Last week

Last week was crazy, busy, and rough. Started on Wednesday with a call from Nico's daycare letting us know that they were on a 2-hour delay because of the icy roads. So Matt (who usually takes Nico to daycare) walked to work and I was in charge of the kiddos. I should point out that, even on the days that there are no weather issues, I feel like a moving circus with all the million things that it takes to get us out the door. The ice and cold only makes the whole thing more... amusing.

So once everyone is fed, dressed and packed, and the dogs have been put away, we begin the process of leaving the house and loading up the car. First I do a trip to start the car with all of our stuff. What stuff you ask? Well, I have my purse, my pump, and often my workout bag (when I'm going to be able to workout at lunch). Then I have Nico's diaper bag and his lunch box, and finally Sofi's diaper bag. At this point I try to do a little bit of scraping of the ice to start getting the car ready. Then I go back inside to get the kids. On the days that either Nico or Sofi are with Grandma, there's also a trip in there to load up the dogs in the car since they get to go to Diana's too.

Cuddle times. Sofi seems unsure.

So Wednesday I got everyone loaded up and we went to drop off Sofi with the nanny. When I was walking up to the house (with Sofi in the car seat) I slipped on the sidewalk and fell on my hip. Fortunately Sofi was okay, but the fall startled and scared her, so she started screaming and it took a while to calm her down. I felt so terrible for her that I didn't really think about how I was doing (that is until I saw the huge bruise on my hip last night). All this with Nico in the car waiting for me.

I got to work with Nico and set him up on a chair to eat his muffin. He is really a pretty mellow kid, but it's always hard to have him at work and actually get work done. He has a million questions about things around the office, wants to be moving and doing stuff (and even if it's just climbing up and down from a chair it's still distracting), and once he notices the candy bowl nothing can distract him from wanting to eat some chocolate. At 9:30 we started making our way to Kids' Place and, even though it took us a while walking slowly, we got there without any more ice-related incidents.

He finally agreed to wear to the sweater my mom made for him (months ago) and he loves it.

The rest of the day went by without much excitement (fortunately). When we got home we discovered that Tasha (the dog that never goes after stuff on the counter) had decided to do some counter surfing and ate some blueberry muffins and Chanterelle mushrooms. Anyone that has a dog knows that horrible feeling of coming home, tired from the day, to find some kind of destruction. In any case, after cleaning everything up, we had a nice family dinner, some play time, and then got the kiddos ready for bed. By 9pm they were both asleep and Matt and I were able to hang out. We watched some TV and after I pumped (my favorite part of the day) we went to bed around 11:30pm.

Not five minutes after we turned off the lights I heard a thump and weird scratching noises. I ran out of the room to find Tasha collapsed in the TV room, flailing her legs. Once we got her to calmed down she became really lethargic, had labored breathing, and her gums became very, very pale. We were definitely worried. So we called the emergency vet number, and the doctor on call said he would meet us at his clinic. So Matt got dressed, de-iced the car, we carried Tasha to the car (and somehow made it without slipping in the ice rink), and he rushed her to the vet. And when I say rush, I mean drive as quickly as he could in the horrible icy conditions. (Have I mentioned that it was really icy and it sucked?)

My Tasha-roo <3

After checking her and running the tests that he could at the time, the vet thought Tasha might have Boxer cardiomyopathy - a condition so common in Boxers that it's named after the breed. He gave her some medicine to help her through the night and suggested that we either take her to the emergency vet clinic in TriCities (wasn't going to happen given the icy conditions) or check-in with our vet the next day. On Thursday we took her to the vet clinic & they kept her for the day for monitoring. At 4pm Dr. Ladderud called me to tell me that he didn't think that she had cardiomyopathy, but that they did an ultrasound and found that she had a tumor on her spleen. He thought that her collapse the night before was due to a small bleed or clot caused by the tumor, and they didn't think it would happen again anytime soon, but they will need to remove the tumor (and probably spleen). However, because she was still recovering from what had happened, her blood counts were too low to do surgery.

