“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras

Photo Challenge No. 10 is: Books. Jack's current favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.  When we read it the main character is "Jack-I-Am" rather than "Sam I Am."  I had this great idea that we would make green eggs and ham for St. Patrick's Day and I would post pictures of that along side my beloved three year old reading his coveted book.  Jack would have no part in this.  He took one bite of his green eggs and ham, declared they were gross and that he wanted "regular" eggs. Clearly he has not really grasped the moral of the story. When it came time to take pictures of him reading the book, he flat out refused.

My next idea for the photo challenge was to focus on our dog, Jenny.  I had planned to start with the book we bought before we even brought her home from the breeder.  The book we so proudly displayed on our end table for many years is nowhere to be found.  I think it was The Airedale Terrier Today by Janet Huxley, although I am not positive. I'll continue with this post by admitting that this week's photo challenge is an epic fail from this participant.  I thought about photographing The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and using that as the title for this post based on Jenny's most recent escapade.  I think that book is probably buried in the basement somewhere. There are plenty of other books in our house that could serve as subjects, but I am not particularly inspired by any of them right now.

Our quest to find the perfect dog began in the fall of 2003, shortly after Bernie and I got married.  Bernie really wanted a dog mainly because he didn't have one growing up, and he wanted Nick to have that experience. When Bernie's aunt passed away, her dog, Runt came to live with Bernie for awhile.  He had his heart set on getting an English Springer Spaniel like Runt.  I wanted a Rhodesian Ridgeback, mainly because I think they are becautiful dogs and they do not shed.  The dog my family had growing up, Snuffy, was half German Shepherd and I was still picking her fur out of my clothes years after she passed away.  Bernie had allergies when he was little and Nick battles with seasonal allergies and asthma, so we needed a dog that would not induce an allergic reaction.

We went online to Animal Planet's Dog Breed Selector, and independently, Bernie and I both yielded the same result.  It suggested we get an Airedale Terrier, a breed we knew very little about. The more we read about Airedales, the more we knew we had to have one. Airedale Terrier Rescue and Adoption, describes some of their personality traits as: being devoted companions, but expect to be an equal partner in your life; being very smart and extremely stubborn; and having a real thought process and a sense of humor.

We found a breeder in Massachusetts, Rosemanor, and got on the list for a litter that would be ready to go home around Christmas. We went to pick out our dog when the puppies were a few weeks old. Little did we know she would be the one to pick us. As we sat in the room with the available puppies, we would pick up the different ones and hold them.  Jenny would tap us with her paw or her nose to the point where we just couldn't ignore her or resist her.  We picked her up the week of Christmas and she was still very little, literally the size of Bernie's forearm.  I had a very cute picture of this, but my computer crashed during my first semester of law school and sadly, we lost the photos of that day.  She is about four months old in the only picture I have of her as a puppy:

We left it up to Nicholas to name her.  He chose “Jenny” after the main character in the Nickelodeon cartoon, “My Life As a Teenage Robot.” Jenny was definitely a challenge as a puppy.  Knowing how difficult unruly Airedales could be, we signed up for obedience classes and socialization right away and started getting her groomed before she even really needed it.  Cooperative is not always the right word to describe Jenny.  In fact we had to take “Beyond Basics” three times before she finally graduated. 

Jenny is fiercely loyal and protective of the kids.  When we would take her to socialization, she would circle around Nick and make sure none of the other dogs got too close to him. I worried about how she would be when we brought Jack home from the hospital.  Nick was seven when we got her and she had never really been around babies.  She immediately became protective of Jack and would watch very closely if someone other than Bernie or I was holding him.  I remember one morning in particular when Jack was in his crib crying.  He was hungry and I was in the kitchen preparing his bottle.  Jenny would run back and forth between Jack and I, and would bark at me to let me know that he needed my attention.  If Nick and Jack start wrestling and Jenny thinks they are getting too rough, she barks at them to try and get them to stop.  She loves her boys:



Jenny is definitely not a watch dog.  If someone comes in the house, she wants their attention.  At 8 ½ her over-zealousness when greeting people often still lands her in her crate.   She gets along well with other dogs once they accept that she is the alpha. She hates squirrels and is suspect of cats (especially my dad’s cats). We joke that the only way she would protect us from an intruder would be if the perpetrator was dressed in a squirrel costume. She loves road trips.  She is great in the car even when we drive eighteen hours to Georgia in a single day.  She loves being at my dad’s house and my grandparents’ house because she has room to roam and explore, something she doesn’t really get to do at home.  She is not a big fan of water, but she loves being out on the boat.  Jenny loves opening presents.  We can’t put our gifts under the tree until right before we go to bed on Christmas Eve, or she will open them all.  I was frustrated by that this year until I realized that one day she won’t be with us anymore and I’ll be sad when I can actually put the gifts out in advance. Jenny hates being left behind.  When we are all scrambling to go to work, school, or daycare, she gives us the puppy dog eyes and practically begs us to bring her along.

