Eurotrip

It's probably about time I get back to business on the blog. Well, as business-y as a casual blog can be.
Marcus and I returned safely from our Eurotrip late Thursday and it feels good to be back in the comforts of our own home. Leaving Charlotte was not easy, but after we were gone, it honestly was great. Since the trip was so far outside our regular routine, it didn't feel wrong that she wasn't there. I think if I were at home carrying on like normal and she were gone (for whatever reason) it would have been much, much tougher.
We had such a good time visiting our friends, Kris and Tiffany. Marcus grew up with Kris and now he is an Air Force pilot stationed in Italy.
I'll give a quick run down of the places we visited, and follow up with some more photos and stories in the near future. To attempt to create one big post would take too long...

We flew from Chicago to London where we had a 5 hour layover before our destination to Milan. Kris and Tiffany were kind enough to pick us up from the airport and drive us all the way back to their place (about 3 hours).
We spent time some time exploring the area and taking in the views:


We were greeted by these mountainous beauties at every turn




Lake Barcis



Lake Barcis again

 Marcus and I took the train to Venice for a Day:

We went to the opening day of Oktoberfest in Munich!!

A big highlight of our trip

And ended our trip with a few days at the breathtaking Lake Como :

A view from the hotel where we (sort of) stayed

It was an amazing trip, I'll be sure to share some more photos and details in the near future. We missed the conveniences of modern day life here in the states, and it took a few days to get used to not checking my phone every 30 minutes (or more!). But the experiences we had were priceless.
More to come...

The Ol' Pharmacy Switcheroo

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed up north to one of our favorite places : "the condo" in Suttons Bay. My in-laws have a place up there and we're fortunate enough that they love to share it with us.
After the whole doggie debacle that I mentioned here, we were happy to have Darby pretty much back to her old self for our weekend away.
Even though the weather was mostly crappy, we had a great time. On Saturday, my MIL, SIL and I spent much of the day together doing a little shopping, movie watching, and LOTS of wine tasting. oy!
We found out that there was going to be a fireworks show that evening and decided that it might be a good idea to get a sedative for our dog since she's been easily worked up in the last few months. I called our vet and requested that she call in an order to the local pharmacy and she said it would be no problem. So while we were out and about I stopped at the pharmacy to pick it up.
I walked in with my sister in law and told them that I had an order called in, and they asked my name. Here is how it all went down:
We walk in and there's a small line, so we're shopping around. I had to get some baby wipes and we were talking about childbirth. ya know, girl talk. It's now my turn in line.
Me: Hi! I have a prescription that was called in this morning.
Pharmacist: Okay, what is your name?
Me: Emily
P: Okay, great. Do you have insurance that you'd like us to bill?
Me: Um...? Well, it's for my....(about to say DOG)
P: Well we can see if it's covered for you! It should be!
Me: Uhh....okay??
At this point, I'm whispering to Megan about how it's for my dog...what do I do? Maybe it's under my name and I could get it covered by insurance? Is this insurance fraud? OMG what is going on?
So she runs my card after I handed it to her with trepidation. And now she's laughing. Oh crap! My face is turning red because I knew I should have just told her it was for my dog. But I can see that the pharmacist is equally embarrassed.
P: Oh my! I got very mixed up here. This is for your DOG, isn't it?!
Me: Yes! I was sort of confused when you asked for my insurance card but I thought I'd try (and I'm rambling and going on and on like an idiot)

She then explained that she got my prescription and another woman's mixed up. Perhaps she figured because I wasn't a Rhodesian Ridgeback trotting into the pharmacy, I wouldn't need the sedative that was ordered.
But the real reason she got them mixed up is because the other order was for nipple cream. Yes, she assumed it was I who needed nipple cream. She was getting more embarrassed as she told the story because she had no idea why she assumed it was for me, but I must have looked like I needed it??

Moral of the story: Next time you think it's a good idea bill your dog's medicine to your own health insurance, just remember that you'll end up needing nipple cream.
Wait, I guess there is no moral to this story.

CRAZY NIGHT

*Sigh*
Today was kind of an interesting day. Work was normal (well, if listening to a person talk on the phone 15 minutes straight, two of those minutes being only about the color pink is normal...) But it was after work that got pretty nuts.
After work, I drove to my mom's house to pick up Charlotte (who got her first tooth yesterday, and her second one any day now!) and chatted for a moment. I left by 5:40, and made it home at 6. It's usually quite a whirlwind after work between getting Charlotte home, fed, bathed, bottled (you know what I mean), and put to bed. It was going to be slightly busier today as I had a couple coming over at 7 to check out some furniture I have listed on Craigslist.
When I walked in the door I was greeted with a bitter, shit awful smell. It smelled as if Darby the dog must have had an accident...all over the house. The thing is, she's kept in her crate while we're at work. I got Charlotte out of her carseat and headed upstairs to let Darby out and the smell was getting unbearable.
I knew I was going to have quite the mess to clean up and didn't know when I was going to do it before our visitors showed up to buy check out our furniture.
Oh my word, I was right.
(If you're not interested in hearing about canine gastrointestinal adventures, you may want to stop here. If you're into it, enjoy!)
I put Charlotte down and gave her a graham cracker in hopes that it would keep her busy for a while.
Darby obviously got very ill during the day and absolutely couldn't hold it any longer. She went outside immediately and pooped non stop for over a minute. Then I noticed she was bleeding. Then she started throwing up. Then I thought she wasn't going to survive. Oh, my heart. I kept it all together and managed to get some things cleaned up while Sweet Charlotte chomped on her cracker. Marcus was on his way home and he told me I should call the vet.
With Darby's health history, I was very concerned that this could be something very serious. I was able to set up an appointment for about an hour later.
Between doing our crazy Charlotte routine, cleaning up for visitors, letting Darby in and out of the house to go to the ladies and barf...it was NUTS!
By some small miracle, I had fed Charlotte her pumpkin and bananas (yum!) gotten her bathed, and started her bottle when the people arrived to look at our stuff. Marcus had been home for about 10 minutes and was able to help me out.
The helpful news is that the couple is buying our furniture! Hooray! The not so helpful news is that I knew I'd be spending it on the vet visit.
We had a friend that was kind enough to come over and stay at our place with our sleeping baby while we went to the vet with Darby. She seemed to be perking up a bit, but we were still nervous.
After a delightful exam, it was determined that it was likely she just had a bug of sorts. I asked about the chances of her "outburst" being related to the mast cell tumors, and she said it was unlikely. Part of me is still not convinced, but hopefully we see her get back to her old self in a few days.
Clean up duty has just ended, Darby is resting, Charlotte is peacefully sleeping, and I'm having a little wine.





Darby got herself so worked up, she scraped her nose up in her crate

 I'm crossing my fingers for a good weekend up north with no incidents from the dog or baby! :)