A Few Constants

I laughed to myself today while realizing the few constants that present themselves in my life lately.

I can always count on finding miscellaneous items in random places due to a certain Charlotte.

I discovered this the day after I went out and finally bought Charlotte a new toothbrush.

Velcro rollers, baby monitor, rolls of tape, formula dispenser, baby toys - all in Darby's crate.
(Darby doesn't spend as much time in there lately)

Fridge Phonics in the bathroom

I can also count on my dog doing this:

In the family room

On the new couch that is for the basement but since the basement is not ready, it's in the great room.

In my bed.

The other constant is that Charlotte will try to step, stand, or sit in just about everything that isn't intended for it.

Climbs in but is instantly distressed.

She dumps out all of the blocks and climbs right in

In a doll box

So if there are a few things that I can count on, it's those things. And also heartburn.

I Sleep A Lot

Some people associate sleeping with laziness. I, however, associate it with awesomeness.
You may think I'm wasting precious getting stuff done hours by napping, but what I'm really doing is becoming so much smarter than you.
Ok. I'll try to keep the snark to a minimum, but really, I do require a lot of sleep. Most people say 8 hours is plenty, others only need 6. I need 9 hours of sleep. I can sometimes sleep 10, but that's only if Charlotte lets me sleep in until 8 and if I made it to bed by 10 pm. I frequently nap during the day. Not frequently in one day, but many times throughout the week. Yeah, I'm pregnant, but I think I would try to sneak in a cat nap even if I weren't.
Here's the issue. Pregnancy, though it makes me sleepy, doesn't allow me to sleep at night. I've had this nagging anxiety the past few months which causes my mind to race, especially at night. Add a crazy post-surgery hound to the mix, I won't sleep at all.
Last night for some reason, we had a smoke detector beep sporadically 3 times. Just one loud beep! over the course of an hour. It didn't really bother me, but for some reason, Darby went apeshit. Dude, it's just a beep. She wanted to hide in the bathroom, so when we put her in the bathroom, she'd want to come in our room. If she's in our room, she can be trusted, but if she's on her own, she'll lick her stitches. So then we'd have to put her cone around her head.
This monkey business continued from 11-1. The last I looked at the clock, it was 1:30 and I was ticked!
The thing is, this is how Darby will be ALL day, and then at night, she's up and at 'em.

I ended up giving her a valium and we slept until 6:30. 

This turned into being about the dog, when really it was supposed to be about my sleep habits. Since both are so extremely interesting it doesn't matter which direction it goes in because I know you're enthralled. 

I may as well throw a little Charlotte in here, too! 

She's not saying a ton of words specifically, but I sort of know what she's saying. She was good at using words for a little while, but now she's resorted to using "d" as her main consonant of choice. 

Me: Say please!

C: Daaaaah!

Me: Ok, now say thank you!

C: Dinkoo!

Me: Where's your blankie?

C: Deedeeee

Diaper=Dyder

Mama=Dada

Dada=Dada

Darby=Goggie

Milk=Meowl

What cat's say= Meow

Bubbles=Bubbahs

Yes=No

No= No, but with fury.

Drinking her meowl

I went on a little shopping trip this week and when I think about what I purchased for the girls, I realize it was almost exclusively pajamas and this:

She better oblige! 

Sorry this kind of went all over the place. You can tell I'm tired.

How much sleep do you require? Am I abnormal when it comes to demanding so much sleep?

I Don't Mind The Vacuuming

About 18 months ago, we took Darby into the vet to have some shady looking bumps checked out.
It's been a very long 18 months since then. It was discovered that the bumps were mast cell tumors, a cancerous type of tumor that occurs in dogs. The prognosis was hopeful - we decided the best course of action would be to surgically remove the bumps as they appeared and treat it with an oral steroid. As long as the tumor was completely removed, she should be just fine, well at least for a while.

Darby just turned 4 in March. She is too young to have this disease. If it's common, it occurs in dogs 8 or 9 or even older. She's had multiple surgeries in the last 18 months...4, maybe 5....and the recovery is a pain in the ass. She's chewed her stitches out, she's puked all over, she's had diarrhea explosions all over the plush carpeting. It's hard to tell how she's actually feeling considering the big change that also occurred in the last 18 months - a new little human living in the house. So does she keep to herself more because she feels crappy or because she's sick of Charlotte jacking her swagger?

Today I brought Darby back to the vet to have a few more tumors removed. I was hoping to have an opportunity to talk with the vet (a very well respected dr. who has been practicing for a long time) just to see if we're still doing the right thing. He ended up calling me in the middle of surgery saying he didn't want to proceed based on the location of one of the tumors. He also told me no more surgeries for Darby.

And also said "I don't know what we should do anymore."

