Say What???

So I've had insomnia for the past two nights. Not good. Thankfully the baby has been staying asleep (and still pooping, coincidence? I think not!) so I've only been moderately fatigued. I don't think I've been able to fall asleep before 2 the past two nights. Taylor woke up at 8am yesterday, and 7am today. At least it was solid, uninterrupted sleep! It's amazing what a difference that makes.

This morning I had a dentist appointment at 10:20 to get my crown on. Drew was going to have to watch the baby so instead of him driving home, then having to wait for me to drive back from my appointment we just agreed he would meet me at the dentist and hang out with her while I got my crown on. Unfortunately she had not wanted to go down for her morning nap so she was SUPER cranky. He drove around with her for a while but she wasn't falling asleep and he was getting hungry so he came back and went to the pizza buffet place next door to the dentist while I was finishing up.

After I was done, with half my face numb (yeah, I'm a wuss, I had them numb me up to put my crown on. I about jumped out of my seat when she tried to take off the temporary without it!) I walked over to the restaurant and went in. There was a girl at the door and asked if it was just one. I told her I was just looking for my husband and she stood in front of me and said if I wanted to go in, I would have to pay. I told her I wasn't going to eat, I just came from the dentist and was numb, I just needed to let him know I was done and get the baby who is undoubtedly hungry (not to mention cranky from not napping AND teething). She said, "well, it's our policy, I can't let you in without paying." Your kidding right? So I asked her if SHE could go find my husband and baby and tell him I was here. So she went and found him, and he had to gather up Taylor and her stuff and bring her to me, then go back and finish eating.

So, needless to say I was pretty irked. It's not like she couldn't see the buffet table, and the salad bar and whatever else from where she was standing. I would understand if maybe I was going to stay, but I specifically said I was just going to grab her and then go feed her in the car while Drew finished. No dice. Seriously, I would have been in and out in the time we sat there discussing policy, and then for her to go look for them herself. I did write an e-mail to the place about the experience and the negative taste (no pun intended) it left. I'm not usually one to complain about stuff like that, but to make me pay to go get my kid? Sheesh.

I'm off to bed. We made it through the nearly two weeks of 12 hour shifts. Drew has 4 days off, then he's working day shift until we head to CA (13 days!!!) He gets to sleep in tomorrow but when he wakes up, then I get some ME time, yay! Saturday we are going to a dog show in Monroe to see the Danes!

Speaking of Danes, Holden is having x-rays done on Wednesday to see if we've made any progress. I did forward the last x-rays to his breeder who had her vet, and the stud dogs vet check them out and they seem to think it's Panosteitis which is an inflammation of the long bones in fast growing large/giant breed dogs. I would be happy if it was beacuse that is non-surgical and will heal on it's own. Though we may need to treat for symptoms as they occur, it is quite painful. Next Wednesday we should have more answers.

I have a list of To-Do's this week in preparation for our trip. I can't believe it's coming up so soon! Very excited! Okay, I'm really off to bed now! Goodnight!

-Jen

Udpates

Holy poops! Taylor has finally seemed to be past her constipation. She's had 8 poopy diapers in the last two days and they were FULL! I hope things keep moving, because we sure need sleep! She slept last night getting up only once just as we were going to bed, but she went right back to sleep. I could sure use a couple more nights like that to make up for the past couple of months. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Lets just be thankful for those poopy diapers.

Also an update on my Dad and Leslie. Sadly, Punkin passed away today. He was doing better this morning but still having labored breathing, he ended up having a seizure this afternoon and his body gave out. Baby is doing better, they expect he will make it, but he's still having some issues. They are still hanging in there, at a hotel with their fish. Dad say's the insurance company might try and find them a house to stay in while theirs gets fixed. Hopefully they will get someplace soon so their lives wont be in too much disarray for long.

They're a comin'!

Taylor's teeth are finally on their way! She was biting on my thumb earlier and I felt her gums were kind of knobby feeling so I took a peek and it looks like her teeth are on their way! I can see one one her right side bottom is getting close, and the left side is a little swollen too. She's definitely been on the cranky side that's for sure. She has not been sleeping well, but I thought it was because she was constipated. Perhaps it was because she was teething!

I'm working on making a list of the things not to forget for our trip. I can't believe it's coming up so quick, but excited. Can't wait to get there and see everybody.

Also, I'd like to ask for your thoughts and prayers for my Dad and Leslie. Their house caught on fire today and sustained a lot of damage. Their cats Punkin and Baby are also at the vet hospital in critical condition. I'll post updates as I find out more, it's times like these that I wish we were closer to CA.

Mommy and Me Swim Classes

They are actually meant to be exercise classes for Mom's that involves the kids to get them in the water and moving. We sing songs, and lift them out of the water, dance around, and we take breaks to let them play a bit as well. This was one of those breaks! Lindsey, our class leader took these pictures of Taylor having fun on the big dragon. She watches it and laughs while other kids are on it, and has a blast on it herself! She's such a funny kid.

