Don't Stop Believing!

Wow, seriously. Why did the 80's have to die? Check out the pants and the guitar player. That's hot!

Happy Valentine's Day!

No, I haven't completely lost my mind. I DO know it's St. Patrick's Day, but I'm not Irish, and I have really no idea why there is a St. Patrick's Day. I mean, I know it has something to do with St. Patrick, but this holiday has never really spoken to me... well, maybe it did in college with the green beer and all.

OK, I just read up on the history of St. Patrick's Day here, so now I'm not a complete ninny. Does anyone even use that word anymore? I'm not sure if I ever have save for just right now.

Anyway....

I never got around to posting our Valentine's Day fun, so I figured that I would go ahead and take the opportunity to do so today.

We started our morning with pink heart shaped pancakes.

My heart cookie cutter that my mom gave to me has gotten sooo much use over the years... it's great for sandwiches too.

MD had a dusting of snow, so school was canceled. e was pretty upset because she was going to miss her Valentine's Day party, but her mood quickly changed when she realized that she could do this with the neighbors...



KK had a great time too and

even made a new friend.

Friday's weather was back to normal and e was able to have her school party. They made these really cute boxes to collect their valentines in.

Every time I glanced towards the box, I wanted to yell, 'Get off the counter!'

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Mystery Solved!

After several emails back and forth between Sophie's previous owner and me, the strange mystery has been solved. I figured that I would share because if any of you are like me, you need to know.

Apparently, his marriage of 13 years just recently ended. The house where he is living, is owned by one of his good friends, and he is renting the basement. Once his affairs are in order, he is heading back to England.

Ahhh... now it all makes sense and I guess they're right about what they say when you assume things.

And on a side note, I took Sophie to the vet today just to put to rest our post-Isis jitters. Dr. Adam said that she looked great but is in need of LOTS of exercise, but we already knew that.

Have a great weekend!

Fate?

I'm not really sure what to call it... so I am going with fate.

The day after we had to put Isis down, I was speaking with a parent at e's school... which I guess I never told you how we solved our dilemma. OK, quick sidetrack...

We found a part-day private Kindergarten for e. It's at one of the church's here and is from 9-12 everyday. It's perfect. She gets to go for the morning, learn something and hang out with friends and then in the afternoon, her and I get to hang out while KK sleeps. In the fall, we are going to re-start her in Kindergarten, either at the school in our backyard, or the charter school. Not sure about that one yet, but we have plenty of time to decide.

Alright, back to fate...

I was speaking with a parent at e's school and told her that we had to put Isis down. The next day, she told me that she had heard from a friend of a friend, that a man was moving to England and had a 2 year old lab that he was looking for a family for and wanted to tell me about it first because of our situation.

I mentioned it to E, but neither of us thought much of it at the time. Then we started talking more, and you all know what happens when we start talking and thinking...

So, we decided to email the guy and just get a feel for him and the dog. We emailed back and forth and he told us that she was a really sweet dog, was house and invisible fence trained. He told us that he works 10-12 hours a day and it's not fair to her to be left alone. He also might be moving back to England where there is a 6 month pet quarantine. And he sent us this picture...
Obviously, a puppy picture, but look at that face.

After more emails and questions, we were informed that it would be an adoption, not a sale, and she would come with everything. Oh yeah, she's spayed too. Now, with our history of all things strange, we didn't think twice. 'Cuz why start now??

We arranged to drive 2 hours north of us to meet them. They were outside waiting for us. We talked outside for awhile and then proceeded inside... first to the garage where all of her supplies were waiting (toys, food, bowls, etc.) and he told us that he didn't remember the name of the food because his girlfriend buys it. We then went inside, he put the dog downstairs and we went into the family room where we were introduced to two girls, older than ours, and told one was upstairs. His girlfriend also poked her head down at one point to say, 'Hi.'

Hmmm, OK, so I was sort of under the impression that this guy was single. But while sitting on the couch in a really awkward conversation, I looked around at the pictures where there was one with him and his girlfriend and the three girls. Back to this in a minute.

So, we decided that she was the one and we were going to become dog owners once again, much sooner than expected.

Meet Sophie
a 2 year old, REALLY black lab, in need of a couple of work-outs but has the cutest face ever.

When loading her into the car, the guy was tearing up because it is SO extremely hard to let a pet go. But no one else came out of the house, no one else said good-bye. This is one part of the whole thing that I cannot wrap my brain around and I don't think I ever will, no matter how much I obsess about it. I mean, is the dog always alone at home? What about the kids and the girlfriend? Did they recently become involved? I will never know.

Anyway... she LOVES to play tug of war, and her and e have become fast friends. Sophie will drag e all around the house with e laughing the whole time.

She does have some bad habits, not her fault, so we will be doing some re-training over the next... well however long it takes to undo and redo. It should be a fun challenge.

And she also came with this on her collar. Fate or something else??

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Who feels happier today with a little extra light after dinner time?

We do!

Thank You!

I just wanted to thank all of you for you thoughts and prayers for our sweet Isis. It was greatly appreciated.

Everyone is doing much better and the girls speak to her daily by looking up at the sky. How innocent they are... I wish we all could recapture that.

Stay tuned... we have something up our sleeves...

We're crazy, we like adventure...

it's one crazy adventure we're on.

