Michelle's Thoughts and Ideas

So what happened with the cycle?

2011-09-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

So now I have you caught up... right? Well not exactly... haha

One of the hormone "aids" I take is progesterone. It is a hormone that the body starts to make as soon as you ovulate. Well for some people there is a problem with the production and to leave nothing to chance my RE has had me use it this cycle (and the previous two). It gives you the same symptoms one might have if say they are pregnant.. and ironically... the same for PMS.. cruel cruel mother nature let me tell you!

Anyway.. since four days since the IUI I have been having what I assumed to be the progesterone lying, cruel symptoms. After seven days.. I took a pregnancy test.. why you ask.. well remember that trigger shot? That is the pregnancy hormone so you test positive on pregnancy until it is out of your system.. the last time I took it it was gone around 7 days so I tested it out and sure enough STARK white! Which means that if I get weak and want to test early I can believe what the test tells me.

Nine days after the IUI I am starting to feel the itch to test... and I was told by the pharmacist that if I am pregnant I should not be taking my allergy medications... well boo. My head tells me how many times have you been through this.. just test and see and if nothing you can continue to take the medication. I tell my mom that I WILL not be testing until Saturday..

September 2, 2011

I wake up and my boobs are hurting so bad I wonder... maybe I SHOULD test... so I do

Yup.. that is right... POSITIVE!

Holy crap.. I am in such disbelief... I look again and again.. and again... then I run downstairs to show hubby. At first he doesn't see it.. then he does and is concerned it isn't very dark.. I assure him that after two and a half years of stark white it is any line at all that means it is positive.. and that I am in fact pregnant! He still wants to wait for the doctor before calling it.. I tell him there is NO way I am sitting on this information all weekend not after everything we have been through! And I test again later in the day.. that is the second test shown above... he believes it this time.. but he is worried about getting too excited in case something happens.. he doesn't want me to "be upset" (how sweet).. I tell him that no matter what if something happens I will be upset so we might as well be happy and enjoy this moment. He finally agreed.

Two days later we see this.. the cool thing is that my sister brought this test for me to use when I test.. it is the second test from her box where she got her positive!

At this point I stop testing.. until I go to the doctor.

At 14dpo I go to the doctor for a blood test. My hormones are great and I am in fact PREGNANT for the first time EVER!

I go back two days later and my numbers are increasing. We have our first ultrasound set for Sept 20th! I wonder how many little ones we have in there?

HOLY SHIT... against all odds, I am PREGNANT! Please, Please, Please, Please.. let me carry this baby to term!

Update Part 3 - August 2011

2011-09-18T21:33:00.003-04:00

And so we get to the last well two months of crazy.. haha

We go to the RE and get our plan for this next cycle. We will be doing Clomid, Follistim (injections), and Ovidrel (injection to induce ovulation) then IUI (inter-uterine insemination). We can start as soon as my period arrives which should be any day.

Hubby and I celebrate our four year wedding anniversary!! We got away for a wonderful weekend evening. We knew that we would have a busy month and wanted one last time to relax. I started my period on our anniversary so during our weekend get away I am to take the clomid pills to start our cycle. When we get home he is to give me the first injection of the cycle (Sun). I am to come to the office to start ultrasounds and bloodwork in two days (Tues). Hubby gives me an injection that night and again in two nights (Thurs) and I am to go back the next morning (Fri). He is to give me another shot that Saturday night and I am to go back on Monday. When they tell you doing a cycle is a full time job they are not kidding.. I am running back and forth between the doctors office and then to work.. then I have to wait til later in the afternoon to get the results of the blood work and they give me instructions for when I am to do my next shot and when I have to come in again.. it is crazy!

Hurray.. Haylee turns two years old!

So I go back the next Monday..at this point people are usually about ready to ovulate... but NOT me.. oh no.. I get to be difficult.. the RE adds an injection to the mix (menopur).. so I am now to do two shots the next two nights and come back on Wed morning.. I go back.. still NOT enough.. so we go two more days of double injections.. now mind you I have follies (eggs) forming they just aren't growing big enough... typically one takes over and dominates and the others get smaller.. so you have one egg that ovulates.. By Friday morning.. I now have A LOT that are getting bigger... I am terrified that they are going to shut down the cycle completely.. however.. they want me to come back Saturday morning to see how things are going and then the RE will decide what he wants to do.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

I go back for another ultrasound and blood work. The RE decided that in order or us to continue with the IUI as planned, they will have to go in and aspirate some of the extra eggs before the procedure. He instructs two more injections tonight, and trigger shot tomorrow night at exactly 7pm. We are to decide by Monday if we wish to have the extra eggs destroyed or if we want to have them fertilized and frozen for a possible FET (Frozen Egg Transfer) down the road. This aspiration procedure is pretty much the same as one would have if under going IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization). We do the shots and am scheduled for the retrival at 8am on Tuesday (8/23) and the IUI for 1pm that same day.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hubby and I arrive for the retrieval.. I am put under general anesthesia during the procedure they removed 10 eggs and leave in 4 for the IUI later that day. We go home for a few hours and then return for the IUI at 1pm that afternoon. My ovaries are VERY sore and have been for the past week and a half but the egg retrieval makes them even more sore and me uncomfortable for about five day following. However, hubby gives a stellar "sample" and the ultrasound shows I just ovulated so our timing is PERFECT... our hopes are high as we leave the office... I have to return for blood work in one week to make sure my hormone levels are good and again in two weeks for a blood test to see if I am pregnant. I go home and rest the rest of the day.

