Wow, it’s been quite a week.

Last Saturday, a quick Facebook check of people’s status updates turned into a week-long drama when I read that one of my friends (also named Jennifer) was “making an emotional plea for her friends to go rescue 5 dogs that were dumped at Lake Conway. Very sweet, but very skinny and tick-laden.”

Oh boy. Well, we couldn’t just ignore that, now could we?

There is so much I could write about this past week’s experience that I hardly know where to start, and if I wrote it all at once it would be way too long. There are several topics floating around in my head:

• The pitiful state of animal control and rescue in Faulkner county
• What I think needs to be done about it
• Our own frustrating and at times infuriating journey that led us to today
• Our observations about and interactions with the dogs themselves
• The actual rescue

I think I’ll start with the happy ending and work my way backwards, because it’s late, and posting pictures and writing about them is the easiest kind of blog post.

To give proper credit to the happy ending: first of all God, who reminded us that He works things out just when we think they’re crumbling apart, and His instruments: Lynda from Memphis Area Golden Retriever Rescue (Lynda is a local contact), and Donna from All About Labs.

Here are the dogs at the lake:

(more…)

Comments(6)

Anna’s favorite thing to do right now is toddle around and giggle while waving in the air various items she’s found that she thinks she’s not supposed to have. She’s really quite pleased with herself. Here she is with my hairbrush and Kleenex pack out of my purse.

She’s going to love playing outside now that she can walk. I got her some new little canvas shoes for going out. She helped me water my flowers this morning.

(more…)

Comments(0)

We took Anna to Laurel Park this afternoon to play. She’s been there before, but she was too little to do anything but sit in her stroller. This time was the first time we took her just for her, so she could play and have fun. And she did! She was all smiles the whole time! First we put her in the swing, then we let her climb around on the equipment and go down the slides with us, then back to the swing, then all the after-school kids showed up and Anna just watched everybody for a few minutes, then we headed home for a nap.

Every stage of this kid thing is fun—I loved the baby stage and I’ll miss it, but we’re going to have a blast playing at the park and doing all the new fun things she’s old enough to do now!

(more…)

Comments(4)

Happy Easter from the Felios! Unfortunately it was not a day to take pictures outside, but we still got some cute ones I think. The dress is cousin Addie’s, as are the shoes, and sweater… I think at least the socks are ours…

(more…)

Comments(4)

Well, this is it… the last in the series of month-birthday photo shoots and blog posts. Anna is 1 whole year old today! What a year it’s been. Yes, it has gone by just as fast as everybody said it would. From the moment we brought her home, I had this sense that “the clock is ticking” and her little baby stage was disappearing before my eyes. But even though the time has flown by, I can honestly say I have no regrets. I am incredibly blessed to be able to stay home with her and have spent most of my time with her. I’ve taken lots of pictures and have recorded her milestones and notable moments on my blog. We’ve gone on outings, read books, sung songs, played games, snuggled sweetly… and you know what? It still went by fast! There’s nothing you can do to stop the clock, so you just have to soak up as much as you can.

I think one of the most enjoyable things about Anna has been her wonderful smile. She smiled early, and from the time she was just a few weeks old, everyone said she was the smiliest (is that a word?) baby they’d ever seen. She would flash smiles at friends and strangers alike—anyone who would make eye contact with her. She’s such a joy!

Here are a few pictures from today. The first few are from the library, where we went this morning for story time and play time.

(more…)

Comments(0)

My baby girl is turning 1! We had her birthday party yesterday out at my parents’ house. My parents, David’s parents, my brother and his family, and Anna’s godparents and god-grandmother were all there. Anna was in a great mood and had plenty of those wonderful Anna-smiles to go around.

And thank you, Jenny, for letting us borrow your DSLR camera for the day!

(more…)

Comments(5)

Ahh, the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. When we went last year, I was one week away from giving birth to our sweet Anna, and I found myself looking ahead to this year as we would enjoy the festivities with our little girl. I envisioned a warm, sunny day; maybe little Anna could wear the green-and-white striped sundress and matching hat I had recently bought her; perhaps she would even be walking, toddling around in little sandals, the sunshine illuminating her golden curls…

… instead she looked like this:

Yep, it was a cold gray day, so we were all bundled up in layers. Weather issues aside, she’s not walking yet, that particular dress is still way too big, and she still doesn’t have much hair. But that’s ok. We had a great time and our little girl was absolutely wonderful. We manipulated her schedule a bit so she would take a nap before we went, and it worked—she was in a great mood the whole time! She seemed to enjoy watching everything and everybody and being with mommy and daddy.

Our friends the Allisons went with us. Here’s Emily with the youngest of their three daughters:

The Lyon College Pipe band:

Our friend and fellow musician Joe with his Irish Wolfhound:

Dancers from the O’Donovan School of Irish Dance:

Comments(0)

In the afternoon, we dressed Anna in her Addie’s Santa outfit (which my long-time readers may remember from last year) and headed over to my parents’ house, where we spent the rest of the day with them and my brother and his family.

(more…)

Comments(4)

We had our first Christmas morning with Anna at home.

Look—someone filled Anna’s stocking! (This was actually my first stocking when I was a baby!)

(more…)

Comments(0)

“First Thanksgiving” family pics:

I think Anna’s trying to get Sasha to smile:

(more…)

Comments(1)