Goodbye, Lilly

Lilly, living her best life in Quarantine.

Every day has been the same these last few weeks, until today. At 2:20am, Lilly went to be with Nana. We are so glad she was fine, until she wasn’t. Tuesday was just another day for our old gal–two square meals, lots of playtime with Tyler and Salem, and a nice long walk during which she pulled on the leash as hard as ever. Wednesday morning we woke up to the evidence of a sick dog all over the basement, which isn’t all that unusual for Lilly, who occasionally treated herself to a piece of mulch or something dead. We also though the kids may have been feeding her too much people food as they’ve been playing “dogs” for a few weeks and often have little food dishes of Cheerios strewn about the house. But by Wednesday evening, Lilly was very lethargic and just not acting like herself. We are fortunate that our vet is a childhood friend of Eric’s who also happens to be our neighbor, so she came for a house call at about 9pm. During the time the vet was there, Lilly became much more sick. Her heartbeat was irregular and her breathing was labored. We realized something was wrong, much more than an upset tummy. Eric took her to the emergency vet and we discovered she had a pericardial infection. There wasn’t anything we could do, nor anything we could have done differently. We hoped to stabilize her overnight so we could bring her home in the morning for whatever would come next. But, the 24/7 vet called us at 1:30am and told us Lilly’s heart was getting worse, not better, and that we should come in if we wanted to. We woke up the kids and visited with Lilly one more time. We had our last family snuggle at 2:20am.

Eric found Lilly online in mid-2008. He wanted a dog to help him find a girlfriend (and hike and hang out with him in Minturn, of course). At the time, Vail employees could bring their dogs to work, and Eric did just that, walking her through the Village daily while onlookers admired such an adorable puppy. He did an excellent job training her and Lilly remained a well-behaved dog. Sure, she ate a pen, and cut her paw on glass in the river, and nearly died after impaling herself on a log while we were searching for a Christmas tree. One hundred fifty stitches and 35 staples later, she was fine. When Eric and I met in late 2008, he had Lilly on her leash. How could I resist such a cute puppy?

Lilly lived with us in Minturn, Edwards, and finally Erie. She was our only little love for years. We brought her home a free stuffed animal from the furniture store to be her friend, but she ate him.

Jumping for snowballs, April 2020

Lilly hiked countless trails and summited many peaks with Eric. She was athletic and never slowed down. Eric has dozens of photos documenting all of their trips. Lilly even road-tripped to Ohio in 2010, where Macie, my parents’ golden retriever, taught her how to jump off the boat. Lilly loved adventure, same as us. She was always game for a walk and could hear us jangling her collar on the hall tree from anywhere in the house and she’d come running, ready to go. She loved playing in the snow. She adored Tyler and Salem and was kind and gentle with all children. There will be another post of Lilly photos because it’s going to take some time to find them all–we weren’t ready for this.

Our kids have always gotten along with Lilly, but during Quarantine Togetherness Time (QTT), they positively adored her. Lilly was the third amigo in their games of playing pretend and rarely didn’t participate. She let Salem sit on her, cover her with blankets, read to her, and walk her in endless loops around the house and backyard (something about clipping and unclipping Lilly’s leash and harness is irresistible to Salem). Tyler didn’t just play with Lilly, he pretended to be a dog right alongside her. He drank water out of a bowl and ate snacks without using his hands to be just like her.

Lilly is a part of our family and is in most of our family photos. The kids even made a snowdog of her after our last snowfall.

Hiking Mt Sanitas in Boulder
April 2020
Also April 2020
Our Snow Family

Like most families, every morning during Regular Life tended to be rushed–getting up, getting ready, chores, eating, out the door. But in our slowed-down QTT life, at about 7am, the kids like to come jump into bed with us for a family snuggle. Lilly, too. The five of us laughing and tickling and always making sure Lilly didn’t swipe anyone too hard with her paw. That was hard this morning–the quiet. And Salem, at 3 1/2, asking where Lilly was because she doesn’t understand or maybe doesn’t even remember last night. Tyler thought to take a photo magnet of Lilly outside to play today, so she could still be there with us. It will get better every day, we know, but today is hard. It just rained and Tyler is out looking for a rainbow, which is something we all could use right now.

In 2020, My Last Mother’s Day In My 30s

I’ve worn the dress before. In high school, in 1998, when long dresses were in, it fit me perfectly. Which doesn’t make sense, because I’m at least four inches taller than my mom ever was, but some things in life just don’t make sense. Probably, she wore heels, and I wore Birkenstocks (in 1998, and now, because everything old is new again). I’ll keep it for Salem, because if the dress has survived the last 40+ years, it’s clearly made from some space-age 1970s synthetic fabric and should last forever.

My mom kept a lot of my clothes from when I was very young. I’ll never know if what she kept was specifically because she had pictures of me wearing it, or because she loved it, or because she just kept lots of stuff. Lots. I know my mom would adore seeing Salem in these outfits, so I’ve done my best to make sure I take photos of her wearing them. Some are obvious choices to have kept–sailor dresses, fancy Christmas clothes, something I wore on my birthday. Some are seemingly random–a classic 80s graphic tshirt, a nightgown. Is there a story behind these items? Did she tell me and I forgot, or did I never ask? Likely, she was planning on telling me as Salem grew old enough to wear the clothes.

