Chester Update

Sorry I have not updated since Friday when I took the Mutt to the vet. Here is the update, though:

The vet did a good exam on him and then told us that the concerns were toxicity or epilepsy. However, Chester did not show signs of continued toxicity (not eating, lethargic, jaundice...), so hopefully that is not the situation, as it would be more important to get the immediate care for him.

The vet then said that if it is epilepsy, there is no medication given unless the pet has multiple seizures in a week. So my fingers are crossed that Chester continues to be normal, no seizures.

Everyone has given him a little additional attention this weekend--we all love this doggie!
Thank you to everyone for the comments and support--I wish Chester could comprehend how popular he is!

The Greatest Dog Ever...

Chester, had a seizure last night. It lasted 2-3 minutes, and he was then disoriented for another couple of minutes.

My heart hurts. This dog means so much to both Cary and I, and I can't wait for Brylee to see the greatness in him that we do.

It is too early in the game to freak out, but doing research on the internet makes it look like epilepsy is the best situation. Some other posibilities include, according to this website:

Brain tumor or head injury

Lyme Disease

Renal Disease

Toxoplasmosis

Lissencephay

While feeding Brylee last night and watching Chester lay on her rug patiently waiting for me to go back to bed, I had to tell myself that I would rather have him have the seizures than any of us, for several reasons. One of them being that he will never get behind the wheel of a car.

Is it possible for him to only have one seizure and never have any problems again?

I know--he's just a dog to most people. But to me, he's one of my children. The most hairy, big-earred, goofy child, but also the best dog I've ever had.

Anniversary Night

Last night Cary and I had a wonderful evening celebrating 2 years of marriage. My mom and dad were wonderful enough to take Brylee and Chester for a little bit so Cary and I could have an 'us' evening.

We had our dinner at Bruno's which is the location where our rehearsal dinner was on December 14, 2007. We had dinner there last year on our anniversary as well. What a beautiful, romantic restaurant for a celebration!

I ordered my chicken parmisean, as I have done in the past (though the Manicotti was a close choice!) and we split cheese sticks and remembered our honeymoon...thinking back, one of my favorite days on our honeymoon was our first day when we were stuck in a Boston hotel due to a blizzard. Making the most of being trapped set the mood for the rest of the trip...and I loved every moment of it!

After dinner, Cary and I drove around looking at Christmas lights, as we did last year. This is such a fun thing to do, and I can't wait to do it with Brylee when she can share the excitement!

Last fun event of the night was stopping for dessert at Applebees. I had a Triple Chocolate Meltdown (very yummy and chocolaty!) while Cary had a Chocolate Chip dessert very similar to the Cookie Monster at Cheddars.

My favorite moment? When Cary used a gift card given to us by a family friend, and there was an amount left on the card that was the same amount of the desserts...he left that as a tip for the waitress. Merry Christmas!

We then went and retrieved the little ones, the rest of the evening still recalling what made each day special for us through marriage. Like I have said before, I am so thankful for my husband!

Brylee Is 0 Today!

Today is the day our sweet baby, Brylee, was due to come into this world. My Dr. even said that if she wasn't here by the 15th, I was going to be admitted into the hospital to be induced to delivery today.

What a surprise and blessing that instead of celebrating 0, we are celebrating 4 weeks today!

I say blessing because I am relieved that she came without induction because I would have been a nervous wreck the beginning of this week, thinking about the labor and delivery process. On November 18, when I woke up with my water broken, I didn't have time to think about it. The day was full of contractions, but not enough time to get freaked out.

She was born at 5 lbs, 9 oz., and despite the concern of being 4 weeks early, her lungs were in beautiful working shape. She was a perfectly healthy baby, and today weighs around 6 1/2 pounds! This is not accurate because the doctor's office weighs her completely naked and with ounces. This is from my scale and her in diapers and a onsies...) None the less, she continues to be healthy and loves her meal time!

Happy 1 month Brylee!

A Post My Dad Will Appreciate (Even If No One Else Does!)

I love to give inanimate things names. Like stuffed animals. Brylee has several stuffed animals, and Cary and I (well, mostly me) have given them names. But this combination is something only my father's daughter could do:

This is Bernard, the bear rug that we picked up to add to the decor in Brylee's room. My nickname for him? Bear-nard.














And this cute Bumble Bee pillow? Named Bee-nard.














And during my midnight feedings, I have come up with yet another one: This one, I dub...














