Gag, ack, ick.....poor baby!

Just about the time that Hannah got over her cold....with one day of feeling really good, she's come down with a stomach virus. The Doctor called it "gastrointeritis." Dunno if I spelled that right....she's been throwing up....having the runs, not eating and feeling really lathargic. In the last 48 hours I've been puked on 6 times. Ewwwww. I did realize though that while I was covered in nasty, I was more concerned about getting Hannah (and my couch clean) than what was all over me. I guess it comes with motherhood eh? There isn't much that bothers me anymore as far as this stuff goes. Anyway, Hannah is feeling rather puny and can't get comfy to sleep well. I feel so sorry for her. She's become a cling-on in the last few days wanting to be held or snuggled all the time. The doc says she can only have 1 ounce of formula per feeding and once ounce of pedialyte per hour. Dunno how I'm going to get that stuff into her. She isn't interested in it at all. This is also the first time I've seen her snub food. One bite, that's it.
Apparantly this is very contageous....oh boy! Something to look forward too!

Christmas

Lou, Hannah and I made the trip to VA to be with Mom for Christmas. We also dropped two horses off (Sealy and Sean) at Michelle's farm in Marshall on the way.

Hannah traveled pretty well. No meltdowns just a little whining after being in her carseat for too long. The weather held up nicely for our drive. It did rain a bit once we got to Mom's though. Hannah was very good during our visit. She loved Mom's dog Abbey and torured her a bit. Abbey was very, very tolerant and just continued to lick Hannah all over!

Mom and I ran around and did some Shopping a few days and tired ourselves out with the massive crowds. No thank you! Christmas was nice. The four of us went to Culpepper to visit Dad's grave and put some holiday flowers there. After we got back we had an early dinner (Ham, taters, green beans, sweet taters and rolls). In the evening we went to Susan's to visit "Uncle Don" who is suffering from Pneumonia. He loves babies and Hannah just sat and stared at him. He enjoyed her visit though.
We made it home yesterday around 4:30pm. It was raining and nasty here. Tonight we have a race....cross your fingers for a win!!!

Standing tall!

Hannah has figured out how to stand by holding onto things. She seems to like showing this off because she will grab anything to pull herself up. She usually will turn around to make sure someone is watching her as she does this new cool thing. She also is cruising around the furnature a little. Just testing out her legs. The only thing she hasn't figured out yet is how to go form standing to sitting. She'll stand there until she gets tired and then start to whine for help because she doens't know how to sit back down on the floor!

Got up.......

Dunno how to get down! Help.....?

All I want for Christmas....

I took Hannah to meet Santa Claus yesterday. I thought maybe it was going to end up being a mistake since she's so young. To my surprise she was very good! We stood in line for 45 minutes. She flirted with the 5 year old boy in line behind us....and then sat quietly on Santa's lap, giving a cute smile for the camera. If I can find a way to get the picture online I'll post it. My printer/scanner is not working or I would have had it up already.

Ice Cream and Doggie Dishes

Soooo......Hannah is at a stage where she's eating "real food" occasionally on her own (sliced cooked carrots, green beans, creamed corn.....cherrios, sliced peaches) and now when Lou or I eat she looks at our food longingly and wants to try some. After Dinner Lou had one of those fudge ice cream bars and Hannah crawled over to him....giving him "the look."

Pleeeeeaassseeee!

First taste.....

Ewwwww......yuck!

Hmmm.....one more bite.....She does this with everything new she tastes. Begs, tastes, makes faces and then wants another bite. Lou and I couldn't stop laughing.

Auntie June bought Hannah this walk behind toy that plays music and sings songs when you push it. It repeats the ABCs or a song "Walk along...." over and over (hurray for that right) and Hannah LOVES it. She started pushing it while traveling on her knees. Then a few days later she got brave and stood up. She is now pushing it across the house until she bumps into something and can't go any further. We have to stay close though because she starts puching it and it rools too fast and she nearly does a nose dive. She's even gotten so brave she's trying to push it one handed.

So you are probably wondering where the Doggie Dish comes in?Hannah loves her bath....in fact she loves any water she can play in....including the doggie bowl...