The bathing suit photo hung for a long time in our house. Who takes their two-year-old to Olan Mills for an indoor bathing suit shoot? Was this a thing? I’ll never know. But my mom loved this photo. She even kept the towel. So naturally, I took Salem to JC Penney for a re-creation. Salem is only a couple of months older than I was (both about 2 1/2), but is much taller with much more hair!

I wore this wool sailor dress for my 3rd birthday as dutifully noted on the back of the 3×5 prints. I actually forgot to put this on Salem in November on her birthday, so her photos are from February and again you can see she is so much taller than I was! That dress was to my knees and is barely covering her bum. Also–ascot, sash, whatever.

This nightgown is one of Salem’s current favorites. I’m guessing my mom kept it because she really did catch me with my hand stuck in the cookie jar–and took a picture of me crying on the counter. Check out that early microwave! We were fancy in Lakewood, Ohio.

There are plenty of reasons why this Mother’s Day isn’t what I thought it would be. (Could be? Should be?)

We’re in the midst of a global pandemic. Today we are at home, playing inside and outside, and eating home-cooked food, like we have every day for the past eight weeks.

Eric is actually home. We have a running joke that he’s always gone hiking for Mother’s Day, and I’m always with the kids in Ohio for Father’s Day. But this year, we’re all together.

My mom isn’t here. I spent my first Mother’s Day with her here in Colorado, and my second I went to Ohio with Tyler and told her I was pregnant with Salem. She didn’t get to see me as a mother of two on Mother’s Day.

Jess is coming over later, with her dad and Sean and Jack. Because her mom isn’t here to celebrate with us, either. She got two Mother’s Days with three generations, same as me.

2020 is my last year in my 30s. Forty is out there. I am so proud of Tyler and Salem and how they made me a mom, and me and Eric parents, and us a family. But I still miss my mom.

Demo Day

Wednesday is the day we finally say good-bye to those awesome builder-grade oak cabinets, cracked and peeling Formica countertops, and stained shallow sink that made my mom cringe nine-and-a-half years ago when we bought our first home. After we did the basement last winter we were like, hey, this is fun moving all our earthly goods around all of creation in order to have a more beautiful (and clean) living space. So, we called the same contractor, and voila!

Except it wasn’t actually that easy because kids and life and how can you really tell what things will look like from 4×8 samples of countertops and one bitty cabinet door? We brought home samples three times that just sat on the kitchen table until the cabinet place was like hey, bring back our stuff. Lucky for me (and apparently not all partners are this lucky) Eric pretty much surrendered all decision making for this room and the choices were all mine. We’re not moving around the footprint of the kitchen as there’s not a lot of variation possible in our tiny, yet open, floor plan. Because of this, the whole shebang might take as little as a week! A week!

On the last day of oak cabinets, there was much rejoicing and drinking of wine.

Back in the 80s, when my brother and I were little, my parents did something very fun for us kids that I still remember. There was wallpaper all over the house (re: 80s) and when it came time to change the wallpaper (not paint, that would be sooooo “passe” as my mom would say) my parents would hand over the markers and let us go to town ON THE WALLS. I remember the birds in the master bedroom, the tennis players in the den, and the eagles (‘MERICA!) in the family room. We colored on them all. What a hoot, as a kid, to be able to break the rules and do something so naughty!

So tonight, we gave Tyler and Salem Sharpies and let them go to town on the Formica countertops. Rule-following Tyler could not quite believe this but the wild child set herself free with every color we had. We do have some concern that Salem will repeat this on another surface or in the new kitchen, so we will be locking up the Sharpies until further notice. But, it was worth it.

Before
After
Practicing her “straight lines” she does at Montessori
So careful
We played tic-tac-toe!
See ya, Formica Crapola

Salem got some Sharpie on the laminate floor. In case you weren’t aware, the magic potion that removes Sharpie is….hand sanitizer. Hairspray also works. Literally drip or spray some on the offending marker, and wipe off. This won’t work on a porous surface, but it’s solid gold on a smooth one!

Salem: Ten Months

This baby girl was ten months old LAST September.  In 2017.  Oops.  I just realized I never finished this project.  I’m sorry, baby girl.

For your 10 month basket photos, you wore my favorite romper that was Tyler’s, with the elephants.  Little did you know you’d stay a peanut and wear it again all summer 2018!

I continued to feed you at night and you continued to wake up.  But, you slept in so that Daddy could take you to school, so that was great!  You crawled everywhere, laughed more, and experimented with the walker.  You traveled far and wide (and well…airplanes and random Pack N Plays had nothing on you.)  You stayed healthy and (mostly) happy!

Salem: Nine Months

Salem rocked nine months in this adorable 80s romper that was, of course, mine.  I just love her happy expressions and her Kate Gosselin hairdo (slicked to the side in the front, spiky in the back!)  The tiny tree in the background is a gift from Katie & Molly in honor of Nana…a perfect place to take photos of her mini.

