June...so far...

On June 13th, my dear sweet granddad Alford passed. He was 87 years old. Unexpectedly, Wendi, Madeline, Josh, and Steven hopped into the car and drove to Birmingham for the funeral. I was thankful to see some of my relatives I haven't seen in years. I was also thankful to introduce Miss Madeline to them especially my grandmother. Madeline was the dose of medicine that everyone needed at the time. 

Some of my favorite smiles of the trip:

*Listening to Steven, my nephew, sing and play the guitar at the memorial service. He has been in choir for about 5 years now and would never sing for me. Let me tell you, this guy is fantastic! I couldn't stop smiling!

*Steven packed himself for the trip (he and Josh continued from Birmingham to Texas where they'll stay with my parents for the summer). Steven not only packed one pair of underwear, but packed two different shoes for the funeral. One had laces whereas the other did not. At least he got a left and a right!

*On the way back from Birmingham, I changed Madeline on my lap and yup, I got peed on. I had pee on my pants, shirt, and hoodie. It was an experience, let me tell ya.

There were other fun stories that happened, but they are more of a location joke where ya just had to be there. 

Will had his first father's day yesterday and because we made the trip back from Birmingham on Saturday (12 hours) we were exhausted. But, Will was able to spend the day with his daughter. We really did small outings, errands, etc. On Wednesday, I will be taking Will to a nearby winery to celebrate. 

On Wednesday, our dear friend Jessie is coming from the Chicago area to visit us! Yay! I haven't seen her in over a month and it will be so nice to see a familiar face!

Many of you have been asking about Oscar's update which I am thankful for because Oscar was my baby! 

So here is the update:

We sent the demand letter certified mail. The Browns (mean people) never accepted the letter and it was sent back to us. So I had the demand letter served. The Browns had 30 days to respond to it. As of June 11th (30 days) they did not. We expected this to say the least so we will have to move forward with a civil complaint. Because Will is focused on two cases back in Fairbanks that will be happening in August, he won't be able to work on the complaint until this fall. He said that we'll have the complaint filed by Christmas. 

In the meantime, it took three days of calling Animal Control to finally get a phone call back. I met with the supervisor and asked for them to reconsider consequences for the dogs. Captain Beeman said he would take it to the commonwealth attorney to see if he would reopen the case. After a week passed and Captain Beeman did not respond back to me, I started the daily phone calls. Again it took three days, but he finally called back and said the attorney will not reopen the case. Will called the attorney, Ross Spicer, and asked if we could get a meeting with him. Ross called back the next day (much more efficient then Captain Beeman) and would gladly meet with us. So today at 2:00 p.m. we will meet with the attorney and plead our case. All I would like minimally is to have the dogs listed on the dangerous dog list. Fingers crossed for today. If nothing happens to the dogs based on today's meeting, I am prepared to take this to the media. Am I going extreme? I don't think so. The dogs have a history dated back to 2006 on attacks and animal killings. I will continue to be the squeaky wheel until someone listens and reacts accordingly.

It is very difficult to be outside at least 3 times a week and see the Browns come outside with their dogs. I cannot stop staring and just think how unfair it is that they can brush their dogs, pet them, watch them run outside and they took that away from me. I want to confront them which those of you who know me know I can't do that. It's not the right thing to do. But if the criminal (animal control and commonwealth attorney) pursuits do not happen, at least we'll have the civil (suing them for the vet bill and punitive damages). 

Will will be leaving Sunday, June 26th to head down to Savannah. He starts work the 27th. We will be promptly following mid-July so we can move in. Then the first week of August, Madeline and I will be heading to Virginia Beach for a mini-family reunion. It will be the first time many people will get to meet her. :) 

Madeline with her great-grandmommy

Poppie helping calm Madeline down with nature.

My cousin, Tim, stole my camera. :)

Aunt Wendi

We were able to do a little bit of shopping and Steven humored me by posing!

The infamous shoes.

Still some remnants of the tornado damage.

Look at the light post!

Josh with his third cousin, Canon.

Madeline's first taste of lemon.

It wasn't very exciting.

Steven prepared to eat some ribs.

The Alford/Shaw clan!

Mads loves her some toes!

Madeline's blessing on me!

Will's first Father's Day!

Super sweet!

May

Where to begin...

