It is done...

I had our precious Amber put down yesterday.  It was a horrible job and I spent most of yesterday in tears, but it's done and today I am relieved is done.  She was in so much pain and, even with medicine, she wasn't getting any better.  The actual act was so simple and so peaceful, I couldn't have asked for more for our princess.  Amber gazed into my eyes, looked at my mom and quite literally put her head on my lap and went to sleep.  It took moments.  It was hard to leave her and it is so hard to know that when we walk through our front door this afternoon and every day after, she won't be there to greet us.  Amber was a princess, a dog in a million, and she gave us so much love.  She really was a gentle giant and it was only fair to put an end to her pain.  While it's hard for us, I do believe it was the kindest thing I could have done for her.

I've said it before, it's never easy say goodbye, but I do know that she's gone to greener pastures, where she can run freely and without pain.

Thanks to everyone for all your love and support during this difficult time.

Love Sue XXX

Ups and downs...

Today is going to be a very long day for me, I had a bad night and didn't get much sleep after 1am.  Jake has also been up most of the night, so I'm sure he's feeling shattered today at school too, which I hate.  Fingers crossed he survives OK (or that his teacher does) till I pick him up at lunch time.  He can fall apart after that, we have nothing on this afternoon and the weather's not looking great, so it might be a movie afternoon for us.

It's my princess, Amber.  She's in pain and has been for a while.  I'm doing my best to keep her warm and comfortable, but have been hesitant to give her too many painkillers, because she's taking so many other tablets (3 kinds, amounting to 10 pills a day!) and the vet has warned that the painkillers are going to be bad for her kidneys.  She seems to manage OK without the painkillers too.  But just after 1 this morning, she moved and hurt her leg in the process.  I think she must've been lying on her sore leg and when she move and possibly tried to push herself over with it.  She howled out in pain, I flew out of bed to help her and got her settled again fairly quickly.  Jake was up though and so it too a while getting him settled and back to sleep again.  Then, just before 4am, Amber got up, she howled and howled and howled.  She went from my bedroom to the closed passage door and carried on crying.  I went to let her out and as she moved out of the way of the door, she stumbled over into a slumped sitting position. I couldn't touch her leg either and eventually managed to get her (still howling) back into her bed.  By the time that I got her settled down, the lights were on and Jake and I were wide awake.  I managed to get her to eat something and got a painkiller into her.  She seemed much better this morning, but I am anxious to get home to her.  And I must get more meds from the vet today.

I find myself in the position of having to decide whether to carry on with her and give her the necessary pain medicines, that will ultimately damage her internal organs, or whether to have her put down while the going's good.  She has been such a loyal, gentle soul and I just want to do what is best for her.  She has given us much love over nearly 11 years (!) and it's only fair that I do what's in her best  interest, not mine.  Now that the end seems to be drawing near for her, I am finding this is so very hard to do.  Ulitmately, Amber was Jacques' princess, so I guess it feels a little like I'd be sending her off to be with him, which makes it both harder and easier.

Sue X

The weekend...

I've been battling a little with blogger this week.  My photos wouldn't upload and without them, I had very little to say.  Anyway, a few days late and here we are.  

Life has been hectic as usual, although work is a bit quiet for me.  Last week was mad to say the least and I'm enjoying having a slightly slower week this week.

All is well with Jake, he lost his first top tooth on Friday afternoon (the bottom ones have both been replaced by permanent teeth already).  This tooth has been loose for ages and he has been wriggling it non-stop, so I'm really glad to finally have it out.  Jake was very excited too, knowing that the tooth mouse would be paying him a visit.  The permanent tooth was already through when the little one came out.  I felt a little emotional holding Jake's tooth this time.  I couldn't help remembering how excited I'd been when it came through all those years ago...

Saturday morning saw us up bright and early for a rugby festival at Monte Vista Primary, in our neighbouring suburb.  Jake has been so excited about the festival and, despite the drizzle and chilly air, they were all so amped, it was very cute.  Here they are warming up before the game...

Waiting their turn...

Little warriors ready for action...

And on they go!  Jake is always super excited to be in the front of the line, he knows this is the captain's position, even though they don't have a captain at this stage...

Jake has been a little nervous of getting hurt in a tackle and I can't say I blame him, but tackling is a big part of rugby, so if that's his chosen sport he just has to man up about it for now.  He did really well on Saturday and made a few really good tackles, making his mama very proud...

