My life - a work in progress

Another 29 lbs down!

2011-02-20T23:45:00.003-06:00

Twenty-nine pounds is being donated today, meaning we're down at total of 105 lbs - that's a whole (small) person - in our New Year's Resolution to declutter 500 lbs! Only 395 more to go.

Free Avon?? Okay!

2011-02-12T14:50:00.003-06:00

My friend Joslyn is an Avon Rep & she donated $35 credit for this giveaway on One Year to Disney. Right now there are NO entries so you have a great chance to win. It's a cool blog too, so check it out.

Cooper playing Cake Boss

2011-02-04T22:58:00.000-06:00

Cooper making cake from John Parisi on Vimeo.

Day 4 of Snowmaggedon

2011-02-04T22:41:00.005-06:00

John's home from work for the 3rd day now. We're all getting a little cabin fever because our alley is so full of snow we can't get our cars out. We walked down the block to have lunch at a (scary) little diner we've never been to, got a little dessert at a nearby bakery, and headed home again.

Our alley is up this alley and to the left.

There was a brief glimmer of hope when a loader and dump truck rolled down the street. We thought they were finally going to plow our street, and maybe even the alley, but they just drove past.

Our garage is past that wall of snow & down about five houses.

Seriously? Do you have to make it totally impossible for everyone else?

John made dinner :)

Day 3 of Snowmaggedon

2011-02-04T22:31:00.004-06:00

John wasn't able to make it to work again. We made animal crackers and tortilla pizzas. We went outside too, but my camera batteries died.

Dexter's animal crackers never made it to the oven.

Day 2 of Snowmaggedon

2011-02-02T16:46:00.008-06:00

Dexter decided the snow pile was a slide.

Difficult to see, but these are our snow angels.

Day 1 of Snowmageddon

2011-02-01T23:03:00.003-06:00

... a.k.a. Snowpocalypse, Snowpocageddon, and, my personal favorite, The Snowtorious BIG. Dexter is prepared.

We lost 76 pounds already!

2011-01-17T13:59:00.002-06:00

That's right - 76 pounds! I decided to do the 500-lb declutter as part of my New Year's resolutions & we took 76 lbs of stuff out of the house today. One bag went into the garbage and one is in the car to go to Once Upon A Child (resale shop), but most of it was donated to Amvets today. Hmm.. maybe I'll have to do a 1000-lb declutter!

My husband, the big loser

2011-01-10T23:04:00.005-06:00

Shockingly, I haven't haven't blogged about this yet, but it's probably just because I've been such a negligent blogger.

Over the summer John had a routine physical and was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Yikes. Pretty scary. He has to take his blood sugar twice a day, take medicine daily, & change his diet. (Side note: I always thought diabetes couldn't eat sugar, not realizing that carbohydrates are really what they have to look out for. John's diagnosis meant a crash course in nutrition for the whole family.) Also, he was told the most important thing to do was lose a ton of weight, FAST.

We've adjusted to the diabetes. John's blood sugar is well controlled, we drastically cut the carbs we eat as a family, & John lost all the weight he was told to - over 70 lbs - in less than 6 months. He calls it the "fear of God" diet. As crappy as the whole diabetes thing is, he's SO much healthier now & I think having it might have saved his life.

Drum roll please:

BEFORE
(taken in April 2010)

AFTER
(taken in December 2010)

Congratulations John! You did a fabulous job & you look great!

New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-02T23:31:00.006-06:00

I'm generally not big on resolutions, but I LOVE the new year. It seems so refreshing. I was especially excited about this new year because 2010 was a rough year for us & I'm happy to have it done with so we can start over again. So I'm making resolutions this year. Or maybe they're just goals. Whatever. They are (in no particular order):

- Blog more often.
Because I enjoy it & maybe someone out there does too (hi John & Mom!).

- Take more pictures & write more.
John thinks my camera is permanently attached to my hand, but the boys are growing so fast & I love have pictures of as much as I can. I don't write nearly enough down (you'd think from looking at Cooper's baby book that he was the 14th child in our family instead of the first). Blogging more will help a little, but I'm going to try to write a little note about each kid every day in a planner. Just cute things they did or said, or milestones, that we can look back on when they're older.

- Appreciate my family & friends more, and let them know it.
I truly love & appreciate all my family & friends, but I don't do a great job of letting them know how much so that's a big goal for me this year (and for all the years to come!).

And, because you HAVE to have a weight loss resolution or it's just not New Year's:

- Lose 500 lbs.
Seriously. John and I actually did tremendous as far as weight loss goes in 2010. I returned to my pre-Dexter-pregnancy weight, which was significantly less than my pre-Cooper-pregnancy weight. And John lost more than 70 lbs this year. It's amazing & I'm so proud of him. He looks great & is so much healthier than before. But more on all that (with before & after pictures!) in a future post.
Our house, on the other hand, is morbidly obese. I plan to declutter (sell, donate, recyle, or throw out) 500 lbs this year. We've decluttered a lot this year, but have so much further to go. I came across this, & I love the idea. I'll keep you all updated on our progress.

Maybe I'll add a couple more goals, but I figure this is a good start.

2010-12-17T09:41:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday Mom!
(a day late. sorry.)

Dexter's very first modeling job

2010-12-04T01:23:00.003-06:00

The picture finally appeared! It's scrolling across the front page at the website for Personal Creations.

What incredible natural acting ability he has! He's able to play someone of the opposite gender at only 3 months! Some actors never have that kind of skill.

Why I haven't had time to blog (an excuse in the form of photo essay & paranthetical phrases)

2010-10-26T17:46:00.007-05:00

(Dexter walking at 10 months)

(The boys' first baseball game)

(Look, it's a Dexter holder)

Dexter eats cake!

2010-10-23T08:10:00.002-05:00

Dexter's first birthday (cake) from John Parisi on Vimeo.

2010-10-22T08:45:00.003-05:00

Happy 1st birthday Dexter!

(I have no babies anymore!)

2010-10-20T07:47:00.005-05:00

Happy 3rd birthday Cooper!

I can't believe my baby is 3!

Dexter breaks into comedy

2010-09-05T20:22:00.003-05:00

Dexter doing his best Groucho Marx:

"Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas and how he got in my pajamas I'll never know!"

Can you tell his parents are lawyers?

2010-08-22T15:36:00.004-05:00

We went to the zoo today & after hours of animal watching, eating, tram riding, & walking, we told Cooper he could ride in the stroller or walk & he chose to walk. Shortly after that, he threw a tantrum when he found out we were leaving the zoo. He calmed down & then John offered to carry him on his shoulders. As Cooper rode on John's shoulders they had this conversation:

Cooper: Dad, sorry I yelled.
John: That's okay, kiddo.
Cooper: Dad, my options were ride in the stroller or walk, right?
John: Yeah.
Cooper: My options weren't carry me or ride on your shoulders, right?
John: Right. Cooper, are you trying to say that if you had the option of riding on my shoulders we wouldn't have argued?
Cooper: Yeah.
John: Well, that's very disingenuous of you Cooper.
Cooper: Thanks!

The scary part is, by the time he's a teenager he's gonna win the arguments because I started to side with Cooper, until I remembered that the argument had been about leaving the zoo and not walking/riding/being carried. Smart kid.

