The Thatchers: James is One! End of Winter Fun

Little Man in his Sunday best :)

It seems like I am always pregnant or with a newborn each time we get a good snow for sledding. But this year I got to go with the girls and it was the most fun I have had sledding since I was a kid.

We had an eventful Christmas break full of puppies! Shizzie went into labor a little earlier than expected and started having puppies on December 27th. I noticed she seemed agitated and that she was digging holes where she usually doesn't dig. When I got back from a run I went out back to check on her and she was in one of those holes moving around. I tried to move away slowly but she followed me out. When I went inside I told Zac and when we both looked out the window we saw something moving in the snow. It was a pup! We ran out and scooped her up and brought her and Shizzie inside. We moved our kitchen table out of the way and brought in the kids' wading pool. We put an old blanket in there and tried to give Shizzie some peace and quiet. She had three puppies that day (two whites and a chocolate, all females, Snowy, White Boy, and Chocolate (now Loren's Mousse). We thought she was done but about 16 hours later she had another white female (Big White) then 6 hours later another white female (She-Hulk) who was actually dyed green we think from the afterbirth. Then 24 hours later she had a black male (Blackey). Unfortunately Blackey passed away a few days after he was born. That was very hard on all of us. He was of course the kids' favorite which made it even harder. But it was a good life lesson. I buried him out under the willow in the backyard. The next few weeks were full of feedings and weighings, making sure all the pups were gaining weight. Shizzie wasn't thrilled to nurse but she did it. She was very good about keeping everything clean and tidy which we appreciated. We also made her an inside dog and put a doggy door downstairs so she could come and go as she pleased. We moved the pool downstairs into the den and that became the puppy room for the next few months. The girls absolutely loved holding and petting the puppies and would do so every day. Once the puppies got bigger than loved running around in the yard with them. Eventually they were all sold except She Hulk who we still have now, but someone said they would buy her in a few weeks when they got back from a business trip. Loren bought the chocolate and actually used her to propose to Carrie!:) All in all it was a fun experience, stressful and stinky, but fun.

Lots of friends came to see the cute pups.

I finally found a way to organize the girls"hair things. It was driving me crazy.

Pretend campfire in the girls' room.

She Hulk was the first to open her eyes.

Shizzie found a comfy stop next to Zac's side of the bed and napped there for a while. (She blends in)

Sarah loves a fish game that Uncle Loren got us.

Chocolate-chip pancakes for big boy's first birthday breakfast!

I can't believe my little man is 1! He is an absolute joy in our home and was such a happy, content, chubby, cute little baby. I say was because he is now a full fledged toddler. He now walks everywhere, no more crawling. He climbs up and down the stairs no problem so no more baby gates (thank goodness). He loves to explore, make messes, and put weird things in his mouth. His favorite naughty thing to do these days in climb onto the kitchen table. No matter how many times he is scolded it never gets old to him. He has also been caught pulling all the toilet paper off the roll, sticking his hands in the toilet, eating puppy chow, and he almost ate a bug. Yet he is still sweet and loves to cuddle and give hugs. He's not much of a talker but he does say "Mama" when he wants up, "Da!" for Dad and dogs, "Uh-oh", and "Oops". He loves to run around the house and play chase with Sarah. His absolute favorite thing to do is go outside and walk around. The first time I took him out to do this when he could walk, he walked all around the yard, picked up leaves, sticks, , walnuts, and dirt. Then walked all the way down the driveway, down the sidewalk and halfway up the sidewalk next to our street (with me in tote of course). At his checkup he's still up there in weight and height percentiles, but not quite as high as when he was a baby (67% and 70% I think, something like that). Dr. Anderson also told us that he has a slight heart murmur that we are going to keep tabs on and will hopefully go away as he gets older. But it doesn't effect him at all right now. Switching to milk did affect him however. Poor guy got really bad diaper rash and didn't sleep very well for weeks. He was also super gassy. So we switched to almond and rice milk and add coconut milk for added fat and calories. Seems to be working and he finally sleeps through the night (Halleluja!) Overall we just love our little guy so much.

Birthday Celebrations