I'm now being called "Gammy"

My daughter's wish came true on Thursday.

As we walked through the door on Thursday afternoon, she proudly and excitedly exclaimed, "I can't believe I'm a mom!"

She is now the proud mother of a precious little bunny, affectionately named Timbo. (I'll get to the name shortly.)

She's been wanting a "pet of her own" for quite some time now. She talked about getting a fish, but knew that wouldn't be satisfying enough since she couldn't take it out and pet it! We can't have a dog or cat due to Daddy's allergies. So we started talking about a possibilities of something from the rodent family.

I quickly steered us away from a hamster...I was afraid she'd end up smooshing it! So we considered a guinea pig or a rabbit. In the end we decided on a rabbit. Chip and I had a rabbit our first year of marriage and we LOVED that thing. He was totally spoiled, never slept in a cage...he ran free in the house. He would jump into our laps like a cat and would even sleep with us. We knew it would be fun to have a rabbit in the house again.

We've been talking about this for a LONG time, and finally decided the time was right. And it just so happened, a friend of ours had some baby bunnies ready for new homes!

So Thursday morning, Ruthi and I set out to pick out a bunny. They were all so cute, so it was hard for her to make a decision. But she finally settled on a precious black bunny, with the tiniest spot of white on his nose, and just a little bit of white on a couple of his paws.

Meet my Grandbunny:

I don't think there's ever been a more loved bunny! The first day was a little difficult for Ruthi, however. After we chose this rabbit, we headed over to my parent's house to pick up a cage my Mom is letting us use. While we were there, we found a little basket that was perfect for Ruthi to carry her baby in. Then we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some food and supplies. It was too hot to leave baby bunny in the car, so the basket was perfect for carrying him inside Wal-Mart. It had a little flip lid so she could reach in and pet him.

Before we headed home, I called Chip to see where he was. He was right down the road at our friend's salon doing some work for her. So we detoured over there to say hi and introduce him to his grandbunny!

While there, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to get my hair colored. So Ruthi and I ran quickly to grab some lunch, then went right back to the salon. A couple of hours later, we were finally on our way home.

When we got home and let Timbo out of his basket, he ran under the cabinet and hid. It was hard for Ruthi to understand he needed time to adjust to his new surroundings...that he'd just been pulled from everything he'd ever known in his short little life. She was SO afraid her new bunny wouldn't love her!

I was finally able to convince her to wait patiently for him to come out. Before she knew it, he came out and crawled right into her lap. She couldn't have been happier! And the days since then, she holds and loves on this little guy EVERY SECOND POSSIBLE! I have to tell her to put him down so he can run around for a bit.

He has adjusted quite nicely. He seems to really enjoy running around. He's very friendly and loving. He doesn't love being in his cage at night, but I don't want him chewing things he shouldn't. Therefore, he has to stay in there at night and when we aren't home to supervise him.

OK - his name. Ruthi tossed around a few names, and thought she had settled on Shadow. But then CJ brought something to her memory. From the time she was 2 or 3, she's loved watching the movie Beethoven. When she was younger, she couldn't pronounce Beethoven, and for some reason called him Timbo instead. We've always thought it was adorable, and CJ told her a long time ago that if she ever had a pet, she needed to name it Timbo. So that's how he got his name.

Now, we aren't 100% certain that it's a boy just yet, so the decision has been made, that if Timbo turns out to be a girl, the spelling of the name will change to Timbow...because a girl needs a "bow" at the end! (That was Chip's brilliant suggestion!)

Wow...this post has turned out much longer than I anticipated! So, I'll end it there and just leave you with a few more pictures.

All I Want for Christmas is...

My Two Front Teeth!!!

My sweet baby girl lost her front teeth...finally! We noticed these two teeth were loose in December last year! We thought for sure they'd come out before Christmas.

NOT! Those things were holding on TIGHT! I didn't know teeth could hold on that long. I was beginning to think she'd never lose them!

I'm a little behind here...these did come out almost two weeks ago. But the fact that I'm getting around to blog about it at all is a small miracle!

One tooth came out on Tuesday, the 12th. She popped it right out herself. The second one was being a little more stubborn...but it NEEDED to come out. So on Wednesday, her Daddy grabbed hold of it and didn't let go until it came out. This was the first time ever a tooth actually hurt her a little on its exit, but it seemed necessary. I took these pictures on the same Wednesday, and you can already see the other teeth coming in.

