{Wordless Wednesday} Charlie's Surgery

{Not So Wordless} Our dog, Charlie, started vomiting Sunday night. Monday we brought him to the vet and found he had kidney stones, bladder stones, pancreatitis, and a possible obstruction from a foreign body. It was a hard decision but we went ahead with surgery to try to remove the object. There didn't end up being anything in there so we're hoping we don't run into this problem again in the future and we're not really sure what caused it. $1,212.04 later....

Charlie's been sleepy

Shaved for the IV site

Kisses for the poor puppy

Charlie's incision

Close up of the incision

EcoWellDog Review: SleepytTime Tonic & KissAble Toothbrush & Toothpaste Set

EcoWellDog sent me two products to test out for my dog, Charlie. Charlie is a 64 lb beagle mix who has stinky breath due to tartar buildup. He also goes crazy barking when anyone is near the house {or sometimes just because} Because of this, I was sent the Sleepytime Tonic to help with his anxiety and the KissAble toothbrush and toothpaste set. 

SleepyTime Tonic: I have to admit, the thought of giving my dog sleep medicine seemed both ridiculous and tempting at the same time! Charlie's anxiety is not the typical anxiety that some dogs get and it's hard to predict when he's going to have a barking spell. This made it a bit more challenging to truly test this product. One thing that always gets him going is when the mailman drives by. So when I heard the mailman heading down the street in the opposite direction, I gave Charlie the tonic. The SleepyTime Tonic is made with all natural ingredients and is given using a dropper. The number of drops given depends on the size of the dog. The drops are most effective when given directly in the dog's mouth but can also be mixed into food or water. It was a bit challenging to get the drops into Charlie's mouth with his tongue trying to lap them all up at the same time. Unfortunately, the tonic didn't really seem to help with his barking at things passing by our house -- including the mailman. I am going to save it and try them again closer to the 4th of July and fireworks. I will let you know how that goes. 

KissAble Toothbrush & Paste Set: When I first saw the toothbrush I thought GENIUS! Why don't our toothbrushes look like that too? If you can't tell from the picture, the toothbrush has a set of bristles that are flat and two other sets of bristles on the sides that are angled in. You only have to brush in a straight back and forth motion over the teeth to get all angles. The toothpaste is a natural vanilla flavor and smells great! Charlie liked the taste of it as well. Even after the first use we could see a difference in the cleanliness of his teeth. I really like this product and would recommend it to all dog owners! 

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Thankful Thirty: Day 13

Today I am thankful that my sweet Isabelle was adopted from Reuben's Room Cat Rescue. I am selfishly sad that I can't ever see her again {I've been meaning to go visit her but life always gets in the way, don't you hate it when that happens?} but I am so happy that she has a new forever home! <3 <3 <3

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Memorable Moments from July

1. Starting this blog on July 1st. 

2. Jacob running through the house carrying a plunger. Hilarious!

3. Celebrating 4th of July. It was Jordan's first 4th of July.

4. Hearing Jacob tell his brother how much he loves him. 

5. Watching fireworks with the boys. 

  

6. .Taking the boys to the park

 

7. Watching Jordan try new foods, such as corn on the cob.

8. Putting up bird feeders in our backyard and watching all the new birds come.

9. The storm that came and took down some of our tree branches. 

10. Jordan's 9 month doctor visit.

11. Jacob helping Grandpa take care of all the tree branches in our backyard

 

12. Caching for a Cure 2011  

13. Taking the boys to the Splash Pad

 

14. Saying goodbye to a family member, Isabelle

15. Getting my hair cut

14. Picking blueberries

15. Saying goodbye to my brother as he prepares to head to Indiana University for his MBA

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It's Done

We dropped Isabelle off at her new home tonight. It's a very bittersweet feeling.

There were definitely tears as we pulled away from the rescue without her with us. I hate the feeling that I'm abandoning my "babies" that comes with these goodbyes. Especially with Isabelle. She was my first "baby" and she was the hardest to say goodbye to. 

Luckily, there was a Field's Fabric less than a mile down the road and I drowned my sorrows with some ridiculously expensive, but adorable, new fabric!

Cute, right? (The two tops ones are super soft minky, LOVE them!) I could have done a lot more damage than I did. I'm definitely heading back to Field's Fabrics again. And, thankfully, my husband covered his ears and walked away when they said the total amount :-X

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My Sweet Isabelle

I've always been an animal lover. Still, it seemed rather sudden when I decided to adopt one five and a half years ago. It was December 2005 when I really felt that God put it on my heart to adopt a cat. I tried to ignore it because, after all, it just wasn't practical at that time. But I remember when I decided to listen. I was browsing through a dollar store {I used to be obsessed with dollar stores!} when I stopped in my tracks. I hadn't really been paying much attention to the radio but at that moment I stopped and listened. And there it was - my sign. They were playing a commercial about adopting animals. I went home and pulled up petfinder.com and began my search.