My being on bed rest has been hard on Jenny.  I haven’t been able to walk her.  Bernie has to do everything that I normally do, and its been hard for him to find any free time to take her out.  She has gained 10 lbs in sympathy weight, and she lays on the couch with me all day.  The weather on Sunday was beautiful and Nick wanted to go to the field to practice hitting.  I really wanted to get out of the house and figured I could sit on a park bench and put my feet up while Jack played on the playground.  I thought about bringing Jenny but decided against it because I didn’t know if I could handle her and Jack with the way I’ve been feeling.  Jenny was very upset when we left the house.  When we came home an hour later, we discovered she had consumed the grapes that had been left on the counter. She’ll do things like that when she is mad at us, or bored.  It is her way of acting out and reminding us that she needs attention too. Fortunately we were able to intervene in time, and the grapes which are highly toxic to dogs, do not seem to have affected Jenny in any permanent way.

After 48 hours at the vet, Jenny is incredibly happy to be home with her family. We are happy to have her back, right where she belongs.

Unencumbered

Spring officially begins on March 20^th at 1:14am (EDT) with the Vernal Equinox.  Usually in March in Connecticut there is still snow on the ground, but its dirty and gray; and there is still a chill in the air.  You look forward to the first day of spring because even though the weather may not instantly turn sunny and warm, you know that change is just around the corner. We’ve had an unusually mild winter, and the first day of spring this year has somewhat lost its significance, at least for me.  We have been wearing spring jackets for weeks, we’ve had very few days that even required hats and mittens.  The 10-day forecast includes several days of temperatures in the mid-60s.  I am not complaining, not even a little bit. I would be perfectly happy with a three season calendar that did not include winter.

What I am feeling is spring fever.  Baseball is about to start up again for Nick. Bernie will be playing softball and tennis again.  We are contemplating signing Jack up for “Smart Start Baseball,” which is an instructional T-ball series for 3-5 year olds.  Spring is total craziness in our house.  Between all the practices and the games we are all often like ships passing in the night. We just try to make sure everyone gets to where they need to be with the right equipment, clean uniform, and appropriate fuel.

The noticeably absent activity so far this year is running.  By now, I am usually working on training schedules, plotting which races I am going to run, and figuring out how to fit it in amongst everyone else’s schedule.  I swear my running sneakers stare at me from the shoe rack just begging me to put them on.  I can’t.  I am sidelined, I am on modified bed rest for at least 3 more weeks.  It is temporary and it is for a fantastic reason, but still my couch feels a little like a prison.

When I was driving to the doctor this morning I passed more people than I could count out running and biking.  They all seemed so free, so completely unencumbered.   My running time, is my “me” time.  It is my time to leave all of the responsibilities and worries behind, if even just for an hour or less.  No emails, no phone calls (at least not answered ones), no one needing help going to the bathroom, or for me to get them a snack.  It is my opportunity to dissect and work through the issue of the day, whatever that may be.  I remember all too well how hard it is to get out the door.  You don’t eat the right breakfast, you didn’t get up early enough, there are more important things to do, the first two miles are hard, you have a nagging injury.  Once your feet finally hit the pavement though and you are off, you never question whether you did the right thing.  It is always the right thing. Running helps me find and keep my rhythm.

One of the things that I hope our kids learn from Bernie and I, is that you are never too old to go out and play.   I want them to find the few things that will help them be unencumbered when it feels like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Sometimes all you need is some healthy competition, dirt, sweat, and a few good friends to get you through the difficult moments.   

There will be plenty of miles logged and plenty of time for races this year, after this little girl makes her grand entrance.  I am definitely going to savor that first mile back, and follow it up with other thing I miss, a glass of wine.  Cheers! 