The next day I get a call.. of the 10 eggs that were removed, 9 of them were mature enough to fertilize. They did what is called a ICSI where they take the sperm and put it right into the egg for fertilization. It is more successful then just letting the sperm do their thing. Well all 9 eggs fertilized and they froze all 9 for later FET use. This fills me with great relief. We have a back up plan that will cost us a whole lot less than traditional IVF.. I know that if this IUI doesn't work we have another option that has a higher chance of working.. how wonderful!

One week later my hormone test shows everything is going well.

Update part 2 - January 2011- July 2011

2011-09-18T20:31:00.003-04:00

January 2011

We start our third round of clomid. I also have other supportive hormone drugs and am being monitored which means going in to the doctors office every couple of days to have ultrasounds and blood work done to see how my body is progressing. I ovulate on CD 17, earliest EVER... but we don't get pregnant.

February 2011

We mark two years of trying to conceive... on the same day that I am to call the doctor to tell them it didn't work. I come "out" on Facebook as being infertile.. the response is pretty amazing.. I was terrified but it turned out okay. We go into our final attempt before we have to consider surgery.. I have three eggs that are mature enough to ovulate, so the RE gives the go to use a Trigger shot to make sure they all ovulate. This is done in a shot in the stomach.. it is the first one I do... well hubby does it and we were totally not prepared as it was a last minute thing.. but it is done... and I ovulate on CD 15... and we wait.

March 2011

We do not get pregnant. I call the doctor to set up the 3D test again. The test showed I had a polyp in my uterus and for sure a septate uterus. All pretty scary. The RE wants to do surgery to remove the polyp, "cut back" septate, and to explore for endo as my left ovary appears to rest under my uterus. He will be performing a Laparoscopy and Hysteroscopy. Also stated that uterus is tilted a bit to the side. We were given more information on the septate (a birth defect): it is preventing implantation in 1/3 of the uterus and that in the event that we do get pregnant there is a high risk of miscarriage, preterm labor, and preterm delivery because it also causes a "weak cervical canal" so we will need to be monitored closely. We were also informed that my LH and FSH levels while in the "normal range" in relation to each other are "off".. further confirming my PCOS. The surgery is Scheduled for May 23rd.

April-May 2011

We have to take time off til the surgery and I will be put back on birth control pills to get ready. We will have to wait for me to heal after the surgery too so we have the summer off!

May 2011

I have the surgery. After the surgery they were not able to stop my pain for a while and had to give me a large quantity of pain medication before sending me home. They told hubby that he would see me in an hour but it ended up being over three hours. During the surgery.. they removed the septate, a polyp and some cysts on my ovaries. They did not find endometrosis and my ovary was where it was supposed to be so it must just "float". Also during the surgery they left a small catheter in my uterus for a week to help with the healing. After a few days of healing that ended up being the most annoying part of being laid up.. I was feeling better but still had that to contend with.. no fun... however.. I did end up losing 10 pounds that week because I didn't eat a whole lot.. thank you pain medication. I have to continue to heal and take hormones to aid in that process. After about six weeks I have to call to set up another ultrasound to see how everything looks now.

July 2011

Have the ultrasound. We are cleared to begin trying again once my period arrives. We set up a consult for the beginning of August (RE is on vacation).. to see what the plan will be.

My sister finds out they are expecting baby #2. This information is bitter sweet. I adore my niece and am so happy that my sister will NEVER have to endure this pain I have had for the past two and a half years. But what about my turn? We have been trying to have baby # 1 since I knew my sister was three months pregnant with my beautiful niece... that niece is about to turn two and my sister and her husband conceived on their first month and we haven't even been able to try all summer long. Please oh please God.. let us be able to be pregnant together this time!

To be continued...

Update from August 2010-December 2010

2011-09-18T20:04:00.000-04:00

Wow... I can't believe it has been so long since I have updated this blog. It has been a hard year and a half since my last update that much I can say. I am now wishing that I had kept up with this blog so that I had something to look back on and remember everything that we have gone through. I will try to recap as best as I can...

August 2010

My niece turned one :) She continues to be the apple of my eye. I so adore her smile and everything she does.

We also began to get tested and "officially" entered the infertility realm. I went back to my OB and set up an appointment with an urologist to have hubby checked out too. I had what is called a HSG... this test really sucked and the radiologist stated that my tubes were clear and everything seemed to be okay (remember this later because everything wasn't okay). Hubby came back borderline (thought to be because of a fever he had),, and a second test was set for October. OB said that we are okay to start the first type of fertility drugs!

September 2010

I don't ovulate.. and I must induce my period. I start the first round of fertility drug (clomid). I am at a pretty low dose to start. The medication didn't work very well.. I still didn't ovulate until CD26 :( But at least I DID ovulate... we don't get pregnant.

October 2010

Hubby goes back to the urologist and has his second test.. it is okay but it was discovered that he has some hormonal issues going on and starts to take clomid at a low dose to see if it will help him. My OB is out on medical leave and doesn't increase the dose for my clomid, so we get proactive and call the fertility specialist (RE) and set up an appointment for Nov. In the mean time I take the second round of clomid.

November 2010

Ovulation comes a little sooner at CD 24 but still not great... we don't get pregnant. We go to the RE and he reviews our tests and have hubby take a third test. His third test comes back in the normal range of things. However, upon review of my HSG test (from August).. he thinks he sees a septum at the top of my uterus which is a birth defect.. and he wants to do more ultrasounds (2D and 3D to see what is going on) and blood work.