He also managed to have one or two good runs with the ball, which thrilled him no end...

Ready for action...

It's really sweet how excited they get when they score...

As always, Jake had tons of supporters.  Here he is with his Auntie Tam and cousin Becky...

Dirty legs!  2 games down, 1 to go...

Danie was the photographer for the day, so there was even a picture of Jake with his number one supporter...

His Grannies (and grandpas) were there too.  Jake took this photo, note the fingers...

Happy families...

The team all lined up and ready for their last match...

I love how they all shake hands at the end of each game, very grown up!  This last team was Danie's old school.  Jake really liked the idea of playing against them, but was a little worried that Danie would be supporting his old team, instead of Edgemead's...

Pancakes for afterwards...

After a long soak in the shower, he was sparking clean again and very happy to spend some time vegging in front of the TV after all his hard work!  He has match this afternoon, again against Danie's old school, and another on Saturday morning.  And, while he probably isn't the best player on the team, he's on the team and he loves it and that's all that's important!  For him, it's just about having some fun with the boys, being part of the team and getting some fresh air...

Enjoy the rest of the week!

With love,

Sue X

The long weekend...

It's been a busy week and, despite last weekend having been a long one for Jake & I, I am really looking forward to this coming weekend.  We don't have anything planned and I'm quite excited to just relax and do what we want to, when we want.  I've had both book and dinner club this week and I am exhausted.

While we've been lucky with our weather this winter (the weather has really been gorgeous), today's cold and rainy, so I'm extra pleased that I can slob on the couch without feeling too guilty about it.  Jake does have a rugby festival tomorrow morning, which will be fun in the rain - the things we do for our kids.

Anyway, amidst the rain, here are some pics from our long weekend in the sun. 

Jake absolutely loves cherries.  They're so expensive at the moment, but it's worth every cent to watch him scoff down a whole bowl of them in 2 minutes...

Somewhere during his feeding frenzy, he realised that cherries are a little heart shaped.  Here, he's telling me he's love struck (with me, of course!)...

On Monday, Danie had to work, so I took Jake ice-skating.  It was tons of fun and Jake had a ball.  We laughed from the minute we got on the ice. I was very unsteady; I haven't skated since I was a kid and falling's a little more daunting these days.  And it didn't help having Jake cling to me every time we moved away from the railings.  I was VERY stiff the next day, but we'll definitely go again, it was a good laugh watching Jake wobble and fall everywhere.  At least he could laugh at himself!

On Tuesday (public holiday), we hooked up with Rosanne and Gareth and went through to Spier for lunch.  The weather was glorious and it was wonderful to sit in the sun.  Unfortunately, the picnic site is not running properly due to renovations, but it meant going to the hotel for lunch. YUM!

They have a bird sanctuary, which I'd promised Jake we could go to.  He was totally amazed to be able to touch various owls and even hold some.

The guide was getting these little barn owls to dance to music on his cell phone.  Very cute how they rocked from side to side as soon as the music started...

Snoozing barn owl...

All of the birds are rescued for various reasons.  Many are rehabilitated to be released back into the wild, however some have been so badly injured, release is impossible.  This beautiful Fish Eagle has only one eye.  Another Martial Eagle has had to have her wing amputated.  Fortunately, in the case of the Martial Eagle, she will be used for breeding in an attempt to help raise the species diminishing numbers...

This Martial Eagle was in good condition - the injured one was behind a fence, so I didn't get a great shot of it.  They are magnificent...

 

 Next up were the Spotted Eagle Owls, which we were allowed to hold.  We managed to get this one onto Jake's head for a moment...

We couldn't get this guy off Danie's head.  His name was Craig...

Jake loved it and we managed to draw quite a crowd on the other side of the fence...

This Cape Vulture seemed to be trying to escape, but apparently often sticks his head out from under his cage to catch some extra sun.  His neck's supposed to look like that...

We saw them feeding this secretary bird too.  Her left leg was broken previously, and she'd been badly taken care of.  She's not as big as most of her kind, but it was great to see how they kick to kill prey.  There are still plenty of these gorgeous birds in the wild...

