Forever In Our Hearts

A week and a half ago, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, we said goodbye to our first baby, Buddy.  It's taken me this long to get to a point where I feel I can even write this post.  It's amazing how much a twenty pound creature can become such an integral part of your family.

We adopted Buddy from the ARL in February 2012, five months after we were married.  He was eight when we adopted him, and I knew that meant our time with him would be limited.  He was a breeder reduction, and I knew we could show him a love he hadn't known.  We had no business even going to the ARL to look at dogs.  We were living in an apartment at the time and they didn't allow dogs on our floor.  But, I twisted Andrew's arm and off we went.  Little did I know, my heart would be stolen.  Buddy drew me in immediately as I watched him drag his bed over to the door of the kennel so he could see better.  He was a people watcher, and I knew I had to have him.  Yes, the way in which he joined our family was a little outside the rules, but he became ours.  I remember sitting with him in the living room the day after getting him thinking, "what the heck have we done".  I had a dog growing up, but that was when I was really little. I didn't know the first thing about taking care of a dog.  The first night we had him, he slipped his collar in the apartment parking lot.  I thought for sure we was gone that night.  Luckily, we caught up with him and got him safely back inside.  After only a few weeks in the apartment, we realized we had to get out of there before we got kicked out of there, so we purchased our first home and gave Buddy a home to call his own and a yard to run around in. 

Eight months after we got Buddy, we added Maya to the family.  Buddy had a friend, and we could tell he loved it.  They bonded almost instantly and were really quite inseparable. 

Buddy was my shadow and would follow me anywhere.  The love he showed us was pure and endless; all he ever wanted was to be near his people.  We loved him more than I thought was possible, and the hole he has left in our hearts will forever be there.  When Buddy started having problems with his neck and back a few years ago, I thought our time was coming to and end.  He hung on and fought to get better.  Through medications and acupuncture he pulled through.  However, each battle he had with the pain, I could tell was slowing him down more and more.  Each time he had an episode, I wondered if that would be the end of our journey on this earth together.  In the end, it was his heart that took him from us.  Buddy had a heart murmur for several years.  About a year and a half ago, we started him on meds to help his heart function a little better.  He instantly had new life and was playful again.  We knew it was only buying us time.  How much time was anyone's guess.

  

Slowly, Buddy's heart murmur got worse.  At Easter this year, he was wheezing and coughing a lot.  I knew something wasn't right.  The Friday before Easter, he followed me up the stairs and collapsed.  I panicked.  I thought we lost him.  He jumped back up moments later as if nothing had happened.  In my gut, I knew the end was near.  We took him to the vet the next morning.  Confirming my fears, his lungs were filled with fluids.  We started him on medications to eliminate the fluid.  However, he had no appetite.  Which, for anyone who knew Buddy knew wasn't like him.  He loved food.  I tried everything; hamburger, rice, ham, eggs, hot dogs, wet food, and none of it worked.  He didn't want to eat.  He was throwing up from the stomach acid building up.  I was desperate and called the vet begging for a solution.  We could try medications to stimulate his appetite, but this again wasn't a fix, it was just buying time.  I told myself if the medications didn't work, I knew it was time to let him go.  Ultimately, Buddy stopped eating.  He wouldn't take his medications any more, and at that point I knew he was ready.  He was tired.  He spent his last years with us as part of a family; something he hadn't known before us.  I still wait to hear his footsteps coming down the stairs.  I miss his monkey noises as he ran across the yard.  I miss his snuggles.  I miss his food dance.  I miss his big brown eyes.  I miss his tail straight as a stick as he sniffs across the yard.  As much as I wanted to keep him with us, I knew the right thing for Buddy was to let him run free.  I know the hurt will heal in time, but for now I feel a piece of our family is gone.   Gone, but never forgotten.  

18 Month Update

Izzy has officially made it half way to two; hard to believe.  Even harder to believe when I look back and see just how tiny (of course I would never have described Izzy as tiny at any point in her life) she was this time last year.  She had just started to sit up on her own and was barely rolling over.  Now, she is running through the house chasing after the dogs with her shopping cart. 

