New Accomplishments!

So, like most babies his age, Peanut Butter Cup has been changing and growing by leaps and bounds (not so much physically, as mentally, but he has gotten bigger!). Yesterday for instance he did an AMAZING job of feeding himself with a fork!

Want to know what the funniest part of the whole thing was?

We were eating fish, green beans, and rice, and every time he would get a green bean or some rice on his fork he would pause for a second, shake his head 'no', and then continue to move the fork toward his mouth. Then when he was about ready to put it in his mouth he would stop and shake his head again, then he would wiggle his fork so it would fall off and he wouldn't have to eat it! We thought it was hilarious watching him 'argue' with himself -- it was like he was telling himself, "Eat it!" "No, I don't want to!" "I really should eat it!" "NO! Yucky!". :-)

He didn't have a problem with the fish at all, so I guess he's going to be a 'meatatarian' like his daddy!

Yesterday was also the first day that he has taken a nap in his crib. He usually takes his nap in his swing, but eventually he is going to outgrow it, and he has been waking up more lately when I first put him down in it, so I decided to see how he would do with napping in his crib. Today has been better than yesterday so far. Yesterday he only slept for about 50 minutes because a truck with a high-pitched hum of sorts was sitting somewhere on the road in front of our house for a while and it woke him up. So far today he's been asleep for about an hour and 20 minutes. So, we may be done with the swing! That would be nice as it would open up a good chunk of the nursery if we could put it away. Don't get me wrong though, I have been VERY grateful for the swing! Sometimes (especially when Peanut Butter Cup was a newborn) that has been the ONLY way he will go to/or stay (a)sleep.

My husband (whom I will be referring to as DH from now on, unless I think of something more appropriate! Ha ha!), taught Peanut Butter Cup how to say 'Hi/Hey" on Monday! He doesn't do it very often, but he's always so cute when he says it -- he'll say it with a big grin on and then he'll get all shy and bury his face for a few seconds into the shoulder of whichever one of us is holding him. :-)

Last weekend it sounded like he tried to say "buddy" a few times over the span of a couple of days, but we aren't sure if he really did or if it was our imaginations. So, now I don't know whether to consider "bubble" (which he only said once, several months ago), "buddy", or "hi/hey" to be his third word. :-p

Oh yeah! Peanut Butter Cup had his 12 month well baby appointment back on December 23rd (yeah, I know that was more than a month AFTER he turned one, ha ha). The doctor didn't tell us where he stood in the 'percentiles', just that he was on the lower end, but she wasn't concerned because she could tell he just takes after his parents. :-) Thank the Lord! I was worried she would be one of those doctors who wouldn't take that into consideration and would tell us that we needed to start supplementing him or something. Anyhow, he weighed 18 pounds 2 ounces (if I remember correctly -- it may have been 18.2 pounds instead), and they measured him at 29 inches long, but the nurse that did that kind of went down underneath his head instead of making a mark even with the top of his head, so he is actually a bit taller.

The doctor was also pleased that I am still breastfeeding him, which made me like her even more. I think maybe the fact that she was German had something to do with her being so laid back about that. . .after all, the minimum recommended breastfeeding age in Europe is two years old, unlike the American recommendation of only a year.

Peanut Butter Cup also got some cream for his ringworm spots that he's had since early December (we aren't sure if he got them from Copper -- who didn't have any sign of them -- or if he got them from the sand at the beach. His original spots are clearing up now, but a few more smaller ones have popped up, so we have been putting cream on them as well. If they don't go away soon I may end up having to take him back in to see what the doctor has to say again.

I'm Alive Still . . . No Worries! :-)

Whew, I have been SO awful about updating the blog lately -- as I'm sure y'all have noticed! SORRY!!

What with Peanut Butter Cup being so mobile now along with my trying to get settled back into some sort of a routine after my hubby returned to work, I haven't had much extra time or energy to sit down and write an update . . . plus everytime I would contemplate doing so, I would quickly become overwhelmed at all of the things that have happened since my last update that I've been wanting to write about. So, I guess in the interest of maintaining my sanity, and not boring you to death with an extraordinarily long post, I will either just skip a few things altogether, or break them up into individual posts (as I have time). I haven't entirely decided which I will do yet, but extra time seems to be one thing I've been lacking lately, so it is somewhat probable that I may skip over a few things.

