Sweet Baylee Girl

We had to say good-bye to my sweet Baylee this morning.

I remember the first time I saw her, bounding up and down a chain link fence, begging me to play while I raked our new backyard in Charleston, SC. She lived two doors down with her humans who were about to add a fourth boy to their family and had two other dogs. But base housing would only allow two animals, so they had to give one away. It worked out well because her little boy could come over and play with her any time he missed her (he came often). I think it eased the blow a bit.

Our household of boys was no surprise to her! She was infinitely patient and never snapped at anyone, even when babies would pull her ears and her fur and her jowels and her tail.

She had the softest, velvety fur, much longer than most other boxers - like down feathers when compared to flight feathers. She hated lightning and thunder and tried to chew her way out of any confining space (which is why we had to kennel her).
She was a petite little thing. At her highest weight, she was only 56 pounds, I think. She had these big soulful eyes, the same fawn brown of her coat.

She used to run with Hubs and me, before we needed a jogging stroller. One time, while Hubs was training for a marathon, she decided that she was done running. She stopped and lay down in the cool grass. No amount of coaxing would get her up. Hubs ended up carrying her most of the way home! She loved to chase a ball too - tennis balls were her favorite.

She was my buddy through all of Hubs' deployments and even at the end rarely left my side. She needed to know where all her peeps were. She convinced my farm boy husband that animals could, in fact, live inside!

She had a litter of 6 pups when she was 6 years old. My sister and I kept two of them (she owned the father of the litter). My sister just had to say good bye to Duke a few weeks ago. It will be nice to have two reminders of her running around for a little while longer.

I'll never understand the way an animal can connect with a human. It is a gift. I will miss my girl!

6 months!

My little monkey is 6 months old!


You weigh almost 19 pounds now. You've got cute chunky thighs and roll around all over the place. You're trying to get up on your hands and knees, but I'm in no hurry for that to happen! You've started sitting up on your own now, though you're still a bit unsteady. I'm waiting to switch out your carseat until you're really steady.


We moved you into your crib in your room a couple of weeks ago. You had been sleeping in a bassinet in Mommy and Daddy's room (Mommy liked having you close). You promptly started waking up in the middle of the night. Finally, last night you slept through the night again! I think that it might be too quiet in your room. You're used to a lot of noise while you sleep! Maybe I should get a noise maker for your room?

We've tried solid food with limited success. You like sweet potatoes, kinda' like peas, and don't really like cereal at all. You will NOT take a bottle. I'm not sure if it is the taste of the formula or the type of bottle that we have, but you won't have it. We're going to have to work on this. Mommy needs to be able to leave you every once in awhile for longer than 2 hours!

I am wondering when your eyes will decide what color they will be. When you look closely, they are blue with a khaki-colored sunburst around the iris. That combination makes them look green on some days, especially if you're wearing brown, khaki, or green. I suppose time will tell! Your hair is curly! And blonde! I guess it's finally long enough for it to look more than wavy. It's made for some fun hairdos over the last few days!


Your new favorite toy is a set of stacking cups that I picked up the other day. You really enjoy the exersaucer too. Your brothers are still your most favorite playmates. They can make you laugh like no one else can!


You've had your first dip in the pool, and are generally soaking up the summer sun.

I think you like the change in the weather, my sweet winter baby. My most favorite time of the day is right after you wake up in the morning. Before you even open your eyes, you're cooing, just waiting for someone to notice that you're awake.


We had your dedication a couple of weeks ago.

You were so enthralled with the candles on the altar behind us that you wouldn't look at the congregation. I had to turn you around so people could see you! You did a great job though and smiled at the Chaplain while he spoke to Daddy and me. It is our prayer that you will follow hard after God and love Him with "all your heart."


We love you!

3 Mohawks

It was time for haircuts again (Hubs leaves soon for some training and I didn't want to do it by myself). Both of them wanted mohawks this time. So, laughing to myself, I obliged. This time, they have true mohawks, all the way down the back of their beautifully shaped heads! And Monkey has these curls (where did they come from?!) that lend themselves to a mini-mohawk with just a bit of water. So, I took some pictures of course! I'm just waiting for them to ask to color their hair red, white and blue for the World Cup!

Back of Gator's head:

Back of Bull's head:

Sweet Monkey's profile:

Happy Father's Day

to my Daddy

and to my Hubs

and to Grandpa, Dad, Papa and brothers-in-law!

loving this post...

I needed this today! Great thoughts on raising three kiddos. Hop over and read it!