Haylee is Two months

My beautiful niece is two months old today.  I can't believe it has been two months already.  Of course I am not the one getting woke up every night to feed her but for me time has gone by so fast.  She is smiling and holding her head up.. she is growing so fast.  I miss her like crazy and I am so excited that she is coming into town in just two short weeks.  When I get a new picture from today I will post it!

Pictures of my beautiful neice..

Some of my favorites that I stole from Facebook!  Haha... She is growing up so dang quick... I am not sure exactly how old she is while these are being taken but I am sure it is within the last month.. lol  Her mom reports that she is smiling now.. awww.. I can't wait to see that... going to melt my heart for sure!

Tummy Time to make her strong... go Haylee

Cutie Pie

I am sure this is one of her favorite spots for the time being... enjoy it Sis,  cuz once she is moble forget it!  I just love this picture though and she will too when she is older!

I gotta give the credits for these pictures to my brother in law... thank you for the fix!

One Month

Today my beautiful niece is one month old. I can't even believe it has been one month already! How quickly it is going by already. She is growing so fast already and she has only been on this earth a short while. Oh boy. I hope that my wonderful sister will send me a picture of her from today so that I can post it.. hint hint... lol I love you Haylee!

Finally got ahold of this picture so I can post it!  Thank you facebook and Josh.. haha.

My Niece - Haylee Marie

My niece, Haylee Marie was born on August 14, 2009 at 11:11pm. I got the call that she was coming that afternoon and jumped in the car with Akrya and drove to Maryland, hoping that I would get there in time to see her born. But I missed her birth by just an hour and half. I was actually in Maryland when she was born. But I was the first to the hospital to hold her. She was so precious. It is amazing how someone so small and new can capture your heart so immediately. I can't wait to watch her grow (but not too fast of course). And she will of course be spoiled by her Aunt Shell every chance I get. Here are some of my favorite pictures so far.




Haylee and I when she was just six days old.





Haylee with her "My Auntie Loves Me" shirt at two weeks old.

What has been going on....

One of the bigger things that have happened in our lives this summmer is that I have been having some medical issues. These are things I have been pretty open about because I have a feeling it may really impact our lives a great deal and I am not someone that "keeps things to myself" very well. LOL. Well at least when it comes to my life anyway. Probably a therapist thing.. it can be therapuetic to talk about things that are going on. I like to lean into my support system when I am going through things. Anyway.. my issues could impact our ability to ever have children. I have been diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome). It is a hormonal inbalance. For me (as it is different from person to person) it is preventing me from ovulating (long intervals between periods) and is causing insultin resistance (unable to process sugars correctly which can lead to diabetes if not managed) which has lead to unexplained weight gain and an inability to lose weight. There are other annoying symtoms but they have not been as bad and most of them have gone away now so I don't remember them as well.. but the worst was fatigue. Oh and I was also diagnosed with hypothyroidism back in February too. (Another condition that can cause weight gain, mess with period cycles, and causes fatigue. (Fun stuff). Anyway.. once my thyroid levels evened out (by taking meidcation) I was still not regulating properly. So the doctor had me get an ultrasound and sure enough.. I have cysts in my ovaries. That in combination with the cycle problems I was having the doctor diagnosed me (my blood levels were not testing positive for PCOS which I believe is good because that means I am not close to becoming diabetic). So my doctor put me on medication that is supposed to help with the insulin resistance and help my body process the sugar better. I have also had to get on a low sugar/carb diet. (South Beach was recommended by my doctor) When I got back from my mom's wedding, I started this new diet. God Bless him, Geoff decided to jump on too! After three weeks I went to the doctor again and had lost 16 pounds and dropped 63 points on my cholesterol (the points had been since Feb but still). (condition can also raise that too..even though it was just slightly high) and my thyroid levels were "undetectable" so those medications had to be decreased a bit. My doctor is very happy with the progress I have made and doesn't need to see me for two months now. And Geoff has lost about 15 pounds too! Now since we have added a little carbs back in our diet we have not been losing as much so it is coming off much slower now but overall we are healthier. The next goal is to increase our activity levels a bit and adding in some weights for toning while hopefully continue to lose weight just slower then before. And we can jump back on the very low carb phase if we want to see results faster and can handle it. I am not going to lie it was hard so neither of us are really wanting to go back so I hope we can see enough results to stay where we are. Now, what I am waiting for right now is my cycle to regulate when it does hopefully that will mean ovulation is back. From what I have been reading it can take two or three months and I have only been on the meds since mid June. But I am still hoping. I am currently at day 31... sigh. Hopefully sometime in the next week.. cycles have been at 57 days, 57 days, and 46 days. So we are looking for improvement this time too! We will be trying this way for a year before we go to the next stage. So it is going to be a long road. I am writing all of this here as my therapy and because I know there are not many people that actually read this so my blogs maybe a little more revealing then I would normally be if I knew everyone was reading this. Of course it is out there on the web but maybe there is someone else out there I can help by talking about this. Anyway, till next time, keep your prayers coming.

