Friday, February 27, 2009

We're home!

Beasley got to come home last night. He's really woosey and drugged up but at least he's home. He's not eating his food so I decided to cook him some chicken and rice, he LOVES it! Now if I could only get him to drink some water. He hasn't had one lap of water since he's been  home, I called the vet and they said this is normal which makes me feel better. Unfortunately he has to be confined to a crate for a couple of months to allow the bones and screws to fuse but thankfully Aunt Kate had a crate we could borrow, it's huge!! I'll add a picture of it later, I'm letting him hang out in the den on his bed today since I'm home all day. I've been cooking chicken and rice all day!

Here he is when we arrived in the driveway, he was not feeling well, he got carsick on the way home. He stayed in the back of the car for a while. See his new ramp?
Once he made it inside he went straight to his favorite spot.


Here he is on his bed by the couch with is sister watching over him.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

First of all, sorry the last post was so long. I got a little carried away. I just want to update you on Beasley. The vet just called and said that everything went as planned. He did well with the anesthesia and the implantation of the plate went as planned. She said that hopefully if he doesn't have too much swelling he will be able to come home tomorrow after work. I will have to take him every morning for a little while to have his bandage changed but that is just fine with me! I can't wait to have him back home!

He will probably be doing a lot of this for a while!

Last week

Last week we had the pleasure of keeping my parents 3 dogs for several days. Now most people think we are crazy for having 5 labs in the house but Trey and I love it! First of all you have to realize that these dogs all get along really well. One of them is Beasley's mother and another is his sister from the litter. Uncle Buff has been around more than anyone. It really isn't much different to have 5 than 2 except for feeding time. We have so much fun with all of them around. 

Speaking of feeding time, below is a picture I took when I walked in the door one afternoon after work. Apparently they all decided they wanted to eat! They chewed off the corner of the food bin and had a feast!! As you can see, they were able to get the lid off and tip the container over and have their own buffet. Unfortunately Mollie looks like she had the most. She was about to explode!! I'm confident she indulged the most, but I know she had help. The food bin is always in the same spot in the kitchen and Mollie and Beasley have never bothered it. Well, now we had to move it out of their reach.


I was so mad! It was actually pretty funny but it is just so frustrating. Then I went back into the bedroom to change clothes and go to the bathroom, well look at the bathroom! They decided to help themselves to the trash can. Crazy dogs! Gotta love them though.

Yes the dogs stay inside. First of all it was really cold outside. Second, the last time we left all of the dogs outside, Beasley got out of the fence and we have some really horrible neighbors behind us who said if it happened again they would shoot the dogs! Can you believe that?! Anyways, it's just easier to leave them inside, cover up the couches and clean up the dog hair. 

Well Saturday, Trey and I had to go to Tuscaloosa for a kitchen shower for a friend. We had to leave all of the dogs outside b/c we were going to be gone so long. I checked everything, every square inch of the yard and fence to make sure there was nothing they could do to get out. I cleaned up the garage and put a bunch of dog beds and bowls of water in there for them to curl up on to get out of the cold once it got dark. I got home just after 10pm, Trey was staying the night so the guys could play golf on Sunday. All of the dogs were here, I was so pleased. Then the bad news. Beasley came hopping inside unable to use one of his hind legs. I was freaking out to say the least. 

First thing Monday morning, I took him to the vet to see what was wrong. I had to leave him for the day which I didn't mind b/c I had to go to work and knew he was in good hands. Dr. Golden called me shortly after leaving him there and said they were going to have to sedate him in order to do x-rays, I was expecting this. Turns out he had to stay the night Monday so they could monitor him and hope the swelling went down. He displaced some bones in his ankle-I still don't know EXACTLY what that means, I understand it from the x-rays but can't explain it. They aren't broken and aren't necessarily dislocated, kind of a combination of the two if that makes ANY sense at all. I just trust the vets that they know what they are doing. When I picked Beasley up yesterday afternoon I was so excited. He was so excited to see me and looked so much happier I guess b/c of the pain medication. He was in so much pain before. Well before we left, Dr. Golden asked if we could go see another vet in the morning (Wednesday morning) who is an orthopedic surgeon to get her opinion. He trusted her very much, she was on staff at Auburn for a while. (Man, I didn't mean for this post to be so long, sorry!) We went to see the surgeon at 8:30 this morning and by 9 am they had taken Beasley to the back for more x-rays and SURGERY!!!! Bless his heart, he is going to have a metal plate and screws put in his leg. I wanted to cry. At the same time, I knew that he is in really good hands and they were going to take excellent care of him. I just wasn't really prepared for the news. I knew it was a possibility but I didn't realize that the doctor was going to say that in 3 hours Beasley would be in surgery! Anyways, I guess that is basically it right now. I'm going to say a prayer for B and the surgeon right now as they are probably anesthetising him now. It has been so sad to watch him hop around and try to go to the bathroom. Think about it, he only has function of one of his hind legs to squat. Poor thing. Trey has to pick him up to get him in and out of the car. He's 100 lbs so I certainly can't lift him! We did pick him up this morning to put him on the bed too. He usually sleeps with us on the bed but didn't last night b/c he fell asleep on his own in the closet so we let him be. Sunday night I slept on the floor with him. Please say a little prayer for the sweet boy, he is so precious and I just want to take the best care of him possible!


