R.I.P. Billy (or Gilly)

UPDATE: DING-DONG, the frog is dead. (Sorry, did that sound a little callous? Before you judge, see how you'd feel after handling a slimy brown tank filter every week, wiping frog-water splashes off the dining room table, trying to catch a slippery frog after he's jumped out of the net onto the floor, etc. That aside, I do feel bad for the little guy.) I still cannot tell the cause of death, but pretty sure it wasn't dropsy (google "sick African Clawed Frog" if you're really curious and want to see some gross pictures, but I'd advise against it). After seeming to recover somewhat last night, swimming up and down in the tank, we found him this morning floating in the holding tank. With his arms out and legs crossed, motionless. I worked today and decided to leave him all day to be totally sure. When we got in, he was in the exact same position. This evening, after putting the kids in bed, I poured him and his stinky water into the woods gave him a proper burial. I will now have to re-change the surviving frog's water to make sure that he doesn't catch whatever Billy (or Gilly) had. In case you're wondering how Gabe's taking it, he was totally fine and casually told me, "Maybe we'll get a dog." Or not...

Fun fact: Xenopus laevis is aka the African Clawed Frog, and aka "Grow-a-Frog". I learned this today after a little research.

One of our African Clawed Frogs, Gilly (or perhaps Billy?), appears as if he is about to go on a trip to the giant pond in the sky.

I went to their tank to feed them and he was floating, as they often do. However, as I dropped the food into the tank, Billy (or Gilly) did the typical routine and sped away, splashing water everywhere, while Gilly (or Billy) continued floating and let a couple of food pellets land on his head. He did not move. Thinking he was dead, I was ready to do my happy dance and flush the little smelly thing down the toilet decided to pick him up with the net and put it in a "holding area" (a plastic pitcher that will never again hold our drinks) to make absolutely sure. He continued being very still, so I started thinking about how to tell Gabe. Even though Gabe does not ever look at the frogs, much less take care of them, I knew he would be very sensitive to this kind of thing. However, as I put Billy (or Gilly) into the pitcher with Gilly (or Billy) so I could change the water, Gilly (or Billy) moved slightly. After changing the water and putting both frogs back in the tank, Gilly (or Billy) has continued to float. I gently poked him with the net and he did not move at all. Hoping that the frog indeed died peacefully and painlessly and that I can now flush him he would start acting like himself (or herself), I pushed him underwater to see if he would swim back down. (These frogs are completely aquatic and totally stay underwater, coming up only briefly for air.) He (or she) then started floating almost vertically. Not a good sign, I'm guessing.

Long story short, I'm still monitoring both frogs. I have no idea when to tell that the frog is dead - everytime it doesn't move for a while, it suddenly moves slightly. Poor Billy (or Gilly) will probably end up sharing a tank with his or her dead pal for a day or two before I am confident enough to flush him. Sorry, that is a little morbid. But true.

The lesson for all you potential Grow-a-Frog owners: please google "Grow-a-Frog" before ordering. If I had done so, I would have found out that:

(1) These frogs are illegal in several states, as they are an invasive species not native to our country. Montana has actually contacted 60+ owners of these frogs and asked them to euthanize them due to this fact. Hoping I get such a call from the state of Kentucky.

(2) They have a lifespan of approximately 15 years. DARN IT.

(3) They require a lot of space (recommended: 10 gal. per frog), varying diets, specific types of filters, rocks, hiding spaces, light, on and on and on...essentially very particular as to their needs.

(4) There are a bunch of bacterial infections, diseases, etc., that these frogs can get if you don't. From my research, I am unofficially diagnosing the frog with a bacterial infection. Lethary? Check. Disinterest in eating? Check. Dirty water? Ummm...I'll take the 5th on that one.

Will update when I can determine more about his condition.

(Yes, I learned how to do strikethrough and, as you can tell, I love it!)

No more frog talk...

After a lengthy frog post, I thought it might be nice to follow up by discussing the critters in this house who do NOT swim around all day in their own waste. Unless we are having a reeeeaaalllllllly bad day.

