Chicken Stalk

The rooster has returned. Last post I mentioned the rooster that was hanging out at our front door. Well, after about a four day absence, he was back with a vengeance. At first, he wasn't really hurting anything although I was getting a bit weary of the pecking sound of his beak against our door. Then, Saturday evening I had some friends over and I got this text from Ashley, "Ummmmmmm, there is a big rooster at your door." So yes, my guests couldn't even get into my house because my "watch rooster" was standing guard. When Jennifer arrived, I had to go out with a broom to try and scare it away...only I forgot to close the door behind me and my efforts to get it away from her van actually propelled it towards the house and the open door where the baby was resting in his little seat. Thank goodness I managed to dash in front of him and shut the door in time. But really, the last straw was when I noticed some white gunk on my wood floor and realized that someone had tracked chicken poop into my house. So yes, I was suppose it was only inevitable that with all the loitering/stalking around in our yard, he would have to relieve himself which he did over and over again upon closer inspection.

Stalking Jennifer's car.

Monday morning I awoke to to some crowing and then discovered him in our back yard this time. I told Duncan in no uncertain terms that he had to get him out of there. Duncan took the hose and sprayed him down really good and that seems to have done the trick....knock on wood. I've heard him crowing every morning from a distance. This morning when we left for yard sales, I found him prancing around in front of our neighbor's yard. So he's still around but leaving us alone, for now at least.

Duncan left the door to his truck open while he helped Calleigh buckle into her booster seat and this is what happened!

Incidentally, I did call our HOA who said there wasn't anything they could do. I checked on animal control and it looks like they only deal with cats and dogs. So if the rooster returns, I told Duncan he needs to just put him in the back of his truck and take him to some farm a few miles away. But honestly, the whole thing is odd. We can't figure out where this thing came from...if it's someone's pet who escaped or what. Nobody probably wants to put up a sign because I don't think you're allowed to have these kinds of pets in our community.

In other news, Colby turned one month old today. On Tuesday, he was four weeks old and this discrepancy between turning four weeks old and turning one month threw Calleigh for a loop. We always say that a month is the same as four weeks but I had to try and explain that it wasn't EXACTLY four weeks. A teachable moment I guess. Anywho, on Monday I weighed the little man and he was up to 10 lbs, 7 ounces which means he's gained two and a half pounds since he was born (as a barometer, they say a baby should double his birth weight by six months so he's well on his way). I'm thrilled with that news but trying to be cautious since Brady had a great first month of weight gain too. If only I could have a baby with a little bit of chubbiness to him, I would be thrilled!

One Month

I had been waiting for Colby to go a little longer between eating during the night and actually discovered by accident that he is able to do so. He goes to sleep in his swing around 9:00 and I've been waking him up when I go to bed around 11:30 to feed him because I assume he will be waking up at any time and I just want to get it done with. Well, a few nights back, it was 10:30 and I was really tired. You always come across that quandary...do I just stay awake until he needs to eat or sleep for like an hour and then have to wake up? I decided to just go to sleep and it turned out that he didn't wake up until 1:45. Last night he didn't wake up until 2:45. After that feeding, though, he's only been going three hours for the rest of the night. What it boils down to is that he is the opposite of my other three kids who would eat when I went to bed and then they would go longer and longer stretches after that.

For the past week, he's been sleeping in his swing for the night and I've been on the couch. I had been putting him in the bassinet after his feeding when I was going to bed but now that I'm not waking him up, it's been easier to just leave him in the swing. Duncan would like to make it very clear that he has not barred me from the bedroom or anything! He feels bad that I'm on the couch but honestly, it's not a big deal at all. I supposed I could just move the swing into the bedroom but we just haven't.

His little angelic face as he sleeps in his swing.

Let's see...what else is happening. Last Friday night we introduced Ricky and Ana to the food trucks. The weather has finally gotten a little less hot and so it's quite comfortable sitting out there eating near the lake. I just about had another heart attack with Brady though. Blake and Evan were there and the kids were all running around and being goofy. The next thing I know, here comes Brady back to our table, crying dramatically. He opens his mouth and I can see blood in there. All I can think of is "Oh, no. Not again. And please don't let it be a tooth." Duncan himself thought the worst because when he looked in his mouth, he thought he saw a bunch of skin split open or detached or something. That turned out to just be a french fry. He did have blood in his mouth but we think he just bit his tongue when he and Evan were roughhousing. Whew.

Uncle Ricky and Aunt Ana came over after the food trucks and read the kids their bedtime story.

After church, we had the pleasure of going over the Zbaraschuks for a potluck lunch so we could all visit with some old friends. Stephanie and Matthias Vohwinkel, were in town for a week with their brood of four (a girl and three boys). I worked with both of them many moons ago now at the hospital but they moved in 2002 to Texas. The kids had a great time running all over the place and we got to visit and see the Z's house now that they are moved in.

The men eating lunch. Not sure why this was the only picture I took! Too busy talking and stuffing my face apparently.

