Eowyn and the remote

Eowyn spent the night in the hospital last night. 'bout broke my heart to walk into her room and see her eyes all red from crying and the IV sticking out of her little foot. She felt a little warm to us yesterday morning, and Maren took her temperature, finding it to be 103.2 F (39.6 C). So, she took Eowyn to the dr., and he admitted her. Her white blood cell count was very high, and he was worried about a bladder infection. So Eowyn & Maren did not sleep well at the hospital. She still had a fever off & on today, the baby's Motrin was helping keep it lower, though. Hopefully she'll sleep tonight.

However, she did discover the remote to our new ceiling fan. I installed it with the fan last week, and it can dim the lights up & down as well as change the speeds. Made Eowyn forget all about her troubles for a little while.

Jetta or Eowyn?

Lately, many of our friends and family have been divided. Some of you are demanding more photos of Eowyn. Others are calling for new photos of Jetta. Please know that we are aware of the situation, but we will do what is best for our family. Sometimes, family does not always agree. But we're still family. If it is best for us to show pictures of Jetta, then that is what we will do. If it is better for us to show you photos of Eowyn, then that is what we will do. But until Jetta applies for reinstatement, ... sorry, getting a little caught up with the whole Packers/Brett Favre controversy lately.




Enjoying Eowyn's pool after a long, hot bike ride. Thanks Opa!

Update

Today I finished cutting all of the vines, limbs and brush from the back yard. I still need to kind of clear out the creek, and maybe "reorganize" the rocks at the bottom to make it more efficient (i.e., not so much standing water long after the last rain...), but the back yard is now clear. I'll probably try to take down a couple of smaller trees so I can see about getting some more sunlight and maybe some grass to grow. Soon I'll be able to tackle a different home project!!

Maren pulled out the little walker from Eowyn's Uncle Karl & Aunt Jen (and cousins Isaac and Ben). She started walking right away. First time on the hardwood floor was a little scary, she got going faster than she meant to. But she's moving along!





....and tonight, Jetta figured out where Baylor keeps her water.

Sanitation & the environment

With the economy going south, Eowyn found a way to help us save money, and at the same time help the environment. She decided we should only be using 1 piece of toilet paper per toilet use, also known as 1ptpptu. We tried to negotiate 2 ptpptu's to no avail. Maren was secretly negotiating for 3ptpptu's under the table, and when I found out, the whole deal was off. Of course, Eowyn only gets 1 wet wipe per diaper fill, or 1wwpdf.





Meanwhile, the batteries in Eowyn's baby swing, which she's more than too heavy for, have gone to use again.

Jetta found it, and on her third try was able to climb in. I think she liked it until it wouldn't stop rocking. She doesn't wet in the house near as often as she used to. She's getting bigger. When we first got her, she didn't seem to have "big paws". But they're getting bigger. She's bigger than Baylor was when we got her, and Baylor was a month older. She's going to be a big, protective girl.



In the meanwhile, she and Baylor love to play. And then she crashes wherever she was done playing.

Phowey.

Its been a long year for me. I finally caught my breath. Eowyn's in bed. The pup is in bed. Maren's asleep. Baylor is curled up on the futton.

After school ended the last week of April, we started May term immediately. I taught a senior level theatre history class. I had not taught the class before, so in large part I was preparing a full week's class one day, and teaching it the next, for nearly 4 weeks. And for the final two weeks of May, I was also in rehearsals for Horton Foote's play Tomorrow in Salado, TX, which is 4 1/2 hours from Marshall. So after my last class I was zipping down to rehearse. We played the first two weekends, and the show was really pretty good. Its too bad the producing group wasn't better.

Two things happened on June 6. First, we got a new pup, Jetta, a German shepherd. She just turned 8 weeks old, so the bladder isn't very big. But we have mostly hardwood floors, so its easy to clean up, and she's beginning to learn to go to the door when she needs to go out. Baylor didn't like her the second day she was here at all, but they play together quite well now, and she follows Baylor around like a little sister.





Second, Maren's dad (Markus, a.k.a. Markus the Burger) & youngest sister (Annika) came for a surprise visit. I was in Salado, so I had a colleague pick them up from Shreveport and just "show up at the door", quite literally. We had a great visit with them, although my time with them was shorter because of the show. We still had a great time. I don't think I've eaten so much as I did while they were here. Lots of burgers. I think they sampled every place that sold a burger in Marshall. Markus wants to come back next summer for longer and help do some work on the house, which I would love. So now all of Maren's family have come to visit us here in Marshall all the way from Germany.





They were here for 10 days, and now its just us again, getting used to the summer, setting up some summer projects and goals. Eowyn is a joy. She's getting bigger (she was above the 100 percentile line for height). She turned 10 months old on father's day. Maren put her in a new 18-month sleeper tonight, and it was almost tight on her for length.

Here's a couple of photos of our yard. I wish I had taken a few "before" photos from last summer when we moved in to use as a contrast. But for an idea, we didn't know there was a house there on the other side of the fence because the bamboo was so high...

New Photos

A River Runs Through It, plumbing, and moles

We've had more plumbing fun. But, we've discovered the "root" of the problem...all of the tree roots growing through. So we have 2 new big holes in our back yard. I also discovered we have a mole in our midst. Literally, the raised ground proves it. I won't be kind...

We had quite a bit of rain on Tuesday & Wednesday. Maren shot a video of it.



Here's another video of Eowyn with crazy crazy hair, 2 front teeth, and daddy being retarded to get a laugh.





wasn't there a british 80s band w/ a lead singer that had this 'do?



already getting into the cupboards



someone had a rough week...





...sometimes you just have to have the right toy...



someone got their Christmas wish (insert grandpa's annoying toy here...)