Things I learned today...

1. Blood meal fertilizer is made from porcine (pork) blood.
2. Dogs love it.
3. Blood meal is non-toxic (thank goodness).
4. When it comes out the other end on my rugs, it's the most disgusting thing I've ever encountered.
5. Of the 5 different cleaners I used to clean the rugs for 3 hours, baking soda works the best at getting rid of the odor.
6. Waking up to the smell of dog poop is possibly the worst alarm clock ever.

Nursery Completed!

I remember when I was pregnant, people would ask me, "Is the nursery ready?" and I would say nope! We did get the crib put together a few weeks before J arrived and the essentials were there, but it was a little rough. I'm happy to report to all those people that almost exactly one year after the baby's arrival, the nursery is (almost) complete! It looks awesome. The windows are trimmed out, the crown moulding is up, the gaps are caulked. It looks wonderful and inspires hope that some other rooms may eventually follow suit.


See where the stair tread hits the baseboard? W hand cut the trim to fit around the tread. Now that's good work!

My meager contribution was the curtains that I sewed.

Hooray!!

Happy Birthday Baby J!

We've been having so much fun that I didn't have time to write about Baby J's first birthday! I have been on vacation, in between jobs, for the past 2 weeks, and it's been great. We had a really fun celebration for J's first birthday. He's such a funny kid these days. One of my favorite things is his "cheese" smile. As I'm going through my recent pictures it looks like I don't have one that really captures it, but this is close. What I call his "cheese" smile is more like his head thrown back, chin out, eyes squinted shut, teeth bared. It's a riot.

Here's the cake that I made for him. He really seems to share my love of dogs. In the morning when he wakes up, after he has seen me, he calls out for the dogs to come over. He likes to greet them first thing. He's even been caught french kissing Ruby- ew!

He wasn't too sure about the cake and candle deal though. This was the biggest reaction we got. And he thought we were all crazy when we sang to him at his party. I don't blame him.

He loves his stacking toys- knocking them over and stacking them back up. He also loves to push his toys (or household items) around the house. He's not quite walking yet, but cruises around everything. I think he'll probably start walking in the next month or two.

This past year has gone so quickly. It's been fun, exciting, and challenging and I think W & I are better people for it. And baby, we've come a long way.

Bad Dog

Which of the following items has Ruby ingested over the past 6 days?
a. a block of Colby cheese
b. half a cooked pork tenderloin
c. 2 raw chicken breasts
d. all of the above

If you said d., you're correct! It looks like we've introduced a counter cruiser into the house, and she's fast. It's been a while since I've had a dog with this inclination. Anyone have any tips? I think I'll try to string coin filled cans together and leave them along the edge of the counter. Do you think that'll work? We'll find out.