Her shirt was soaked too!

Giving a second chance...

Today was a great day. Today "Beeper" got a second chance at a good life. Beeper (Beep N Go) is a retired racehorse that my in-laws bought at auction. He'd been a racehorse before, then was purchased by a young girl who barrel raced him. Her parents forced her to sell him and that's how we got him. We decided we'd try running him again. It was getting into winter and we needed only a few starts in order to stay qualified for our insurance through the track. Beeper would be just the horse to help us out. He didn't need to run real well (though we hoped he would), he just needed to come out of the gate and cross the finish line.

Long story short, Beeper wasn't any better at running during his second time around. I advertised him for sale and a very nice girl and her mom came out to try him. The girl fell in love with him....so after his last race, she vetted him and took him right home. Beeper was to be her dressage mount. She owned him over a year and a half. About 2-3 months ago her mother contacted me asking for help in selling Beeper. Her daughter had developed Rheumatoid Arthritis and decided to stop the medication. So riding was becoming more and more difficult for her. Beeper really was tough to sell because he had an old injury to his knee (way before we ever bought him) that would limit his ability to flatwork only. Since Beeper wasn't a good jumping candidate, no one wanted him. I had a few other emails form the owner asking for more ideas. I pointed her towards several advertising websites and sent his info to a few friends. Still....no one wanted him. Of course she was asking $2500 for him in a bad winter market during the economy crisis. So last week I received yet another email stating that Beeper was free to whoever wanted him (a good home a must of course) and if he didn't find that home in 6 days....the owner was going to euthanize him!
Well, that put a slight crink in my day. Beeper was not one of my favorite horses but I felt obligated to see he was not put down for no good reason other than he wasn't being ridden. So I went to my online friends and started a fund raising drive. Within 24 hours, we had enough money ($325) to pay a commercial shipper to deliver him to his new home in Maryland. IN fact, we collected more than enough money....so the remainder will go towards helping another needy soul coming off the racetack.

Beeper arrived at his new, safe home in Frederick, MD at about 1:45am this morning. His new owner (an upper level dressage trainer) says he's already settled in and made friends. So Beeper got his second chance today. Thanks to a super group of people whose generosity and kindness never ceases to amaze me!

The pictures shown above are from two years ago when we still owned Beeper. Yes, that's a cat on his back!

Below is Beeper in his new home....

In other horsey news....my new horse "Sean" had his teeth done today. I can not believe how bad they were. His teeth were so bad he had to tilt his head to be able to chew. I can't understand why people don't take care of their horses' mouths. This fella is super sweet and cute as a button. He just dealt with it....poor guy!

Here are some new pics form yesterday as he was playing in the round pen.

New Addition

So I'm trying it again. Last time my new horse had to go back because he was sold to me with a broken coffin bone. I'm crossing my fingers that this one is healthy and stays sound!

His name is "P.Vidi" and we are calling him "Sean." He's a four year old almost 15.3 hand gelding. I went to see him on thursday and was really disappointed to see he wasnearly three inches shorter than he was advertised as. I really liked the little guy.....but little is very hard to resell. So I spoke with MIchelle (who LOVED his pictures) and she spoke with a lady who helps her sell to high dollar clients. They both agreed that this horse would sell for a good amount with 3 months of training on him. So I bought him! He came home today and settled right in. He's sweet and cute and I cna't wait to see how his training goes!

Hannah had her second flu shot on friday. Didn't even cry. What a brave girl! She's getting into everything. I can't believe some of the things I pull out of her mouth! But it's all good. We are having fun!

Happy Turkey Day!

We are headed to a friend of my in-law's for Thanksgiving Dinner. I'm in charge of dessert for about 12-14 people....woohoo! So I made my huge chocolate overload dessert, brownies, a ditch apple pie and a pumpkin pie. Hopefully it will all be enough for that many people! Hannah is sporting an outfit Gramma Rose bought for her. She's all ready to go....just waiting on Lou....
Have a great holiday!!!

