A Bra for Bauer.

A few months ago I took Bauer on a walk. I tied his leash to the stroller, because it's easier to have both hands free. After our walk, I got Kyler out, and left Bauer tied to the stroller while I poured fresh water into his bowl. Apparently Bauer was REALLY thirsty, because he bolted for the water (still tied up) and the stroller flew across the room, and landed on top of him (woops, my bad). Luckily, I was holding Kyler while this happened.

 I definitely learned my lesson about not keeping Bauer tied to the stroller, but Bauer is still terrified of it. Whenever we go on walks... he pulls on his leash to get as far away from the stroller as possible. Understandably so, but it makes it nearly impossible for me to enjoy walks when I'm always struggling to make Bauer walk normally next to me while pushing the stroller too.

Soooo.....we got him a doggy bra (as I like to call it) and he transformed over night into the perfect walking companion. All for just 12 bucks! We put it on him whenever we go on walks, and I love it. He walks right by my side, and doesn't pull away from the stroller!

Here is the bra-stylin' dog:

Here are a few more pics from this week:
 Jared took me to The Hunger Games in theaters on Friday. It was the first movie we've been to this year!  Neither of us were really into the books...but it was fun nonetheless to go on a date without the lil one (as cute as he is).... AND it was also fun to feel all cool and hip seeing the big movie on opening day. hah.

 

Our lil Ky-Dizzle thinks hats are hilarious:

 Hope you all have a great week!

Slowly but SURELY.

Slowly, but surely, we are making progress concerning decisions about our future (jobs...schooling...places to live..etc) We are still a ways out from knowing exactly what it will be, but things are falling into place, and we are narrowing down our options! We will let you all know, as soon as we reach our decision.

Also "slowly but surely" I am SURVIVING at being a widow at night while Jared works the graveyard shift. Only 3 nights left! I hate being alone at night, but somehow, It hasn't been as bad as I expected. Every night he has been gone, my old roomates, cousins, and even friends I haven't talked to in forever, have all chipped in, in keeping me company by emailing me and chatting with me online, and most of them didn't have any idea, that Jared was gone, and that their company, was EXACTLY what I needed. Special thanks to all of my friends for making me feel so loved :)

I know I always repost pictures from facebok, sorrry, but a lot of my family (including my own husband hah) dont have a facebook, so i'm posting it up here too! Kyler's top two teeth are finally starting to show:

 

He loves that chair. It spins around and he always gets the hugest smile and says "Eeeeeeee!" I love him.

 ps he is 16 months old now!

Why Not Beautiful? Look and See.

  As Jared and I were driving past uptown Charlotte today, I noticed how in the past week, everything turned green outside, and all the trees bloomed pretty white/purple flowers. It was absolutely beautiful! I wondered why couldn't the pretty spring flowers just stay on the trees like that forever?  I thought about it, and realized that not only would we not appreciate the beauty of spring flowers if we enjoyed them all of the time, but also that maybe each month of the year (even "ugly" cold wet winter months) are beautiful too, and I had just never noticed before. I read this article, and thought it kind of went along with my thoughts today:

"Why did Heavenly Father make me so plain? I thought, as I looked in the mirror. I picked up the note I had to deliver and headed out into the cold wind. That morning in church my friend had given a talk about Esther, the Jewish maiden who was so beautiful that the king had chosen her to be his queen. Her beauty had also allowed her to save her people from destruction. I figured that the Lord had made her beautiful for that very purpose. If a beautiful woman can accomplish things that are impossible for a plain girl, why aren’t we all as beautiful as Esther? I wondered. 

Does Heavenly Father love some of his daughters more and reward them with beauty?

I delivered my note and started back home, still thinking about Esther and feeling more and more depressed. After all, what could a plain girl like me have come to accomplish? I thought.

The cold air stung my cheeks, and I shoved my hands deeper into my jacket. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the snow sparkle in the sunlight. I looked up and noticed that the sky was a deep, clear blue. The trees stood tall and strong along the road. Suddenly I was amazed by the incredible beauty of the day. I looked around for someone to share it with, but none of my neighbors were in their yards enjoying the weather. In fact, the street was empty.

 It wasn’t a wonderful summer morning or a crisp fall afternoon or even a quiet winter night, but this day was beautiful in its own way. And I began to understand about Esther and beauty.

Sameness is clearly not beauty to the Lord—just look at the Earth. The Lord didn’t decide that one climate, flower, tree, or animal was the most beautiful and make it over and over again. He made desert canyons, forest meadows, oceans, plains, and peaks. And I believe he is pleased with each of them. A God who makes lizards and koala bears must love diversity and understand the virtue of differing strengths.

If the eyes of the world can’t see my beauty right now, the Lord knows where it is. And who knows? There may be something that needs doing that only I can accomplish. Like Esther, I might have come to the kingdom for just such a time as this."-- (Diane L. Mangum)

Does the majority of the world have eyes to see what true beauty is? Look for the beautiful in life. Live your life to your best ability, and nothing is more beautiful than that.

Darth Vader Baby

Last week we took Kyler to Chucky Cheeses for the first time! He was a little intimidated by Chuck at first, but by the end of dinner, Kyler waved hello to him (his first time every waving hello!)

Jared is working the graveyard shift at the hospital for the next two weeks. BOOO. There is no way I will be getting any sleep between him being gone, and Kyler being sick. So I guess the whole fam is going to be running low on sleep for the next while.

Kyler has been sick with Croup. He sounds like Darth Vader when he breaths, and a barking seal when he coughs. It's kinda funny in a sick kind of way. (haha get it?) I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person that ever laughs at my jokes. The other day I was taking Kyler's temperature under his armpit, and Jared informed me that rectal temperatures on babies are much more accurate, and then he said:

"Hey Char, what's the difference between a regular thermometer and a rectal thermometer?"

I said: "I dunno...the shape?"

and he said: "Wrong....the taste, duh."

I about DIED laughing. Why are his jokes always so funny?! Anyways, today was the third day that Kyler has been sick, so we decided it was time for him to get some fresh air outside in the beautiful weather. At the park I whipped out my handy-dandy sanitation wipes and hand sanitizer, and gave the swings a sanitation bath, before putting Kyler in. After about 5 seconds of swinging, Kyler put his arms up in the air and said: "Done?"  I NEVER thought I would EVER hear that word come out of Kyler's mouth while swinging. Poor lil kid, he definitely must still be feeling sick yet, is still somehow managing to keep his sense of humor. Here he is helping us cook dinner, by taking all of the pots and pans out of the cupboards:

Note to self: WASH THAT POT before using it again :)