Did you know that pregnancy offers significant protection against allergies? Well it can, and it did for me. Prior to getting knocked up with Mad, I'd been on various allergy meds for nearly 10 years. According to my allergist, I am significantly allergic to nearly every plant that grows in our area (well, our area when we lived down the hill anyway). Every animal, but cows, too (don't tell me not to have a cow!). I would have been an excellent candidate for shot therapy, except that I'd had an allergic reaction to a half dose of children's benadryl (that doctor's rescue medicine of choice). Ugh!
It took a couple of itchy, sneezy months for the "pregnancy protection" to kick in, but once it did I was like a new woman. I noticed that my allergies have gotten worse the less I nurse Madelyn. Since she doesn't nurse every day now, I feel like a character from The Simpsons.
Now that we have Maisy, my allergies are getting out of control. As I sit here, my eyes are red and irritated and I have what sounds like a smoker's cough. Much more of this and I'll be back on an inhaler, something I haven't had to deal with since taking the meds.
It was in this condition, coupled with areas of itchy skin I might add), that I blurted out to Tom in front of Corey, "I either need to get pregnant or get back on medication stat!"
I didn't see Corey's reaction, and I'm not going into Tom's exact response. I'll just say that my man makes me smile happy smiles.
Mad has brought many good and beautiful things into our lives, including new music. Sometime around her birth, I heard a story on NPR about Barenaked Ladies' new album, SnackTime. Their alphabet song was what sucked me in ("P is for pneumonic, pterodactyl and psychosis"). There are many excellent songs on the CD.
Another great one is "Allergies":
Showing posts with label puppy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puppy. Show all posts
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Kids, Swine Flu and My Hands, Oh My
Corey is continuing his streak of helpfulness and minimally abrasive attitudes. I'm beginning to hope that it's not about a honeymoon, but that perhaps we've hit the right combination of various therapies and living in a home where he feels safe. (I may be a little defensive here, but we were completely safe in our previous home. The only problems he encountered were during those middle-of-the-night jaunts.) He continues to be an amazing big brother to Madelyn, as well as a fine junior pet owner for Maisy. We've had her for a week and he's already given her two baths... on top of the one that the dairy kids gave her before we brought her home.
Mad, on the other hand, is where our eyes must constantly be these days. People hear that her birthday was on Easter and they ask if she's walking yet. Uh... yeah... she started walking at nine months and three days. At this point she no longer has much of that baby way of walking. She's beginning to master the heel-toe, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other method. We have gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. She refuses to crawl up them. She will either be carried or you will hold her hands and let her use your thighs as a head rest as she marches one foot per stair on up, thank you very much; the thigh-as-headrest thing is because she has to lean back at about a 45 degree angle to accomplish one foot per stair. She doesn't mind. It gives her a chance to look up and smile at you. Grandma Margaret suggested that we teach her to go down the stairs backward.
Yeah, right.
Today, for the first time, one of us left the bottom gate open. Each of us thinks we are the culprit. It was a little hectic because we were having my brother's family and our mom over for dinner. I was playing with Maisy when I heard this sound from Madelyn that was not a word, but the verbalization of "Oh, crap. Help?" I looked up to see her trying to walk down from the second step... in the same manner that she goes up. One leg was perpendicular to the ground and then she went over. I was on my way before she landed, but not quite close enough to save her.
Mad seems to like her injuries clustered over a single day, with long respites in between. Today, in addition to the stair scare (she was fine), she experienced these things:
Further indignities Madelyn suffered included not being allowed to go outside while Maisy was romping around out there.
Our old apartment was tiny, crowded with our belongings and cluttered. One of my friends who helped us move said sympathetically, "I've heard that larger places are easier to keep clean." I figured she was lying and wondering how long it would be before we trashed the next place. Turns out, it really has been pretty easy. Sure, we have a ton of unpacked boxes in the garage. A lot of them truly are kitchen items. Most of the cupboards are bare because I still haven't gotten back on the painting, and who wants to set up the kitchen twice?
***Niece Sarah loves the color, by the way. Yeah, she's cool. Super cool, in fact. She attends a performing arts magnet school for theater arts. They are performing Rent next months. This video was taken four days after the parts were cast. I know it's mature subject matter, but she can handle it; she's grown up with my brother. Sarah is the one in the dark jacket. The video quality is poor, so she mostly doesn't seem to have a face and then appears to have a moon face. In fact, she's quite lovely.