Getting back to normal

Lou finally came home yesterday. He's 30 pounds lighter after two weeks in the hospital. They found he has ulcerative colitis. So he's on medicaiton to calm that down and get him back in order. For some reason his liver went nutty with the attacks. He also had a severe bout of pancreatitis due to the scope he had done at the Cleveland Clinic. While he was gone the Hannah ended up with a double ear infection. About a week after she came off of her antibiotics I got sick from being run down. Now she's starting to get what I'm finally getting over and has decided that no....sleeping in her crib really isn't cool. I had one night in the past 4 weeks where I got 6 hours of sleep and she stayed in her crib....ahhh wellllll....last night she woke up and hour after I put her down and was up crying on and off until 2:30am. Yikes! She almost outlasted me.
Good news is that Daddy is home and is feeling great. So hopefully things will slowly get back to normal.
We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow afternoon. The birthday girl is turning one year old and the majority of the guests are under the age of 3. This should be interesting!

Sealy had her teeth done yesterday and also her feet. Since Lou has been sick I had another farrier friend do her. She had her teeth done first and was already in lala land from her tranquilizer so she behaved wonderfully for her feet. I'm hoping to have her down in VA for some boot camp type training by early december. At least that's my goal.....

We've had a little snow lately but nothing to write home about. The worst is the wind. Whoa nelly is it bone chilling!!

An update on Lou

It has been a tough week since Lou entered the hospital. He came home from Saint Elizabeth in Boardman on saturday afternoon and was back in at Salem Community by 9pm that night. MRI showed nothing. So he sat in that hospital until 12:30am this morning when they transprted him to the Cleveland Clinic. Supposedly there is a very good specilaist there who is going to do a scope down his throat and then possibly a colonoscopy as well. The worst part is that this has basically been a waiting game. They say they are going to run this test or that test and it takes two days to get done. Then you have to wait all day and all night for any results. It's a joke!
So far the doctors only speculate what could be wrong. His regular doctor thinks he might have some scarring or some type of partial blockage somewhere in his digestinal tract. Which could be causing him to bloat and cramp when he eats. He says now they give him pain meds every two hours so it has become more painful to him.
If anyone can spare some good thoughts or prayers for Lou.....we should could use them!

Another trip to the hospital.

Lou is back in the hospital. He started feeling crummy the other day and it gradually got worse. He said he can't think of anything he ate that would have set off the pancreatitis again. He was being stubborn about calling his doctor but finally did. I was with Hannah getting her pictures taken and didn't even know he was there until I got home. His aunt drove him this time. His doctor had him go to a different hospital because there are more specialists there. He seems to think this is something different involving Lou's lower intestine. Whatever it is I hope they fix it asap!

I took Hannah in for some professional pictures today. We had a lot of fun putting her in different settings. Hannah hammed it up for the girls who were working there. They loved her. It makes Mommy proud when baby is so good!

The prints will be done in about 10 days but in the meantime they gave me a disk so I could share these.

And we have number five!

Today I found an upper tooth breaking through! So Hannah is working on her fifth tooth. HOw exciting for us all! ha!
So I went to visiot my chiropractor today about my back pain. We both decided it was a good idea to do new x-rays to see if there are any changes form the break of 2006. Unfortunately I won't hear anything for a few days. They hooked me up to the electric stim again and put a moist heat pad on top. Again I had a short cat nap during treatment. The assistant was nice enough to leave me be for an extra 10 minutes after the buzzer went off. I think she knew I've been missing out on some serious sleep lately. How nice of her!

We have a tooth!

Hannah had her fourth tooth break through the skin yesterday. I wondered if she had another one coming because she had begun drooling again a few days ago. She's also cralwing all over the place. She's very curious and even picks little pieces of whatever she finds on the floor as she goes. Who needs a vacuum when you have a kiddie picker upper? Something else she enjoys doing is sitting with her book in her lap and actually turning the pages! It was kind of cool to see her do that at such a young age. So now that she's moving, we are all a bit more tired!

We didn't dress Hannah up for Halloween this year. I thought she was too young. Really, it would have just been for us as we didn't go out for any parties. Next year though....should be fun and I can't wait!

