It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...won't you be mine

She LOVES her swing that Gama brought Easter weekend!  It was a beautiful Saturday , so we got to play outside for a while after her nap before dinner.  Marlee studied the swing for a minute, but as soon as she swung back and forth the first time...she was hooked!  It was great to see her smile and laugh...such fun!  I hope there are many more days to come like this one.  Yesterday we started letting Marlee feed herself some with her spoon.  She's been playing with it after she's done with her food for over a week now, learning how to hold it and how far she can put it in her mouth.  Now we can load it with a little food, guide it to her right hand, and she will get the food in her mouth.  There is obvious pride after she does this.  :)  She's almost crawling on hands and knees, but mostly army crawling and on hands and feet (which is so funny looking, but it gets her where she wants to go).  There has been some pulling up to standing on several things too.  She is also finally able to bounce on/reach the ground in her jumpy/spinny thing that Bebe and Gramps got her (see pic below).  She is moving and shaking!

The puppies are almost 5 weeks old.  And it's official that the girl puppy is going to a new home in a few weeks...to Rebekah and Mike!  My Auburn girl friend who lives in Nashville now.  Husky was a breed she and her hubby were considering getting, and we decided it would be best to just keep one puppy (logistic-wise).  It will be so hard to let her go, but she is going to a great home...Bekah is sooo excited!  They are out and about so much more now...getting into everything!  They are starting to play with toys and really get each other.  Today was the first time we've taken them outside.  Hopefully potty training will start soon.  ;)  They are so cute and fun...and the definitely make Marlee smile!  Here is a pic of Boda around 4 weeks old.

Even though it's beautiful here, and we have all our comforts...tornadoes ravaged parts of sweet home Alabama this week.  Tuscaloosa was the city that was worst effected out of all 6 states.  Almost 300 people are confirmed dead, and many houses and other buildings were flattened.  The video and pictures are devastating!  My brother (who is currently a student about to graduate at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa) said finals were cancelled and graduation is postponed til August 6th.  Many people and organizations across the state have already teamed together to organize relief for the many victims.  Many people are getting donations to my brother or to me to get to him to help out as well.  It is so bad, but it seems like much good is coming out of it.  Cherokee Co. (our hometown, Centre) has been without power since Tuesday.  Some people got power back today, but many (including our parents) are still without.  Not much complaining about losing power when others lost so much though.  Keeping all the effected in my thoughts!

Learning and growing so fast...

Not sure how much Marlee weighs now, but she feels pretty heavy...such a big girl!  She's still in size 3 diapers, but soonly will be in 4s, is officially eating yogurt & starting cheese soon, has 2 bottom teeth & think a top one is coming soon, starting to point, eating cheerios and star bites independently, recognize object or action when a word is said (when we say "up" or "where is the fan?" she looks up!), spontaneously saying approximations to words (up, mama, dada), stringing many sounds together and varying her intonation (making speeches/telling stories), army crawling on floor, holding herself standing against furniture, taking toys in & out, blows air out of mouth when we blow bubbles, making the sound on her own that she likes us to do using our hand/finger covering her mouth by using her own hand, turning pages in books & pointing to pictures on pages, sitting and playing for long periods of time, getting better at drinking water from a sippy cup (tilting head back more on her own), still sleeping through the night & usually taking 2-3 naps a day, great eye contact, looks up at you when you're reading a story, walking along floor & furniture while we hold her hands/arms, sucking thumb only occassionally to self soothe, loves being outside, and is the cutest little girl ever!  We go back to the doctor at 9months for measurements and bloodwork.  She's still breastfeeding 3-4 times a day.  She's so much fun, and we are loving watching her grow!