Bird-nard.

Whatever it takes to make it through the long, tiring nights!

2 Years

Oh my! Cary has put up with me for 2 whole years!!!

This time in 2007, we were at our reception, eating and socializing, excited about our trip to Woodstock, VT, the most amazing vacation I have ever taken.

I know I say it a lot, and it gets sappy, but I am so happy that I have met him and God united us. Daily I say a prayer and thank Him for Cary.

I love the conversations, laughs, and adventures we have and hope that I never take any of it forgranted. My life has been so much better with him in it!

Cary--thank you for the best 2 years of my life. Thank you for being the best husband, friend, and now father. I look forward to the rest of our lives together.

Remember Him?

I thought I would take an opportunity to write a little something about our first child, Chester.

This is the greatest dog ever! He has been so good with the baby around, sniffing her on occasion, but mostly just trying to ignore her, especially at 2:00 in the morning when she is screaming and he wants to sleep. Whenever I'm feeding her, he'll go into her room and just lay down on one of the rugs and lays patiently.

I know that he is bored and feels neglected, and I wish he could understand how much he is a joy in our family. Whenever Brylee is asleep, I try to take time and pet him more, or play (which is minimal at this time unfortunately). Whenever we go somewhere for a few hours we make sure to take him to one of our parents to play in the backyard. He loves going over there, and hates coming home with us.

I can't wait for Brylee to be old enough to play with him and bring out the puppy in him again!

A Little Photocopy

Have you ever gone to a website that takes yours and your significant other's pictures and mixes them together to see what your children would look like? We did this with a site that Cary found a long time ago, and the outcome was, well, a little scary. I wish I could remember the site that we used before so I could post an example.

Well, Cary and I pulled out old photos of ourselves as babies this weekend to compare to what Brylee looks like now, a different way of seeing how she takes our features.

Unfortunately, Cary lost a lot of his baby pictures when his house burned down when he was in middle school, so we have limited pictures of him when he was around Brylee's age now. But I am excited to see the comparison as she gets older!

Take a look:

Cary as a tiny tot:


(at 3 months and at 10 months)

Me as a rugrat:


(at 5 days and at 2 weeks)

Brylee this last week:


(at 2 weeks and at 3 weeks)

I know the general response is that she looks just like me as a baby, but I think she definitely has Cary's lips and chin. Hopefully she'll also have his tallness and skinniness--and personality!

A Momentous Occasion!

Today we celebrate a great moment in Brylee's history (well, besides being 3 weeks old)--

She is starting to fit in regular Newborn clothing, and not just Onsies!!!

An Evening From The Past

Tonight Cary and I went to my parents' house for our weekly family night with them. We had a great time taking pictures (some will be posted in the future!) for our family and planning our Christmas pictures as well.

Afterwards, we sat down to think about our evening plans, including dinner, when my parents popped a wonderful question on us: how about they watch Brylee and Chester while Cary and I have a date night?

While I felt bad that we didn't have our usual family night, Cary and I jumped at the opportunity to go out and have some us time. We went to the mall to see what movies were showing, and found that Blind Side was showing. This movie looked great in the previews, and the next showing was in 15 minutes, so we got the tickets.

This movie is really good! I would definitely recommend it. Sandra Bullock of course plays a great role, as well as all of the other actors. And I love that it was based on a true story. I think it is one of my favorites for this year.

I cannot thank my parents enough for the time they gave Cary and me together. This is the same with Cary's parents. It is such a blessing that we get to spend some time together, remembering the times we had that helped us develop our relationship, while they watch our children. So many people do not have the opportunity that we do, and tend to lose each other while raising children, which is what I want to do my best to avoid.

To our families: THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart. Words cannot express how much I love you guys for all that you do, and I feel incredibly blessed.

And now, here's a tease of the pictures we took tonight:

Thanksgiving Picture

I was visiting my cousin's blog and saw her updates after her visit here (she lives in Colorado currently with her husband and 3 girls)

She got a great picture of all of the cousin's children together, and was nice enough to let me place it on my blog. Her oldest daughter, Addison, is seen holding Brylee. Brylee is so tiny, it looks like Addison is holding a doll!

Here is the picture of Austin surrounded by all of the girls, Addison (holding Brylee), Reagan (with the pink guitar), and Gracyn (the little one Austin is holding), and of course, Brylee (mostly hidden by blanket!)

Check out Kim's blog here. She is the one who inspired me to start mine!