Tomorrow I head for a consultation with my chiropractor. I think we are going to have new x-rays taken of the old fracture in my back. It's been botherings me really bad the last two weeks. Enough to make me sick after working in the barn. My chiro thinks I might have some settling and possibly a probelm with the disk. So we shall see tomorrow!
Tuesday I go for a much needed haircut and touch up on my highlights. They were able to squeek me in last minute which I'm eternally greatful for.....we are having family pictures taken on wednesday and I'd rather not walk in there with hay in my hair as I do on a normal day! I'm pretty excited for these pics. Hannah has a few new outfits that are super cute. Now what will mommy wear??

9 month check up

Hannah turned 9 months old last wednesday. So we had a check up at her doctor's office that day. She's 21 pounds and 13 ounces and 30 1/2 inches tall! The doc said she's the tallest baby of this age in her clnic. She had a iron test done (finger prick) and everything looks good. Doc asked me if we were having any problems so I told her that Hannah had been sick with a stuffy/runny nose and that her sleep schedule had changed for the worse. She found that Hannah had an ear infeciton in both ears. While it's not a bad one, it's still enough to bother her when she's laying flat. Now it all makes sense because she would even get upset when I'd lay her down to change her diaper. So far she's doing better on her meds so hopefully she will start sleeping better because I'm now getting sick AGAIN from being run down. She was still napping well in the mornings and afternoon so she's been in a pretty good mood even with her cold.
Yesterday I picked up a cute sweater and skirt for her for our family pictures on wednesday. Can't wait to see her in it.

Just my biased opinion...

Mom came to visit for the weekend. I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my mother-in-law so she wanted to be here for it. She hadn't seen Hannah in two months and brought a few really cute outfits for her. One of which Hannah HAD to wear to the party as most of the people there have horses. So she was all dolled up and we took the opportunity to get a few pictures.
Hannah started crawling while Mom was here. She'd been toying with getting up on her knees for a few days but finally took off across the living room yesterday for the first time. Now the real fun begins!! I'm already tired from lack of sleep and now I see I will have even less rest! Anyone want to remind me what it's like to string 8 stright hours of uninterupted sleep together?

Anyway, I am still having oodles of fun with this precious little one. It's okay to think your baby is the world's cutest right? I'm sure most mothers feel that way.

Awwww....crap......

My new horse is sore. REAL sore. Great. So I took him for x-rays today. Bad, bad news. His feet are a mess, old fracture, severe arthritis, navicular changes, bone spurs. He will never be sound enough to be more than a drugged occasional trail horse. I'm so bummed about this. What a nice horse he is too. So his previous trainer is going to take him back. I just hope he find him a good home and doesn't send him off on the meat man's truck.....*sigh*

New dress....New Horse.....

Hannah and I went shopping the other day for a holiday dress she could wear for christmas pictures. I found a really cute red velvet dress with a rhinestone and ribbon bow on it. She has white tights and black patent leather shoes. I can't wait for her pictures on the 5th of November!

Also, I brought a new horse home from the track last night. I'm planning on sending him down to VA to my friend for training and to sell. He's HUGE, standing much taller than my head (17+ hands). He seems like a nice horse. His racing name is "All The Facts." but he needs a barn name. Any suggestions?

Friday Night Funny

I snagged this off a BB I am a member of. It was too good not to share....

Young Chuck, moved to Texas and bought a Donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the Donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'
Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'
The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'
Chuck said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'
The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?'
Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'
Chuck said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'
A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'
Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00.'
The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'
Chuck now works for the government.

Yay for Blake!