Wow.. it has been sooo long!

Have I really not posted anything since April? What a long exciting summer I have had.. to piggy back off of the previous post. Akyra is doing better with the staying out of her cage thing, although we do have to block her from the basement as she likes to get into things in the early morning hours. We also leave her uncaged during the day too so she can guard the house. Akyra also turned one in May. We had a little get together.. well an excuse to have people over really.

I have had many trips over this summer. I went to Maryland to visit my sister, in July. I went to help her set up her baby's room. (Who should be arriving in the next couple of weeks). She just moved into a new house so she has been very busy getting it put together for when we all hush to be there for when the baby is born> We drove down to Florida to see my mom get remarried on the beach! It was a nice trip!

Geoff and I also celebrated our two year wedding anniversary at the beginning of this month. We went to Frankenmuth for a two day trip this year. So far we are keeping up with going somewhere to celebrate every year. LOL lets hope that stands as we go along.

Success... I think!

So we have had two straight nights with no incidents with Akyra.. I think that means she is gettng used to the "new" routine! Although new fun... I got woke up at 7:30am this morning.. heard her come out of her cage and come up the stairs to get us up.. nose in the face ready for kisses. Saturday morning is my day to get up with her, so here I am up after five hours of sleep... yawn. We have a wedding tonight.. should prove to be an early morning for Geoff tomorrow.. lol!

11 Months...

So Akyra turned 11 months old today! Wow how time has flown. She is a whooping 83 pounds and almost a year old. It is funny how young she still acts though. One might think that she would act a bit more calm since she is almost one year old, but no.. she is still overly excited when someone comes over... and god forbid it is a family member that she knows. She is even more excited for them. Or when she sees Athena her "best friend".. (well at least the dog she plays with the most.. we call her her best friend) it is so funny to watch her go nuts when Athena is walking up the driveway.. and the noises that come out of her when she is so excited... too funny.

So given that she is getting older and "wiser" and more trustworthy.. we have been working on not locking her up while we are gone and she does very well blocked into the kitchen area for short periods of time... so Geoff and I decided we were going to give her some trials on not being locked in her cage at night... as we would like her to be able to "protect us" as necessary during the night and well that would be hard to do locked in a cage all night.. so Sunday night was the first night we tryed it out.... she did really well.. she had already put herself to bed when I went to bed and didn't seem to know that her cage wasn't locked as she didn't move until Geoff got out of bed.. hurray...

Then Monday night comes... and she is not in her cage when I go to bed, so I let her outside and she comes in and goes straight into her cage (like her usual).. I give her her treat.. and go upstairs to bed... she follows me... I wash my face.. do my thing and go to the bedroom.. she is following me from room to room... puts her head on my leg.. then she sees Geoff (who mind you is sleeping and has been for a while) now she puts her paws on the bed.. and I pull her off trying to quietly tell her no and off... she moves around to the other side of the bed to get to Geoff... I tell her no... so I figure she is too wired to settle down and I don't want her to wake Geoff so down I go and put her in her cage and lock to door.. damn...

