Doggy Day Care

Sookie Loretta Smith

started Doggy Day Care at her Nana's, this will be her third week.

So far she has learned a lot.  Let's hope she keeps up the good work and she will stop doing things like this:

This picture does not show what she is REALLY capable of.  She has ruined chairs, a sofa, carpet, rugs....countless shoes (including Coach sneakers and two pairs of Uggs).  The list could go on and on....BUT when she does bad things she puts herself in time out like this:

How can you not love a dog who puts herself in time out?  We will not give up on her....she is a Smitty through and through.  She has been doing much better since Nana, Ben, and Daisy have started training her....just look at her on a leash:

Before she started daycare she was a holy terror on the leash, I couldn't take her on walks...she took ME on walks!  We also bought her(because Rachel told me to) a Gentle Leader....works wonders and she looks so cute in it:

We have done a lot of things to help our baby girl learn how to be a big lady.  For instance, we got the world's tiniest Christmas Tree so she wouldn't be tempted to take it outside like she does everything else....it was a perfect little tree:

Although I couldn't put 1/4 of our deocrations on our tree, we still looked at them all and had a blast putting on what we could fit:

We love you Sookie Loretta Smith....we won't give up on you! 

Muah -

Your Mama

 P.S. Please don't eat anything else that says Coach, Ugg, Dolce & Gabanna, Marc Jacobs, Chanel, or Louis Vuitton okay?

Don't Stop Believing.....

Hold on to that feelin'.....

The feelin' of singing as LOUD as you can with good friends in the car, into your thumb and/or lip gloss microphone.

We are grand singers, to such songs as:

Don't Stop Believing

Gold Digger

Bust The Move

Bust the Windows

Hate on Me

Somebody to Love

Keep Holding On

This seems to happen every time Calista and I are in a car with Raylyn, Hannah, and Hailee.

It makes us all so happy, we never want it to end.

We have also mastered other songs/artists/CD's such as:

If I Were a Boy

Single Ladies

The ENTIRE Best of Abba CD

The ENTIRE Foundation CD

Girlfriend

Old School Britney

Lady GaGa

Fergie

The Black Eyed Peas

Blondie

Cyndie Lauper

The list could go on and on and on and on and on!

It is a fabulous feeling to have friends that you may not see everyday, but when you do....it is like you were never away from each other.

Calista and I always have a great time when we are in the company of these special ladies.

Raylyn and I often feel like kids when we are with our girlies, and we do semi-embarrassing things such as these:

On VERY rare occasions, we get to hang out without our girls.....and we do semi-embarrassing things such as these:

Our girls have a lot of other friends BUT they will always be partners in crime just as their Mamas....

We love you ladies, thank you for every good time we have EVER had over the years.

I do want to say a few special Thank You's to Raylyn:

-Thank you for not judging me for having to be an hour early to the movies.

-Thank you for being addicted to Starbucks just as much as I am....and supporting my habit.

-Thank you for talking to me for 2 miles straight and understanding that I ALWAYS have to have the girls in my sight or I may have a nervous breakdown.

-Thank you for helping me stay calm on LONG car rides (you know what I am talking about).

-Thank you for laughing at silly things with me until we are both in tears.

-Thank you for driving on the freeways and doing Chinese Fire Drills to get into the drivers seat.

-Thank you for not being afraid to get on the stage and play the snare and/or cow bell with me.

-Thank you for dancing to every song with me, even when you want to die.

Although we no longer have pancake memories, I love your head.

Because of our fabulous friends, Calista and I will NEVER

Stop Believing in good times and how amazing we sound singing in the car.

Kisses and Hugs

Mama and her Blue-Eyed Girl

 

Have a Heart...

For Marfan’s….this has been the National Marfan Syndrome Foundation’s slogan since I was a little girl. Today my darling Blue-Eyed Girl has her annual cardiologist appointment to check her little aorta in hopes that it hasn’t enlarged and all of her valves are all in working order. This time of year I am a bundle of nerves….it is hard to be the Mama of a child with something like Marfan’s.  Marfan Syndrome is something they go over VERY briefly in medical school.  Usually when you go to a new doc., they do one of two things, they treat you like a circus side show and ask to see "how flexible your hands are" or they like to pretend they know EVERYTHING about it when they really don't and we know more than they ever could.  Thinking back, my Mama always seemed as cool as a cucumber even when she had to tell dr.'s off, I know now she was also a bundle of nerves each time I went to my cardiology appointments. Not to mention during my heart surgery when I was 17…she was holding on by a thread.


Calista’s appointment this year is different…I am not able to go, James is taking her which makes me even MORE nervous. Not because James isn’t capable of taking her, he is an amazing Dad and I am so lucky to have him as a partner in crime….BUT I won’t be there.

WHAT IF:
He forgets to tell her to relax during the EKG so the nurse can get a good reading ,  he doesn't hold her hand while the nurse removes the EKG stickers, he doesn’t tell her to be brave during the Echo and tell her the gel may be a little bit cold and sometimes it hurts when they push down to see each and every valve, he doesn’t watch the Echo Tech to make sure they are doing everything right and not hurting Calista, the Dr. doesn’t answer all the questions on the list I prepared, the Dr. accidentally tickles her right foot (because her right foot is her ticklish foot) while he is taking her pulse on her ankle, they forget to go to Mimi’s after her appointment for a special lunch because that is our tradition, what if what if what if…..the list could go for days! I much prefer being the patient, not the Mama of the patient!

UPDATE:
James just called to report everything went marvelous, he asked every question on the list I prepared, which I not only went over with him and wrote it down for him, I also sent him a text this morning with all the questions. I know what you are thinking, poor James right???? He loves me and my Type A personality, I promise.