The Name Game

When we were naming Nicholas, I was against the idea of using family names. I wanted something trendy, unique. I wanted him to have his own name. There were always 2-3 other Chris' in my classes growing up, granted they were usually boys, but I did not want my child to suffer from the same fate. Bernie, on the other hand, wanted to use family names. Being named after his grandfather, he understood the power of that legacy. I threw out name ideas such as Demitri, Skylar or Tristan, names Bernie would have no part of. Bernie was thinking along the lines of Bernard, John, Vernon, Luther, etc. I was working at Hallmark at the Eastbrook Mall and Kristen Granatek was with me the night I discovered the perfect name. We pulled out the baby name book and stumbled upon Nicholas. I knew that was it. Paired with the middle name Joel, it was perfect. I convinced Bernie it would work because among his close friends were a Nicole and a Joel. He shot down the spelling I wanted though, Nickolaus, and the nickname I wanted, Nico, but in the end it was the perfect compromise.

We did not know Nick's gender until he was born.  I had numerous ultrasounds but he refused to show us in advance. Had Nick been a girl, his first name would have been Autumn. Thinking back, that would have been an odd pairing for a February baby, but he was going to be named after a good friend who had been killed in an auto accident a few years earlier, Amy Autumn O'Boyle. Her middle name probably would have been Marie after Bernie's grandmother, though I was lobbying heavily for the modern variation of Marissa.

Although Nicholas was not in the top 20 in 1995, it managed to crack the top 10 in 1996, so there are more Nicks his age than I would have liked, but you can't have everything. Also, his nickname at St. Bernard's is Bernie after his dad, the alumnus. Somehow in the end, Bernie always seems to get his way :-)

Twelve years later when we had Jack, family names were more important to me. Bernie's dad is John and Bernie's middle name is John. Being so common, I wasn't sold on John, but I could live with the variation of Jonathan.  Phillip is prevalent throughout our family tree as it is my grandfather's first name and my Dad's middle name, so it was pretty easy to come up with Jonathan Phillip. I knew in our house that he needed a nickname. Jonathan would be reserved for special occasions like birth announcements, graduations, and of course, when he was in trouble.  Jack isn't exactly a common nickname for Jonathan but its not uncommon either. Bernie's Dad's nickname was Jack when he was in the navy, and my Grandfather's brother is Jack. Jack fits our spunky little three year old.  I can't imagine calling him anything else. Unfortunately there are a ton of Jack's his age, there were three in his class at swimming lessons.  With Jack, Jackson, Jax and Jaxson on the rise, he will no doubt face a lifetime of being Jack E., which is pretty funny because his best friend at daycare, Caroline, already calls him Jackie.

As soon as I found out this baby was a girl, I wanted to name her Vivian after my grandmother.  Bernie quickly agreed.  I love french names and briefly thought about the now fashionable Vivienne.  My mother's middle name is Anne, and had also thought about combining them and using Vivianne.  Both of those spellings, while essentially the same name, felt a little like a knockoff. It just has to be Vivian.  That conviction was further confirmed when I came across this blog post about a woman who named her daughter Dorothy after her grandmother.

Like her brothers, Vivian will need a nickname.  It's already sort of become "little Vivian," my Grandfather smiles when he says that.  Bernie's mom has suggested Vivi, which I love, and my Grandfather calls my grandmother, simply "Viv."  Time will tell what will actually catch on.  The good news is that Vivian has just barely cracked the top 100 baby names, so hopefully other than the family members that share her name, Vivian will be all her own.

The dilemma in naming our daughter is to find the perfect middle name to sandwich between Vivian and Edwards.  There are so many great names out there, but yet none of them seem quite right. As a planner, it is driving me nuts that we don't have this figured out yet.  It could be that we just have to hold her and the right name will come to us.

I've thought about using names with musical meanings: Melody, Harmony, Lyric, Harper, Cadence, Ivory. My grandmother has a gorgeous voice and plays the piano beautifully. My favorite of these is Allegra, but I really don't want to name her after an allergy medication.

I've thought about using family names:  Julia (after Bernie's Aunt Julia), Estelle (after Bernie's Aunt Stella), Millie (after Bernie's Aunt Millie), Amy (both for my friend and my Grandfather's sister), Elythe (my Great Grandmother's first name, and my Grandmother, Vivian's middle name) Anna (pronounced "Anya" after Bernie's great-grandmother), and Marie. My favorite of these is Caroline (after my Aunt Kelly), which means "happy song."  Perfect right?  Nope, Bernie used his power of veto on that one because the Neil Diamond song, "Sweet Caroline," is played at Red Sox Games.

