Is it too early

I have fall on the brain. Everybody knows that I hate heat, and I am completely over summer. I want to pull out my sweaters, jeans, and boots and put away the spf 70. I need to turn off the air conditioning and put on the flannel sheets.

In our rummage sale organization last weekend I unearthed my fall decorations and I would have put them up right then and there if I hadn't been up to my eyeballs in other stuff. Autumn is definitely my favorite season. I'm excited to can some applesauce, pick pumpkins, and buy some baby gifts.

So, I ask you, when can I decorate? Is September 1st too early? Also, would anyone want to come to my house for an Oktoberfest party? I'm throwing around the idea. German food and beer of course, and it would be more of a bring your clan kind of thing. It would be fun to meet the families of the GW posse.

fragments

for lack of a better word. I feel like I'm going in a hundred directions at once.

-Marty wagged his tail yesterday, stood up on four legs, and walked three steps. YIPPEE! He hasn't done it since then though.

-Full-on garage sale mode, seriously selling everything under the sun. Hopefully we'll make enough to buy a closet or a new back door and storm door.

-Totally over summer, bring on fall and winter. I hate hot and humid.

-Finishing up getting the girls ready for preschool. I need to buy them some shoes but before I place a big fat order on LandsEnd I need to check out Target.

-Where's a secret blog when you need one?

-Starting to think about Jer's Birthday (10-1) and the girls golden birthday(10-4). Trying to convince them of anything but another princess party.

-I may just surprise them with a party and not give them an option. I'm thinking a camping thing. Campfire cake, smores, tent to play in, sleeping bags etc.

what a difference a day makes

Yesterday went pretty well once I started getting into the groove. I walked him around inside the house 3 times yesterday with Lily's help. I set out small bowls of tuna in the kitchen, dining room, and living room and made him find them. We used to do this with treats all the time it's one of our favorite indoor winter games, except we usually torment him. He did great and ate a good amount of tuna also. Then after all the activity he'd worked up a thirst...win, win, win.

I became concerned around 5 because his bag wasn't filling very much and his tubing was not full like it had been. I called the vet and he walked me through how to do a sterile flush. With a little fiddling and four syringes of saline I got it moving again and his tubing was full and the bag was slowly filling.

When Jer got home we took the hound for a small walk and settled him back in to his spot while we ate dinner. I made Marty his own bowl of boiled chicken and rice. He ate like crazy and had a nice big drink.

The girls were troopers even though I didn't have much time for them they played nicely most of the day. But by dinner they were stir crazy and needed to get out, truthfully so did I. So we hit the park and ran into TP and clan. Scored some nice little school desks that were labeled "free" at the school too (anybody need one we can see if there's any left and bring them to GW).

The rest of the night went well. Kids went to bed and all that jazz. 9:30 rolls around and we start getting ready to give Marty his last dose of meds, change his bag, clean everything... and I look at his bag and tubing. It's not flowing and there's lots of air space in the tube. Crap. Alright, so I try to flush it, no good. Try again, nada. Shit.

I called the vet and the nurse puts me on hold to talk to the vet.

nurse: Dr wants to see him, go ahead and bring him in.

me: uh, we live 1 1/2 hours away, the kids are asleep..

nurse: oh. Let me talk to the dr again

me: holding and listening to all the horrible things that happen to animals that they treat at MedVet.

nurse: ok, Dr wants you to bring him in if he gets uncomfortable. Otherwise take him to your local vet in the morning or take him to a closer er vet.

me: ok, thanks

So Jer and I talk it over and decide waiting till morning isn't an option. I call an ER vet in Dayton.

me: Hi, my dog had surgery and he has a catheter in and it's blocked can you help me?

lady: hold on please

me: thinking I'm so tired I don't think I can drive, looking at husband who is falling asleep with dog who is already asleep.

vet: Hi, your dog had what kind of surgery...huh...well sure we can look at him...let us know if you're bringing him in.

After getting off the phone with the other vet I was already formulating a plan. I knew I just had to convince the husband that he was not exhausted. I motioned to Marty to start looking pitiful and cute. He layed it on thick, droopy ears, sad tired eyes, slow licks.

me: I think he needs to go to Columbus tonight

J: yeah, I think so too

me *thinking* well damn that was easier than I thought.

me: Here's what I think we should do... you take him to Columbus, drop him off, get a hotel room, go to sleep, wake up, go to work.

J: *while stroking soft hound ears and watching Marty's eyes twitch while dreaming* Ugh. Yeah I guess so. Make me some coffee and help me get ready.

They left around 11:30 last night. I went the F to bed.

This morning I talked to Marty's Dr (who I love -great Vet) and he told me he thought about Marty all night last night and wasn't very surprised to see him this morning. Then he told me some great news. The Dr removed Marty's cath because he was standing! Standing, can you believe it!? He asked if we'd mind boarding Marty for the next couple of days so he could monitor him more closely and make sure he was starting to pee on his own. He also wants to make sure he gets extra help with walking!

Yay! Such great news, it's going so much more smoothly now. And with this beacon of light at the end of the tunnel I am no longer second guessing myself. I hope this hound continues on the same track. He'll be barking at Trick or Treaters at this rate.

this is really hard

We picked Marty up yesterday afternoon and were briefed on how to take care of the catheter, the meds, how to use the sling... Then the nurse went to go get him. I told the girls that Marty would look different and tried to explain what happened to him and what was going to happen.

Marty was happy to see us. The girls on the other hand are totally terrified of him. They think he looks like a dinosaur, they're afraid of his big ouchie. They actually hid behind the exam table so they weren't close to him. Talk about break your heart, both for the dog and the kids.

