This is Chris:
I knew I was going to marry him the minute I saw him. He was actually dating a friend of mine when I met him. They only dated for a couple of months. I ran into him 4 months after they broke up, on April 7, 2006. We have been together ever since. Chris is in the middle of his 2nd year in Law School at UALR Bowen School of Law. He also works full time at Southwest Power Pool assisting the trial lawyers. He works so hard to juggle a full time job, law school, and time with his family. He is amazing and I know he is working hard and sacrificing a lot so that he can provide for me and Samantha (we call her Sam, or Sammie). Chris and I, like many couples, have had our share of rough times....we have had knock down, drag out fights, and we have even separated before. But, one thing I can say about this man, and our relationship, is that he is loyal, and committed to this marriage. No matter what, we always work it out...we always stick together. I know he is my soul mate, and I love him with all of my being.
This is me:
I adore my family...I am very close to my mom and dad...they are divorced and both live in FL. I have a brother who is 4 1/2 years younger than I am, and I am very close to him. I miss my family terrible everyday. I long to live closer to them...I am a HUGE family person, and hate that we are so far apart. Family is so important to me and I cherish all of mine:
My Mom, Susan, and my brother, Steve
My dad, Steven, and my stepmom, Mary Jane
My wonderful in-laws, Craig and Mary
There will be more pictures of my family in later posts. But if you want to know me, the most important thing in my world, other than God, is my family, so that is why I am putting so much emphasis on that part of my life in introducing myself.
Here are a few other tid bits of information about moi:
- I HATE spiders...I will totally freak out and cry like a little girl if I see one
- I eat sunflower seeds in the shell...including the shell
- I also like to snack on raw potatoes coated in salt
- My guilty pleasure are fried BBQ Pork Rinds
- I cannot sleep without a humming noise and the room temperature has to be around 68 degrees
- I'm blind as a bat without my corrective lenses
- I was a super star cheerleader from the time I was 5 until college
- I also played some pretty mean soccer up through high school
- I set records for fastest breast stroke when I swam competitively in elementary and middle school for a city league
- I was obsessed with the 80s hair band Poison in middle school and went to one of their concerts
- I also went to a New Kids on the Block concert
- I love classical and jazz
- Every night before I go to bed, I scrub my kitchen sink and cover it in oil to make it shiny and new
- I am completely grossed out by feet
- I used to iron my hair because it is so curly
- I despise dishonesty...with a passion
- I suffer from a severe case of insomnia every night
- I live on about 5 hours of sleep a night
- I have won awards for my writing and art
- I am obsessed with butterflies...everything butterflies
- If I have a plate of various foods, I go around the plate and eat each item by itself instead of taking bites of everything
- I will drink blue cheese dressing out of the bottle
- I can't whistle
- I'm terrified of the dentist and haven't been in 14 years...but my teeth are perfect
- I am deathly allergic to cats and will end up in the hospital if I spend more than 10 minutes anywhere near one
- I get car sick if I try to read while riding in a car
This is Samantha (get ready for a tidal wave of pics!!!!!)
Samantha Leona Bills was born November 16, 2011 at 12:59 pm. She was 8 lbs. 15 oz and 21 inches long. She had a head full of black hair and was absolutely perfect. I will do a post dedicated entirely to her birth in the future. Samantha is the reason I am alive. I never knew my purpose in life until she was born. My life has been turned upside down and sideways because of her...in a good way. She has brought out in me a person I never knew existed...I never knew it was possible to love so deeply, so purely, and so incredibly soulfully. It is a love I cannot explain and you will never understand unless, or until, you have a child of your own. She is the most perfect gift from God and I thank Him everyday for allowing me the honor of raising and loving her. I could go on and on and on forever about how I feel about her. She amazes me everyday and keeps me laughing. Now, at almost 11 months old, she is developing a very distinct personality...she is beginning to assert herself and her independence, which makes me a little sad. She can pitch a mean little fit when she doesn't get her way or when I have to take something away from her, or won't let her chew on my iPad. LOL! She is a chatterbox!! Ha Ha!! She is going to be a talker. She said "dada" first...but not directly to Chris until recently. She says "ma ma ma ma ma"...sometimes it's directed to me...
sometimes it's not. She is crazy about dogs and says "guh guh guh" over and over when she sees one. Whenever I would say the word dog, I guess I always enunciated the "guh" part...like, dogUH! So now she just says the "guh" part for dog...it is precious! She waves bye bye, and hi. She knows the words book, ball, toy, water, Elmo, dog, walk, and if you ask her to get, find, show, or bring you any of those items, she will. It is amazing...she is so smart. She flashes the biggest smile when she brings you something and you say "thank you". She also knows that if anyone says "cheeeeeese" to SMILE really big!! She has always loved water and bathtime and she dances to music. Gosh, there are just so many incredible things about her and how she is growing and developing. I plan to record her stats in monthly intervals in the future, and hope to go back to all the previous months and share those with you, as well. One thing you can be absolutely sure of throughout this venture, is that there will be plenty of posts and pictures of my angel...after all, she is why I exist.