My point about our old place was that our new place didn't take that long to get ready today, aside from food prep and laundry, most of the tidying has been maintained. One of the bonuses about having guests (even Bro's family, for whose visits I feel almost no stress) is that I can convince Tom to get something else done before they arrive. Today it was the kids' shower curtain rod. Of course it's only important to Corey, since Mad is a bath girl. Poor guy hasn't had a bona fide shower since we moved in. Thankfully he doesn't mind baths. Tom had a lot of trouble with the shower curtain rod. It's a curved one, and anchoring it well took three or four trips to Home Depot. Corey could take a shower at home tonight, except that he went home with Grammy so he can go to church tomorrow (ahem... and play computer games at her place, let's be honest, shall we?).
While Tom did the shower curtain bar, I prepped the marinade for the chicken. It was a new recipe for Beer Lime Grilled Chicken that I'd gotten from an email yesterday.
You know how the news is all about washing our hands in warm water with lots of soap for at least 20 seconds because of Swine Flu? And how moms of babies may wash their hands more than other people because of diaper changes, etc.? And people who have a dog with round worm may be especially vigilant about soap and 20 seconds? And how no matter how bold the lettering on the pump declares that it's moisturizing, in fact it will dry your hands faster than anything else out there?
Imagine sticking those hands into marinade that included the juice from about six limes.
Yeah, that hurt! Still hurts.
I took part of a CPR/First Aid class yesterday (it was a crap class, so I left). The instructor did make one good point about why we should all use gloves when dealing with another person's bodily fluids: You probably aren't aware of every tiny little cut here or there. I guess she was right, but I can identify most of them now! My goal between now and Monday night's sign class is to constantly moisturize so that the raw meat look goes away, or at least starts to get better.
Mad, on the other hand, is where our eyes must constantly be these days. People hear that her birthday was on Easter and they ask if she's walking yet. Uh... yeah... she started walking at nine months and three days. At this point she no longer has much of that baby way of walking. She's beginning to master the heel-toe, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other method. We have gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. She refuses to crawl up them. She will either be carried or you will hold her hands and let her use your thighs as a head rest as she marches one foot per stair on up, thank you very much; the thigh-as-headrest thing is because she has to lean back at about a 45 degree angle to accomplish one foot per stair. She doesn't mind. It gives her a chance to look up and smile at you. Grandma Margaret suggested that we teach her to go down the stairs backward.
Yeah, right.
Today, for the first time, one of us left the bottom gate open. Each of us thinks we are the culprit. It was a little hectic because we were having my brother's family and our mom over for dinner. I was playing with Maisy when I heard this sound from Madelyn that was not a word, but the verbalization of "Oh, crap. Help?" I looked up to see her trying to walk down from the second step... in the same manner that she goes up. One leg was perpendicular to the ground and then she went over. I was on my way before she landed, but not quite close enough to save her.
Mad seems to like her injuries clustered over a single day, with long respites in between. Today, in addition to the stair scare (she was fine), she experienced these things:
- Got tangled up with Maisy on the back patio; fell over backward and bonked her head... hard.
- Purposely put a foot into Maisy's water dish and then slipped trying to make her get-away... twice.
- Stepped on a book and had it slide so far that she fell down sort of in the splits.
- Fell while carrying said book, thereby jamming it into her neck.
Further indignities Madelyn suffered included not being allowed to go outside while Maisy was romping around out there.
- Sampling a dirt clod and discovering that it's not as great as it looks.
- Being allowed out, but only while carried because she was in sock feet.
- Being forced to come inside from her wagon ride because she was strapped into the wagon and that's where her brother and Cousin Sarah pulled it.
- Sampling a bathtub crayon and learning that it, too, does not taste as good as it looks.
Our old apartment was tiny, crowded with our belongings and cluttered. One of my friends who helped us move said sympathetically, "I've heard that larger places are easier to keep clean." I figured she was lying and wondering how long it would be before we trashed the next place. Turns out, it really has been pretty easy. Sure, we have a ton of unpacked boxes in the garage. A lot of them truly are kitchen items. Most of the cupboards are bare because I still haven't gotten back on the painting, and who wants to set up the kitchen twice?