Tuesday night... Geoff and I go to bed together... and she is again out of her cage.. so I put her in her cage.. tell her night night.. she looks at me.. and when I walk away she follows up stairs again... we do our thing to get ready for bed.. she puts her head on the bed (she reaches that high)... I take her back downstairs put her in her cage and tell her down.. she lays down.. I go back upstairs... she comes out of her cage gets some water and goes back in... success.. or so we think.. a few mintues later.. she starts barking and comes flying out of her cage like someone is coming through the door... I go back downstairs to see what she is barking at.. I can hear another dog outside barking.. (don't know where it is coming from but not a usual bark I have heard before) plus there is a big truck across the way that is loud and has it's lights on... I tell her all is ok.. good girl.. and put her back in her cage and tell her down... and I go back upstairs to bed... then I hear her following me..she comes to the bed sniffing around.. I turn my back to her.. she goes to Geoffs side.. then back to my side.. finally she lays down on the floor of our room.. Geoff says do we want her there.. I say I don't care as long as she doesn't stick her nose in my face at night.. lol... some time passes and I decided to switch positions... and I get what.. a nose in my face.. she is up and wondering what I am doing moving.. God forbid... so then Geoff gets up and goes to the bathroom (great timing).. and says why dont we get her other bed(the one that is not in her cage) maybe she will be more relaxed.. I get her other bed and put it on the floor next to the bed... I tell her down... she does and we are back trying again... about two hours pass and I wake up for some reason and lift my head to look at the clock.. 3am.. she is up instantly and in my face again.. I try to ignore her.. and turn to go back to sleep... she lays back down... then about 30 minutes later I hear her get up and go downstairs to her cage where she stays for the rest of the night... hurray... sorta went well... lol.. boy I am tired though..

Now lets see how she does tonight.. she is already in her cage.. so I am expecting it to not be so hard tonight.. but Geoff is already in bed.. so could go either way.. wish me luck.. as I am off to bed!

Oh.. on a side note I found out on Monday that my sister is having a baby girl! Hurray!! A little girl to spoil and dress up. I went out and bought a couple things for her already today.. lol.. I also found out on Monday that my mom is getting re-married. July wedding in Florida.. I guess I get another trip to Florida this year.. darn.. lol

Aunt Shell

So I found out on Friday that my sister is actually further along in her pregnancy than she thought.. as of tomorrow she will be 16 weeks. I can't believe it. She is due on August 28th. How exciting for her. I am going to be an aunt and now I can tell everyone! They are going to find out what they are having around April 10th or so.. can't wait so I can start buying all kinds of stuff..

Doctor's orders

So on Thursday night at training class, Akyra hurt herself. We were doing recall drills (coming when called) and we were using tunnels. Akyra stood on one side and I on the other and I call her to me. Very fun and she loves it. Well my overzealous puppy is always so excited when we do these drills. Well on the second time through I called and backed up as she is coming.. she goes through the tunnel.. barrelling at me full bore. When she (likes she likes to do because she gets so excited) collides with me when she gets to me... now we have been working on this one so she goes into a sit right away... when I bend down, give her her treat. I also give her a pat on the head and start to move away when she trys to move she starts crying. I bend down to her to see what is wrong and I can't figure it out. We try to move out of the way of the next person but she is crying and isn't moving very fast. I don't know what do or even where she is hurt. I am trying to feel around on her and can't tell. Someone comes over and says it is her back leg from when she collided with you. And then I see it. She is limping and trying not to put any weight on it. The trainer tells me to keep her moving so it won't tighten up... she walks it out and isn't crying anymore. But she is hurt and limping. Of course she quickly goes back to her normal self (wanting to say hi to everyone close) but she is not moving really well. The trainer asks "have you had her hips checked? Sometimes the hip can come out of socket"... I say "no".. thinking she is only 9 months old and has had no problems til this moment... He says she is done for tonight but if she is still limping tomorrow to take her in. We walk around for a while. Geoff comes over and he is very upset. Upset that we were doing these "lazy drills" instead of "training"... upset at what it could mean for our puppy to get hurt so young... and upset that it could be a window into the future for us. So we leave class a few minutes early. And oh my.... it is a quiet ride home. So we get home and she is moving around slowly, limping and favoring her leg especially when she comes down the stairs. I went over to the neighbors house next door (our vet) but she is not home. We are not sure what we can give her so we pull out some of the stuff they gave us from her surgery a few months back to encourage her to rest. We decide we are going to give her the weekend to heal and see if she gets better then take her in.