Goin' 'sploring

2010-07-27T15:00:00.000-05:00

Little Red Schoolhouse just opened their new building (which Cooper quickly pointed out is not red, or a schoolhouse, but just a grey building) so we took the boys to see it. It's really nice & Cooper loved the new kids play area with puzzles, sticks (his current obsession), and other activities. We did some 'sploring outside too.

So Big!

2010-07-27T10:58:00.003-05:00

Dexter's growing so fast! I attempted a 9 months picture, but the sign went into the mouth. Pretty predicable really. So we got some assistance from big brother Cooper.

2010-07-24T10:14:00.002-05:00

Caycee K. turns 3 today! Happy birthday Caycee!

Random links & strong feelings

2010-07-06T20:50:00.006-05:00

I'm thoroughly disgusted by this...
Blogher.com article: "Does Breastfeeding Cause Divorce?"
I'm just so outraged about it I don't even know what to say, so I'll let you all read it for yourselves.

and thrilled by this...
Recipe for Parisian bagels
I made these bagels today (I added dried onion flakes) & they're delicious. I tried one this afternoon & it's taking all my willpower not to go in the kitchen & eat the remaining nine.

Celebrating the Fourth

2010-07-06T20:36:00.003-05:00

We spent out Fourth of July with Grandma & Grandpa.

There was swimming...

and playing at the park.

Dexter was a little confused. He crawled into the room with the dogs when my mom called them for dinner, & even crawled over to my dad for his "turn" to be petted like the dogs. Weirdo.

We went to a nearby lake for the fireworks display, but the bugs were so bad we had to move into the van to watch it.

(P.S. There are more photos of Dexter, but I promise I haven't forgotten about Cooper. He's just become much more difficult to photograph & even runs from the camera now. Unless it's a modeling job, & then he's a complete ham.)

Black beans anyone?

2010-06-29T21:55:00.002-05:00

Na-ne-na-ne-boo-boo

2010-06-15T16:22:00.005-05:00

John came across this in someone's front yard (there was a sign saying it was free, of course) & he knew it was my style. It's hard to tell the size in the picture, but it's totally adorable.. it's about 3 1/2 feet tall. And that's textured contact paper on the inside. So cute!

So the big question is, what do I do with it?

John thought it would be good for gardening stuff, but I'm nervous about leaving it outside (it'd be on our covered deck, but I'm still nervous about it getting wet if there's a lot of blowing rain) & don't want to put anything dirty inside it. I'm thinking maybe indoors, although I'm a little afraid of the boys pulling it down on themselves. (Huh. And John thinks I overthink things...) Maybe for cloth diapers or fabric & notions (see Mom & Karen - I read your minds). What do you think?

2010-06-15T07:10:00.005-05:00

Happy 4th birthday Zak!

(It was yesterday, but it's not like I forgot to blog about it yesterday or anything, it's just that I wanted to extend the celebration! Yeah, that's it.)

2010-06-11T14:56:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday auntie Col!

West Wing Swap

2010-06-05T21:06:00.001-05:00

I did it! I love swapping crafts on Craftster.org & I finally decided to organize my a swap on there. It's a West Wing themed swap because, well, it's the best tv show of all time. You can check out my swap here.

P.S.

2010-06-04T21:07:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed my awful haircut in the last post. In my defense, this is the picture I brought in to the "stylist" (if you can call her that):

I'm not sure how it turned into the haircut I got. And that was three weeks ago so it's grown out a bit. Yuck.

Millenium Park

2010-06-04T20:51:00.005-05:00

This week we took the train downtown to Millenium Park.

John & the boys at the "Bean"

Me & Cooper at the "Bean"
(*see the P.S. post!)

Not sure what Dexter's doing here. Avoiding the sun maybe? Or maybe it's time for a nap.

Cooper got accidentally knocked down. We didn't realize 'til we got home that John somehow took a picture of it.

Visiting the cousins

2010-06-04T20:33:00.003-05:00

Why don't they make kids with handles?

Lynzee having a very serious discussion with Dexter

Four kids smiling, one looking at the camera

All smiling, four facing the right direction, one looking at the camera

Only one real smiling, but everyone's looking in the general direction of the camera. Close enough.

My dream come true...

2010-06-04T20:28:00.002-05:00

I've always wished for a kid that would just plop down & go to sleep when he was tired. Dexter's not exactly like that, but he did it once just to make me smile.

Tell us how you really feel

2010-06-04T20:19:00.002-05:00

Dexter started solid foods almost six weeks ago. Well, I should say I started making baby food & shoving it in his mouth, because there was no actual eating happening for the first month, and this was the face we had to look at:

He's gotten much more enthusiastic about eating in the past couple weeks.

Cooper on the World Wide Web

2010-05-22T00:44:00.003-05:00

Another Cooper sighting on the One Step Ahead website (here).

Cooper & Dexter have been working lots lately in preparation for Christmas catalogs. Also, Dexter may be appearing in a Sears catalog or Sears or K-Mart circular in the near future so keep your eyes open (& let me know if you see him!).

2010-05-18T19:01:00.001-05:00

2010-05-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day

Weekend getaway

2010-05-04T08:04:00.001-05:00

If you've been reading my blog since I started it (in other words, if you're my mom or my cousin Karen), you may have noticed I've never posted about going on vacation. That's 'cause we haven't had one in YEARS. I'm a firm believer in at least annual vacations, probably because my parents were big on vacations. We didn't have many big expensive vacations when I was growing up, but we did always have vacations. My parents believed vacations were an investment in memories & I completely agree. But our last trip (it was really just a weekend away) was in May of 2007 when I was pregnant with Cooper, & our last real vacation was almost 4 years ago. Needless to say, I was in desperate need of some kind of vacation. Since we didn't have the time or money for much, I hopped on the internet & found a deal on a weekend at a hotel 30 miles from home. Not Jamaica, but it had a pool.

Me & the boys having breakfast in bed.

Cooper was almost as excited about the pool as I was.

Dexter has discovered that he can bang his hand & make noise & he loves it. John & I have joked that he'll probably be a drummer today. Judging by this picture I'm thinking it'll be steel drums in a Jimmy Buffett-esque (Jimmy Buffett-y?) band.

John, Cooper, & Ba-lock (get it? Barack + block? John's pun, not mine. You know it's a good joke when I say, "get it?") at Legoland.

"It's not scary, Daddy. Right?"

Cooper reading to Dexter. (It's a Stephen King book.)

Things to do today:

2010-04-20T11:03:00.001-05:00

Put bouncy seat into storage.

Going to the park with Mommy... and showing off

2010-04-17T08:48:00.000-05:00

Geez, apparently the quiz in my last post was a little too obvious. What gave it away? Was it the unprotected heads just waiting to be scorched by the sun? Or Cooper perched miles high and ready to plummet to the ground at any moment?
Yeah, okay, I guess it's possible I'm overreacting just a bit. Here's pictures from a trip to the park with (uptight) mommy:

Cooper at a much more acceptable height

Hmm.. he's getting a little high... (Kidding. I'm not quite that crazy.)

Aside from protecting bald heads from the sun, hats are just super cute on babies.

Cooper showing off. I've never been able to master walking while drinking (yes, I'm saying I will stop walking to sip my water; I could never run a marathon), but fortunately I didn't pass that gene on to Cooper. He repays me by flaunting it by balancing on a beam at the same time.

Worn out & napping in the carrier.

Who took us to the park?

