still isn't herself today. Her front 2 legs are very stiff and she still won't sit or lay down. The vet called this morning to check on her and said that if she's still acting that way tomorrow to give them a call.

I felt so sorry for her and it hurt me to see the way she's still acting today. So I've resorted to this...

Carrying her around in a pouch.

Go ahead and laugh if you want. But don't let me know about it. She's just not herself and if this makes her feel better, I'm going to do it.

This carrier is from Build-a-Bear. Emma Kate got it one time for one of her bears. (sidenote: Praise the Lord we no longer have to go to Build-a-Bear and spend WAY TOO MUCH MONEY on stuffing and dressing bears.)

It's just the right size for our Mollie Dog.

Lovely picture, I know. Its a snow day. It's 2:03pm and I'm still in my pj's. Don't be a hater.
Emma Kate has enjoyed carrying Mollie around today, too.

Hopefully she'll perk back up in the next day or two.

Story to be continued....

Blessings to this Momma's Heart

Before I share what's on my heart this morning, let me make a disclaimer that Eli and Emma Kate are by no means perfect. They argue. They throw fits (well that's just mostly Emma Kate). They complain. And the list goes on.

But what I want to share today is how they've made my heart happy in the last 15 hours...and without even realizing it.

Last night, they asked if I would download some songs onto their iPod Touch(s). Every song they asked for is a Contemporary Christian song. Specifically, they asked for songs by: Brandon Heath, Britt Nicole and Group 1 Crew. (the grandparents reading this won't recognize those names, but most of the rest of you reading know who those artists are).

I love that this kind of music is what they think is normal. I hope they always want to listen to music that is written to glorify God.

Secondly, this morning they crawled in my bed since its a snow day (HOORAY!), and as usual, I was on my iPad. (that seems to be my favorite iPad spot...my bed). They both asked, but at different times, if we could download the Bible onto their iPods. oh Father, let me seize this moment. A 10 and 8yr old asking for the BIBLE to be put on their iPods. Thank you Father for what you are pouring into their hearts and what they are retaining. Thank you for all the Godly people and places you have placed in their lives (2 of which are school and church). Finally Father, let them finish this race to your Kingdom with endurance.

Some verses that have popped into my mind as I've been typing this:

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)
• ...and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1b-2a)

Amen and amen. All glory and praise be to HIM!

Fitness Buff

Since working out at gymnastics 17 hours each week isn't enough, she decided to exercise at home tonight.

She asked if I could find some exercise on TV. I chose Denise Austin because I know she dresses somewhat modestly.

I took pictures.

And then helped myself to another cookie while I watched.

Just Kidding! (sort of)

A Victory for Mom

You may remember that last Wednesday, one of the things that made my day extra challenging was Emma Kate's attitude toward wearing normal clothes to AWANA. She wanted to wear her favorite clothes that she wears every Mon,Wed,Fri to gym. Which is this....

(you may also remember that these are the clothes she listed as her favorites from 2010 in the Reflections post I did.)

I told her that those clothes are fine for going to/from gymnastics, but not for other places. Well, she didn't get to go to AWANA because of the fit she threw.

So tonight when it was time to get ready for AWANA, I reminded her of our little incident last week and that if she didn't choose something matching tonight, that I would pick out her clothes. I also threw in that my choice would most likely be something she didn't like. (that may have been a little on the naughty side. Not sure. But I still said it.)



I'm happy to say that she came downstairs wearing matching clothes! And she was even smiling about it.

SCORE.

A victory for Mom!

1st Snow Day of 2011

Less than an inch of snow really doesn't seem to be enough for a snow day. But apparently the roads were a bit slick in the wee hours of the morning, so the public schools cancelled for today, which means that our school did too.
Hooray! No complaints from the Jackson fam!

The kids and I had a great day playing both inside and outside.

On the inside we played games. One of which was this... We were still playing this when Philip got home from work (Boo...He doesn't get to take Snow Days with us.).
While he was playing with us, one of the challenges for Emma Kate was to get a mustache and glasses drawn on her face with makeup. She chose her Daddy to do it.

working on the mustache


All finished.
This picture just makes me laugh. Not quite sure what she looks like.

It was bitterly cold today.

When we first woke up, it was 9 degrees with a wind chill of 5 below.

Naturally the kids wanted to go outside to play in the little bit of snow that we did get.

