I know it's been a while since I've posted a blog entry. It's been a little rough going around here the last few weeks. We're all still adjusting to Babbette's absence (the cats, too), and the kids had a bout with some sort of stomach or intestinal bug that lasted a couple of weeks.
It's been three weeks since Babbette died, and we still look for her every time we go downstairs. Spaz misses her the most since they snuggled together quite a lot while taking naps. He's not napping in the same spots he shared with her, at least most of the time, and he has started doing some things that she always did when Greg would be sitting at his computer and she wanted his attention. All four boys have become very loving and seek attention from not only Greg and I but the kids as well.
We had Babbette cremated, and I was the one designated to go pick her up. All the other pets I've ever had either ran off (the cats) or dad buried (the dogs) at our house on Willis Road. When Li'l Bit died, Greg and Dennis dug a grave for him in our backyard in a spot where Bit loved to sit and laze the afternoon away. Picking up Babbette's remains was a new experience for me, and it was a very difficult experience for me. It took several minutes for me to compose myself enough to drive back home. I sat her remains in my lap for her final ride home from the vet's office. Even still while writing this, I'm crying. We're waiting for a keepsake box to be delivered that will be big enough to store her remains and a few items of hers that we are holding onto. We've ordered another one for Bit; if we ever move from here, we plan on taking him with us and will have his remains cremated as well.
The kids don't quite understand what has happened to Babbette. They sometimes still ask to see her or if I'm going downstairs to feed her. I remind them that she's not here anymore because she went someplace where she'll never be sick again. Sometimes they get upset that they can't see her, but most of the time, they've already moved onto something else before I can remind them of where she's gone.
We have a lot of clean up to do in the back yard courtesy of the ice storm. We were lucky in that we only went for a day (16 hours) without power. All of LaGrange and Crestwood were without power. I think our power getting restored so quickly was due in some part to KU's trimming trees back from power lines last Spring. Greg was able to get a generator that day, and it bought us a few hours of getting the fridge and coffee maker plugged in (we made the coffee extra strong!), and it allowed us to get a TV plugged in to catch the latest newscast. We lost one tree, and happily it landed parallel to the house behind the kids swing set. We also lost tops to several trees. It's hard to tell right now whether or not they completely separated since several and leaning down into the yard. We're hoping we can clean up most of the mess ourselves without having to pay someone to do it. We haven't started yet because our backyard is still such a soggy mess that it would be dangerous operating a chainsaw. It was scary seeing how far over our trees were bent, especially up close to the house. We've decided to hire someone in the spring to take a few of those trees out so we don't tempt fate again. We'll definitely have lots of firewood for next winter!
The kids are finally over some sort of stomach or intestinal bug that they passed around for a couple of weeks. I have absolutely no idea where they picked it up from. Zach started with diarrhea first, then Hannah took it one step further and added vomiting, and Jessie, thankfully, only made me endure one day of messy Jessie diapers. Zach and Hannah cleared up after a few days, but then the bug came back and hit Hannah with a vengeance. Zach's second round wasn't nearly as bad as Hannah's. Hannah required multiple baths, sheet changes, diaper changes, and a trip to the urgent care center before she got better.
By now I was hoping to be well into potty training. The girls are ready, and Zach is pretty close to being ready, so I'm planning to get the training potties out this week. I've also bought a couple of toilet seats for kids that fit inside the regular seat, and we've been sitting them (clothed) on those seats to help get used to that experience. I'll probably train them on both their potties and the big potty so they get used to using their Elmo potty seat.
I think Hannah will be the easiest to train. She's really not liking messy or wet diapers anymore. When she goes, she starts yelling to me that she's peed/pooped and walks into the room where I am like she just got off a horse after several hours or riding! I think Jessie will be the next easiest. Zach is still happy ignoring his messy/wet diapers so he doesn't lose any play time. If it turns out that I can't train all three at the same time, then I'll concentrated on training the one who's most interested and then move onto the next. Stay tuned -- there could be some interesting blogs coming out of this experience!
We've been working with the kids a lot lately on colors, shapes, counting, saying their ABCs, and playing matching games with cards. They got several board games for Christmas, but I decided to try a simple card matching game first to try teaching them about taking turns and learning game rules. You can't get any simpler with game rules than with card matching. I'd like to get the kids enrolled in a preschool this fall, at least for a couple of days a week starting out, so they can start getting used to that type of environment and start having some time away from me and home. It's time.
That's about it for now.