2010-04-05T16:17:00.005-05:00

My cool new shoes

2010-03-29T17:33:00.003-05:00

I collect Converse All-Stars & love Dr. Seuss, so someone sent me these in a swap - hand-painted Dr. Seuss Converse All-Stars. Doesn't get much cooler than that.

Welcome home!!

2010-03-26T11:46:00.002-05:00

My brother Adam was deployed to Afghanistan this fall; he got to meet Dexter a couple days after he was born & then he had to leave. We originally thought he'd be gone 'til this fall, but things changed & he's back now!! He called today to say he's in the U.S. & we should be able to see him in a week (or less)!!

I drank the kool-aid

2010-03-23T16:24:00.004-05:00

My mom hosted a "crafty weekend" for my family (well, the girls in the family) a few weeks ago & I didn't take any pictures at all, but you can see my mom's blog post, my cousin Karen's blog post, & my aunt Colleen's blog post for some pictures & details. Karen even made us some goodie bags, including "Creative Juice" (bottled water). Thanks Karen! Anyway, I think being around those quilters (my mom & Karen) got to me 'cause I'm planning to make a quilt now. I'd like to make a fun kid's quilt with lots of textures & fun fabrics. I've asked for creative quilt blocks in some of my swaps on Craftster & this is what I got:

If I ever get the time I'll be making a few of my own & I'm going to keep asking for them in swaps 'cause it's fun seeing what other people come up with.

Oh Spring, I've missed you so...

2010-03-17T22:21:00.005-05:00

Welcome back Spring! I love you & I've missed you!
We visited Lake Catherine today for their St. Patrick's Day waterfall dyeing with the "nursing moms" (the moms I met at my breastfeeding group) for the second year in a row (see last year here). Since most of us had a second child this year, we had twice as many kids with us this year. Yikes. The babies spent most of their time in strollers or being worn by their mommies, but next year they'll all be walking so look out.

Cooper "smiling" for the camera

Then Cooper, Dexter, & I had a picnic.

Dexter did this to himself. I moved it off his face & he did it again. And smiled. Weirdo.

My little angel

2010-03-01T08:53:00.003-06:00

Look at my little angel! Another swap from Craftster... someone made me these awesome angel wings that are attached to my Moby wrap carrier with velcro. Even though John's official stance is that they are girly & silly, I'm pretty sure even he thinks they're cute. Now I'm trying to think of other things I can attach since I have the velcro there anyway. Hmm... maybe a superhero cape? Or a big superhero emblem for his chest when he's facing forward?

Christmas crafts

2010-02-19T21:40:00.000-06:00

I had lots & lots of crafting to do for Christmas so I had to put Cooper to work. He painted birdhouses for Grandpa & Papa, & frame mats for both Grandma's & Daddy (and we framed a picture of Dexter & Cooper of course).

I made cloth doll diapers for my friend Joslyn's daughter (so she'd stop stealing her sister's disposable diapers),

a towel wrap for my dad,

a laptop case for John's sister's laptop,

a t-shirt for Pat (our future brother-in-law), who loves his van,

and a family tree wall hanging for my mom.

And since I know you've been holding your breath to see what this was (or you've completely forgotten about it), I made a card table felt playhouse for Cooper. There's felt mail for the mailbox & the fruit, vegetables, & birds are all attached with velcro so they can be moved around. (It's a really impressive idea that I completely stole from here.)

Dexter's big day

2010-01-23T08:58:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Dexter 3 months old and had his first modeling job! It was actually his first acting job too because he played a girl. The job was for Personal Creations catalog & he had to lay on a pink personalized quilt on a bed & smile & look cute. (The link to the quilt is on the right under "Dexter's modeling jobs".) He did a fabulous job & Cooper came along & was an angel; I couldn't have asked for better behavior from either of them.

You would think that would be a full enough day, but no. Before bath time, Dexter was laying the bed on his back & he leaned... leaned... leaned... and rolled over onto his belly. (Side note: John witnessed it & I missed it. Again. I'm with my babies 24 hours a day 7 days a week & both of them have rolled over for the first time when John was watching & I wasn't. I'm not really complaining - I love that John gets to witness these firsts.) As John & I talked about how surprised we were, Dexter pushed with his feet, stuck his butt in the air, leaned... and rolled over onto his back. Woo hoo Dexter! Of course, now mommy can't leave him alone for a second on the couch & we're discontinuing his swaddle. I can't believe he's such a big boy already!

Dexter's big mouth (or, the post that will drive John crazy)

2010-01-20T22:30:00.001-06:00

You may have noticed that Dexter is very well endowed when it comes to facial features, particularly his mouth. This has led to a few comparisons, so I just wanted your opinion:

Does he look more like JJ Walker,

or Steven Tyler??

My weird kids

2010-01-13T15:18:00.000-06:00

Dexter the gangster
(This was not a well-timed photo catching Dexter moving his arms around - they were frozen like this for at least 10 minutes while he slept.)

Dexter's crooked smile is the funniest thing. I think he looks middle aged in this picture.

Mr. Houdini escaping his swaddle

Dexter modeling some of mommy's baby leg warmers

I love this picture. Dexter & Cooper are both wearing baby leg warmers (Cooper insisted) & Cooper is also wearing an orange dyed play silk as a cape (he has an actual cape, but prefers this one sometimes). For some strange reason the theme song from "Fame" runs through my head every time I see this picture... hmmm...

New Year

2010-01-13T09:35:00.000-06:00

We sent Cooper to bed at his normal time on New Year's Eve, but woke him at 11:50. He was a little tired (so tired that he stumbled around like he was drunk).

Dexter did not go to bed. Mommy was even less happy about this than Dexter looks.

Don't worry - it's sparkling grape juice. Cooper loved the bubbles, but thought it burned.

Our only New Year's tradition - pigs in blankets

Cooper wasn't interested in banging on pots & pans or drums until we told him it was time to go back to bed. "No! I have to bang on pots & pans!"

Dora

2010-01-10T16:43:00.000-06:00

It was July when we learned Dora had Lymphoma. (See July post here.) We expected to only have a couple months with her, but we got five. The last month Dora's been slowing down a lot & tumors have been growing. The past week it's been worse & she's started having more trouble getting up and down and eating, so we knew it was time to make a difficult decision.
We've struggled a lot with how to explain things to Cooper. In July Cooper was still learning the dogs' names and we thought he might mention her name a few times after she was gone & it would be hard on us but that he wouldn't notice much. But so much time has gone by now & he's grown so much & understands so much more that we have to explain it to him. We decided we did not want to mention the doctor or "sleep" because we didn't want either of those things to be scary to him. Instead, we've been telling him for a while that she's sick and doesn't feel well. Today we explained to him that Dora was so sick that she would have to leave to go someplace where she will be all better, and that we're sad because we'll never see her again, but happy because she will feel better and be happy.
Cooper & I said our goodbyes to Dora at home and John took her to the vet. They were very understanding and made a clay paw print for us to keep.
Rest in peace Dora. We miss you already.

Congratulations!

