Goodbye to Maddie

Well, we put Maddie down today. It's a funny thing losing a pet. I mean, if I had a dollar for every time I thought or said an unkind thing about that dog, we'd have enough to cover all her final vet bills. She was kind of a grouchy dog, extremely possessive of her food and her "stuff," prone to snap at the other dogs and the kids. I don't think Maddie was anyone's favorite pet.

She actually came into our lives under rather strained circumstances. Kevin was working mall hours, I was working teacher hours, and we barely saw each other. He got it into his head that we needed a second dog and had been looking at rescued bird dogs online for awhile when he found Maddie. He showed me her picture, and I had to admit she was a cute little dog, what with the spot over her eye and all. But I really didn't like the idea, and strongly discouraged Kevin from pursuing it. When I went on the high school retreat for three days, he drove to Chicago and picked her up. I wasn't exactly pleased.

Maddie at her "foster home" the day Kevin got her

I swear Maddie had nine lives. Within a year, she climbed on the counter and found and ate an entire tube of Gorilla Glue. She and our furniture were covered in the stuff. Worse, the glue she ate expanded in her stomach into a football-sized rock. We refused the ridiculously expensive surgery, and watched her nearly starve to death. Then one day, she threw it all up, and was just fine. The only other time I remember Maddie sneaking something off the counter was the next spring, when she ate an entire box of paczkis overnight. I don't know if paczkis can kill a dog, but I almost did!

Maddie had more energy than any dog I've ever seen (which is why, when she barely got out of bed the last three weeks, we knew something was wrong.) She would tear in circles around the backyard, chasing birds and squirrels. Many, many times, I saw her "tree" a squirrel. She would stand for hours barking at it, until it would give up and jump out of the tree. Not many escaped unharmed. Maddie could also jump over the 4-foot fence in our backyard in Lansing, which was just really annoying.

I guess her energy is what made her a good hunting dog

But what I appreciated about Maddie was that she knew she was a dog. Connie has forever believed that she is a human, and darn it, she deserves to do human things, like sleep on furniture! Maddie, though, was happy to spend her hours outside or in her kennel. She was the one dog who didn't try to sneak upstairs or onto the couch. And she had some endearing qualities. Like, she liked to drink beer, and it made her sneeze. Now, we never actually let Maddie drink beer, but she would sit and lick empty bottles or glasses. Crazy dog.

Maddie walked into the living room like this one day

She loved sweets, too, and not just paczkis. Here, the dogs are gazing longingly
at my s'more.

She also went nuts when the heater came on at our Holly Way house (huh--she and Annie might have something in common.) She would run into our room and sleep in the tiny space under our bed because it was next to a heater vent.

Under the bed and dreaming

So yeah, Maddie was just a dog, and not a super lovable one, at that. Yet, the adults in this house haven't stopped crying on and off all day. (I won't say who cried the most.) Because after all was said and done, she'd lived with us for almost nine years. She was, I say reluctantly, a member of the family. This afternoon, Kevin and I spent time looking waaaaay back through pictures, and it was funny to remember that pre-kid time when the dogs played a central role in our family life.

Maddie gave me a Valentine gift one year

And then the kids came along, and there she was.

The time Kevin let the girls paint the dogs. Nellie always, for no known reason,
argued that Maddie was "her dog"

Nellie also loved to give the dogs baths.
Sidenote--this particular picture was taken right after she cut her own hair.

Family hike in the U.P.

If you look closely, you'll see my dad with DJ (wearing a bright orange hat) on his first hunting trip

And now she's gone. The kids are fine, of course. Nellie was sad, but immediately perked up when she realized it means she gets to get a cat sooner. Annie thought we were joking for several hours. We were actually at a loss trying to figure out how to convince her that the dog was gone. And DJ just kept asking, "Mommy still here? Connie still here? Chief still here?" and so on.

So, goodbye to our just-a-dog Maddie, who wasn't just a dog, really. She was a witness to our lives for eight years, and they've been eight great years.

Some February pictures

Here we are, still managing to have fun indoors! We'll see how long it lasts.

Fine Arts Night at Lansing Christian--we're looking at Annie's scrapbook

Nellie's artwork

Getting ready to sing preschool songs

Nellie...waiting to sing? She was tired after a long day at school!

Playing with a new math toy. I had something similar when I was a kid that I loved. . . [evil laugh]

DJ wanted to paint today--he's proud of himself

Our little vacation

We bid on and won a night at a local hotel at a Woldumar event last month. The girls have a long weekend for President's Day, so we're taking a glorified stay-cation! We packed up and spent the night swimming, trying to beat the winter doldrums. Now, I'm watching ice dancing with the girls--the boys went home to let the dogs out and hopefully get a good night's sleep before coming back in the morning.

