RAW(e) Pets & Animals Post

I'm participating in a post on another blog about pets & animals, so I had to use my sweet Chloe's pictures. We miss her so much!

Luke's 1st Birthday!

Luke Ryne Gowder celebrated his first birthday on November 24, 2009. We had a Pumpkin Party for him a few days later. He loved seeing everyone at his party & he LOVED his cake! I made his cake this year & I thought it turned out cute. I had made Jack's first birthday cake, so I figured I would make Luke's! I made him his own pumpkin cake. I just happened to find pumpkin-shaped cake pans at Wal-Mart after Halloween. I made a bigger cake for everyone else & just put pumpkins made with icing on it. Jack wanted to blow out the candle for Luke, too! Jack had fun celebrating Luke's birthday, too. He's such a great big brother!

I can't believe he's 1! The first year went by way too fast! Happy Birthday my sweet baby boy! We love you more than you will ever know!

Christmas Card Photos

I LOVE pictures, especially of my boys. So, when Amy met us to do pictures for our Christmas cards, I knew I would have a hard time picking out the one (or ones) for the card. I was so right! Amy did a great job & I have so many favorites! Here are a few (well, maybe more than a few!)...

Chloe

Our sweet Chloe has gone to Heaven to be Jesus' dog. She got sick on Halloween with arthritis. We thought she would be fine with medicines, but she just kept getting worse. A few days after Thanksgiving, we found out she had cancer. We were just devastated! Chloe was the BEST dog. We rescued her almost 8 years ago & gave her the best, most loving home that she so deserved. She loved Jack from the moment we brought him home from the hospital, and I think the feeling was mutual. She was the same with Luke. She loved those boys & boy did they both love her! One of the hardest things we have had to do was to tell Jack that Chloe was gone. He did pretty good with the news, but he really misses her. Even Luke, who had just had his 1st birthday, looked for her. It was so sad! I know that she is in Heaven & she will watch over us. We remind Jack of that almost every day, that Angel Chloe is always with him! She will always be a special dog! We love you, Chloe! And we miss you tons!

Halloween!

We had so much fun on Halloween! Jack LOVES to dress up & to go trick-or-treating! Jack was Iron Man & Luke was a penguin. Jack picked out Luke's costume since he is a big fan of The Penguins of Madagascar! We have so much fun on Halloween in our neighborhood every year. Luke went to a few doors, but he mostly stayed in his wagon, which he loved!

Luke's 1st ER Visit

We had our first trip to the ER with Luke on October 2nd. He had a freak accident with a chair at daycare & he nearly cut the tip of his little finger off. He rode in the paramedics truck to the ER where I was waiting on him. The paramedic said he slept the whole way down! I couldn't believe it! After about 10-12 stitches, a temporary cast & a 6-hour ER visit, we got to go home. (They took him immediately when he got to the ER, but we had to wait 6 hours since his last snack, meal, etc. before they could sedate him for the stitches.) A few days later, we saw a hand-specialist (Dr. Oakes) and she told us that his finger looked like it would heal very well. They put a new hard cast on him, all the way up to his shoulder! He had the first one for 2 weeks & then another one on for 2 more. He had a red one first, Bret picked that out. The 2nd one was orange, for Halloween!

Luke was so amazing duirng all of this. The cast did not slow him down at all. In fact, he started taking his first steps with the cast! Our biggest challenge was bathing him. We could not get the cast wet, so it took both of us to bathe him. He loved being back in the kitchen sick for his baths! I think he like both Mommy & Daddy giving him his bath, too! He earned the nickname, "Bob the Builder" at daycare. It didn't take him long to figure out he could hit things with his cast & make loud noises, like chairs, the cabinet doors, walls, etc. Luckily, he did not hit anyone with it!

We are so pleased at how his finger has healed. It looks so good! The ER doctor did an amazing job with the stitches & putting his finger tip back on. You can hardly tell now (3 months later) than anything had happened, Praise God!

Catch Up Soon!

So much has been going on lately & I haven't updated in a while. I promise updates very soon! Here's a sneak as to our latest happenings...