Ah man, I'm middle age! So, it's that time of year again, yesterday I had my annual. After the fun stuff, we are chatting about things; you know, life changes, body changes, concerns. When she informs me that I should schedule an appointment for a mamogram. What? Am I really old enough for that? Which she politely informs me that I am "middle age." I corrected her by saying that I will not be middle age until April, which she conceded, lol.

Then, last night we went on a double date. A nice dinner and pleasant conversation with my teenage son and his girlfriend. Man, I AM old!

So, what do you do when you realize that your indeed getting old? Well, you head straight to your hair stylist for someething "new." Add some highlights; can't have any gray hairs peeking through. So, here is the new, middle aged me!

My baby girl had a birthday on Sunday. It's hard to believe that she is a year old already and that she has been with us for almost a year now. When we moved into a house last year (the rental), we promise the boys that we could get a dog in the spring. In February, my supervisor, who is a total animal lover, showed me an ad on the in hospital advertisement page. Someone had puppies they wanted to give away. I sent an email for information and got this picture back:

I showed the picture to Brian and we talked about getting a puppy "now." The puppies were a mix od Jack Russel Terrier and some unknown. So, I researched Jack Russels and it seemed the personality would be a perfect match for Nate. We wanted a dog that could keep up with Nate. When we decided, we wanted the little black puppy, that looked like a mini rottweiler in the the other picture we got. I contacted the owner again and was told they only had one puppy that wasn't already spoken for. This was her:

Now, who could say no to that face? We agreed to take her and they would let us know when she was weaned. The boys were excited and could not understand why we had to wait to bring her home. Toward the end of March, we brought her home. This tiny little thing and called her KAYLEE.

And she was loved from the start:

And as we expected, she became Nate's sidekick:

These two go non-stop until they collapse. He wrestles with her and kicks and slaps at her, in a little boy playing kind of way. He's not mean to her, usually, although sometimes we do have to calm him down. She is so gentle with him. She never snaps at him. She will chase him all over the yard; and she is FAST! She will fetch her toys, and his toys. When they reach their limit, they both crash hard. And this is where you will find a tired Kaylee, except at night when she insists on sleeping on our bed. Notice the dirt on the boy; they had been playing hard.

So, on Sunday we celebrated the year we have spend with our Kaylee. We had Rice Krispy treats and presents: new toys and chew toys and "bones." What is a birthday without presents. The boys were excited about her birthday and had fun picking out doggie toys. Look at this face. She hasn't changed much, just gotten bigger. So cute!

And she is still very much loved! Happy birthday Kaylee Girl!

A little about Jacob, aka Boo. I haven't posted much about the kids. I've been a bit consumed with "the house." But, Jacob had a pretty awesome month of January, so I thought it was time to share a little about him. I keep telling myself that I need to write all of this in his journal, but I haven't got to it yet. So, by sharing it here, I am also saving the details that I want to remember to write down, when I have time to sit down and write.

Jacob was to start a new series of appointments with his occupational therapist (OT) in January. He had been re-evaluated in August and his sessions were cut from weekly, for the past two years, to bi-weekly. This was an excellent sign of progress. But, when we went in January, I asked Miss Dawn if we could do a brief eval, because I felt that he had improved so much since Aug that I wasn't sure he really needed to being having OT anymore. She agreed to do this and sure enough he tested within normal range for all of his motor skills. He even wrote for her, "Mrs. Dawn is the best OT." in his best handwriting. She said to him, "who are you and what have you done with my Jacob?" She asked him to write his name. We have worked so hard on fine motor skills and handwriting. Instead of just writing Jacob for her, he wrote Jacob Wesly (last name). His middle name is Wesley, funny that you never think to teach them how to spell their middle name. His final test was moving of the "spider web." She asked him to climb across the web, go around the side and come back across, three times. He said, "I'll do it five times." He was so proud of himself already. Well, he did it FIVE times. Miss Dawn said she's never seen anyone do more than three. Maybe she was just boosting Jacob's ego; which really didn't need it. All that being said, Jacob "graduated" from OT that day. YAY for him. He is doing great! Yay for me, because that is one less thing that I have in my schedule! He was floating on air that day and so proud of himself.

Then the icing on the cake... He was chosen as student of the month for January. He has been frustrated the last couple of months that he was not chosen. He is totally his mother's child in this regard. But, he was chosen for the character pilar of "fairness." They had a lunch assembly, where the kids got to have lunch with the principle, provided by Wendy's. Brian took an early lunch and we both went to have lunch with him.

He got a medal that says student of the month and his teacher wrote a nice letter about him that the principle read. It said he was fair, he waits his turn and shares with his classmates. He always raises his hand and waits to be called on. We are so proud of him.Way to go Jacob! Mrs. D. reading the note Jacob's teacher wrote about him, and the other Mrs. D., the vice principal.