2010-01-09T17:00:00.000-06:00

John's sister Anna has been dating her boyfriend Pat on & off for about 4 years. Pat's in two bands (The Wanderers and Backyard Cohort) & both had a gig at the House of Blues the day after Christmas.
Since playing the House of Blues is a really big deal I really wanted to go and it was an all-ages show so I told John that I was gonna go, baby & toddler in tow. I mean, I'm one of those cool moms that takes their kids fun places like concerts & stuff. And if the House of Blues had a problem with that then too bad! I'm a nursing mother; my baby needs to be with me to breastfeed! (You're probably saying that I could just pump & go one my own, which is true, but I HATE pumping & pretty much refuse to do it & I'm sort of notorious for being unable to be without my baby.) Anyway, I was ready to do battle with John or the House of Blues or anyone who tried to tell me I couldn't go with my kids until John pointed out that I'd probably be damaging their eardrums. He had a point. So I stayed home with the kids & John went to the show. (Probably for the best we decided that because there was a blizzard & the roads were awful that night.)
ANYWAY, what I missed that night, besides Pat's bands who I heard were awesome, was Anna getting called onstage & Pat dropping down on one knee & proposing!! Anna said yes (of course). Congratulations to Anna & Pat! :)
(P.S. Don't you love the way I managed to talk about myself for more than half of the post that's supposed to be about Anna & Pat getting engaged?? I'm horrible.)

Christmas

2010-01-09T15:00:00.001-06:00

We had a crazy-busy Christmas (does anyone have a relaxing Christmas? I don't think so). Christmas Eve started with a quick stop at Uncle Michael's house for the extended family, then we were off to see Granny Smith & Papa Fred & John's family.

Dexter got to chill with Auntie Anna. (Anna didn't even know what was coming! But more on that in another post...)

Cooper loved his new guitar from Auntie Anna & "Uncle" Pat. (It just made everyone else in the room feel old because the toy guitar plays instrumental versions of Wild Thing by the Troggs, Message in a Bottle by the Police, Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen, Love Shack by the B52's and All Star by Smashmouth.)

Christmas morning was spent at home. Even though we left out cookies & egg nog for Santa & talked about him all day Christmas Eve, Cooper still wasn't expecting him. He slept 'til 8:30 & didn't really get what was going on at first.

Cooper was very excited about his stocking.

And judging by this picture, Cooper would have been happy if Santa stopped at just the stocking. (But what fun is that?)

Dexter, as you can see, was equally thrilled with his stocking loot.

Hmm.. I bet you're wonder what this is...

Dexter is intrigued too... but you'll have to wait for another post.

Cooper and his Thomas train, the one thing he asked for from Santa.

Dexter was tuckered out from all the excitement.

Then it was on to Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Things were mostly a little crazy. Not surprising considering there were 5 kids 3 years & under and (only) 6 adults. Why do we still feel outnumbered? (Gift opening was particularly crazy, which is why I don't really have any pictures of that.)

But there were a few calm, relaxing moments.

Dexter & Lynzee checking each other out.

Since Adam couldn't be with us for Christmas, we tried to get a good picture of all 5 kids together.

We quickly decided it didn't have to be "good", they just all had to be in it, even if they all look like deer in headlights. (I swear, no children were drugged in the taking of this picture.)

This is seconds later.

Dexter, once again, tuckered out. (He was actual awake when John sat him up, but sitting on Daddy was just too relaxing & he fell asleep.)

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-01-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

Before Christmas we:

took about a million pictures trying to get a perfect, or passable, Christmas card picture,

took some naps,

went on a "Santa train",

saw Santa,

decorated the tree,

looked at Christmas decorations,

made cookies (with lots of sprinkles),

and practiced looking cute in a Santa hat.

Braving the cold

2010-01-08T23:41:00.000-06:00

First bath

2010-01-08T17:30:00.000-06:00

Enjoying the last of the warm weather

2010-01-08T15:28:00.000-06:00

It's definitely not warm now. In fact, yesterday we were blanketed in a bazillion inches of snow so this is just a distant memory. We went to Grandma & Grandpa's in November & Cooper helped with to rake & then redistribute the leaves.

And Dexter napped. Here his is in the Moby wrap:

Dexter did some more napping. Lots of growing going on!

Wrestling with Grandpa

Random thing I love

2010-01-08T15:14:00.002-06:00

Just have to say that I love this:
"Up" inspired cardboard playhouse
I especially love it because this is the EXACT conversation John & I would have (including the use of the word "Crazytown"):

Now, husband will tell you, "I just wanted to stick a couple of boxes together, cut a couple of holes in them for windows, and call it her Up house. *YOU* took it to Crazytown."

Brothers

2010-01-08T13:30:00.000-06:00

"It's okay baby Deser."

Cooper, 2 going on 14, talking on the cell phone to Daddy

"I nursing the baby!" Makes my heart melt!

Beautiful!

Yes, I should be putting a stop to this, but instead I'm taking the picture. Don't even ask about what they're wearing.. I'll post more on that later.

Both equally entranced by the baby mobile.

First smile

2010-01-08T12:00:00.000-06:00

The title is a lie. Of course I didn't catch the first smile on camera, but these are some early ones & they're just so cute! :)

Thanksgiving

2010-01-08T10:37:00.000-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving with John's family.

Cooper cuddling with Papa Fred

Most of the gang (trying not to fall into a post-feast coma)

Dexter, in a post-feast coma

Dexter's first trip to the zoo

2010-01-07T07:23:00.004-06:00

And our first zoo trip with Grandma & Grandpa! Everyone had a lot of fun, & Dexter had a long snuggly nap in his car seat.

Our growing baby

2010-01-07T06:52:00.000-06:00

2010-01-03T22:28:00.004-06:00

Happy (belated) birthday Adam!

Care packages for military service members

2009-12-30T22:20:00.002-06:00

I just learned about this today. The USPS offers a "military kit" of shipping supplies for military families:

While it can’t cut postage costs, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) does provide help to military families and friends shipping care packages overseas to their deployed service members. Since Priority Mail® supplies are the packaging of choice for families and friends preparing care packages for service members overseas, the post office has created a "Mili-kit" based on the items most frequently requested by the military. This kit is available for free to military families.
It contains:
Three (3) each of flat rate boxes
Two each of Cube boxes
Address labels
One roll of Priority Mail tape
15 customs forms with envelopes
The kit may be requested by calling 1-800-610-8734 Choose your language (1 is English, 2 is Spanish).
Choose option 1 (it states it is for Express Mail®, Priority Mail or Global Express Guaranteed® products).
When you reach a live agent, request CAREKIT04, the “Military Kit. Allow 7-10 days for delivery. Note: These are free supplies only. Military families must still affix postage to the package.

I will be ordering mine tomorrow morning.

Halloween (just in time for New Year's)

2009-12-28T16:04:00.000-06:00

Dexter's first Halloween! He was a pea pod (& thrilled, as you can see),

so we decided Cooper should be a veggie too. Since corn on the cob is his favorite, that's what he dressed up as. Mommy sewed some felt on green pants for a stalk & husks & Daddy painted the shirt. (The robot hoodie doesn't exactly match, but it was a bit chilly.)

Cooper went trick-or-treating, but after encountering some motion sensor ghoolies, he decided he didn't like it so much. We went to two houses before turning around & coming home.

Cooper discovered "brown candy" (chocolate) & was on a sugar high for the night.

He definitely preferred handing out candy to trick-or-treating, and made sure to tell everyone, "Happy Ho'ween!"

Catching up a bit...

2009-12-27T23:20:00.001-06:00

Alright, so I'm really far behind in my blogging. Where did I leave off? Just before Cooper's birthday. So I finished these for a swap on Craftster:

Then the weekend before Cooper's birthday we took him out shopping (Build A Bear & the Lego Store) & he rode on a mall train for the first time. He was a big fan, especially because he had to have a ticket.