December 2010

When I went in for the test they were not able to do the 3D test as the machine was broken, so we were given the option for me to have surgery to fix the septate or try two more rounds of a higher dose of the clomid while being monitored by them... we opted to try two more cycles and then reschedule the test if we were still not pregnant.. We won't be able to start until next year with the medications, so we decide we are going to take the holidays off. Go figure I ovulate the earliest ever at CD18 the week before Christmas.

To be continued with 2011

Updates..

2010-03-18T23:34:00.000-04:00

Wow it really has been a long time since I have written anything on here, hasn't it. Well my beautiful neice turned seven months old over the weekend. She is growning so fast it amazes me. I get updates a few times a week but it is still hard becasue she lives in another state. Thankfully I do get to still see her about every six weeks anyway.. thank goodness for that or I would go crazy. But anyway.. she is now crawling.. "chasing the dogs was the last update".. and moving faster by the day. She has also cut her first tooth too. When I last saw her just a few short weeks ago, she had just started to move forward and now she is moving across the room in a few short seconds.. I have one month before I see her again.. this will actually be the longest time I have gone without seeing her. And I feel like everytime I talk to my sis she is doing something else amazing. But she also starting to remember me too, so this last time wasn't as bad for her because she didn't have to re-learn who I was. I am still dreading the next couple of months though.. you know the big separation period.. where she will start to miss her mama when she is not there.. as one of her "usual" babysitters this period coming up may not be the most heartwarming period... I just hope she keeps remembering me and it won't be so bad as I fear.

Other updates.. Geoff and I have officially been "trying to conceive" (ttc) for over a year now. Sadly the doctors don't consider it that long because of all the diagnosis' I had last year. But things are getting better. Still no baby but we are getting closer. I have lost a total of 30 pounds now and I am feeling great. My last few cycles have been pretty steady with them going 37 days, 36 days, 42 days and 40 days. They are much more closer to "normal" than before. In December I started a new montioring system that monitors my hormone levels (by peeing on a stick when it tells me too) and is supposed to give me a window of ovulation by showing low, high, or peak days. It can only be used with cycles that are up to 42 days long and the first month I used it I had to pee on the stick for almost three weeks (when it told me the first month it could be "up to 10 days as it gets used to my cycle") Plus I almost wasn't able to use it anymore because that was the cycle that went 42 days. It literally started an hour before it was going to be too long to use it.. kinda stressful because it wasn't cheap. So anyway it had me use the sticks for 20 days and never showed that I peaked and ovulated but it had me in the high range for about 13 days (not likely). I was very upset. But then I went to my OB/GYN late January and she asked that I chart my temperature for four cycles before I come in for more testing. Temping is the only way to know if you ovulate or not because your temperature raises right after ovulation because of a hormone your body produces to keep you pregnant if fertilization happens in that cycle. So I have been waking up every morning taking my temperature before doing anything.. sitting up, moving, anything! This is something I avoided before because you only know after the fact if you ovulated or not, it is not a predictor but a confirmation of that particular event... So anyway this last cycle I was charting my temp and using the monitor, plus checking my body's signs. I also started using this site called Fertility Friend to help track all my hard work in one place. I put all the information in and it reads it and gives me a graph for the cycle, while also keeping track of the days of the cycle, when to test among other things. Now this time the monitor had me using the stick for 19 days but I only showed high for one day and never peaked. VERY disappointing. But the fertilty friend site saw a raise in my temp (two days after the monitor stopped testing mind you).. which means.. hurray I did ovulate!!! It then stayed raised for 12 days when my period started. Boo to that!! So now we are an the quest yet again this month. And it seems everytime I turn around someone else is getting pregnant... I bet I can count over 20 people that I know that are.. oh and there have been three added just this week, how about that for ouch! The first one I took pretty well because it is one of my best friends.. the other two were facebook friends that happened to post their news within a day.. one at a time might have been okay but all at once... not so great. Thankfully I have Geoff here as my sounding board. This is the scene..just one day after I get my best friends great news and I was very impressed that it really didn't hurt as much as it has in the past which I can only chalk it up to being that I know that I ovulated last cycle and knowing that it could happen at anytime now.. right.. when I am checking facebook
I say "you have got to be kidding me"
He says: "what"
I say "so and so is pregnant"
He says "another one"
Then not one minute later I keep reading updates and say
"no way"
He says "what"
I say "look at this"
He looks and I say "so and so is pregnant too" and I laugh because what else can I do
He says "seriously is God trying to rub it in"
I just shake my head and walk away from the computer because at this point I have reached my limit of what I can take that day... actually that was yesterday so it is still a little fresh on my heart. But the best part was Geoff asking a few minutes later "so when is our next window"... so now he is more eager than ever to keep trying.. and we are hoping that this time is successful!!

Sadly the monitor is at it again.. on day 9 of this cycle it wanted me to start using the sticks. I was like WTF I ovulated on day 28 last cycle.. that is another 19-20 sticks again this month. I refused to start on day 9 and will start instead on day 15... plus I am giving this thing one more month (hope I can stick to it).. it has not worked well for me at all. My doctor also asked about this type of monitor when I went in to see her yesterday for my health care paperwork I have to do every year at this time. I told her I was already using one... sigh. But on a high note, she was very happy with the weight loss progress I have made this past year. I am kinda at a stand still at this point.. keep gaining and losing the same 5 pounds.. lose it then gain it back... getting a little frustrating.. but I am hoping with the warmer weather I can cross the threshold... so far this week is going good with being more active.. so I am on the right road. So here I am at cycle day (CD) 12... keep your prayers up!!