This is Mollie Monday when Trey came home from work, she was waiting on Beasley. He said she didn't even move when we came in (normally she would run to the door), instead she stared over the back of the couch looking at the door waiting on her brother.

Here is Beasley yesterday when we got home from the vet. I couldn't get him out of the car so we had to sit in the driveway and wait on Trey to get home to get him out of the car. How sad! (you can see his leg wrapped up)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

18 Weeks

Can you believe I'm already 18 weeks pregnant? I can't! I don't have much to say but a lot of you have asked for a picture of my belly. Here you go.

 
Here's a picture of my nephew Christopher and Mollie. My sister and her two kids stopped through Thursday night and Monday night on their way to and from Huntsville. Christopher was so precious with Mollie and Beasley! I couldn't get a great picture of him hugging Mollie b/c one of the two would be moving and blur the picture so here's the best I got! 

One last thing. Mollie and Beasley's newest collars have arrived. I love them! I was going to wait until the little one arrives to let them wear the collars but I couldn't resist and they are wearing them now. 



Have a good rest of the week. Only two more weeks until we find out !

Friday, February 13, 2009

March 5th

I went to the doctor yesterday and we have scheduled our ultrasound for March 5th to see if we are having a boy or a girl. That is three weeks from yesterday. I was going to TRY to talk him into letting me find out early but after he finished talking about how we have to wait until 20-22 weeks so that he can check important things such as the brain, I thought I may as well keep it to myself. I'd rather him check those things. I have to go the following week too for the next check up and he made it sound like I was getting to do it a week early anyways. It certainly helps to have a date set though and I know it will be here before we know it. 

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

dogs, dogs, dogs

The past few weeks, Mollie and Beasley have been quite the curious ones. I wish I had my camera all of those times I walked in the door from work to find a crime scene. These two are normally VERY good dogs (and when I say dogs, I hope you understand they are really more than dogs) who are trustworthy and don't get into trouble. Well I don't know if it is spring fever or what, but they have been getting into stuff lately...a lot!


On a normal day, I walk in the door from work around 5:20 and they come running to greet me at the door...ready to eat dinner. It started about two weeks ago, one afternoon I walked in the door and actually had to call for them b/c they didn't come greet me. Well I soon found out why, they were hiding because they knew they would be in trouble. They had taken a bag of Check-ups (a cross between a treat and a rawhide) off of the counter, torn the bag open and helped themselves! I was furious! I think they were more miserable than I was mad though. Their tummies did not feel very well, Mollie's especially. (Beasley typically takes a treat and eats it in his special place and savors it while Mollie on the other hand devours it and hopes for more, and I think that was the case this time too) I actually was concerned about them consuming more than they should of these treats, we wondered if we needed to have their stomachs pumped. I think Mollie helped herself to the majority which was evident by the numerous bathroom breaks that night and the next day on our walk.

The Check-ups incident was just the first of many to follow. Mollie actually has figured out how to nudge the door where the trash can is and dump the trash can over to see what has been thrown away before being consumed- I caught her in the act the other day. Apparently they have grown quite the admiration for left over french fries from Daddy's lunch too. Most recently was yesterday. I came home, no greeting and started looking for the scene. I looked in the backyard and saw the can of Milk Bones had been dragged outside (I left the door open for them yesterday since it was so nice) and they somehow managed to UNSCREW the top off and eat the rest of the treats! This was actually more funny than frustrating. I am glad that they didn't get to the big box of Milk Bone large treats, I did learn to put those up high on a shelf in the back, it's about 12 lb. of treats! How on earth did they carry the big can out there after getting it off of the counter (which by the way it has been there forever and they've never bothered it) and then figure out how to unscrew the top? I actually took pictures this time.




Seriously though, they are 7 and 5 years old, you would think we had puppies in the house! We've always had to be careful with Mollie and food because she will eat until she explodes if possible but this has come to a new level. I can assure you they are getting proper nutrition. No one worries more about the nutrition of their dogs more than Trey and I do. His mother thinks they are starving. I promise you they aren't! We may have switched them to diet food but they are getting plenty!

As you can see Mollie looking on, we've had to create our own child lock system- we have to put a spatula between the handles on the cabinet to keep her out of the trash!



Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Cheaper IS Better!

Have you heard? They (the experts) are now saying buying frozen vegetables is actually better than the "fresh" produce at the grocery store! Unless you are growing your own vegetables or buying them at a local farmer's market, you are better off from a nutrition standpoint to buy frozen vegetables than the more expensive "fresh" ones. The frozen veggies are flash frozen at their peak and retain more nutrients. Not only is it more convenient to have a stock pile in the freezer than to have to run to the store for fresh veggies, it is MUCH more cost efficient! For once the cost effective option is actually the better option all around!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Cameras

Hello all,
I thought I would make a post asking for camera advice. I would like to save up some money to purchase a new-NICE-camera. Unfortunately I purchased one not too long ago. When Trey and I got married a year and a half ago we bought a Sony Cybershot. I have been GREATLY disappointed, in fact I will not buy another Sony camera-ever. While that one was a small, convenient camera it was still supposed to be a really good one. Had a lot of megapixels and supposedly "anti-blur" technology. I beg to differ. This camera blurs more than any I have ever seen! Well I'm over it! The flash never works and it is the most finicky thing I have ever dealt with. Now I want a big camera; a grown up one. While I don't need the best of the best, I would like one that is really dependable and takes pictures quickly and clearly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!