I got the best news this afternoon. Blake passed his pre-purchase exam with flying colors and will be on his way to his new home tomorow morning. He'll be living in North Carolina with a really nice lady named Ann. She plans on eventing him and have a lot of fun with him. When she tried him she couldn't stop giving him kisses and spoiling him. He's such a nice horse to be around, I'm sure I'm nuts for selling him! Anyway, he was vetted at one of the toughest vet hospitals on the east coast. This is the link to the clinic: http://www.vaequine.com:80/
The Doctor that did the exam was Dr. Kent Allen. He's worked regularly with the US Equestrian Team and rarely passes any horses in their PPEs. Blake was there for 3 hours and was such a champ about everything. The only thing they found that was of any importance was that his front feet have thin soles. Not anything I wouldn't expect given the fact that his feet are conformationally very flat. Dr. Allen told the buyer there was no reason she shouldn't buy Blake! Michelle said she could hardly believe the vetting was so easy!
Anyway, we are all excited and wish Ann much luck with Blake!
In other news....our new horse, "Ludington" ran second tonight. This was the first time we've ran him. He's been in our barn for about 6 weeks if I remember correctly. His owner seemed happy with this race and hopefully next time he'll win!

The Debate

I watched the whole debate last night. This was the first one I think I've stayed awake all the way through. They are always so boring with all the yada yada yada and bashing of each candidate. This year though I'm really on the fence about who to vote for. There are things about both of them I can't stand and also things about both I like. Growing up with a very republican father I have always leaned in that direction. But I also wonder about Obama's experience and the safety of our nation. I think both candidates would put us fursther into debt and that is a huge worry. So what do you do? I firmly believe that if you don't vote, you have no right to complain afterwards.....I've told Lou this over and over because he has never voted....but loves to complain about how things are run in our country. Ahhhh.....one thing is for sure, I'm tired of all the called from each party. Last night a woman from the Obama supporters called. I really didn't want to get into it with her and was trying to get off the phone. So I told her I supported McCain. She got defensive and had a snippy tone to her voice and asked me, "oh so you don't care about you child's health care then? (Hannah was fussy and she asked if I had a baby....duh). I just felt like she was attacking me for having a different opinion and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Two others have called about Obama asking for Lou. I already know he'd hang up on them so I told them he wasn't interested in talking with them. So guess what? They keep calling. At least McCain isn't wasting my time on the phone....ah well....maybe something will change in the next debate to sway me one way or the other.

How sad...

Last night a loose horse wandered onto te road that runs in front of my house. It was less than 1/4 mile from us. Someone hit and killed it. I hope the driver is okay. The only reason I found out what happened was a friend was driving the opposite direction and saw the whole thing happen. It shatter the guy's windshield and threw the horse into the field next to the road. We haven't found out yet who owned it but I think it may have been the people who live behind us up the hill. This would be the 5th horse killed on our road in the last 5 years. Will people ever learn? I'm amazed more horses (and people) haven't been killed or seriously injured with all the times my next door neighbor's horses have been loose. Fix the fence people!!!

Ick...

So Hannah has had a runny nose for a week. She seems to feel fine other than rubbing her nose all the time. I have been working on getting sick for about 5 days now. I felt puny when Lou was in the hospital bit I think that was just worry. Then the scratchy throat start. Had that for a few days with nothing else. Then body aches and today we get congestion and sinus pressure. Oh joy. So I stay up coughing at night and Hannah wakes up around 1 or 2am, wide awake because she can't breathe through her nose well. Neither of us are getting sufficient sleep. Bad time of the year to live in Ohio. Our daytime temps have been in the mid 60s and nighttime in the 30s. Easy weather to catch some nasty germs!

Drunk Pumpkin!

Ewwwwwww!

Oops, oh well....

So after talking with my best friend this morning she discovered that the math in the email I inserted into yesterday's post is not correct. She works for a bank so she should know! I didn't even question it because the whole idea sounded pretty cool. Anyway, if this plan were a reality, we'd only be getting $425.00 each. Not $425k. Good thing this person is not my accountant! Ha!

In other news I'm trying to give away a Thoroughbred gelding and an Thoroughbred mare who is in foal. Plus trying to sell two older TB geldings in our barn pretty cheap. If anyone knows anyone who might be looking, please have them email me a jenarby@hughes.net . All these horses are sound and ready to be in a new career. Thanks!

Hey Bro...what do you think about this?

A friend sent me this tonight. It's been forwarded on and on so I don't know who actually created it. Regardless, I think I want to vote for them for president!

