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We inflated our little kiddie pool that we had bought and squeezed Zoey into the swimsuit that a lovely lady sent to us. I didn’t use a swim diaper because I figured it’s our own personal pool and if something horrific was to happen, it would be our own personal mess to deal with. She did good and from what we can tell, she didn’t pee or poo in the pool!

Once we stuck her in, she was very content. Just kind of chilled out and was staring at the little whale that was swimming around and squirting water in the pool. Even when it squirted her face, she looked shocked but never actually whined or cried. She never did any real smiling while she was in but she was never upset either. I think she was feeling at peace with nature. Or maybe she was peeing and we had no idea.

We took her bath stuff outside and decided to Take Care Of Two Birds With One Stone (my husband’s euphemistic view of the popular, but much more blatant phrase). After she had swim time, Gene stripped her down and started giving her a bath. That was right when our neighbor drove up and was walking in to his house. He smiled and I nervously said we were swimming and giving her a bath. Right then and there, I realized I probably shouldn’t have told him we were giving our child a bath. Outside. In the front yard. In a swimming pool. I mean, I might as well have pulled an old 1970s plaid couch out onto the front lawn and held up a sign that said “White Trash City.”

After her bath we sat her on a towel in the grass to dry off a little in the sun. I think she loved being naked outside in the warm air.

Have I mentioned how much I love this stage?? She has started pulling her feet up and putting them together like in the above picture. I think it is the cutest thing ever. I can’t wait until she starts playing with her feet more. She has grabbed at them a few times but hasn’t really figured out how to hold on to them tight and play with them.

Her first pool experience went smashingly well! I kept the pool inflated and thought maybe this week we would try to get her out there one more time. The temperatures here are starting to cool down a little (high 80s, low 90s) and usually around this time of year, they don’t slowly cool down. Usually there is an abrupt start and an abrupt end to Summer so you never know when Fall is going to hit!

Astro Update: He is doing better. I haven’t had to shampoo my carpets this week, THANKFULLY. I guess Emma is better as well. I ended up having to take Astro to the vet because he had horrible, scabby sores all over his belly. He has a staph infection and we are having to shove antibiotics down his throat twice a day. And by shove, I literally mean shove. You have to put it in a piece of cheese, put it in the back of his throat, hold his snout shut, blow on his nose and rub his throat until you hear him licking/swallowing. It’s quite a production, let me tell ya! And really, it is all our own fault. Last summer when we went to Disney World, we were giving him benadryl a couple of times a day to help relax him because he gets so depressed when we leave. Well, he found out we were putting benadryl pills in his food and when he realized it, he has been super paranoid EVER since. He eats his food by picking up mouthfulls, dropping it onto the floor and then eating the pieces one by one.. Just to make sure we aren’t hiding anything in there! Pain in the butt dog! But for now, until his wound completely heals and his staph infection clears up, he is walking around in a t-shirt.

It is so hard to stay mad at this guy. He seriously knows how to rock an innocent/sad face.

Candy :: Aug.25.2009 :: Baby, Dogs, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 2 Comments »

Thursday I was out having lunch with a good friend when Z was acting pretty tame so I decided it would be a good time to clip her nails. She had grabbed onto my neck earlier that morning and I almost shrieked when I felt her tiny little daggers sink into my neck. I got her left hand cut pretty easily and quickly. I had become pretty good at using the nail clippers on her. I only used an emery board on her nails until she was at least 12 weeks old and then I finally grew the balls to try the big girl clippers. So far it had been fairly easy and we had no real issues.

Well, Thursday was not my day. All of the Patting On The Back I did to myself was thrown out the window on this fateful Thursday. I started with her right thumb, which had a gianormous nail on it. I was sitting in the dark (not pitch black, but no lights on over head) and I remember clearly thinking, I should turn the lights on while I do this so I can actually see what I’m doing. You know, when I’m using a sharp object to CUT MY DAUGHTER’S NAILS. Can you tell where this is going? Because I’m not very good at leading up to suspenseful endings without giving the story away far in advance. Anyway, so I cut her nail and as soon as I cut it, she started crying and had this look of horror on her face. I checked and she was bleeding. A LOT.

