Peas & Love For Us

CHIP, PICH, BOY, CHIPPER, CHIPPY, our dog, our guardian, our friend, our shadow, may you rest in peace boy…

Chip was a unique dog. His first year of life was a difficult one that left a mark on his personality. Gary was cautioned by friends not to take him that he was a mess, but there was some kind of connection there that bonded them. I think at the time they really needed each other.  He was a  nervous dog with a major separation anxiety problem but the more Gary loved and took care of him the more normal he became.

I met Chip about 3 or 4 years before Gary and I started dating. At a party one summer in Jackson Hole. I remember him pacing between rooms checking on Gary. I tried to pet him but he wouldn’t have it. Only Gary could touch him. I remember thinking “that dog is crazy”. Then a few years later I got to know Gary and his dog Chip. Chip got used to me right away and with a few years of maturity he accepted me as part of his “pack”.

Chip never got over his separation anxiety. He followed Gary everywhere right on his heals all the time. On our wedding day as we were taking our vows Chip made his statement by breaking free of the leash he was on and running down the aisle so he could stand by Gary. I will never forget that. So endearing and such a tribute to his loyalty to Gary.

My parents have been Saints for watching over him while we have gone on various trips. Dealing with his sensitive stomach and such. Over time they were the only ones that could take him as he got used to their house and the routine of staying with them.

When we brought Ellie home Chip showed mild interest in her sniffing and checking out the wiggly bundle. Both Adah and Chip accepted her right away too. Never acting out as she crawled on them, poked at them, pulled their hair. Most old dogs that have had the history of Chip’s first year don’t tolerate children but he never made me nervous around her. If he didn’t like it he would move to the next room or look to me or Gary to help him out. Even on the last good day he had he tolerated Ellie yelling in his face and chasing him around the room. He didn’t feel good and any other old sick dog would have snarled at the innocent playfulness of a child, but he just got up and looked at me for help. He loved us and we loved him.

I haven’t known Gary with out Chip. He has been with us through it all. There is definitely a missing piece now and an emptiness to our wee house. I’m glad I took the time Thanksgiving morning to brush him out before Gary took him to the vet. It was my way of thanking him for watching over Gary when I wasn’t there and keeping him company, thanking him for being such a good dog for Ellie to experience as her first relationship with a dog, and thanking him for loving me too and letting me into his insecure little world.

Many friends and family have responded to the news of Chip passing through phone calls and comments on facebook and skibumpoet. Thank you for all the love and support. I wanted to share some of the comments…

Tags: chip, Dog

Gary and Ellie often take the dogs for a walk in the morning while I put myself together for the day. I think it is really good Daddy time for her she always comes back happy and refreshed. Gary tells her they are “chasing bunnies” and they always try to find the moon if la Luna is around in those morning hours. Last week they went out to “chase the bunnies” and apparently it was exhausting because Gary brought her home passed out in the back pack. This was after the big weekend with Papa and Bada.

This week I have been working on a project for her for Christmas and she came up with these funny ways of entertaining her self.

Yesterday Gary took her out in the morning and they ended up taking some rides in the sleigh rather then chasing bunnies. Here is a clip of that adventure.

Few other funny notes about this silly girl

Chip and Adah’s names are backwards in Ellie language Chip is “Pich” and Adah is “Dadah”.

She calls waffles “Awfuls”

She keeps having memories of our weekend with Bada and Papa and randomly says “Silly Papa”

She calls any kind of candy or cookies “trick-or-treats”

She is aware that she is going to be a big sister and is getting familiar with baby brother by patting my belly once in a while.

Gary’s parents Bada and Papa traveled to Utah for a visit this past week. It was so nice to have them here and to have them see all that Ellie is doing now. I think they were surprised at how much she is talking. She does repeat everything we say. They spoiled us every morning with yummy cinnamon rolls from the hotels breakfast and Ellie got a little gift from them every day as well.