She has hit a growth spurt (the first sign of this might be the plate of mac and cheese and broccoli she downed at dinner the other night).  She weighs in at 28 lbs this month (I'm assuming this is accurate given she was jumping on the scale as I was trying to weigh her).  She is measuring 33 inches long (finally passing the 32 inches she seemed to be stuck on forever).  She is still in size 4 diapers and continues to wear size five shoes, which she has now been in for about five months.  She is moving into more 24 month and 2T clothing.  Her 18 month pants still fit her pretty well, but her shirts are exposing a little too much belly flesh.  We do actually need to get her back into the doctor for her 18 month check up so we can get an official weight and height on her.  We skipped her 15 month check up as it fell right in the middle of winter and there was no way I was taking a healthy child into a doctors office.  She's already exposed to enough at daycare. 

This child is a growing machine with the things she knows.  Honestly, we credit our amazing daycare for a lot of it.  Her "vocabulary" continues to expand daily it seems.  Her favorite word at the moment seems to be Maya (poor Buddy gets the shaft here).  Actually she will say Buddy when I point to him, but every dog she sees is "Maya", this includes the dogs in her books.  She tries really hard to repeat the words I'm saying.  Her current work in progress is backpack.  It doesn't exactly come out correct, but you get the idea when you listen to her.  This weekend, she was trying to sing along to wheels on the bus; it melted my heart watching her mouth the words.  I'm waiting for the day she starts speaking in sentences because I have a feeling it's coming soon.  She loves to read to us.  In her own mind she has lots of stories to tell!  However, she has no time for us to read to her.  Usually reading involves her throwing a book at one of us, plopping down in our lap and turning the pages before we can get more than two words read.  Luckily I have a few of her favorites memorized, so I can still read to her even when she is blowing through pages. 

This child loves music, and she doesn't discriminate on the type.  She can get down to Old McDonald, Michael Jackson, Halsey, Spice Girls, Billy Joel... you name it she can dance to it.  It makes my heart happy to see not only can she dance, but she has great rhythm too!  I have my hopes for band when she is older. 

This month we saw our share of struggles in the sleep department.  Sleep really isn't something I can complain about with this kid.  She slept through the night starting at 8 months old and has been pretty consistent with that since.  She is generally a good napper, and will sleep in on the weekends.  She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and when left alone will easily sleep until between 8 or 9:00 AM.  She is content to hang in her crib when she does wake up, which means I usually get to wake up slowly on the weekends rather than to a screaming child who wants to be up NOW.  Andrew did just drop her crib down to the last level this week as she demonstrated the ability to put her leg up on top of the crib rail.  Once she can get over it at this height, we will make the transition to her toddler bed.  She is a wild sleeper though, so we will hold out as long as possible.  I have a hunch this kid is going to end up on the floor a lot. 

Izzy continues to be attached to her pacifier.  I still find it hilarious that she wanted nothing to do with them when she was younger.  Teething... that's all I'm going to say on the subject.  Eventually we will have to break her of that habit.  However, like both her mother and her father, she does things in her own time, so the paci is one habit I hope she will break on her own.  Bottles are the other battle.  She can drink from a sippy cup, but she doesn't like to.  She much prefers the bottles.  In all honesty, I'm more than ready to be done with them.  Again, it's another habit I secretly hope she will break herself of one day... For those wondering, we continue on our nursing journey.  Usually just in the mornings, and only when I can hold her attention for more than ten seconds before she is up and running.  I never had intentions of making it this long.  I thought I would be lucky to make it to a year with her especially considering we had to supplement with formula.  However, once winter set in and we continued on with our journey, I made the goal to get through the winter for the health benefits.  Luckily, we really have come out pretty good as we wind down the sickness season.  I have a hunch we will be ending our nursing journey soon, but it's not something I'm going to push.  It's the quiet time I do get to share with her, and those are the moments I cherish. 

She has found comfort with her two blankets, both of which were actually mine.  The one I had when I was little until it got left at daycare one night only to have me end up liking the replacement more.  The other blanket was a replacement purchased by my grandma since my favorite pink blanket was likely to fall apart given the amount of love it had been shown.  However, the replacement blanket wasn't the same as my well loved blanket, so it got folded up and placed in a box for safe keeping.  Low and behold, these are the blankets Izzy has attached herself to.  My nostalgia is strong on the blanket matter, so I leave that one alone.  I draw the line at dragging them to daycare.  Mostly because I don't want anything to happen to them seeing as they are 20 and almost 30 years old respectively. 