***Niece Sarah loves the color, by the way. Yeah, she's cool. Super cool, in fact. She attends a performing arts magnet school for theater arts. They are performing Rent next months. This video was taken four days after the parts were cast. I know it's mature subject matter, but she can handle it; she's grown up with my brother. Sarah is the one in the dark jacket. The video quality is poor, so she mostly doesn't seem to have a face and then appears to have a moon face. In fact, she's quite lovely.
My point about our old place was that our new place didn't take that long to get ready today, aside from food prep and laundry, most of the tidying has been maintained. One of the bonuses about having guests (even Bro's family, for whose visits I feel almost no stress) is that I can convince Tom to get something else done before they arrive. Today it was the kids' shower curtain rod. Of course it's only important to Corey, since Mad is a bath girl. Poor guy hasn't had a bona fide shower since we moved in. Thankfully he doesn't mind baths. Tom had a lot of trouble with the shower curtain rod. It's a curved one, and anchoring it well took three or four trips to Home Depot. Corey could take a shower at home tonight, except that he went home with Grammy so he can go to church tomorrow (ahem... and play computer games at her place, let's be honest, shall we?).
While Tom did the shower curtain bar, I prepped the marinade for the chicken. It was a new recipe for Beer Lime Grilled Chicken that I'd gotten from an email yesterday.
You know how the news is all about washing our hands in warm water with lots of soap for at least 20 seconds because of Swine Flu? And how moms of babies may wash their hands more than other people because of diaper changes, etc.? And people who have a dog with round worm may be especially vigilant about soap and 20 seconds? And how no matter how bold the lettering on the pump declares that it's moisturizing, in fact it will dry your hands faster than anything else out there?
Imagine sticking those hands into marinade that included the juice from about six limes.
Yeah, that hurt! Still hurts.
I took part of a CPR/First Aid class yesterday (it was a crap class, so I left). The instructor did make one good point about why we should all use gloves when dealing with another person's bodily fluids: You probably aren't aware of every tiny little cut here or there. I guess she was right, but I can identify most of them now! My goal between now and Monday night's sign class is to constantly moisturize so that the raw meat look goes away, or at least starts to get better.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Maisy Day
As it turned out, a young man said that he would take the boy puppy, so we just got the girl. Do I sound disappointed? I'm not. The relief that washed over me as I heard we were only getting one made it pretty clear where I stood. First off, the boy turned out to be quite a handful. He'd already led the others out of the backyard at the dairy their second day there. Said escape required pulling down lattice! Secondly, it would have been cool in a couple of months to have both, but the initial expense of one is more than enough for us right now.
Crate = Free (thank you Nance!)
Puppy package of shots + an exam by the vet = $162
Lab tests on poop for parasites = $42
Assorted toys, food, bowls and a bed = $175
Leash and collar = $20
Return them because small dogs have delicate bones, collars are no good = -$20
Buy a leash and harness even though you've now heard that collars are just fine = $22
More toys (what, you didn't get squeaky toys? no soft plushy things for the dog so she doesn't snag Mad's?) and some snacks and shampoo because somehow you forgot them = $25
"Extra Tall" Puppy playpen (that actually shows a huge dog sitting obediently inside) = $86
Take it back because right after Tom said, "I give her three weeks" she jumped out = -$86
Largest wire kennel available because you want her to be able to play during the day = $132
***And we're wondering why the 30K tune up might have to be done in bits and pieces each week?
We all wanted to name her, of course. I suggested that we each come up with something and then vote.
Corey wanted to name her Bebeh, but after he hung out with Destiny at our friends' son's birthday last weekend and she suggested Ellie, that was what he entered.
Tom chose Teebeedee (as in To Be Determined).
I made several suggestions, but when it was voting time I submitted Maisy.
She is such a Maisy.
Corey loves her, but not more than his sister. When Maisy's getting too frisky with or around Madelyn, it's clear whose side he's on. Still, he's been just as likely as any of us to be the one taking her out at night or first thing in the morning.
Madelyn is used to little dogs since she spends her days with the ones at my dad's place. However, during much of the times when Mad's awake, they are either in their kennel or out back. Mad loves Maisy in her crate. She is intrigued by Maisy in the kennel. Heck, she's intrigued by the kennel. It's tall enough that Madelyn can walk right into it without ducking. Mad is less thrilled about the tug-of-war she and Maisy had over the box of Kix that Madelyn likes to get from the cupboard when she needs a snack. Same is true about her purple bunny. Toe licking during bottle time is gauche, according to Mad.