Haylee is Two months

2009-10-14T22:25:00.000-04:00

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..

2009-09-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-14T10:26:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-10T12:39:00.008-04:00

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....

2009-08-12T12:44:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-08-12T12:22:00.005-04:00

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!

2009-04-18T07:51:00.004-04:00

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...

2009-04-16T23:39:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-09T19:01:00.003-04:00

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

2009-02-23T16:00:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-02-19T00:25:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-19T00:06:00.005-05:00

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

2009-02-18T23:31:00.008-05:00

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!

2009-02-01T21:29:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-01-20T16:41:00.008-05:00

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!

2009-01-16T17:06:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-01-13T22:25:00.013-05:00

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..

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T16:03:00.006-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I wanted to take a few minutes to write out of a couple of thoughts before the craziness of Christmas and vacation hit ful force. Today is Christmas eve and I have so much to do before Geoff and I got on our plane at 6:45 am on the 26th. Packing to do.. a couple of Christmas'.. a car ride to drop off the pup for 12 whole days.. My mom called a while ago and asked if I was excited.. I stated that honestly I had mixed feelings.. on one hand I am so excited to leave this crappy weather and head to 78 degree weather for the next few days. NO work.. just warm and relaxation! On the other hand I have to leave my girl behind. I will miss her terribily! I love coming home to her excited welcome and being able to cuddle with her anytime I feel the need. She will be in good hands, I will just miss her cute face and kisses.. oh the fun of the first time leaving.. well actually it is not the first time but it is the longest time away.. I hope she doesn't feel too abandoned! But I am so looking forward to not having to worry about shoveling the snow for 12 whole days and this constant weather that doesn't seem to want to stop. My mom asked me if I knew how the weather was going to be on Friday for our flight.. I told her if weather was pending and it could impact our flight I didn't want to know yet. I would call that Denial professionally. Also that I have put off so many things that I needed to do.. and when exactly am I going to do them... Christmas Day? Not likely. Oh well.. the trouble with flying out the day after Christmas you can't run out to get those last minute things. This will probably be my last post before I go.. so have a great holiday and I will be eager to post new pictures and update when I return.. then again I am planning in bring my computer.. so I might just post while I am away... right?

Anyway.. here are some shots to tide you over....

My sister and her husband came into town Monday night and stayed with us on their way to GR for Christmas.. they brought with them their two rotties (Sage is 2 and Barron is about 14 weeks old) I just love this picture of the three of them waiting at the door. Akyra at seven months is almost as big as my sister's 2 year old full-grown rottie.. we have much more growth in store for us...

Akyra just loved little Barron.. she played and played and played with him until she wore him out. They couldn't get enough of each other... next time they see each other he could be bigger then her... then again maybe not.. but they both play the same way so they were perfectly matched. Sage on the other hand was the "old bitty".. she didn't want to play so much.. she just barked at Akyra when she tryed to get her to play... no this was not their first time meeting.. they spent Akyra's first whole weekend home together and several other times too... but Sage was not in the mood this time.... and then when they left Akyra too was down for the count. Gotta love puppies that just don't know when they have had enough.

Anyway... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I will be in warm weather in less than 40 hours!

Wow.. Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas to me!

2008-12-18T14:57:00.004-05:00

Holy Scrapbookstuff.. Batman! I am SOOOOO excited to scrapbook... I have so many new toys and will be getting more over the next couple of weeks too! New Cricut stuff galore! I ordered some new stuff thanks to birthday gifts and coming Christmas gifts.. hurray! I got some of the stuff in the mail today... four new cartridges (All mixed up, George, Jasmine, and Cursive 101) and design studio (thank you for the idea Jana)... with BaseCamp and the Jukebox on backorder... I also picked up Beyond Birthdays yesterday with the help of a birthday gift card and a great sale at Joann's (not in their ad I might add)... and will be getting Storybook, Walking in my Garden, and Teardrop from my sister and her husband... oh the fun I will be having after I get back from Florida! Not to mention the other Cricut gifts I got for my birthday but prior to my birthday... the new cricut shoulder bag.. and Mickey and Friends and Opposite Attract cartridges.. cropping here I come!

I wanted to share this great website that is having a great sale www.customcrops.com where most of their cartridges are only $30 and they are offering free shipping on orders over $100.... check it out of you are in the market...

Also, all of this new cricut stuff has been bring up the idea that I REALLY need to try and sell off all of my sizzix and sizzlets stuff.. I don't use them anymore... and I have a ton of it.. course that takes time to get everything out and take pictures and post the stuff.. but it is Christmas time after all and someone just might be looking for what I have! I didn't even use some of it... figures! Know anyone in the market?

Blogging fun

2008-12-15T01:18:00.008-05:00

So I just wanted to write a quick post because apparently I needed to dig around on this blog to find out how to change from Pacific time to Eastern time as on my last blog I discovered my timestamps were on Pacific time... hum... well I have spend the last few hours moving around the blog trying to move from two columns to three... (thanks for the tip.. Jana).. I have changed around many things and have attempted a few times on different templates and I kept picking templates that didn't have some of the programing that was indicated in the directions... oh how fun... so I just changed some other things around and called it good! LOL So I have a fresh new look and I will try again some other day on the three column thing. But I am tired and must get some sleep. It is back to work tomorrow. I only have seven working days left until I am on VACATION for two weeks. HURRAY!

And hey.. my date changed when I changed the timezone.. very cool!

The Big 3-0!