So we took her home Thursday night with some medicine that is supposed to help bring up her blood counts and might even help reduce the size of the tumor. That, and a million questions about the surgery and the recovery that I didn't get to ask because I was still in shock. So I will call tomorrow to talk to Dr. Ladderud, and hopefully get a little bit more clarity on what to expect. If all goes well, Tasha goes in for surgery Wednesday morning.

That night, as we were settling in for the night, Tasha had several accidents. I thought it might be due to the fact that she was on fluids all day Thursday, but when she continued having them on Friday I called the vet's office and got some incontinence medicine to help until the surgery. So she's on drugs and in diapers for now, and it is such a difficult situation. Half the time I'm frustrated at the mess and the amount of clean-up we're dealing with right now, and the other half of the time I want to sit down and cry because I'm freaking out about her health. I guess we just have to take it one day at a time right now... and we'll see what happens with surgery and post-surgery results.

Nico now

My sweet, sweet boy. He continues to amaze me at how fast he grows, yet he seems to always remain, my sweet, caring boy.

We had our teacher conference at Kids' Place this week (yes, there are teacher conferences at his daycare) and the two things that stood out from the last few months is how he's starting to transition from parallel play to actually playing and interacting with other kids and how he's beginning to branch out from his car-focus interest to playing more with animals now. Both are things that we've noticed at home too. He's beginning to have actual play dates with friends and looks forward to seeing his friends so that they can share some kind of toy. And even though his love for anything with wheels is not fading, he definitely loves his stuffed animals now and pays special attention to one or two of them at a time.

I feel like he has changed so much in so many ways too. Just talking so much more, expressing himself so much better - sometimes he blows me away with the things he says and how he seems to connect things so well. Of course I think he's a genius, but that's just me :)

Cute words that he's saying right now:
Melk -- "elk"
Durty -- "dirty"
Upsy-Daisies - "upside down"
Pack-Pack - "backpack"

He doesn't want me to take pictures of him, so he's laughing at me supposedly taking a selfie 

He is obsessed with rocks right now, and it's a struggle to keep them somewhat contained. He seems to always have at least a couple in his pockets, and even though I'm sure I check all the time, they seem to always end up going through the laundry. He likes to load them and unload them with his trucks and is constantly organizing them in his different containers.

He loves spending time with Grandma, and looks forward to Mondays when he gets to spend all day with her. They sometimes go to the park or on little adventures, but mostly they stay at home and play and, even though I have no clue what they're actually doing, they are developing that amazing bond that kids should have with their grandparents.

Makes me miss my parents even more, and wish that they could have more of that time with him and with Sofi. But for now we make an effort to Facetime often, and many times I'll just leave him with Aba and Abo, playing with cars or with owls - they each have their own stash and they "play" for long periods of time, so at least they have that.

And as much as he's constantly developing his independence and pushing boundaries and limits just to see how much he can get away with, at the end of the day, no matter what, he wants his cuddle time with mama at bedtime. And it's something that I very much look forward to every day.

Dogs

Nico and Sofi are doing great. The dogs... not so much...

Let's start with Tasha... Tasha, who is 9 years old now... and whenever she has a health issue all I can think about is those (horrible) people that, when we first got her as a puppy, would say things like: "Oh, what a cute Boxer puppy. You know that Boxers only live 8 to 9 years, right?" About a month ago Tasha woke up one morning with her left eye barely open and all goopy and oozy. It didn't seem to be bothering her, so I made an appointment for the next week (this was on a Friday) to have it checked. It's never a good sign when the doctor walks into the exam room, and says "Oh! We need to do something to that eye today!" She had an eye ulcer and they kept her to be able to take care of it. And since she was going to be under, they were also going to remove a tag that she had in her eyelid and two bumps that she's had on her back for a while - they have been "on watch" for a few years, but they hadn't changed much and the doctor wasn't worried.