Currently, Madeline and myself are in Winchester, Virginia adjusting to civilization, time differences, and getting used to the weather. Madeline did an amazing job traveling between Fairbanks to Dallas to Savannah and then DC. She did only one Mariah Carey scream on the trip to DC, but she quickly fell asleep. We were able to find a house to rent for the next two years. It is bigger then our house was in Fairbanks, but there is some needed touching up in the way of painting. Each room is a different color and it unfortunately, does not go with any of our stuff. Currently there is a bright apple green bathroom, a yellow kitchen, a sea foam bedroom, etc. This is something that will be changing in the near future. We will not be able to move in until July 15th, sigh. But at least we have a place to stay rather then living in a hotel for that length of time.


Madeline has been fussy for the past few days which I cannot blame her. We have turned her world upside down and with the addition of growing pains (she has yet to have a tooth) she has a right to be fussy. Madeline is able to sit up for roughly 5-20 seconds and weighs around 15 1/2 pounds. She is growing fast and continues to get more and more beautiful (yes, I have to brag).


Will currently is in Montana somewhere with his dad. They have been traveling very long 12 hour days and have been making great progress. From my understanding, we will be seeing Will between Tuesday-Wednesday next week. I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since we last saw him. He continues to update me on all the animals that they have seen. Bob has been taking pictures so as soon as we get them loaded on our computer, we will share them.  Moose has been a trooper the duration of the trip. The vet did prescribe him tranquilizers to help wean him into the long days. Will said that Moose has been doing well enough that he hasn't been having to give him any tranquilizers. He has shed a lot, but that's to be expected.


Madeline and myself have been trying to get into a routine which has been interesting, but is progressing well. We have continued to give her solid foods and as of right now she tolerates pears, dislikes peaches and bananas, likes applesauce, and loves to grab food from my hands when she can.

This was a lovely little spot in the Anchorage airport where they had a nursery. We were able to hibernate until we got on our flight from Anchorage to Dallas.

Madeline was chilling out in the Dallas airport until we boarded to Savannah.

It was Wendi's turn to change Madeline's diaper. Don't worry, the car was parked on the side of the road.

This is our new house. Yes, the landscaping needs work!

This color will change, but this is Madeline's future room!

The landlord said we can paint as long as we don't go crazy and paint like hot pink....

She can't feed herself yet, but in the split second of this picture being taken, it LOOKS as though she can...

6 months!

Super cute!

I will update again soon...

Mattie Mae Bauer (May 11, 2001 - May 6, 2011)

When Wendi and company and myself were all in Killeen, Texas, Wendi graciously let Oscar stay with them for two reasons. One, since I taught and Wendi was a stay-at-home mom, she would be able to let Oscar out throughout the day. Two, my duplex had a 'no pet' policy. Oscar and Mattie lived together like this for 5 years so when it was time to move Oscar to Alaska, Mattie was attached at the hip.

Mattie was hilarious. 110% polar opposite of Oscar. Words that would describe her are: prissy, prissy, and prissy. When unfamiliar people came to the door, she would greet them with a 360 circle and jump up on their legs begging to be petted. She would quickly jump into any lap and loved to be loved on. She was an excellent dog. She wouldn't growl or bark when it was time to go to the vet.  It would take a little more motivation to get her to walk on a leash or go potty when it was raining or snowing outside. She was feisty when "people food" was out. She has been known (when no one was looking) to jump on the kitchen chair, then on the kitchen table, to scarf whatever food she possible could before someone came back. She even took Will's turkey breast off his plate in a matter of seconds this past Thanksgiving.

We have known Mattie to have been sick for about a year with an enlarged heart. She was given daily medication for this which helped along the way. Well after Oscar passed, her health quickly deteriorated. After going to the vet it was discovered that she had liver cancer. A tough decision between Wendi and I was to have her put down May 6th. She was in pain and was losing weight which isn't good for a dog whose average weight was 12 pounds. The good news is that Oscar and Mattie have reunited. The bad? Well, that's pretty obvious.

I wanted to honor Mattie and share some pictures...

First attempt at solids

The first set of pictures (you can tell with the bib) is Madeline trying rice cereal. Wasn't too too bad. Since she wasn't really eating it, we transitioned to rice cereal oatmeal flavor and then some bananas (second bib). Let's just say not only did she hate it, but went straight to nursing right after. Next time we will try with our first choice: rice cereal. And of course, Happy 9th Birthday to my dear nephew, Josh!!

Rice Cereal

Baby

Will she like it?

Very confused!

Oatmeal? No.

Bananas? Worse!

Thank God for bibs!