2008-12-13T00:56:00.000-05:00

Well the day has come... I am now officially 30 years old... wow, I can't believe it, I certainly don't "feel 30"... whatever that is supposed to feel like... but I am strangely okay with turning 30 after all it is just a number right... a big big number.. lol... I am however really looking forward to the shin-dig this evening... I am really excited about that. Bring on the drinks and games... how perfect is it to turn another year older on a Saturday, how awesome! It will be nice to celebrate with friends and family.

Thought I would post this picture of Akyra while I was on here... we have this new ornament that needs a picture.. and well I thought it would be cute for her to have a Santa hat in the "Christmas picture"... well she apparently doesn't like that idea... (really what dog does).. she keep turning her head, moving away, or wouldnt look at me.. I swear she knows what she is doing... she just wanted to chew on her bone and I was "bothering her"... lol.. She is like a person that doesn't like her picture taken... little does she know who she is dealing with... I WILL get that picture.. you watch...

So apprarently this blog is on Pacific time not Eastern.. boo!

Family Shots

2008-11-25T11:20:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures that were taken by a photographer on our last day of Basic Training for Akyra back in October. We ordered a CD with the pictures on it so we could produce them as we saw fit. Unfortunatly we got the CD a day short to be able to have this picture in our Christmas cards this year.. but I wasn't planning on it arriving as quickly as it did and needed to get the card out to print so they could go out on time this year. But the pictures are cute aren't they? By the way Geoff and I were totally unprepared for pictures that day.. we just showed up after work for training and they had a photographer there... and well we never get pictures with the three of us together so what the heck!

This one is cute.. she was having a hard time staying put.. we had taken off her collar for the picture and the only way to keep in place was to hold her. LOL I am so glad we have these. They were taken on October 30, 2008. She was about five and a half months old.

Clean bill of Health.. back to normal life again!

2008-11-13T11:01:00.000-05:00

So I took Akyra in today for her 10 day check up! And hurray the ordeal is over. She was able to remove her cone and her stitches are healing nicely! What a fun 10 days it has been. Current weight 62.4 lbs... holy crap! And on Sunday she will be 6 months old officially!

Poor thing I took this picture of her this morning before our appointment to remind us of the fun of the last ten days. Take a good look at the cone. Notice the tears and the teeth marks all over it! She hated that thing and was successful at breaking it on two different occasions. What a smart girl.

This is her when we got back from the vet this morning. Sitting pretty, life can return to normal again... in fact she is sitting at my feet right now. She just loves being around us. What she doesn't know is that starting today she is going to be getting some serious training again. She has not been listening as well as she was just ten "short" days ago... and we were not as tough on her.. well because we couldn't be with her healing.. but not anymore. Sorry Akyra but since you are back to normal so to will be the rules... ahhhhh the joys of life.

View into the future... trials of puppies

2008-11-03T16:25:00.000-05:00

So Monday was a big day at our house. Akyra went in to get spayed. How horrible. I was a mess with worry all weekend. Really. Thank god I just made the appointment on Thursday or it would have lasted longer. But, she is not quite six months old, it is so final and I can't help her pain that she will definately be in. The thought of her being in pain has just been hurting my heart. And then Monday morning when we were getting ready.. Geoff says "I hope she is going to be okay".. oh break my heart some more. I had to keep telling myself.. you better not cry. And of course I wanted to try and "block" my fears and anxiety because I didn't want her to pick up on it and get worked up. Not that she has ever had a problem going to the vet... she is a pro. But I worry that she might now be so willing to go after this. Can we say xanax please.

So we went to pick her up together that evening... I was supposed to have to work late but my appointment canceled. Thank god! So we go there to get her.... go through the paperwork of releasing her and what not... cone on 24/7 for the next 10 days, no jumping (yeah right), no running, leashing her to take her out, in the cage for 2-3 days, oh and my favorite no stairs for 10 days (OMG.. have you seen our house.. here come the baby gates), oh and thank heaven they give us something to "keep her calm for the next 10 days"... so she comes out with this big ole cone on her head and boy is she excited to see us.. so excited in fact that she pees all over the floor... and no this is not a usual response for her... we get her in the car and home... she is totally out of it... she comes in the house and just stands there.. obviously absolutely stoned out of her mind still... so I am all worried about her... we give her some time and then try to give her some water... (must be able to hold down water before trying to feed her tonight)... won't drink water all night... I tryed to give her some ice chips... she had a little but showed really no interest... ok hopefully tomorrow...

TUESDAY
Geoff gets up with her... she is feeling better.. not so out of it... he feeds her, she eats but still won't drink water... he gives her her medications and goes to work.. I on the other hand work from home and go to an appointment or two and then come back home... Finally at 11am she starts to drink water again.... and I am giving her her "calming med" every four hours and still not working (supposed to be 1 or 2 every 8 hours).. she wants to play... (who can blame her).... she is jumping to get the leash that is usually used for walking not going into the backyard.. she thinks it is time to play... we continue with giving her the medication every 4 hours because we are afraid that if we give her two at a time then we won't be able to give her more in four hours when she starts to get excited again... plus she is spending most of her time in her cage... we take her out... go potty... back in and in the cage.. and she does not want to go back in... she becomes dead weight and we are dragging our 60 lb puppy over to the cage and putting her in it... quite a site...