How to fix the economy
Here's a unique idea:
I'm against the $85,000,000, 000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000, 000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend. To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,0 00 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend. Of course, it would NOT be tax-free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000, 000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000 .00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads.
Put away money for college - it'll be there.
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs.
Invest in the market - capital drives growth.
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves.
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else.
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that isbeing proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult US Citizen 18+!
As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale:
We deserve it and AIG doesn't.Sure it's a crazy idea that can 'never work.' But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC. And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Daddy is home!

I picked Lou up from the hospital yesterday morning. We went right to an appointment at an oncologist from there. The doc said nothing set any red flags off in his mind when he loked at Lou's cat scans and x-rays. So he's going to do bloodwork in one month and another cat scan in two months to make sure everything looks normal. So, I have hubby back and Hannah is so very happy to see her Dada again!

If anyone is looking for a new horse, I have several for sale or have info on several that other trainers have as well. I have two verycheap geldings and one freebie....and looked at several nice horses the other day.

Sealy is on a short break. I was not able to do anything with her while Hubby was gone. Sharon was down in SC and Big Lou was just too busy to watch the baby. I also was waiting for a bit to come in the mail that Michelle is lending me. So she's going to go back to work hopefully tomorrow. Blake is doing unbelieveably well. He's going cross country like a pro and packing around anyone who wants a fun ride. He's got several buyers lined up in the next week with two who just tried him and live a bit away so they are planning second trips to see him again. I'm hoping something works out for him. He's such a good boy!

So Hannah turned 8 months old yesterday. She is such a ham. She keeps me smiling everyday. SHe started saying "bah bah bah bah" the other day. It's her new favorite thing. So freakin cute. Here are some pics I took. I can hardly ever get her to smile while I hold up the camera. But I set it down and she's all smiles!

Almost...

Lou almost came home today. If he hadn't had a bad night last night after eating a somewhat normal dinner. *sigh* I guess it was too soon. He had soup for lunch and soup for dinner and so far is doing well. He should be able to come home tomorrow. If so, he'll take his scans and x-rays to an oncologist on wednesday. They want to be sure that the two lymph nodes they found in his stomach are not abnormal (oh please let them be normal).
I visited with Lou for two hours today. He seemed like he felt pretty good. He was just so ready to come home.
Hannah has been doing well. She started babbling "babababababababa" today. It's her new favorite thing now. I think probably because this is the first sound she's made that involves closing her lips. She thinks it's pretty cool and readily repeats it if you do it. She never did say, "Dada" again. I'm hoping "baba" turns into "Mama."
Nighttime has been a little rough. She is a little congested and wakes herself up when she can no longer breathe out of her mouth. I'm guessing she's scaring herself because I've never heard her cry the way she did friday night. So far it's been pretty consistent....about and hour after going down. Then it takes almost an hour to get her back down. Then she's up every three hours. I long for the day when she gets back on schedule and sleeps through the night.
This came at a bad time too with the worry and stress of having Lou gone. I'm corssing my fingers things turn around and are back to normal tomorrow.

All plugged in...

Our power came back on sunday afternoon. So we've been catching up on cleaning and refilling the fridge. Lou started getting sick on monday. Now he's in the hosptial. He has a return of pancreatitis that he's had several times in the past. They also found spots on his liver. Noone seems to know what's going on with him. The doctors have pretty much been non existant. So we know nothing. At least Lou is comfortable. They drugged him up and he's getting some sleep. I hate worrying and waiting. Sharon is down in SC cleaning up their property. So we are just a tad short handed. Aunt June is still out of town so no babysitter.

I took Hannah to a fr4iend's house yesterday and left her there for two hours so I could take Lou some clothes and visit for a little while. I think that was one of the hardest things I've ever done leaving her there. Unfamiliar place, unfamiliar people with another baby who was an aggressive 10 month old. Hannah was moritified. I was a wreck yesterday. Things seem better today even without an update. I hope he calls soon.

So...how about a funny or two?

Hmmmmm....what will they think of next?

Oops.....busted!

Lights out!

