A Bittersweet Goodbye

Sometimes in life we take on more than we can handle. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we cannot make things work out. That is how I feel about Summer. She is a great dog in many ways; she loves babies and kids, she is friendly, and she is sweet. On the other hand, she is not 100% potty trained, gets into the garbage every chance she gets, and often does not come when I call her. But I tell you what, she loves her boy and her boy loves her. Larabee and I made the hard decision that she was out of chances after yesterday. She is simply not going to change and we were simply not going to deal with it anymore. The last thing I need is to get up in the middle of the night to a crying baby to find a surprise left by the dog. I guess it is especially difficult dealing with Summer's bad habits when we consider how good Sadie is. Sadie is annoying, has separation anxiety, whines a lot, but we can trust her just about as much as you can trust a dog. Summer never got to that point, and that is sad. She could be such a good dog if she made the choice to be, but we cannot make that choice for her. Because of that, we had to make the choice that was best for our family and our sanity. Summer will find another home and hopefully that one will work out for her. We will miss her.

Hagrid

One very large culture shock that we got when we came to Salt Lake City are the sheer volumes of homeless persons that call the streets of Salt Lake home. Nearly every street corner has someone holding a sign that proclaims the person to be "Homeless/Homeless Vet/Homeless Elderly Person" in need of "work/food/shelter/money", always followed up by "God Bless" or "Anything Helps". At one point I would have given every single person something; in San Antonio I gave one such woman a few bananas since I had just been to the grocery store, and man a few packs of fruit snacks that I happened to have in the car. I felt that if they want money they should find a job but food is something that is useful to everyone.
Fast forward to today. There are so many people on the streets of SLC that we have become numb to their begging. I often wonder if that particular person is really in need or if they have made a business out of begging, because (unfortunately) some have. I think about the fact that Larabee goes to a job every day that he does not particularly like to support his family the best he can and cannot justify giving away his hard-earned money to someone who may very well go home to a 3 bedroom house. I feel so jaded.
We do have one man who is at home on the Taco Bell lawn a few blocks away. We have dubbed him "Hagrid" because, well, he looks like Hagrid from Harry Potter. He is big, burly, hairy and wild-eyed. In the months that we have been here I have NEVER seen him begging or holding a sign. He walks back and forth between the Taco Bell and who knows where every day with all of his worldly possessions on his back. I wonder about him. Is he mentally unstable? Is he dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction? What was he like as a young child? Does he have any family? Is there anyone out there who knows his name and cares about him? For some reason he does not scare me, though I do not think I would approach him while pregnant or if I had children with me. I would like to see if he is 'all there' though, and see what happened in his life to lead him down this path. I guess my heart goes out to him because he makes his way in life without asking of others while others ask far too much when they are capable of so much more.
Every time I think about "Hagrid" I am thankful that, no matter what circumstances may fall upon me in my life, I will never be homeless. I know that I have family that would help me, and I also know that I am pretty self-reliant. I know I have been given the skills to keep me off of the streets. That is a pretty big thing if you think about it. I am thankful that Larabee is a good provider and that he does so selflessly. I am, in general, thankful.