I asked him "What are you saying...specifically?"
My eyes began to fill up with tears as I tried to hold it together while I was on the phone.

He asked me if I thought Darby was happy.
I couldn't answer confidently. I know Marcus would say of course she's happy, but I'm not as convinced. But overall yes, I do think she's happy. She's a good dog, a staple in our home. She does not appear to be in pain. She's not moping around 100% of the time, and gets super excited to go out and play.

I asked him if he was suggesting we put Darby to sleep.
He responded by saying not if we feel like she still is enjoying life.

We love this dog so very much. We anticipated her arrival for nearly a YEAR after doing so much research and chose a wonderful breeder. We brought her to puppy school, took her lure coursing, and brought her everywhere with us. She's been a constant companion and the best cuddle buddy around.

Darby is staying overnight at the vet just for observation and we'll talk in person with the vet tomorrow. She's going to go home with us tomorrow. And we're going to love her and continue to spoil her until we know it's her time to go.

We recognize we've had our challenges with this hound. Many headaches were had, tears were shed, and bottles of carpet cleaner were sprayed.
Today, before I even talked with the vet, I was cleaning the floors and vacuuming the couch. And the thought actually crept into my mind - what if this is the last time I'm mopping up dog paw marks or vacuuming up short red fur off our new couch?

I know it won't be, because she's coming home tomorrow. And she will let Charlotte poke at her face and crawl all over her before she darts off into the other room. She will wait patiently for Charlotte to throw her leftovers on the floor. She will nudge our covers and whine to us to let her under. She will wake up way too early. She will sleep all day. Her ears will perk up when she hears the jingle of her leash when it's time to go for a w-a-l-k. And life will continue as normal until it's time to make the next decision, whatever that might be.

Phone Dump

I was swiping through my photos yesterday and realized they pretty much sum up what's been going on lately (besides my ER visit. no photos, please!)  side note: 10 years ago if I would have said "swiping through my photos" it would have made it sound like I was manically spreading them out all over the place, or possibly "making it rain" with my pictures. Sorry. Tangent.

So here's my phone dump, and not in exact chronological order.


I discovered that my house had a mouse. And that made me INSANE.

yeah. that's mouse crap.

So naturally, I assumed mice made a home in my dishtowel basket. I chucked it outside and ran.

No, I'm not trapped under a rug. That's my view above rotund belly at 22 weeks. 

Have you heard of this? Best invention ever. Darby traveled three hours without panting or pacing (a problem she developed since we got the mini van) and was calmer than normal during the thunder storm we had over the weekend.

SO WORTH IT

 She sort of looked like a helper dog.

So chill. So chill I might just pee in your bed this weekend instead of telling you it's time to go out.

Yeah. She peed on our bed in the middle of the night. It was unrelated to the thundershirt. It was the night I was given morphine and I think I slept a little deeper than normal. She also had a chill pill before bed (she also doesn't sleep during the night while we're up north.) I'm sort of relieved it was her and not me.

Dad. Your jokes are lame.

Completely fascinated with the storm sewer grate. 

She looks so smart ever since her auto accident. 

 I picked up a potty to get Charlotte familiar with it.

Just testing the waters

Off to the hives to collect honey

I must get my power seller status back!!

Yes! Another positive rating! 

Eyes on the water, Captain Charlotte

She tells us she knows how to swim, but we don't trust her.

Ruby. Your face is squashed in.

And that?  is hilarious.

                                       

                                                      Watchin Elmo with my baby sister

We came back from my not so great weekend (everyone else had a nice time...) and fortunately caught that bastard mouse, but I'm not sure he was working alone. I need to set out more traps. 

I've also been feeling much better and have moved forward eating regular food. My doctor is hesitant to do much testing while I'm pregnant, so hopefully whatever that flare up was, it doesn't happen again. 

That's all for now, folks. 

Something Smells Funny

This morning my nearly 4 year old dog, Darby refused to go in her crate. Normally this is not a problem, but for some particular reason, today she decided be stubborn. I had tried a few times, put my coat on, put Charlotte's coat on, and tried again. I'm practically chasing her around the house to get her to go upstairs.

She's actually been quite good over the last few months. I've been home a lot more, and when I do leave for an hour or two at a time, she's completely fine.

Since I was running late, per usual, I decided she would be just fine hanging out today.

I didn't think about it until I was on my way home this evening and a wave of terror washed over me. I realized it had been a long day. What did she get into? I panicked. I went back and forth with myself, thinking she probably just layed around all day, and then thinking that she ate the house.

