Our dog has lupus

Our Rhodesian ridgeback Zeus turned three this by month and his birthday gift was systemic lupus, an autoimmune disorder that causes his body to attack itself. We took him to the vet at the first sign something was wrong; he stopped eating and started drooling. Sores developed on his mouth, ears and paws and started to get infected. His paws pads slowly fell off and after three weeks on some serious steroids and antibiotics, he's in remission. His white and red blood cells are normal and his bone marrow has new growth. He lost ten pounds in two weeks but is back to wagging his tail and eating like normal. With a pill a day for the rest of his life we can control the symptoms but never cure it. We'll treasure every moment with him.

winter warmth

winter warmth by stacywill featuring suede boots

sweater weather

sweater weather by stacywill featuring a black shirt

warming up winter

warming up winter by stacywill featuring black boots

Business First Class

Business First Class by stacywill featuring a blue long sleeve shirt

Angry Bird & King Pig

My kids wanted to be angry birds characters for Halloween this year and after searching online, I couldn't find the right costumes. With a little encouragement from my handy friend Chrissy, we took a trip to the fabric store for supplies.

I used the patterns from twindragonflydesigns.com as a starting point and decided to wing it from there. The hardest part was teaching myself how to sew by hand... I'm crafty, but a seamstress has always been a close friend.

With a lot of breaks, it took two weeks to complete both costumes.

Falling for Blue

Falling for Blue by stacywill featuring beaded jewelry

one skirt: two ways

one skirt: two ways by stacywill featuring black wedge boots

Casual Friday

Casual Friday by stacywill featuring a pave diamond ring

The Kids Are in School, and Mom is.... Bored.

It's only been six weeks since my son started kindergarten, and seven since my daughter started preschool. This was both of their first times to attend any type of school at all, with the small exception of my son's twice-weekly hour-long speech phonology lessons over the past two years. Going from four students to a room of 22 unruly, talkative, wild boys and sweet, loving girls full of hugs brought my poor introverted, shy boy to tears.

The first few weeks were really difficult, leaving the boy in tears in his classroom. My heart ached all day and I watched the clock for 10:30, when the teacher had her free period and would call if anything was wrong. There were a few calls, but mostly just me being a protective mom, and now the phone is silent. Each day when he gets in the car at pick-up time, his smile radiates a newfound confidence that makes me so incredibly proud.

Of course, the girl is excelling and doing stellar in private preschool. She is independent, fierce, strong minded.. the exact opposite of her brother. They are polar opposites and best friends just like their daddy and me.

I never thought I'd miss them so much after five years at home with them. The silence only emphasizes their absence. 3:00 is now like Christmas morning.