Are you complaining?

Early, I mean REALLY early, the other morning I woke to the crying of our puppy. She is, after all, still a baby, and (it is quite shocking) I am her adopted mama. The previous two nights I shot up from my slumber to rush to the washroom in order to avoid a "mess," but this time I was very tired and not to happy to attend to a dog who needed to relieve herself. I muttered complaints as I shuffled to collect our little addition, and I continued to complain as I sat on the cold, cement freezing as I waited for Zoey to do her business. I did stop to pet her little head and remind her that, even though I had to rise from my blissful sleep to help her, she was a good girl for letting me know that she needed to go OUT. However, once she was placed back in her small kennel, the complaining commenced in my head as I shuffled back to my room. Then I found that I too could use a little relief ~ if you know what I mean. YES, there is a point to my telling you that I was using the powder room at 3 in the a.m.! I noticed a brand new SELF magazine sitting atop the pile we keep in the loo. (There are only so many places a mom can find quiet and permission to be ALONE!!) I just opened the magazine and there it was starring me in the face...

a whole article on complaining. "Do you complain too much? Do you know that complaining makes you a negative person?" Or, something along these lines, I'm too lazy to go retrieve the mag right now ~ so it's a loose paraphrase really. However, the point is, I realized then and there (and what a place to be!) that I DO complain too often. I vacated that particular room and curled up next to the tub and continued to read how to change one's habit of complaining. Did you know that women are much bigger complainers than men? That it is proven that we actually commiserate in an effort to bond and share? Well, I'm making a goal to complain less and to share something more worthwhile. I know I won't stop cold turkey, progress...not perfection, but I will be making a bigger effort to count my blessings and zip my lips.

This reminds me, have you read Nie? You really should. There is a link under my blog roll ~ visit her. Stephanie's attitude and life before and after the plane crash that changed her life is truly inspirational. I'm not going to lie to you, if you start reading, you'll spend a lot of time reading all of her posts from before the accident, then a lot of time reading her sister's posts after and during her recovery, you will discuss this with people you know to get them to read Nie, and then you will LOVE this family too. This is why when I feel like complaining, I will think of Nie.

Meet Zoey...

Yes, we did it again. The spontaneous decision to bring home a dog. I admit this has not worked out well for us in the past. This is due to a pretty big deal breaker...I don't like animals. However, the other three members of my family LOVE animals. I am outnumbered and do not want to pass my phobias on to my girls, so we've been gearing up for a pet for awhile.

After a delicious lunch at Red Lobster with my family and mom-in-law on Valentine's day, Olivia suggested we go to the pet store to "browse." In the little glass room was the cutest little puppy I'd ever seen. I know, even I thought the dog was cute! We were doomed. I actually held her and, what can I say, I fell in love! My mother-in-law just laughed at me because I was HOLDING a dog! The girls were ecstatic that their mom was getting along with any animal, so they jumped at the opportunity and began to beg. However, they had another type of small dog at their other location, so Michael insisted that we go look at him first. He was NOT cute. I was back to my original "YUCK!" mode. The girls were near tears as we got back in the car and Michael and I discussed waiting for a pet until summer.

There had been another couple seriously looking at our future pet, and they had been due to come back in our absence. So, Olivia, desperate to prey upon my weakness for that particular pup, suggested that we go back and if she was there, it was meant to be ~ if not, we'd wait. For some stupid reason, we agreed to her proposal. (She'll be a wonderful member of my debate team later due to her talent for persuasion.)

The rest is obvious. The dog came home with us after I spent the rest of MY Christmas gift money (I was hoping for a Juicy Couture handbag :) on our new baby. The car ride home was spent choosing a perfect name and we settled on Izzabella/Izzy. This was her name for nearly two days, until my sister came to meet her and was VERY disappointed that we had named our dog what she hoped to name a future daughter. I'd been there before when my brother named his dog Abby, and we all know that I DID have that future daughter, so he changed his dog's name to Ellie. So, after another HUGE debate session with suggestions from Michael that included: Wart, Taco, Cat, Gravy, Bird, and other lovely words...it came down to Lucie or Zoey. We tried Lucie for an hour and then settled on Zoey.

She is doing awesome with potty training, only two accidents that were really our fault for not paying attention to her cues. I am determined to make this work for my girls...and I actually love this little baby puppy! (I know, it's really weird!)

Haizer's Namesake

When a baby is born, there is an unmistakable spirit present. I believe it is the closest thing to knowing that heaven exists and that a higher power is blessing us with such joy. When my own children were born I felt so aware that Heavenly Father was entrusting me with unique, sweet spirits to guide and protect throughout life. I felt his pure love. Maybe this is why I was so emotional when I had the opportunity to hold the precious baby pictured above. It wasn't very long ago that his dad, my brother-in-law, Haizer, left earth to begin a new journey. Now his son has arrived. It was a bittersweet moment meeting this baby boy. We searched his face for traces of his father, who we miss so much.

Tyson Haizer Hoge. His arrival has been greatly anticipated, and he did not disappoint us. He weighed a whopping 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. Tyson will likely follow in the Hoge tradition and play football with those measurements! Kaitlyn was so cute and so proud of her little bundle of joy, and she deserves joy. What a wonderful gift for his mom, and the rest of us. He has little choice than to be a Longhorns fan, like his daddy. His mom and Grandma Wendy made sure he was all decked out in Haizer's team's logo right away. Isn't he a doll baby?

We feel so blessed to have this little guy safely here and in our lives. He'll have oodles of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents begging Kaitlyn for their turn to babysit. His daddy would've been so happy to meet him in person, but I know that he is proud and will keep an eye on him as he grows. We thank his mom for allowing us to help do that too; Ty is cherished and loved. Congratulations!!

Abbylicious Strikes Again!

Okay, I've told you about my Abby. She is a one of a kind. She loves to sing and dance ~ dress up ~ and just be Abby. Here are some of the delightful things she has done in the past few weeks. They are hilarious!



Sweater over pajamas ~ check! Underwear on head ~ check! Silly face to match ~ check!

This one turned out kinda blurry ~ I was laughing. She is practicing gymnastics...in her boots.

And last, but certainly not least, drum roll please...I present Abby Alabama (our version of Hannah Montana)!

Abby plays LIVE each day from her bedroom!

Livvy is at the age where she hides from my camera and is practiced on NOT embarrasing herself. I need to dig through old pictures and video to see if she was as silly as her sister. I'm sure she'd really appreciate that!