That's when I found a sweet orange kitty named Chloe and knew I wanted to adopt her. I had a thing for orange cats {still do, kind of!} I contacted Reuben's Room Cat Rescue and soon found myself meeting this orange kitty. But she was awful. Absolutely awful. She was mean and she jumped up on the counters in the shelter. I liked her about as much as she liked me -- which was not at all!

Jeanine, the owner of the rescue, was so sweet. We stayed there for awhile visiting with all the cats, but none of them seemed right. She told us about how she had cats at other locations as well - such as a pet store near my parents' house.

We soon found ourselves at the pet store looking at cats. That's when I first saw Isabelle. I don't know exactly what it was about her that drew me in. But once I saw her, that was it. She was so calm and sweet. And so soft. I thought she was beautiful. I thought she was perfect. I no longer cared about any of the other cats we were visiting. I had to have her. I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called Jeanine to tell her. We were going on vacation to the Florida Keys in a few days and I didn't want to risk her being adopted by someone else while we were gone. And good thing! Jeanine informed me she had several calls about Isabelle {then called Lizzy} while we were gone.

On January 3, 2006 I picked Isabelle up from the pet store and brought her home. She was officially mine. I've had some good memories with her. When she first came to live with me we used to snuggle every day. She'd get antsy and upset if we didn't have our "snuggle time" She really is a sweet cat who loves to have attention from us.

She went through a phase where she slept IN my pillow case!

Today I made a very hard decision and an even harder phone call. Today I called Jeanine, who I haven't talked to in five and a half years, and told her I'd like to bring Isabelle back to them. There are many reasons and it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. In fact, it's something we've been thinking about for well over a year now. In a few days, I will take Isabelle back to Reuben's Room and surrender her.

The good news? I know she will be well cared for at Reuben's Room. I also know, having adopted out two cats previously, that the sadness will eventually fade away. But I do know that Isabelle will always be missed. She was my first "baby" and I will love her always.

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Jacob - 21 months

Another month has passed. Jacob turned 21 months old on Sunday, September 5th. And as we quickly approach the age of 2 (just 3 months left, yikes!) he has been gearing up for the "terrible two's." His latest and greatest tricks include lots of whining and crying whenever he doesn't get his way. We're in for it!!

He continues to say more and more words -- more than I could even possibly list anymore. He also likes to tell stories. He has a few he tells constantly - such as the monster in our bedroom, the fish at the back of the store when we go shopping, and his favorite -- and longest -- going to visit the ducks with Papa. I was able to capture him telling that story on video a few nights ago. (Not the greatest because he was eating during the video but it's the only time he would cooperate, being that he was strapped in and all...)

Jacob likes to play lots of games. Some of his favorites are the spider game we've been playing since he was only a few months old -- he's even started doing the spider to us sometimes! One of his very favorite games though is the hot/cold game. He will start by saying something is either hot or cold and when we say it isn't, he'll say the other. For instance....

Jacob: "Hot!"

Us: "That's not hot"

Jacob: "brrrr"

Us: "That's not cold"

Jacob: "Hot!"

And on and on and on..... At least he recognizes an opposite though!

We're still working on learning colors and letters. This has been slow going but I suppose he's still a bit young to know those anyway.

He has learned how to pull his wagon behind him instead of always pushing it. He has also become brave enough to climb off of his changing table now. He used to just dangle there, chicken out, and climb back up. And of course, our biggest new development this past month, which I already wrote about, was the transition to his big boy bed. He's been doing really well with sleeping in there. A few times he still sleeps on the floor either by the door or behind his rocking chair (we even put his pillow back there for him lol) but usually he'll stay in bed all night/naptime.

In other, unrelated news, a month from today is my due date. There are big changes up ahead in the life of Jacob Michael!!

driving mom's car for the last time

at the park with daddy

Jakey loves his new bed

The spider's gonna get Daddy!

hiding out behind the chair after his nap - he took all the animals he could reach off his hanging thing

And just for fun - a silly picture of poor neglected Charlie, just to prove that we DO still love him :-)

My Little Helper

Jacob is becoming such a big helper around the house. He is especially great about helping out with the animals.

Every time he goes into the laundry room, he thinks he needs to feed the cat (reason #123528 that we try to keep the door closed at all times!) Unfortunately she is on a strict diet and can only be fed twice a day. We keep the measuring cup right in her bag of food. He scoops out the food for me (sometimes he does well, other times I have to add or subtract some of it) and then he pours it into her dish.

If he happens to notice that Charlie's food bowl is empty he will also let me know. Just the other day he came running around the corner saying "num num! num num!" I thought he wanted his milk out of the fridge but when I looked down, he was carrying Charlie's empty food bowl. He takes the bowl from it's holder and we go over to the closet where we keep his food. When I open the closet and the container of food, Jake sets the bowl on the floor and waits for me to pour the scoop in, then he picks the bowl back up and brings it back to the dish holder and puts it in there.

It really is quite adorable when he does things like this.