8 Months Old & Happy Easter & Growing Puppies!

Marlee's 1st Easter was celebrated all weekend as she turned 8 months old!  Both sides of the family came in town for the weekend, including my Grandparents.  Sadly my sister couldn't make it, but hopefully she can come to Centre at the end of May for Memorial Day weekend.  We all hung out Friday night.  On Saturday the Sanfords helped David with the yard (for an early b'day present)...it looks so much better, but we still have to mulch/etc the hill infront of the house.  Of course, Marlee was the center of attention the whole time, especially after we had our Easter dinner Saturday night and were all sitting around the table...Gramps (Larry) stood up holding her before her bedtime & she just started TALKING.  I mean all kinds of sounds, complete with arm motions and head movements.  It was like she was trying to tell us the secret to life, but we couldn't understand her...it was so cute, and we got it on video (for once she didn't stop when the video started).  The Easter bunny brought her outfits, toys, decor, and more.  She was dressed up all cute and had a ball emptying her baskets over and over. 

The puppies are 4 weeks old and are getting all over the place!  Nana coaxed them out their room several times over the weekend.  They enjoyed all the attention from the family as well.  There was lots of cuddling, playing and picture taking going on.  They are running/bouncing around, eating more puppy food, and starting to rough play with each other.  Nana is such a good mama, teaching them what it means to be a puppy! 
It's pretty much a cuteness overload around here!

There's the light at the end of the tunnel...but there's lightning too!

This was punkin riding in the grocery cart like a big girl for the first time on Tuesday.  She loved it!  There was lots of looking around at all the stuff and watching & smiling at the people passing by in the aisles.  She got a lot of compliments!  ;) 

Well, we didn't have to go into the studio/garage this week due to the storms, but we've had lots of rain with thunder & lightning again this week.  The last storm system is actually about to go through now, but it's weakened so it's not considered severe anymore.  I'm glad it didn't get too bad because David is at work..............but only two more weeks and he's done with the 2nd job!  Our life will be back to "normal" soon!  I admire and appreciate him so much for working so hard for our family! 

Even though it's his next to last Friday at HD, he will hopefully take off that Good Friday night because we have all the fam coming in for Easter weekend.  My grandparents are even coming.  It should be fun, but wish my sister could come too.  I miss her!  If the weather is good, we may go to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens & Art Center on Saturday.  Neither I nor Dave have ever been, and I hear it's beautiful.  It just opened last weekend. 

This is Boda (the boy) with his eyes open...pretty baby blues!  Both have opened their eyes and they are starting to get around a lot better.  Their eyes and ears opened at the same time, and they (especially him) are starting to watch us and baby bark at us too.  They are so cute!  We are holding them a little more.  They are playing with each other too now.  With growing puppies and a soon-to-be crawling baby....it's gonna be a circus around here!

Spring is in the air...

Uncle Jon and Aunt April came last weekend to visit and the weather was gorgeous!  We set up the tent with the gazebo over it to have a place to play outside...and to air out the tent if we get to go camping anytime in the near future.  Marlee seems to love being outside...I better get the sunscreen and bug spray ready.  We are using soap and water mixed in a spray bottle to kill wasps in the house now...and it works!  You might have to spray more than the toxic stuff, but you get the same result...DEAD.  It's back in the 70s-80s, and we have plans to hang here again this weekend.  Only a few more weeks of Dave working at Home Depot.  Both of our families are planning on coming here for Easter weekend...should be fun!

Marlee LOVES bubbles!  She laughs, follows them, and tries to pop them.  You can tell she is studying and learning so much all of the time.  She's sitting and playing very well now and rolling around like crazy.  There have been many crawling attempts (baby pushups and rocking), but she's not quite there yet.  Oh, and the 2nd bottom tooth popped up a week after the 1st one!  Chicken was only an ordeal at dinner for the first 2 nights and now enjoys it nightly.  I'm still making her food, except for prunes (have helped her poo issues, as well as switching to oatmeal instead of rice cereal).  I also bought a few jars of Beechnut food when they were on sale and I had coupons too.  She's getting better with the sippy cup too.  I've been giving her bigger chunks of banana to chew before practicing as finger food, and she holds the food up front and chews it with her teeth...so cute and smart.  She still makes the motorboat/motorcycle sound a lot (all pitches), but now she's doing a growling sound a good bit too.  There's still some fake coughing going on too...attention seeker ;). 

