Puppy, Please!

This is 8 week old Lucy Mairin, a Pembroke welsh corgi. She is the newest addition to our family. She weighs in at just under four pounds. She was the smallest pup in the litter. She comes from Synergy Stables in Beech Island, near N. Augusta. Those nice folks actually raise slightly smaller corgis. 

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She is such a sweetie. Almost don't mind having to get up all during the night so she can go potty. Almost!  Lucy and I watched the sun come up this morning. Those of you who know me, know if I never see a sunrise, it is okay by me. I am more of a sunset person. We are crate training Lucy. She seems happy with this.

Lucy loves chewing on things, sometimes she even makes good chew choices.

We are sure that someday she will excel as a guard dog.  In this video she is guarding her crate from the vicious bone.

Charlie, our cat, tolerates Lucy.  Lucy wants so much to play with Charlie but Charlie is not lowering himself to interact with a mere puppy.  Eddie, our twelve year old Corgi boy, is jealous of his younger sister.  He thinks we should be throwing his tennis ball and feeding him treats and not paying so much attention to that silly puppy who doesn't even know how to fetch.

Home Alone

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to babysit Hannah while mom and dad went to the mountains with friends for an "adults only" weekend.  From Friday after lunch until lunchtime on Sunday, I had the Bean all to myself.  It was absolutely fabulous!!  I hated to confess to anyone how easy she is.  They might replace me with just any old babysitter.  Of course I am still free, so there is that in my favor.  Anyway, Hannah takes a two hour nap every day, loves her bath, goes to bed at 7:30, and is perfectly capable of entertaining herself.  I had so much fun!!  Hannah is talking up a storm now.  At dinner one night, she drops food in her lap, looks up at me and very seriously says, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness."  Cracked me up!

We went to Dunkin Donuts Saturday morning.  Coffee for me and a milk and doughnut with sprinkles for Hannah.  It was her first doughnut.  Turns out she liked the doughnut but not the icing/sprinkles.  So I had to pinch the icing off. 

Here are a few more photos from our weekend.

This ice cream is pretty tasty!  You are the best, Nonni!

Chillin'.  Check out my "big girl" milk.

Look at these silly pigtails Nonni put in my hair.

Sure hope we get to have another weekend soon!

Christmas, just a little late

Well, I never did get around to posting about our lovely Christmas. I went to Atlanta in mid-December and kept Hannah. We exchanged gifts then. Hannah seemed to really like her Baby Stella and stroller. She is more and more into "pretending" these days. I love that!

 We made Christmas cookies, too.  Well, Katherine made the cookie dough and Hannah and I did the decorating.  In the process Hannah managed to get red and green sugar sprinkles all over the bottom of her feet.  Those were some delicious cookies.

Here is a photo of Hannah baking cookies in her new kitchen.  She is wearing her great grandmother's apron.  How cool is that?

Phil and I went to Folly Beach for Christmas week so we could spend some time with Caitlin who had to work Christmas eve and was on call Christmas day.  We stayed at a tiny little duplex with a nice view of the beach.  Eddie went with us and he enjoyed the beach.  We went walking every day.

Christmas day Steve and Caitlin cooked for us and entertained us with movies and Cranium.  Phil and I will never live down trying to spell nincompoop backwards.  Terri "P".  Phil "N".  Needless to say we lost that game. 

And of course there was the National Lampoon aspect of Christmas vacation.  We got up on Wednesday morning to find mouse droppings.  Ugh.  Bad enough but we are sitting watching tv later and a teeny tiny mouse runs across the back of the couch and Phil's shoulders.  I have the broom trying to swat it while Phil is pulling off couch cushions.  Then Phil gets this big ass hammer and says he is going to whack it.  All I could think of was Chevy Chase planning on wrapping the squirrel up in his Santa coat and whacking it with a hammer.  Little mouse escaped and we got one day free.  I like that little place but I don't think I will be going back!

Anyway, we had a lovely December.  Here is a photo of my tree with Annabelle, the pink flamingo that Caitlin gave me for Christmas.  Also, I got an ipad.  Yippee!  Now Hannah can Face time her Nonni whenever she wants to!

