For Mandy

Today is a sad day. My mom had to make the decision to have the family pet, Mandy, for the past 13 years put to sleep. We got her when I was in 7th grade. It's always a tough call with pets. You want to do whatever you can to keep them with you as long as you can, but after having a $4000 dog, it's just not practical. You can see in the picture that she had a cataract and had for a long time. I'm not sure of the details, but they wanted to remove her eye (mandy had been acting like she was in pain this week), and my mother just didn't want to put her through that. I don't blame her. Anyway, enough sad stuff. On to why she was a "cool cat"...

I actually like cats much more than dogs. They're not needy. They really don't have to follow you or even be with you at all if they don't want to. They don't LICK you or jump on you. They don't bark. They really only need you when THEY want something. If they want attention, it has to be their idea. Travis has always said that I am like a cat, haha. Mandy was pretty selective. She loved you or hated you. She kind of held a grudge against me when I moved to Alabama. She hated Sage when she was born, but later got over that. When Sage was not even a year old, I could hear her in my mom's kitchen laughing as hard as she could. When I walked in, Mandy was in the kitchen chair hitting Sage in the face with her paw (she was declawed). It was so funny. MANDY didn't think it was, but we did.

Mandy never got over hating Travis. She hissed every time he walked through the room. Every morning, she expected fresh water with ice cubes in it. At least my dad said she preferred ice. She loved bread, and if you left a sandwich laying around, you'd lose it. When I was younger and in school, I used to sing at the top of my lungs when I was home alone. Mandy would come flying in the room and attack me until I stopped. It was pretty hysterical, and she would STILL do that if I came there and sang. She liked my brother more than anyone and whenever he got home, you could hear Mandy telling him some kind of story with the nonstop meows. She never grew too old to chase the light a passing car would reflect on the walls or to run at the light of a flashlight around and around in circles. Sage loved to do that with her. It's tough when animals leave, but the stories you get with them outweigh the sad time at the end. You'll be missed, Mandy. ♥

Looks Like a Baby is Coming

Well, it's finally happened: Travis was able to successfully and beautifully paint what used to be Sage's furniture. Some friends of ours have a shop, and part of their business is furniture. So they had paint booths and heated rooms and were gracious enough to let Travis bring it in to redo it. It turned out awesome. Travis has done quite a few of the things I've been strongly suggesting (nagging) that he do this week. Thank you, Travis!I struggled for a LONG time as to what I wanted to do with this room in every way. This bedding was on clearance at pottery barn kids, and at the time, I didn't even know if I loved it or even liked it. I honestly couldn't decide on anything from a name to...well ANYTHING. This bedding was originally close to, if not over, $300. I got it for $100 and some change, and that was including 3 crib sheets. If you know anything about pottery barn, their stuff is well made, it's just crazily priced. So I bought it and put it on my registry that I made there before I was even pregnant, so I could buy and return things until April. But then I found the rug and started to find things that I liked to go with it. Now that I've put it on the bed, I have to say that I was wrong: I DO love it. I think it's just great.
Sage's contribution
Travis moved the wall shelf this morning. In doing so, I could see why he was mad that he had to. It left horrendous holes in the wall, but thanks to the painter, they were patched and dried the same morning.
Changing table (so pretty) with wall shelf over it. It's starting to look like someone might be coming to live here in a little while. Now for the fun details. :)

Just Practicing

For the upcoming months when I'll want some maternity pictures. Not that these can't be classified as that, but I think it will look nicer when my belly is...ahem...a bit bigger. For 9 at night and really just seeing what he could do, I think Travis did a nice job! This is, again, just a little over 26 weeks (6 months for all the non-pregnant folks).
This pose will be so ME when my stomach is bigger. Now, I fear that my stomach will still look like this after birth, haha.

Still keeping it real with the belly ring. Yes, I will take it out when necessary.

Sunday Afternoons

Daddy is home with the camera. And it's a lot more fun.
And playing in the floor is okay.
Laying in the floor is fun.
And pictures are taken in mid-air.

Speechless

This is a conversation I overheard from the den between Travis and Sage.

Travis: You need to eat more of your food.

Sage: I don't want to.

Travis: One more bite isn't going to kill you.

Sage: It's NOT going to kill me because God and Jesus died for ME! So you are wrong! And I'm right.

And what do you say after that?

Who is this girl?

Travis fixed Sage's hair again (that same day actually) in pigtails! She thought she was hott stuff, and we agreed.

It's sad that she's camera shy.

She looks too grown up.

If Hannah Montana wore drag...

Warning: this may not be suitable for children...or adults.

26 Weeks (6 Months)

Moving right along!Hope ya don't mind a little nudity! Kidding, kidding. That's on my other blog.

Boo boo's hair is up!

Look how long little's hair is getting. She came downstairs to go to McDonald's with Daddy this morning. He had gotten her ready, and she was proud to show me her hair like this. Travis said it looked a lot better before she had thrown a small fit about choice of socks, but for play purposes, I thought it looked just fine.

Pretty girl.

Isacah's Birthday Party

Sage was invited to Isacah's 3rd birthday party on Saturday, which was one of the most fun parties! It was at a gym, and they had so much for the kids to do (which was all coordinated) that I wanted to join in!

Running...
Obstacle course which involved jumping off a vault.
Climbing
Laughing...
Group picture of the birthday girl and her friends.
This thing was really cool. There were two holes in the floor, which made a horseshoe-like slide, that the kids could slide down one side and climb up the other. On her 3rd time, Sage decided she wanted to go head first, but the lady caught her by her foot. I say she should've let her do it, but oh well.

Going down...
And climbing up the other side.
My personal favorite part: this is harrison running down a trampoline stretch into...
a sea of foam blocks! Is this not every kid's (and ADULT'S) dream?! I was so jealous! It was huge too.
There goes Sage!

And jumping in! It was funny on each of their first tries, they'd fly down the track and then stop suddenly once they got to the edge like, "What IS this?!"
Bliss is playing in a sea of foam.
And jumping in a sea of foam.
And climbing.
Then they got to swing on a rope.

Meanwhile, while the kids were playing on the balance beams....ha! We DOVE in there: pregnant and all. It was...
AWESOME!
However, getting out was SO difficult that had I known how hard it would be, I may have thought about it more....maybe.
Oh yes, them. Bouncing balls on a parachute.
And cake time!
Happy Birthday, Isacah!

Valentine's Day

Travis had to work for 3 days in Birmingham, which included Valentine's Day, but he brought Sage a balloon and candy to school on his way out on Thursday. I also had some things for her for Valentine's Day. She LOVES to paint, and she had been out of her "big pictures" for a while. I thought her face was cute when I gave her her things.New brushes too
Ready to go to a birthday party (which will be another post in itself)
Her signature pose. ha!