There in the Woods...

...lies a small grave containing the remains of two small dogs.

The grave lies outside the fence. The dogs are bound neither by weakened bodies nor yard fences.

They are nestled together, as they so often were in life. Buried with items that meant something to them.

The morning light casts its first rays upon the markers. The deer and wildlife meander through the thin trees.

Within sight of our front windows, we can look out each day and remember the two small dogs who brought so much happiness and joy to our lives.

DJ, a white snoodle, whose love and energy caused him to twirl like a ballerina when he was presented with a treat or new company.

Dakota, a light brown carin terrier, who was referred to as a terror. She leaped at the windows at the first opportunity to bark at a passing car, person, or squirrel.

Both dogs were taken on several trips to Maine. A 12-hour car ride. There they experienced new smells and ocean views. Locally, we took them to a cabin for a weekend where they barked endlessly at the people in the neighboring cabin.

But mostly they enjoyed the yard. With access to the see the street, the driveway, and the 5 acres of woods with an increasing number of deer passing through each day.

RIP Dakota

2000-2011

RIP DJ

1999-2011

You have each other for eternity and we'll wait patiently until we are all reunited.

Hurricane Caden

Has hit as a Category 5 in my basement.

We tried to get him to the playground before the rain started, but Dakota had several accidents over night that took a while to clean up and by the time we headed out, the rain had begun.

Little boy inside all day. I hate that. I can't stand having him cooped up like a chicken-mill chick. He has successfully blown up the basement, but the main floor is still mainly under my control.

Hurricane Irene has walloped the coast, but we are only getting a day of rain, modest wind, with the threat of total destruction. I don't see it happening.

As I mentioned, Dakota is not doing very well. She stopped eating Thursday night and we thought that was it, but very early Friday morning she began to eat again. She has terrible diarrhea and unfortunately, it strikes at night and we have lovely accidents to clean every morning.

What quality of life is this for her? Not a very good one. We are hoping that we can get her tummy under control with Pepcid and see if we can't revive her a bit. But I have a horrible, sinking feeling that sometime in the next week we will be saying goodbye to her.

It has been over 7 years that we moved in together and combined our animals. 7 years that we've defined ourselves as 3 dogs/2 cats people. These 5 animals gave us happiness and fulfillness during the years we struggled with infertility and the moments that I thought they would be the only babies I ever had. Now, just 2.5 years after welcoming Caden to our home, we have lost one with another close behind.

It is really so hard to say goodbye.

The Good, The Bad, and The Unpredictable

What a week...and we still have two days to go.

This week we learned that Shawn will getting an assistant to help with his workload. This is FANTASTIC news and I'm so happy for him. I know that the amount of work he has been taking on has been getting to be a lot for him. It's hard to complain about the workload though, since it all translates to commission for him.

In other news, I have moved onto Phase II of my interview with the journal. This entails an assignment, which is the sort of work I've done in the past. I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again, I really want this job. It's perfect and I'd love it.

On The Bad side, we also learned this week that Dakota, our sweet, loud, big personality dog has cancer. Either lymphoma or leukemia. It hardly matters which since it is progressing and we do not anticipate her being with us for much longer.

I get a lump in my throat each time I think about losing another dog so soon. We said goodbye to DJ in June and here it is, two months later and we have to prepare to say goodbye to Dakota. That same lump travels up from my throat and becomes tears when I think about Caden not having her around. He loves his animals so much and it already breaks my heart when he asks where DJ is.

We said when we were down to one dog, we'd get another. But with a baby due in 10 weeks, there is no way I am ready to take on a dog. I suppose come spring, we'll get another dog. It's all just so sad. We love our animals so much and they seem to leave so suddenly.

Speaking of Peanut, both Godparents have been invited and have accepted our invitation to be a Godparent. I'm really excited. Although we are not devote Church goers, we have strong faith and in addition to that, asking someone to be a Godparent is asking them to take on a role within your family and to me, that is a huge deal. I'm thrilled that both were touched and honored to be asked. Their reaction is exactly what I was hoping it would be.

We still haven't ordered Caden's Big Boy furniture. That little thing called money seems to slip through our fingers too quickly! We have about half of what we need. Hopefully we can order it next week without having to dip into our savings.

(see, this is where that job would come in really handy)

This is a huge week for Caden who slept through his first earthquake, which will shortly be followed by his first hurricane this weekend. Two natural disasters in one week...crazy!!!

We are about 60 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake and while we sustained no damage it did scare me half to death.

Well, after playtime we have to run off to get bread in case we lose power and have to eat sandwiches all weekend.

It's been crazy lately, but I still think these are the best days of my life.

2 Thirds Down!

We entered our Third Trimester yesterday...huge milestone!! Almost as big as the beachball under my shirt!

Things are definitely getting underway in the O'Grady household. Caden's new room is painted. Both the TV and bed have been sold and are awaiting pick-up and we will order his new furniture this weekend. Although each piece is backordered, I'm hopeful it'll all be here within a month.

Which means in 4 short weeks we can move Caden into his BIG BOY room and turn our attention to the nursery for a few new wall hangings and washing/organizing infant clothes.

In other news, my March of Dimes contract begins in two weeks (yea money!) and I'm really looking forward to organizing this year's walk. Since I have one walk under my belt, I am a little more confident about what I'm doing.

And still more news...I have an interview tomorrow for a PT position assisting the editor-in-chief for an association journal. The journal is a culmination of all my past professional experience in the association world, and is a friggin' fascinating journal besides all this. I would be beyond stoked if I get the job.

Shawn is doing amazing things at his job as well and is earning some crazy commission lately.

All things considered, we are glad the move did not work. I truly love this house (despite its shortcomings) and with the fourth bedroom nearing completion for Caden, it feels filled with wonderful, happy people.

This is really just a very exciting time, I think for any family. To be adding to our family, living comfortably (most of the time), raising our son as we see fit, able to plan modest vacations and be able to donate to people in the community who are struggling, makes me very happy and very proud.

I sincerely believe in giving even when you have little to give. There may be months when Shawn and I just making ends meet. But if we can continue to give...bring someone dinner, send someone struggling some money, make a charitable donation...I think it is returned to us in many ways.

We are blessed with incredible people in our lives. I am so grateful for the friends I have made in the past few years...friends who I am hoping will be lifelong. I am grateful for their simple existence as part of my life.

We move through each day in good health with a healthy, happy, loving, ridiculously cute son and baby on the way cooking as he/she should.

I simply cannot ask for more. I count my blessings each and every day...sometimes twice.