Marley

As many of you know, Marley was our dog, but in November we had to say good-bye to him.  Marley had a heart murmur that had gradually gotten worse.  About 5 years ago, Marley would at times sneeze, we thought it was strange, but it was nothing major, it was just what he did.  Later, at one of his check ups, the vet explained that he had a heart murmur and the symptoms would be more apparent and worsen over time.  For example, the sneezing was because of the murmur.

As the years passed, the sneezing became more frequent.  He began throwing up, it was not food and it was just stuff.  Ultimately, the sneezing became somewhat of a cough, which then began to occur throughout the night.  There was one night that I don't believe he even slept.  Once that began to occur I started the conversation with Mark about his health.  We knew the only way to make his life better was for heart surgery.  You dog owners out there know that means big bucks.  Not only the surgery, but the medication and follow up visits. Mark asked to give him one week to find a place for him.  We knew it would not be another home because no one would want to take on that type of financial responsibility.  It was either a rescue/shelter for cockers or for him to be put down at the vet's.

Mark called around and the rescues would not accept a dog from a private owner, so we were left with only one choice.  It was a Saturday morning and Mark decided to give Marley something special for breakfast.  He made him eggs and bacon.  Marley was an expert when it came to climbing the dining room table and getting to plates when no one was in the room.  Mark made him his plate, placed it on the table and pulled out the chair.  That's how he'd get on top of the table, by climbing the chair.

Marley finally found the plate and enjoyed it.  Mark did not want to take part in going to the vet's office, so I did it.  I held it together pretty well until I had to say good-bye to him.  I pet him fondly, told him thank-you and slowly began to cry.  I finished up at the front desk, they brought back his collar, I went to my car, drove home and seriously began to cry.  By the time I  arrived home, I was composed.

As the days followed, I missed Marley's presence and routine actions that would occur throughout the day.  He was almost 10 years old and had been with us for most of our marriage.  We got him about 2 months after we were married and he was 6 weeks old.  He was named after Bob Marley and was our first kiddo....RIP Marley!

    

Some days are easy, some are....lets just say, tired.

Being a mama of two young ones definitely has it's highs and it's really tiresome days.  For example, Nathaniel is teething.  Poor little guy, I'm pretty sure he has four teeth coming through the bottom.  His bottom gums are so tender, that at times it's hard for him to breastfeed or drink from a bottle.  His eating and sleeping schedule changes, and more tears throughout the day.  Which means, he's one tired and cranky baby by the end of the day.  Yesterday was a hard day, but I learned from it and today was a much better day.  To where he had three naps some longer than others, but I was able to put him down and everyone got some rest.  Not only did he nap, but so did big sister, Elianna...YAY!

Naps!

I can't believe that I'm typing this, but, I think Elianna has outgrown her naps......NOOOO!  These past two weeks, she has slept twice during nap time.  The other days, she is talking up a storm and jumping around; in other words, having a party of one.  I'm still putting her down and she will fuss a bit, but for the most part she is having a good time in her crib.  So from now on, I refer to naps as Nap time or quiet time.  Quiet time for mom, I'm still in need of it.  The days she is not napping, she is in bed by 7PM and is alseep within minutes.  

Nathaniel has moved into a day time sleep schedule.  He has started to do a 2 hour nap in the morning, instead of having a lot of cat-naps.  Later in the afternoon is when it gets tricky.  He may be tired but having him transition from my arms to the bed wakes him.  Tomorrow, he will be fed in the bouncer and most likely fall alseep, stay there for his nap and hopefully stay asleep.  Lets see if that works....fingers crossed.

....And Then There Were Four

Hello Nathaniel!  Well folks, it has been two months since Nathaniel's birth and a lot of good and not so good stuff has occurred.  Nathaniel was born a healthy baby boy.  Who has a very different temperament from his sister's.  Or, it may be that since it's the second time around for us, it's a bit easier.  One thing is for sure, I never thought he was going to be over 9 pounds at birth!   He is now wearing size 6 months clothing...YIKES!  Here is a picture of me the night before his birth...double YIKES!

Elianna, I believe, has made a smooth transition to her brother's arrival.  There have been a few occasions that she wanted to be held when I was holding him. We do have to work on a "quiet" voice or a whisper.  Especially when Nathaniel is napping ;)  She states that he is "cute" and pronounces his name, "Nafaniel."  

I have had to deal with a breast infection for about a month, which I believe is now over with....fingers crossed!  Today I took my last antibiotic pill.  All I can say about that is, I never want to go through that again.   

Nathaniel is almost sleeping through the night.  Twice this week he slept until 5:15 AM.  Those two nights I consider sleeping through.  Last night he went back to a 4AM feed, even though, not too bad.

Got to say with two kiddos, the day goes by a lot faster!    

A clean bill of Health!

Today was our 6 month visit to CHLA; a follow up for Elianna's hip.  So off went, dealt with an 1.5 hour of traffic.  Elianna did pretty well with x-ray part.  I could not go in the room due to the fact that I'm pregnant, so I was out in the lobby waiting for Mark and Elianna to finish up and only heard Elianna once....Yay!

We waited just a bit and Dr. Skaggs who came in the room and said, "The x-rays look so normal, there is no need for follow up visits."  I could not believe it!  Thank you Jesus!  At our last visit, he had explained that if this visit's x-rays look good, we would have yearly follow up visits, so that's what I was hoping for, but instead we got better news!

We would like to extend a Thank you to everyone who had been praying for Elianna and her hip.  Those prayers really came through!

Saturday....Not too exciting.

Saturday:

In a nut shell:

Whittier Presbyterian Hospital for a Breast feeding class.  Gotta get back into the "lifestyle."

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Nap time for Elianna

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Costco - They got Halloween and Christmas set up already.

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Dinner - Saturday Nights we usually eat out and tonight it was Acapulco's.

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Finished up with some blogging and iMovie fun and....

some ice cream.

I know, shameful.  But I did enjoy every bite!

I didn't think pictures were really needed, expect for this last one.  I think we all know what Costco looks like.  

Friday...A small cold.

Friday:
Elianna woke up with a bit of a cold this morning.  Her first one!  Mostly it was a runny nose and sneezes throughout the day.  She seemed a bit more in need of hugs today, which is just fine with me.

Her free time choice, trying to plop herself into the Bumbo.  It's her latest thing. 

Oops!  Missed...

"In!"  She was very proud of herself, as you can see by her (big) smile.

She has taken it upon herself to be in charge of giveing Marely his snacks, (force) feeding him, and to let me know when he is in need of water.

Today's table top activity, watercolors!  It is very soothing for me.  

Elianna needed some TLC after her nap.  

During our silent reading time, Da-da was home and began playing the piano for us.  Elianna could not help herself and joined him.