All is well!!

We kicked some RSV ass, an ear infection and Tucker has been de-coned, yipee! I feel my sanity slowly returning!!

We had a follow up appointment with Dr Phillips yesterday and we got the all clear! Her sats were 100% when we got there and it had been over 2 hours since her last breathing treatment, so we only do those when we think she needs one, probably once a day for a few more days.

Tucker also got his sutchers out on his second eye yesterday and we got to throw the cone to the curb!! Again, licking his balls was his first priority, lol! A dog is a dog!

So, I know its what everyone has been wondering....what do fake dog eyes look like??? Pretty good in my opinion, here's Tuck and his brand new fake eyes!
Much better than just sewing the shut!




We found it humorous this morning that Mallory matched her fav little squeaky toy this morning!





She also has a thing for her bath pouf!









Happy Saturday everyone!! I'm off to go run my 6 miles!!

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Getting Better (Patty Cake Video and Tooth Picture)

Thankfully it seems as though we have dodged the worse of what RSV could be. She still acts like she feels totally fine, so she's a tough cookie with RSV and a slight ear infection and still trudging along like nothing is wrong.

She HATES her breathing treatments. I've never had to fight her or heard her cry so much, it's an all out wrestle match and although she doesn't win, the 19 pounder puts up one heck of a fight!

From doing some asking around I was advised to pop in a video so she could watch that and hopefully think less about the medicine being sprayed into her face by the nebulizer. I got out the portable DVD player we own, put in a Baby Einstein DVD and it does help, she doesn't sit still for the entire time, but at least it's not a 15 minute wrestling match, more like an intermittent 5 minute one. Vast improvement : )

I'm getting cabin fever being stuck at home all this week and I haven't even gotten to run, I'm hoping to change that tonight. My new ear buds, yurbuds, came in the mail today and I'm anxious to try them!! Giddy is more like it. They are supposed to stay in no matter the sweat or jarring, and after fidgeting with your earphones for 4+ miles, if this can make 13.1 miles earphone worry free, I'm in!

I've finally caught a picture of the elusive tooth! Here it is shining through, I think the other bottom one has actually now broken through but you can't really see any of it yet.


Her new favorite thing to do is to play Patty Cake. She LOVES it! Or at least really likes the clapping part. I finally caught her on video today, so here's that and hopefully I'll get her army crawl/drag, whatever you want to call her current form of mobility and post that video in the next couple days.



And lastly, you know your dog has had too many prescriptions filled lately when he has his own Walgreens card, lol! Hopefully after Friday, he shouldn't have to be on anything anymore.







And here's a few from Shelly's wedding and a few other random ones:

My least favorite month

Ok, so I've never had a problem with February, it's normally always been very busy with trade shows and meetings, but the past two years have made February become my least favorite month. Sorry to Mom and Valentines Day, I'm hoping next year February is a more normal month.

Wednesday night I noticed Bean was coughing some and had a runny nose. That got me worried, I knew 2 kiddos in Owensboro who had RSV, one in the hospital, so that's where my mind initially goes. The next couple days it didn't seem to get any worse, but not any better either.

We went on down to Mom and Dads since Ben wasn't going to be home until Sunday. She seemed to get kinda rattly in her breathing but she continued to act like she felt fine and was eating and drinking.

We decided to play it safe and go to the Dr to get checked out. They checked her oxygen saturations, which was 94% when she arrived, not ideal but not highly alarming. The did an rsv test, which she hated, I don't think I've ever heard her cry so much. You had to swab each nasal cavity and she didn't like it one bit. Then they gave her a breathing treatment, didn't like that either. Bad news, rsv test came back positive and she has a slight eat infection. Good news, she responded well to the breathing treatments and her says were back to 100% afterwards, so we go home with a list of things to look for in case it gets worse. We are also the owners of this lovely nebulizer, at least they are cuter than when Susan was little.




Yes, it looks like a panda bear!

