Soap

I love you.  I hate you.  I don't know why.  But tell me, why is it too much to ask that you do not collect hair?  And why is it so blasted hard to get a hair off of you?  It's as if there is a magnetic force holding you together.  No matter how much I turn you around, no matter how many times I run you under the water, and no matter how many times I drop you, you still remain hairy.  Are you in love with the hair?  Perhaps even married?  Just go away, hair!  GO AWAY!  The hair just swirls and slithers like a snake around and around you.  It will not leave!  Not until I physically dig my fingers into you and grab the hair and remove it, which is EXACTLY WHAT I'M TRYING TO AVOID!  I don't want to touch it!  Just fall off!  Disappear!  I don't even care who's hairy body it fell off of.  Even if it's my hair, I loathe it!  And when I do get the hair off of you I have to re-lather and rewash my entire body because for some reason you now seem dirty to me.  Hairy soap is dirty!  Can soap be dirty?  Can you be dirty?  Isn't that an oxymoron?  Add this to my list of many issues.  And, no, Joey from "Friends", soap is not self cleaning!  

Our Kai Girl

Shortly after Handsome and I were married we got a dog.....or our first child if you will.  We weren't crazy and fanatical about our baby.  She was an outside dog.  A hunting dog.  And being the beautiful yellow lab that she was we knew she would someday be a big dog.  Although our "babying our baby" was scarce we loved her and enjoyed the newness of her energy and puppy breath kisses.  And for some reason, having a dog kind of made us more of a family.  I'm not sure why.

Kai was the smartest dog I've ever met.  Alcatraz didn't stand a chance with that pup.  She climbed kennels and jimmied locks.  Still to this day neither Handsome or I can figure out how she got out of a choke chain that we found laying in a straight line in the dirt.  Like I said....Houdini smart.  We tried everything to keep her contained and safe and to teach her not to bark.  After multiple embarrassing and aggravating middle of the night phone calls with neighbors we even invested in a bark collar.  That was hundreds of dollars well spent!  Kai had the collar off and buried within days.  We later found the collar in a shallow grave in her kennel.  

Although like most dogs Kai was full of shenanigans, she made up for her naughtiness on hunting trips.  Handsome swore she was one of the best dogs he'd ever had if not the best.  And year after year Kai and Handsome would venture out to hunt pheasants.  It's true what people say about a dog being a man's best friend.  And it makes sense.  Those two spent a lot of time together.  How could they not be best friends?  As a pup Kai would tag along to the milk barn and sit on the step while Handsome tended to the cows.  Then they'd go hunting and walking ditch banks between chores.  

As we welcomed kids into our family Kai was a sweetheart.  Never once did she nip or bite at them.  In fact, as she got older, she would lay in the yard by someone and just let them love on her.  She spent most of her days guarding the front porch and watching people come and go.  And the older she got the slower and more crotchety she got.  She took on the attributes of an old lady who enjoyed the company of others for short times but mostly wanted to be left alone.

We have added several other pets, mainly dogs, to our family over the years.  Some pets have been sold.  Others have died.  But Kai stayed year after year.  Just shy of 14 years old she recently passed away.  And although we always knew she would die, and knew that it would be sooner rather than later, it was still hard.  Last weekend Handsome dug a small grave in our garden and gathered the kids together to say goodbye to the dog that they have never known life without.  There was silence.  There were lots of tears.  But later that night there were also many prayers.  Said one of my babies with eyes closed and arms folded, "Thank you for letting Kai be part of our family.  Please help her to be happy and not hurt in heaven."  

Oh, how I love all of my babies!  

Big Man - Little Body

It has been 9 long years since I was blessed with a baby boy.  And let me just say that those last couple of weeks of pregnancy were crazy bad!  I was crazy!  It was bad!  Not to mention I was bigger with that pregnancy than any of my others.  When I delivered a 9 lb 1 oz 24 inch long baby boy it all made sense why my belly was super gigantor.  I still remember the doctor holding my big newborn and touching his little hands with eyes wide as he exclaimed, "Look at the size of those hands!  He's like a puppy!"  The comment made perfect sense to me since my own Mr. Handsome is a dog lover and when scoping out a pup of his own is always looking for large paws.  And my baby definitely had large paws!

Having a little boy after 2 little girls was a lot of fun.  I loved getting into trucks and tractors and sports and everything boyish.  I loved the short hair and lack of having to worry about a "hairdo".  And my sweet easy going little fatling was awesome!  Just awesome!  He never cried.  He ate like a champ.  He slept great.  He was just fat and happy all the time!  What more could a mother ask for?

Right after our Lil Rig was born he continued to fail his hearing tests.  When he was 6 months old we followed the advice of doctors and he underwent surgery to get tubes placed in his ears.  The audiologist was in the OR with the ENT so that while my little boy was still fast asleep they would be able to perform a "post ear tube" hearing test to see if the tubes had solved his hearing problem.  It was interesting sitting in that waiting room by myself wondering what the doctors would come back and tell me.  Could he hear?  Was he deaf?  So many thoughts and concerns.  Yet nothing that really rocked my world.  In fact, what was going through my head was....I can deal with this!  I can do deaf if I need to!  I can totally learn sign language!  This is going to be okay!

My little man came out of surgery just fine and had passed his first hearing test.  He could hear for the first time in his short life.  Everyday sounds like the toilet flushing and doors closing and even people talking scared him and brought tears to his eyes on a daily basis.  When he grew old enough to attend kindergarten we had to make special arrangements with the teacher when the school would do fire drills because the alarm would scare him and hurt his tender ears.

I guess my point is that I am grateful everyday for my little man.  I am grateful everyday that he can hear.  And I am grateful everyday for those moments, whether long or short, that help put things into perspective and help me remember how blessed I am and how grateful I am for my trials.  I don't wish to trade my trials for somebody else's.  I am, however, continually grateful for mine.

It's funny how each year when one of my babies turns a year older I think back to when they were born and the feelings and events associated with those years.  And here I sit today reminiscing about the past 9 years and how that chubby little boy has grown into one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, considerate, helpful children I've ever known in my entire life.  He notices when I get my hair cut.  He offers to help with dinner.  He opens doors for me and tells me I'm pretty.  He is the perfect man wrapped up into the body of a little boy.  And, yes, even though he'll soon outgrow me, I still kiss on those chubby cheeks every chance I get.