Wordless Wednesday

Prayers

Baby Stellan is not doing well at all. MckMama checked him into the hospital a few days ago so that he could be monitored on a new drug regimen for his SVT. It hasn't work. Stellan has not been out of SVT for more than a few minutes in 3 days. Please go to her blog to read more details.



He needs prayers. His last hospital run was sad and scary, and it seems that this one is even worse for this poor baby. Their well trusted doctors are running out of options, and my last Twitter update on my cell phone stated that MckMama didn't know what was going on, but she was holding her son knowing that her parents and family are on their way to be with him. They think it might be too late to send him back to Boston.



Please pray for him today.

Teaching Fenway

Per Shannon's request, I'm doing a blog post on how we are training sweet Fenway! Shannon and her hubby are looking to buy a Westie puppy in the near future, and she was asking me about some of the ways we are working with Fenway.

Housebreaking

Fenway is 13 weeks old now, so he's at a really good age for training. Puppies that are just weaned at about 6 weeks from their mother's DEFINITELY do not have the bladder or muscle control to hold it very long. In this case, which is what my parents did for sweet Hoss, was to let him eat or drink and take him outside the very minute he finishes. Chances are, he would go just a few minutes after eating or drinking.

Since Fenway is a little older, we wait just a bit more after he finishes eating or drinking. First thing in the morning, Jason gets up, gets dressed and takes Fenway straight outside (he sleeps in a kennel cage for now). He normally pees first thing in the morning. Then Jason gives him half of his daily food intake, and Fenway usually eats and drinks while Jason is eating breakfast and getting ready for work. After Fenway is finished, they normally play with a ball or toy for about 10 or 15 minutes, and then Jason takes him outside again. There is usually success. When we come home for lunch, Fenway usually doesn't eat if there are leftovers in his bowl, but he will drink. Again, the same routine. In the evenings, Fenway tends to snack on whatever is left in

When Fenway successfully potties outside, extreme praise comes from Jason and I. Whoever is the one to take him out praises him right on the spot. Then we take him in and tell the other so that the other can praise him too. Fenway loves this. He loves being bragged on, and he loves it when the other person comes running to tell him what a good boy he is. His tail wags, he licks, and wiggles all over for as long as we are praising him. We use and emphasize the words that we want him to learn too during this. "Good boy Fenway! That's a good boy to pee pee (or poo poo, depending on the movement haha) outside! Outside is where you pee pee (or poo poo)!" We usually try to use a voice that you would with a small baby. We try to make praises a bit higher pitched, excited, and very friendly. Then we also reward him with a treat. We have a box of Milkbones, and break off a small piece for him. He gobbles it up.

Sometimes, and unavoidably, Fenway has had and will have more accidents. We usually catch him in the process. When we do catch him, we say "NO Fenway!" and scoop him up and take him outside to finish. If we don't catch him in time, he gets scolded. I normally start off with sounding just like my mother and saying: "FENWAY! Did you pee pee in my house?!" His tail and ears normally go back. Then we take his face, and put his nose down near his mess (not in it, because thats nasty) so that he can smell it. I say a bunch of times in a lower, stern voice: "NO NO Fenway! You don't pee pee in this house! You don't pee pee inside! You pee pee outside! BAD!" Then, we take a paper towel to either mop up, or pick up the mess and take him and the paper towel outside. I then stick his nose down by his mess again so that he can smell his mess in the grass and tell him again: "You pee pee outside, this is wear it goes!" He comes back inside with me, and after a few minutes I will repeat to him again what he is supposed to do, and then we make up.

Sleeping Arrangement

Fenway was used to being in a cage when he got him, so this hasn't been excessively difficult. At about 10, we put him in his "bed" (as we tell him) for the night, and turn out the lights in our room and leave the room. He cries for about 30 minutes, and nods off to sleep. The first night, he slept until 5 am, which we assume to be the time that the breeder normally fed them and woke them up, because he barks and we can hear him playing with the toy we leave in there for him. But we don't get him out, or acknowledge his noise making. After about 30 minutes, I will get up, sit in front of his crate and talk quietly to him for a minute or two. If that didn't work, we would attempt to take him outside to relieve himself. So far, it's worked and we haven't had to take him out, so then I get back in bed and go back to sleep until time to get up. We don't want him thinking that 5 am is a wake up call for potty OR play. The next few nights, he also did this at 3 am, and we did the same thing. We let him cry it out, and his yips only lasted about 15 minutes, and he was good to go until 5. Repeat. Last night, he only cried for about 5 minutes, and he slept ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Yep! He slept until 6:15, when Jason wakes up.

