January

Well, here we are a week into February already!  January was a good month, other than the sad news of saying goodbye to our Bella on the 27th.  She was about 14 (we had had her for 12 years in November), had been having health problems, and was declining in a few ways, and we knew it was time to let her go.  It was very sad, but the process went well.  We miss her so much, and the house feels empty without her!  I also feel like I am missing out on some exercise from not carrying her up and down the stairs several times a day, and we are happy to be sleeping through the night and not cleaning up accidents everywhere...but we do miss all the fun times we had with her.  She was my first roommate in the old house, even before Bob and I got married!  She was around for both girls being born, moving to this house, and everything in between.  She was a fantastic dog, was very affectionate, loved being with us, and was full of personality.  I always felt that she was grateful that we rescued her and she was thankful to be a part of our family.  We felt likewise!


Bella and me the day I got her, 11/6/04

Let's see...we started out the month with New Years Day (just church and playing at home), then had friends Chris, Jenny, Emma, and James over for lunch on the 2nd.  It was great to catch up with them!  Erin's friend Olivia came over for the day on the 3rd and the girls had a blast with her and neighbor friends before returning to school on the 4th.  Sawyer's mom was tracked out for a few weeks, so we didn't have him for the first part of the month.  I really enjoyed having extra time to volunteer at school and do a few other things.  Anna's teaching assistant had foot surgery over the Christmas break and was not able to manage the lunchroom with her crutches.  Fortunately, I was available and got to have lots of fun lunch time with the first graders!  They are a really sweet group and are so full of energy.

The rest of that week was just adjusting back to the routine of school.  Erin started another round of social skills group that week, much to her frustration.  She completed the 5 weeks and has earned herself a break for this session.  On Friday the 6th began the Big Snowstorm of 2017, which ended up only being a few inches at most for us.  It was enough, and there was a small amount of ice, so we were able to sled in the neighborhood.  The girls also had a snow day on Monday the 9th and a delay on the 10th.  Wake County schools were closed through Wednesday, so we felt lucky to have gone back on Tuesday!  The remainder of that week was the usual routine, and Bob spent some time on Saturday the 15th tearing down the nativity at church.  Anna had a fun tae kwon do birthday party for friend Gerald on Sunday the 16th, and we also had our Little Flowers meeting for January - postponed from the week before due to the snow.

The girls were off school on Monday the 17th for MLK Day, and we didn't do a whole lot.  We had the usual routine the rest of that week, and Sawyer came back on Thursday the 20th.  After gymnastics, we went to Concord on Saturday the 22nd for Ansley's super fun birthday party!  We spent that night and came back on Sunday for the first full week of school since before Christmas.  That Friday was our last day with Bella.  Anna went to a fun American Girl doll tea party with her friend Natalie on Saturday the 28th!  That was about it for January - Bob had two trips to Boston thrown in there and we all stayed busy as usual with school, work, Sawyer, piano, speech, social skills, church, ballet, and gymnastics...not to mention the social calendars!

The life of the party

I think this picture speaks for itself:

Dog and Car Sorta Falling Apart!

Poor Bella started rubbing at her right eye yesterday afternoon, so I took her to the vet this morning. She's got a little infection and scratch, so ($135 later) we are now armed with antibiotic eye drops, steroid eye ointment, and oral antibiotics for us to give her 4 times a day for 2 weeks. Oh boy! I'm sure she will love the eye stuff - at least pills are no problem.

Oh, of course I put Erin on the scale at the vet, and she weighed just under 20 pounds! (19 lbs. 13 oz.)

Leaving the vet this morning, the Taurus wouldn't start. It did this to us about a year or so ago, and Bob replaced a switch under the steering wheel. He suspects that the same switch isn't working since it won't make any noises to start. That's odd, since the switch is only about a year old. Let me remind you that he and Chris spent 2 weekends recently working on it and were able to replace 2 parts to get rid of the rattling sound (unrelated to this problem). I wonder if someone is trying to send us a message to get a new car! The only thing is, we were going to get rid of the truck and keep the Taurus, which feels wrong since the truck has never given us an ounce of problems in 4 years!

Bob, here is a little picture for you...just food for thought:

Update:
My best guess as to the car trouble is that oil is leaking from somewhere near the oil filter, and is dripping onto the solenoid on the starter. When we are attempting to start the car, the switch in the solenoid can not make an electrical connection because of the oil (it would act as an insulator), and thus the starter motor would never run. Wait long enough, and gravity fixes the problem, and the car starts up a few hours later. I've confirmed that it's not the ignition switch, starter motor, or relay.

Yuck!

Erin is really quick and sneaky these days...and Bella likes to take her dog food out of her bowl and drop it in the living room. You can imagine what this combination means. Yes, I caught Erin tonight with a piece of dog food in her mouth. We washed her mouth out really well, but I still felt bad. She didn't act like it was gross at all, which makes me wonder how bad her baby food and formula really are! Bella was also a little miffed to lose a chunk of her food.

We had lots of fun in Concord this weekend for Grandma A.'s birthday! Here are the kids getting ready for a wagon ride.

Ear Infection #2

After we got back from the beach, Erin started having a runny nose and cough. Last night, she started pulling on her ears, so we took her to the pediatrician this morning...and we have Ear Infection #2. I am hoping she didn't inherit her mommy's history of lots and lots of ear infections! She got more of the pink stuff that she likes really well. We got to check out the Cary office of the pediatrician group and liked it very much.