Saturday night I had some ladies over for "Ladies Night Out" or in my case, "Ladies Night In." Jennifer had discovered that I have never seen the movie "Steel Magnolias" and as a true southern lady herself, decided that needed to be remedied ASAP. We ended up having a scheduling conflict with some of our friends who are in a different Adventurers group and had Induction that evening and couldn't come. So we had a smaller group than we thought we might but it was just a really nice time anyway. Duncan took the kids (minus Colby) to his parents so it was quiet here (other than having to avoid the rooster). We all made desserts so we sat and ate and talked before putting the movie on. All of us are doing home school in one form or another so that was the obvious topic du jour. The movie was a real tearjerker as I'm sure everyone else knows because apparently everyone but me has seen the movie.

Stephanie, Heather, Leslie, Ashley, and Jennifer.

Tuesday was our busiest day this week. Our good friends, Freddie, Kathy, and Bruno Rondinelli are in town for about three weeks as they usually are in September. Tuesday was rainy (as were most days this week) so they called us that morning to ask if they could come over. Usually we can't pry them away from the beach but the rain can do what we can't. The kids, especially Calleigh, were thrilled with their arrival. We only finished about half of our school work but no matter. Ricky came over as well and at one point when there was a break in the weather, they all went to the pool for a swim although the water was quite chilly I'm told. They also went on a nice long stroll around the neighborhood with Bruno and Calleigh on their respective scooters which reminds me that this is the specific reason that Calleigh says she will marry Burno...he likes to ride scooters with her. Hey, there could be worse reasons. But Calleigh did emphasize again while they were here, and in Bruno's presence, that she's going to marry him. If nothing else, this will be fun to tease her about when she's a teenager.

Calleigh having lunch with her future mother-in-law.

They left and about a half hour later, we had our next round of guests which were the Vohwinkels who were coming over for supper. Their kids are eight, six, four, and one so it's just the right ages to hit it off our crew and make lots of noise. And indeed there was. Good thing I'm used to it. Lukas is six and a few weeks younger than Calleigh. He's also doing the same home school curriculum as she is so they have quite a bit in common. But she was funny. Right after they got here, Calleigh pulled my head down and whispered in my ear, "What's the six year old's name again?" Anyway, the kids all played upstairs and eventually put on a show for us. While they were practicing, I was able to catch up with Stephanie and I was reminded how alike we are in a lot of ways. Miss you Steph! Right after they left, Aubree came over to me and said in all seriousness, "They are my best friends."

Wednesday evening we had Induction at the church for Adventurers. We had to be at the church at six and it was a little crazy getting us all out the door to get there. We had to eat supper at 5:00 which made me feel like an elderly person since we don't usually eat until 7:00! No time to make food so it was cereal all around. Duncan was able to meet us there which was fortunate since Brady started getting loud. Aubree was quite proud to be in her Little Lambs uniform, all dressed up like her big sister. Was it really already two years ago that Aubree was just an "honorary" Little Lamb alongside Calleigh? Wow.

"Heeyyyy, why do you have all of those badges and I have none?"

Still friends.

I will never get sick of seeing these two put there arms around each other.

This week for school we've been learning about the two different vowel sounds. Of course, Calleigh's known the vowels and their sounds for years but apparently I've never specifically mentioned the general names given to each of the two types of sounds. As I was showing her how the "a" sounds different in "apple" as compared to "ape" I said that the "a" in apple was called the short vowel sound. Thus, the other "a" sound must be called...."the TALL vowel sound" she says. Yup, apparently these names never came up before now!

A day in the life of our school...Calleigh trying to learn something off the board...the room's a mess...Brady's on the table, screaming.

A craft we did last week.

If Calleigh doesn't become a scientist like she says she wants to be, maybe she'll become a reporter or a newscaster. She may look like Duncan but I at least see one trait of mine in her. She loves the news. Every day, and sometimes multiple times a day, she'll ask me if I have any stories from the news. I had started telling her some of the positive stories I had read in the news and that spiraled into her wanting to hear more and more stories. If I turn the TV on for whatever reason and the news happens to be on, she'll get all excited and say "Leave on the news." Of course, there is NO way I'm going to do that with all the stuff that's on. Yesterday while I was feeding Colby I was reading the Yahoo news on my phone, as I often do, and Calleigh immediately questioned me "Do you have any news stories?" Obviously there were indeed many stories but none that I wanted to share so I just said, "No, not really." But she jumped on that, "So there ARE some stories!!" I can't really blame her because I'm the same way.

One final exchange with Calleigh before I close. I know she's asked me this question before and I've given her the answer but she asked it again:
Calleigh: "Mom, how many people are in this world?"
Me: "Six billion."
Calleigh: "No! You just had a baby."
Me: "Pardon me. Six billion and one."

Have a great weekend. Oh, incidentally, I've been trying to write my blog on Wednesdays now but was deterred by a headache this week. Yes, the dreadful headaches are back. I didn't suffer from a single one my whole pregnancy and now I've had two since I've given birth. Makes one want to be pregnant...that and being able to eat cookies without feeling guilty.

At Costco last week. When they check your receipt when you leave, they always draw a smiley face on the back of the receipt. Thus, handing the receipt to the person becomes a battle of "It's my turn. No, it's my turn." This time, they walked to the exit each holding half the receipt to hand to the person.