It's been awhile!

Sorry it has been a long time since I have been on the blog. Brent has been busy traveling and it's just been hectic. Allison has mastered her ABC's and can count to 10. She also has begun jumping which opens the door to jumping on the bed, furniture, etc!

Cooking Class

I always dread, and I mean dread cooking dinner. Allison is super needy between 4 and 6 pm--it's all I can do to get things done. I decided to embrace her toddler curiosity and let her cook with me (within reason, of course!). She was VERY excited to wear her apron--we have matching aprons, thanks to Aunt Suzie! She couldn't get over the idea that you could just wipe your hands on the apron! ((They should really make aprons for kids to be used as bibs, it works so much easier!)) We made squash nuggets, barbecue chicken, and macaroni and cheese. I sliced the squash and then she dipped it in the Italian dressing, then the breadcrumbs and finally onto the baking sheet. For the mac n cheese, she added the water into the pot. It was a lot of fun and I was able to eat dinner without feeling like I had been through the war! She was very proud to eat her dinner and was very excited to tell Daddy that she cooked with Mommy!

Corn on the Cob and Frying Pan Park

This weekend I had a yard sale at Connie's house. It's always funny to me to see what people buy. I had my old comforter with matching curtains all from Country Curtains and that was one of the last things to go--my old sneakers went first! I made over 80 dollars, not too shabby! Brent, Allison and Bailey came down before lunch and we spent the afternoon and then had dinner at Connie's or G-G's as Allison calls her. It was the first time that Allison had corn on the cob. She first began just licking the butter off, then sucking and finally taking a bite. She did pretty good!
And she seemed to like it too!

On Sunday we got up fairly early and then went to see the farm animals at Frying Pan Park. That is truly the perfect place for toddlers and preschoolers. Allison had a blast. Then we ran into one of her classmates, Sarah, that Allison is actually good friends with. You know as good a friend as you could be at this age. They ran around together and then Allison decided it was a good idea to hold Sarah's hand while they were walking. We all scrambled for our cameras. It was soo cute! They ran around together and talked to the chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, and cows. It was interesting to see Allison interact with her peer group. She can be a little bossy! Wonder who she gets that from? :)
I am including some of the pictures of Sarah and Allison here. So adorable!

We Got Punk'd!

We took Bailey to South Paws today. That is an amazing facility. The minute that Brent (thank goodness he went with me!) and I walked in, I started crying. I never took my sunglasses off! They have a "greeter" there that is just a person to make everyone comfortable. She came over to Bailey and began to compliment him. I lost it (again!) They took Bailey back without us and then the technician came and got us. As we were walking back to where Bailey was being examined, the tech mentioned that we had done a great job raising Bailey and what an amazing dog he is. I lost it (yet again!). I was convinced he knew something that I didn't! So we arrive in the room and Bailey is lying on his back, his back paws were strapped down (not harshly, he could move) and for his front paws, a tech was lying over him. Again not harshly, just holding him still. I immediately went to his head to be with him during the exam. The vet came in and said he wasn't necessarily convinced Bailey was as ill as previously thought. ((I started to breathe a little for air at this point!) Then he did the abdominal ultrasound (again--Brent and I were thinking, didn't we already pay $400 for this?!?). He used multiple probes on his belly--Brent wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. Fortunately he didn't say that until after the fact. Then I began to cry during the thoracic/chest ultrasound. The vet, Dr. Toal was VERY through. He looked for clots, he moved Bailey around, used multiple probes---everything. And guess what?? There was nothing!! No tumor, no mass, no clots. Nothing. Bailey is ok. What a relief. If anything I think this experience has taught me not to take anyone or anything for granted. I just take a little pause now to give Bailey that pat on his head and let him know that I love him very much. He is a wonderful dog and I am so glad that he is okay. Thank you to everyone for all of your kind thoughts, emails, and prayers. The 'ol boy is hanging in there. He did his thing with baby tonight! We are going to pursue the mass issue on his leg, but for now we are just thankful that that is all there is.

Loss for Words

Our beloved dog, Bailey isn't doing so well. You wouldn't know by looking at him, but apparently he is quite ill. He had his annual appointment last week and the vet discovered two masses. One was probable the other was definite. The probable one is on his jaw (I can't find or feel it--even with the vet's help) and the definite one is on his right quadricep muscle. Our first step was to find out if he is healthy enough to undergo a surgical procedure to biopsy the tissue. The other purpose was to see if these masses weren't secondary to a larger problem. Oh, how we prayed they were primary masses but apparently that wasn't the case. He was at the vet today and they did blood work, Xrays, urinalysis, etc. Everything checked out great except for the Xrays. They have found what they think is a mass on his heart or in his lung cavity. Originally they thought it was an aggressive form of cancer that would have originated in his spleen. The vet performed an abdominal ultrasound only to find out that this spleen and all of his organs are perfectly normal. We are being referred now to South Paws. Bailey's vet wants a vet radiologist to read his films for a second opinion. I saw the films and honestly it's a large mass. Probably softball size. My PT brain tells me with that he should be symptomatic. Bailey isn't. He is truly the same dog he was six months ago even a year ago. Maybe that is the blessing in this whole thing. It is mind boggling. Something should or would have shown up in his blood work, but there is nothing. They did do multiple xrays to rule out artifact (that means seeing something that's not really there) and it was still there on multiple views. I will keep everyone posted but if you don't mind I really don't want to talk about Bailey. It's too close to the surface right now and I am trying to keep it together. Also, hold all of the "great to have dogs" emails. Those just make me cry and I don't need to do anymore of that! Thanks for understanding and say a prayer for our fur baby.

Holy Hair

Yesterday was a wonderful day! Hard to believe it is August. We spent most of the day at the park. As Allison says, "Up the stairs, down the slide!" There was some crazy static cling on the slide and her hair just looked so funny. Hard not to take pictures of it!

Gone Baby Gone

I've been in denial. I know Allison is almost two, but I've been trying to hold on to baby-dom as long as I can. She has ditched her high chair for her big girl chair. She also is sporting a new do with her pig tails. They suit her perfectly. She is able to turn on lights by herself, brush her teeth, and washing her hands solo. Girlfriend even knows how to turn off the water. It's crazy. Instead of fighting it, I've decided to embrace toddler-dom and wave bye-bye to baby-dom.