Calista can play basketball this summer (which she is extremely excited about), she can swim competitively (again with being excited), AND her aorta did not grow at all….her Mitro Valve looks fabulous…..she did GREAT! Daddy and daughter are off to Mimi’s! Oh thank you God for answering my prayers and having a heart for my baby girl…..I will be speaking with you tonight, sir.

Kisses –

Me

This picture was taken after Calista's VERY first cardiologist visit (besides right after she was born)....I love my bald baby.

Interview With a 3rd Grade Scholar

Me: Good evening Cali M, how are you tonight?
Cali: I am awesome!

Me: So tell me how you became so smart?
Cali: Well....I did some reviews at my house and my Nana's house then I just got straight A's.

Me: What is your favorite thing to do in school?
Cali: Math

Me: Why do you love the song "Killer Queen" so much?
Cali: That is kinda hard for me becuase I do have a lot of favorite songs, I just love that song because it has a nice rythym and the the lyrics are fabulous, they say Paris and playful as a pussy cat.

Me: What is your favorite past time:
Cali: I like to roller blade, play tether ball, do my nails, listen to my radio, chillax basically.

Me: What is your favorite color?
Cali: Black and green

Me: What is your favorite thing about your Daddy?
Cali: He is nice, he plays with me no matter what...sometimes...heheheh.

Me: What is your favorite thing about your Mama?
Cali: That she is funny, pretty, she is nice, she takes me to school everyday, shops, and she feeds me.
Me: Thank you Cali Girl :)

Me: And what about Nana????
Cali: I love her because she plays with me and she helps me learn new things, um...I love her.

Me: What came first the chicken or the egg?
Cali: Egg for sure.

Me: How did you get so good at Just Dance?
Cali: Well, the first time that I played with you, I just tried to do what the person on the game did and I got a really high score, and that is how my career began.

Me: What are your plans for your future?
Cali: I don't really know what I am going to do, I will wait and see what happens.  I really hope that it inlcludes Paris, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Me: How would you describe your style?
Cali: I really don't know how to describe my style, but I think that it is a little bit different because it is different than everybody else's at school.  Maybe couture?

Me: This concludes our inverview, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule, Ms. Smith.
Cali: Your welcome

Hugs-

Me

Everybody Needs......

A work BFF, or a work wife...whatever you would like to call it. I have been lucky enough to always have one at every one of my jobs, sometimes more than one. My current job, I only have ONE and I love her.....we work with mostly men and deal with crazy people, it is nice to just look at each other and know what the other one is thinking. This is to you, my dear Rachel!

Thank you for laughing at my stupid jokes.
Thank you for nagging me to go to the dr. when I am sick.
Thank you for bossing me around :).
Thank you for being there when other people are dumb.
Thank you for bringing me McDonald's when you know I am really hungry but can't leave the building.
Thank you for proofing everything (you probably should have proofed this before I posted it).

Thank you for posing for pictures such as the one above.......just to make me laugh.

Thank you for sending me Edible Bouquets each time I have to have sad sad surgery that makes me want to cry.

Thank you for knowing crazy things, like how much Benadryl a dog can have.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Love you BABE -

Me

Dancing, Drive-Ins, and Dog Parks

Two days into the new year and noooooo I have not re-lined my kitchen cabinets, cleaned my pantry, or finished all the laundry and donated lots of clothes as I promised myself BUT......The Smitty's did do these things:

Smitty Dance Off

No Need for an explanation.....

Drive-Ins

New Smitty tradition Fo Sho!  I made a comfy bed in the back of our tiny SUV (Dorothy) and we snuggled through Blindside and New Moon (Calista was in Heaven, she hearts Taylor Lautner, shhhhh don't tell her I told).  Our Blue-Eyed Girl said some new famous one-liners such as: "I can't move under the blanket Mom, I am in fertile position." and "Those werewolves need a dog biscuit, they would calm down after that probably."  James and I also have some new one-liners of our own such as...."Are you cold over there, it's 108 degrees over here." and "You need some protein." Gotta love New Moon!

The pretty Moon over our car, it seemed fitting seeing as we were seeing New Moon.

She was scared to play this game at first, then she got into it.....Watch Out!

Cracking me up with some one-liners.

Love them, let the movies begin!

Dog Park

We love the dog park, it is loads of fun, however, James is normally a ball of stress for the first 20 minutes. He is scared something may happen to his darling Sookie (I just vomited in my mouth, sorry). This trip started off with a stop to Petco beforehand to pick up some tennis balls. When we arrived at the store Sookie decided to hyper ventilate, which caused James to almost have a coronary because he was so worried. When we finally made it back into the car James did not want to go to the dog park because he was scared Sookie had hurt herself hyper ventilating. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot I said, we are going! She loves the dog park and she is just fine.....James did not speak to me the whole way there. When we arrived he was stressed for about 39 minutes and then he calmed down. I love him.

This is what Martini does at the dog park (every time), she sits ON the table.

She was the Bell of the Ball....ALL of the big dogs LOVED her and wanted to take her home.

This dogs Mom almost caused me to get into a fight. She asked if I was SURE Sookie was a lab and that I may want to look into it because she didn't look right! WHAT??? Not to be judgeie BUT she was wearing full street walker make-up, heels, leggings, and a "clubbing" shirt.  Keep in mind we were at the DOG PARK, that is all I have to say about her. 

Sookie decided to join us ON the table as well.

And while Sookie did all that, Martini did this...

And while Martini did this Sookie continued to amaze us with things like this...

Kisses -

Me