FSAF #3 A day in Papago Park

Today V and I went to the Desert Botanical Garden with Alanna. The garden was cool as always, even though there were no special exhibits going on. We walked around, checked out plants, stopped to feed V on a shady bench, got to go in some Tohono O'odham dwellings (they were a native american tribe indigenious to this area). Ground some mesquite beans, then hit the gift shop while V took a nap. I got a pretty cool book detailing all the edible plants in the southwest, so as long as I bring it or memorize it we'll be all set if we get stranded in the wilderness! After that we decided to go climb up to the Hole in the rock at Papago Park. Hung out up in the hole for a while, then climbed down and hung out in the shade under a ramada. Here's some pics, CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER IMAGES!!!!!!

FSAF #2 Hall of Flame

Today Vincent and I decided to check out the Hall of Flame (yeah, that's really the name, not my bad pun). I'd seen signs for it when we've been down in Papago Park in the past, so last night I looked it up to see if it would be interesting. If you're ever in Phoenix check it out. It starts with the old horse drawn carts, leather buckets and helmets, some dating back to the early 1700's. They also have a truck you can climb around on, an area for kids, fire fighting gear you can try on, patches, badges, a 9/11 memorial statue of a pony, etc. It ends with some modern equipment, some of which are still driven. It was pretty interesting to see the changes in technology over the years. Here's some pics (click on the thumbnails for bigger images):

happy little buddha

Every time our baby smiles, I swear that he is the chunky little reincarnation of a happy little Buddha.

Seriously.

Look at that freakin' smile!

This year, I hope and pray to never take for granted every perfect little thing this kiddo does. There are so many different things we learn and see every day - different sounds, facial expressions, movements. Everything about this kid is so new to us...and awesome.

At any given moment he is happy, sad, ecstatic, frustrated, calm, talkative, cranky, sleepy, funny, smelly, slobbery, slimy, whiny, smiley, sweet, dorky. You name it...this kid has it all!

But most of all, he is precious.

I am one happy and proud mama today!

for the beauty of the earth

This Thanksgiving, I am reflecting on the fact that my eyes have been so opened to what it means to be truly "thankful". I can't possibly spend enough time talking about every single thing I am thankful for because I would be here for an eternity. But, most of all, I am thankful for...

My wonderful, loving husband who...no matter what we go through...is my rock in everything.

My sister-in-law who gave Joe her kidney a few years ago. I am seriously thankful for this every single day.

My beagle. Having never owned a dog before her, she has opened my eyes to unconditional love. I am truly blessed by her.

My family. To my parents and sister - there may only be 4 of us, but we are so strong, so close. And I am so thankful for the love we share. To my aunts, uncles, cousins and others - I don't see you nearly enough, but am thankful for every memory with you.

Joe's family. Even though we are so far away, you always remain so close to our hearts.

Health care.

My job.

My home.

Our earth.

My freedoms.

And last, but DEFINITELY not least...my perfect, healthy, angelic, and amazingly beautiful son.



For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise this our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise this our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above, pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise this our grateful hymn of praise.

excerpt from:
"For the Beauty of the Earth"
by Folliott S. Pierpoint

Happy Thanksgiving!

can i be one of the 1%?.....pretty please?!?!

I have a feeling that every new mother, at some point, loathes the idea of going back to work after spending precious time with her newborn. And now that Baby McG is out of the newborn phase and in the really cute I-wanna-smile-all-the-time-and just-stare-at-my-mommy-and-daddy phase, all I want to do is stay at home with him. But, financially speaking, bills are really tight right now and going back to work this week is really a necessity for us.

But it's still heartbreaking.

He has grown so much in the past few weeks...and not just his belly size. :-) He has become so happy, so smiley, so interactive. He's also really inquisitive and loves staring straight at the camera to figure out what it is (since I always put it right in front of his face). He loves staring at his hand and trying to figure out what that is, too. And if you talk to him and ask him a question, he'll respond with a cute little coo. He's just getting so fun to be around!