There are a few other video auditions that David can send in to competitions (America Sings, X Factor, The Voice)...haven't heard from America's Got Talent yet...they have til the end of April...we'll see!

After a little trauma and drama...we have puppies!

Nana just turned 6 years old and before her b'day we decided that it was finally time to breed her before she got too old.  Dave drove her to Centre and back one Sunday in January to our breeder Kim's place where she had a couple of hours to hang out with a beautiful black haired, blue eyed boy dog Storm.  It takes about 9 weeks for the pups to be ready.  The closer it got, the more we could tell that she was indeed going to be a mommy.  Dave is still working days and nights, so we were really hoping that she would have them over the weekend.  But Saturday and Sunday came and went, but on Monday it seemed like labor had started.  Lots of whining and pacing.  Feelings of excitement and nervousness were abundant.  Nana got pretty quiet before dinner on Monday night, then David left for work.  I was so tired from lack of sleep, but something told me not to go to bed.  Around 10:30pm I went into the laundry/bathroom to sit with her.  Then she started pushing around 11pm.  The first puppy was born around 11:25pm...a boy!  Dave got home around 12:30am, Nana wasn't pushing anymore yet, but was doing well with the 1st puppy.  We were so exhausted that we went to bed at 2am and were up again by 5:30am...and there was another puppy...a  girl!  David left for work again around 6:30am on Tuesday.  By 10am I started to get a little worried because it had been over 4 hours between puppies, when no more had come yet.  Our breeder said it could take a while.  Then around 11:30am, puppy #3 starting coming out, but it was feet first and ended up already dead.  :(  It was heartbreaking!  I called Dave immediately (crying, of course) and told him I was officially worried.  I called the vet not long after that, they said to bring her.  After Dave got home we watched her for a few more mins, she was very lethargic and not tending to her pups very much.  We took her to Bellevue Animal Hospital, worried the whole time for her safety and if we would end up forking out tons of money for a c-section or something.  Well, what was going on was crazier/scarier than we could have imagined.  An x-ray showed a huge pup still inside her.  We didn't know dead or alive, but the vet said it was too big for her to birth....so emergency c-section it was.  We opted for a hysterectomy as well.  We brought Marlee back home and they called us when they were done.  The last puppy didn't make it...it was a girl.  The hysterectomy became necessary because the big pup had broken through her uterus and was halfway into her abdomen!!!!  All the contracting and pushing had ruptured the last 2 pups' placentas and broken her uterus...which could've been fatal...but so thankful that she was saved!  The vet said that is super rare, and our breeder who has breeded huskies for YEARS has never heard of this happening and she has never had to have vet intervention!  Crazy!  They cleaned her out, sewed & stapled her up, and we got to bring her home.  Beth (Dave's mom) was coming Wed, came on Tues night (arriving at 12:30am on Wed), and she slept in Nana's room Tues and Wed night, then stayed til Friday.  It was so great and helpful to have her here.  Nana came out of from under meds around midnight and had to be watched til the next day.  We took her back to vet for followup on Thursday (some staples had come out), and she and the pups checked out great.  So now we are moving forward and likely gonna keep both pups.  We may sell one, but we'll see.  Thinking Boda (boy) and Nola (girl)...the boy is big and the girl is little.  Cannot wait to see them grow and play!  Nana has that twinkle back in her eye and the wag back in her tail.  It is know a beautiful thing to see her with her babies, she is a good momma, but it was quite stressful there for a little bit.  The vet expenses eat into our tax return a little, but hopefully Dave can still quit HD soon. 

Marlee has been watching the pups some and still smiles and laughs at Nana.  Bebe loved spending time with her this week...Marlee loved it too!  She's so close to crawling, eating chicken with no problem now, and in size 3 Pampers diapers.  She's all over the place and getting more and more fun and sweet.  LOVE HER!