Tom is clearly happy to finally have the dog we've talked about for the better part of five years. He and Maisy have already slept together (no, not like that, sicko!), which is the true sign of love between man and dog, I think. This was their first night together:
And me? Well how could I not love her? She's sweet, smart, easily getting the whole potty training thing, fun to play with and cuddle, and she makes sure I'm up early enough to get to work on time. Yeah, that last part is good, but I was just getting to enjoy the fact that Mad's been sleeping until 6:15 each morning.
I took Maisy to get her shots the other day. She does have round worms, so that's a bummer, but apparently easily treated. Aside from that, she's in great shape. The general consensus among the puppies' vets is that they're around three months old.
This evening I tried to put her harness on for the first time. I thought she and I could go across the street to get the mail. It reminded me of the first time I tried to put Corey into a high chair. Straps were clearly in the wrong place and he knew it as well as I, but I couldn't figure out what to do to fix it. My next step is to Ask Jeeves.
Oh, here's a little shout-out to some people who don't even know this blog exists: To Andrew and Olivia, niece and nephew of the woman who found the puppies on her property, thank you, thank you, thank you for giving Maisy a bath and flea treatment before we got her. I cannot express how much easier that made our lives.
Crate = Free (thank you Nance!)
Puppy package of shots + an exam by the vet = $162
Lab tests on poop for parasites = $42
Assorted toys, food, bowls and a bed = $175
Leash and collar = $20
Return them because small dogs have delicate bones, collars are no good = -$20
Buy a leash and harness even though you've now heard that collars are just fine = $22
More toys (what, you didn't get squeaky toys? no soft plushy things for the dog so she doesn't snag Mad's?) and some snacks and shampoo because somehow you forgot them = $25
"Extra Tall" Puppy playpen (that actually shows a huge dog sitting obediently inside) = $86
Take it back because right after Tom said, "I give her three weeks" she jumped out = -$86
Largest wire kennel available because you want her to be able to play during the day = $132
***And we're wondering why the 30K tune up might have to be done in bits and pieces each week?
We all wanted to name her, of course. I suggested that we each come up with something and then vote.
Corey wanted to name her Bebeh, but after he hung out with Destiny at our friends' son's birthday last weekend and she suggested Ellie, that was what he entered.
Tom chose Teebeedee (as in To Be Determined).
I made several suggestions, but when it was voting time I submitted Maisy.
She is such a Maisy.
Corey loves her, but not more than his sister. When Maisy's getting too frisky with or around Madelyn, it's clear whose side he's on. Still, he's been just as likely as any of us to be the one taking her out at night or first thing in the morning. Madelyn is used to little dogs since she spends her days with the ones at my dad's place. However, during much of the times when Mad's awake, they are either in their kennel or out back. Mad loves Maisy in her crate. She is intrigued by Maisy in the kennel. Heck, she's intrigued by the kennel. It's tall enough that Madelyn can walk right into it without ducking. Mad is less thrilled about the tug-of-war she and Maisy had over the box of Kix that Madelyn likes to get from the cupboard when she needs a snack. Same is true about her purple bunny. Toe licking during bottle time is gauche, according to Mad.
Tom is clearly happy to finally have the dog we've talked about for the better part of five years. He and Maisy have already slept together (no, not like that, sicko!), which is the true sign of love between man and dog, I think. This was their first night together:
And me? Well how could I not love her? She's sweet, smart, easily getting the whole potty training thing, fun to play with and cuddle, and she makes sure I'm up early enough to get to work on time. Yeah, that last part is good, but I was just getting to enjoy the fact that Mad's been sleeping until 6:15 each morning.I took Maisy to get her shots the other day. She does have round worms, so that's a bummer, but apparently easily treated. Aside from that, she's in great shape. The general consensus among the puppies' vets is that they're around three months old.
This evening I tried to put her harness on for the first time. I thought she and I could go across the street to get the mail. It reminded me of the first time I tried to put Corey into a high chair. Straps were clearly in the wrong place and he knew it as well as I, but I couldn't figure out what to do to fix it. My next step is to Ask Jeeves.
Oh, here's a little shout-out to some people who don't even know this blog exists: To Andrew and Olivia, niece and nephew of the woman who found the puppies on her property, thank you, thank you, thank you for giving Maisy a bath and flea treatment before we got her. I cannot express how much easier that made our lives.
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