I didn't even know I was expecting.

Life has sprung anew in our household. The doves have successfully hatched their eggs! The whole process of these tiny little dove eggs has been insane. The first clutch of eggs didn't survive. My nephew surmises that the temperature of the cage didn't stay warm enough to allow the developing embryo to live. It was a sad day when Zeke and I realized that the mommy and daddy dove had given up on the first two eggs. They left the nest they had so carefully guarded for 18 days. Just left it high and dry. Zeke and I left the 2 eggs in the nest for about 5 more days, unprotected, but nothing happened. That's when I knew the mission would be fruitless. We removed the eggs and planned on a burial, but of course we had to know first if the eggs contained anything other than, well, yolk. So, the dissection began. I let Zeke get some tweezers and break into the egg. Sadly, we saw a tiny little dead dove. Same with the second one. We said a little prayer, Zeke told God he could have the baby doves as His pet, and we buried them (in the toilet since it's about -90 in the region right now...). The good news is that about 2 weeks later we found a new clutch of eggs in the nest (actually it's the doves' foodbowl, but, oh well...). We took good care of the eggs this time and kept them warm with a tiny space heater. Zeke watched and waited and about 17 days later.....TWO BABIES APPEARED!!! The babies are about 12 days old now and they're precious. The mommy and daddy dove take very good care of them, providing them with all the nourishment they need, and within about 2 to 3 weeks the babies will be out and about in the cage on their own. Which leads me to the ultimate question: what do I do with all of these doves???? And what do I do if little Miss Mommy Dove decides to keep on producing little chicks????????? Ummmmm, I'm all about first-hand biology experiments and everything, but I can foresee this deal becoming an overpopulation situation. Anyone want some doves? They're cute and they're free. As long as Zeke and I get visitation, that is.


So, other than populating our region with doves, Zeke has also been going to a science class on Tuesdays. He loves it and looks forward to it each week. It has mostly been about animals, so I think that could be the major attraction for him. I'll have him in veterinarian school before Pauly can sink his finance/accounting fingers into him. :)

That's it for now. I'm not feeling overly wordy, so I'll post a photo diary of the baby doves over to the side. Have fun browsing our little babies!

Subzero.

Going in and out of my driveway is currently like competing in an Olympic sport. It's a luge track, I tell you, long, narrow, and extremely icy. Add to that, the fact that I'm driving an SUV in which I can barely see over the steering wheel, and I've got issues. Issues that occur over and over and over and over multiple times a day as I run here, there, and everywhere just doing my life. Because you see, "doing my life" means that I'm jumping in and out of my car and driving up and down the luge track that was once my driveway, about 34 times a day. It's irritating. The snow that was, for a few glorious days, fun and pretty, is now icy, annoying, dirty, and ugly. I'm over it and I'm ready to move on to spring.

Zeke has enjoyed the snow though. I guess all this whiteness is a dream come true for a 4 year old. Snow days, sledding, hot cocoa and pizza parties with friends...what's not to love? Today I put some food coloring in a squirt bottle and let him "paint" the snow. He had tons of fun. After he emptied the squirt bottle and I told him it was time to come in (mostly because I was shivering and freezing and sooooo extremely ready for a hot cup of tea), he stomped in angrily and told me he wanted to keep playing. I told him that was enough outside time for today and we'd do more tomorrow. As I shuffled him upstairs for some snuggle/tv time, I asked him to carry up a few books that needed to go into my bedroom. My hands were already full of folded laundry, so I needed an extra hand getting the books up. Well, I guess he was irritated and tired and cold and whatever...but he blurted out on his way up: "WHY ARE YOU SO HELPLESS?????" Ummmmmmmmmm......what? Why am I so helpless? Like, when was the last time I asked you for EVERY SINGLE TINY THING I NEEDED TO LIVE???? What the heck is with this kid? Amazing how quickly he forgets where his next meal is cooked.

So, that's it for now from here. Dealing with the snow, hating the frigid air, but enjoying time with my baby and my hubs. Come on spring...

i'll take the gray, hooded one.

0nce again, it's time to play catch up. shocking that i haven't posted in over a week. i'm in a funk with posting life news at the moment, i guess. when i lost my friend to cancer a month ago, things got strange. i started thinking that my little posts about going to the park or to a museum were RIDICULOUS compared to the fact that my friend is now no longer even walking the earth. but slowly (like snail's pace-slowly), i'm figuring out that it most certainly is the news about the park outings, the moonbounces, and the museum trips that are worth posting. these are the days, my days, with my kiddo. and they need to be logged, jotted down, photographed, remembered. this is a life i'm working on here...a little person i'm growing...and he deserves to be blogged.

so, based on all of that supreme knowledge, here's what we've been up to:

-every tuesday morning, we go to science camp. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. love it. last week was baby animals week. helllllo.....what more could a kid want than to start his day with an hour-long class about baby ANIMALS. sweeet.

-the carpenters and painters are finally finished in our den. it looks really awesome. now i've slammed pauly with the hard facts: i can't live without new furniture in the room. the old stuff doesn't match and won't work. sorry. so, to make a long story short, the new furniture is supposed to be delivered on wednesday. woman wins.

-but, another g.d. snowstorm is supposed to hit smack dab in the middle of my furniture festivities. the snow is supposed to come in hard tuesday night through wednesday - directly in the middle of my scheduled delivery. woman may lose. temporarily. still a big ew for woman.

-on a sad note, my little chi-chi timmy is coughing more and more each day. his heart is beating hard in his chest and i feel like i'm watching him slip away each day. he has congestive heart failure and is doing one day at a time at the moment. i love my timmy. he was the perfect addition to our little family 11 years ago when it was just pauly, otto (our first chi-chi) and me. timmy is a smiley little creature with the most beautiful colors i've ever seen on a doggie. the caramel colors around his face are delicious. the browns on his back are gorgeous enough to make me want to go brunette. and the white fur around his neck is so soft that i call it his "bunny fur". i can't imagine saying goodbye to my tim-tim. he's my sweet, sweet baby boy. i really pray that i can face whatever is in store for me with my pup. i pray and pray and pray. because i love my pups so darn much....

ugh. so that's it. a bunch of incomplete sentences, terrible grammar, and no capitalization. but that's about all i can muster in the middle of february with snow all around and 2 feet more of it on the way. spring isn't even a blip on the radar and i find myself only wanting to wear heavy, hooded sweatshirts so i can pull the hood up tight over my head. maybe i'm trying to stay warm in all of this white mess....or maybe i'm trying to drown out the sound of reality on the horizon. either way, i just want to go on wearing my hoodies for now. :(