So....we've had no power since last sunday. We had a pretty bad windstorm (thanks a lot Ike) and have been "in the dark" ever since. Sorry for the lack in posts....I'm just starting to catch up on emails and bulletin boards I'm a member of. Hannah and I have been staying at Aunt June's hourse all week. We go home during the day but stay here at night because she has power (and internet yay!!!!). The temps have been in the lower 40's at night so a furnace that actually runs is definitely a must. The electric company is telling us we MIGHT have power back by monday. We emptied out our freezers and took everything to the in-laws. They have two chest freezers that are hooked up to a generator. We have a pig and a cow in there so we didn't want to lose any of that meat. Everything in the fridge was pretty much lost. Sharon told me to make a list of everything that spoiled because we can claim it on our insurance. I didn't realize just how much was in there until I cleaned it all out! Wow!
Lou was carting water from the creek across the road to the barn (using buckets to fill a tank) so our horses had water to drink. We do have the other generator hooked up for the lights and for the walking machine but just recently had soemone rewire a few things to get the water running in there.
In horsey news we've had some nice races recently, winning a few and tonight we had a second and a fourth. Blake cut his back leg and had a few days off....then yesterday came in with a big gash under his chin. If there is a way to get hurt he finds it. He'll be fine though. Michelle took the noseband off his bridle and he's doing well despite the bump.
Sealy is doing spectacular. She's only been back in work for two weeks but each day she's been doing better and better. She's definitely grown up a lot over the last year. I'm tickled with her progress so far. She is proving to be very intent on trying her hardest to learn. She's very trusting and seems to enjoy the work.
Mom is at the tail end of her visit up in the NE. She'll be heading home from Maine tomorrow. Sounds like she's had a great time.
Hannah is just a joy as always. She keeps me laughing....and exhausted too. She hasn't decided to crawl yet but she's mumbling lots of gibberish that I hope one day soon will turn into "Mama."

Anniversary

Today is our two year anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long already! It seems like this last year has flown by. Lou definitely did good this year. He bought me a spa package at Casal's Salon. This is where I get my hair cut and I LOVE it there. The package includes a massage, mani, pedi, facial, hair styling and make up. I'm not sure when I'll go do it though. I can't wait for it though!! I bought Lou and money clip from Leroy's Jewelers. It has this cool, flat blue stone in the middle that has swirls in it when you look at it in the light. Hopefully he'll use it!
We went to "O'Charley's" for dinner and Hannah came along. She's so very good when we go out to eat. She flirts with people and plays with her toys.
I also rode Sealy today for the first time since April. I started working her in the round pen last Friday and today was the day. She was wonderful. She did inherit some of her mother's good qualities! One being that you can just pick up where you left off, even if it's been 5 months....and she does great. I think she was missing the attention because her ground manners have been great!

Kids and horses

First I wanted to share a shot I took tonight of Hannah. She's sneaky and doesn't stay in this position for long. She has figured it's easier to roll onto her back really quick than to prop herself up like this. I don't think she'll ever crawl. I think she's going to skip it and go right to walking.

This is Hannah petting Blake when we visited him in VA. Michelle is holding Hannah (she is Blake's trainer and a close friend of mine). Blake LOVES kids!

Here is Blake on his SECOND cross country school. Michelle says he's kick along quiet and jumps anything you point him at. Sounds like a fun ride.

And last but not least here is a video from the same day:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v44/FlyACK/Doug/?action=view&current=Blakecrosscountry_0001.flv

I put Sealy back into training last Friday. She's happy to have the attention again. Although I have to admit she looks like she could possibly foal any day now! I love having an easy keeper! I may get back on her tomorrow. I've just been lunging her the past few days. I'm just worried my hips will hurt for days after getting off her!