*Side note* Please pray for all of us as we seem to be coming down with some sort of a cold/flu. Peanut Butter Cup started showing some symptoms the night before last, then last night I started to get it, and now my hubby is getting it as well! :-(

Okay, back to the post!

As those of your who are friends with me on Facebook may already know (due to the pictures my husband posted), we have a new family member: her name is Abby, she just turned a year old on January 1st and weighs about 140 pounds.

We came across an ad for her back in December, went and visited her a couple of times, thought and prayed hard about her, weighed the options carefully, and in the end we decided to bring her home. Peanut Butter Cup adores her (though that may not come as a huge surprise since he loves dogs in general) and he loves to give her hugs. She is so sweet, gentle, and calm . . . she usually just lays there while Peanut Butter Cup tries to give her a hug while laying/leaning on her (don't worry I keep an eye on them to make sure Abby hasn't accidentally sat on Peanut Butter Cup!). The other day Abby was laying near the front door while Peanut Butter Cup and I were in the kitchen/living room area . . . Peanut Butter Cup disappeared down the hallway and it suddenly became very quiet and still, so I peeked around the corner to see what they were doing. Peanut Butter Cup was sitting on Abby's back, just behind her shoulders, facing her rear, and Abby was just laying there! Ha ha ha! A few seconds later Peanut Butter Cup lost his balance and slid off, and I went down the hall to get him so he wouldn't do that again (we don't want him to hurt Abby's back -- she's already likely to have some other health issues down the road without adding that one to it, but that's another post in and of itself!). He looked so proud of himself! :-)

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On another subject, my hubby has started playing around with Photoshop (the above picture of Abby being one of his edits), and in my opinion he is pretty good (he's a lot braver than I have been with experimenting with all the different actions and tools!). He also has a pretty good eye for photography as well (same as with Photoshop, he's more brave about experimenting--but that is probably a good thing because then he inspires me to try new things as well).

Here are some of his first Photoshop edits with a mixture of our photos . . . we are always taking turns with the camera so sometimes it gets confusing to remember who took what photo when looking at them out of context--though these particular photos should be pretty obvious. ;-)

 We couldn't decide which edit we liked best on these two photos, so he did it both ways. :-)

Anyhow, I think he's awesome (both as a husband AND as an amateur, hobbyist photographer), so I wanted to share his talent with you. :-)

A Quick Post. . . .

I just wanted to post a quick note since it's been a little while since my last post. Part of the reason why I haven't posted since the Monday before last is because I've been reading Inkheart (which I've been enjoying immensely!) whenever I have a moment to myself (e.g., car rides, Peanut Butter Cup's nap times, before bed, etc.), and the other part of the reason is because Peanut Butter Cup has been keeping me really busy while he is awake. Not that I mind. :-)

Peanut Butter Cup is currently going through a 'climb on everything humanly possible' phase -- oh and he likes to JUMP off of things, like: mommy or daddy's legs, a partially filled duffel bag that was on the floor for a little while, and he'd jump off the bed if we let him--as it is he always wants to stand up and run around on it now. . . not a good thing considering the fact that he is nearly able to climb up on the bed by himself. He proved to us tonight that he is big enough now to climb up onto the coffee table. Not a comforting thought. I wish he could understand why certain things aren't safe for him, but he is still too young to understand the concept of 'danger'.

Also, I would like to ask everyone to be praying for a friend of mine. . . she is 31 weeks pregnant and has just been put on bed rest (for the next 5 weeks) due to the possibility of her going into preterm labor (this is her second baby--the first was early as well). So, prayers would be appreciated that this new addition to their family will decide to just 'stay put' for a few more weeks at least! Thanks so much for your prayers!

I'll try to write a longer post in the near future. . . .