Then there are the names that I like, well, just because I do.  This list includes: Alexis, Ava, Brooke, Elizabeth, Isabelle, Grace, Cosette, and Esme'.  I love Esme', which means love, and is from the J.D. Salinger Book, "For Esme' with Love and Squalor."  Nick says Esme' is not a real name. One of my friends told me that I couldn't use Esme' because it is a character in the Twilight Series.  I haven't seen the movies or read the books, but I suspect she might be right.  It could lead to a lifetime of "no, I did not name her Esme' because of Twilight."

So, here we are.  The top five names on the list right now (and I literally change my mind everyday except for the "Vivian" part) are, (in alphabetical order):

• Vivian Amelia Edwards (Amelia being a combination of Amy and Millie, with the strong feminist namesake, Amelia Earhart)
• Vivian Amelie Edwards (Amelie being being pronounced like Emily, but with a short a sound at the beginning - for all the same reasons as Amelia but without the "a" sound at the end which doesn't work so well with Edwards)
• Vivian Avril Edwards (Avril is the french form of April so I would only use it if she were born in that month, and after having some preterm labor yesterday, we will be thankful if she has an April birthdate. This also works well because it is only two syllables and Vivian is such a strong first name)
• Vivian Karlee Edwards (my dad's name is Karl, and it also uses "Lee" which was my great-grandmother, Elythe's nickname, and is my cousin's middle name. It also has the two-syllable advantage)
• Vivian Olivia Edwards (Bernie's great-grandfather was Olivier)

I know I am asking for trouble here because everyone has an opinion. We were originally not going to share our names to actually cut back on opinions - LOL.  I am really stuck though.  Is there one you really like?  Is there a name I am overlooking?

Trip to Tampa, Day 3 (and Photo Challenge Pictures)

Our final day in Florida, we headed to Busch Gardens.  For those of you who haven’t been there, it is kind of like a combination zoo / safari and amusement park all in one.  It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. LaDonna and Dean loved the roller coasters.  There is a new part of the park called “Sesame Street Safari.”  It has shows, rides for little ones, and lots of water features. Jack loved both the animals and Sesame Street Safari.  Nick doesn’t really like thrill rides and he is too old for Elmo, so he was a little bored; but he was a good sport about it and even took some time to play with his little brother.

Here is a picture of Nick and Jack while we were waiting for the train to go through the safari:

Here are some pictures of the animals, including the cousin to the crocodile Nick ate the night before, at least I’d like to think so.

Here are some pictures with the Sesame Street Characters:

Here is one of Jack in the water park.  This picture says it all:

Nick had squirted Jack in the face with water, and Jack’s response was “that wasn’t very nice, Nick!”  A little while later, Jack got Nick with water and he was so proud of himself, he told everyone with a great big grin, “I squirted Nick!”

Photo Challenge #8 was: Hearts! If you look carefully at the intersecting water spray, you can see a heart. I also think it is representative of the theme, because you can tell how much these two love each despite the fact that they are trying to get each other soaked.

Photo Challenge #9 is: Friendship. It takes Jack quite awhile to warm up to people.  Even his grandmothers have a hard time getting a hug from him.  He really likes LaDonna and will talk to her, flirt with her, but then act all shy and not give her the time of day.  It’s really rather comical.  This picture of the two of them where Jack is sitting close enough to her to actually be touching her is the perfect representation of friendship.

After Busch Gardens we met Alison, Todd and Jillian at Tadpoles in Brandon for dinner.  We sat in the room with the arcade.  Jillian and Jack played air hockey and several video games, although most of the time they were not really playing. They were very cute together and the fact that they were entertained gave the adults a chance to relax and talk.  It was a great ending to a great day.

Jack keeps saying he wants to go back to “Frorida” and to the water park.  Me too, buddy.  Me too! 

