So What's New Around Here?

*My very own 9mm home defense. Due to some recent events that have been going on close to my home (that is on its way to being resolved, thank goodness), Sam and I went and purchased me a gun. I can shoot a rifle just fine, but my 9mm is just so much easier for me to handle and I am much more confident with my ability to protect myself and my family if need be with this. 

I do believe every responsible person should exercise their right to own a firearm and have access to one they can handle safely and confidently. I believe to be a responsible gun owner, you should know your gun in and out. Practice loading, holding, and firing Frequently. Know where the safety is on your gun and use it. If you have one, use a gun lock. Store it safely and correctly, out of a child's reach. And probably the most important thing to do....teach your children about gun safety. I believe a child who is raised knowing about guns (their danger, their use, their operation (given the right age), etc. etc.) is more aware and respectful and that in itself is a better gun safety tool than anything.

Feel free to respectfully disagree with me. I don't mind.

I am very thankful to know I have the ability and confidence to protect my children. 

*Meet Lucy. We rescued her on Dec, 27th. She and her brother were abandoned at our local grocery store. We gave her a home and she is as sweet as pie! She is great with the kids, including Timothy, and gets along just fine with our two bigger dogs.

She does have some separation anxiety when is comes to me, but we have been working on that. Anyone have any suggestions? She freaks when I leave the house. I was putting her in a kennel when I leave, but forget about that now....she poops and pees in it and makes a mess and I'm tired of it. So I'm thinking just leave her in the kitchen with my other two dogs for company, with a blanket, toys, and a long-lasting chew bone and hope for the best. If she poops on the floor, at least it will be easy to clean and not smeared everywhere. I think the kennel has been exacerbating her freak outs. I refuse to take her everywhere with me. She's got to come to terms with being left eventually. 

*We are continuously working on one project or another around here. The latest is our kitchen. We've painted it a nice yellow color and Sam has worked very hard on making two doors (as well as trim) out of old barn wood for our pantry and laundry room. How cool is that!?  We've also extended the shelves in our food pantry as well as built shelves in our laundry room to help with our on-going storage problem. This has allowed us to de-clutter our kitchen a bit and give it an over all cleaner look. I am one happy Mama! Our future plans for the kitchen include wood put up along the corner walls and a built-by-Sammy corner kitchen table. I'm excited to see our plans play out within the next couple weeks to months.

*Funny story for you. Well, not funny ha-ha, but funny as in.....ok, it's not funny at all. It's just a story. Christmas evening there was a bunch of noise on our front porch. We discovered a deer, sickly like, was taking refuge there and wound up spending the entire night sleeping on our door mat. Before heading back to bed, we woke Anthony up to show him. We told him one of Santa's reindeer decided to stay and nap on our porch because it wasn't feeling so well. :)

Come early morning time we knew we had to get it off our porch. We had to let our dogs out and our dogs don't like deer. I mean, they do like deer. They like to eat them. But only after they've already been dead. And this deer was sick....on the verge of death. See the problem? So Sammy takes the broom and shoos it off the porch. It sticks around for a bit and then wanders off. We let the dogs out and all is well.

 
A while later we let the dogs out again. When they return, we noticed that one of them is covered in blood. We immediately knew what happened. Sam walks around our yard and the yards next to ours and soon discovers the grisly scene. Our dogs had eaten the deer's upper jaw and thigh. Gross. To prevent the dogs from snacking on the deer every time they were let out, Sammy had to load up the carcass and dispose of it. *sigh* So our dogs ate Santa's sick reindeer and the kids were upset. True story.

*As you all know, Timothy is crawling. :) He's such a pro! A pro at getting into my plants, a pro at digging in the dog food and spilling the dog water, a pro at getting stuck between the couch and end table, a pro at getting into his older sibling's toys, etc. etc. Yes indeed! He is up to no good and not caring what anyone thinks about it! LOL Little stinker. Molly told me the other week, "Mama....keep Timothy on your lap, don't put him down. I'm playing legos." Hahaha Of course now bedroom and bathroom doors are kept shut. The kitchen gate is being utilized. I vacuum often and check the floors for things Timothy would find tasty. Small toys are kept out of his reach. Outlet covers are in every room. Baby-proofing is in full force.....Timothy is EVERYWHERE!

Also new in Timothy world....he is sleeping in his own room! Well, Molly's room. And he is now giving me a wonderful stretch of 8 hours! Ohh it's fantastic! This transition has been hard for me though. With Timothy being our last.....and once they're out of your room.....there's no going back in time. I loved having him be in our room, loved having him close. He'd still be there had he been a good sleeper. But he wasn't, and I NEEDED sleep. 2-3 hours of sleep at a time just was not cutting it. So now he's in his own room. The transition was hard at first, but he's doing very well and sleeping better than ever. Molly loves having him in her room and I'm not waking up in the morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all!

Now I think I've got everyone all caught up!

With love,
Mama Hauck