Unknown's avatar

About themielkeway

I'm Andrea~ teacher, foster momma to 17 little angels, wife to Ian (otherwise known as Dizzle) and Mommy to the three loves of our lives...Grae, RJ and Gigi. Am I a lucky girl, or what? ;)

The Critters

Although our priorities have most definitely shifted since Grae has been born, our beloved furry, feathered, scaled, and shelled members of our family have not been forgotten.  They are all still very much our other babies, they just tend to get left out in many of my blog posts.

So, I thought it now would be as good of a time as any to make a few introductions-

The original pet was Stella- my sassy cat who thinks she has the answer for everything.  She is beautiful and super sweet, but my goodness she can hold a grudge.  And, by grudge, I mean, if I accidently buy the wrong brand of cat litter, she will teach me not to ever make that mistake again by urinating all over my favorite rug.  Unfortunately, that means she spends her unsupervised time either in the laundry room or outside in our front yard.

The second pet I brought home was Sherman.  My red eared slider turtle.  I got him in Daytona Beach while I was on a college spring break trip.  I couldn’t resist him- he was the size of a nickel!  I had no idea that tiny little dude would grow so much or so fast.  We went through one aquarium after the next so that he would have enough room to swim.  Finally, after 5 years of upgrading aquariums from 1 gallon to our current 75 gallon monstrosity, his growth chart has plateaued. Last year, our dear Sherman LAID EGGS and decided that his, I mean, her name should instead be Shelly (it hasn’t really stuck though).

Next came Paris.  (AKA- Pooper- I’ll explain later).  She’s my North American Dingo dog.  She’s sweet and loyal, and loves her “pack”.  However, when she spots a squirrel, she is about as wild as they come. Recently, she has started having unexplainable seizures so her vet has her on a nightly medication.

Nova is our first husky.  She has many AKA’s- Bean, White Tooth, Blood Spiller… to name a few.  She is a Momma’s girl to the fullest.  She is insanely jealous of anything else even remotely close to me and has a serious case of dog aggression.  Paris is her only buddy, and even the two of them get into it on occasion.  She couldn’t be sweeter to people, she just prefers to be the only furry thing in my world.  She LOVES to do tricks, and has even as a tiny pup- Watch the video when she was only a few weeks old!! 🙂

VIDEO

Demi is the street chihuahua/jack russell cross.  She is scrappy, smarter than any dog I’ve ever met and faster than the speed of light.  Before bed, she isn’t happy until she gets a big “night-night” hug from Daddy.  It’s quite the sight.

Deacon is our most recent addition.  He is the most gorgeous dog I’ve ever seen.  He’s a long haired, brown and white husky with ice blue eyes.  When he comes to work with me, my first graders roll around on the ground with him and have affectionately named him “Magic Wolf”.  He’s awesome.

And then there is Margila.  She is a trip.  Our crazy umbrella cockatoo.  She says all kinds of funny things, and even impersonates our barking dogs.  I’m waiting for her to start crying just like Grae.  She hates me and LOVES Ian. She also greats everybody with a human-like “HELLLLLO” as they walk into the house.  Then she’ll let out a few blood curdling screams.  I have become so accustomed to this, I usually forget to explain/introduce Margila to visitors.  Oftentimes, our company will get a horrified look on their face and say, “IS THERE A CHILD STUCK UPSTAIRS!?”

We also have a salt water aquarium.  Its Ian’s pride and joy and Grae’s favorite past time.  It is set up in our bedroom and drifting off to sleep while watching the beautiful fish, corals, and sea life is truly the perfect way to end every night.  We have so much fun going to the pet store and picking out new additions for our aquarium. I’m pretty sure we won’t have any problem passing this educational hobby onto Little G.

Can’t we just bubble wrap the baby?!

We are spending our Saturday NOODLING…

What’s NOODLING, you ask?!