WEDNESDAY
Geoff again gets up with her... gives her two pills this time... I get up about an hour later and she is "hell on wheels".. she is going nuts in her cage... banging around.. trying to get the cone off of her head.. whinning like crazy..... I get ready for work.. and then I go to take her outside one last time.. she come barrelling out of the cage... jumping up so excited to see me... I am telling her sit... she is not listening... Geoff then calls... I ask if he gave her the pills he said " yes two... why is she going crazy"... I say yes... he also states that she would not go this morning.. I say great.... maybe that is why she was whinning so much.... I have to go... So I take her outside and she is jumping and biting at the leash... going nuts... I can barely get her to move to a spot to do her business... I am getting frustrated (honestly I forgot "our training"... getting her to "heal" probably would have calmed her down but I was in a hurry and frustrated with her meds not working).. so I get her back inside and have to again drag her to her cage because she does not want to go back in there... so I go to my appointment and then run back home for lunch to let her out and check on her.. on the way home I decide to stop at the vets and explain what is going on... they give me something stronger (human sedatives).. 1 to 2 daily should knock her out pretty good.... and I get the vet's cell number in case it doesn't work (she is also our next door neighbor)... so I go home and she again comes out of her cage all crazy... I give her attention and take her out... then give her the first pill... I wait for a while and then have to run down to Southfield for another appointment.. so out I go... On my way back home I talk to my mom... who says... you gave her a new medication and then didn't stay with her... (yeah didn't think about that until I had already given it to her) so I am panicy... rushing to get back home... of course she is fine... in fact it barely seems the meds are working because she is wanting to play again... I give her another pill and feed her... she does her business and we come in and wait for Geoff to come home... his mom comes over later.. and of course Akyra is still a ball of energy... she is in her cage on and off but no real rest (her eyes are open and she is trying to get the cone off)... we go out to dinner... come back and she is full of it.. we take her out then put her back in her cage... and she starts whinning (let me out)... thrashing around in her cage and she undoes the fastener that holds the cone together... and it is after 10pm... I go outside to check the neighbors house (our vet).. no lights... crap... what are we going to do about her all night... Geoff laughs at me because I am so worked up... and I am besides myself with frustration and worry that she is going to rip out her stitches... he tells me.. she will be all right and we will call in the morning to get her something stronger. At 11:30 I finally hear her quiet down...

THURSDAY
I get up with her while Geoff gets ready for work.. she has so much energy.. but she is also being sweet... crawling into my lap for love... she does her business and I give her two pills of the new stuff... I look for the neighbor outside with her dogs but no luck.... we go back inside and she wants to go upstairs and see Geoff while he is getting ready... little tail wagging.. wimpering... all the good stuff... we send Geoff off to work... and I pet her for a while and then put her in her cage when she starts getting too worked up... and I wait for 8am when the vet office opens.. and I call... I am transfered to the vet... and she tells me to try to combine the two meds, that I can give her up to three of the new in a day... she will be there all day and home all night.. oh and we can walk her on the leash.. I say really... that would help her get out her energy we didn't think we could do that... she says it has been a couple of days and we can but to take her for short walks or just around the block.. HURRAY!! So I give her one of her old pills and let her rest for two more hours and then take her for a walk around the block.. about half way through she is no longer walking with me she is a bit behind me... success... she is tired... so I take her back home and she has less energy.. she is still playful but not as much... also I let her stay out of her cage during the day but she is restricted to the kitchen... I hear her chewing on toys and trying to get her cone off occasionally but I would tell her to leave it and she would redirect to something else... I had an appointment in the afternoon so I left for a while and Geoff walked her again when he got home from work... to she was much more calm.. wanted to be with us (which is normal) as we were in the living room and she was up in the kitchen... so later on we brought her down stairs to be with us for a while.. until Geoff got up and went up stairs and she moved over to the gate watching him go upstairs... and peed on the floor... OMG... I yelled no.. naughty.... (she hasn't had an accident in weeks)... she didnt whine but if she had I would have thought she just wanted to follow Geoff.. so damned if she did and damned if she didn't but at least I wouldn't have been as upset cause it would have been my fault not hers.... so outside she goes... and then in her cage for the night... (well she did get one more potty break later)... but she is quiet for the rest of the night.. no whinning, no thrashing.... her usual when he put her in there.... again.. success!

FRIDAY
Today I am working from home so I can be with her again... and she is doing great.. a bit playful... but nothing too much.. and she has been sleeping most of the day too.. in fact she is right now and has been during this whole post. So her being walked and the combination of 2 new and 1 old for her meds seem to help her a great deal.... what a week... I am so glad it is Friday.. and God help me when we have children.. because this sucks.. the worry.. the back and forth... it is true when they say that pets help to prepare you for children.. but I know it will be so much "worse".. because while I love Akyra it will be nothing like the love I will have for my child and that scares the crap out of me. I got a good glimpse this week of what it will be like when I have a sick child.. so hears to hoping my children are healthy, for the most part anyway!

Puppy Pics as Promised

2008-10-22T22:30:00.001-04:00

Okay so I have been promising pictures of the pup for a while now and I am finally up and running with the new computer.. a few glitches but loving it so far! Anyway over the past week or so I have been taking some new pictures getting ready for this post.. and these are my favorites.

This Akyra sleeping.. Geoff and I were at our computers doing whatever and she was tired and just fell asleep like this.. which I have seen she does a lot in her cage too.... but it was so funny that I had to take a picture of it.. she loves to be around us even when she is out cold..

I had Geoff take this picture today.. I was giving Akyra some love and thought... hey take a picture.. her eyes are kind of crazy but she is still adorable.

Poor thing, I just brought her in from outside and made her sit there so I could take this picture.. she looks kind of old in this picture but I just took it today and she is only five months old... we also weighted her today she is a big 55 pounds.. holy crap.. big girl.