We got home and and got him comfortable. After dinner we took him for his first walk. OMG did I underestimate how physically hard that is. I have no idea how I'm going ot be able to do that for 15 min three times a day all while still trying to watch the girls.

The girls went to bed and we started setting up his night time meds. 4 pills. He has never had an issue taking a pill before in his life and of course he chose to not take them. We tried everything we could think of, peanut butter, cheese, hot dog, forcing, pleading. Finally I thought my husband was going to kill the dog so I called the vet. They told us to dissolve all of them and squirt them into his mouth. That worked...kinda. I'm not sure how much he actually got but whatever.

We put him in the bathroom downstairs with his cone on and passed the F out.

This morning he was better about taking his slurry of meds. Now he's locked in a baby enclosure but he's resting pretty well. We made him walk from one pen to the other but I really need to get him up and going in a little bit. It's hard to bug him when he's actually resting. He did drink a little this morning and ate a small Milkbone but no interest in anything else.

I am seriously second guessing our decision. This is really hard and I have no idea if I can do this.

they call him the million dollar hound

How much is your pet worth to you? That's the question of the week.

We took Marty to his vet appointment yesterday at 1:00. She took one look at him and said she was very concerned. She did a couple of little tests on him and declared that he was paralyzed. At that point I lost it. I pretty much expected the worst when we took him in yesterday but I still wasn't ready to hear that.

She gave us our options: 1. Put him down 2. Take him to Columbus to the surgeon and see if they can help him 3. Get him wheels, I'm not shitting you. At this point I'm crying and laughing and thinking in my head "He'd be a wiener mobile"

The vet kept an eye on the girls for us and left us with Magoo to talk about it. After more crying on my part and calculations on my husbands part we decided we weren't ready to give up on him. To Columbus we'd go. They gave Marty a shot of pain meds and we took off with a quickness.

We went to MedVet and if you are ever in emergency vet need I'd recommend them without reservation. They were kind, understanding, and helpful as well as knowledgeable. After the surgeon examined the hound he gave us his prognosis and a course of treatment, starting with a mylogram (?), possible CT, and surgery. We signed the papers and they started immediately. No waiting, no dawdling.

We got a phone call at about 8:30 last night that the surgery went well, it was a ruptured disc, and the disc next to it was deteriorated as well. They drilled a hole into the troubled one to hopefully help it rupture away from the spinal cord when it goes out.

This morning they called and he slept well and is comfortable. He has some sensation in his back legs. Hopefully it will keep coming back as the swelling goes down and the injury heals. We should be able to get him tomorrow night.

Now of course my mind is going to recovery and what kind of things we'll need to do for him. Any input? I'm making him a bed today so that he can be comfortable on the floor. I think I'll also make a pad to go into his crate for when we pick him up tomorrow.

sick hound

Marty is not well.

Friday night he had a seizure before bed, not out of the ordinary for him. Afterwards he had trouble with stairs, walked slowly and was a little off. By Saturday night he couldn't use his back end but could still wag his tail. Sunday morning early he could barely get his front half off the floor and wouldn't wag his tail anymore.

We ended up giving him an aspirin which seemed to take the edge off a little, but didn't help with his mobility. He can use his front half but not the back, he just drags himself.

I called the vet and the earliest appointment I could get today was 1:00. I'm frustrated that I can't do anything to help him and the vet I called on Saturday wasn't very helpful.

It's going to be a long day.

throw it all out

I am in a mood. I think it's Anne wearing off on me. I would really like to rent a dumpster and throw half of the shit in my house out. Toys, blankets, sheets, clothes, books, baby stuff, furniture, nothing is safe! I think it's just me getting ready for winter. Instead of chucking it I'm going to try to sell all of it. If it doesn't sell it will end up somewhere else, none of it is coming back in my house.

This brings up something I say every year. My kids have too many toys. I'm sure we all say that but this time I am sticking too it. It's time to reign in the birthdays and the holidays. It's embarrassing how much money we've spent on our kids thus far. And for what? To throw it all out in a fit of organization the next year? Blech.

The hard part is that you can't control what other people buy your kids. I have a MIL that buys them lots of crappy toys. The kind that are fun for about a minute before they break or that never deliver what they claim to be able to do. Of course my kids like those which means we end up in a struggle of me wanting only quality toys and the girls wanting orange and chocolate scented dolls with giant heads, orange hair, and pet penguins.

The past few weeks I have been trying to weed out the junk toys from the nice ones. This always ends in the girls "saving" the stupidest crappiest toys from the pile. Happy meal crap they will never play with and will lose in a week is suddenly something they have to keep because it's their favorite. I have taken to throwing out stuff while they sleep.

How sad is that. A toy thief in the night.

For sale:

-SkipHop DuoDouble diaper bag barely used in red with black

-Hanna Andersson holiday dresses in size 90

-Baby monitor used once

-Hanna Andersson training unders 3pk in size XS and another 3pk of Gerber brand (girly colors)

-Hanna Anderson playdresses and leggings in size 80 or 90 (can't remember)

-Other random clothes

pittsburgh

We just got back from a fast and fun filled weekend in Pittsburgh. It's been a long time since we've been there, I had forgotten how pretty the drive was.

Our good friends Theresa and Harry asked us to be their daughters' Godparents so we went out to baptize baby Sarah.

We decided to make it a little family vaca and spent Saturday at Idlewild park. It was a little kid paradise. The girls had a blast and we enjoyed seeing them experience the classic kiddie rides I remember from my childhood.

There was a little stage in Raccoon lagoon (kiddie Land) and Ricky the Raccoon invited kids to come up and dance with him. Ava jumped right up there and boogied. She loved it. Lily preferred to watch from my side. After the dance along was over and we were making our way to a new ride Ava said, "I love that skunk." Ava claims that dancing with Ricky was her favorite part of Idlewild.