Notes from ShellyCentral

birthday eve

hey guess what. tomorrow is hannah's birthday. she is going to be 19 years old.
19. i'm not kidding.
remember when i was pregnant, and overdue because hannah didn't want to come out? so we went to the hospital and forced her. that was 19 years ago.
hooray for that. the best night of my life and the best thing that ever happened to me.
[but you know it was the best night of my life only in retrospect, right? i was not really happy or pleased that night.]
i love that girl. she's a good girl. i'm proud. go hannah.
if i had planned ahead, this is where i'd put a picture of hannah as a baby. i didn't though; i don't think there are any scanned and my scanner isn't hooked up/working. ok i checked. the oldest non-trip related photos i have on my computer are from 2000, and this is easily my favorite picture of her that year.

what a little monkey.

oh brother!

my hands are freezing.
i know it's not cold or anything, but i liked it better when it was in the 80s.
just saying.

so it was easter this weekend. we went to my mom's for spring celebration. there was lots of food and lots of candy and lots of babies. ok only two babies, but they're really good babies so they get most of the attention.

we took a picture of the three grand-daughters to frame for part of our mom's easter basket. this isn't the one we used, but it's my favorite because of the look on ady's face, and her had beside her head. like oh brother, not pictures again!

weekend at grandma's

first i need to say thank you so much to mother nature. this is the winter i've always begged for. she has answered my prayers this year. it's been fantastic. i love it. hello spring!

i am back from spending the weekend at my mom's. hannah hadn't met new baby, and it seemed like a great excuse to go visit everybody.

new baby. getting bigger, but still so tiny!

old baby love to dig in my purse

and my cowboy boots!



baby needs a tablet! i love downloading games for her to play and showing her.

my favorite of the puppies is growly. she seems so tough but as soon as you pick her up she becomses the biggest lover ever.

and my dog. she decided mady's mini recliner was a special dog bed just for her.


it was a nice visit. it's impossible not to think about how fun it would be if they all lived closer. that's my first magic wish when i rub the genie lamp.

Welcoming Addison

I haven't been posting because I've been at my mom's and as much as I've wanted to, it's been crazy busy around here. Even now I should be sleeping, but I really want to show you some pictures and type a couple words.

The reason I'm here:

 My newest sweet baby niece, Addison Day, was born on Monday afternoon.

,

My sister Megan, baby niece Mady, Me, my sister Lindsay, baby Addison and the mom/grandma of us all.

Everything went smoothly and quickly. Go Lindsay and new baby. That night the new family moved to their room and we all took them a nutritious meal from McDonalds and used my tablet to Skype with Danny and Hannah, still home in Lawrence.

The next day Megan and I visited the hospital and tried the "cocoon" my mom made on the baby.  It wasn't quite big enough, but still cute. She's fixed it now but we keep forgetting to take pictures.

Old baby had some leftovers for a snack.

Yummy lunch of random goodies.

In the mean time there are the puppies. My mom is fostering a Weimeriner mix and her puppies. There used to be 6. Today she had to rush one to the vet after she noticed strange spots on one's face, and more worrisome, big bumps on his neck. The pup was sluggish, not really moving much or playing like the others. We were both wildly worried and when I put him in the basket for her to take to the vet I was sure his he wasn't long for this world. Turns out, since he was the runt, he had just been too chewed on and beaten up by his much bigger siblings. The bumps were abcesses. The vet fixed him up and found a new home for just that pup, so he could be hand fed and given medicine until he's bigger and better. Then he might come back to his family, or might not. The big news is that he will be fine. Horray puppy. But how sad for him for now. He must have been so miserable.

This morning after my sister Megan had to go substitute teach, I assembled several nights of crockpot meals for Lindsay and Brad to eat for the next week. We snuck over to her house and hid them in the freezer for them to find when they got home from the hospital. Very fun! I made a pot roast, a creamy chicken mix, an Asian chicken mix, a Mexican chicken mix and an Italian chicken mix. I don't know if it'll be all good, but I know it'll be easy and that's the point.

While Megan was teaching and my mom was at the vet in Joplin, I babysat the baby girl. Since it was 70 degrees here, we played outside and I took a bunch of pictures with RetroCamera on my phone.