This is another one of my favorites... she is just hanging out on the kitchen.. when I take out the camera she gets excited and wants to go after the string on the camera.. she always gets huffy when I want to take pictures and won't always look at the camera.. I have to trick her... make her sit then stay and then tell her to look at me... gotta love those training classes, they come so in handy when I want to take her picture... =)

Computer Fun..

2008-10-09T16:42:00.000-04:00

In my last blog I talked about the fun of setting up my new keyboard and mouse... and oh how fun it has been with my computer ever since... the next day I got back to setting up the stuff and finally gave up and called microsoft... surprise... plug in the new mouse and it works without the software... excellent... so I do that and guess what... our power goes out.. well sorta.. I guess we blew a transformer (located in our backyard) and about 12 houses on the block only had partical power (I still had power to the computers but lights in the office were out.. very weird)... so out comes the power company and they sit until 1130pm when the tree cutters come and start cutting down trees in our backyard to be able to get to the transformer... and they are out there until 3am fixing the problem... oh what fun...even better when we get up in the morning and see the limbs they cut still in our yard.... but back to the computer... well I freaked out about a power surge and turned off my computer for the night.... just in case... but when I rebooted it the next day something seemed wrong with it.. but it finally loaded up and all was good... until it started ramdomly rebooting over and and over again... oh great.. so I deal with it or a couple of days and then get frustrated and try to "fix it"... I do the computer mantainance things.... and when it is checking the disk for errors... opps... I can't reboot correctly anymore... damn it... I didn't back anything up... what an idoit... so Saturday I take it in to the place I bought it some five years ago.... and they say five days to take a look at it but hopefully less... FIVE DAYS... are you kidding me... I say ok... so we start looking at new computers... I just "know" it is not going to be good... so we look and price and go to a couple of places and brillantly buy an external hard drive.. because never again... well we decide we are going to wait to hear word.. in the mean time... I am freaking out because I start to realize all that I have on my computer.... from Mary Kay stuff to financial stuff... and I think of all the hours of work I had put into those documents... and yes I start to cry... my wonderful husband talks me down and reminds me that no I am not going to die because of this... but I know the amount of time it is going to take to redo so much of what I had already done... but yes I will live and there are FAR worse things in life...

So we wait... and wait... and wait... on Wednesday (yesterday) I call... I hear

MC: Blah Blah Blah.... No we haven't looked at it yet but it is on my list for today

Me: Okay call my cell

MC: Okay

I get off the phone and realize I didn't say .... Please Please just save my files... I resist the urge to call back... so I wait....

At 8pm I still haven't heard anything I am going crazy and I call back...

MC (different guy): No we haven't looked at it yet... we told you 7 days right...

ME. NO you told me five days and you have had it since noon on Saturday it is 8pm on Wednesday you have had it for five whole days... I haven't had my computer for five days it is a big deal... I spoke with someone this morning that said he would be looking at it today...

MC: I wish I knew who it was that you talked to because are you FORTH on the list... it has not even been assigned to a tech yet...

ME: I could have taken it somewhere else and had it checked by now

MC: I will take this right to the manager and we will look at it tomorrow

ME: When can I expect to hear something

MC: By five is that okay

ME: Well I guess it has to be

MC: I am sorry I am taking it to my manager right now..

ME: Thank you....

Yes I know bitchy... but damn I am stressed without a computer... I can't do my bills, my business is on hold... and Geoff's computer just isn't cutting it... he has no printer hook up.. all I can do is check email with his...

So anyway.. I get a call on my cell at 10:25am Hurray!!!! My motherboard is shot I need to buy a new computer... but they can save my files... AWESOME.. the best news ever!! So I call Geoff and give him the bad news.. I do need a new computer.. but I am so happy that I will be able to restore my files I don't care that we are going to have to dish out a bunch of money for a new computer... I am on cloud nine all day! Now I get to go shopping for a new toy and I can get my old files back... how great is that?

PS.. as you can see I have no way to post pictures of the pup yet but I just took some new ones yesterday and can't wait to get my new computer and show them off..

Crappy Day - LIfe with a puppy...

2008-09-23T23:18:00.001-04:00

Okay so I really need to vent... more to keep from crying really... my day started out bad.. I woke up at the same time that I was supposed to meet the IT guy.. great... I wondered what do I do.. do I call and tell him the truth that I just woke up.. umm and look like a lazy ass.. um no.... so I play with the puppy a little and give her attention... trying to figure out what I am going to say to him...I then decide to try and find his number.. so I go to my computer.. and guess what I can't get the damn thing to come off of stand by mode... I am moving the mouse and nothing... so I am like what the @#%^, right. So I start messing with it... when my cell phone rings... I think hopefully the IT guy... wrong.. well sort of... it is my boss.. the IT guy is looking for me... when will I be at the office? um.... crap... I say 20 minutes knowing that is not possible... but then I say can I talk to him.. I can meet him at his office... so I tell him I will meet him at his office... (closer to where I am)... so then I let the puppy out in the yard and rush to get ready... light makeup... clothes... luckily I did stop to wash my face.... Ok so now I am running around gathering up everything I need to bring... I think to grab my blackberry cord and disk... hey while I am at it I want the IT guy to install the software so I can upload my schedule onto my work outlook... great... time to go... I go and get the puppy, when yup... she jumps up with mud all over the little paws... she gets both my shirt and my pants... crap... I put her in her cage and run upstairs to change... damn I am really late now....