And I want to be around him all the time.

During the first week and a half I would have never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but now...even his cries are cute! Annoying at times, but cute as hell.

But...back to work I go. If I was one of the lucky One Percent of people in the world who were super wealthy, then I would stay at home with him in a heartbeat. Not a second thought. I would have to be organized like a teacher and really develop him until he starts going to school, but I would love every second of it.

I love the crap out of this kid!

Weird expression, I know...but everything he does makes me so happy.

I know, I know.

You're probably thinking "blah blah blah BLAH blahblah Blah blah blaaaahhh!"

But I am just feeling really bitterwseet about going back to work tomorrow. It will be nice to get back to work, be around adults during the day, and make money again to help with new expenses...but I am also just sad about leaving him with another person.

The sitter we found actually comes highly recommended and is great with children. And I have no doubts that he will get anything less than great care. But, as a mother, I am just worried that he won't get as much loving attention as I know I would give him. Also, I am worried that I will miss important milestones. Like...if I pick him up one day and they tell me he sat up on his own, or said his first word, or took his first step, I think I would feel very sad that I was not there to witness it. Is that stupid?

Anyway.

I'll get over it. And I'll drop him off tomorrow. And I'll go to work and then pick him up afterwards. Just like every other working mother out there. I just wish I had the option of staying with him all day.

I love this little dude with every ounce of my body. I know he doesn't know what love is yet, but I hope that I can show it to him as best I can.

you are my sunshine

you are my sunshine, my only sunshine

you make me happy when skies are grey


you'll never know, dear, how much i love you


please don't take my sunshine away

our beagle, the druggie

Take a look at this picture.

Seriously.

Take a good, long, hard, thoughtful look at this picture and then I'll tell you what you're looking at.

Go ahead.

Take a look.

Okay...done?

Now I'll tell you what this is a picture of.

This, my friends, is a picture of the world's most expensive beagle dog. Literally. Indubitably. Absolutely. 100%. THE. MOST. EXPENSIVE. BEAGLE.

After a long night of stomach issues (diarrhea, vomiting, lack of appetite, lethargy, etc.), coupled with the recent resurgence of hip issues, we felt that something with Lucy was just really not right and didn't want to wait for our follow up appointment at the end of the week. Therefore, we decided to take her to the vet today for the new symptoms.

So Joe took Lucy to the vet while I watched our little munchkin and they did some more bloodwork, took a stool sample, gave her subcutaneous solution to prevent dehydration and gave her medication for nausea. As a result...the bloodwork came back normal. No parvo, no giardia. No apparent infections or issues there. We are still waiting for the valley fever test results, so will know even MORE (or less) once those results are in. But all in all, we know nothing. The vet knows nothing.

So the plan, for now, is to give her:

Sucralfate
anti-ulcer medication to prevent ulcers from all the vomiting

Amoxicillin and Metronidazole
antibiotics to get rid of any intestinal bacteria or disease she may have

Panacur
dewormer medication in case she has worms

And also some probiotic supplements for her food and pain medication (as needed) for her hips.

If you ask me, I think our dog definitely has a drug problem. Why else would she go to these great lengths to get so many medications? What other reason could there be for her incessant need to see the doggie doctor?

Hmmmm...our beagle, the druggie. I think it's time for an intervention.

;-)

While I don't have time (or energy) to discuss the notion of animals having substance abuse issues, I just wanted to illustrate that our beagle is flippin' expensive. Granted...if we didn't give a crap about her, we wouldn't spend anything on her. But when you know something's wrong, you want to make sure you can make it all better, right?

Well, she's obviously got some stomach and pain issues...so hopefully this brief medication period will help.

And if not, then I'm sure I'll write another blog about it.

So stay tuned!

And don't buy dogs from backyard breeders who are only in business for money and to breed dogs for good looks, not for good health.

beagle pain syndrome? what the...?!?!