A note from Hannah

Hi to all my mommy's friends and to my family! I just wanted to show all of you just how cool I am. Mommy and I went shopping today and I found the best pair of sunglasses. How do I look? Unfortunately Mommy didn't buy them for me because I thought they were rather tasty and she said that isn't what I am supposed to do with them....so maybe when I'm more grown up I can sport a pair of my own.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home today around 5pm. It only took 8 hours with three stops. Why does coming home always take longer? Anyway, I'm stoked to sleep in my own bed again. Mom's magnetic bed has my neck all kinked up.
I unloaded the car and put the new stroller together. For any of you who don't know, Mom's friend gave me one of those cool three wheeled jogging strollers. They actually have some type of shock system for a smoother ride and huge wheels like a mountain bike (only a little smaller). Hannah seems to love her new ride. The other stroller will be kept for indoor use (shopping!). She used to get jolted around in the old one over our gravel driveway....but never seemed to mind.
So we took the new stroller out and walked around Sealy's pasture....oh heavens why did I do that? Yes, I want to get back into shape but these ideas seem like good ideas until I get halfway up that hill and my calves and hamstrings are burning!! We did make it to the top and had a nice, brisk walk down. Hannah "sings" on bumpy rides but was pretty quiet tonight. No bumps! Woohoo!
I hope I can stick to this routine. I have 15 more pregnancy pounds to lose and I'm trying to stay motivated.
Our visit was really nice. Hannah was such a joy. She seemed to like everyone who held her and was an angel when we went out to eat.I couldn't ask for anything better!
It's always hard to leave Mom's house. So many memories and I don't like to leave her alone down there. I hope she gets up here in a week or two before heading to Maine on vacation. (hint hint....I know you read this Mom!).

One year...

August 30, 2007.
Wow has time passed quickly. One year ago today my Dad, Roger Arbogast passed away due to malignant melanoma. One of the nastiest cancers there is....I hate it. I miss my Dad terribly. He only had a little over a year after finding out what he had. When people say, "life isn't fair..." well there is a lot of truth to that statement. Otherwise God would not have taken my Dad away. He was only 61 years old.
Mom, my Aunt and me all went to his grave today. We bought some flowers and placed them next to his headstone. We each had things running through our heads to say I'm sure but none of it was said aloud. A few silly jokes and memories and that was it. I would have given anything for Dad to have met Hannah. This year has been very difficult for me and no doubt for my mom and my brother.

Please visit the memorial page and light candle or post a tribute.
Dad's memorial page:
http://roger-arbogast.gonetoosoon.co.uk/

Dad's blog about the farm:
http://arbydobro.blogspot.com/

I don't know how to get this video to work so here is the link. This song caught me off gaurd the first time I heared it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=532jxGDRjGY

Road Trip

Tomorrow morning Hannah and I are headed to VA to visit Grandma Rose. It has been a little over 3 months since we've seen her. We plan on staying until sunday afternoon and then heading back home. Aside form the visit, another reason for the trip is that August 30th will be the one year anniversary of my father's death. Time has flown by with incredible speed. Everything about that day....well, those days and months leading up to it seem so fresh in my mind. So we will be going to "visit" grampa and leave some flower for him. Someday I will tell Hannah all about her Grampa and about how wonderful he was.

On our way to VA we are going to make a stop off in Upperville to visit Blake. Michelle has him going really well and has several people lined up to come try him in within the next week. So Tomorrow he's going to have some acupuncture done and then on thursday he'll go cross country schooling.

On another note, I HAD to share this picture. It is just too cute not to. A friend sent it to me tonight. The title was "This is what happens when you sleep around."

A Milestone for Hannah!

She did it! She spoke today. Not just a babble or a girgle or screech.....today she said "Da-da." Clear as can be so there was no mistaking it. Lou had her on his lap and I had just walked into the living room. We were talking about how she's getting closer to actual word and then all of a sudden she looked up and said it. Shocked us both and she hasn't said it again since!

Another big thing for today....we have a tooth! There wasn't anything there yesterday but by gosh today she's got a tooth broken through. Sharp little sucker too. So let the teething begin! Woohoo can't wait for the crabbiness to start!

For the Moms

Oh this made me laugh!

Here's a new shot of Blake from today. Michelle says he's ready to step into the show ring now. He just needs his own person to have some fun with. She has several people coming this weekend to try him out. Cross some fingers, toes and anything else crossable that we find his new owner this weekend!