New baby came home this afternoon and I got to spend the evening helping out while new Daddy took him mom home. I took this picture while I was rocking her. I am in so much love.

16 Pictures from the Weekend

We went to Pittsburg this weekend to celebrate birthdays and throw a baby shower.
Friday night we had dinner and then redboxed a movie. I love this picture, and that we drug in the matress from the guest room so Lindsay could get comfortable.

I swear this baby is not drunk. Just way too tired, I promise.

When the Joplin Humane Society has a pregnant dog to be fostered, one of the people they call for help is my momma. Right now she has a scared but sweet momma dog, named Sophie. She is Weimereiner and Lab. She just had 6 babies. They were too little to really hold or play with so I just took some pictures for my mom to post. Here's a couple. If you'd like one, or the needy yet loving Sophie, contact the Joplin Humane Society.

This shirt says "I still live with my parents." I love it. I bought it for my nephew Matthew when he was a baby and it was fun to see my little baby girl in it.

For my mom's birthday, she got a tattoo of 3 paw prints.
My brother dropped in to surprise her, bringing his girlfriend and our cousin Tyler. We all went out to eat at my mom's favorite restaurant.

Today we threw another shower for our baby sister's baby.

I love this one of Lindsay, cutting up veggies for her own shower.
Megan did a Fantastic job with the decorating.

Me and my baby sister.

Me and my baby niece! The next time I go to Pittsburg it will be to meet her! I can't wait.

family fun times

if i weren't so tired, and if i didn't have to wake up early and get busy on my baby sister's bay shower, i might show you some of the pictures i've taken this weekend.

it's birthday weekend at my mom's house. lindsay was yesterday and our momma was today. and as seen above tomorrow is lindsay's shower. family fun time.

yesterday we just got here in time to have yummy dinner and a horrible, horrible movie (drive. don't see it). today we had breakfast and took my mom for her paw print tattoos and had dinner with some kc family that came down and watched a much better movie (contagion).

the guy at the tattoo place told h he'd pay for her to apprentice as a piercer in lawrence if she'd agree to come work for him after. apparently no one in p'burg does piercing and she could make tons of cash. she's conisdering it, a little.

oh and there are puppies! did i mention that? the puppies that were here at xmas have already moved on, but now there are new puppies. 3 days old today. part weimeriner. part lab. maybe part something else. but they're so young they just look like big pups with big ears. they are adorable. the mom is so sweet and was obviously mistreated and can't believe she's safe and people treat her with kindness. her name is sophie. man i hope she finds a fantastic home.

now hannah is on her bed doing homework, daisy is crashed out in her bed (it's always a full and exciting day with the dogs for daisy when we're here) and i am about to say goodnight, listen to something h wants to tell me, turn on my bedtime story and crash out.

goodnight!

right now

wearing: my pjs
company: hannah and daisy
thinking: sometimes laying down in my bed is the best feeling ever
watching: the wizard of oz
busy: downloading 89 pictures of my niece's first birthday party
worrying: the hunger games movie will be really bad
wishing: i were camping in the colorado summer time with my cousin angie and our barbies
counting down: to our christmas on thursday. so many presents under the tree!
disliking: the weather
missing: so many parts of my family
planning: to go to bed

Adjusting

Well, the long holiday weekend is coming to it's sad close. I for one am unhappy to see it end. Although in my life as a stay at home mom or home maker or unemployed slacker or whatever I am, it doesn't really make that much difference. But it was a nice long time of everyone being around and free and enjoying downtime, and I like that.

Hannah found this heart potato in the bag she was peeling. We saved it.

I love this picture. My mom is making a crazy face and the wreath behind my brother's head makes it look like he has a giant afro.

Baby girl and the Pregnant One.

Baby girl rejected the turkey.

Megan is obsessed with "Chopped", so this was part of her appetizer entry.

Baby girl has taken to walking into the dog's kennel and closing herself in. Silly girl.

 

Thanksgiving seems so long ago. We went to my mom's on Wednesday, but were back on Thursday night. It seemed so short and quick. We didn't even have any leftover turkey. Sad but true. And although the weather was amazing for the holiday, we've quickly moved  into temps closer to freezing and I don't like that one bit.