Chewing

So far, Fenway doesn't chew on much furniture, but he does like our desk chair. He also likes our clothes. I will be in the process of changing, and he likes to be sneaky and grab a shirt or pair of underwear that isn't too difficult for him to drag and take it away. He also enjoys the frayed edge of our "no sew" blanket to chew on. None of these are items that we want him to chew on, destroy, or anything else. Since this isn't a HUGE problem yet, we just try to distract him. We give him his chewy, rawhide bone, his stuffed toy, or his tennis ball. This usually works. If it doesn't we just throw out a stern "NO, we don't chew on that!" and give him something he CAN chew on. We're working on this, it's been more difficult than the other. But he's trying.

So there you have it Shannon (and the rest of my bloggy friends)! These are the things we are working on for now. Once he gets a bit older and these three things down, we will move on to sitting, laying down, rolling over, and some other fun things! :)

My New Love

Are you all tired of every single blog being about Fenway? No? Good. Because he will be the subject of many blog posts, I'm sure.
Little guy got his face trimmed yesterday, and his toenails trimmed!! He's even more adorable now!!

So this is Fenway before:

And this is Fenway NOW:

He wasn't too into posing this morning. I'll try to get better pictures.

Fenway LOVES his ball, but he's not fantastic at picking it up. His little jaw isn't big enough for it, so he's pulled the fuzz away and carries it by that.

So last night, while Jason was playing on the computer, Fenway and I played with his ball, but he was WORN out from such a big day with grooming and all the playing he did when we came home. We both fell asleep in the office floor, and after Jason was done on the computer, he laid down in the floor with us, Fenway in the middle. I woke up to feeling Fenway jump over my legs to get out of the sandwich kind of like: “All RIGHT! Mom and Dad are asleep, time to go exploring!!!” Little sneak was headed over to the vent, where he can lay on top of it to feel the air, and swat at/chew the desk chair wheels at the same time! No damage done, but it was definitely time for bed after that!!

Mutt Monday!!!

In honor of Fenway, I can finally participate in Mutt Monday!! I discovered Mutt Monday through my cousin Amy, who tells the tales of her insanely cute pup, Zoey! Here's some pictures of our little guy from today:

So Fenway feels safest between our FEET.  If we are walking around, he follows pretty closely.  As soon as we stop walking, he positions himself between our feet.  Here I am, cooking dinner, and Fenway standing guard (or seeking protection from his new, still unknown world!).
A close up of our little guy.

So Fenway decided that I was running around too much while I was trying to cook, so when Jason walked in, he kept Jason's socks company for a little while!  Isn't he cute?!

Fenway did FANTASTIC last night in his kennel cage (aka, his BED).  We put him to bed around 10, and he did cry and wimper for about 30 minutes.  But he curled up and went to sleep about 10:30 and slept ALL night.  Well, until 5 am.  But at 5, I sat in front of his bed and talked to him through the door for a few minutes, and he got quiet again and slept until 7!  What a great puppy!

We took him to the vet today and he officially weighs 3.3 pounds.  All of his health was in perfect condition, and all of the nurses loved him.  And Fenway loved his nurses!  I didn't want to watch his first set of shots in fear of it hurting, and him associating me with the pain.  So they took him into another room and brought him right back.  They said he didn't flinch, whine, or even MOVE.  What a tough boy we have!!  Tomorrow he goes back for them to trim around his eyes, his toenails, and his "potty patch."  We decided to let them trim him up the first time just so we could see how they did it, and then do it ourselves. Pictures of our cutie tomorrow, that's for sure!

Furbaby Bath Time!

So Fenway was just a LITTLE bit dirty and stinky when we got him.  Our first stop before home was to PetCo. (since they allow puppies IN the store!) and we picked up all the basic necessities, including shampoo.


His first bath in the sink!!
HEHEHE, he is so tiny! You can't hardly tell how little he is under all the fluff!

Brushing my baby after his bath.

Our first family photo! :)

I must say, I'm one proud Momma.  Fenway went potty outside this evening already! After one accident and one close call, he did it! He's so smart! 

We're Expanding Our Family!!

That's right boys and girls, the Orlando family is getting bigger!!  And it's a boy.

Nope, sorry.  I'm not pregnant.  We got a puppy!!  My Dad delivers to a breeder that has all kinds of dogs, and she had a litter of pom-a-poos 3 weeks ago.  My family LOVES the pomeranian/poodle mix, since my parents have one named Hoss:

Isn't he cute??  I love good ol' Hoss boy, Jason and I puppy sat for him a couple of weeks ago when my parents went on vacation.