Baby McG
Baby V is doing well. He has nearly doubled in weight over the past month and a half and is getting so chunky. I LOVE his little rolls. :-) Also, he is sleeping slightly longer in the night. I still have to get up to feed him in the middle of the night, but he has been really good lately and has been going straight back to sleep right after. And I know that will keep getting better. I just have to stick with it and be patient...and strong.

Papa McG
Joe is doing well (as far as I can see, at least). :-) He is a great father. I know, like me, he has countless lessons to learn...but he is great with V and he smiles every time Joe is near him. That little boy loves his daddy so much already.

Mama McG
Read the last post. Oh yeah...and also...I HATE that I have to go back to work. HATE IT!! Like I've said before, I actually do like my job. But nothing would make me happier than to be able to stay at home with V every day and help him grow.

Lucy McG
Lucy just turned 4 this past week...already!! And she is a great big sister to V and I can tell that they will be the GREATEST of friends. But she has had another health hiccup this week. :-(

Remember last winter when Lucy was diagnosed with hip dysplasia?

(Click HERE for a refresher)

Well, she ended up responding well to the initial treatment of it and has been asymptomatic since then. Until now. Just over this past weekend she has started to whimper when moving and shrieks in pain if her hips are touched. So while I stayed at home with the baby on Sunday, Joe took her to the vet to see what they could do for the flare up of her hip dysplasia.

Only...

They took more x-rays and the radiologist on Sunday said there was no hip dysplasia.

WHAT the @#$%?????

Yeah.

That was my reaction verbatim.

So they did some blood work to see if it's possibly valley fever (hope NOT!), and if that comes back negative then they think she might have something called Beagle Pain Syndrome.

Not kidding.

Apparently Beagle Pain Syndrome is a type of meningitis that causes pain with movement, anorexia, depression, hunched posture, and guarding of the neck and genital area. It can, apparently, affect dogs other than beagles, too. It's treatable with steroids.

But here's my "thing":

If they originally diagnosed hip dysplasia and that initial treatment worked and got rid of all symptoms for almost a year, why are they now saying that it's something completely different? What I want to know is why in the WORLD one x-ray would show hip dysplasia and then one year later another shows that it's magically gone. Sorry, people...but hip dysplasia doesn't work that way. It actually gets WORSE over time.

Right now, they are hoping to rule out valley fever and we are just waiting for the results. If it's negative, then they are thinking it's the Beagle Pain Syndrome. But what if they are wrong about this, too? Or maybe they weren't wrong and she really DOES have hip dysplasia.

See? Confusing!!

Now I'm just skeptical about everything.

We have a follow up appointment later this week, so stay tuned for some news. Until then, though, just keep her little painful beagle butt in your thoughts and prayers.

the cutest thing

Motherhood is hard work. And I've only been doing it for 2 1/2 months. So I know I have countless (and even more difficult) experiences ahead of me, but seriously. This is the hardest thing I've ever done.

Not only did I push him out with every ounce of energy in every last atom in my body (sorry for the visual), but I have had to adapt to numerous changes since then - physical pain and recovery, never-ending fatigue, hormonal changes, postpartum sweating (look it up, it's awesome), and breastfeeding (to name a few). It's all so emotionally draining. And I consider myself a very patient person, but being a mother has really put my patience to the test. And I'm certain that the whole "testing my patience" thing will probably never end from here on out.

And I am sure that I am the same as every new mother when I say this, but I seriously have the most respect for mothers everywhere. Especially my own.

It has been quite an adjustment to work through the newborn phase and I know it will keep getting better week to week, month to month, year to year. And while there are still difficulties and SO MUCH learning that I have to do, I can already tell that this is one of the best experiences of my life. Nothing makes me happier than seeing more and more of this every day:


I could look at that smile all day long.

clean and happy baby

Don't you just LOVE a clean and happy baby?