So, we are home all week getting better, another week of not getting much done at work, but at least Ben is here to take care of Tucker's meds since we have a lot to keep up with!

Oh, and the other highlight of the weekend, we got stickers to decorate Beans helmet, it turned out pretty cute!





So, keep Bean in your thoughts in hopes that we can fight the rsv from home and not require a hospital stay.

March for Babies: It's On!!

I went by the March of Dimes office in Owensboro today to officially pick our our "Family Team" packet!! I've already signed up on the website, but this has some other info as well.

TEAM BUTTERBEAN is now officially underway!!

So, mark your calendars, Saturday April 30, 2011 in Owensboro at 9 am at Kentucky Weseleyn College!!

I'm also super excited because I got our shirt designs back and I LOVE them!

Here's what the shirts will look like:



Aren't they adorable? That's the best $15 I've spent in a while!

The shirts will also be part of fundraising, so even if you can't be with us at the race but want to buy a tee-shirt, we get like $5 from every shirt sold for the MOD team!!

I "think" they will be $15 for a tee-shirt (gray or white) and $20 if you wanted a long sleeve tee shirt. I'm not sure if kids shirts will be a little cheaper, I've got to find out. So, if you are wanting a shirt, let me know what size (I believe they are Hanes, so should be a decent quality and normal sizing).

We also need to get our walkers, or runners if anyone so ventures, to sign up on our Team site here:

TEAM BUTTERBEAN
I believe there is a "join team" button that you will be looking for.

I'm really excited, it should be a lot of fun if you can join us on April 30th, and if not, buy a tee shirt, they are cute : )

Crazy

I was going to write a detailed blog on the craziness that has been our lives over the past few days, and I might later, but for now, here's all you need to know.

Friday Mallory got her helmet. Adjusting well, could care less that it's on.

Saturday Mary Ruth and I ran a 5K in Evansville. Can tell training is paying off, was a much easier run.

Saturday afternoon late we went to Princeton, KY for Susan's best friend Shellys wedding. Wedding was great until Ben threw a fit because there was no where to sit at the reception and demanded we leave.

Sunday we went to church, ate lunch at O'Charlies, Ben packed for his week in Louisville at the National Farm Machinery Show and headed out and Mallory and I went for a run with BOB in the 60 degree weather.

Sunday was also the 1 year anniversary of me getting admitted to the hospital for leaking amnionic fluid and the start of my 52 day stay in the hospital.

Monday afternoon Mallory, Tucker and I went back to Louisville for his surgery follow up, to get his sutchers removed and cone collar.

Surgery great success, eye looks great, immediately licked his balls after cone was removed, typical.

Problem, pressures in real eye have gone up, meds aren't working, now it has to be removed.

Tuesday is surgery day, we are all here in Louisville, might at well do it tomorrow.

All 3 of us raid Bens hotel room, Happy Valentin's Day!

Tucker gets his other eye removed today.

We are home, 2 more weeks of a dog in a cone and a crazy number of meds, Mallory is squirmy like crazy, I'm tired and Ben will not be home to help until Later on Sunday.

Today is Mom's birthday, Happy Birthday Mom!

I need wine, a hot bath and a massage. Two of those are obtainable tonight, will take donations for the massage ; )

Heres a ton of pictures of Mallory to make up for the above rambling.































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Hello Louisville!

I must be having to make up for everyone treking to Louisville for those 7 weeks I was in the hospital and 5 weeks Mallory was in the hospital because in the next week and a half I will make.....5 trips to Louisville, and only 1 time will I be staying the night! Perhaps I should have had people sponsor me for every trip I make to Louisville between Jan 1 and April 15 for March of Dimes!

Speaking of March of Dimes, I just finished a 5 mile run on the treadmill tonight and made $13 for March of Dimes!! I am up to 26 dimes per mile sponsored. I'd love to get to 50, so make sure you let me know if you want to sponsor me, I am capped at 200 miles, so 1 dime is max of $20 donation!!