I could say lots of things about Izzy not having any patience or being bullheaded, but then I would just have three fingers pointing back at me, so I'll leave that topic alone.  Needless to say, she is a solid mix of Andrew and I when it comes to her personality.  She has Andrew's curiosity for figuring out how things work. 

She has my ability to just sit and be, which I am beyond thankful for.  It's mostly during quiet time in her crib, but I'll take what I can get considering when she's up she doesn't stop for a minute.  It continues to intrigue and amaze me watching this human we created grow and learn.   

So, that's me on the left right at 18 months and Andrew on the right at 2 years old. I honestly see a solid mix of both of us, but she favors Andrew a little more.  

17 Month Update

They say life is all about various seasons.  Today I went to a baby shower for a long time friend.  I miss the days of baby things: tiny toes and fingers, staying in one place for more than two seconds, silence!  While I sometimes long for the days when my tiny (she was never really tiny) squish could curl up on my chest, I'm also really thankful for the season we are in.  Izzy can communicate with us a little more now and tell us more of her needs.  She will get her snacks out of the cupboard and bring them to us.  She can sign for milk, she can pick up her toys when asked and when she feels like it, and she knows her overall schedule.  We feel eternally grateful that she is such a solid sleeper.  On the weekends, she will go to bed at 7:30 and sleep in until 8 or 9 am.  She still takes a solid two hour nap through the middle of the day, and will sometimes take a short nap in the late afternoon. She's good about telling us when she's tired.  She will grab her blankets and crawl up to her crib, or curl up in the dog kennel.  

This month is another one that flew by.  Andrew was gone for a week for work, so that always speeds time up it seems.  While Izzy's milestones aren't quite as major these days,we notice the small changes.  Probably the most notable this month was her experimentation with expressions.  She makes a mean duck face and can furrow her brow with the best of them!  I'm just waiting for the hands on the hips and the sass factor will be at 100%.  

In terms of growth, I think she is going through a bit of a spurt right now.  She gained another pound this month.  She grew about a 1/2 inch in length this month as well.  She is still in 18 and 24 month clothes and size 4 diapers.  She is wearing size 5 shoes and has quite the shoe collection (I might have a shoe problem).  She loves to "put her shoes on"... she hasn't actually figured out how to put them on though.  Luckily we seem to have moved beyond the phase of fighting me in the morning to put her shoes on.  Unfortunately, we haven't moved beyond the "pull my shoes off the minute we are in the car" phase.  This week she surprised us by figuring out how to go down the stairs on her own.  Honestly, most of the major skills she has accomplished to date are things she has completely figured out on her own.  We never really worked with her on crawling, walking, etc.  My mom always said I did things in my own time when I was little.  Seems Izzy is a bit of a mini me in that regard.  

Izzy is quite the destructo child.  Most of the time it looks like a tornado went through our living room.  There are toys everywhere.  Frankly, we have given up on picking them up until after she goes to bed.  There's no point.  Our current struggle is with teeth brushing.  In the mornings, she's pretty good about chewing on her brush, but that really only covers her front teeth.  At night, I let her do it her way, but I end up holding her down so I can get to her back teeth.  It's a struggle every.single.day.  #sendhelp!  By all accounts from daycare, she is quite the busy bee there as well.  She loves music time; I catch her dancing all the time!  The girl has rhythm too.  

I can't wait to get outside more as the weather warms up.  Izzy loves it outside; Andrew hopes he has a new hiking buddy in the making.  He has talked about camping out with her in our backyard this summer.  We will see if anyone gets any sleep!  

16 Months Old

It's safe to say we are in full on toddler mode at our house.  Meltdowns and attitudes are a common occurrence.  Yesterday we had a meltdown while trying to get out the door to daycare... I wouldn't let Izzy spend 45 minutes putting her shoes on.  She has yet to actually figure out how to put her shoes on, so it wasn't something that was eventually going to happen.  I can't imagine where she gets her independent attitude from.

Our first milestone this month was celebrating Buddy's 14th birthday!  It's hard to believe he is 14; most days he acts like he's 5.  He has been battling pain in his back again the last month or so.  It started just before Christmas.  I was hoping we would be able to kick it with a quick round of steroids, but this took a full on round of meds and acupuncture treatment.  Luckily, I think we are finally coming out of it and he seems to be doing well.  As usual, we celebrated with a pupcake for both he and Maya.