Bada and Papa were able to go with us Thursday to the first ultrasound. Which ended up being perfect timing since I didn’t realize until the day before that Ellie couldn’t come in with us and I didn’t have any baby sitting options. So they waited patiently with the Wee One as we got to see our baby for the first time. What an experience the first ultrasound is. I got emotional with Ellie and I was emotional this time as well. We discovered that we are going to have a little boy added to our family. There was no doubt about it. He is all healthy with a perfect little heart, stomach, face, and such. I am bummed because we are having technical difficulties with our scanner so I can’t post any of the ultrasound pics. I feel like my belly is getting bigger everyday. I’m starting to feel a little scrunched and uncomfortable, seems too soon but that has been the theme of this pregnancy.  He has been active too in fact we saw him practice his boxing during the ultrasound moving those wee arms. I have been feeling him moving around a lot lately mostly in the evenings.

Next up…

On Saturday Ellie and I met up with Grandma McKenney, Aunt Tamara, Summer, Parker, and Coleman for Disney Princess on Ice show.  We braved the storm to see all the beautiful princesses sing and dance around. It was worth it. Just watching the kids take it all in was a show in it’s self. We had a great time and Ellie’s eyes were so big she was in awe. At the end of the show as we were walking out she said to my Mom “That was so FUN!” So cute…

While Ellie and I were away. Gary, Papa, and Bada were hard at work putting together Ellie’s new bed. We upgraded her to a new twin bed. They did such a good job rearranging the room and putting the bed together. It was a nice surprise for Ellie and Mama to come home to. I was very thankful to have it done and get her room in order way before the boy is here so she doesn’t have to adjust to everything changing so suddenly. Her crib is still in the room ready for brothers arrival and she isn’t even phased by it. I guess wasn’t as attached as I thought. Big thank you to Bada and Papa for working on our wee house that day.

Forgive me for the terrible pictures my camera man was busy. I believe I’m somewhere between 18 and 19 weeks. I really don’t like that you can see my bellybutton in the second picture. Oh Well. We haven’t kept up our promise for weekly belly photos like we did with Ellie. Life has been happening I guess. Although I feel guilty for not documenting this for the next wee one. I have picked up the same journal I did for Ellie though. It’s a great little book and I’ve discovered the author has written many great children books too.

Here is some of our life I was telling you about earlier…

Drumming with Dad

Circles

Her new favorite spot…

Pumpkins!!!

Her new hat! I made that this week from this book “Carefree Clothes for Girls” which has some fabulous patterns, ideas, and inspirations. I pretty much love the hat and am tempted to super size it to fit me. Here is another picture just cause it’s cute

halloween09 011, originally uploaded by Danette Marcoccia.

We celebrated Halloween a little early with Grandma and Grandpa McKenney this week. Grandma put together a party with lots of fun games and yummy food. Ellie had such a great time playing with the cousins and getting spoiled by Grandma. Not sure we can top it next weekend but we will try to show her a good time on Halloween too.

Here are some pictures of all the fun that was had. Thanks Mom!!!

Finally on the way home we stopped by our friends Jodi and KC’s for their annual pumpkin carving party. I must say there were some good ones this year. I loved them all!

We did some updates to our wee house last week. Gary painted the kitchen cabinets. They are a nice creamy white now. We also replaced the linoleum and carpet in the kitchen/living room area and the hallway. It is now bamboo and we love it. Our friends KC, Tim, and Jason from Spiro Enterprises installed the bamboo for us and they did an awesome job. Tim also replaced the tile around the wood stove and the front door. In addition he made molding out of some of the leftover bamboo. If anyone in the SLC area needs handy work done the Sprio’s are the ones to call they did a great job. Ellie and I spent the weekend in Logan with Grandma and Grandpa McKenney while the house was beautified. We had a good visits, lots of shopping, lunches, and I finished a couple of projects. Here is some pictures of the wee remodel…

And here it is all finished, shinny, and new…

next up new carpet in the bedrooms

Tags: bamboo floors, new flooring

We are officially through the first trimester of our second pregnancy. I realize that I have not acknowledged our little big news on the blog although we have announced it over Facebook and we couldn’t keep it from our family for more then a week. We told Gary’s parents the night we arrived in NY and I had only taken a test a few days before we left.