She's doing FANTASTIC in the water. She splashes and kicks her little legs, she even lets me lay her on her back and "float" her in the pool. She likes riding the pool noodles and the humpty dumpty portion of class (they sit on the rails and then splash into the water when humpty falls).

Anyway, here's the pics!




Also some exciting stuff. Drew got put on 6 hour shifts instead of 12's, yay!!! They had enough people there to break it up, so now he'll be working from 2 to 8 through the end of next week. He still doesn't get the weekend off, but at least it wont be so hard on him (and me!) and he'll get to see Taylor more often!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

He MADE it!

A great big CONGRATULATIONS to my dear hubby! He made Staff Sargent!!! It will be a while before he sews on of course, but I'm so proud of him! I think a celebration is in order!

Has it been a week already?

Sheesh time flies.

Not really much to update this week. We have just been busy around the house, running errands and what not. No new milestones for Taylor. She's been practicing her travel by rolling and scooting, but not crawling yet. She IS starting to get up on her hands and knees a little though. She'll probably be cruising a long before we know it.

Friday we took the Trailblazer in to get a few things fixed on it, so that took most of the day. Drew took me to drop it off so I could get a ride home, then he dropped Taylor and I off at the outdoor mall on his way to work so we could wait for it to get done.

Drew had a buddy over Saturday, it was nice to have some company! We BBQed some ribs (and chicken for me!), and had corn, salad and baked potatoes. It was good stuff! Sunday Drew did some work on the car, and I organized Taylors closet. I was feeling a little sick Sunday evening so I took a nap while Drew gave Taylor her dinner and a bath.

Yesterday Drew started his 12 hour shifts from 8am to 8pm, so it's good to see him a little earlier at night, but it's a long day for him.

I went to my weight watchers meeting today and lost another 1.2 lbs, so that puts me 2.8 lbs from the top of the WW range, and 6.8 lbs away from my personal goal. It' within reach! I'm hoping to make it by the time we leave. That's about 3 weeks, and cutting it close, but it's not out of the question! I'll do what I can.

Tomorrow we find out the big news, if Drew made SSgt or not. I'll be anxiously awaiting! I know he studied much harder this time, so hopefully it paid off. Keep your fingers crossed!

All for now, I'll post the results tomorrow!

Goals

Today was weigh in day at Weight Watchers! I lost 2.2 lbs. this week, which meant a couple of things. First, seems like I finally broke through that plateau I've been struggling with, yay! Second, it put me at a loss of 100 lbs. since my highest weight almost exactly 3 years ago. I had lost 20 or so before joining WW in England, and then I went on hold while I was pregnant with Taylor. I joined again after our visit home in March and have kept losing. That leaves me 3.8 lbs. away from the upper goal for WW. I talked to my leader today and we set my personal goal at another 7.8 lbs. Once I hit that if I can maintain for 16 weeks, I'll be a lifetime member. After the meeting today I cried a little in the car because I was so happy that I've made it this far. There are so many aspects of life that I felt like were out of control, and slowly, one by one it is all coming together to make me feel more like... well.. ME!

Another goal that was reached today was that we finally set up Taylor's college savings plan, yay! We'd been researching which route to go for a while, and I finally decided that we were going to get that taken care of this week, and we did! Go us!

Thursday I have my appointment for the first leg of my dental work and I think Drew is having a friend over Saturday so that should be fun! He's scheduled to work 12 hour shifts next week, I'm not sure if he's going to be mid shift or day shift. I guess we'll see! He found out today that Staff Sgt. Results come out on the 20th, so we'll find out then if he made it. Fingers crossed!!

Our Little Princess

I did a little photo shoot of Taylor today. She was kind of cranky but I managed to get a few keepers. I'm thinking of blowing one of these up and putting it on the wall in her room. Which one would you pick?

Little Miss Movie Go-er

Drew had the day off yesterday for having weekend duty, so we decided to go out for dinner and try and catch the movie we missed last weekend. The catch? Taylor was going with us.

Dinner was good (a good little mexican place down the road), and then we headed off to the movie. We made it in plenty of time this time around! We went in and sat next to the exit so I could make a quick getaway if she got fussy. I could feel the eyes on us of people probably thinking, oh great, they brought a baby! She had a clean diaper, we had a pacifier and a bottle ready to go just in case.

About 30 minutes into the movie she started getting squirmy, even with the bottle, and I thought she was going to start fussing soon so I got up and stood in the hall by the door so I could still see most of the movie but I could bolt out if she started crying. Within about 2 minutes she was asleep!

I went back and sat down and she slept through the next 2 hours of the movie, only waking up with about 10 minutes to go and she sat quietly while it finished. I couldn't believe it. The movie was so loud too, it makes me wonder why the dog bark wakes her up!

