Oddest Looking Dog

Naturally, I miss Elrelas, Henduil, Silmalad, and Alyan now that they've left the house, but since I have Cirabel I find it much harder to be sad. Her recent birthday was a very joyous affair, and she is turning out just as beautiful as I anticipated. Bradley was glad she takes after me. The only thing Cirabel is missing is my ears. Since she's my first daughter in so long, I haven't been able to resist dressing her up in all sorts of pretty shades of pink. Cirabel seems to love everything pink so it works out great.

I'm not the only one who dotes and fawns over her though. Ada and Eloril swipe her away from me each time I let her out of my sight. This happens much more with ada especially. Cirabel is the first daughter of mine he'll get to help raise since birth so this time with her is considerably more special for him. Actually, ada spends so much time teaching and playing with her I'm beginning to wonder just whose daughter Cirabel actually is.

We somehow ran out of work to do about the house, so Eloril went into the living room to watch the sports channel on television. It was some time later when I went in there to ask him something, and my jaw dropped when I spotted the oddest, and possibly the ugliest, looking dog I've ever seen sitting next to him on the couch. Eloril smiled at me as if nothing was wrong. When I demanded to know why the dog was there, Eloril explained he mysteriously found it wandering about the house. It then began to follow him everywhere. Now it wouldn't leave his side.

I asked him why he didn't take the dog outside like he should have. It was clearly a stray, and who knows what kind of germs or illness it could be carrying. They wouldn't affect him, ada, or I, but the children could catch something. Eloril showed me that though the dog was old, it was a perfect picture of health. He didn't see why we couldn't keep it. There was plenty of room in the house, and he would take care of all the work. Eloril and I argued slightly for quite a while over what we would do with our little guest. I finally let him know I did not want the dog around and I would not be pleased if he kept it, but I was so frustrated I told Eloril to do whatever he wanted.

Eloril did what he wanted. He decided to keep the dog and name her Zuri. What kind of a name is Zuri anyway, huh? I was rather mad at Eloril until I saw how much Cirabel loved that odd dog. It's probably not a good thing that my daughter can sway my heart so much. She's going to make it so that everyone is eternally wrapped around her little finger. She'll be able to do and get away with whatever she wants.

The weather has become so crisp and warm ever since spring arrived. I'm glad that winter passed without any major incidents, although Celadra has passed away recently. I'm working through the pain well enough. It's steadily starting to get easier coping with it all again. 

The boys wanted to get out to enjoy the weather, so Eloril took Garthon and Rieldir to one of the large ponds in town to do some fishing. They brought back a bucket full of fresh fish to cook for dinner.

Then a couple days later we had a celebration for Garthon's birthday. It turns out he has quite a lot of musical talent just like Isilmar does. Unlike Isilmar though, Garthon prefers the piano over the guitar. He fills the upstairs with all sorts of beautiful sounds, and I wonder how I've been so lucky having so many talented children.

I was doing some cleaning about the house when I walked into the sitting room to find Zuri going at one of the couches. Thankfully she hadn't done that much damage at all, but of course I was still upset. I scolded her and took her outside. When Eloril came out to see what the fuss was about, I gave him quite the earful. He had promised to keep the dog in line. Now here she was destroying my nice furniture. Eloril promised me again he could keep Zuri in line as well as promising that he would get her properly trained.

I told him he better, or she'll be leaving. Eloril kicked Zuri's training into high gear after that.

Cirabel has made me so distracted. It took me too long to realize I had missed the point in time where I would have normally gotten myself pregnant again. As soon as the next morning came around, I rushed out of the house to try and fix the problem. I wasn't hopeful that I would find someone so easily. The Goddess seems to be looking out for me though, for I met a man named Mr. Cory Bonds. He was the one who would help me take the next step forward in this task. I also enjoyed our time together what with Cory being a rather good kisser.

I have such a love-hate relationship with the alarm system. No thief who comes into our house is ever able to make it past the front door, but I simply cannot stand the noise that comes from the alarm going off. I wonder if I'm extra-sensitive to it. Ada and Eloril are always able to rush out of their rooms with no problems whatsoever. Eloril helped the policewoman take down the thief this time around. They did a good number on her. The event messed up all of our schedules though.

When the time came for me to go to my ultrasound appointment, I didn't mind either way if I would find out that I was having a boy or having a girl. I had Cirabel, and she was enough for me for now. I must admit I was still relieved at the news of my baby being another girl though. I think it'll be good for Garthon and Rieldir to have another sister, and for Cirabel just to have a sister. I told Cory the announcement of my pregnancy and that he would be having a daughter. He said having a child wasn't exactly ideal for him right now, but he was excited nonetheless.

I want to say this up-front, and that is that I don't hate Zuri. That being said, I would like very much to not have to deal with her. I shouldn't have given Eloril the option to keep her at all. He's doing well with her training, but there are some things that training can't make Zuri avoid. She came walking into the house one night absolutely riddled with fleas. Eloril locked her in the bathroom with him so he could spend over an hour bathing and bathing and bathing her to get rid of all the little pests. I can't imagine the chaos that would have happened had they been allowed to spread throughout the house.

My dear baby girl became a child too quickly. I tried to make everyone forget about Cirabel's birthday in hopes of making it disappear. Of course, reality couldn't be changed so easily. At least I now have a very pretty daughter to be excited about my new daughter with. Cirabel has not been able to wait to meet her sister. She was so excited that I gave her the opportunity of naming her.

It had been raining for days and days on end. The sky was always dark, dreary, and depressing. Then on the day that I went into labor, the sun finally broke through the gloom. Elioviel was born in the light of the first day of summer......