After the surgery, they sent one of the masses out for tests (it looked suspicious), but results came back and everything was benign. So that was a big sigh of relief. After surgery they sent her home with her eye stitched shut so it would heal. When we went back a week later for check up the doctor decided she could use more time to heal, so they put her under again so that they could patch her eye again. Of course two days later, after being great for 10 days about leaving the whole thing alone, Tasha pawed at her eye and removed the patch completely. Fortunately she didn't cause any damage, and after another re-check the vet thought she'd be fine without a patch. It's been three weeks since surgery, and even though her eye still looks super creepy, it is on the mend and we expect she'll make a fine recovery.

And then there's Eco, my problem child. For those of you that don't know, Eco has had an ear issue for over a year now. He had a tag or something on the tip of his ear that just wouldn't heal - it would scab over, he would shake (very vigorously), the scab would come off, there would be blood everywhere, and the whole process would start all over again. With the vets we have tried a bunch of different things, but nothing seemed to work long enough for the ear to heal. Finally, the morning that we were supposed to take Tasha in for her first appointment we woke up again to blood drops all over the carpet downstairs. So we took him in with Tasha that morning, and after talking to the vet, decided to just trim his ear to take off the portion that wasn't healing.

Always a cuddle bug.

Unfortunately his recovery hasn't been as easy as Tasha's. At the one-week check up we finally got to see the "new"ear - it basically looks like a bat ear that half stands up :) However, because of how much he had been rubbing on the bandage, the stitches were healing very well, so the vet recommended we keep the ear bandaged for another week. About three days later, he was scratching at the bandage so hard that he was starting to hurt his other ear that hadn't been taped down. I immediately wrapped up his whole head (see above) and we made it to the next check up, after which they sent him home all bandaged up again.

Last Friday morning I was getting ready for work and notice he was scratching a lot. When I glanced again I saw blood on him again. Sigh... Because he has his dewclaws he had scratched so much that he had given himself a cut right by his eye. At that point I gave up on trying to keep him from scratching and he got the cone of shame.

With the cone of shame

He is miserable and has lost a bunch of weight since this whole ordeal started, but hopefully when it's all over we'll be able to forget about the drama and it'll be a story that we occasionally remember. We'll see. I have to check-in with the vet tomorrow to find out when he gets another check up.

Yay, life with (our) dogs!

Growth spurt

This little sleeper has to be going through a growth spurt. She took a "nap" yesterday from 4pm until 9:30pm. I was terrified about what was going to happen through the night, wondering if I was going to get any sleep. But after being awake for about an hour (and eating a bunch), she went to bed around 10:30pm and slept until 6:45am. And then, after nursing with mama and chatting for a little bit with dada, she took another nap until I woke her up a little after 9am because we had to get ready to go.

Just sleeping

Manzanita

Three weeks ago we took a couple of day off from work and went to the Oregon coast. We rented two houses with our friends Tim & Lynn & three other couples and spent the weekend walking on the beach, playing soccer, having good food and drinking great wine.

Happy to relax in the carrier.

The weather was fantastic, and it was just nice to get away from the routine and enjoy the little break.

Hanging out with the girls

This is the second year that we do this weekend trip with Tim & Lynn & their girls and I find it nice to keep finding little treats like this that we add to our repertoire of family traditions. This year there were two other boys in the group, but they were older (twelve, maybe?) and they kept to themselves, so - just like last year - Nico got to spend the weekend playing with and being pampered by a group of girls (five of them, ages 6 through 10) that loved having him around.

Enjoying the delicious sun.

During the trip I had one of those vivid realizations of the difference between the first and second child (one of many!). We took a similar trip to the coast with friends when Nico was about the same age as Sofi (2ish months), and we brought so much stuff: his sleeping tent, and multiple outfits, and playing mat, and a bunch of toys... Not only did I not bring any toys for Sofi on this trip, but we actually forgot her sleeper "box"... Oh well, obviously she survived.

Boys enjoying the beach.