Here are some more photos of Salem at nine months.

Becoming quite the stinker

Tyler definitely didn’t have bomb pops at 9 months old

Mt Princeton Hot Springs

More red, white, and blue bathing fashion

Sleeping? Crying? Avoiding eating? Probably all of the above.

The only toy she needs is a cup of letters and markers to dump out.

Tyler wasn’t even potty training yet!

More bomb pop sharing

I think it’s fair to say she loves bomb pops and Tyler!

Funny faces in my favorite Tyler-romper at the water table

Another romper of mine

Ooh ooh! Pick me!! I’m cute!!

Very helpful unloading the dishwasher, just like Tyler. If you like your silverware licked.

In a drawer just to see if she fit

ANOTHER Mommy dress

Her Olivia Newton John “Let’s Get Physical” look

At a wedding in Vail wearing newborn sized golden Mary Janes

She made this face SO often and I only ever caught it in a video, hence the blurry frame!

Fauxhawk

Don’t you practice the splits in rompers with a car on your head at a brewery?

Lots of playing in the toilet, something Tyler NEVER did

So smiley!

I was so sad when she grew out of this sleeper

Wait a second……

Our little ladybug at Tyler’s soccer game

Total second child noshing on ice cream at nine months old…I am certain that Tyler did not enjoy this luxury!

She is crawling like a boss (and wearing a handmade sweater that was mine!)

Salem is starting to walk pushing the walker and her hair is getting longer by the minute.  She is still definitely not sleeping through the night!

When You Want Chick-fil-A on Sunday

Awhile back, a coworker told me that if you brine pieces of chicken in a jar of pickle juice and fry them up, it tastes like Chick-fil-A.  As luck would have it, I had a couple of nearly-empty pickle jars in the fridge so we finished up the pickles and I left the juice in there.  For quite some time, because I forgot about the coworker and the chicken.  I found the pickle juice in there again and realized it was Sunday.  Perfect!  Since CFA is closed on Sunday, that was a great opportunity to try this on our own.

Not going to lie, cut-up raw chicken looks DISGUSTING floating in pickle juice.

I Pinterested this idea and found it to be completely legit.  I went with a recipe that called for powdered sugar in the coating, because sugar.

Tyler helped me shake it like a Polaroid picture.

Fry it up!

End result.

We also had coleslaw (CFA throwback) and peaches (sadly not in milkshake form) to round out the CFA experience.

The verdict?  It tastes AWESOME.  Just enough pickle flavor to make it seem like CFA but not too much to be weird.  I don’t think it gets as crispy when you pan-fry instead of deep-fry, and I didn’t have the traditional peanut oil on hand so I just used vegetable oil.  But still, yummy, although Tyler declared he would rather eat the chicken at Chick-fil-A!!

Salem: Eight Months

Salem really started to get FUN at eight months.  I absolutely adore this bomb-pop romper that she wore for the 4th of July as well.  This may also have been the last time she kept a headband on!

Here are some more photos of summertime fun with Salem.

Red, white, and blue suits are my favorite

The chicken fuzz can’t be tamed

Salem began her long career of escaping high chairs at this age

So happy in the morning!

The go-pod was a lifesaver this summer

Life was easy when she stayed in the Bumbo

Hooded towels=yummy

Finally, no more car seat on the stroller

Salem’s BFF, Monica. (The robot vacuum)

Camping with a Cabbage Patch Kid

Chomping lemons like a boss

LOVE this beautiful dress…blue & white…Nana would approve

Finding herself

Angry about still not having ANY teeth!

This is an outfit of mine from 1982

Salem: Seven Months

Last September I said I would catch up.  I never did.  Sigh.  Here we go.

At seven months, Salem was getting ready for a cross-country adventure.  The four of us traveled in the minivan to Cleveland, stopping in Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana.  It was very glamorous, and very fun.  More about that another time.

Salem is wearing a duck outfit.  I love duck baby things.  Maybe because we didn’t know the sex of the baby either pregnancy ahead of time so we had a lot of duck-themed items, or maybe just because they’re so quacking cute.

Here are some photos from the summer road trip adventure.

The Arch in St Louis

Still sleeping in strollers awkwardly

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A

Standing!

I adore this romper. It looked soooo long on the hanger and I waited forever to dress her in it…and it stops 2 inches above her ankles. Oops!

Lemon face!

Happy at Grandpa’s

She loves bananas just like Tyler

Swinging at Grandpa’s

She loves the exersaucer

First Tribe game!

Lilly & Salem. I LOVE this photo.

A ridiculous swim outfit complete with hat. Hinckley Reservation, CLE.

JOY

We thought she was teething. She wasn’t.

The go-pod was a lifesaver this summer.

Cars! And I loved this celestial sleeper on Tyler.

Toes in Lake Erie.

Hammock naps are the best

Salem was exhausted at a family party in Bowen, IL:

Daddy can make her laugh like nobody else:

Salem tried her first bite of ice cream at Mitchell’s in Cleveland.  I think she liked it.

It’s funny looking back and posting these an entire year later…in some ways she looks exactly the same and in some ways I hardly recognize her!