I'm starting to adjust to life with one dog. I like more than one better, but Danny is very against getting another dog so we'll see. Daisy seemed sad for a while, but I think she's adjusting too. I know she likes the spoiling and special privliges of being an only dog. For example tonight she rode along with Danny and Hannah to pick up dinner, and got a dog treat of some frozen custard from the drive through. Not that she needs any treats. Have you seen her? I swear she weighs 50 pounds. Or maybe 40. Maybe only 30. But whatever it is, it's way more than  a Lhasa Apso should weigh. She was always a chunker but while we were trying to get Henry to gain some weight, we inadvertently packed some pounds on the Daisy as well. So in addition to the good spoily bits, she's also coping with the shift back to dry food and she's certainly not so happy about that.

Sad Get Togethers

I wrote something liket this post last night, and then my macbook crashed and it was all gone. I was too tired to try it again till this morning. If I were smart I'd write in a txt file and then copy and paste it here. If.

I was going to post every day in November. I remember. But then things got so sad. Henry passed over and then almost exactly 3 hours later (maybe it was exactly), my mom's sister followed him. I would have otherwise have still been in my pajamas eating chocolate in bed when I had to pack up myself and the girl and drive south to my mom's for the services and more important, the gathering together of loved ones to get through such things.

Of course it was sad. My aunt was only in her 60s. And funerals are kind of unbearable. I was in my 20s before anyone I was really close to had a funeral. I always knew I was lucky in that way. But now I'm 40something and the list has grown. Being at a funeral now is sad not only about the person I'm saying goodbye to at the time, but it reminds me of all the people I've had to say goodbye to already. And maybe worse, the knowledge that the list will continue to grow. Before I know it I'll be saying goodbye to someone else I love. Depressing. I mean I believe it's a good thing for the person moving on, but for me and the people left behind, it really sucks.

There were some happy parts. Family time is good, and it's hard to even look at my baby niece without being happy. She's blowing kisses. And toddling around. She's adorable.

Here she is sitting in her toybox. It's blurry because she hasn't learned to hold still for photographs. Dig her baby pig tails.

It was good to see my cousins. I liked that part. And it's fun to see my baby sister all pregnant. She's just starting her third trimester. We had several giant meals together.

The baby girl, waiting for her pancake.

Lots of beverages.

Lots of empty plates.

It was still sad though.
And at the cemetary, there was my mom's tombstone, with her name and birthday, just waiting. I kind of hate that. Super creepy.

Seeing my best cousin was good though.
Since she was around, she came to Lawrence the day after we all went home to wander around downtown with me and Hannah, and have some tasty Indian food (where this time the waiter wasn't so high).

I hope the next time we're all together is for much happier reasons. Angie says we need to plan an event. I hope we do. We all grew up so close, together all the time. It gets harder as family gets older, and bigger, and more spread out.

Sad Times

I have been in the hot tub and man am I feeling relaxed.

It was so much nicer than I remembered. I was trying to figure out a way I could get one in my own back yard. Alan swears they're more trouble than they're worth but I find that kind of hard to believe.
I mean I'm all relaxed and I'm having a really anti-relaxing time right now. Well the hotation has been fantastic. Free time with the long term bestie, amazingly good food, lovely hotation room - that's all fantastic. But today I got the news my mom's sister is in the hospital and won't be coming out. And I'm pretty sure (ok I'm totally sure but it's hard to say it) that I'm going to have to say goodbye to Henry this week. Which is beyond horrible and I can't even stand to think about it. As I posted on FB, it's not a great time for my family.

Here's a thought that keeps getting stuck in my bean. Last Thanksgiving I had 3 amazing little Lhasa Apsos. This Thanksgiving I will have one. How sad is that? Well I don't really know but it seems fat too sad to me.

I feel badly for having this road bump of bad news while I'm supposed to be carefree and happy with Debra, especially since she's done so much for us to have a good time. It's weird really because I have had a nice time and enjoyed myself and Deb's company, but there's just all this darkness kind of hanging over me.

Yuck.