On Friday morning I call the vet and explain what happened and make an appointment for Monday morning (they would have seen her sooner). She was also due for her bi-annual stuff so I made the appointment for everything at once. But our regular vet is out until Wednesday on vacation...(explains why she wasn't home) And so we wait.... Saturday.. she is getting better and Sunday she is still favoring it on the stairs but has no limp when she is just walking. Good news...

So Monday morning I take her in for her appointment. She gets weighted.. 82 pounds. She gets her kennel cough vaccine that she is due for. And then the vet comes in and of course Akyra is all friendly.. wanting his total attention. She gets examined and he checks her knees (look good) and her hips... (a little tender) but he says to let her rest the rest of the day and start a little exercise on Tuesday.. I ask about training class Tuesday night.. he says it will be a great way to see how she does... to rest her before and after and if her "lameness" returns to call and he can get her some antiflamitory medication. And he asks about her getting extra treats because of the training.. I say yes.. he recommends reducing her dry food because she has a couple of extra pounds which can add stress to her hips. He states that generally she seems very healthy. But at this point there is no need to have her hips x-rayed but if her limping returns it may be an avenue we take next. So Akyra is now on a diet! Well sort of... it is winter after all and it is very hard to get her out for her walks when it is so damn cold out. But with her increase in treats with training and decrease in activity... doctors orders are to reduce her food. Personally I thought she was doing pretty good.. in fact I thought she looked skinny. But I don't want to add stress to her joints and being a big dog she will have enough stress already so we will listen to doctor's orders and get her were she "should" be.

Check this out!

So I about died while I was in Maryland when I looked over to see my nephew and he was sleeping just like Akyra does.. I had to take a picture....



Here is Akyra in her position last month.. at the time I thought it was funny and had to take a picture.

Here is Barron last week while I was in Maryland sleeping the same way. It has gotta be a rottie thing! Enjoy the laughs!

Nine months old

Big girl in her "spot"... she likes to watch the neighborhood from here.

So Akyra turned nine months old this week. Oh boy.. she is quickly becoming a dog instead of a puppy.. yeah right! We have been giving her a bit more freedom these days.. letting her out of her cage but keeping her "locked" in the kitchen for short periods of time.. it was going great.. while I was in Maryland, Geoff let her stay out for the afternoon (checked in on her at lunch and then gated up the doorways). She did really well. Then on Monday.. her nine month birthday.. I leave her at noon and go into the office for the afternoon. I get a call on my way home, it is Geoff.

He wants to know what time I left her..

noon I say why?

Because she "shit all over the bathroom"...

what.. I say.. how did she get to the bathroom

she broke down the gate and got upstairs...

Oh my... damn.. I shut the other doors upstairs but not the bathroom... crap... I tell him I am on my way home.. he asks "do you want me to leave it for you"... I swear he actually asked that.. I told him hell no.. suck it up!

So I get home and he is burning candles... and he left the rug in the bathroom so I "could decide what I wanted to do with it"... I washed it and it came out perfectly clean.. men!

So what is my take on the incident.. really I think it is funny and very smart of Akyra... now I know that she has not had a number two accident in the house since she was like nine weeks old... I swear.. so poor girl had an emergency.. and what did she do.. why she broke down the gate to get to the bathroom, because (in my mind anyway) that is where Mom and Dad go... so she will too!... how smart of her! Poor thing!

Maryland visit

So I went to visit my sister for a long weekend while her husband was away on training. I had a great time spending "girl time" just me and Kris.. I also got to see my neice and nephew! I sure missed them. It was about two months since I had seen them. Barron is getting so big so quick, really reminds me of the lighting speed of Akyra's growth. Poor Sage is going to be the oldest but the littlest.

Barron and Sage fighting over their tire. He is getting so big.

Barron he is so damn cute! He is five months old here.


Close up to Sage. She is two years old.

I had a great visit with my sister and her "kids". Soon enough it will be human kids I go to visit. She is now 11 weeks along. Very exciting!

Taxes.. yuck!