We are approximately 15 weeks along and the baby is due the end of March. We have been able to listen to a wee heart beat already on our first visit to the Midwife. My belly is starting to pop and you can start to see it now. I’ve been feeling it since day one though. Right away back in July the morning sickness came on and it came on strong. Nauseous day and night. I think Gary would agree that there has been some moodiness.  I wont leave out the overwhelming tiredness too. I go to bed not long after Ellie goes to bed.

It is getting better though the nausea is starting to fade a little. It visits me in the evening when I’m spent and done with my day. My appetite is starting to come back to me. The familiar cravings for sweet stuff like brownies or cookies is coming back to me. Although I can only handle a bite or two. Which is probably a good thing. I stopped the morning ritual of coffee and replaced it with Cheerios or Bran Flakes. But oh how I miss my warm mug of wakeful goodness. It is interesting how your body rejects things like coffee, and empty calorie snacks when you are prego. Cauliflower sounds delicious to me today and I never eat cauliflower. Hmmm…

Our next appointment with our midwife is on the 12th of October. I am going to try to be diligent about journaling this pregnancy. There will be belly pictures like we did with Ellie. So stay tuned…

Tags: pregnancy

Yesterday was our 6th anniversary of married life. We took it easy most of the day as Ellie has a bit of a cold. Cleaned up the house some and puttered around. We did round up the wee one though for a short outing to Wasatch Mountain State Park. Every September they open up Hubber Grove to the public for apple picking. The apples are an heirloom variety from a 100 year old orchard. They are small but packed with perfect tart apple flavor. Ellie had a good time gathering up what Gary was getting out of the trees with the apple picker. We stopped and snacked on a few as well. It was an excellent way of welcoming the changing season of Fall and savoring a significant day. By the way we did have apple pie for dessert last night delicious I might add.

Tags: Apple, Wasatch Mountain State Park

We put forth our best effort to camp last weekend. We thought that the weather was so nice we might as well take advantage of the last “dog days of summer” and head for the hills. We found out the hard way that they close many campgrounds along the Mirror Lake Highway. So we opted to drive down a road less traveled and find and old spot we camped at a few years back with friends. We found it and had a lovely evening with Ellie and the dogs exploring the surrounding trees, dirt, down logs, leaves, ect. We even had a nice campfire meal.

Once the sun went down we slipped into the tent where Ellie had a wonderful time jumping on the air mattress and taking in the whole adventure of actually using the tent. We finally got her settled in and sleeping.  Soon it started to seem a little chilly then it seemed down right cold and Gary and I could hear each other sigh and toss and turn trying to get comfortable. Then Gary started thinking about the sounds out there and the wild animals and such and his mind started racing. Eventually Ellie started to stir and whine and be restless as well. I moved her into my bag with me but it was too late, Gary had made up his mind to pack it up  and leave . So, at 2am Ellie and I got in the truck and tried to settle in while the man packed up camp. Needless to say we got home at 4am and Ellie let us sleep until 7:30am. We were slugs the next day.

It was a good effort and we learned some lessons. Perhaps our skin isn’t so thick…

Just a quick post to get you over to Gary’s blab blog. (Hee Hee) He put up some video of the Donna show we enjoyed so much last weekend.

CHECK IT OUT at Ski Bum Poet

and… we just found this. One of my favorite bands with Gary’s favorite band. Excellent!!! Yes I have a secret crush on those brothers. Shhh don’t tell…

Updated to include the embedded Avett Brothers/DtB Clip…compliments of Herd.tv :)))