Also yesterday I went to my OT and PT appointments and I got released from both of them! I need to continue my exercises, but they both feel I don't need to go back, so that's exciting.

Tomorrow morning we have a consult with the orthopedic vet to have him look at Holden's x-rays and see what he thinks. We're starting off with the injections anyway just because it will help protect the joint against further damage even if it doesn't fix it. I'm anxious to hear what he has to say. All I know is that it's been a BUSY couple of weeks!

Uh oh, Taylor is getting sleepy so I better see if she wants to read a book and go to bed. Hope all is well! I have a couple pictures that I'll upload in a bit.

-Jen

Well-Baby and Holden updates!

Well, I got up in plenty of time for the well baby appointment today! It was pretty uneventful however. She's still on the small side, just above the 10th percentile. She was 15.2 lbs (she hadn't eaten breakfast yet), 25" long, and I can't remember her head circumference but it was normal. She's growing slow, but uniformly and she eats well, so they aren't worried at all.

After that we went to a Mommy and Me swim class which was pretty much like play time in teh water with moms and kids, there were only 3 of us though. She spent the whole hour kicking her legs and splashing the water though, she seemed to really like it. The other two kids were boys and she was sure flirting with them! I hope she doesn't give us too much trouble later, haha.

I came home and called to talk with the vet about Holden's treatment. She ended up writing me a prescription so I could order the meds online and give his injections at home to save money. He'll need bi-weekly injections for 4 weeks, then we'll need to retake the x-rays to see how it did. He will most likely still be on crate rest when we come to CA which will be a bummer, but a necessity.

Anyhoo.. Taylor has a new contraption that we got from the neighbors the other day, we figured we'd keep it in th back room so we don't ding up the walls moving her jumperoo around all the time. She tested it out today and really liked it!


Then I gave her, her ABC book and she was reading outloud until she dropped it.



That's about it for today! Taylor just fell asleep so I'm going to bed.. I got up way to early this morning!

Pictures and a Video

Just a few random pictures I pulled of the camera to share!

On the floor watching Baby Einstein

What is she so happy about?
She's happy about sitting up!
Holden, showing off how Dane-like he truly is.

Taylor being a cranky pants, but sitting up. Sorry, I did the sideways thing again.

TGIF!

Wow, I didn't think Friday would ever come, but at the same time, it was so busy I don't know what happened!

Monday started off with my PT and OT. I got up a little earlier to go to the gym before.

Tuesday was Weight Watchers, where I stayed the same. However after our Anniversary dinner at Red Lobster, and girls night out at the Cheesecake Bistro, I was more than happy to stay the same! Taylor still didn't want to go to sleep tonight, but she finally did fall asleep and slept through the night.

Wednesday I had another appointment in the morning and some errands to run before getting home to Drew. Taylor fell asleep easy this time and woke up twice but only for a minute before sleeping the rest of the rest of the way through the night.

Thursday I had a dentist appointment in the morning. It didn't go so well. I have a cracked molar, and one with a big chip in it that both need crowns. Ugh! I go back in a couple of weeks to get started at least on the cracked one. Holden was limping all day yesterday as well, pretty bad. I thought maybe he got hurt wrestling with Cossie, and he was keeping pretty quiet so I figured we'd watch him until today to see how he did. Taylor went to bed easy at 8 last night, but woke up at 10:30 and didn't go back to sleep until 4AM! Blargh!

Today I got up 4 hours later at 8 am to get ready to go to the gym and my PT/OT again. I let Holden out to go potty and he was still limping pretty bad so I called and scheduled him an appointment for the afternoon. Then off to the gym; I decided to try one of the classes called BodyBlast, which targets all of the muscles. Wow. Kicked. My. Behind. It hasn't even been 24 hours and I'm feeling muscles I never knew existed! After that I went to PT and OT where my physical therapist tortured me some more as well. The good news is that my back is feeling much better with all these core exercises they have me doing.

When I got home, I loaded up Taylor and Holden to take him to the vet. Of course by then the limping was hardly noticeable but I had gotten it on video before so I brought it with me to show the Doc. She came into examine him and noticed he had pain on both sides in his shoulders. They took a couple of x-rays and much to my surprise, the diagnoisis, is not a good one. He should be okay, but it's going to take a while and possibly surgery. He has what's called OCD, or Osteochondritis Dissecans. Here is a blurb on OCD:


http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=464

We are going to try the conservative method first. There is a regimine that has had a wonderful success rate with OCD in Danes so after the initial bout of anti-inflammatories to ease his discomfort now I will be disucssing with the vet about going forward with the other treatment. Hopefully we can get through it without needing surgery. In the meantime we have to keep him quiet, no zoomies for him.

Drew has weekend duty this weekend, then Taylor has her "6 month" checkup on Monday. Again at 7:50, I'm setting 3 alarms this time, just in case.

That's all for now, I do have pictures, I'll get them up hopefully tonight. Taylor just woke up again... I think she's teething.