On Cooper's actual birthday, John was working so Cooper & I went to the zoo. We walked around quite a bit & I started having contractions. I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for quite a while, but at some point they got more regular & I realized labor was starting. My contractions stayed about 10 minutes about for at least 24 hours before they started to pick up. In that time I walked around the zoo, slept all night, went shopping with John & Cooper, & we all took the dogs for a walk, so I was obviously not feeling too bad.
Wonderful cousin Karen (a nurse who does home births) came out to our house to check on me (after her bedtime even! & she lives an hour away!) so I could postpone the hospital as long as possible. (Thanks Karen!) A few hours after she left my contractions were 3 minutes apart & even though I was sure we had a long time, John insisted we head to the hospital. My mom (who lives an hour & a half away) was able to meet us at the hospital (and I'm sure she didn't break any traffic laws doing it). As I suspected, we had plenty of time. I was only 5-6 cm. Unfortunately, the hospital insisted I lay flat on the bed so they could monitor the baby, making the contractions much worse & me much more tense. Three hours later when I was still at 5-6 cm I gave up & asked for the epidural. Not the natural birth I'd been hoping for, but it all worked out in the end. Dexter was born after only 3 pushes & he was healthy & beautiful.

We came home from the hospital a couple days later & a swap package was waiting for me. This was probably the best one I've gotten so far - a rocket zipper pouch:

And a personalized toddler busy book:

Shapes that snap on, velcroed finger puppet animals,

velcroed finger puppet space characters,

a magnetic tic tac "toad" game, and buttoned flowers. Just in time too. Cooper got these as soon as he came home from spending a few days with Grandma & Papa Fred & it kept him busy as we adjusted to having the baby home.

The day after we got home we got to see Adam! His training was done & he had a weekend break before leaving for Afghanistan. He has a condo with basically four rooms (living room, bedroom, office, & kitchen/dining room) & we filled it with screaming kids: Zak, Caycee, Cooper, Lynzee, & Dexter. We're getting close to being outnumbered by the kids which is pretty scary, but we had a great time (although Adam's neighbors probably hated us for being so loud; good thing he won't be living there for almost a year). Here's Uncle Adam with Cooper & Dexter (in green eggs & ham shirts mommy made them!):

2009-12-25T12:41:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-16T18:47:00.001-06:00

Happy birthday Mom!!!

BBD (before baby Dexter): Cooper's birthday party

2009-12-08T23:03:00.000-06:00

Since I was due on Cooper's 2nd birthday, we scheduled his party for a week & a half before. Cooper didn't seem to mind. I must have been crazy though, because I hosted a birthday play date on Friday, then a birthday party on Saturday while 38 weeks pregnant. Not something I'd recommend if you can avoid it.

It was a Blue's Clues party, so we had the paw print cake:

... and treat bags for the kids (sewn by me) with a paw print on them (stenciled & painted by John) with lots of goodies inside, including a "handy dandy notebook" (made by my mom):

Cooper enjoyed cake,

and presents.

And continued to enjoy his presents after the party:

50 free photo cards

2009-11-09T08:07:00.001-06:00

I swear, a real post is coming soon, but I had to share this: 50 free photo greeting cards - good until November 30!

http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/2009/11/50-free-photocards-shipped-free-too.html

Introducing...

2009-11-01T22:22:00.001-06:00

baby Dexter

2009-10-20T08:50:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday Cooper!

The big 2!

My solemate

2009-10-18T19:53:00.003-05:00

I thought it was John, but then I saw this. (Get it - "sole"mate instead of soulmate? I'm hilarious.)

Me & my big mouth...

2009-10-08T15:38:00.002-05:00

So I'm 38+ weeks pregnant now which means weekly doctor's appointments. It wouldn't be so bad except that the wait at the doctor's is RIDICULOUS. Thankfully, John's mom agreed to watch Cooper today so I didn't have the entertain him for the hour & 20 minutes in the waiting room & then the extra 20 minutes in the examining room. So I finally see the doctor & all she has to do is measure me & listen to the baby's heartbeat. It should be quick & simple. She asks, "So, is the baby moving?" And my answer should have been, "Yes, absolutely," but instead I say, "Yeah, not as much as before, but he's moving." BIG MISTAKE. What I mean to convey is that the baby is no longer doing somersaults & flip flops, mostly likely because it's starting to get a little cramped in there, but what the doctor hears is "decreased fetal movement". So she asks me to do a fetal non-stress test. Today. Just to be sure everything's okay. Luckily, John's mom agrees to blow off whatever plans she had for the day to stay with Cooper longer, & I spend another couple hours at the doctors office.
At 2:30 pm I'm finally finished (I arrived minutes before my scheduled doctor's appointment time of 10:30 am). The ultrasound shows the baby is measuring correctly, head down, weighs approximately 6 lbs & 15 oz, & has a good heartbeat & is testing out his breathing skills. Non-stress test shows everything to be fine.
BUT, once they order a NST, they recommend you continue having them twice a week until delivery, so now I'm expected to take a NST every Monday & Thursday from now until the baby arrives. UGH! And for what purpose? Basically because I made a comment that was a little too close to a red flag & now everyone wants to cover their butt.
My doctor says that she just ordered the one & now it's up to the NST specialist to decide follow up. NST specialist says they follow up with bi-weekly test for everyone where another doctor is concerned enough to send them for one. Are you kidding me?? Not that I don't want to do whatever is necessary to make sure my baby is safe & healthy, but come on! What a huge waste of time & money! And they say the test only takes half an hour, but factor in travel time, waiting time, and the fact that Cooper naps right in the middle of the day & the whole day is shot. So instead of spending my last week or so before the baby just relaxing, preparing for the baby, & spending quality time with Cooper I will be wasting 2 entire days a week on unnecessary testing.
So the next time you're complaining about the high cost of insurance, think of me. It's people like me that make dumb, random, poorly thought out comments to doctors causing hundreds (or is it thousands?) of dollars to go towards unnecessary tests. Yah me.

Coolest swap..

2009-09-30T23:38:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know I babble & post about swaps a lot. I just can't resist. And here's why! I participated in a "wist" swap. If you're unfamiliar with a wist, check this out. A wist is basically a wish list you create on the www.wists.com website. You can include any picture you find on the internet, even if it's not a store or item for sale. So for this swap we were supposed to check out the other person's wist & craft items they had included on there or items inspired by things they included on there. That way, you're surprised at what you're getting, but guaranteed to like it! Perfect!
Here's just some of what I got:

A sign for my perpetually-messy/noisy house

Onesies for the new baby & a shirt for Cooper

And a 2-piece painting.

Not pictured here is a robot keychain, a fabric embroidered family tree wall hanging, and matching ironing board cover & pin cushion with thread catcher.
How awesome is that?

Garage sale weekend

2009-09-30T23:26:00.003-05:00

We've been needing to clear out a lot of stuff lately so I decided to have a garage sale. My mom suggested I bring all my stuff to her house because they have a town-wide garage sale weekend. Sounded good to me! No cleaning our garage, no advertising, I got all the stuff out of the house (& unlike if I had in my garage, nothing stayed - since I had to pack everything in the car anyway it went straight to the Salvation Army), & great babysitters!