So I finally get to the IT guy... of course I forget a half dozen things in the car... he gets the program I needed working on my computer... but wait... he can't get my blackberry to sinc with my laptop... for some reason the server won't let it... OF COURSE... he says he will look into it but that the solution might be to reprogram the server which would cost thousands so of course would not happen... GREAT... since it was one of the reasons I bought the damn blackberry....

The rest of my afternoon went ok.... until I go the "girl doctor" to get my annual... and my doctor asks... any guesses... "when are you guys planning on having babies"... ummm... crap... I say um "not this year"... laugh... then I say well I wanted to talk to you about that... I ask some questions about the new Providence Hospital in Novi that just opened up (she delivers at Providence in Southfield.. bit of a hike if I stay with her)... she said yes, starting in November she will be using the Novi hospital.. and she is also opening up another office in Farmington Hills... I tell her great because I really like her and live kind of far from her current office and didn't want to have to switch... (since having babies does require making the hike more than once a year)... I am relieved.. but then... she also tells me that it usually takes 6 to 8 months to get pregnant once you start and that only the lucky succeed in the first month or two... and then how much harder it is to get pregnant after age 35... yikes.. I am turning 30 in less than three months.... I know the risks of being older and that it can take a while... but I don't feel like I am THAT old yet... TICK TICK TICK..... I don't want to have my kids back to back and yet.. damn, if we don't start soon we are either going to have only one and then I will be 35... OMG... so I leave there wondering do I really want to wait until next July to stop taking the pill??? Oh crap the pressure....

So I get home and play with the pup and things are going good, other than when Geoff gets home he is so stressed from his day he pours himself a scotch and water.. I am shocked.. he barely drinks let alone right after work.. I ask him if he is okay.. he says yes he didn't sleep well and doesn't feel well... I look at the drink and say I don't think that is going to help if you don't feel well.. he just shrugs... my phone rings... it is mom.. I talk to her for a while, while Geoff relaxes with his drink... I come back when I realize I haven't checked my email in days.... so I begin to address my computer again... I have Geoff look at it.. he does all of the things I do.. reset the mouse, change the batteries.. and still nothing.. I jump in his computer to check my email.. respond to a couple and we head off to have some dinner and get a new keyboard and mouse.. obviously the old one is done...

SO I decide to buy separate keyboard and mouse (last two have been connected and when one goes they both go and I am tired of it).. and while we are out.. Geoff tells me the real reason he needed a drink tonight.. long stressful day at work (of course with details) and he is about to fall asleep at dinner and can't seem to stop his hiccups... so we get home.. Geoff goes to bed... I start to tackle the computer... and guess what... install software before attaching hardware... okay.. so how do I install hardware without a mouse??? So I am trying to figure it out.. hoping the old one will magically start working for just a minute... when I hear a crash... I look over and Akyra has pulled our $100 table lamp to the floor and it is shattered into pieces all over the living room carpet... she goes running for the kitchen, scared to death because of the noise.... so we now have one lamp... crap... I get up and see that she is just scared and not hurt... I then pick up the pieces... throwing the whole thing away... I then go to her and pet her as she "mauls" my hand with her tongue... her way of saying sorry... I then go and pull out the vacuum to get the little pieces when she starts barking at the vacuum... yes she likes to do that... I tell her to quiet down... she goes back upstairs.. when I am done I take her outside and leave her there so that I can take a break... so here I am writing this blog on Geoff's computer to get it out... Geoff is sleeping and I need to release the new developments of the day... I wonder if he will notice the missing lamp in the morning? Plus I keep hearing Akyra outside the window.. playing.. oh to be a puppy and not have to worry about anything.. how wonderful!

Hole in shirt from excited puppy teeth - $14
Muddy pants/shirt from puppy paws - $0
Broken lamp from puppy - $100
Puppy kisses at the end of a long crappy day - Priceless

I promise I will post puppy pictures next time... with my computer out of service I can't access the pictures to add them! Now I must go get my puppy kisses...

Trying this out

2008-09-12T00:45:00.000-04:00

So I thought I would try to start a blog. I know a few people that are doing them and thought what the heck. I too should give it a try. So bare with me.

I would like to start my blog with my most recent adventure... I got my haircut... I know people do that all the time, but this week I not only cut off all of my hair but I also dyed it red too! Which for me is huge. I walked into the salon planning on dying my back to it's natural color (brown) from the highlights I have been putting in my hair since my wedding last summer. For some reason when the stylist suggested a red tone, I didn't refuse I thought what the heck, why not it is just hair right.. then when looking at hair styles in magazines while my hair color set and the cuts that I was drawn to were all short... at first I thought like this but with more length... then I thought (for the second time).. why not, cut it off! So there I was in the chair and she just kept cutting... and then it was really short and she began to take off even more hair... but it did look much better with less hair... so there you have it... I am now a red head and have really short hair... and to my recollection it is shorter than I have EVER allowed it to be... and frankly I love it! Now my husband on the other hand was shocked when I showed up at his work with the new do... and no he had no warning (shame on evil me)... but he didn't even know it was me at first.. after almost 8 years of being together I finally shocked him. =) And his shock and reaction was not good but he never said he did like it he just said it was "weird" on me... he couldn't wrap his head around the "double wammy" as he termed it (really short and red)... but here it is three days later and he has gotten used to it and all is right again. Thank God because I am really liking this color and I would hate to have to go in a change it because my usually laid back husband hated it. (Not a whole lot can be done about the length).

Hair before cut and color

Hair after cut and color!

So there you have it! My new do. My way to express myself for fall. Sometimes we just need a little (or big) change in our lives.