I told them we had to wait a few hours until it "warmed up."

Around noon when it was close to double digits, we bundled up to go play outside.

The big kids dressed warmly in layers and hand-me-down snow clothes from Aunt Karen.

It took me 10-15 minutes though just to get those 2year olds all bundled up.

When I got done with them, they sort of looked like weeble wobble robbers.

Can you even tell who is who?

Zane is 1st picture

Zander is 2nd.

Emma Kate didn't care that she was basically making a "grass angel."

And even with a tiny amount of snow, Eli still thought they needed to get the sled out....

Emma Kate tried pulling Eli, but it didn't go so well....

Then Zander wanted a turn on the sled...

But Zane was content to just sit back and watch...

Emma Kate looking ever-so-much like a janitor enjoyed shoveling the snow....

We are ready for another Snow Day. But next time we want more snow please!

Modern Mission Laser Tag

Our friends, the Finks, are starting a new business here in NWA. Modern Mission Laser Tag.
Very fun concept. Its like outdoor paint ball but without any of the hurt or the mess. They invited us out for a "guinea pig" game before they officially open their business. Since it was during naptime, I stayed home with the boys while Philip took the older 2.
Becky said that we should dress in camo if we had any. Thanks to Aunt Karen who gives us lots of hand-me-downs, I found some things for Eli and EK to wear.

Emma Kate with her headband and gun. Ready to go!

She's "hiding out" behind this trailer....

Eli is crouched down behind that tree. Can you see him?

Coming out to get an opponent...

and off he goes to get away from an opponent...

Thank you Fink's!

We had a great time at Modern Mission Laser Tag!

We love hanging out with your fun family!

Photography Class

Philip hosted a men's photography class at our house yesterday. Mindy from MJW Photography was the instructor. 6 guys listened to a woman for 4 hours. Can you believe it? Eli was here also. He was the "model." He got to play football outside, ride his Ripstik and Pogo. He was in heaven. And he didn't even mind the fact that 6 cameras were in his face.

One of the action shots Philip took:

Not an action shot, but I LOVE this one. Love it enough to blow it up into a BIG picture!

Then this morning before church, Philip played around with settings on his camera and got these shots:

Poor Zander. Got left out of this post. Philip actually got a really good shot of Zander smiling. But it was blurry. Hmmm, might need another photography class?

Toothless Again

She lost another one tonight. That is 4 missing now.

All at once.

I sure am glad the bottom middle 2 are her grown-up teeth.

Otherwise she'd look like my Granddaddy when he can't find his dentures!

Wednesday to Forget

Wednesdays are one of the hardest days of the week for me.
The kids have a large amount of homeschool that has to get done THAT day, in order to be turned in at school on Thursday.
We also have AWANA on Wednesday night, which means Eli and EK need to have their weekly AWANA work completed.
So its just usually a looong day.
Yesterday, we had 2 friends from school at our house. Their mom was out of town so they came to our house to do their schoolwork.
The day was actually going pretty well. Around 11:00am, we were over 3/4 of the way done with everyone's schoolwork.
I was thinking about what I'd feed 6 kids for lunch, as well as getting the 2 friends back to their house and then bring my 4 back home in time for Z&Z's naptime.
Speaking of Z&Z, they had been upstairs in the playroom & their bedroom playing while I did school with the other 4.
Zander came running to the top of the stairs and excitedly proclaimed, "Mom, my shirt is wet."
Of course, I asked why.
Still excited, he said, "because."
I asked "where is Zane?"
To which Zander excitedly replied, "He getting wet in Emmy Kate's bathroom."

Uh-oh.
I ran upstairs and found this.... and this....

and this....

and one last view...

Apparently they got bored with the playroom and their bedroom, so they went to EK's room and bathroom. I wish I'd had a hidden video camera going so I would know who started it, how it started, exactly how much t.p. they put in, and how many times they repeatedly flushed.

But, alas, our house isn't set up with video monitoring. :-)

After I took pictures, I got all the school kids settled back down at the table to work. As I was going to get towels to start soaking up all the water, one of the kids had a question relating to their schoolwork. So I got sidetracked.

While I was helping with schoolwork, we heard a strange sound.

Sort of sounded like rushing water.

We went toward the sound and found water POURING out of this light in our living room...

