You Know You're an Only Child When...

... you get the master suite!
He's one happy boy!

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Enjoying the Weather

... while it lasted!

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A Little Lunch and Conversation

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RIP Tweak

It was a sad day at the Zbeeb Zoo this past Sunday. We came home to find a pretty horrific scene in the backyard. The result, Tweak is no longer with us.

Andrea brought her dogs over for playtime with Barney and Lewis. We've done this many times with Toby, but this time she was babysitting Dodge, too, so he joined the backyard party. It's been a while since Dodge has been over, but our boys love the company of other animals, so we thought the more the merrier. Unfortunately, we didn't think about our beaked buddy.

Now, Barnibus and Lewis love Tweak. They all roam the backyard together and Tweak has even been seen perched on the edge of Barnibus' food bowl, which is amazing. And my boy Lewis, who has been known to kill a time or two (squirrels, rats, birds out of then air - you know, the normal hunter), he was captured in this picture loving on his feathered friend. I was simply dumbfounded on this day. And I attribute all of this to the love in our home on all fronts - and, of course, the pack leader, Drew's superior training skills!

Unfortunately, Toby and Dodge are not a part of our daily harmonious zoo. And we forgot that. When we came home from a couple hours out at lunch and the park with Asa, we found that the bottom of Tweak's cage had been ripped out and Tweak was no where in sight. A little further into the yard were many feathers and then we panicked. The search was on. Dodge was caked in mud and our boys were a bit distressed. The unthinkable must have happened. Tweak was attacked. The details remain a mystery, but we can only hope that he was able to get away and is somewhere in the neighborhood living the wild life, but our hope for that isn't too great. Tweak was not a good flyer. Truthfully, the bird thought he was dog. He barked like Lola and walked the yard like Barney and Lew-Lew. Unfortunately, he didn't have the bite of a dog and certainly wouldn't have won a battle versus Dodge (or Toby). Drew would like to think our boys defended Tweak long enough for him to get away.

But Sunday was a sad day, nonetheless. We'll miss Tweak dearly. He was a good bird. And Asa enjoyed seeing his "beeta" every day. Thankfully, he's too young to understand what happened, but we'll have to explain real life (and death) situations to him all too soon. Being parents (to both children and pets) gets tougher and tougher.

Miller Mania

Got this in the mail yesterday...

How cute is our nephew?

Check UP yours!

Asa turned 15-months-old January 23rd and with that came another stinkin' doctor's visit. Trips to the doctor at this age is getting a little tricky. We've been so much over the winter (kids and their germs, uggh!), the boy definitely knows where he is and who the 'enemy' is --- anyone that walks in the exam room! Asa HATES nurses and HATES doctors. How do I know his strong disdain? He literally screams from the moment they come in to the moment they leave! It doesn't matter if they are 2 inches from him or 2 feet from him - he is screaming. It sucks, as a parent, to watch him in such a state of stress, but at least I know he is very aware of his surroundings and has an incredible memory of his experiences.

To kick off this fun family time, the doctor asked if he had begun throwing temper tantrums. We were like "Begun?" Uhhh - he's been throwing tantrums for at least a month... not to mention the head butting for a solid quarter! We were like - yeah, been there, done that, what else you wanna ask? She wanted to know if he spoke more or less than 5 words. Oh yea, our time to shine as proud parents, we started his list of words - he says Mom, Dad, dog, water, bye, uh-oh, ball, bath, Lola, bird, and thank you. (Yes, we have a polite child.) Of course, we had to clarify, these words sound more like Mama, Dada, dah, wah-wah, bye, uh-oh, bawl, Woe-wa, beeta, and tank choo (respectively), but we know what he means! Finally, we got to the good stuff... his stats:

Weight - 29.7 lbs (95th percentile, no less)

Height - 30 3/4 in (nearly 50th percentile)

Head circumference - 19 in (again, 95th percentile)

We surmised that Asa's belly is about as big around as his head! So, he's just as full of food as he is knowledge, right? :-)

Unfortunately, Asa had to receive 3 shots this round. His first MMR round (mumps-measles-rubella), the chicken pox vaccine, and his second H1N1 shot. Most unfortunately, they all went in a separate limb - one in one arm, one in the other arm, and the last in his leg. My little Spartan warrior just couldn't defend himself. Those damn needles were coming from all directions. But he is definitely a warrior, no tears after a few seconds past the last poke. And he walked out of that room on his own, held his head high, and passed the nursing station with his middle finger in the air... oh wait, that was his Dad!!! :-)

Truly though, we have the best 15-month-old on the planet. He's giving us a run for our money these days, but I'd spend every dime I have to kiss his cheeks everyday!