Izzy continues to develop her personality.  She loves to dance; she must have my genes.  Daddy is already a little concerned about some of her dance moves.  I have assured him they wont last.

We seem to have some discrepancies on Izzy's height.  At her 12 month appointment with the doctor, she measured 32".  When I measure her at home, she is only measuring about 31".  I'm guessing she moved her head the last time we measured her at the doctors office.  She was due to go back to the doctor at the end of December for her 15 month checkup.  With all of the germs floating around right now, I have no interest in taking her into the clinic.  We will get there once this round of germy winterness passes.  Until then, we will say she is measuring just shy of 32".  Needless to say, I'm not sure she has really grown much since turning a year old.  She did actually gain a pound this last month and is now up to 26 lbs and 4 oz.  I can explain this by the pound of green beans she ate just before I weighed her!

Meal time is always a treat with Izzy.  One minute she loves cheese, the next day she wants nothing to do with it.  She was totally into goldfish crackers for a while.  I bought a bunch at the store and suddenly she wants nothing to do with them.  I can't keep up.  I'm sure you experienced parents are laughing as you read this and thinking, "welcome to the club".

We are still in 18 months month clothes, but I have pulled out a few 24 month things.  I stock piled quite a few 24 month winter clothes that I want to make sure she gets some use out of before the end of winter.  I thought I had been collecting some clothes for this summer, but when I went through Izzy's clothes this week I realized I don't have near as many things as I thought.  Before I hit up my favorite consignments shops for spring and summer clothing, I'm going to wait and see if this little sassy pants is about to go through another growth spurt.  I have a hunch we are going to land somewhere in the 24 month to 2T range for the summer.  Shoes are another tough one right now.  We blew through size 4 shoes quickly, so I stocked up on size 5 shoes for the winter and a few size 6 shoes for the summer.  However, her feet have slowed, and now I'm not sure she will make it to size 6 by the summer.  At this point, I've stopped buying clothes for the next season!

This month we have been lucky to enjoy some time outside.  Izzy had her first exploration in the snow.  She couldn't really move in all of her snow gear, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway.  She chased after Maya while Andrew threw snowballs.  Buddy stayed inside and enjoyed the warmth.  With his old age comes an intolerance for the cold.  We have a busy February in store for all of us.  I have a big test coming up next weekend, Andrew has some travel for work, and Izzy will have her first Valentines Day party at daycare.  Through it all, I try to remember to enjoy to the day to day.  She's growing up quickly, and I don't want to miss a minute.

15 Months Old

Rather than getting more time to do these updates, I feel like I'm getting less and less these days.  The bigger the kid, the bigger the messes to clean up.  It's hard to believe Izzy is 15 months old already.  She's turning into quite an opinionated lady who keeps us entertained and challenged.  It's amazing to watch her mind grow and her world expand yet I find myself wanting to keep her in a bubble forever so nothing happens to her. 

Izzy weighs in this month at 25 lbs and 4 oz.  She grew about a 1/2 inch and now is 30 1/2 inches tall.  She's solidly in size 4 diapers and wearing 18 month clothes for the most part.  Some 18 month pants are a little big around the waist of her, but she needs the length.  She's starting to push out of her 4.5 shoes and is wearing most of her size 5 shoes.  We just cleared out Target of all their 2t-3t clearance socks over the weekend in hopes that we can finally get her socks to stay on her feet.  The size variation in children's clothing brands continues to amaze and annoy me.

This month was a little rough for us in the health department, but nothing terrible.  Izzy spent the first week of December at home after having a fever that just wouldn't stay away.  After staying home and resting for a week, she has been back up and running.  Daycare has been a cesspool for pink eye, influenza a, strep..... We managed to avoid all of those.  After a week with a fever, I did cave and took Izzy in to the doctor to confirm my suspicions of a viral infection that needed to run the course.  It's hard watching your baby be miserable, but I did enjoy the extra snuggles.  Izzy has never been a snuggler, but she seems to be more affectionate recently.  