Erin is doing well with it - she's actually doing better than she did with her last cold a few weeks ago. She is eating fine and sleeping pretty well, except for waking up to cough. She still makes time to practice her crawling, which has definitely gotten Bella's attention! I am starting to wonder if switching to formula has made her more susceptible to colds/infections since she's not getting the antibodies from breast milk any more. It's too late to go back now, so we'll just have to deal with her colds!

Big news of the day - she weighed 18 lbs. 1 oz. (with her diaper and clothes on)!

P.S. Bella has had some kind of stomach bug/problem this morning...she seems to be feeling better now though.

The Walk

I took the girls on a walk today, and it was quite an adventure…

Around 1pm, Bella starts hounding me for a walk. This means following me around and sticking her nose in my face when I’m trying to play with Erin on the floor. I barricaded her with baby gates which only made her whine louder. At 2:30, I decide that Erin is ready – she’s had a nap, and has eaten and played for a little bit. I get a sweater for Erin, put it on, get a blanket and toys for Erin, get Bella’s leash, my shoes, sunglasses, and jacket, and the garage door opener. Then I put Erin in the stroller (she protested it), put Bella’s leash on, and we were off.

Bella is not good on the leash – she wanders around on either side of us and either pulls us from the front or lags behind, sniffing EVERYTHING. We are used to this and have gotten good at pushing the stroller with one hand and dragging Bella behind us with the other hand.

First, a lady runs up to us and asks us if we have seen her dog. Bella barks at her and scares Erin. Then, Bella has a poo-poo and I get some on my fingers trying to get it in the bag. Erin manages to lose both socks, even though I had her feet tucked in the blanket, so we turn around to pick them up.

After walking about 20 minutes away from our house, Erin suddenly decides she can NOT be in the stroller any longer. I think it was a combination of the hood of her sweater bothering her and the wind in her face. I have no choice but to take her out and carry her. Now I am holding Erin and Bella’s leash with one hand and pushing the stroller with the other hand, alternating as needed to keep up with Bella’s meandering.

We finally make it back to our street after much sniffing and Bella eating who knows what. I try to put Erin back in her stroller, only to have her bump her head on the plastic tray of the stroller, which doesn’t help the stroller cause. 3 little girls come running out to pet Bella, which freaks her out and she starts running circles around me. I lose the stroller and it goes down the street. I get Bella untangled and rescue her from the girls. We catch the stroller and make it home.

Whew. No wonder I don’t go to the gym any more. Either Bob or I do this every day, because all that is easier than dealing with monster Basset Hound all day long! So, don’t let Bella tell you we never do anything for her.

Early Christmas Present from Erin!

Erin gave her Mom an early Christmas present - she slept last night from 9:30 until 4:30! 7 whole hours - and it was in the crib! If you add the bath, and trying to get her to sleep, it was 8 hours between feedings. Gina feels very refreshed this morning, as you might expect. We don't expect it every night (yet), but it sure is nice when it happens!

Bella also slept through the night last night, for all of you who are interested. She's become much more adept at life in the cone, walking, sniffing, and sleeping.

8 Weeks!

Wow, Erin is 8 weeks old today! It is really starting to fly by for me, and I know Bob would say the same thing. She seems to be doing great - she definitely is getting plenty to eat (judging by what's leftover in her diaper!), and her sleeping is coming along. Most nights for the past week or so, she has slept in her crib. Some nights are easier than others, and we still resort to the bouncy seat at times, like last night. Naps are about 50/50 with the crib or pack and play vs. the bouncy seat or being held. So while I still get discouraged, I think we are making progress.

We know you are all worried about Bella, and we are happy to report that she slept with the cone last night. Breakthrough! She also is walking much better and will lay down on her own. Plus she acts completely normal when we take it off for meals. So we think she is doing fine!

Irony

Isn't it ironic that the first night Erin slept 4 hours straight (yay!) that we were up halfway through with Bella? Poor Bob was up most of the night with her...she does NOT like the cone collar thing. We have been practicing this morning, and she will walk and sit with it on (with biscuit bribes), so we are working on laying down...laying down is very important for Bella : )

Our furry baby

Please keep Bella in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow as she is having surgery. It's not a major thing - just removing 2 lumps that have been growing, one on her back and one on the front of her leg. She will have to wear one of those ugly cone-shaped collars, how embarrassing! Hopefully she will be back to taking walks and babysitting Erin in no time.

Dog Days

Our dog has more of a social calendar than we do! It's only Saturday afternoon, but she's already had two social events this weekend. Yesterday, she and I met some nursing school buddies at Homestead Park in Chapel Hill, where they have 2 fenced in dog areas. At first, she wasn't too sure about it, but she gradually warmed up to the idea and even started running over to greet/sniff new dogs as they came in the fence. She mostly hung out with the people though.

This morning was Dog Day in the Park in Holly Springs, one of her favorite events. We walked there, but it was awfully hot and humid, so we had to send Bob to get the car to go home. She had fun meeting other dogs and people - again, she was more interested in the people than the dogs.

Here's what she's been doing ever since:


Not much else is new around here - we had another doctor's appointment on Wednesday, but nothing really exciting to report from that. Everything continues to look good! Our fourth childbirth class was canceled on Wednesday night, so we have nothing to report from that. I was upset as it was the epidural class, but it sounds like she's going to be able to finish all the content. We are tossing around ideas/projects for the rest of the weekend, but haven't quite motivated ourselves to do any of them yet. Right now, we are cheering for the Wolfpack...beat Clemson!

Green dog

We can't tell if Bella is going green to be more eco-friendly or if she's green with envy over the baby coming:



Can't you tell how much she loves to have her picture taken? At least she doesn't move very fast so it's easy to catch her with the camera!