I have been trying so hard to get my "stuff" together for taxes this year.. it seems like I have been working on it forever! I am guessing it is taking so long because I am also trying to put an inventory together for Mary Kay... at the end of every year I have to count every thing that I have in stock.. which isn't really the hard part... the hard part has been trying to put together a "running" inventory list.. so that with every sale I can put in what I sold and it will substract it from my inventory and when I purchase a product from the company I put it in and it adds it type of thing... This is my third tax season with Mary Kay and I have not set this up until now... why now do you ask... well because I had a theft this year... yipe someone that I welcomed into my home walked out of my house with some of my Mary Kay inventory... boo! And I had no way (other than "knowing" what I had) to show what exactly was missing... so I started setting up an inventory after it happened but I hadn't finished adding everything into it.. I just had what I had bought and sold each month not the running total formulas put in.... and it took forever to get everything together.. which I just finished doing! But of course things are not adding up right and I need to double check everything. And it is a pain in the butt to have to go over every receipt and every order I placed this year. It should have made things easier but it is harder to find a mistake too! Plus I am still waiting for my W-2... it was supposed to be here by yesterday and well it wasn't... my company had an "out of state" company prepare them this year and they were supposed to be mailed out last Monday.. and I was hoping I would have it by this weekend so I get going on the whole tax thing.. but no such luck! So here I am bitching because I am ready to have my taxes done and I have several things that have added a ton of time to the process! It used to be so much easier.

On this historic day!

President Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America and the first African American President EVER!



Ok so I lifted this picture, I was not there. But I did watch the address from a school that I was visiting today! What a moment in history! I actually teared up. I am so proud of this country and this moment. This truly a great day and not just for African Americans, but for ALL Americans. It is a day that represents the change that has happened in this country over the past fifty years. It shows just how far we have come as a "people", it shows that we are truly becoming "color blind". Are we there.. absolutely not, in fact far from it but we are getting there and our children will live in a better world because of it. Not only that but it shows us how ready we are as a country to not continue with how we have been running our government. We have finally gone outside the box to make things happen. Of course, we are in such hard times right now, I hope that President Obama is able to do all that he dreams because his ideas will change our lives and our world forever. It is a hard task that lay ahead for him. He is a man of integrity and determination and may his dreams for our country and a better life for ALL Americans be something we all strive for and help him to achieve. God Bless you Mr. President and may God Bless your family.

New Car for us!

I am so excited! Geoff and I are finally getting a "newer" car. This is huge. It has been a great run without a car payment but after almost four years without one it is time to bite the bullet! We are picking it up tomorrow... oh the excitement! I wonder who will win the right(or fight) to drive it home... humm...We are going to be trying to sell Geoff's Dodge Intrepid but we are officially done driving that thing.. (well as soon as Geoff gets home from work with it)... he will now be the driver of my Cavilier (well just back and forth to work anyway) and I will get to drive the "new" car, a 2005 Mazda 6i.... hee haa... not brand new but I don't care I am just glad to finally have at least one car that doesn't have one foot in the grave! Plus it looks and drives great! (Jana not the smart car as in your dreams lol). Just had to share!

On a side note... Akyra is eight months old today! Wow time flys!

Happy New Year!

Hello bloggers! Happy New Year! Well Geoff and I are back from our wonderful Florida vacation! Well we have been back for a week but it has been one crazy week. Geoff got sick on our last day and brought it home as a present for me. We started Akyra back in training so between that and being sick.. it has been quite a week. But we are back at work and back to the insane snow levels this year. HeeHaa!



Here are some pictures from our trip!

Geoff and I at Clearwater Beach

Clearwater Beach


Pete, Mom, Me, and Geoff on Clearwater Beach

Sunset on the Florida West Coast

Self Shot at Universal Studios

Kristyn at Kennedy Space Center

We got back and Akyra was huge... took her to the vet to weight her.. and she is 75 pounds now! Crazy.. and she seems to have gotten stronger while we were away.. not likely but it seems that way... oh and she has forgotten some of her manners too! Back to training.. which we did the night we picked her up...

Oh and the family has some news too... given the limited amount of people that check this blog I hope it is "safe" to report that my sister is expecting! Yup.. I am going to be an aunt... and since she is telling everyone already I feel I can at least tell those people that actually check my blog... haha... for the others I will wait until she is further along..