Oh, the drama

After much debate about the H1N1 vaccine and the possible side effects of the vaccine, Larabee and I decided that we would rather be safe than sorry, especially for the baby's sake. So I called up the local health department on Wednesday to see if they still had the shots and where we could get them. They told me that they were not giving them out for the rest of the week because they had scheduled mass clinics for today, Saturday. I was told they had 7000 shots that would be divided equally among the 4 health department locations in Salt Lake County, so 1750 shots per location. I was also told that they would open at 7 and go until 5, or whenever they ran out.
Loaded with this information Larabee and I decided that we would plan on being down there at 6:30. We figured that there might be a bit of a line, but surly not much of one. Boy were we wrong! We got down there at 6:30 on the dot and there was a line around the building and down the street at that point! There must have been people that were there for hours and hours before we got there. I decided at that point that parking might be an issue so I basically kicked Larabee out of the car and told him to get in line because there were droves of people coming from all directions and I definitely did not want to be behind more people than I had to be behind. I drove around for about 10 minutes before I finally found a parking spot, but found one a couple of blocks away. Kyle and I hiked down to where Larabee was waiting and there were at least 200 people already in line behind him. Good thing I kicked him out!
At 7, when they started letting people in to receive the shots, we figured out how slowly things were going to move. Silly Mama that I am, I figured it would not be a big deal and we would get through quickly, so I failed to grab the stroller out of the car. Kyle was a cuddle bug today, and was being incredibly good, but he only wanted me. Not Daddy. Me. After about 45 minutes my back simply could not take it and I hiked back to the car for the stroller and necessary keep-the-boy-occupied supplies. When I got back to Larabee and Kyle they had not moved an inch, and I was gone for over 20 minutes. So we waited. Kyle watched what was going on around him. And we waited.
At about 8 I decided I was hungry and hiked the 4 blocks to 7-11 and got some grub for us and some coffee (decaf because we are both being good). When I got back the line had move but not a ton. So we waited. And waited. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we got to the door. They tried to tell us that Larabee could not get vaccinated because he was not caring for a child under the age of 6 months NOW. So I sorta kinda fibbed and said I was due any day. He got the shot after I said that! At 10:30 we walked out of the building. So, it took us 4 hours to get these stupid little shots that may or may not have been necessary. I guess it is done now, but boy my feet hurt and I am exhausted!

He looks older again...darn!

Kyle got another haircut. I have decided that I just hate haircuts. It takes my little boy and makes him look like a big boy. I am not ready for this! But, it is awfully cute that it is short enough to spike up a bit. Great...now I am turning him into a teenager! Does it ever end?

Growing Up

I realized something yesterday. I miss my parents. My whole adult life I have rarely gone a week without seeing my Mom and/or my Dad. We rarely lived too far apart and when we did it still was not long between visits. I do not know if it is pregnancy hormones or simply facing growing up.

Last night we had dinner with my Dad, who was passing through Salt Lake on his way from Wyoming to Idaho. We got to talking and decided that we had not seen him since the end of June. THE END OF JUNE!!!! It is October! What the heck? Has it really been that long? I was shocked. After looking through pictures I determined that we saw him 4th of July weekend, but still, that is a long time. We have seen my Mom quite a bit, but then again, she has been back and forth more than Dad has. Now that she is in Garden Valley we will likely see her more often too.

Anyhow, I miss my parents. I miss Kyle being able to see them every day, especially now that he is older and more involved with everything. I guess that is all part of growing up, but it is still sad.

Little boy heaven. Big boy heaven. Either way you cut it, tractors and equipment are very cool. This is what they mean when they talk about big boy toys. It does not matter at all that owning a tractor means work. It is still a piece of equipment and equipment is cool. Remember that.

Now, for this big boy the tractor is not so much fun. Or at least, he claims that it isn't. Yeah right. I do not believe you at all. Especially when you get to introduce your adorable son to the wonders of a tractor. Ahh, the joy of being a Daddy.
And for this little boy, what on earth is he thinking? He looks....mischievous. He looks.......like he is doing something wrong. He looks...... like his Daddy. Ahh, the joy of being a Mommy.

I guess this is all in a days work at Grandpa Art's ranch. And most importantly, the work is all done. Those boys did have fun, and I expect they will probably have a lot more fun on this tractor in the future. Did I mention I love my boys?!?

Baby in the ribs!

Where is it written that a baby growing inside of you has full reign over your entire abdomen? Silly baby, my ribs are a no-no! Do you know how much that makes my back hurt when you do that? Probably not! You are far too concerned with doing flips and kicks and learning how to be the up-and-coming Jackie Chan. When Mommy cannot breathe you need to move down in the belly. I know that there is not much room there, but please, help a Mama out!