Dylan's room

 his lime green wall and welcome mat

 his big boy bed is on order!!

Don't think I ever posted pics of Dylan's room over here.

I got him a kitchen last year, and in typical boy fashion, he's got it filled up (even the coffee pot) with GUYS

Mark did a plaster technique on the ceiling and i painted it blue with clouds & glitter paint

dry erase board

Twila

I am still not 100% over Blarney, not sure I ever will be.  But, ready or not...we got a new puppy!!   She's half Shih Tzu half Poodle - a Shih Poo.  She's 5 pounds now, but will be between 11-17 fully grown.  She's 3 months.  She's a handful, but what puppy isn't.  We picked her up Friday and Mark & I are taking vacation days this week so we have 9 days with her before we have to go back to work.  She cries when she's left alone, but hopefully we'll get that under control this week.  We named her Twilight, but we are going to call her Twila.  Dylan re-named her Twilight Sparkles, which I find adorable!! 

Read about Blarney's disease here:  (scroll to the end) http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_intestinal_lymphangiectasia.html

Anniversary

Tomorrow is Mark and my 5th wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe 5 years married, and we've been dating since 1999!  When we were on our honeymoon, Mark saw this portrait in one of the hotels (I think it was in Dublin) and fell in love with it.  I bought him a print and thought I'd share it with everyone. 

Anyone ever check this anymore? Probably not, but...

I know it’s been since May, and every week on my to-do list, I have “update blog”  I guess I just needed a reason to reach out to everyone, and unfortunately now I have one. 

Blarney is very sick.  I thought he was getting better, but I was wrong.  Wheatens are susceptible to a protein losing disorder.  This all started Labor Day.  He had diarrhea & vomiting, so I took him to the vet after a week.  He was also very sluggish.  They put him on an antibiotic and said it was a mild stomach issue, boil chicken & rice.  Blarney has always been a picky eater and pukes if he gets any people food in his system.  A week and half later, still not much improvement, so we went in for bloodwork and xrays.  Xrays were mostly normal, but blood work for his protein level were extremely low.  Off to the specialist at the emergency animal hospital.  Ultrasound, stomach scope, anesthesia, tons of bloodwork, a few biopsies, $1,900 and an overnight stay later, he in fact has inflammatory bowel disease in conjunction with lymphangiectasia.  The first vet said 1-2 years, the internal medicine specialist said he can live a long healthy life with medication & a special diet.  I pulled his registration papers and called his breeder – according to him none of his wheatens have ever had it and neither do his mom nor dad.  Anyways….  So he’s now on a special diet and was put on a $15 a day antibiotic.  He seemed to be doing better, really liked the food and ate it with gusto.  Now another week or two later – he does not eat the food, is extremely sluggish, you can see his backbone and his ribs.  He’s wasting away to nothing.  He’s on 7 pills a day too, and a weekly B12 injection.  Now, since he’s so malnourished, his body is using his muscle for energy so he’s like a bowl of jello.  He can no longer walk stairs, up or down.  He tried getting up the 4 stairs from our family room to the kitchen and he made it up 3, then slid down on his belly.  He just didn’t have the strength and muscletone to get up.  If on hard surfaces, his feet just slip out from under him and he looks like Bambi on the ice.  He doesn’t have the strength to get up on hard floors anymore.  So, now my foyer and bedroom are covered with all miscellaneous bath rugs, and old carpet remnants.  (side note, if anyone has some old rugs they can let me borrow, I’d really appreciate it!)  And the baby gates are back out so we can confine him to non staired rooms (again, if anyone has a gate I can borrow, I could really use another one).  We have 3 staircases, and 2 door openings to the kitchen, so it’s a challenge.  It is a horrible situation.  I am a total wreck, just seeing him waste away is killing me.  On carpet, he is kind of okay.  He still struggles standing from a laying position, which is laying down at least 90% of the day.  He still does come to the door when we get home from work, or if someone comes to visit, but it’s short-lived and he goes back to laying down.  He goes in on Sunday the 16^th for a follow-up visit.  I hope he makes it that long, and I don’t have to carry him into the vet because he can’t walk at all anymore.  I have a feeling that will be his last vet appointment.  I do realize it could be worse, it’s just my dog – not an immediate human member of my family like some people I know have just gone through.  I am just not equipped to deal with these situations – I just am not.  I wish I was, but I am not.  I am not. 

Girls would never do this

Dylan using his toy electric screwdriver to make holes in playdoh. 

And per his request, I did take a picture.

Watching the dog show

Fun in the snow

So excited!

I'm so excited......Mark & I booked our flights to Coeur d'Alene this summer to visit everyone out there!  yippie!!!!!!!!!!!!