Well, it all starts by lashing about five good sized inflatable rafts together, then we float out (as a family) into the middle of the river. After finding a spot where the current is weak, we “Gear Up Grae.” This consists of a baby scuba set complete with a tiny chain mail suit. After we make sure the O2 is flowing well (responsible parents that we are), a small rope is placed around his left ankle and he is lowered into the water. Then WAM!!!! He gets one every time, that’s my boy!! Last week he pulled up a 73 pound Giant Cat Fish. THAT’S MY LITTLE NOODLER!! 🙂

Ok, so not really… (ARE YOU CRAZY?  He could be injured!) But, that’s what Dizzle had pictured when I told him we would be spending the weekend Noodling our house.

Instead, we went out and bought a bunch of Pool Noodles (various neon colors, of course), cut them in half, and are using packing tape to attach them to every possible threatening piece of furniture in our house, using the motto: “you can never be too careful.” We’ll just tell people we formed our decorating style watching Color Splash: Miami.  😉

Chuckles

I’ve always wondered what I sound like when I laugh.  Turns out, my new tiny parrot seems to think it sounds like a billy goat.  ;o)

Grae is always trying out a new laugh.  As we walk down the hall of school,  he acknowledges everyone in sight with his famous chuckle.  And, in a matter of seconds, everyone around is laughing with him.  So, I have been trying for quite some time to capture his silly little billy goat giggle on film, and finally got a short little tidbit that I couldn’t wait to share.

 

Family isn’t always blood

The older Grae gets, the closer the boys become.  Blood has nothing to do with the brotherhood that has formed between them in the last 7 months. And, everytime I witness this bond, I can’t help but get a little misty-eyed.  Family is everything, and I am so thankful that our boys are able to help instill that in each other.  What a spectacular gift.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

PEEK-A-BOO

Grae’s newfound pasttime is looking out the window in the front door.  Today, I was curious what he was giggling at, and when I took a peek, it all became a little more clear.  🙂

STELLA!

4 of our 10 children

We got to visit with two of our foster daughters today that we haven’t seen in over year!  We were so happy to meet their new foster mom, as the love in her eyes when she looked at our girls was undeniable. And the girls were happy- truly happy.  They felt safe and settled, despite everything that they have gone through. I’m so proud of them, and feel so blessed that they were placed into such a nurturing, stable home.  It was fun to have four of our ten children together in one room.  Maybe, just maybe, one day, we will be able to get all ten of them together.  🙂

Nine Months Old

Baby Grae,

Wow, in all nine months of your precious little life, this has been the week with the most changes!  You are FULLY mobile and we can’t keep up with you!  And, let me tell you, you are pleased as punch with your newfound independence.     You love throwing your big blue ball down the hall then crawling after it as fast as you can. When you catch up to it, you turn around to look at us, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

You have started saying “HEY!” when you want attention, “Mamamaamaa” and “Dadadada” and will sometimes even mimic the word “HI!”

You are in to everything, and we are learning that our baby proofing skills are lacking in a big way.  You can reach things that I never thought possible and somehow you always know exactly where the messiest things are kept.

You don’t like your jumper very much anymore.  Or your high chair, or stroller, or anything else that tries to contain you.  You love your freedom.  Your favorite toys are balls (any shape, color or size will do) and musical instruments.  You especially enjoy your baby piano these days.

You still wake up two or three times a night and rarely take naps during the day.  You are too busy to waste time sleeping! 🙂 I’m sure Grandma and Grandpa are loving it, because I did the same thing to them for years.

We love you so much, there are truly no words to explain it.  We just stare at you in amazement.  You are the most wonderful blessing.

Mama and Dada

My other life

So, I’m back.

I’ve been snapped back to reality and summer vacay is officially over.  I’m very slowly getting back in the routine of a real person and have been attempting to adjust to being both a mommy and a teacher again.

Last week, I spent every last second of daylight at school cleaning and organizing the science lab, as well as planning some pretty cool science experiments for the kiddos. Last weekend, my fabulous family came over to Atlanta and helped me get the school garden back in order (Whew, what a job that turned out to be!).  And on Monday, our lovely students returned to school with smiles on their faces, ready to learn!  As much as I wish summer vacation could last forever, it feels great to be back.

I am fully aware that my classroom looks nothing like those freakishly clean, themed, and organized Pinterest classrooms, but I thought I’d share a couple pics anyway. Don’t judge. 😉

Egg-citing Science 🙂 Hatching baby chicks is always a great way to start the year!