Favorite Time of Year

I realized today that it has been a really long time since I've blogged! Sorry y'all!!! I think I even needed a break from all the McLain drama! ;)

So we have been busy this week getting ready to add a new addition to our family. No - not a baby - well not yet.......but we finally found our dog!!! He was a stray and is in a shelter until Tuesday, when I will pick him up. Hoping to really surprise my little man. He has seen him and played with him @ the shelter, but doesn't really understand that he is coming to live with us next week. He is a year old, wire fox terrier. He REALLY needs a bath and a good grooming.....but he has big potential. I have a feeling he is gonna be another baby around here as he seems to be VERY full of energy. He plays ball with Aiden and loves to wrestle......so, of course, he fits right in with our little guy! We have been looking for a few months and have petted and played with several of them but this one seems to be the best match for our family. Very excited about watching Aiden and our new dog (Tebow) become good friends!

This week has also been pretty eventful for us in other ways. Never a dull moment around here! On Tuesday, I decided to take Aiden to the Animal Shelter to pet the kittens. Since we were learning the letter "c" this week, I thought it would be great to teach him about cats. Well, Mother of the Year Award right here. I totally FORGOT that my child is allergic to cats....yeah....and I let him spend one hour petting cats. He was doing fine until we got back to the car. I noticed he was very whiny and fidgety. I thought he was just upset because he didn't want to leave the cats so I told him we would come back and see them again. As I am strapping him into his car seat, I noticed he was scratching his arms and legs and had a red bump on his face....then I remembered. Seriously - can you say mommy guilt?? Well he started rubbing his eyes, which started to swell together.....and then halfway home he breaks out in some really big hives. So I tried really hard to recall if a cat allergy can be life threatening. Thank goodness - it isn't usually. So we made it home. As I ran into the house with my poor, miserable, swollen 3 year old, I stripped off his clothes, put him in a bath and gave him the most benadryl that I can give someone his size and watched him and prayed. Within a few minutes he was asleep in my arms and the hives were starting to go away. He slept 3 hours but by the time he woke up, he was fine. His first words to me after waking were, "That cat made me sick!!!" LOL!! I told him how sorry mommy was and that we would be more careful next time! :( Just in case you are wondering, he is fine with dogs......just has problems with kitties.

So you would think that would be enough for one week. Yeah - not around here! I'm telling you, I think Aiden has way more than one angel looking out for him. On Friday, mom was off work - so we were planning to take Aiden to "try out" this dog and see if he would be a good match for us. Everything was going great.....until we were on the way home. As we were driving down the road, mom and I were talking. Aiden was looking at books in the back seat and was uncharacteristically quiet. I happened to look back @ him @ about the same time he screamed. Y'all he had the seat belt wrapped tightly around his neck twice. Very close to choking. I yelled for mom to help him as I tried to cross 3 lanes of traffic to get to the other side. She couldn't get it off of him so by the time I got into a parking lot, she was sure she couldnt get it off. So I jumped out of the car and tried to get it off. It would not budge - not at all. SO I just remember halfway yelling to mom to run in the furniture store that we were parked at and get some scissors. By the time she got in the store, he has panicked and pulled it so tight that only my finger would fit in between his neck and the belt and he was gagging. I keep trying to calm him down all the while realizing that if he pulls on it even a little more he would start choking. About that time, the manager comes running out to the parking lot with a knife. He tried to pull the belt one time to see if he could loosen it...and as he realized that it wasn't moving, he cut it. My poor guy was VERY traumatized. There is nothing like choking to death in your own car and then a strange man running to you with a knife!!!! Y'all he cried for 45 minutes after that. :( Who would have thought that you could be 2 feet from your child in a confined space and he could still harm himself! Anyway, we are all okay now....just a few more gray hairs in my head! I'm thanking God my mom was with me, because if I had been by myself, I dont know what I could have done. My finger was literally holding the belt back from choking him. If I had to run in the store, I think he would have choked. Dont even like thinking about that!!

On the adoption front, not much news. We have been shown to a mother of another 2 year old boy. She is receiving counseling right now to decide if this is really what she wants to do.....then if it is, she will choose between us and one other family. We'll keep you updated.