We had a calm Superbowl Sunday here at the house with just the 4 of us. Mallory's first Superbowl, Packers vs the Steelers. We were rooting for the Packer's, not really sure why, not a huge fan of either team, but had to pick one. Mallory was asleep by 1/2 time but prior to that she was "cooking" up some goodies in her kitchen!




Ben made his super yummy wings and some potato skins.

We also dropped the mattress in her crib a notch this weekend and it's not as easy for her to see over it, so this is what she does now, so cute!!




We had PT again on Monday and things seem to be improving, so we are now at every other week for PT. Tuesday night was my Junior League meeting and it was the night we presented our projects for the Museum.

I can't remember if I've even talked about it on the blog, but basically there were 4 teams and each team was given an exhibit at the museum to make activities for the kids to go along with the exhibit. My team got the new coal mine exhibit where they have turned the basement into a replica of a coal mine, it's really cool!

I went to the museum back at the first of the year to see the exhibit and ask them what they really wanted to accomplish with these kits. Made sense to me to actually talk to the museum about this. He said ideally what he would like would be activities for different age kids. When they have school classes come in they can only take about 20 on the mine tour at a time so having something for the rest of the class to do while the others are on the tour would be ideal.

I did some brain storming and with some help from my team we came up with 4 activities. I made Mine Memory for the preschool-2nd graders. Basically I just took pictures of stuff that was mine related like coal, train, miner, etc and turned them into little matching cards that you turn upside down and then play like the regular memory game and find the matches. There were two other activities for 3-5th graders that had a word search, some trivia and a few other games but my 4th activity was my favorite! I was going to do a mining version of chutes and ladders for the pre-2nd graders called Shafts and Elevators but then I decided a life size game would be more fun. I got an 8X10 tarp and drew out the game on the tarp and the kids would be their own game pieces. You start at the Rudy Mine (the local mine that the exhibit is based off of) and then work your way to the Coal Barge on the Ohio River. There are stepping stone size places on the tarp and if you land on a "shaft" spot, you have to fall down the shaft and go back on the game and if you land on an "elevator" you move up on the board. I found big fuzzy dice to use for the game, I thought it turned out really neat.

We also found a local mining supply store to give us all kinds of mining equipment that the miners use in the mines today like their belts, hard hats, lights, methane detectors, etc.

At the presentation everything was very well received. Our presentation wasn't as flashy as some of the others but we were focused on the activities for the kids and when we showed off the life size board game, the kids were oohing and aahing, it was priceless, I couldn't have paid them to act more excited!! In the end, my team won!! It was more of a recognizition thing than anything but we did win some gift certificates to a local resturaunt. In the end I was the only team member that actually went to the museaum and asked what they needed and then gave that to them. So, I gave them what they wanted and we won, yah us!!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the game but I guess I can go to the museum and get that activity and take a picture there.

Tomorrow I am off to Louisville for my ABAK Board of Directors meeting and then Friday morning we go back again to get Bean's helmet!

She's right on the cusp of having a ton going on at one time! You can see her 2 botton teeth are about to pop through, she's really sitting up well now and any day now will be crawling across the room, she is moving all around but not official forward crawling yet.

I don't know if I had mentioned it earlier, but I'm excited that on the 21st of Feb we start a baby sign language class! A friend of mine from Junior League is a speach therapist and she is doing a baby sign language class, 1 night a week for 8 weeks. Who knows what Mallory will think about it, but I'm really looking forward to us. 6 kiddos from 8 months to 18 months!

I'll give an update after we get Mallory's helmet on Friday!

My Baby is 10 Months Old Today!!

Wow, 10 months old....I will have to start thinking about 1st birthday's soon! So crazy!

A brief update on Tucker. He's doing good, the cone is miraclously still in place and his fake eye is looking good. He just barrels through the house now and runs into whatever with his cone head, and jeez, that thing hurts in the back of the legs!!

