I Blinked And Now My Baby's 18!

Hard to believe that just 18 years ago, I popped out my first baby after three weeks of constant contractions. The doctors kept telling me they were just Braxton-Hicks contractions, but why don't they try three full weeks of Braxton-Hicks contractions every two to three minutes without a break? I'd finally hit my breaking point and go to the hospital, only to be sent home after an hour or so of observation. The last time they sent me home, I left in tears swearing that I wasn't going back, I'd just have my baby at home.

Well, long story short, I did eventually go back to the hospital and have Digger there. By the time I had him I was so sleep deprived that I lost track of time. It wasn't until I took him for his first well baby check that I realized I'd lost a day or two. In my mind, because of being so exhausted, his birthday was September 1, when in actuality it was August 30. It's amazing what happens when you are totally and completely spent. So after I wrapped my mind around losing an entire day, I accepted that maybe I'd been wrong about the day he was born. Obviously, since his birth certificate and hospital bills clearly stated his date of birth. Oops. What the heck kind of mom was I going to be when I couldn't get his birthday right immediately after his birth?

He was an amazingly patient first child; much older than his years when he was a baby. I look back at pictures of him and see a little man, not a little boy.

Some of my favorite Digger-isms (he was adamant about all of them):

• Mustin' Bustin' as in, "I like Mustin' Bustin' 'cause the pretty girls kiss you when you fall off!"
• Cowboy-girl: "I am a cowboy, Ash is a cowboy-girl!"
• Mynastics: "I don't go to jim'snastics, I go to mynastics!"
• "The Practice have prickers!" Yes, Devon, the catus have prickers, I mean stickers. (But prickers is an apt description, don't you think?)
• Fighterfighter: "I'm going to grow up and be a fighterfighter." I guess firefighter was too difficult to say...
• Drunk, drive, go to jail: That's what he thought the lyrics to "Jump, Jive, and Wail" were. Hey, makes a certain amount of sense.
• "My butt burped!": One night we were at Grandma Mary's and Digger was standing in his pajamas in the living room when suddenly his eyes got big and he slapped both hands over his butt and exclaimed, "My butt burped!". He didn't have the word for fart, and when you think about it, a fart is actually a butt burp.

I've got a million favorite memories, after all, in eighteen years a lot of memories can be made. Some of my favorites:

• We saw a kid in Campus West who had a mohawk arranged into easily 8" spikes, each spike dyed a different color and covered with a condom. Digger looked at the kid for a minute, then looked at me and said, earnestly, "His mom's gonna be pissed!" I almost couldn't chastise him for saying "pissed" because I was laughing so hard, and besides, I agreed with him.
• Digger got his nickname from the girl's volleyball team when I was the head trainer at Rocky Mountain High School, because every time he fell, the girls would say, "Oh, dig-ger".
• Digger's favorite movie for a long time was "8 Seconds" and he'd act out the Lane Frost death scene over and over, beginning with the ride, the fall, and being gored by the bull. Then he'd stagger to his knees and wave for help before falling to the ground, dead.
• Dinour, his imaginary pet dinosaur, caused a lot of trouble at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Dinour made lots of messes at the dinner table, so many that Digger had to take Dinour by the hand and lead him outside before dinner. Dinour couldn't mind his manners so he had to stay outside.
• One time, he fell down the steep, narrow stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house and when Aunt Not A GunDiva went rushing over to see if he was ok, he put one hand up to stop her and said, "Don't... touch... me." Guess he'd spent too much time in the training room.
• For his fifth birthday, he insisted that all of the males attending his party come in a tie. Not a suit and tie, but a tie. At that point in time, he wanted to be the president when he grew up. Glad he grew out of that little phase.
• When he was just a short snort, he put those big ears of his to use. He'd pull up on the tips and hiss for his scary face - was actually pretty scary.

I can't believe my little man isn't so little anymore. It certainly hasn't been easy, but he's turned out okay. I know he's no angel, but he got through his childhood mostly intact. Now, if I can just get him well into adulthood unscathed. The scary thing is that he's just ten months younger than I was when I got married, and two years younger than I was when I had him. Hopefully, he'll make better choices than I did.
Love you Digger!

Random Thought...

Do you think animals name their off-spring like we do? I mean, cats and dogs have litters, how do they keep the little squirts straight? What if most of the litter is behaving perfectly, but one or two are being total brats - how does the mom yell at the brats without yelling at the well behaved ones?