Anyway, we went to see this little black pom-a-poo that we had heard so much about, and knew this little guy would be ready for us to take him home in about three weeks.  He was SO precious.  As we were walking by, I saw this really pretty dog that I pointed out.  The lady said that it was a poodle, and I was shocked! I had never seen a poodle without its weird hair cut.  She said she had one puppy left from the poodle litter that was ready to be taken home.  A 12 week, tan little poodle.  She went to get him and brought him outside, and Jason's eyes lit up.  It was love at first sight.  He cuddled right up to us, and gave us kisses.  I could not believe that we were about to take home a poodle! I've NEVER thought poodles were cute, but that's because of their weird grooming.  So we took home this little guy with a vow to NEVER cut his poor hair into something weird.

Named after Jason's favorite baseball teams home field, meet Fenway Orlando! :)

Stay tuned for pictures from his very first bath! 

Changes?

"And the days went by, like paper in the wind. Everything changed, then changed again." Tom Petty

It's so funny how things change. You leave high school, and you absolutely CANNOT wait to start college, make new friends, leave all the drama of high school behind. Well, that's how I was, anyway. Don't get me wrong. I loved high school. I had a handful of some of the best friends you could ever ask for, and many acquaintances that made days and life entertaining. But I was ready to graduate. I was ready for new people, and I was ready for a change in scenery. The same, circular (yes, our high school was weird-built in two circles) walls everyday

 got old.

I loved college. One of my BEST friends from high school stayed and went to good ol' WKU as well. In fact, we were supposed to be roommates. When I ended up not moving to campus, she got a random roommate. Since Ashlee and I were sticking close together in those first few months, I became fast friends with her roommate too. We all became extremely close, and ended up on a spring break trip together to Gulf Shores, Alabama to our friends family condo. This girl knew a group of people that were also going to be in Gulf Shores, and we hung out with them several times that week. That "random" group of individuals included my husband

. How crazy? One change in plans not to move up to campus literally CHANGED my life.

Freshman year ended, and Ashlee's roommate changed things up again by not returning to WKU in the fall. I had met so many people through Jason, and my entire group of friends changed dramatically. By the end of college, our group had narrowed quite a bit due to graduations, jobs, and relocations.

Then of course, things changed again when Jason and I decided to get married. Things changed to include Jason's first full-time job, me leaving my parents house for the first time, graduating, buying our first home, taking sole responsibility of EVERY bill, etc. But you all remember this post?  My bittersweet lessons on true friendship and fake friendships?  The happiest time in my life did not only change my personal life with my husband, but it also changed my life with the understanding of a true friendship.

Since my wedding, I have spent my summer evenings with my wonderful family, my sweet husband, and some of the truest friends I will ever have and have ever had.  My two VERY best friends from high school and I have always made time for each other.  Regardless of our location, our job status, our school status, or how many new friends we made-there was always time for these two.  And they always made time for me.

Every once in a while, I think about how I couldn't wait to get out of high school.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't want to go back.  But I think about how many changes I wanted in my life, and I got them.  But as the circle completes, I'm right back to where I started from.  Sure, there are some people this time around that are here that weren't the first time.  But, these two have been a constant in my life.

It's funny how things change.  But the best part of it all, it's funny how they don't.

My Awesome Husband!!

What the heck??? It's Friday, and I needed something to blog about!

My Husband!

1. What's his name?

Jason!

2. How long have you been married?

1 month and 10 days

3. How long did you date?

Just shy of 3 years.

4. How old is he?

25-He's an old fogey!

5. Who eats more?

DEFINITELY HIM. Hands down.

6. Who said, "I love you," first?

He did.

7. Who is taller?

He is.

8. Who sings better?

Eh-debatable. Neither one of us are that fantastic. But probably him.

9. Who is smarter?

Depends on what you are looking at. He's a doer, I'm the thinker. He can figure out how to DO things, and I'm the thinker on what should be done.

10. Whose temper is worse?

His, but mine shows more often.

11. Who does the laundry?

Haha! This is one thing that people laugh at us for the most. He HATES to sort clothes and take them in and out of the washer/dryer. I HATE to fold and put away. So we each do the part that the other hates.