The one low of the weekend was me breaking one, maybe two, toes in the most ridiculous way. I was running barefoot on the beach, and at the very end of my loop I went by the area where some of the kids and guys were playing soccer. Matt thought it would be funny to "race me" so he started running behind me and when I started to get away he grabbed me and I tripped on his shoe-clad foot. It hurt like hell, but I didn't think much of it, until an hour later when I had two swollen and very bruised toes. I haven't gone to see a doctor and get x-rays because from everything I've read there's not much they can do, so I've been hobbling around for three of the four to six weeks it's supposed to take to heal.

Despite the injury it was a great weekend and another highlight was Nico getting to enjoy his "balance bike" - this is a big boy bike that he got last Christmas and we took out the pedals and cranks so he could use it as a balance bike. Unfortunately because it is meant for bigger kids it was to heavy for him to actually use until recently, but now that it fits him right he absolutely loves it and getting to use it on the beach was a real treat.

Manzanita weekend 2014!

Maybe we'll do it again next year!

And... we're back!

Clearly, I'm not good at this whole blogging business... I kept meaning to write about Sofi's birth story, and then I kept meaning to do some kind of massive update from the last couple of months, and every time I started I felt like since it had been so long it had to be something big and then it never happened... So instead we're going to do a quick update and just get back to trying to blog regularly, and hopefully at some point I'll actually write a post with Sofi's birth story.

Life since Sofi arrived has been amazing, hectic and overwhelming.

Cuddle bug.

It's amazing how much I had forgotten about the early weeks - both the good and the bad, but it's been a fun adventure reliving the different phases that have already gone by and noticing all the differences already between Nico and his little sister.

Peaceful slumber.

Luckily for us, Sofi has turned out to be a fantastic sleeper just like her brother. I know from experience that some of this patterns don't last long, so we're enjoying it now and resting while we can.

Cuddling siblings.

And I couldn't be happier with how awesome Nico is with Sofi. I have heard so many horror stories of siblings not liking the little ones, and how even when they do like them they grow tired of them quickly. Nico has obviously had moments when he's extra needy and demanding of our attention, but he has been nothing but sweet and caring for Sofi - wanting to cuddle and hold her, making sure she has her pacifier when she needs it, and helping us with diaper changes. He has such a gentle and caring soul, but it still blows my  mind at how much he loves his sister already.

Making sure she stays warm.

The other day, with the biggest smile on his face, he told me he can't wait for Sofi to take his hand when they can "run, run, run!" He melts my heart every time.

Looking so much like baby Nico

Every day Sofi seems to look more and more like Nico, and yet we're already starting to notice all the difference in their personalities. She is such a content and mellow baby (very similar to Nico), but when she wants something or she's not happy she can be very loud about it. She like her tummy time (while I remember Nico barely tolerating it), and as she begins to coo she is turning out to be quiet the little chatter box.

Smiles with auntie Jackie

This was Sofi's first ride in Bob. She was very content. And Nico loved being the big kid, getting to ride his bike. This is a bike that Grandma got for him last Christmas - we took the pedals and seat out to encourage him using it as a balance bike, with the hope that it would help him transition better to riding eventually. Unfortunately it turned out to be a little bit to heavy for him at the time, so he is just now starting to feel comfortable with it, but I'm already impressed by how well he's doing. Last week we went up to Bennington lake and he rode the bike (practically for the first time) on gravel up and down some pretty steep hills with some very minor falls.

Anyway, life is good right now, busy but good. I'm back at work part-time and Diana is watching Sofi during that time, which I am so grateful for. Nico is back at daycare full-time and really enjoying it again (we went through a tough phase where he "hated" daycare because it meant he wasn't home with mama and Sofi), which is a huge relief. Matt's busy at work and doing a lot of soccer ref'ing, which he enjoys. I'm doing two classes and a practicum this semester and trying to stay on top of things as much as possible. And little Sofi is growing and changing every day.

Crazy hair.

Life is good... and I'll work on making time to keep this blog updated - if nothing else but for me to have a record of these days later in life.