I'm a dork and E is hanging his head in shame...

The Life & Times of Isis

It is with a heavy heart that I write this entry. After a long month of trying to figure out what was going on with Isis, we ended up having to put her down this afternoon.

After our wonderful day at the beach, she just wasn't the same. We thought that all the activity wiped her out, but when she didn't eat and moved very little the next day... we realized something was wrong. Our Vets were on vacation, so I took her to a different animal hospital and was told that she may have hip dysplasia and we were sent on our way with anti-inflammatories and a $290 estimate for sedation x-rays.

We didn't agree with the diagnosis and made an appointment a couple of days later with the fill-in vet. Both she and the vet tech agreed that she was showing signs of a tick-borne illness (E had pulled a tick off her that previous Sunday) and we were given pain medication and antibiotics. After 3 days with no sign of improvement, we saw our regular vet, who also agreed with the tick-borne illness diagnosis and he decided to increase the antibiotic dose to see what happened. Again, no noticeable improvement was seen. It was like a light switch was turned off and our puppy turned into a old dog... she no longer wanted to play or run.

Another call to the vet was made and we decided to do x-rays to see if there was something that had been missed. The diagnosis that came back was Panosteitis... which is inflammation of the long bones. Basically, growing pains for a dog. We switched pain medication and were told that we should see improvement in the next couple of weeks. The following week, she seemed to be doing better... she was learning to shake paws and was constantly wanting to shake. She even picked up a few toys to play with.

Then the past 3 days, she was steadily getting worse. She started whining and yelping when she would get up. The night before last, she was clearly in pain as her yelping increased during the night. Yesterday, I called the vet and got more pain medication since she spent the whole day being extremely uncomfortable. When I spent last night physically carrying her up and down the deck stairs, I decided to take her in today.

Needless to say, the news wasn't good. The thought is that there was neurological damage and we could have gotten a MRI or taken her to a specialist for a second opinion. The specialist is located in VA and I could not stand the thought of driving her a long way when the 10 minute drive to our vet had her in terrible pain.

I called E and we discussed it and decided that we needed to end her pain... which was a horrible decision to have to make. But I believe that we did indeed make the right one. The past few days have been so hard to watch her cry out and not be able to do anything for her.

She was loved by this family and will be sorely missed.

Cuddled up on the couch with her blanket to be more comfortable.

One of the last shots taken.

Maryland has not been good to us on the pet front. It is so hard to have to explain death to the kids. Our ever sweet and emotional e wanted to say this prayer...


'Jesus, please help my dog. Feed her, let her sleep and drink. Please take care of her and train her too. Amen.'

What Do YOU Do When You're Alone?

E left us for 3 days for a fun-filled work retreat, complete with briefs and brainstorming sessions. I'm sure there isn't anywhere else he would rather be. Of course, to me, that sounds like a fabulous way to spend 3 days... especially the lone hotel nights.

Anyway, when the kids are finally down for the night and I have the house all to myself... what is it that I do? Watch a movie, take a bath, curl up with a good book, surf the internet?? Not even close. I clean. Sick, twisted, insane... believe me, I know, but there really is something so calming about order to me.

I think I first realized this problem of mine when I was in college. When I had a big test to study for or a important paper to write, I would first clean my dorm room and later my apartment. That way, I would have a fresh slate and a clutter free mind... no distractions to speak of. And yes, I do realize that this is also a form of procrastination. My motto used to be, 'The last minute is just as good as any other minute.'

Every since having kids, it has gotten worse. Whenever I get angry or frustrated, I start picking up the house or cleaning the kitchen counters. I guess it's my way of taking control of such a control-less environment. For the most part, our kids are great. Don't get me wrong, I love them both, but kids are not 100% controllable. I guess no one is 100% controllable, but you do get a higher percentage when dealing with contemporaries in a management situation. So, I guess I grab hold of the one thing that I can 100% control and that is the cleanliness and organization of my home. Because this is my sanctuary and it should make me feel good, right?

So, yes, I am in need of a good psychologist, but in the meantime... I am off to clean another room and maybe organize a closet.

But I want to know...

what do you do when you are alone?

Adventures in Potty Training Part 3

As most of you know, this has been an unusual progression in potty training for KK. If not, catch up with the first installment or the second installment of Adventures in Potty Training.

She continues to surprise us. Her latest thing is pooping on the potty, but not pee. She will tell us that she needs to go and will sit there until she is finished with her business. Backwards, I know.

I put her on the potty the other day and when I came back to check on her, here is how I found her. It made me laugh to see just how interested she was in the dog supply magazine.

And speaking of potty training... the dog is pretty much house trained. Woohoo! But, now that we send her out on her own, we have to go on periodic poop hunts. Turns out that her favorite spot to go is in the leaves... not the easiest place to spot poop. Can you find it? It's like 'Where's Waldo?'

Congrats to kmm for finding the poop. You should be proud!! Something fabulous is coming your way sometime soon! (How's that for specifics??)

By the way, I am sure that my neighbor thinks that I am insane... it's not every day that you see some one walking around with a pooper scooper and a camera. And yes, I already know that you think that I am insane.

First person to find it gets a prize! What's the prize you ask? It's a surprise. Hopefully, it's not a steaming bag of dog poop. Come on, who wants to play?