To Kill an Aunt

This morning I was googling how to kill an aunt... as the results came in I realized my mistake. Now I know how to take out my mother's sisters but there are still ants running all around my kitchen.

My dream come true.

When I was pregnant we decided to wait to find out what our baby was. I had a few dreams of a baby- it was always a boy and he had fair hair and blue eyes, and he was always a few months old. In one of them he was learning to crawl and I was on the floor with him. Today as I played on the floor with my fair haired blue eyed boy I had the weird feeling I had done this before, and it hit me, I had dreamed it- almost exactly- down to the quilt we were on. It was just like my dream. I picked up my boy in tears and held him tight, he is literally my dream come true.

and he laughs

The boy has been laughing in his sleep for a long time now- but Thanksgiving day was the first time we got a real laugh out of him while awake. His laughs are few and far between and really hard to get out of him. Well last night we were spending time with friends and Endre got on the floor next to Uzzi and off he went laughing the most I've ever heard and for a long time. Figures someone else would make him laugh.

Random Act of Kindness.

Today is my birthday. I don't like my own birthday- I haven't for a few years. Today though parts of it were pretty darn good. My mom came over and did my dishes, she watched my baby, and she let me go to the store alone. ALONE. Soooo luxurious. Then when I got home I decided to rake the leaves from the yard, something I've been wanting to do for a while now- again my mom watched baby so I could do so. As I did so I decided to do some work on the trees and other areas of the yard- as I was trimming away a gentleman in a truck pulled up and explained that he did tree work in the area. I explained we had a new baby and really couldn't afford anything like that and then joked that the only thing I'd really want done would be the funky Japanese maple. He said he'd take a look at it. A bit surprised I showed him the tree. Even the tree expert thought it was odd. The thing is low to the ground and all the branches are tangled. It looks like an upside down mop. So he said, 'well hold on' and went to his truck. He came back with a few tools and began cutting away! I couldn't believe it! A professional tree trimmer decided to trim my crazy tree for me. The random act of kindness was absolutely touching. The tree now looks amazing. It was the best birthday present.
The name of his business is Pependieck's Tree Service. I highly recommend them- not only because the guy was so nice, but because he did an AMAZING JOB! I have hope for that tree now. :)
awesome awesome awesome.


Our new improved tree.

The devolution of a conversation.

Zeek is three.

Me: 'Zeek, you're such a weirdo.'
Zeek: 'I'm not a beardo...you're a beardo!'
Me: 'I don't have a beard!'
Zeek: 'my dad has a beard!!!'

Jeremy is weird.

'I need to go to bed, I'm already dreaming of miniature horses the size of cats.'

On his way to bed he picks up Kip, 'Kip, you're almost the size of a miniature pony.'

Then he says to me, 'you should have seen them, they were really cute.'

A moment in the life of the LaDukes

Jeremy is feeding baby a bottle and asks if I will please get him a glass of water. So I say 'no I'm fine thanks.' I smile because I think I'm so funny. Then I say, 'ok yeah in a minute.'
A few minutes go by. He's very thirsty.
I say 'ok I will get you some.' A few more minutes go by.
He starts smacking his lips.
I say no nagging!
Then I get up as if to get him water but instead bust out in dance- the most amazing dance you've ever seen- seriously you've never seen moves like this.
to which Jeremy says 'that dance makes me want to throw up'
I tell him that's not nice and keep dancing my amazing dance.
'It's only because I'm so thirsty!" He says.
So I head towards the kitchen- moving like a cameleon, and say- 'this is how cameleon move'
Jeremy doesn't like it- he's very thirsty.
I finally bring back a glass of water.
Then laugh hysterically because I know I'm going to drink the entire glass of water in front of him. He asks, 'why are you laughing, weirdo'
I can't stop because I think what I'm about to do is so funny.
Finally I stop enough to drink a little.
'You're going to spit in my drink!' He says- now he's very annoyed and very thirsty.
I drink all the water. It was delicious.
I then go get him his glass. I have tears in my eyes I have found this whole thing so funny.
Jeremy drank the whole glass of water- he doesn't think it's funny.

Drug addiction hotline

Today my sister told me about how after getting her tonsils out she was on some pain meds and when she felt better she stopped taking them but actually went through withdrawals.

So later on I'm on the phone with my druggy sister & my mom asked if she had told me how she was a junky yet. We all think it's very funny that Rebekah had pain pill withdrawals.

Later on my mom's cell phone is ringing and I see that it is my sister, so I answer the phone intending to take it to my mother, but decide to be extra clever and say, "drug addiction hotline"
To which there is no reply and the line goes dead.
I feel as though I may have offended my addicted sister so I call her back to apologize. Turns out she didn't call- it was her son Henry who must have thought he dialed the wrong number and just hung up. Poor Henry.

It's sad because his mom does prescription pain pills.*



*She isn't actually addicted to pain killers.

A good dog Tobe.

While I was pregnant people would often ask if I was worried about how Tobe would react to a new baby. I was positive that I didn't need to worry- I knew in my heart that precious Tobes would be an excellent big brother.
Within the first hour of Elijah's life Tobe had met him- and before that as my father in law told me later, he sat outside the door waiting.

Immediately Tobe took it upon himself to be a protector. Always checking on baby to make sure all was well. If someone else held Eli, Tobe had to inspect him when I got him back, and my normally fairly quiet dog began to bark or growl at unknown noises. The first couple of weeks I would look at Tobe and he was as tired as Jeremy and I were because every minute I was up he was up too, making sure the baby and I were okay. I could see it in his eyes- he was actually stressed out over worrying so much for his brother. I would have to send him home with my mom just so he would have a chance to unwind.

Even as I type this, Tobe has come to let me know that baby is fussing- because even though two months ago if I were out here in the living room Tobe would be too, now he has a different job, keeping an eye on his boy.

My dad- the horse whisperer...

Yesterday I received a text message from my dad it read, “call barb horse out” and then “fenced in north east corner”
When I called him he told me he saw her horses out near her arena and put them in the fenced area above the arena. I told him I’d give Barb a call & let her know. As soon as we were off the phone I thought- how the heck did he get those horses to go anywhere?! I can’t get them to go anywhere.
When agility time rolled around Barb told me the story of how she found out they were missing and then asked, “How did he get them in there?” I laughed and told her I had no idea and was wondering the same thing! Apparently she couldn’t even get to them without grain to move them back into their real pasture.

So when I saw my dad that night I asked.
“I’m the horse whisperer, where do you think you got your ability to deal with animals from?”
“Seriously how did you get them in there?” I asked again.
“I spoke with authority! When you speak with authority all the kingdom listens!” He then stood up to finish the story, “I was driving by and out of the corner of my eye I noticed the two brown animals out near the arena. I was on a schedule so I kept on driving. I got to maduri farms and thought, ‘well that’s just not right’ so I turned around. When I got there they were heading towards the road, so I stood there- put my arms out and said, ‘Hey! (with authority)’
Then with a sweeping motion he moved his arm in direction which he was commanding the horse to go. “And I used my hat too…” He did the sweeping motion again with his hat. “And the horse knew just where I wanted it to go & the other followed.”

So that’s the story of my dad the horse whisperer.