This is what I came home to:

• scraps of cardboard from a light bulb box all over the floor
• a light bulb (thankfully!)
• a chewed up pacifier
• a chewed up dog bone
• a not chewed up blanket
• multiple baby socks not chewed
• a chewed up nook cover. <-- this is when I started to go crazy
• a chewed up duvet cover
• a chewed up pillow
• lots and lots of fluff from said pillow
• a spoon
• a nasty, gassy farty dog.

I guess I learned my lesson. Hopefully she digests everything and we don't discover more things out in the back yard. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are known to be destructive dogs and Darby proves that right.
The funny thing is, she's never tried to get into the trash. I'm about ready to introduce her. At least we were already throwing those things away...

I'm stressed out this week (and it's Monday!?) so I'm having a giant glass of a beautiful buttery oaky chardonnay in lieu of dinner.

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! :)

World's Best Mom

This is my new title. I appointed myself with it. I'm not even being sarcastic. I might be exaggerating though.
When I get some sleep, I am a better mom and a better person in general. And after a night like last night, I am the best.
That's all on that subject.

Next on the docket? My husband's birthday is this week. In years past, I've most likely had his gift ready and wrapped (or at least ordered). Uhh...I feel like I've already screwed this one up.
I feel like I have to scramble around looking for something that he might like that is also a good deal (it's always a bad idea to pay full price for something in this household). The best way to get a good deal is via the internet, and I no longer have enough time to order something. I simply cannot keep using the baby as an excuse for all of my mess ups. That's not nice, nor completely true. And on top of all of this? He has become too stylish for me to afford. Since when did the boy that I met go from baggy jeans and 5k t shirts to William Rast jeans and True Religion socks? Seriously. I shop at Target (not that there's anything wrong with that...I love tar-jay), and he uses Bumble and Bumble in his hair. I may have created a monster. Yes, I'm taking credit for the transformation. True Religion socks. <shakes head>

Today is my day off and we start out by taking the ol' (3 year ol') hound to the vet to check on her tumors. I feel so sad and just hope she's still doing okay. I don't want to keep having her be cut open and deal with the stitches and healing...but it might be our only option. We're going to discuss other treatment today if necessary. Oh, how I love that dog. And HEY! HATERS: We still love our doggie the same after our baby arrived. Charlotte easily has priority, but Darby still gets her daily park, rollerblade, run...etc.
So after the vet, it's time to find the best birthday present OF ALL TIME!!!!
(Any suggestions are appreciated. :) )

Adventures in Emily World!

I had a different blogspot.address chosen when I first started my blog. The one I wanted was already taken.
I won't mention what it was going to be, as I don't want to out the author.
But for reals, yall? That poor, poor woman and her sad blog. It's a woman with cats, and she loves to take photos of them. And it also documents the discovery that her live-in partner was leading a double life and had a spouse and a child.
Seriously, woman. Give me my blog name and I promise it will be more upbeat. I will help you choose another one.
Such as catloverseeksfaithfulpartner.blogspot.com, or readthisandbethankfulforyourlife.blogspot.com
But ya know, she has more followers than I do. So obviously there is some sort of draw. Maybe my baby-rearing chronicles don't interest as many people as the recounting of a crumbling life held together by the love of felines.
So with that, readers, I leave you with a photo of a dog. An awesome one. :)

Here's Darby when we had to cover her stitches up.

to sum up a saturday...

Last night, we went out with friends for dinner and had Grandpa and Grandma R watch Charlotte for the evening. I'm still getting used the whole babysitter thing, but it went swimmingly and she even slept alright...until about 3:30. Then it was wide, wide, wide awake time. Smiley and awake. So cute. And tiring.

Marcus was a dear and kept C asleep for a while so I could sleep in until about 9. But we just chilled all day. Love it.

Came upstairs and Darby got comfortable with the boppy. No joke. She did this herself.

The "Family Bed" :)

My little sweetie. Before she got crabby for the day.

Life is good. But now I spend my evening folding laundry. Something that several months ago would have been the biggest drag ever. But this is what we asked for, right?

Ikea tomorrow. Thinking it's time to actually decorate and make my bedroom a room to enjoy.

2011 so far...

Well obviously it's been quite a year so far. I know, we're only a month in.
But here's the update!

Life with Charlotte is going well. It's really such a huge change having this new little person control your life. The first two weeks were definitely tough. My mind was in a fog, I was completely consumed by her. She demanded every ounce of energy and recovering from her birth didn't leave much get up and go. Hormones were out of control and I would cry at least twice every day. (It feels so much better to already have a better grasp on my emotions!)
I've made a choice to not concern myself with the "rules". I'm using my instincts and it seems to be working out. I'm totally up for suggestions, but as of now, I'm listening to my gut.

Charlotte will be a month tomorrow, and it's already bittersweet. I can't wait for her to get a little older and smile and laugh, but I'll never have this time back with her. I love how she snuggles and calms down when I sing, I can't believe I'm a MOM!