I must say, she looks so stinking cute with those teeth missing, and I LOVE the occasional lisp it causes. (Though she INSISTS it doesn't make her talk any differently!) I'm just sad those other teeth are already filling in the gap and I won't get to enjoy this a little longer!

And since these pictures were taken, they have descended even more!

Ruthi is Becoming My Jillian

OK, so Ruthi definitely isn't a "bully," but she is quickly becoming "my Jillian!"

She was in my room this morning before 7:30, encouraging me to get out of bed so we "can go exercise!"

I started a new routine this week. I'm trying (again) to get back into exercising and eating better. I am determined, once and for all, to get myself healthy, and to teach my daughter good habits so she won't be in the same shoes I'm in when she gets my age. I want this to be a natural lifestyle for her.

When school starts back in a couple of weeks, she will have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. And this year, those are the only two days I'm teaching. So I decided to go ahead and start now to try to get in the habit of exercising on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sure, we can do it on other days if time permits, but those three days are the minimum.

Ruthi loves to ride her bike. And for the first time last weekend, I rode mine with her. Her Daddy has done it that way, but I still wasn't sure I could watch her well enough while I was riding. That's not the case! We rode five miles on Sunday and she did fantastic! She is an ol' pro now! Granted, I am riding a good bit slower than I would be if she wasn't riding...BUT, it got me back on my bike, and now I have no excuse not to ride! And if we do that more often, she'll be riding faster and for longer distances in no time!

I was really wanting to get back into running, but find it difficult to be able to get out there. I won't go run by myself (I just don't feel very safe), so that means either Chip or CJ must be home to watch Ruthi while the other goes to run with me. Well, with our schedules, that is rare, so I just wasn't running.

However, I now no longer have an excuse not to run either! Now, Ruthi rides her bike while I run! We go to the park down the road from us, which is my favorite place to run. If we go early, it's not crowded. Well, unless it is Saturday morning...there were quite a few people out there at 8:30 this morning - I think we need to go earlier on Saturdays!

Ruthi does great staying on the right, and I no longer have to worry about her running anyone over or her stopping short in front of someone. She rides a little bit ahead of me then turns around and comes back to me before she gets out of my sight. Even if I only do one lap (which is somewhere between a mile and a mile and a half...still can't get that confirmed for sure), she rides more than that because of the going back and forth.

I'm building myself back up, so I can't run the entire thing without stopping just yet, but I find that I'm pushing myself a teeny bit harder to try to keep up with Ruthi! It really works out for both of us...she's doing what she loves, and I'm doing what I need to do...in hopes of loving it again soon!

We went Tuesday morning, and I had no trouble getting up and going. Thursday morning came around, and honestly, had she not "made" me get up out of bed, I probably wouldn't have gone. And this morning...ugh....I did NOT want to get out of bed. But I wasn't going to let my little girl (or myself) down. And I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and went. I'm glad I did. And I'm thankful for my little encourager.

One day, in the not so distant future, my wonderful daughter is going to be able to say she had a big part in getting her mommy healthy!

All it took was me telling her my plan for this schedule, and she is making sure I stick to it! She marks days off her calendar everyday, so there's no fooling her about what day it is either!

Hmmm....maybe I should come up with a blogging schedule and tell her so she can keep me on track for that too! :)

Saturday Surfing

Here are a few things I found 'round the 'net this week. I wasn't really feeling the title "surfin' finds" after all, so I will call this Saturday Surfing now. So, I'll attempt to get these posts up on Saturdays...this, however doesn't mean I'll do it every week, but we'll see how often I do manage it!

And this week, I managed to only include two recipes instead of ONLY recipes!

This post, Cultivating is Key was very thought provoking. Made me think!

I love the idea of making soap dispensers out of tin cans!  I think I'd like to make a few of these and decorate the cans for different seasons/holidays.

I love this candy arrangement - so fun!

This orange lemonade looks delicious and refreshing!

This is a super adorable teacher gift to make!

I love this 4th of July wreath - so easy and inexpensive!

I'm always looking for new cupcake recipes, and these look sooo good!

That Girl

That girl of mine...she cracks me up. Always has. We are always entertained around here.

I love the things she says...you never know what is going to come out of her mouth next. It may be super funny, or super sweet, or a combination of both.

