Gary

Speaking of sickness...I should write about our dog, Biscuit. Biscuit is the sickest dog on the planet. Seriously. It's been crazy...and expensive!



When we took Biscuit for his first Vet appointment the Vet gave us a welcome folder that contained information about pet insurance companies. Tony and I had a good laugh about that! Pet insurance? For a dog??? Absurd!

If only we had known! Now, with all of Biscuit's pre-existing conditions, we couldn't get pet insurance on our sweet little beast if we wanted to!

Biscuit has had respiratory problems, GI issues, skin problems, and more. We've been to specialists, paid for countless tests and procedures, provided him a special diet, and administered more medicine than I care to think about!

We are all quite smitten with our sickly little pooch - especially Lily. Lily loves to pet Biscuit, snuggle with him in his dog bed, and basically never be more than an inch away from his nose. Biscuit is incredibly sweet and very tolerant of Lily loving on him! We're hoping this mutual love affair will help soften the blow when Lily learns that we spent all of her college money on Biscuit's medical bills!



Biscuit truly is a wonderful dog. He has a great temperament, lots of energy, and he truly is the happiest sick dog you'd ever want to meet.

The folks at the Vet's office love him and he loves them. The last time we were there, one of the doctors shared with me that their very first patient was a dog named Biscuit and that that Biscuit had chronic health issues, too. My guess is that it must have something to do with the name. Right? Makes sense to me.

Therefore, from this day forward, our dog shall be known as Gary!

Perfect Attendance

My poor little peanut is heartbroken.  Lily went to bed Tuesday evening feeling just dandy and woke up Wednesday morning SICK. 

Unbeknownst to me, when Lily woke up Wednesday morning her tummy wasn't feeling good.  I left Lily sitting at the breakfast table while I ran downstairs to grab a pack of napkins.  I'll spare you all the gory details...but suffice it to say what Lily thought was a burp...wasn't a burp! My poor sweetie.  When I came back up the stairs you should have seen Lily's poor, sad face.  It's been years and years since Lily threw up last.  I don't think she knew what hit her!

Lily was so upset that she had been sick...and got even more upset when I told her not to worry we'd just get her all cleaned up and put on a fresh pair of pj's.  Lily wanted to know why she would put on a pair of pajamas if she was going to school???  When I told Lily she would have to stay home you should've seen her sweet face.  She was absolutely crushed!  Lily told me in all sincerity that she thought she would have perfect attendance all the way through college.  Have I ever mentioned my child is a tad Type A???

Tomorrow will be the third day in a row that Lily has missed school.  Her upset stomach has morphed into more of a fevery head cold type thing now.  Lily is definitely not herself.  In fact, Sleeping Beauty went to bed last night at 8:00 pm and woke up today at 12:10 pm. Yes, you read that correctly! Lily slept for 16 HOURS!!!! Our girl LOVES her sleep, but this was a first.

Lily is a wonderful "patient" and we've made the most of this break in perfect attendance. We've spent plenty of time snuggling up on the couch, reading books, and watching The Sound of Music. As much as Lily LOVED watching a movie "when it wasn't even Movie Night", I know she will love it even more when she can go back to school!

Here's a sweet little picture of Lily when she was feeling A LOT better than she has the last few days.

November

Okay, if I'm going to start updating Lily's "baby book" again I want to go back and fill in some of the blanks.

So, here's the Reader's Digest condensed version of November...

A visit to the American Girl Doll Store

Lily and I went with her best friend (Q), her best friend's mother, grandmothers, and sister to the American Girl Doll Store for tea to celebrate Q's birthday.



Lily is not much of a doll kind of girl. In fact, that's putting it mildly. Lily NEVER plays with dolls. Truth be told - Lily only has one doll. Aunt Patti gave Lily an American Girl doll named Ivy for her first Christmas. It's the only doll that has lasted in our house. All the other dolls have found their way into the Goodwill bag!



The first time Q came to our house to play she was shocked and more than a little disappointed that Lily didn't have any baby dolls. Lily told Q she thought dolls were boring and then they went about playing with Lily's race cars and all was well with the world once again.



When Lily's at Q's house they play with dolls, when Q's at our house they play with cars, trucks, and Calico Critters. I think it's what makes their friendship work so well. Q and U have enough in common to enjoy each other's company, but not so much that they get on each other's nerves.



Q brought her American Girl doll to tea and Lily brought Ivy and they had an absolute blast!!



They even had fun on the three and a half hour ride home. Yes, you read that correctly. It took us three and a half hours to get home from the store!!!

Want to know the best part? Q and U never once complained during the entire ride. Not once. They sang and laughed and told really awful knock-knock jokes and were sad to see their time together end. I was just happy to finally be near a bathroom!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is normally my favorite holiday - this year - not so much. It was just so hard without Dad.



I am so thankful Mary Beth is the matriarch of our family. She makes every event special and does an amazing job at making memories!

Our sweet girl had a great day. She's not crazy about the actual Thanksgiving meal...Lily would prefer spaghetti :^)...thank you very much...but hanging out at Aunt Baba's with her cousins is one of her favorite things to do!







Oh, and eating chocolate dipped cheese curls and chocolate dipped Dorito's for dessert was another highlight. What kind of mother would allow their child to eat such a thing??

We discovered these little "delicacies" at a local candy shop and Tony couldn't wait to bring them to Thanksgiving Dinner. Honestly, the thought of these things makes me want to gag...but they went like hot cakes! As for me, I'll stick with apple pie for dessert!



Nit Picking

Speaking of wanting to gag...during November I also got to experience what it feels like to be a mother chimpanzee. Not sure what I mean??? Well, I'll put it a bit more bluntly. Lily had lice. Yuck, yuck, and triple yuck!!! I shuddered just typing that. Now, go ahead and itch your head. I understand. Trust me.

As anyone who knows me well knows...I have issues - lots and lots of issues. Can I just tell you that picking nits out of my child's hair did very little to help with my issues? Very little. It's true.

Before our experience with those nasty little buggers (literally) I thought there were two childhood maladies that I couldn't handle - loose teeth and ticks. I've added a third item to the list and it's assumed the #1 position!

I'll stop here. So much for the Reader's Digest condensed version, huh?

Mommy, Am I Black?

The title of this post...that...THAT...in a nutshell is the reason I've got to keep blogging. It's all these little moments that make up a life...my life...our lives...that I never want to forget.

The other morning during breakfast Lily asked me in all sincerity if she was black. Before I could answer she followed up with, "I know I'm not white, but I don't think I'm black either."

Stopped. Me. In. My. Tracks.

Lily has been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. in school. At home we had had some wonderful and heart-breaking discussions about the Civil Rights movement, what precipitated it, the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr., and how very far we still have to go.

If you want your heart laid bare - exposed and raw - try to explain such ugliness to an innocent 6 year old. I have tried desperately and will continue to try to keep the little in my little girl for as long as possible. But trying to explain things like racial discrimination, hatred, bigotry...it starts to peel away those layers of innocence. Bit by bit.

I believe my sweet girl was trying to figure out where her "oatmeal with brown sugar" colored skin fit within the Civil Rights movement. I did my best to answer her questions and have been asking myself questions ever since!