Getting the antibiotic eye drops in his fake eye has been the biggest challenge. I called the vet to see if they had any tricks. Their advice, well, have 2 people hold him down while you put them in. Yeah, it's me the hubby and a 10 month old, I don't have 2 spare people, you suck.

Thankfully I came up with a better idea than draging our neighbor over 4 times a day. A bandanna around the snout, like a muzzle, works good and then you can turn his head wherever you need it. Much, much better, for us, he hates it, but he gets his drops.

Bean is doing great. I learned earlier this week that she has been feeding herself her bottles while at Mrs Carole's....not at home. So, at feeding time I just held it in front of her but didn't put it in her mouth and sure enough she grabbed it and fed herself! Here's proof!




She's not truely crawling but she is ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE!! She's rocking on all 4's, wiggles around in circles and wiggles around and you don't know how she's ended up where where she's at!

We also lowered her bed down a notch. She was getting where she was wanting to pull herself up, so we lowered it so if she does pull up totally she's not going to fall out of the bed. We have plans on moving her bed to her room, I think we (Ben) is finally comfortable with her being in her own room now.

So, Happy 10 Months Butterbean! We love you!

Also, training for my 1/2 marathon is going well, 40 miles I've logged since Jan 1 and did 4 miles this morning on the treadmill. Feel free to take a look at my progress here!

Tucker's Eye Surgery Update

For those of you who live under a rock and didn't realize Tucker had eye surgery yesterday, well, he did.

Tucker and I left Utica at an unfriendly time of 4 am in order to get to the Vet's in Louisville by 7:30 am Eastern.....I'm not a big fan of losing an hour that time of the morning. Stupid time zones....

I swear I thought the sun would never rise....it was still pitch black at 7:20 when we arrived, apparently it doesn't get light there this time of year until almost 8 am.

Tucker ended up being the first surgery of the day. Dr Erica Tolar was the vet and she is great! They took Tucker back and apparently I looked as tired as I felt and they sent me to the "consoling room" where it had a sofa. I suppose that's the room where they tell you your pet didn't make it, but as sad as that is, I was too tired to care and slept for about an hour on the way too short couch.

I finally got up and it was finally light out, so I drove around until I finally found a Target with a Starbucks, got my caffeine fix and then found a Panera where I could sit in the car and "utilize" their free wifi and get a little bit of work done as I waited to hear about Tuck.

I don't recall when she called, but his surgery went well and he was in recovery and breathing on his own, so that helped me to relax some.

I got some more work done, actually went into Panera and got some lunch, least I could do from stealing their wifi for like 3 hours and then called to check in on him and Erica said he should be ready by 2:30!

On my drive back to the Vet's office, I saw this sign at White Castle. Not really sure who would actually make a reservation at White Castle for Valentine's Day. Not on my list!!




I got Tucker picked up at the vet, I was worried as to how he might look after having eye surgery, but actually he looks really good. They have his "new" eye semi sewn shut just so it will heal, but overall it looks much better than I anticipated. He has to wear one of those giant plastic cone collars for the next 2 weeks, but other than that he seems to be doing well.

Once home, he's having trouble navigating around, more due to the cone sticking out 2 foot wide in front of him, so he's bumping into a lot more stuff than before. I don't think it's because he had vision in that eye before, I think it's just due to the cone. Thankfully he only tried once so far to paw the thing off.

We've got lots of meds for him for the next 2 weeks, but sounds like the only thing we will have to continue on a daily basis long term is 1 drop of 1 med in his good/real eye to help keep the glaucoma in that eye from getting worse and having to do all this in that eye too.

I may go nuts with this collar over the next two weeks, but I think if we can get through that he should be pretty well good to go. His follow up to have the sutchers in his new eye removed in late afternoon on the 14th, happy valentiens day Tucker, so the collar should go that day too....it will be a long 2 weeks.

Here's Tuck crashed out on his bed that we drug into the Living Room for him. Thanks for all the calls, messages and thoughts about Tucker!!