Next up was the cheetah enclosure.  Jake's been dying to go; I just wasn't brave enough to let him go on his own.  This is Pedro.  They have 6 cheetah for encounters at Spier (out of 19 on the premises) and only allow males to be part of this programme.  They're apparently less temperamental than the females.  Pedro was beautiful and it was amazing to be able to get up close and personal with such an incredible creature, even if it wasn't in the wild.  We had to pay to go in and they have very strict rules about where you can stand in relation to the cheetah.  Unfortunately, the rules meant that we weren't allowed to walk around freely to take photos and the guide actually insisted on taking all the pictures for me.  He did OK, I just wanted him to take a hundred more...

Anyway, home time for me.  Let the weekend begin!  Hope it is a good one for you all.

Love Sue XXX

The prettiest little princess...

OK, so she's my niece and I'm allowed to brag a little.  To us, she's one of the most beautiful little girl's ever born.  We are all smitten and she just gets cuter by the moment.  Jake is crazy about her too and it's lovely to see him sitting quietly on the couch with this tiny bundle in his arms.  

Bianca is nearly 3 months old already, where did the time go?  She's very like Connor in looks, but definitely more like Joanne, where Connor is more like Paul.  I'm sure she can't possibly end up being as busy as her cute big brother is either.  With her beautiful, big blue eyes, long lashes and perfect little mouth, she's bound to be a heart breaker in the not too distant future...

She's sleeping over at my mom's this evening, so I'm hoping to get a cuddle a little later.  Connor will be there too, so mom will have her hands full.  I must take more photos...

Love,
Sue XXX

What's happening today...

• I am getting off work a little early to go to the municipality to submit plans to build a braai room on to my house that my sister's living in.  It has taken ages to get to the point of actually having the plans signed and ready to go in and I am very excited to finally get this off my back.  The people I needed to sign the plans before submitting to council, were not very accommodating and while she claimed she was "not being difficult", she was a real pain in my neck.  It meant needing had to get a second set of plans drawn up so that she's happy, but finally she is and has signed.  Today they go in for approval (fingers crossed) and hopefully we'll get them back in about 2 months time.  Gareth's a real handy man, so he's quite keen to get going with the alterations and I can't wait to see it done!  I hope I get invited to the party!

• I'm also going to go to home affairs to apply for a new passport for Jake and I. Ours have both expired and I hate the feeling of not being able to even think about going anywhere.  Not that I can afford to go anywhere right now, I just like knowing I can.

• Jake is spending time with his granny Karen today.  He doesn't know it yet, so will be excited when his auntie drops him off there instead of at home.  I very rarely fetch Jake from school on a Friday.  The whole school comes out at the same time and it's chaos.  Josette goes down early to fetch her girls too, so she usually drops Jake off on her way past.  

• We're supposed to be going to Danie's side this weekend, but it looks like it's going to be a pretty busy weekend, so I'm not quite sure what's on the cards.

• My friend Wes's uncle passed away suddenly earlier in the week and I am thinking about their family and sending much love as they prepare to say their final goodbyes tomorrow.

• I am busy re-decorating Jake's room and really enjoying myself.  It's motivating me to get going on the rest of the house.  It's high time that I actually made it a bit more of a special space for him.  Up until now it's just had a bed/bookshelf/desk combo and a wardrobe shoved full of toys and books and clothes.  I'm going to move some of his things into our spare bedroom, which is pretty much empty at the moment. That'll free up a lot of space for us.  He's chosen a Springbok (our national rugby team) theme, which is a great choice with the world cup starting next month.  There's tons of things available to decorate with and we're having lots of fun.  Jake's been adamant that he wants green and yellow walls to match the theme and I have managed to convince him that's OK if we go very light.  Pictures will follow when we're done, no doubt.

•  Tuesday's a public holiday and Jake's school is closed on Monday.  I've also taken Monday off, giving us a wonderful 4 day weekend to enjoy together.  I have so many fun things that I'd like to do with him, including ice-skating and going to watch Jock of the bushveld.  He's also dying to see the cheetahs and raptors at Spier, so I'm hoping the sun comes out and we can make a turn there.  But, if the weather stays cold, we're going to head off to Ceres to try find the snow for sure!

And that's me and my thoughts.  Hope you are all keeping warm (except you, Lee, hope you're nice and cool) and wishing you all a happy weekend!

Sue XXX