Trip to Tampa, Day 2

Bernie and Nick were really looking forward to Sunday.  We went to Steinbrenner field for the Yankees’ first home spring training game.  The opening ceremonies were impressive and included things like fighter jets and former Yankees players including Reggie Jackson (Bernie’s favorite player), and Tino Martinez.  Bernie’s friends Joe and Jamie Cormier joined us for the game.  Jen St. Martin and her son also came along as a surprise for Chris’16^th birthday.  It really would have been the perfect day if it hadn’t been so windy and cold. It was one of the very few days out of the year where the temperature in Tampa dipped into the 50s.  The Yankees stars started the game: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Nick Swisher to name a few.  Roy Halladay was the starting pitcher for the Phillies.  It is a neat facility because you get much closer to the field and the players than you do at Yankee Stadium.  We even got to watch batting practice and the batting coach give tips to a few of the players.  Jack was excited to see the Yankees and even tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to take some pictures of them with our point and shoot camera.  He wasn’t really into the game, but there were plenty of people and food to keep him occupied.   If you are a Yankees fan, this is a trip that you definitely need to make at least once.  I am hoping we can return someday.

After the game we headed to Tampa Bay Grand Prix.  It is an indoor go-kart racing place.  We had gone here with my Tampa property group for a team building event and I knew that Bernie, Nick, and Dean would love it.  Jack couldn’t race because he was too little and I obviously was not allowed to race either, but here is a picture of Dean, Nick, Bernie, and LaDonna in their go-karts and lined up to race:

That night we were supposed to go to Oystercatcher's for dinner on the shore of Tampa Bay.  It is one of my favorite places in Tampa because you can literally sit on the beach in Adirondack chairs around a fire pit and order gourmet meals.  We decided not to go with that plan though because it was so windy and cold.  Bernie really wanted crab cakes for dinner (I had mentioned I thought he could get them at Frenchy’s the night before, and that turned out not to be the case) and I wanted casual with Jack.  In doing internet searches for those two things we stumbled upon Skipper’s Smokehouse.  Nick was excited about going there since it has been featured on Man v. Food.  Cheryl and Alberto were joining us for dinner and had eaten there many times before and agreed it was a good choice, so we headed there.  Sadly I did not get any pictures of what turned out to be a really great meal with great friends.  When Nick was little, he would order the baby back ribs at Chili's just so he could eat them in front of me and try to gross me out.  Staying true to form, he ordered the Gator Ribs and ate them down to the bone.  He says they were very good.  I’ll take his word for it (Ick!).  

To be continued, again...

Trip to Tampa, Day 1

I am a week behind on the Photo Challenge but I took lots of pictures last weekend in order to catch up.  We went to Tampa, FL for a long weekend.  I gave Bernie Yankees Spring Training Tickets for his Christmas gift, and I knew it would be the last family vacation the four of us embarked upon before we officially become a family of five.  I am so glad we went.  We really had a great time.  I spend a lot of time in the Tampa Bay area for work, and it was fun to show the boys the sights.  I am not sure how many pictures that blogger is going to allow me to post at a time, so this may be a multiple blog entry post – bear with me.

We arrived around midnight on Friday night, and on Saturday morning, we had plans to participate in the Gasparilla Distance Classic. There are various races over the course of two days with the culmination being a half marathon on Sunday.  I am planning to run a half marathon in Vegas this year with some friends who have just started and re-started running.  LaDonna and Dean came with us to Tampa and LaDonna and I had planned to run the 5k (as the first part of preparation for the Vegas race). Gene has no plans to run in Vegas but wanted to join us for Gasparilla. Here are the three of us:

I totally look like a pumpkin and may never wear that shirt again (LOL).  Gene was the only one who actually ran.  I have had to cut back significantly on my workouts because of the pregnancy (7 weeks, 3 days to go, but who’s counting?), and LaDonna was doing great with her training until baby Addie had all of those complications with her heart.  Little Addie is doing great now and was actually released from the hospital just before LaDonna left for Tampa.  Gasparilla is a very well organized and attended race, about 10,000 participants per day.  I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.We walked the 5k and just enjoyed the Florida sun and beautiful scenery along Bayshore Drive:

After the race we headed to Brighthouse Field in Clearwater, home of the Phillies’ Spring Training Facility. There was a ton of traffic and we were almost an hour late for the Phillies v. Yankees game, but it was fun nonetheless.  Jack enjoyed watching the mascot, the Phillies Phanatic, especially when he drove around the field on an ATV.  He wanted to know when the “piggy” was coming back.

We then headed for Clearwater Beach where we met up with LaDonna’s friends Alison and Todd, and their almost two year old and very cute daughter, Jillian. We had dinner at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill, watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.  I only wish we had more time to spend at the beach.  The sand was incredibly soft and white.

 To be continued...