I mean.. A LOT. We soaked a couple of tissues trying to get it to stop bleeding. We tried tiny bandaids but they just wouldn’t stay on her SUPER TINY hand. We needed Super Tiny bandaids, damnit!! Are there even such a thing as infant bandaids?? I have no idea. So she didn’t cry near as much as I expected her to. She became really fussy afterwards but I think it was a mixture of PTSD and sleepiness. I gave her some of the yummy grape flavored infant Tylenol and she went to sleep immediately. I put a tissue in her hand and she grasped it (yay for those graspy little infant hands!) and held it the whole time she was asleep. After a good hour or so it had stopped bleeding and hasn’t bled since and she has been fine.

But me?? I have beat myself up over it at least 4 times today already. When I’m holding her, I look at her thumb and want to kick myself. I know it’s a stupid mistake and I’m sure a lot of us have done it.. but I can’t help but think back and wonder why I didn’t just turn the stinkin’ light on! I shouldn’t have grown so confident in my alleged Professional Infant Nail Cutting. I guess all that matters is that Z is ok and I am ok and we are all on the road to being ok over this whole thing.

But I can’t promise that my daughter is going to have short nails any time soon. I just hope she doesn’t scratch herself anytime in the near future or I am going to be forced to do it again before I’ve fully recovered.

Astro Update: I took him to the Vet today because I found sores ALL OVER his stomach. $50 later and he has a Staph infection and is on 2 weeks of antibiotics. Poor dog. His wound on his side is healing up nicely and we’re guessing that is how he got the Staph infection. I coated that darn thing with Neosporin for a few days but I guess it just wasn’t enough. He’s still wearing his frumpy t-shirt around the house as I wait for that wound to FULLY heal.

Emma Update: Astro was locked in the bathroom last night (so he wouldn’t poo all over my carpet) and we woke up to poo on the floor in our bedroom. Which means only one thing: IT WAS EMMA. It had to be her because Astro was still in the bathroom when we got up this morning. So now I have no idea which dog has the poo problem and which doesn’t or if they both have it? It’s all a freakin’ mystery to me! So now they are both confined to each bathroom when we are out so I can figure out who is having the problem.

My Sanity Update: It’s GONE. MIA. If you see it, please send it back to me. I need it. It helps this day to day gig go much smoother.

Candy :: Aug.21.2009 :: Baby, Dogs, Parenting, Parenting Fail, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 4 Comments »

My little peanut is 18 weeks old. I can’t even believe it. Has it really been that long? August 14th was her 4 month birthday. Four months?? Seriously?! How? When?

She went to the doctor on Monday and she now weighs 13lb 13oz and is 24 inches long. Her head circumference is in the 50th percentile (Yay! No gianormous head!) and her height and weight is in the 75th percentile. All of her rankings are based off of a baby born at 36 weeks, not full term. She is a little bit petite for her age but has caught up really well and we are proud of her.

Lately she has really learned how to pick up her toys and pull them to her mouth. As you can guess, she is slobbering on everything! Sometimes I try to catch the slobber before it hits her clothes but I am slowly but surely getting used to the neckline of her clothes being soaked. Just a couple of days ago she found her feet and was trying to hold on to them while laying on the changing table. All of these little milestones and new things are just so much fun to watch!

Astro Update: He’s still wearing his t-shirt. I went out for lunch with a friend this afternoon and when I came home he had snuck out of the bathroom and had diarrhea all over my living room floor again. So as usual, I put Z down for a nap, put him outside and began shampooing the living room carpet. If our carpet wasn’t clean before, it DEFINITELY is now. It’s tiring and so frustrating.. I can’t wait until his bowels are back to normal!