We are hearing a few more words out of Izzy these days.  Owl and apple are common.  She still loves uh oh, however, it would be nice if she could figure out when to appropriately use the word!  She says hi and bye on occasion and is perfecting her wave.  She doesn't say mom or dad, but she will run to us if told to get mommy or daddy.    

She's still a great eater and is usually willing to try new things.  Still not a meat fan other than fish and sliced turkey.  She loves her veggies and carbs, and had been on a kick with tortilla chips lately.  She can throw back quite a few eggs, which I encourage for the protein!  We have ventured into the early signs of potty training.  Izzy has started telling us when she has a dirty diaper and wants changed.  I'm not sure I'm ready for the adventures of potty training yet, but she is exposed to it at daycare as there are a couple of kiddos in her room at daycare currently working on potty training.  

This was from Izzy's first sing along at daycare this month.  There wasn't much singing on her part, but she was still cute, and I'm glad I got to watch her.  

We had a great time celebrating this Christmas with Izzy.  She was much more lively this year.  She still didn't get into unwrapping gifts, but she was excited for all her fun new toys.  Santa brought her a new chair to sit in and a backpack for daycare.  They have to hide her backpack from her when the other kids start to get picked up because she gets sad she isn't leaving too.  She's usually one of the last ones there for the day. 

We got lucky this December and Andrew wasn't sent out of state.  He did get put on road to drive for a couple of weeks, so those were some long days for him.  As always, we are glad to turn the calendar over to January and have life settle down a bit.  We look forward to the fun adventures we are planning this next year as well as the memories we will make.  

14 Months

It's an exciting and busy time of year here at the Wood house.  So far, Andrew has remained in state for peak season.  Andrew is putting in some long nights trying to help out where he can at work.  Seems the online shopping boom is hitting UPS, FedEx and the USPS pretty hard.  I know I have had a few deliveries delayed, and I see a few others have too.  Luckily, I have allowed myself plenty of shipping time for things.  I know everyone is busting their hump to make Christmas happen.  Hopefully we can all remember the reason for the season and be kind and understanding with one another. 

Izzy had a great second Thanksgiving, I think she enjoyed this one a little more than she did last year.  There's a strong chance she was more interested in playing with the straps on her booster seat than she was the Thanksgiving food, but at this point we just appreciate the things that can keep her entertained for a few seconds.  The week of Thanksgiving, Izzy and I took a staycation and hung out.  I enjoyed spending some extra time with her.  Although, I know she was excited to go back to daycare on Monday.  She ran straight to her teachers and friends!  I guess I was pretty boring. 

Izzy enjoyed some time with grandma and grandpa a few weekends ago.  She loved playing outside and helping haul pine branches.  She's quite the adventurer.  Much to Andrews liking, she loves the outdoors. 

Izzy has also discovered the lazy susan in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, there really isn't a good way to lock down the lazy susan, so the lids get flung around quite a bit.  Nothing breakable, so I can't get too worked up about it.  Although, I do feel like my new part time job is picking up toys, lids, etc.

Izzy didn't really gain any weight this month.  She is still 25 lbs, and has gained just a couple of ounces.  She's been at this weight for a couple of months now.  She has also been at the same height (32 inches) for a couple of months.  While her body might not be growing, her little mind is spinning all the time.  She has figured out how to put shape blocks into her shape sorter and would be content to do so 25 times in a row.  She loves reading to us and having us read to her.  Maya and Izzy have started to play together; more than Izzy just chasing poor Maya.  Buddy tries to stay out of the way for the most part. 

I finally packed away all of her 12 month clothes.  She has been wearing 18 month shirts for a couple of months now for the length.  Her 12 month pants were still fitting around the waist, so I was putting off packing them away.  However, when her 12 month pants turned into capris, I decided it was probably time to move on to her 18 month pants. 

This month I look forward to all the Christmas festivities with Izzy.  Obviously last year was her first Christmas, however, she was a little young to be aware of what was really going on.  She has discovered the Christmas tree.  So far, she is most fascinated by the lights and has left the ornaments alone.  We decided to put up the smaller of our two trees this year, and only put on our non-breakable/non-sentimental ornaments.  We will see if she continues to leave the tree alone. 

We have a few Christmas festivities over the next few weeks.  With any luck, Andrew will stay in town to participate in a few of these Christmas activities.