Everyone loved swimming! I think it will be a fun summer. DJ threw his obligatory fit about doing something "new," but he took to it like a fish to, well, you know. I didn't get any pictures of the swimming, what with all the splashing, but here's everyone snuggled up watching Dora and eating every single snack I brought for us.

Extra picture of Annie getting ready to go snowshoeing this weekend

DJ before we left for the hotel

Like mother, (a little bit) like daughter

If you've met Nellie and Kevin, you probably recognize how much they are alike. They have the same hair color, the same sense of humor, the same eating habits (happy either to skip breakfast or just eat a slab of meat or pile of eggs) and they look alike. In fact, when we got our ultrasound pictures before Nellie was even born, we took one look at her profile and said, "she looks just like Kevin!" As I've often said, Wernet blood runs strong. I think Kevin's genes flat out trumped mine.

But what I failed to pass on in nature, there are glimmers of hope for nurture. At Christmas, the elementary grades decorated their hallway with an elaborate Nativity scene. Nellie's class had the wise men. Every student made a wise man with a speech bubble saying what they would personally bring baby Jesus if they visited him. She brought hers home after the (so incredibly long) break. It read, "I am bringing Jesus diapers, because he doesn't know how to use the potty yet." So practical!

And this little gem today--I called the kids down to put their coats on and it took a few minutes before they responded. Finally, Nellie came down. She told me, "we were just having so much fun organizing our room!"

I'm not sure I'm passing on my best qualities, ahem, but I know she's paying attention.

Nellie, six-and-a-half

Nellie was asked the other day to write about what she's good at. She wrote: Making people laugh, being funny, eating carrots, reading and writing books, and taking care of my younger siblings. All true! Nellie has a great sense of humor. She learned about and loves thinking of plays-on-words. In fact, she and Kevin started their own club called the "Word-Players Club." She gets our (oh so sophisticated) jokes, which is a lot of fun. Most of the time, Kevin and I just look at each other, shaking our heads and asking where she comes up with this stuff. Like yesterday, after a very normal conversation with Kevin about making bracelets on her Rainbow Loom (best Christmas present ever), she paused, saluted Kevin saying, "Cheerio!" in a British accent, and walked away.

We don't have many good pictures of Nellie from the last few weeks, primarily because she usually only wears underwear around the house. One of the many things that makes Nellie Nellie.

New gloves in her stocking.

Both girls have been extra into baby dolls these days.

This is just a fun picture of cookie baking on New Years Day - I'm not actually sure where Nellie was at this moment!

Nellie never does anything quietly or slowly. Big personality, and a big presence in our family! Which makes it especially wonderful that she loves reading, playing piano, and making rubber band bracelets and will do those things for relatively long periods of time. Reading, in particular, can occupy Nellie for hours. It's great, except that she's going through books faster than I can keep up with, and I'm running out of ideas. Next up, the Little House series that my mom got her for Christmas. She also makes up and writes elaborate stories and games--Annie is usually her reluctant audience or participant.

She loves school, except for the getting up early part. Her favorite subject is Spanish, but really, it changes every time you ask. Her favorite food is an egg sandwich--we got Kevin a breakfast sandwich maker for his birthday, which Nellie uses every morning. But she picks off and eats only the egg and meat, so now we're wiser, and just cook the egg and meat parts without the english muffin.

It's fun, and bittersweet, to watch Nellie becoming more independent this year. She's able to do more for herself, but still in a very little girl kind of way. At the same time, she's a great big sister and still thinks her family is awesome. I'm trying to appreciate every day of this.

Annie, four-and-a-half

Annie is spunky and silly these days, but as sweet as ever. She asks me every day how much I love her, and she'll always respond with more love. I'll say, "to the moon and back," and she'll say, "to the end of the solar system." I'm not even sure how she knows what the solar system is.

In many ways, Annie hasn't changed much. She still loves her blankie, anything purple, anything girly, and her family. She's kind of a homebody, like her mom. I think that halfway through the school year, she's still not sure what she thinks about preschool. She's nervous about going every day, though of course she has a great time and loves it when she's there. Luckily, her MWF a.m. class is made up completely of little boys and girls who are just as quiet as she is. Seriously, I went to volunteer one day and it was almost silent during play time. It was a little strange, actually. The teacher said they're just a sweet, quiet class.

Annie was invited to her first birthday party last weekend--it was a winter luau! She wasn't crazy about the idea of going without the rest of the fam, and DJ sobbed after we dropped her off as if we'd never see her again. Here's a video of her doing the hula!