Back when I was better at blogging fairly regularly, I recorded many of the things she said, and I'm so glad I did. Yesterday, I had a "walk down memory lane" reading some of my old posts and remembering the conversations and other things she had said.

Then I started feeling sad that I haven't recorded anything she has said for the past year. So, I'm going to try to be better at getting these things documented so I will have all of them to look back on in the future.

She has this little wooden tic-tac-toe game that she loves to play. Last evening, she was playing it with her daddy for a while, then asked CJ if he would play with her. When he agreed, she asked him, "Do you want to be hugs or kisses?" He was confused for a second having no idea what she meant. But we got a good giggle out of it. I don't think I've ever thought of the x's and o's in tic-tac-toe as hugs and kisses!

Another thing I want to remember is her prayer at meal time. It's never the same, she prays about whatever is on her mind at the time. But she always says, "Bless this food and nourish up our bodies." I LOVE this! She has heard it said, "For the nourishment of our bodies", or, "And nourish it to our bodies." But I think her version is simply precious.

Now, if I can just remember to jot things down before I forget, until I can get them typed up, I'll have much more cuteness to look back on and enjoy when she's older.

Oh, and she actually loves for me to read these things to her too. Or rather, read them herself. She's at the stage that she would rather read to me than be read to. Either way, she gets a kick out of finding out things she said when she was "little."

Surfin' Finds - 6-10

I have been a long time reader of Amy over at The Motherload. She does a weekly post called Amy's Notebook in which she links to many things she's seen around the blogosphere that she likes. I love reading her posts and have found many recipes and ideas thanks to her links.

I see many things when I'm blog-browsing as well and thought I'd do something similar and share things I like. I most likely won't be doing it weekly, but whenever I have a few links to share. It will also help me remember where I found the things I want to try! I was trying to come up with a cute name - I don't want to call it Jennifer's Notebook - don't want to look like a total copycat! So, since these are links I find while I'm surfin' the blogosphere, I'll go with Surfin' Finds.

The four links I'm sharing today happen to be recipes...not sure why I'm thinking about food so much...maybe because I haven't cooked in a week! I've been dealing with a terrible sinus infection which has taken everything out of me, and cooking is one of the last things I've wanted to do. But I'm ready to kick this infection, feel great again, and get back in the kitchen!

I haven't used my breadmaker in quite some time. I think I'll try this recipe this weekend - Denise's Bread Machine Cheesy Herb Bread at $5 Dinners.

When I saw Jo-Lynne's recipe for Tilapia Parmesan the other day, I decided to make it for dinner. But, I wasn't feeling good and haven't felt good since then, so it got temporarily scrapped. But I will be making it soon...maybe tonight! It looks so yummy!

And when I make the Tilapia, I think I'll make Ree's pasta to go along with it - Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce. My basil plants are looking beautiful and I think I have plenty of fresh basil to pull this off!

After all that, I feel like I need I need to post a dessert. This Chocolate Malt Cake at The Tasty Kitchen looks so delicious. If I can find malted milk powder when I go to store (I've never even looked for it before), I may have to try it!

Hey...Don't You Have a Blog?

Who me?

Oh...I suppose I do. Have I forgotten about it? Not completely...there simply hasn't been time for blogging in the last, um, YEAR? Is that right? OMGoodness...wow! I'm almost three weeks shy of having not blogged for an ENTIRE YEAR!! That's crazy.

So...dare I? Dare I attempt this again?

I'm thinking maybe so.

As always, I don't make any promises whatsoever to be a regular or even semi-regular blogger, but we'll see what happens! Right now I have a little bit of the blogging bug, which I haven't had for quite some time. So, while it's biting, I'll at least give it a shot.

Life has taken over...the new season I spoke about has completely consumed my life for the past year...but I've loved it! Now that summer is here, I have a little more down time, so I thought why not give the blog thing a chance again!

I've made a few tweaks here and there on the ol' blog. One of the biggest things I did was switch to a dot com! So, if you landed here via a feed reader, or other link, please make sure you change the address to http://www.chroniclesofanightowl.com/. If you are reading it through the blogspot address, some things will not show up properly.

I'm not going to make this first post "back" into a novel by filling you in one goings on of the past year as I'm known to do. Shocking, I know! So, if I manage to pull off some blogging time again, maybe I'll share more of what I've been up to...which has mostly been school!

But that's all for now.

Until next time...