Candy :: Aug.20.2009 :: Baby, Dogs, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 2 Comments »

Just a quick update while I have a second.. I called Astro’s vet and he suggested I take the cone off if it is upsetting him and making him sick. I asked what to do about the wound and he casually said “Can you put a t-shirt or something on him?” and right then I was speechless. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders and I also felt like a gianormous idiot for not thinking of this idea on my own.

So Astro is struttin’ an XXL Race For The Cure t-shirt. He’s cute and looks like he is going to a pajama party. I have to pull the shirt up and use a chip clip to hold it up whenever I take him outside so that he doesn’t pee on it. It’s quite amusing, let me tell ya. It’s kind of a pain because I am having to walk him in the front because I want to monitor his bowel movements (gross, I know, you don’t have to tell me) so I know how long to keep feeding him this Putting Us Into The Poorhouse canned food that we are feeding him.

So far he is doing well. He has been laying around all evening. I think having the cone off of his head this long is making him so happy. I think having it on for a week made him emotionally and physically exhausted and he seems a lot more tired than usual.

Here is to hoping that tomorrow I don’t break down into tears. I don’t think I can do 3 days in a row sobbing over dog poo. It might just kill me!

Candy :: Aug.19.2009 :: Daily, Dogs :: Comments Off

The last week has been stressful and has only seemed to get worse. Astro has a horrible cut on his side and I’ve been having to keep an e-collar (cone) on his head to keep him from licking it so it will heal. Well, because he is scared to death of the e-collar and it makes him all kinds of sad and depressed to wear it, he now has diarrhea. And it’s all over my house.

My house smells like dog diarrhea.

I’m losing my MIND. I cried for almost 2 hours this afternoon. Bawling my eyes out. Luckily I was able to get Z down for a nap so I could handle the MESS that is in my house. I shampooed the carpets, AGAIN. I put the dog outside. I gave him some special canned food that is supposed to help with the loose stools and I washed his feet when he came in. I cleaned my bathroom because he had diarrhea ALL OVER my bathroom too. It still smells in here and is making me feel NAUSEOUS.

I have fought myself back and forth all afternoon over what to do. Spend lots of $$ on a vet visit, new cone, special food, etc.? Money we DON’T have, might I add. Keep him outside indefinitely? Not really an option. Anyone that knows about Great Danes knows they cannot be outside dogs. It’s just not an option. They are family dogs and will become crazy if they are left outside alone, resulting in eventual euthanasia (you know, kind of like how Obama’s health care reform bill is going to throw all the Grandma & Grandpas out there into the wild and let them DIE if they get sick! </sarcasm>). Confine him to one of the rooms in the house that has hard floors (bathrooms, hallway, kitchen) and make him stay there indefinitely? I feel awful confining such a big dog to such a small space.

I don’t know what to do. I gave him some special high fiber canned food to see if it will help harden his stools. I’m letting him lay in the living room with me without his cone on, to give him a little break. I’m waiting on the vet to call me back to tell me if there are any other options other than Suck It Up. Because honestly? I can’t suck it up much longer. I’m losing my mind. This is two days in a row of crying, scratch that, SOBBING over dog poop on my carpet. This is the very carpet that my daughter is going to crawl and walk on, I can’t even stomach the idea of her crawling and walking on something that used to have doggy diarrhea on. It grosses me out just thinking about it.

I love this dog with all of my heart. He really is the sweetest dog in the world. His sad eyes tell it all. But the stress of taking care of his high maintenance need are starting to wear on me. I never wanted to become the person who looked at her pets in a different light once the baby entered my life. But I am sad to say that I think I am becoming that person. Zoey is my number one priority now and the dogs are, sadly but truthfully, taking a back seat to her needs.

My heart is torn.