12. Who does the dishes?

Usually our dishwasher, but Jason normally is the one to put them away and reload the dishwasher if it was too full to fit everything. I'm more willing to handwash than he is.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

He does. He says he sleeps better next to the end table. LOL When we had this discussion I thought he was going to say he slept better next to ME, not the end table. But whatever. :)

14. Who pays the bills?

We have a joint account, but I'm normally the one to make sure the money is transfered into it. He doesn't like to mail the ones we can't pay online, so he's usually the one to drop the payments off. I do the online payments.

15. Who mows the lawn?

Always Jason. He LOVES it.

16. Who cooks dinner?

Usually me, but lately we have been grilling a lot, and that part is his job. He's a great cook though and its always wonderful when he decides to do it.

17. Who drives when you are together?

He does. He doesn't like riding in my car too much, although he denies that.

18. Who is more stubborn?

Definitely me on MOST things.

19. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?

I'd have to say usually Jason-hence the "most stubborn" title that I have. I'm awful at giving in, but sometimes I realize that enough is enough.

20. Whose parents do you see the most?

Mine. They live about 15 minutes away from us.

21. Who has more friends?

I'd say that's pretty equal too. We are lucky to each have our own individual friends, and our mutual friends.

22. Who has more siblings?

Jason. He's one of 6!

23. Who wears the pants in the family?

I'd say that we both share one big, baggy pair of pants =)

My Big Redneck Wedding

So bloggy friends, I saw some celebrities today! I think I met the entire cast from a season of My Big Redneck Wedding!! Where, you ask? The social security office of course! I think I met every single person that gives Kentucky the stereotype that we have.

Oh. My. Gosh. I went this morning to FINALLY change my name to be an Orlando! I have been putting off this task because of the horror stories from the SS Office, but today I finally went over there. I can't change anything else until I get my new drivers license, and I can't get THAT until I go to the SS Office (insert scary movie music here.) Luckily, I ended up with a very nice lady that helped me very quickly and efficiently, and I was in and out in about 20 minutes. But those 20 minutes in the waiting room were INSANE.

Seriously guys, it was ridiculous. I got there about 5 minutes before it opened in hopes of not waiting too long. The line to print your ticket for "Reason for Coming, Here's Your Number That We Will Eventually Get Around to Calling" was already OUT THE DOOR. Ridiculous! So I take my wonderful number of E92 and search for a seat. The waiting room is packed, and its full of the cast from my Big Redneck Wedding!

Seriously-bloggy friends-if you ever have to go-don't wear normal clothing! Not that I am dressed fantastically today, but I do have on black pants, a tan shirt with a scoop neck, and black dress shoes. I mean, I DO have a job that I have to look presentable for. You would have thought I was dressed for the Oscars and walked into a Demolition Derby. I got SO many strange looks from these people. I found a seat in the back corner as far away from people as I could get, which only ended up being a few seats, but still.

In all seriousness, the set up in our new SS building is pretty nice. The back of the waiting room has 3 windows that have people to assist the Crazies (Labeled A, B, and C) and there are two doors to leave the waiting room. The sign next to the door on the left labels reads 1-7 and the sign on the door on the right reads 8-15. There ARE windows, so it is obvious that these numbers are representing more windows that have Crazy-People Assistants. They would call number, and say "Go to window (insert letter or number here) please." The lucky Crazy would get up, turn in circles, and say "Where?! What?! Where is that?" Someone would always politely point to the right, left or back and direct the nut. Then, somehow, the polite Crazy would get called next and pull the EXACT same stunt that the previous Nut had. I know that Kentucky is stereotyped to being illiterate hicks, but seriously Crazies. You don't even HAVE to read at the SS Office. They NUMBER it for you JUST IN CASE. Somehow, that still doesn't seem to work.

As I'm sitting there, Crazies are getting called left and right-and one particular Crazy is next in line. Her father stands up and announces "That's my daughter, but she's in the bathroom!" The gentleman behind window C politely says "That's fine sir, we will call her again in a minute." This next part has to be written in conversation form, or I will never finish and end up confusing you all.

The daughter comes RUNNING out of the bathroom and says, "Who did they just call?!"
Father: "You! Hurry!"
Daughter (to man behind Window C): "I'm here, I'm here! But my Momma's in the bathroom, and she can't see.
Window C Man: "Well, miss, go take care of your mother and we will be happy to call you back in a minute."
Daughter: "No, no I'll just be right back!"
Window C Man: "It's ok ma'am, take your time, and we will call you again."
Daughter: "Oh, never mind, someone else is getting her!" (Note that this someone else is a TOTAL stranger that just happened to be in the waiting room.)

