Friday 13 April 2012

Rocking your world friday, Five for friday and calendar challenge

Hello Friday Rockers! I am actually getting this done on time this week!
I am linking this up to Virginia, our host of Rocking.


* On Saturday it was my Dad's 60th birthday so all the family gathered at my parents house for a birthday buffet. This birthday was quite important to us all as two years ago my dad was diagnosed with cancer. When you hear that word 'cancer' you automatically think the worst-we certainly did. It scared the hell out us and we thought, this is it, we are going to lose our Dad. But he did remarkably well, he had all the chemo and was barely ill from it. He smiled his way through everything, even losing his hair. He was so strong which made us determined to be even stronger for him. He has been in remission for over a year now and so we were over the moon to be celebrating his 60th.

 (sorry for the photo, blogger wont let me put it up the right way!)

My nephew also came down for my Dad's birthday and surprised him, so it was a lovely evening spent with family and friends. So I am extremely grateful to be celebrating my Dad's 60th!

* The puppies were due this week on Wednesday or Thursday but on Monday evening I got a text from Paige saying:'Go, go, go!'. So the kids and me got our bags (already packed and ready to go) and headed off to Paige's. (for those who don't know, my dog Oakley is the puppy daddy). Bella had had her show and was very restless and P and me waited up with her. Her waters broke at 1.30am so we decided to wait up some more. Nothing happened all night (except us getting very tired)or the whole of the next day! We spent the day watching films, laying around on the sofas and waiting patiently. Tuesday night Bella was rucking up all the newspaper in the whelping box (a sure sign) but still nothing was happening so we decided to try and get some sleep on the sofas. About half an hour later P saw that Bella was contracting so we both went to sit in the kitchen with her. The first puppy was born at 1.17am, with very little fuss from Bella considering this is her first litter. I must admit to crying a little bit when I saw the first pup born as this was a new experience for me and it was wonderful!
I was worried I would be getting in P's way but I managed to be helpful, cutting cords, changing newspaper, putting puppies in the box, cleaning up and that sort of thing.
The 7th puppy was born at 4.35am.

 Beautiful Bella and her babies

 7 perfect puppies, 4 male, 3 female. 2 golds, 4 black, 1 black and tan.

We finally went to sleep at around 5.15am (after nearly 48hrs of being awake) but I had to get up at 8am as I had a work meeting. Most of Wednesday is a bit of a blur as I was so tired, but definitely worth it to see all those beautiful puppies being brought into the world!
I am grateful that the puppies came safely and were all healthy, I am grateful that Bella did an amazing job and I am grateful to P that I was allowed to be there.

*Wednesday was also P's 40th birthday (that's why Bella waited so long to give birth as she wanted them to be a birthday present for her mum!!) so after my meeting I went home, made P's birthday tiffin (she wanted tiffin, not cake!) and then managed to get an hour and half's sleep before going back to P's where she had cooked us an amazing birthday dinner. By 8.30pm we had to leave and come home as I was so exhausted I just needed to sleep!

* I have watched some good films this week while waiting for puppies- Mr Brooks with Kevin Costner, Cold mountain- Can't believe I had never seen this film, and Fragile with Calista Flockhart which was filmed on the Isle of Wight. I have also made some bracelets and P bought us both a watch face each which we turned into bracelet watches.

As the whole week has been mostly puppy related and due to sleep deprivation, that's my rocking post for this week!

Five for Friday is run by Laurie, please check out her blog for information.

 Last weeks was list five things you love about the moon. I added some facts about the moon on my page as well. I doodled this in the evening then just added some watercolour crayons to the background and some silver pen.

And here is my completed calendar page for March. I am so late with this I am not going to link up this month!


And my April page. I used Dylusions paints and inks, stencils, stamps and tissue paper.

I hope you all have a fab weekend, I am going to catch up on my sleep!
Sami x

9 comments:

Valerie-Jael said...

Your art work is gorgeous, as usual, but nothing can beat those puppies! They were worth staying up for. They really steal the show! Glad your Dad is well, I know what he must have been through, so wish him all the best from me! Have a good weekend, and get plenty of rest! Hugs, Valerie

Milla said...

Your April page is beautiful, Sam, the colours are so gorgeous and I love the sentiment/affirmation.
Glad you had a great week with your Dad's 60th and the puppies :)

Annette said...

Lovely, lovely art! And those puppies are so cute...so amazing. Best wishes to your Dad -- and to you and all of your family!

Paige said...

I don't know about you nanny but I'm still shattered!!!! So pleased you enjoyed the whelping and it was worth the lack of sleep :) I had a great time having you here with me throughout it all and you were never in the way ;) NannyPxx

Joanna said...

Such exciting puppy news! How wonderful to have been there when they were born and the best news is that they all arrived safely. They are BEAUTIFUL! Well done for being awake for the big event!

Happy happy birthday wishes to your dear dad, he deserved an extra piece of cake, eh?!

Beautiful April pages, really lovely colours and the dragonflies are GORGEOUS!

Have a lovely weekend,
xxx

Lynette (NZ) said...

Wow - stunning pages...I thought I couldn't love any colour combo more than your March, and then you go and do this for April! really need to get me some dylusions sprays ;-)

Sherry said...

What a fabulous heartwarming post Sam! So glad you could all celebrate your Dad's 60th birthday with him - wonderful!!! .... and those little puppies, too cute. Your pages are brilliant as ever too! TFS xx

AJ said...

Hi Sam, what a lovely post, I'm so happy you had a wonderful celebration with your Dad, and Oh my aren't those puppies cute!
Your artwork is stunning well done for completing it I know it's difficult to keep up with the Calendar challenge! I love your pages especially how the days 'pop' in April.
Big love
Janette :-) (aka AJ)

Sherry said...

Hi Sam,

Just replying to the comment you left on my blog this morning (thanks). The pic that didn't show up was the badge advertising the challenge blog that's all - so you didn't miss much - LOL. Take care xx