Annie's favorites these days are My Little Pony and playing "Elsa" from Disney's Frozen, which the girls saw twice in the theaters! They dress up as Elsa nearly every day and act out the entire movie, including singing all of "Let it Go" with dramatic motions. She's also very crafty, and loves to color, draw, paint, etc. Her signature picture is a rainbow (with all the colors in the right order) with a sun, raincloud, and her and I standing under the rainbow drawn in our respective favorite colors--purple and yellow.

Wearing her "Elsa dress" and her half-birthday crown from school. Nellie is being Nellie.

Annie is a marvelous helper (aren't four-year-olds great) and is very caring. Whenever any of us gets hurt, she runs to the freezer for an ice pack. If we're sick, she loves to deliver cough drops and medicine and play doctor. One of her quirks is that she loves to sit by a heat source. She actually carries a small space heater around the house with her and plugs it in wherever she's playing, eating, or sleeping. It's probably costing us a fortune in electric bills and a huge fire hazard.

Christmas morning, very excited about her gum and opening the first presents.  Note the space heater and blankie.

She's given us a bit of a scare, lately. About three weeks ago, now, we noticed a strange rash on her legs. We tried to find something similar online and everything we read basically said, "if it's this kind of rash [doesn't temporarily fade when you press on it], call the doctor immediately." Kevin and I aren't the type to run our kids to the doctor, but we called the next day. Long story short, Annie was diagnosed with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP), which is some kind of faulty immune system response that causes capillaries to swell and leak. In her case, we found out she had the flu, but with no symptoms of that. Just the rash and temporary arthritis in her knees, ankles, and wrists. Several doctors appointments later, we've learned that she doesn't have any of the more serious complications at this point, which we are immensely thankful for. There's no treatment, and it could still last for weeks. The rash comes and goes consistently. It's so weird! Only one person I've talked to (other than the doctors, who said they see one case every few years) has ever even heard of it. Here's a picture of Annie's legs this weekend, when the rash was particularly bad--if you're interested in such things, or if your kid ever gets this and like us, you have no idea what it is!

Otherwise, Annie is our strong, steady girl, coming into her own more every day.

DJ, 2 years old (!)

Oh, I am so behind on this blog. And everything else in life, really. But I decided at this point there's no sense in catching up...onward and upward! So I'll just take each kid and record some of the stuff they're up to right now, today. Also, anything else I remember to throw in!

I meant to start with DJ, but I guess I should at least mention this little guy!

This little guy, who I thought was most certainly a girl until the sonographer told us otherwise (all that nausea!) He's due June 5th. So far, he is much more active in utero than DJ ever was. Heaven, help us. We can't decide on a name, yet. Annie's top choice is "Prince Humor," DJ's is "DJ 2" (his two answers to the questions he's asked most often), and Nellie has all kinds of suggestions. Stay tuned!

It seems there's a lot going on in DJ's life these days--he turned two, he's going to be a big brother, he moved into a big boy bed! The bed decision was made basically because he's been sleeping so badly, we figured it couldn't get any worse. Plus this way, one of us can sleep in his bed for awhile if needed without him coming in our bed. Since, you know, there's usually another kid there.

DJ had a little Thomas the Train Engine birthday party, which we apparently have no pictures of. He loves Thomas right now, though. And Elmo, Cars, Dora, Daniel Tiger, Jake (the pirate), and anything else he can figure out how to watch on the iPad. Also, he loves playing on the iPad.

New birthday blocks! It took awhile to put all those together the night before. 

A new Cars book for his stocking Christmas morning

DJ still loves his bottle, which is the next thing to go. Two kids in diapers will be bad enough, we don't need two drinking from bottles. He sleeps with two blankies these days. He refers to the "original" blankie as "One." As in, "where's One? I want One."

He follows his sisters around and does pretty much every single thing they do. Sings the songs they sing, says the things they say, laughs at the things they laugh at, go where they go. His biggest heartbreak every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is when they both leave for school.

DJ's in that stage where he knows lots and lots of words, but he's the only one who really knows what he's saying. It usually takes me a long time of thinking and asking questions before I can figure out what he wants. I think we'll all be a lot happier when he can communicate just a little better. But he can count up to 20, sing the alphabet, and spell his name, and report that he's two (holding up one finger on each hand), all of which he's very proud of. :)

His eating habits are most like Annie's--a ridiculous amount of milk, and not a whole lot else. But some of his favorites are pasta, pretzels, beans, dry cereal, and lentil barley stew. Also, DJ will pretty much eat anything you give him--hot peppers, mushrooms, olives. Just not a lot of anything.

I think that's all I've got for now. DJ is a fun little guy, and I've been appreciating our mornings alone here and there when the girls are both in school. I'm learning how fun it is to play with cars and trains and blocks, and how nice it is to watch sons hang out with their daddies. I'm looking forward to a year with 2-year-old DJ!