Cooper helped to "test" some of the merchandise. He also claimed two hideous Homer Simpson dolls that talk & sing & dubbed them his "guys". He couldn't be separated from them all weekend or most of the next week. Luckily, I was able to hide them away eventually & there has been no mention of them for a while.

There was obviously a lot of pricing to do...

But, there was a little goofing off too.

Okay, maybe a lot.

And by the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted.

Desperate cry for help

2009-09-29T15:27:00.004-05:00

Cooper's never been a great sleeper, but he got to be a pretty good napper once he was really walking/running around all day. It got to the point where we could sing or tell him stories for 15 minutes, put him in his crib, & check on him a few times & he would go to sleep.
BUT, this week has been HELL. Every naptime and every bedtime is preceded by an hour, or two, or two & a half, of horrendous tantrums & blood-curdling screams. I'm not a believer in the "cry it out" method, so we've been trying to calm him down & stay with him when we can, but it's become impossible.
At bedtime, Cooper has his stuffed elephants, blanket, & a sippy of water in his crib. He screams if he's missing any of those. Then he screams harder when we give it to him. We offer to tell him stories or sing to him and he says, "no" and screams louder. We bring him into our bed (our routine before we put him in his crib; he gets 3 stories in our bed then goes to his crib to sleep) and he's fine, then screams when it's time to go in his crib. Or he screams in our bed. We've offered books in the crib, more cuddling time with mom & dad, a new stuffed animal, a nightlight. We've refused to tell stories or sing songs until he's calm (so then there are none). We've stayed with him for half an hour or an hour while he screams. We've left him in his room for half an hour while he screams.
And through it all, he's screamed louder, flailed around (hitting his head), turned on the bedroom light, taken off his pants & diaper, and generally been a demon child. But only at bedtime. Sure, he's testing us a little during the day, but nothing like what's happening at night or naps. And then when he does fall asleep, he sleeps just as much as he normally would.
So, any suggestions? I'm really, really ready to try almost anything.

Too little, too late

2009-09-15T21:15:00.006-05:00

Forgive me. I've been a completely negligent blogger. I would like to promise I'll be better, but I'm now 8 months pregnant, we're trying to sell our house & move, I'm planning Cooper's 2nd birthday (which will be a very small affair considering I'm due on his birthday) & the crafts projects are piling up (not that that's a bad thing, it just keeps me busy).

Cooper & I babysat my parents' 5 dogs & cat at their house while they went to visit my brother for his family day at Army training in Minnesota. We hung out at the house a lot, but managed to get out for some ice cream & the park.

"I like it!"

Cousin Karen came to visit & we stayed for a bit after my Mom & Dad got home. We did some crafting & visited the quilt shop.

Back at home, Cooper discovered stickers.

Future blackmail picture

Me & Cooper cuddling on the couch with our "blankets"

Recent swaps

2009-09-07T09:18:00.007-05:00

I recently made a couple gifts for my friend Becca's daughter Samantha's 3rd birthday: a monster hooded towel (by request!) and a Abby shirt:

And I sent out some stuff for a few more swaps on Craftster.org. For one recipient, four onesies,

and an owl shirt and baby leg warmers for another.

For a larger swap, a baking set with apron & felt cookies, a pillowcase dress, headbands, flower garland party lights, and a doorway puppet theatre.

I've also gotten some swap packages recently (not for the big swap above yet). Some reusable Swiffer covers along with some fabric, velcro, elastic, & candy:

And some hand-dyed playsilks for Cooper with some fabric and a polymer clay rolling pin (I've been wanting to dabble in some polymer clay crafting):

And more swap packages are on their way in & out! :)

Missions accomplished

2009-09-07T09:04:00.003-05:00

I'm a little late in posting this, but Cooper & I went to Brookfield Zoo with my brother Adam just before he left for training for his deployment to Afghanistan.
Adam wanted to spend time with me & Cooper before leaving, and get pictures of himself riding animals (yes, himself), but I convinced him to take a couple with Cooper too.

Not sure what this face is about...

As we were leaving, Adam was my lookout for a little project I had. I recently came across this great website, The Toy Society, so I made a small stuffed animal & I wanted to leave it someone to find. You can see the post on the Toy Society site about my drop here and about the person who found it here!

2009-09-03T22:28:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday Dad!

2009-08-22T09:38:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday Justin!

Communication gap

2009-08-17T09:52:00.004-05:00

Cooper's vocabulary has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. We're regularly hearing things like, "Mama, are you?" "Bye bye Dada. Love you. Have fun!" and "It big mama cow. Baby cow, are you?"
So I guess I forget that he doesn't always understand everything I'm saying. Today while I was showering he decided he wanted to clean up his clothes. He put his shirt & shorts in the bathroom sink. I realize now that the best mommy response to that would have been, "Good job! Thank you sweetie!" but instead I decided to ask him to put them in the laundry hamper.

Me, standing in the shower, trying to wash my hair with one hand & point to the laundry hamper with the other: No sweetie, dirty clothes go in the hamper. Can you put them in the hamper?
(Cooper carries his clothes to the hamper & stands there with them looking at me.)
Me: Open the hamper.
(Cooper opens the closet door.)
Me: No Coop, that's the closet. Open the hamper.
(Cooper smiles at me.)
Me: Right there.
(He smiles.)
Me: Turn your head.
(He looks up. Then turns his head in the opposite direction of the hamper.)
Me: Put them in the hamper sweetie. Right there.
(He smiles.)
Me (pointing to the lid of the hamper): Lift that up.
(He puts the clothes on his head.)
Me (giving up): Good job sweetie! Thank you!

I then go back to showering. Cooper goes back to playing, but first puts the clothes on top of the hamper (good enough!).

I hear the communication gap between parents & kids only last about 18 years though.

Learning new things

2009-08-16T14:47:00.007-05:00

This remains John, Sarah is not responsible for the content of this post. So, in addition to learning how to woo the ladies, Cooper was learning from Sarah's cousin, and one of Sarah's cousin's kids. As you'll see in the second video below, he also had a few of his own Matrix style moves to share:

Ryanne's Wedding: Guest posted by John

2009-08-16T12:28:00.005-05:00

So last night I attended the most wonderfully exhausting event of my life. Congratulations on your wedding again, Ryanne. I am now fairly certain that I am not ready for two children because Cooper's performance has taken all of my energy for the week. He demonstrated some serious moves, though, both on and off the dance floor. I want you to know that he does not know the girl who appears in the following video. He has never met her before, and had not been dancing with her earlier in the evening.

Now, I would like to take credit for what you have just seen, but many of the people who supposedly visit this site have met me (who once made several friends literally wait 2 hours in a restaurant parking lot while I chatted up a girl... and then I forgot to get her phone number. Josh was right to punch me that day.) More videos from the evening will follow.

Catching up on life

2009-08-13T08:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, so in between having a sick dog, finding out my brother is leaving for Afghanistan, starting my new Avon business, and having a new niece, some other stuff has happened that I haven't posted about. I keep meaning too, but the pictures keep piling up.

Update on Dora: Thanks everyone for all your comments & everything. I really appreciate it. Dora had a single dose of chemo & is on steroids. Her lymph nodes have gotten back to normal & she seems to be perfectly healthy. She's in remission & you'd never know there's anything wrong with her. She has a huge appetite & drinks water by the gallon (side effects of the steroids), but otherwise she's her normal self. She visits the oncologist again next week for a check up. We're hoping her remission lasts as long as possible.

So, here's our life recently - in pictures.