Out comes the mother, with a T-shirt 8 sizes too big, baggy shorts, hair that hadn't been brushed in 12 years, and sunglasses. Poor woman, you can tell she's not cared for well. The father takes her to Window C, Daughter tells him to take her to sit down, and then outside. The poor woman was dragged all over the place, and had no idea where she was being taken, or even who was taking her.
With all this commotion going on, I couldn't hear what Crazy Daughter wanted originally, but I did catch wind of the closing remarks of her business with Window Man C.

Daughter: While I'm here, my son lost his social security card, what should I do?
Window Man C: How old is he?
Daughter: 42. (Ummm...seriously lady? It's time for your son to handle his own affairs.)
Window Man C: Well then he will need to come up here himself and apply for a new card himself.
Daughter: But he doesn't get checks or anything, he just needs a new card.
Window Man C: Yes, but he's over 18 so he has to apply for this himself.
Daughter: Well I just thought I could get it all done while I'm here, but fine!

And I thought MY job needed patience.

"Orlando"

This post is just for my Aunt Angie!! :)  

In case you didn't know, my Aunt Angie is extremely talented!!  So when I caught wind that she was MAKING our wedding gift, I couldn't wait to see it.  Head over to her blog to see some of her other cool creations, as well as more photos of her beautiful piece she made for us!  It's a beautiful new family heirloom that Jason and I can pass down to our babies and grandbabies (that won't be around for many years though! haha)

Aunt Angie-the minor setback of the neck pain put the final project of hanging it off a few days, but we finally got it hung in our foyer over the console table!  Here is an up close shot of the frame and matting...

And a "kind of" shot of the frame hanging in its spot.  Sorry guys, the foyers not very wide, I was as far back as I could go!!

Hope we did it justice Aunt Angie!  Thanks again for such a meaningful wedding gift! We love you!

:(

I'm in a bad mood.  

I woke up yesterday morning with the worst crick in my neck.  I thought I must have slept on it wrong, so I took some ibuprofen and went on my merry little way to work.  Medicine didn't help.  By the time I went home to my Mom's for lunch, stiffness was setting in.  I could turn my head to the right, tilt it to the right, and SLIGHTLY look up, but anything to the left was impossible.  Mom gave me some Bayer aspirin, thinking that would relieve some of the pain.

5 pm came, and my neck was in so much pain I was ready to cry.  I dropped my keys in the parking lot at work, and bending over was blinding.  I had already sat down in my car, so I managed to slide out onto the pavement and pick them up.  I was REALLY frustrated at this point, but I still couldn't go home just yet.  I still had to head over to feed the dog of my coworker that was out of town.  I show up at his house, unlock the door to the shed, only to find NO food.  Where the heck was it?  It was always in the shed, where else could it be? I walked around the outside of the shed, but was fresh out of luck.  I called my coworker.  No answer.  By this time I was fresh out of any kind of patience that may be left.  I sat down and cried.  And then I drove home, and cried the whole way home.  Poor Jason had no idea what to do with me. I couldn't get comfortable, and I couldn't even raise my arms to take off the shirt that I wore to work that day.  So I ended up in bed, still in the shirt I wore to work, trying to find some form of comfort.

My coworker finally called back, so my wonderful husband set off to feed his dog, and to stop at my parents for a neck pillow.  My mother had a terrible neck injury several years ago, so she had lots of different ideas on how to make me comfortable, as well as supplies!  The neck pillow did help quite a bit, but I still couldn't sleep well.  It was awful trying to roll over, but staying in one position made me feel stiff all over.

This morning was even worse than last night.  I couldn't sit up on my own.  I had to hold my neck with both hands, let Jason lift me from my back, and use my abs with all my might to get up.  My next task was to walk to the bathroom and by the time I was in there, I felt faint.  Back to bed it was.  Work was just not in the picture for me.  Of course, the frustration of not being able to move cause more tears.  I felt like I dang turtle stuck on his back. 

Jason was set to stay home with me, but I sent him on to work since he is fresh out of vacation time.  And now, so am I.  My mom came over to sit with me this morning and to drive me to the doctor.  The doctor said that for whatever reason, the muscle was in spasm. After a shot of Cortizone, and prescriptions for muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories, I was at my Mom's house to try to sleep off the rest of this.  So far, no such luck.

I'm scared of the muscle relaxer.  I've never taken one before, so I don't know what to expect, and I'm not exactly the best at handling medicine.  It often makes me feel loopy or druggy, so I really just don't want to take it.  Let's hope it isn't too bad, I'm putting it off until bedtime.

I'm in a bad mood.