Sad News

Over this past weekend Copper wasn't feeling good: he stopped eating and drinking, was more lethargic than usual and had been vomiting up some foamy bile off and on. We thought it may have just been an upset stomach over something that he had eaten and were waiting for it to pass (he thrown up part of something that he'd eaten at one point, so that made us think even more that it was probably just something he'd eaten). Saturday night we brought him in the house for awhile and he was all perky and happy (just like his normal self!), we even got him to eat a bowl of chicken and brown rice that I'd made for him. So, it seemed like he was on the mend. However, Sunday morning he was back to his previous symptoms and wouldn't even eat any more of the chicken and rice. We talked about having me take him to the vet Monday morning to get him checked out (in case it was an impaction or something). We went out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to run some errands, and when we got home our worst fears had been confirmed that Copper had somehow contracted Parvo. I will spare you the details of how we knew because I don't want anyone to have to have that mental picture as it is too devastating finding your dog/puppy like that.

Anyhow, we rushed to take him to an emergency vet (we weren't willing to give up all hope on him just yet), but while we were there it became very evident to us that not only could we not afford the extensive vet care that would have been needed ($1800+ with no guarantee of Copper's survival--which anyone who has dealt with Parvo before can understand why that is), but that the Parvo had already done extensive damage VERY quickly after it first started showing signs. So, once again, we had to make the very difficult decision to have our other Baby put down.

The whole time we just kept thinking, "Not again!" and "We should have known--we should have recognized the symptoms!" For those of you who don't know, back during our first year in Alabama, we'd gone through this with our Weimeraner puppy, Hank. He beat the Parvo, but ended up passing away the next week from complications that stemmed from the Parvo while his immune system was weakened. Neither of us will ever take those symptoms lightly again and assume that they may be caused by a stomach ache. Parvo has a 10-14 day incubation period before symptoms start to appear, so the sooner it is caught and treatment begun, the better chance of survival the puppy/dog has. The Parvo virus can live for about a year (in practically everything: soil, toys, crate, etc.), and the only way to get rid of it is to bleach everything that an infected puppy may have come in contact with.

This was very unexpected, and just added insult to injury after having to put Quigley down such a short while ago as well. All in all, in the last 3 years we have lost 5 wonderful animals: first in January of '09 I received a call from my mom telling me that my beloved cat, Prince, had passed away--I'd had him since he was 8 weeks old...he was 17-18 years old. Next a couple of short weeks later, Hank came down with Parvo in February '09 and passed away about a week later. In January of 2010 my mom had to have our faithful Border Collie mix, Petie, down--we'd had him since I was about 4 years old as well, so he was 18 years old (he was the most loyal and the best dog anyone could ever have--there will never be another dog like Petie, he was simply incredible!). Then, as you all know, back in October we had to have our Quigley put down. And now, Copper as well. It's been a rough 3 years for us where animals have been concerned. I can only hope that in the future, things will be different.

We are relieved to know that Copper is no longer suffering, but are heartbroken at having lost him. However, we know that God is in control and that 'not a sparrow falls without His knowledge'. Though we may not understand 'why', we will continue to trust our Heavenly Father and lean on Him. We would appreciate your prayers during this difficult time. Thank you!

Peanut Butter Cup is napping right now, so I should really be trying to find something to eat for lunch, but I haven't really had much of an appetite since last night. Whenever I am downstairs, I find myself looking out into the yard looking for Copper. I need to do laundry, but I haven't been able to bring myself to go into the laundry room (where his crate was) since yesterday. I just feel so sad and alone right now (in the human/friend sense)! I wish it wasn't a Monday so I could at least be with my husband! Please pray for me, it's hitting me really hard right now.

(Sorry if this has been a morbid post and if it has been kind of 'dis-jointed'! My thoughts are all over the place right now, and I just had to get this all off my chest! I still don't really have any friends here, so I don't have anyone to talk to--this blog is my only outlet for the most part. Thanks for 'listening' to my heart, it truly means a lot to me.)

An Amazing Husband

Yesterday morning I came downstairs to find a the most adorable little vase of beautiful flowers from my husband along with a beautiful card sitting on the stove. Needless to say, I felt very special and appreciated! It's was a lovely surprise to come down to! 

My husband is AMAZING! I just wanted to share that with everyone. :-)