John showing Cooper a chick at the Iroquis County Fair
(where, by the way, my mom won 2nd place for her Around the World quilt, and was totally cheated on her map quilt)

Geez, Mom, let the kids have a turn!

Caycee's birthday!

Children of the corn!

Cooper found heaven - and climbed in.

Yeah, Coop, I agree.

Catching up, craftwise

2009-08-13T08:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry, if you're friends with me on Facebook you're probably sick of seeing this stuff, but here's some stuff I've made recently:

Little taggie blanket

Superhero cape

Tie shirts

Awesome patchwork pants. Cooper & I love these.

A Lost (the tv show) pouch. Get it? It's supposed to look like a beach and it has a plane keychain.

I've also received some really great crafted items recently from swaps on Craftster:

A crayon roll with a coloring book - the person who made it actually drew some really cool pictures for Cooper to color in

Burp cloths & a changing pad for the new baby

A hat for Cooper (I have a bit of a hat obsession - you can never have too many!)

A hat for the new baby

Onesies for the baby & a scrapbook for the boys

Etsy news

2009-08-13T08:10:00.001-05:00

I've actually been making a couple sales from my Etsy shop, which is very exciting. Also, I was finally able to book a spot in the children's showcase for August 11. It was exciting 'cause I got lots of views to my shop & items, but my internet was down for two days so I didn't get to view much. I wanted to stock up the shop before then so I've been doing LOTS of sewing, and trying to make some new stuff.

Lots & lotsa burp cloths

Burp cloth set

Baby leg warmers

More baby leg warmers

A superhero hooded towel

Back of the superhero hooded towel

Alien hooded towel

Cooper modeling his alien towel

Princess hooded towel

Back of the princess hooded towel (modeled by some random toddler... don't worry, I'm sure it's not a boy)

My labels!

Etsy showcase

2009-08-11T10:20:00.001-05:00

Check out my shop, Cooped Up, in the Etsy Children's Showcase today! I added lots of new items!

Visiting day

2009-07-30T21:48:00.003-05:00

I dropped Cooper off with his Granny Smith today for a couple hours. She got a package in the mail today - this quilt from my mom. If you follow my mom's blog, you've seen it before, and if not you can get the whole story here. Beautiful, isn't it? Cooper seemed to love it - he hopped right on the couch.

And while Cooper was playing with Granny Smith, I went to the hospital to visit Dayna & the new baby. Zak & Caycee were not pleased to see Cooper was not with me, but they eventually forgave me. Luckily, they had their new sister to pay attention to.

Look how chubby Lynzee is!

2009-07-30T07:07:00.004-05:00

Welcome to the world Lynzee Ann!

My niece just couldn't wait & decided to join us a little earlier than expected. Mom & baby are doing fine.
7 lbs, 4 oz and 17 in long.
Congratulations to my brother Justin & his wife Dayna, and to the new brother & sister, Zak & Caycee!

Déjà vu

2009-07-26T20:45:00.004-05:00

This is Cooper in February of 2008, wearing a onesie I bought him. It's a little difficult to read, but it says, "My uncle loves me enough to defend my whole country."

Two years ago (pretty much to the day) I was hugely pregnant (even though I wasn't due 'til late October), my sister-in-law Dayna was on the verge of giving birth, and we got news that my brother would be deployed to a war zone for almost a year.

Fast forward to today: hugely pregnant - check, sister-in-law ready to pop - check, brother going to war zone - check. Except this time it's Adam going instead of Justin.

That onesie is the hand-me-down I didn't want this next baby to have.

Another Cooper appearance on the web

2009-07-19T09:54:00.002-05:00

Sad news

2009-07-17T11:07:00.012-05:00

We have two dogs. I don't talk about them much 'cause I'm a totally neglectful dog owner now that I have a child. No need to call the ASPCA on me or anything, I just mean they don't get as much attention now as they used too & haven't really gotten any on my blog. I still love them both to death though.

Audrey is a terrier mutt & is about 10 now. She came to us in the winter of 2004 from my parents. She was the puppy of a two strays my parents took in (oops, guess they weren't too young to mate like the vet thought). When Annie, the female stray, went into labor I happened to be home from college for the weekend. Unfortunately, I was the only one home. Audrey's brother was born first, but only survived about an hour. Then came Peach ("Misses Polly Peachum"), Audrey, & Max, although I don't really remember what order they came in. Luckily, my mom got home shortly after the first puppy was born. Audrey got her name from my Dad, who insists she bore a striking resemblance to Audrey Hepburn as a puppy.

Fast forward many years & Audrey & her sister Scout (from the first litter; Audrey's from the second) started fighting a lot & it got a little scary - Scout got hurt a bit. So we agreed to take Audrey to separate them. I think they're kinda like me & my brother Justin - we get along fine, as long as we're not living together.

When we had Audrey about a year we took her to the Animal Welfare League for some of her shots & John couldn't resist looking at some of the adoptable dogs. Of course, he fell in love with all of them, but I told him no, we couldn't have another dog (I was smart enough to not go look at them!) because we didn't know how Audrey would react. The three or four women at the reception center overheard our conversation and suddenly they all stopped talking and rushing around. There was silence for a second, and then one said, "Well, you could always foster a dog to see how things go." I'm sure my memory of this is not totally accurate, but I think it's pretty close. I felt like I was surrounded by Oompa-Loompas chanting, "Foster! Foster! Foster!" Seriously, it was creepy. They took Audrey from us & led us to a room to show us a dog that desperately needed a foster family; she'd been hit by a car & been surrendered to animal welfare by her family & was recovering from hip surgery. Because Animal Welfare was overcrowded & understaffed, she sometimes didn't get to go out for days at a time & had to use the bathroom in a small room indoors. She needed a family to give her a little exercise and attention while she recovered & Animal Welfare continued her medical treatment.

I was expecting a small dog since Audrey is so small & I'm used to little dogs, but the dog they showed us was gigantic & I was kind of afraid to pet her, let alone take her home. She was actually pretty scrawny, but she was a lab mix so she was much larger than terriers. She was black with a white stripe down her neck and her right hip was shaved & scarred from her surgery. She cowered in a corner & wouldn't let John go near her. She was skittish with me, but terrified of him. And that was it. We were in love.

A week later we brought Audrey for an official meeting before we agreed to take her. They brought out a black lab with a shaved & scarred hip that was INSANE. Jumping around, barking, & scaring the crap out of Audrey. The dog handler assured us things would be better when we got home & were on Audrey's turf, but we weren't so sure. John started filling out paperwork & stopped when he noticed "male" on the papers. Yep, there were two black labs with bad hips in need of fostering & they'd brought the wrong one to meet Audrey. They brought out the male, unfixed, puppy. They brought out Dora next & she was as calm and sweet, and completely terrified of John, as we remembered. She came home with us that day.

Dora was a foster dog for several months. (For those unfamiliar, a foster dog is usually waiting for an adoptive home & is often undergoing medical treatment. The foster family agrees to care for the dog & give them a loving home & the shelter or rescue organization pays for medical expenses until the dog is adopted.) When we first agreed to foster, to try out having another dog with Audrey, I said to the women at Animal Welfare, "This is just temporary, right? I mean, eventually she'll be adopted, right?" She kind of laughed & said, "Well, yeah. The idea is that you fall in love with her and eventually YOU adopt her."