Here's a little brother-sister comparison in some major areas of life:

• Eating: AUDREY, hands down. Over the past few weeks, Audrey has enjoyed omelet with green onions, creamed spinach, butternut squash with cinnamon butter, roasted red peppers, oatmeal, and...dill pickles. No, these were not eaten together. To contrast, Gabe lives on a strict diet of: dry cereal for breakfast; sandwich, crackers, and fruit for lunch; grilled or baked meat with raw veggies or cooked broccoli or potatoes for dinner; and then a junk food treat. Tonight I made hamburger hashbrown casserole (yum), which Audrey ate silently for about five minutes until her plate was totally empty. Gabe ate his roll first, then picked around at his plate until he finally told me, "This is disgusting. The beef is yucky. The corn is too spicy." I, the Enabler, scraped all the beef, corn, and cheese off for him so he could eat about half of the hashbrown layer, and that was all he ate. AND, he does not like chocolate very much. No words.


• Temperment: GABE, hands down. Gabe is very difficult to anger (although he can almost cry on command), and usually he only gets mad when he is already tired or hungry. Audrey will scream if you look at her the wrong way or get in her space if she doesn't want you there. Really.


• Humor: Gabe, although this may be an unfair competition since one of the competitors can't talk in full sentences and all. And often, Gabe's humor may or may not be intentional. Gabe, dressed in his policeman costume, likes to say "You are under arrest for the right to 'main silence." And tonight, he asked me if I could "ask God and Jesus to make Batman and Robin real." Hee, hee.


• Toughness: AUDREY. I don't know if it's because she's the second kid, or if it's just the fact that she's a girl. (Sorry, but it's true.) She can fall, knocking her head on something on the way down, and bounce right back up. For Gabe, every scrape and bump is a huge ordeal.

Hopefully everyone had a happy Mother's Day. We definitely did - good weather, food, and family time. Barry, Gabe, and Audrey got me a digital picture frame, which is awesome. Gabe let me know right off the bat that he didn't care about the present, but he was excited about giving me my card, a talking one with Michael Scott from "The Office". (Gabe always gets to pick the cards, and he inevitably chooses the $5.00-and-up cards.) The second part of my present, getting to sleep in and then lounge in bed for a while before getting up, is happening this weekend. Yay!

I have a lot of pictures to put up, which I will try to tackle soon ("soon" meaning "within the next month").

A bad idea

Audrey has gotten a cold and was so irritable today that she refused to take a nap, which really did wonders for her bad mood. Her nose was running everywhere, she kept sneezing, and on top of it all, I think she may be cutting some teeth. Her shirt was soaked all day today from her drool, and she chewed her hand so much that she now has a little raw place on it.

Gabe and I decided that we all might enjoy getting out of the house for a few minutes and heading to the library. Hmmm...a cranky baby...a quiet place for reading...I am clearly lacking in the judgment/decisionmaking department. (The bright side: with that skill set, I should be qualified to serve a few terms in Congress. HA!). I am also ashamed to say that we have a 2-library rotation: if we have late fees or, as a completely random example, lost a book called "Backbeard the Hairy Pirate" from Library 1, we'll go to Library 2 to delay having to face the music. Not yet able to find old Backbeard, we went to the other library today.

As soon as we entered the building, Audrey started wiggling to get down. I tried to get to the kid's room quickly, but she started her very loud scream immediately. For lack of a better description, it seems to come shrieking down from the heavens and then echo across the lands. That description does not do it justice, especially when done in a quiet indoor area. Everyone, even three little girls glued to their computer games (more on them later), turned and glared at me. The librarian came in to see what the noise was, and then said to me jokingly, across the room, "Stop pinching that baby!" Nothing like a good baby-abuse joke, spoken in an "outdoor voice", to make you feel more comfortable.

So I decided to put her down and let the books fall as they may. Luckily, Audrey pretty much ignored the books (except for an unfortunate Science Fair book, which honestly wouldn't have been missed anyway) and headed to the stuffed animal collection. Since there really wasn't anything there that she could hurt, Gabe and I started looking at some books for him.

Suddenly, we heard a fierce lion. Audrey was holding a stuffed lion and growling. Loudly and repeatedly, and with a cute big smile. Okay, so this was not as bad as screaming, but still not the best library noise. I brought her a little bag of blocks thinking this might be more library-appropriate, and we continued looking at the books. She apparently didn't play with them for very long. I was alerted to the sound of a little girl saying "ow, the baby pinched me". I looked over and saw Audrey squeezing in between each of the computer girls and patting them, one by one (I call it "patting", but you may know this act by its more common term, "assault"). I don't know if she actually pinched someone, but I'm pretty sure she was just trying to play with them. Either that, or she wanted her turn on the computer.