This is Charlie...he also answers to, Dude, The Dude, Doodle, Doodle Bear, and Chuck...he is a 100 lb. Labradoodle:
Dude loves to eat and chase balls. He's also a swimmer and will jump into a frozen lake in the dead of winter fs we let him...he LOVES water...except during bathtime. He has been known to pull food off of counters and tables, so, it's best never to leave food out where he can reach it, which is pretty much anywhere, because he's as tall as the kitchen counter. The dude is incredibly gentle and sweet, but appears to be afraid of Samantha...he's not sure what to do with her yet. I imagine that when she gets old enough to run around and play with him, they will be best buds. He is attention hungry...he thinks he's a lap dog...he also thinks he is still a puppy. He's also a 100 lb. baby...he's afraid of everything, including our 10 lb. Mini Dachshund. He's playful and needy and addicted to his daddy...he was my husband's dog and was spoiled rotten, and still is, by my husband, so he is a little codependent. Charlie does, on occasion, get sick to his stomach if Chris goes out of town and is gone for more than a day!! I have cleaned up the contents of his stomach on numerous occasions when Chris has been out of town. I swear this dog needs some doggie Prozac. LOL...seriously, though, he is a great dog who makes a terrible guard dog, except for the fact that he has a terrifying bark that without a doubt will keep intruders away. He has been known to growl if he thinks the family is in danger, and as much of a baby as he is, I have no doubt that he could and would do some serious damage to anyone or anything that tried to hurt us. He is a deeply loved member of our family.
This is Hunter....also answers to Munch, Munchie, Munchkin, Munchie Bear, and Bubba...he is a 12 lb. Mini Dachshund:
Hunter is just pure rotten...lol!!! He is a jealous, possessive, stubborn, feisty little guy and I love it...except for the fact that I am not totally comfortable with letting him around Sam too much. He sometimes gets agitated and annoyed, so to be safe, we are cautious when it comes to letting him near her, although, he has shown no signs of aggression at all thus far with her. He has given her kisses and appears to be pretty ambivalent regarding her presence. He's a sweet little boy who suddenly becomes deaf when you try to get him to come inside. He will flat out ignore you if he wants to. He's a rodent killer and has slayed his share of squirrels, birds, lizards, frogs, baby rabbits (I know, so sad!!!) and he thought he caught himself a opossum or two, but they were...playing opossum. He once ran into the house with a dead squirrel in his mouth and hid under the master bed...he bit me when I tried to reach under the bed and grab him....he's a real brat. He has a real death grip with his jaws and when he has hold of something he doesn't want to let go of, you couldn't pry his mouth open with a crowbar, or even the "jaws of life"...it is unreal. He loves to plat fetch and ride in the car. He is a real Houdini...a master escape artist and for some reason, gets real pleasure out of scaring the crap out of us by digging out from under the fence and disappearing for hours...and on two occasions, overnight. Needless to say, Chris and I didn't sleep those nights. I think his entire skeleton is double jointed because he can squeeze between, under, and through the smallest spaces. As with most Dachshunds, he loves to burrow and bury himself in clothes, sheets, towels, blankets, and pillows. He always sleeps in bed with me and my husband. He definitely has "Big Dog Syndrome" and has been known to attack dogs 3 times his size...including a couple of Great Danes. He's a real treat who just showed up on our doorstep in FL 4 years ago and has been a beloved member of our family ever since
Finally, I have to include our very special baby girl, Kiah. Kiah was my dog. I adopted her from the SPCA in Dallas, TX when she was a year old. She had a bad case of heartworms and had been neglected and abused. I nursed her back to health over the course of several months. If any of you have any experience with it, you know that the heartworm treatment is almost as deadly as the heartworm disease itself. She was rushed to the emergency vet on a couple of occasions for complications from the treatment. It was a scary time, but she pulled through. I was going through a rough breakup, so she saved me, as much as I saved her. She was my very best friend, the best friend I have ever had. She loved to chase squirrels, and caught herself a few. If you said, "Kiah, get it, get it" she would bark incessantly at nothing...she would stare at the wall and bark, as if there really was something there it get! It was hilarous!! She was so incredibly gentle with a sweet demeanor and a soul of gold. She was an old soul who could read my mind and my feelings and always knew what I needed. She had lots of health problems...some from the heartworm damage, some just from poor genes. She had an autoimmune disease called Masticatory Muscle Myocitis...basically, her body was attacking the muscle fibers in her head, neck, throat and face. Her esophagus was weak so she had trouble eating, she couldn't run like other dogs, her immune system was weak, but she was always happy. She was the kind of dog who spoke with her eyes and they were full of love and extreme gratitude. On November 11, 2011, I had to make the most painful, heartbreaking, and difficult decision of my life. Kiah had been going downhill for about a month...her heart was enlarged and she could no longer climb stairs or walk more than a few feet without stopping to rest. It was excruciating to watch my little furry soul mate fall apart. I knew it had to be done. I spent my last night with her, 9 months pregnant, laying in bed holding my precious Kiah. I spent the next day loving her and letting her eat whatever she wanted...although, she has pretty much stopped eating a couple of days prior. Chris and I held her and caressed her and spent the day letting her know how she had influenced our lives, brought so much joy to our world, how special and loved she was and always would be. I think she was ok with things...I think she was tired....I think she was ready. Her eyes appeared to say it was ok to let her go. Sam was being delivered via c-section in 5 days and I think Kiah wanted to lessen our load...she knew it would be tough to juggle a new baby and a sick dog, even though, I would have gladly taken on the work...Kiah wanted to make things easier for us...for me. I am forever grateful for her constant selflessness. She was always more concerned about me than anything else. At 3pm on 11/11/11, I held my sweet Kiah in my arms as she took her last breaths...I cried and told her I was sorry, and that I loved her and she was my best friend and what a wonderful companion she had been. I told her she had a new heart now, and brand new healthy muscles and could run faster than ever for as long as she wanted now...something she could never do here on earth. I know my sweet girl is playing at Rainbow Bridge and waiting on me there. I keep her ashes next to my bed and I even take her with me when I travel. My heart aches everyday for her. I know she visits Sam and looks over her...and I know she is with me all the time.
RIP SWEET KIAH
The day I said goodbye
So, there you have it. This is who we are, in summary. I hope you feel a little closer to us ;-) I look forward to sharing more of us with you!!
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