Dora needed another surgery to remove the pins in her hip. She had the surgery, but the pins were flush with the bone & couldn't be removed. She was stitched up after the surgery & had to return to have the stitches removed. She also had a sore on her belly for months that the vets couldn't figure out (it wound up being a staple that wasn't removed from when she had been fixed long before), an ear infection, and an infection from the hip surgery, and then got kennel cough & fleas while she was hospitalized. She was finally done with her hip recovery & open for adoption. John took her for her adoption physical (the first one we had to pay for) & to sign the papers. They gave him the option of a heartworm test & he agreed to have one.

Days after we adopted Dora, they called to tell us the test had come back & Dora had advanced heartworm. The vet was shocked because you'd never know Dora was sick from the way she acted. She was VERY active and she'd quickly gotten over her fear of John & become his best friend & playmate. Because of how bad it was they believed she was probably born with it & had just never been tested for it before (which can be very dangerous for a dog undergoing multiple surgeries). The Animal Welfare League agreed they'd pay for all her treatment since she'd obviously had the disease before we adopted her.

Treatment for heartworm is absolutely awful. It involved several shots, a hospitalization, weeks of confinement to a cage, and months of restricted activity. The first week of treatment Dora was really sick & perfectly satisfied sleeping in a cage. John had to carry her down our deck stairs into the backyard for her to use the bathroom. After that, she was back to her normal self, but still had to be severely restricted. John had to walk her on a leash outside to use the bathroom & then bring her right back to her cage. No extra walking or activity, and absolutely no running (which is the only thing all labs want to do). The danger is that while the drugs are breaking down the heartworms, increased heartrate can push the heartworms out of the major blood vessels & into the lungs & cause congestive heart failure. Try to explain that to a 2-year-old lab.

Months later, Dora was proclaimed cured & able to resume normal (insane) activity. She was officially ours, healthy, and her hip was much better than we thought it would ever be. She was even jumping up on our guests! We were so excited (not so much the guests though).

We did decide to find a new vet. Dora just had too many problems & missed problems while she was treated at the Animal Welfare League. So we started taking both dogs to VCA, which we adore.

(Let me make this clear: I don't blame the Animal Welfare League for anything that happened to Dora. They are AWESOME. Unfortunately, they are understaffed, underpaid, overworked, and overpopulated, which leads to things being overlooked. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have Dora. And if it wasn't for them, I don't know where Dora would be now, but she would not be as happy or healthy as she is. We changed vets because we thought it would be better for Dora & Audrey's health & because we could afford to go to a more expensive vet & wanted to leave the limited resources at AWL to the dogs & people that need the free & cheap services.)

Dora's now about 5. Last Saturday John was petting Dora & noticed a lump in her lower belly. Dora & Audrey were (over)due for their shots, so I made an appointment for both of them for Tuesday evening. Audrey got her physical & shots, but the vet decided not to do shots for Dora. I mentioned the lump and she felt Dora's neck to start her physical. As she's feeling her neck, she's asking me all the same questions she'd just asked about both dogs: How has her appetite been? Any changes to pee or poo? Any behavior changes?

And that's when I start to worry.

She tells me Dora's lymph nodes are all swollen and the most common cause is Lymphoma. No sugar coating & no alternative causes suggested, she just starts talking about chemotherapy.
We got the confirmation Wednesday; the tests came back that Dora has Lymphoma. I met with the oncologist Thursday to discuss options.

Dora has Stage IV Lymphoma. The vet assured me we are not negligent dog owners - the swelling in the lymph nodes likely developed within the last week. Lymphoma is the cancer in dogs most responsive to chemotherapy, but it's not curable. With aggressive chemotherapy (treatment every week for six months at a cost of at least $5,000), the median survival rate is one year. It's not a question of if the cancer returns, but when. Some dogs are able to go into remission multiple times (with aggressive chemotherapy each time they relapse), and some don't go into remission at all. There's a less aggressive chemo, which would only be once every 3 weeks for 6 months. And there's steriods, which will possible put her in remission for a short period of time.

Unfortunately, aggressive chemo just isn't an option for us financially. Although even if it was, I don't know that it would be a good thing for her.

We decided to treat Dora with steriods and a single dose of chemo. It's most effective right away & before the steriods, so she had it at the oncologist's office & started steriods. We were told to expect the swelling in her lymph nodes to decrease a lot in the next couple days, and for her to feel a little better. She will hopefully have a short remission. It'll give us a chance to really spoil her for a while.

We're back at the oncologist again next week, and hopefully Dora will be her regular self & in remission by then. But then her lymph nodes will start to get swollen again, and within the next couple months, or maybe month, we'll have to decide when is the right time to have her euthanised. The oncologist assures me that Lymphoma in dogs is not painful, it just makes them feel fluish & sick, but she won't die peacefully in her sleep, so we'll have to determine the right time.

And my heart is breaking.

New endeavor

2009-07-13T07:34:00.003-05:00

I'm selling Avon! I'm so excited! You can get to my website by clicking on the flower to your right. And, if you live near me & choose representative delivery, there's an adorable little boy who will be delivering your order. Yep, you read right. I'm willing to use my son to make a couple sales.
I also finished some other projects recently. A backpack made from thrift store pants and a ruffled tank top. You can even see a picture of the recipient modeling the tank - she seems happy with it!

I call this my "Just-add-high-heels-and-you'll-be-June-Cleaver" apron

2009-07-11T09:46:00.004-05:00

I'm able to post what I sent for the "100 Facts About Me" swap now. See what I got here.
These are some of the facts I kept in mind about the person I was crafting for: has a 2-year-old son, wants a stuffed monster for her son, and likes 50s/60s kitchen stuff, the color blue, baking, entertaining, pearls, & the Loch Ness Monster.
I sent a recipe for Root Beer Float Cake I found online, a rubber stamp she wanted, a monster, a Loch Ness Monster tank top (I may make one of these for myself!), and an apron.

My mom is posing in the apron.. my big pregnant belly made it look all funky when I tried it on.

To do list for tomorrow

2009-07-10T23:50:00.002-05:00

1. Dig out Rapper's Delight from CD collection (I know we have it somewhere...)
2. Buy Cooper roller skates
3. Begin training

My very odd son... in pictures

2009-07-10T21:49:00.004-05:00

Over the past several weeks, we've spent time with my parents, gone to the aqua park, gone to a 4th of July picnic with John's family, gone to playdates, & met John's cousin Gina's new baby, and I don't have pictures of anyof it. I either didn't have my camera, or had it & just never took pictures. Bad mommy!

Luckily, I remember to bring, and take out, my camera to get shots of this classic outfit Cooper wore to the Morton Arboretum when we met with my friend Joslyn & her daughter Althea.

In Cooper's defense, his mother dresses him funny. In Cooper's mom's defense, the short overalls didn't look too small until we were already out, the jacket is too small, but was the only one we had with a hood & it was raining, the sandals are Cooper's favorites, and he insisted on wear the glasses. And wore them for most of the day. We got lots of compliments on them.

My very odd son

2009-07-10T09:20:00.003-05:00

I opened the door to the bathroom today & Cooper tore in there yelling, "Potty, potty!"

No, he doesn't use the potty, but he has a little potty he likes to sit on (fully clothed) or try to drag into the living room.

He pulled out the little pee-&-poo-catching cup of the potty, grabbed a piece of wooden toy cheese hidden underneath it who knows when, said, "Mmmm, cheese!" and left.