Allergies and an Injury

Bailey has always had eye boogers. I clean them off her face whenever they appear which is usually every-other-morning or so. Its a joke... its playful... "momma hates eye boogers" said in a sing-song voice... and she just lets me do it...

Last summer, she had some issues with some reoccurring spots on her back. We figured it was just chigger bites since her flea/tic/mosquito treatment didn't list them as something it guarded against. Once the fall came around, the spots disappeared and we forgot all about them.

Last month, the spots showed up again. We were already going to the vet for some annual vaccines so I asked about them when we got there. The vet checked them for mites (negative) and gave me some special shampoo to try to clear it up.

Over the next few days, I noticed the eye boogers were coming more frequently and seemed to be worse from her left eye. I kept an eye on her to see if it got better or worse since her eyes didn't seem to be bothering her. Less than a week after we had seen the vet, I noticed her left eye was red and seemed irritated. So I called a smaller vet who is closer to our house and easier to get into on short notice.

He examined her and said that it looked like allergies. He also said she had an infection... kinda like how we get sinus infections when our allergies act up. He gave me some goo to put in her eyes 2x a day and said to start her on Benadryl to help with the allergies overall. (Of course the goo has steroids in it so I can't touch it... my husband has to do it and will only do it when I remind him so it only gets done once a day if we are lucky.)

Well, the shampoo has worked wonders after only 2 treatments and her eyes are no longer as gooey despite our lack of consistency. But now one of the spots from her back has shown up on her lower eye lid. It doesn't seem to bother her so I have just been giving the Benadryl and continuing the goo and watching to see if it gets worse.

Then we went to the dog park the other day for the first time in a few weeks. She was so excited and immediately spotted a man tossing a ball for his dog, Bo, using a "chuck-it". Since Bailey doesn't really get the concept of fetch (outdoors with a ball, anyway) she chases the dog chasing the ball and seems to have a blast doing so. So Bo chased the ball and Bailey chased Bo, hard, for a solid 15-20 minutes before the man and I agreed it was time for a drink break since they were both panting kinda hard.

As we were walking away from the fountain, I noticed Bailey was walking kinda funny. Stiff... her back end was waddling like she couldn't move her legs at the hips. I moved closer to get a better angle but she seemed to be walking fine. I kept watching and noticed her waddling again. Then Bo's dad mentioned he thought she was walking "kinda hippy".

I kept pretty close to her for a few minutes to see what she would do. Usually, she stays far away from me because she doesn't want to go home. But she stayed pretty close so I decided it was time to go. When I tried to make her sit so I could put her leash on, she flat out refused, and just stood there looking at me like "I can't". As we were walking toward the gate to leave, she tried to stop twice like she didn't want to go on. And when we got to the car, I almost had to lift her in.

We got home and she kept going from walking fine to waddling. She laid down for a while, then seemed fine. This morning, all seemed well. I am guessing she may have pushed herself too hard to fast for too long with out getting warmed up first and maybe pulled a muscle or something. Again, I plan to keep an eye on her just in case.

She was just 16 months last week... and she already seems to be falling apart...

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I am 12 weeks today...

SBF

Nancy never fails to impress me:

This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in the Atlanta Journal:

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me.. Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting....


Reportedly over 150 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society.

Oh, Jenny...

The idea to keep a blog came from a friend who started one a few years ago when she moved her family across the country to San Diego. It was her way of venting and keeping those back home up to date on her happenings.

And here it is, however many years later and she is back home and still keeping us laughing with her witty posts that make you laugh, cry, examine your political and religious beliefs, etc...

The following quote is a gem from a recent post:

"Yesterday I did make it to Wal*Mart, and I bought 2lb weights and 3lb weights. I was feeling confident. I also bought tampons, wine, and 12 Cadbury Creme Eggs. Dude running the register never made eye contact."

Visit http://notinkansasanymoretoto.typepad.com/ for more...

Oh... Wow...

I saw the baby...

I was working at one of my smaller sites on Tuesday and the ultrasound tech was there. She knew I was bummed that I wasn't going to get one until 16-18 weeks and she asked if I would like to see my baby...

Oh... wow....

Things have been going so well so far that it doesn't feel real... I don't feel pregnant...

But, oh, wow...

It was the perfect profile... Arms and legs flailing and waving and jumping all over the place... Long legs like mine (like as long as the length of the entire body)... so active that the tech commented that it was unusual for that much activity this early (I am 11 weeks today)... That it takes a lot of energy for them to move that much so we must be VERY healthy!!!

So, yeah, wow...

Not many things leave me speechless...

But, oh, wow...

Too Good To Be True

I am almost scared because things have gone so well so far...

Only 1/2 hour of nausea so far... that's it... Although I don't really want to eat much even though I am starving... nothing seems good... fruit is the only thing that always sounds good so I guess that's good...

I haven't even been tired like I thought I would... I always hear folks talk about how completely exhausting the first trimester is but I have only been a little more tired than usual... nothing that is debilitating like I have heard it described... I only get naps on the weekends and only if I am lucky... but I do sleep pretty sound and have been trying to get to bed earlier than usual since I found out.

I hope things keep going well. But it makes me wonder what's in store for us later...

It's a Girl!!!

I know my little brother is soo excited! He wanted a girl so bad!!!

I am proud to introduce my new baby neice Margo Vella R:



6lbs 13oz 19" born at 12:44 PM CST

She is not too happy to be here yet... it's loud and bright and cold compared to where she's from... But she'll get used to it :-)

Purina Diet

Yet another doozie courtesy of Nancy:

Yesterday I was buying 2 large bags of Purina dog chow at Wal-Mart, for my dogs Zoe and Lily and Sugar. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think, that I had an elephant?

Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me I told her no; I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to lick my butt and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

WAL-MART won't let me shop there anymore.

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I am going to be an aunt sometime today :-)

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10 weeks today...