Little Football Fan

Never have I seen a baby concentrate so on a football game.  I think I was annoying her trying to video her while she was watching the Gamecocks.  She is definitely her daddy's little girl!

More Hannah and Knee Surgery

I got to visit with Hannah a few weeks ago.  Good thing it was a few weeks ago, since knee surgery has made me not nearly as speedy as the Bean.  She could outrun me for sure now.  I was amazed at how much her language has increased.  She names things constantly and can mime anything that you say.  Which now means that we adults have to watch our language more closely!  When someone asks where she learned "that word", I don't want her answer to be from her Nonni!  I took her a bottle for her baby and we pretended to feed and burp the baby.  Hannah does a great fake burp!  I also think it is wonderful how easily she goes down for a nap or bedtime.  Never any fussing!  And those two hour afternoon naps are marvelous.  I was getting about an hour nap myself.  I love spending time with the Bean and am always sad to leave.  Here are some pics from our weekend which of course included a little picnic at the park.

Feeding  Baby her bottle

Beautiful afternoon on the deck

"Go Cocks" (Really concentrating on that football game!)

The second fun thing this month would be my knee surgery.  It really hasn't been too bad.  More uncomfortable than anything else.  And of course I love walking like Grandpa from the Real McCoys.  That is if you are old enough to remember that show.  Charlie Cat helped Phil take care of me that first day when I sleeping so much.

Guarding my Mama's knee

 

 

Six days after surgery, X marks the spot!

Fall and Southern Vegetarianism

I love Fall.  I love the crisp days when I get to open up the windows and air out the house and cool nights when finally there is hot flash relief.  It is a great time to laze around in the hammock, watching the leaves begin to change into their flashier attire.  Aldi had these pretty flowers on sale for around $4 so I thought I would decorate my dining room table.  My husband even commented on how nice the table looked.  Of course it took him two days to notice the change.

I decided to cook us a vegetarian meal the other night.  My husband is not big on meatless meals, but this one was what I would refer to as traditional Southern vegetarianism. We had macaroni and cheese (not that silly Kraft stuff, but the real thing), pinto beans, sliced tomatoes and cornbread.  It was quite tasty.  The cornbread recipe was one of Paula Dean's, so you know it was good.  Does that woman cook anything that isn't good?  The mac and cheese was my mama's recipe and that woman doesn't cook anything that isn't good either! Except maybe Granny Toast and that is a story for another day.   I think my husband  enjoyed it as much as I did.  I reminded him that it could be tofu chili instead.

 

Latest Hannah Fix

Well, I got my latest Hannah fix in last weekend.  It is football season, which I love, by the way, and I went to keep Hannah so her mom and dad could go to the Georgia Tech game as unencumbered adults.  We had our usual good times.  We read tons of books.  I see a library card in that girl's future.  This weekend's favorites seemed to be In the Night Kitchen and Pete the Cat. She actually sat/snuggled and listened to me read for 30 minutes before bedtime one night. During one of her naps, she snuggled up against her books, holding them like security blankets.  We worked puzzles, played with the the piggy bank, and built with the blocks.  We chased each other around and did a lot of giggling, too.  

Hannah continues to show us all what a clever girl she is.  When I turned the game on the tv, she points right at it and says "Football."  Her daddy's influence!  I also had her saying "Go Jackets", but that didn't seem to help much as GT lost in overtime.  She is talking so much these days, naming the foods she eats and telling you what she wants more of.  She has a new doll and she loves to snuggle with "baby."  Baby even went to the park with us on Saturday.  We took a snack and spent an hour in the neighborhood park.  Hannah likes swinging and bouncing on the seesaw.  She also enjoyed chasing after the squirrels and people watching.  A group of birthday party pirates passed by and they were very entertaining.

Hannah likes to carry her stuff around with her.  At the park, she insisted on carrying the snack container, her water and my water from place to place.  Guess she didn't want anyone making off with our picnic.  

Big girl  ate a whole container of yogurt with a spoon. All by herself!  She wasn't neat, but she managed to get the job done.  It is a good thing that thick Greek yogurt sticks to the spoon so well.   Hannah can be very independent.  She did not want any help with that yogurt.

I was sorry to leave, but I will be going back soon.  You can't get too much Hannah!!