The Little Velociraptor!

Wow-wow-wow, there's a lot to update!

First off, I hope that everyone had a fun and delicious Thanksgiving, with lots of pumpkin pie and loving family/friends. We sure did.

We typically alternate Thanksgiving between New Mexico and California, so this year was an out-of-stater. I left on the Friday before and drove the dogs out. We had an uneventful 16-hour trip and they were SOOO happy to arrive at my parents' house, aka the "Doggy Mountain Resort" (or DMR, for short). Lisa and E flew into Albuquerque on Saturday all by themselves and did just fine.

The rest of the week was spent visiting family, eating, and going on dog walks. It was a little chaotic with six adults, five dogs, and a baby all under one roof...but I wouldn't change it for the world. Some highlights include: Uncle Ron stopping by for a night on his way to Arkansas, eating my favorite burrito from a resurrected Dos Hermanos, meeting my brother's Dog (Loki) and seeing how excited my family (especially GG) was at how much E had grown. Amazingly, Thanksgiving itself went off without a hitch - no broken ovens or goopy mashed potatoes. Lil'E was all smiles and had a lot of fun in the new CARS walker Nana/Papa got him.

Friday night, I was all ready to leave for the big drive home the next day when we decided to go over to my aunt/uncle's house. I was lying on the floor next to E as he played. Suddenly, he released a squeal like something out of Jurassic Park. I looked over and BAM! his little pointer finger went smack dab into my right eye. It hurt very, very badly and would not stop tearing up. By the next morning, I knew I wasn't driving that day since...well, I couldn't even open my eye (that and Bailey had decided to eat his weight in pine needles and was throwing them up). As Lisa and E got ready for their flight that afternoon, Nana took me to Urgent Care. Turns out the little guy gave my cornea a good scratch. Also turns out I wasn't going to be driving for a couple more days.

So Lisa and E took off to go home and left me to eat more amazing New Mexican food over the next couple days (hey, my eye was hurt, not my appetite). They had a good flight home, although E only wanted to hear stories and, unfortunately, Lisa had only brought two with her. So they read those over and over and over. By Monday lunch, I was well enough to drive and so the boys and I said, "Bye," to DMR for the year and got back to California on Tuesday afternoon.

It was sometime on Saturday afternoon, when I was moaning painfully in a dark room, that Lisa pointed out this was the third time in five Thanksgiving weekends that I'd visited the hospital. I now have a new (completely rational) fear of the holiday. Does anyone know if my phobia has a name? Or can I coin it?

ALSO - The little Velociraptor (aka E) learned a bunch of new tricks the last couple of weeks:

1. Nana & Papa got him a fish lamp for his room...which he's obsessed with. Now when you ask, "Where's the fishy?" He'll look all around for the light. 
2. He can cluck his tongue on the roof of his mouth. 
3. He claps...or well, slams his hands together and they often connect.  
4. Oma/Opa's personal favorite (not really): He makes this raspberry noise, spraying spit everywhere and gives the biggest, most satisfied grin.