Right now she likes to eat about every 2 hours during the day, and we've been fortunate to have a handful of nights where she goes 3-3.5 hours between feedings. Even more fortunate when she goes right back to sleep after eating! The one downside is that she's been quite fussy while she's awake and only likes to be held. She tolerates her swing in small doses.

I've recovered from my c section much quicker than I thought I would, but in the time frame my dr. told me I would. I guess he'd know! The first week was so hard, doing it all on my own with Marcus back at work, but it's amazing how your body can heal from a pretty big surgery in a small amount of time. I'm really looking forward to fitting into more of my pre-pregnancy clothes, but can't work out until I get the dr. OK. I should also remind myself that it's been a month and not to have unrealistic expectations. I kept shrinking for the first 3 weeks and now it's stopped...so apparently this is where I need to start working for results. Sounds stupid.

We also found out in the last few weeks that the bumps that my doggie had removed were cancer. With my hormones at unreasonable levels, this was very hard news to take. We've done some research and talked with the vet again today and learned that we should still have several good years with her as long as the bumps are caught early and are removed. Which is exactly what had to be done today with another one that was discovered. Hopefully that's the end of them...She's been through so much in her (not even!) 3 years. I really hope we get to see Charlotte grow up with this wonderful dog. So tonight we have a sleepy drugged up hound...but this time around should be easier as we don't need to use the cone of shame and put boxer briefs on her.
People loved to tell me how our dog would be put on the back burner or she'd be a second class citizen after the baby arrives, but that's not even close to true. We still love her just the same and she does so well with the baby.

Anyway...I'm looking forward to some more light hearted blog posts in the future once I get a little more of my brain back and I can be sarcastic again. But my, oh my, has life changed.

My Dog is a Houdini...

Among many other things.

I am surprised I haven't posted more about my dog.
I'm going to tell a little story about her.

My dog is Darby. She is almost 3 years old. She is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is a very special member of our little family.

We've had our fair share of adventures with her. When we first got her, she barfed every time she was in the car. We even had a system. A very disgusting system of watching the signs: she stands up, starts licking her chops, gets a creepy smile thing going, and her stomach starts heaving. I enter the scene with trash bag, or other "catching" device. She pukes in bag. Success!

Then there was the time where she grabbed a near empty container of hummus off an end table. I saw her do it, didn't think it was a big deal, after all, It's just hummus. Apparently, our dog should not have hummus, as she had an extreme allergic reaction to it, and I thought she was going to die. She didn't. She's very sturdy.



Our biggest scare was last February when after several vet visits, we discovered she had a blockage in her intestines and stomach. This did not come as a major surprise to us, as she's always been a big time chewer. Although we keep a good eye on her, she is stealthy. After a pretty major surgery, the dr. found shreds of a rope toy all tangled up in her innards.

Once again, she was very resilient, and recovered beautifully from her surgery.



Fast forward to today. Darbs has had a couple of bumps removed in the last few months. The first two were removed in October, said to be harmless, but if she gets more, let them know. She had a couple more pop up and we decided to have them removed and sent in for analysis. So now we wait. But while we wait, we deal with a very tricky dog. We've tried just about everything to keep her away from her stitches (on her back leg). She removed them all together on Sunday. We had to call the on-call vet to have her stitched back up. It was ugly! So we took her home, put the giant cone of shame on her head, kept her bandaged, and put a pair of boxer shorts on her.

On Monday, we discovered that she squirmed out of her cone of shame and chewed out more stitches. We brought her back in, where the stapled, stitched and wrapped her up as best as they could.

Today, I got her a new cone (e-collar), that fit her much better, no way could she get out! I bandaged her up again, replaced the boxer briefs so they were nice and snug, kept her in her e-collar, and put her in her crate, where there isn't enough room to move with the cone on.

Seriously. Short of locking her head and front paws in stocks, she was secure!

I got home just after 5pm. Her e-collar was still on! Success! Although...somehow....it had teeth marks. And somehow, her boxers and bandaid were off. And somehow, her boxers and bandaid were completely missing. As in, she ate them. The stitches look okay.



W.T.F.



She hasn't been this happy in days.



I can't believe that her stomach feels so good, and she has some pretty nasty gas.



Dr. won't prescribe a sedative, but reccommends that we board her there for the day, where she can be watched.



NAUGHTY!!!!



I love her so much. I would do anything for her. Some people say this will change after the baby arrives. I can see why they'd say this. Baby is close to arriving, and I admit that I don't worry about her like I used to. Some of that is perspective, and some of it is distraction.



I just hope she is getting this out of her system, because in a matter of days, I won't be able to cater to her every strange demand.

Poor, pathetic hound. I love you!! :)

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