Candy :: Aug.19.2009 :: Daily, Dogs :: 3 Comments »

This morning I dug out my 50mm lens from the bottom of the camera bag and I pulled out the tiny, light-weight beauty and just stared at it. I decided to take on the nerve wracking and monumental task of changing my camera lens. See, this is not a task to be taken lightly. Within nanoseconds, dust and debris can sneak into your camera while your lens is detached, causing chaos inside. I’ll skip all of the hairy details and just say that I think the transition went smoothely and as soon as I lifted up my (now 18 pounds lighter) camera, I fell so hard in love with it that I was having trouble hitting the shutter. I mean, I’ve been carrying around my monstrosity with our 18-200mm zoom lens that weighs 18 pounds (approximations here, people) for quite a long time now. Did I ever mention that I have a great Lens Changing Phobia? And so does my husband? Therefore we never change our camera lens. I need a camera body for EACH camera lens I have. It would help. A lot.

So anyway, I took some photos of Z outside for a few minutes. However, it was about 10:30-11 AM when we were outside, which is way too late in the morning. I would like to try to get her outside when the sun is still low, around 8 AM or so. The problem is that my little stinker tends to sleep until 9 or so in the morning. NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING. I AM IN NO WAY COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS. Anyway, we’ll keep trying until we get some good ones!

Yesterday it seems as if Z found her voice. She was making a lot of noises (more than just your average goo and gah) all day yesterday. The whole time we were in Walmart she was “shouting” and we kept having to check the stroller to see if she was upset or just learning that her voice can go really loud. She was just learning. And it continued on into the evening and even today she has been “talking” or “shouting” at me all day. It’s adorable and oh so fun to watch her do it. She will even fake cough a few times before she starts the shouting, which I think is just hilarious because it almost sounds like she is trying to get my attention.

Another thing that has reared it’s ugly head in the last few days is this rash. Or eczema. Whatever you wanna call it. It comes and goes throughout the day. Sometimes I will look at her and her face will be entirely clear and then 10 minutes later it is red and irritated looking like the above picture. It usually gets red or irritated when she rubs it with her hands or rubs her face against us. I’m starting to notice a little trend as far as that goes. Her forehead is really scaley and dry feeling. She has her 4 month check up (WHAT? I HAVE A 4 MONTH OLD? SINCE WHEN?) with her doctor on Monday so I am going to bring it up then and see if there is anything we can do. We’ve been trying Eucerin and it seems to help a little but I can’t really tell since it comes and goes so often.

Candy :: Aug.10.2009 :: Baby, Photography, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 3 Comments »

The last couple of nights Z has been really hard to handle in the evenings. She cries, hasn’t been eating her last bottle of the evening and has been going to bed around 8 or 9 on what I think is an almost empty tummy and somehow, amazingly, sleeping through the night still. It sounds to me like her cries are exhausted cries but now that she is getting older, we are having a hard time decoding her cries. When she was just a few weeks old, we could tell if she was hungry, bored, gassy, over-stimulated, etc. We had them all down and when someone would say “Someone needs to feed the poor baby!” we could easily chime in and say “Nope, that is her gassy cry.. she must have some bad gas right now” and it made us feel so confident in this parenting gig.

But times have changed and we’re on to the Screaming Child With Out Of Options Parents phase. We’ve changed her diaper, we’ve tried to feed her, we’ve tried to give her a pacifier, we’ve rocked her, we’ve laid her down, we’ve burped her… NOW WHAT?! I guess sometimes you just have to comfort them and cross your fingers that the crying will subside eventually. I mean, it can’t last forever, right? RIGHT?!

So Gene put her in the co-sleeper and she eventually settled herself to sleep. And he fell asleep right next to her on the bed. I did dishes and washed bottles. Now I’m unwinding a little before I hit the sack myself. It’s not even 10 PM but I am feeling a little exhausted from the crazy evening we had. The pest guy is coming to spray the house at 8:30 AM so we are heading out for some morning shopping whenever he is done. I can’t stand to be in the house after he sprays because the smell causes my asthma to flair up. But it’s totally worth the chemical-smell because do you know how many DEAD spiders I find in our house??? A LOT. Did I mention that they are already dead when I find them?? I have to smash, maybe, ONE spider per year! I heart our pest guy!

Candy :: Aug.06.2009 :: Baby, Parenting, Zoey :: 3 Comments »