It was finally time to check out our books. I had a bad feeling when we entered the main area of the room and saw: several older men, a young girl on a laptop, two guys in dress clothes with laptops, and a few rough-looking men on the library computers. (Does anyone actually go to the library to read books anymore?) This probably would not be a crowd receptive to a rowdy, wet-faced baby. Afraid to pick her up to check out our books, but unable to leave her completely unattended to do so, I decided to let her walk around the library for a while. I followed her around as she darted in and out of aisles, acting as if I was intentionally scoping out, say, that Thurgood Marshall biography we kept passing. Every one in a while I managed to get in front of her in the hopes that she would start following me, but she would just change course each time. Then Gabe, the good big brother, decided to make it into a game. He started hiding behind shelves and then jumping in front of her while loudly whispering "BOO, SIS!" We finally managed to check our books out back in the safety of the kid's room, and I imagine that as we left, the library patrons stood and applauded in unison.

As a result of today's trip, we are now intensifying our efforts to find "Backbeard" so we are welcome back at the other library.

The Weeping Tree

This tree in front of our house is so pretty in the spring, but hasn't bloomed as much this year because of the crazy cold-then-warm weather. It is a weeping...something...

Anyway, I always try to get pictures of Gabe in front of it when it blooms, and now I can get Audrey, too (although she was more interested in dead leaves on the ground).

More of the kids

Walking in grass sure is tough.

Not quite his real smile, but pretty close...

Pretty nightgown!

The famous monster pose...very scary.

Audrey loves to be outside, even when she has to wear her sun hat.

Gabe and his (very deflated) kite. Luckily, he enjoyed running with the kite dragging on the ground.

Gabe's "big boy" bike and helmet. He was just as excited about the helmet as he was the bike.

Audrey always tries to catch this beam of light that shines in through her blinds.

Gabe playing in the rain.

Audrey's favorite pasttime: eating.

Happy Easter from Capt. Jack Sparrow and Crew

Very appropriate for the holiday (not).

These are some cute outdoor pictures of the kids from Easter.

I was anxious to get these up, and since I am in the process of putting up a lot more pictures from before Easter, the next few posts will be extremely out of order.

Also, are we the only family that celebrates major religious holidays with pirate attire? I thought so. The weather was so nice on Sunday that Gabe was inspired to dress like Captain Jack Sparrow, full makeup effects and all, and play pirates outside for a while.

More to come!

Baby Pedicure

With this fun new toy I don't even notice that something strange is going on around my feet.

Light pink!

Yeah, I went there. Toenail polish on a 1-year-old. And I'm going back as soon as I can get my hands on the right toy that will keep her still. Perhaps next time we'll try the jar of rosemary?

(A disclaimer: although I am now a baby toenail painter, I did it in the most responsible way possible. I used non-formaldehyde polish and gave Audrey a pepper shaker to keep her hands out of the polish.)

Happy belated 1st birthday, Audrey!

Party's over!

The party took a very strange turn...Audrey switched from cake to socks, and Gabe began showing off what could only be described as severe "Mountain Dew mouth". (Did anyone see the 20/20 Diane Sawyer report on southeastern Kentucky? A fine representation of us.)

This is about as bad as it got, cake-wise. We were a bit shocked at her lack of excitement over the cake. Truly, that should have taken her back to the fetus stage, when her diet was about 50% cake (thanks to me, her dessert-a-holic mother).

A little bit of a mess.

Just a tiny taste...I think she was more interested in the tiny candy dots than in the actual cake.

Who needs a stick to whack a pinata? Try a 1-year-old...

Don't worry, Jake, we'll get you a blue one for your birthday.

Gabe with Papaw Buddy.

Stealing a few chips before dinner.

Wow, I get a custom-made dress, Nana's glasses, AND I GET TO SIT ON THE FLOOR without Mom quickly picking me up? Now that's a party.

I got the privilege of standing in front of our entire family while holding a sombrero and the birthday girl (see far left). Yes, I declined to actually put on the sombrero, but I think I held it rather festively.

Audrey on her "throne" waiting for her royal quesadilla.

Wal-mart can really spoil you...you order a baby's birthday cake and get a free little one for their hand-smashing enjoyment.

Just a little over a month late...lo siento. (Can you tell I am really excited to pull out a few high school Spanish phrases for this post?)

For Audrey's first birthday, we had a relaxed, all-American fiesta (a contradiction, I know) at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. We thought that might be easier than trying to do something inside at our house (white couch, and five kids under five-years-old...hmmm...); plus, Barry and I do not sound half as snazzy as our Mexican waiter-amigos while singing the Mexican birthday song.