I felt that up until this point, I had been pretty calm and collected about the whole situation. Let me backtrack and say that I never yelled at the boys when I found the initial mess in the bathroom. I sternly told them that what they had done was being bad boys. To which Zander replied, "Momma, you happy?" I said "No Zander. You and Zane playing in Emmy Kate's potty does not make me happy." His response was, "But I want you be happy Momma."

So back to the current situation....

When I saw that water from the second level of our house was pouring out through the light/ceiling of the 1st level, I pretty much lost it.

I immediately called Philip at work. I was pretty hysterical (and not the funny kind of hysterical either). I knew he couldn't come home but that is what I was pleading with him to do. In his very calm voice he simply told me to get towels and soak up all the water in her bathroom and that even if he was home, he wouldn't be able to do anymore than that. Humph. We hung up and I did as was told. The water did not immediately stop coming through the light, but it did stop GUSHING. It was more of a slow leak for the next 15 minutes. (could it really have only been 15 minutes? Seemed like at least an hour)

But, before the frantic phone call, I had already put buckets in the floor underneath the light....

so everything that leaked was going into the buckets rather than the carpet.

We once again, started working on school. Finished that up. Fed lunch to 6 kids and then packed them all into my car to take our friends back to their house.

Came back home and boys slept while I had some quiet time. (much deserved I would say). I'm actually glad I did take a little down time for myself because the day's fun wasn't over yet.

Around 4:30 I told Eli and EK to start working on their AWANA work. They did which was followed by them needing to eat, brush teeth, etc... Emma Kate had been to gym that morning and still had on her gym clothes (which for the record usually means a leo with yoga pants and a jacket over it.) Upon telling her to make sure she put on matching clothes, she threw herself a little hissy fit proclaiming that there was nothing wrong with the clothes she had on. I proceeded to tell her that the clothes she was wearing was appropriate for gym and home, but not for other places.

Fast forward to 5:45. She is still sprawled out on the floor throwing her fit (in her gym clothes). I told her that if she wasn't dressed in matching clothes by 6:00, that she wouldn't be going to AWANA. Well, I immediately saw the lightbulb go off in her head. (she's thinking "aha. I can get out of going by continuing to throw my fit and not change clothes.) Which is exactly what she did.

Little did she know that I had a trick up my sleeve.

We took Eli to AWANA and got home around 6:35. As soon as we walked in, I told her to go take a shower and get on her pj's. She questioned me, but she did it. Then as soon as her shower was over, I put her to bed. This was about an hour and 10 minutes before her normal bedtime. Wow-wee, this incurred another hissy fit. Which resulted in her being the recipient of the spanking spoon and then crying herself to sleep.

I put the little boys to bed at 8:00 and went downstairs to start fixing everyone's lunches for the next day. Philip had just gotten off work and was picking up Eli from AWANA on his way home.

Around 8:10, I opened the refrigerator door...

and this happened....

At the same time, Philip and Eli walked in and that was officially the end to the Wednesday I'd like to Forget.

New Years Eve 2010

Friends from our Bible Fellowship Class at church invited everyone to their home for New Years Eve (kids included). My parents timed a trip to our house so that they could bring us the rest of our Christmas loot as well as keep Zane & Zander while the rest of us went to the NYE party. (cause I'm guessing that the Z's wouldn't have been the life of the party at midnight!)

I made some snacky foods to take, but I also had Eli and EK make a kiddy snack.
They started with pretzel squares on a pan... then they put Hershey's Kisses on top of those...

and baked for a few minutes. Right after taking them out of the oven, they then smashed an M&M on top of each Kiss...

(looks like somebody may have taste tested one!)

The kids had a great place to hang out at the party. They watched movie after movie in the theater room.

The adults ate and talked and ate some more and played games upstairs.

Around 10:00, I could tell that Emma Kate was getting tired. She came upstairs and crawled in my lap. Although she stayed awake, she pretty much stayed in my lap for the next 2 hours.

She perked up around midnight when we turned the TV on to watch the ball drop.

Here she is with her friend Ryanne at midnight...

(and yes, they are in their pj's)

Ryanne's baby brother Mason, was quite the little trooper. He slept for a little bit, but around 11:00 he woke back up and rang in the New Year as well. His Daddy gave him the appropriate accessories....

(and yes, that is sparkling cider)


Not many adults were still there at midnight....

But being the late night party animals that Philip and I are (insert sarcasm here), we stayed til the end!