Just a thought...

Mountain Therapy

The majority of the time I have "Mountain Therapy" it's on the back of Estes. Today, RCC and I did a different form of Mountain Therapy; RCC's partner, Mike, invited us to join him, so we met up with the Mountaineers club and took the Jeep up the Middle St. Vrain trail. The weather was absolutely beautiful in the mountains - sunny and warm. Since we're headed to Moab in a couple of weeks, today's outing was perfect for testing out the Jeep (or the Lil Blue BoX as RCC's has taken to calling her).

The Lil Blue BoX was one of the few "stockers" on the trail and I'm sure that there was more than one person who thought we wouldn't make it. However, RCC's been doing this a while and is a good driver, so there really wasn't any point during the ride that we were in danger of being stuck. We had lots of rock obstacles, water crossings, and mud holes. It was a great time and a great way to get out of the heat.

Here's video of Mike and RCC negotiating the lake crossing...

The Three Most Adorable Kittens Ever...& A Spoiled Horse

The latest batch of kittens are sooooooo dang cute! Ash hates the names I gave them, but they all look so much alike that I used horse face markings for their names, so let me introduce (from left to right) Snip, Blaze (can't see his markings behind Snip's ear), and Star. They're not quite five weeks old and they're so dang cute. I know, I already said that, but they are!


Estee's been acting a little sore recently and really favoring her right foreleg, so she got a good stretching out before our ride. Since I don't want her "unbalanced", I stretched both legs, trying to loosen up her chest and leg muscles. Sometimes she likes it, sometimes she doesn't. Today, she wasn't thrilled, but allowed me to stretch her out. Could be that I bribed her first with Black Oil Sunflower Seeds first.



Finally, I was finished stretching her out and decided that she was sound enough to take out on a short ride to try to work out a little of her soreness. Bill hopped up on Ranger and we headed out onto the mountain. Estes was a little pissy at first because she didn't want to go on a trail, but we found a trail that we hadn't been on in a long time and she was much, much happier.

When Estee's happy, everybody's happy!

My Perfect Husband

Well, he may not be perfect perfect, but he's perfect for me. He called me from work this morning, out of the blue, and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner. Like a date, without the kids and everything. I was surprised that he'd want to go out after working six days in a row; his job's not like mine, he actually does real work, while I more and more shuffle papers.

I looked forward to our date all day. We'd planned on going to Chimney Park Bistro, but after looking at their menu online, we decided on Jay's Bistro in Old Town. We were a little concerned about parking since New West Fest is going on downtown, but we needn't have worried.

I had the most amazing dinner that I couldn't pronounce - thank God RCC knows how to pronounce all those high-flalutin' words - some five pepper crusted filet in a green peppercorn sauce over garlic mashed. It was absolutely delicious - I ate every bite and would have eaten more except the plate was empty.

Dessert was even better. A few years ago my friend Glenna had introduced me to Godiva's Dark Chocolate with Raspberry filling, which is my all time favorite candy bar. Dessert was like my favorite candy bar, but supersized! It was a flourless chocolate cake with chocolate ganache with raspberry sauce. Heaven in my mouth!

What a great idea RCC had and I love him for it even more!

Monster's in High School

Just got back from registering Monster for high school. Where on earth did time go? You know, I didn't have to send the others to high school until they were sophomores, but the school district, in its infinite wisdom, decided that they needed to move to a four-year high school. I realize that most of the school districts in the nation are four-years, but that doesn't mean it's right or that I like it.

Monster, as you know, moved to Arizona last year to "start fresh" with his dad. Well, apparently his fresh start got spoiled and he moved back in July. While he's still rambunctious and without a brain-mouth filter, he's been doing fairly well (at least to my knowledge). He asks to go places instead of just going (most of the time), is where he says he's going to be (when I call to check up on him), and is home not only on time, but early! He's getting tired of me reminding him that he can find trouble a mile away and join in, so he really needs to toe the line.

He seems to be okay going into high school. I'm uncertain. Maybe the "older" atmosphere will do him good; but I'm afraid that he'll continue to try to impress the older kids and keep getting in trouble. Only time will tell, I guess.

Here's hoping he's seen the light and chosen the right path...

For the Ladies at RWTTD...

Sand Beach Lake in the Wild Basin Area of Rocky Mountain National Park...
Click on the image to enlarge it. The first picture is what you see as you leave the trail and then the trees open up to the most amazing lake ever!