Day... Ah, Hell. Does it matter? Breathe.

From Webster's Dictionary:

Breathe (verb): to draw air into and expel it from the lungs

Breathing is not something we're taking for granted around the Norman house this week. After a fun weekend in New York for Grandma's birthday, Dexter woke up Tuesday morning wheezing and coughing and sneezing and unable to breathe through his nose. Which is a problem, because inability to breathe through nose = inability to suck fingers. And inability to suck fingers = inability to self-soothe and put self to sleep. All that meaning? We had a cranky sick baby who didn't sleep for shit yesterday. John stayed in his room for half an hour or so last night until he settled himself down enough to go to sleep, finally. Dexter, I mean. John fell asleep just fine, sitting in the glider in Dexter's room. Fortunately he seems better today. Snotty runny nose, still, but the breathing seems fine.

Somehow it seems wrong and morbid to check to see if the dog is breathing every single time I walk in to the living room. And yet I still do it. Walk downstairs in the morning. Flip on the light. Watch the brown fuzz lift up, fall down. Lift up, fall down. Excellent. The old girl made it through another night. It's not a given these days. She's had a bad week, throwing up a lot and not eating very much. She went to our awesome vet yesterday, gave up some pee and some blood and... the results aren't good. Kidney failure has progressed to anemia, as the kidneys are not telling the body to make more red blood cells. Urine has 3 - 4 times the normal amount of all kinds of bad things that normal urine has. And yet? She's way more perky today than she has been all week. Perky meaning she actually came in to the kitchen and ate Cheerios off the ground.
There's not a lot we can do for the old girl. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot we CAN do. Dr. Moffa said he'd go to the ends of the earth for the pup if we wanted him to. But, I don't want him to. I don't want to make her stay in the hospital and get an IV drip of fluids for several days. I don't want her on medications that will make her feel bad. She won't survive any surgery. And, Christ. The dog is 18. She's had a great life. I'd truly love for her to fall asleep one night and just not wake up. Not any time soon - I am not wishing for this to happen. But if she's going to go, I'd rather have it be that way. Happy, sleeping in her own bed, at home.

We'll run up to the vet's office tomorrow and have the vet techs show us how to do some Sub-Q fluids for her. She's on some Pepcid AC twice a day to help her nausea. And we'll just see how she does. I'll continue to look over at her every time I am in the living room. Watching the brown fuzz lift up. Fall down. Lift up. Fall down.

Breathing is hard for John and I these days, too, as we worry and stress about buying a new house. Which school district? Which town? Decisions we make now will affect the small child for his lifetime. And that's kind of a big burden to shoulder.

Increasing the stress level, in a good way, is the news we got tonight that someone is writing an offer on our house. Yay! We don't know yet what the offer is, if it's any good, etc. But if it's a good offer and we accept it, well - we kind of need to decide on that whole "where do we buy a house" thing kind of quickly. And get our asses out there and BUY ONE.

Other tidbits of news - John has like one more day of Jillian to do. He got all crazy and got himself some five pound weights. Which the baby tried to lift up yesterday, couldn't, and promptly signed "help" to me. So freaking cute. I have seven more days, I think? Who knows. I started up again today after a week off, for the bum knee. But I think today will count as Day 23 for me, as I didn't really do a workout on Day 23 last week.

And, finally, pictures of a cute baby. I thought I had video of him standing up, from the ground, no assistance needed. But, alas, I am a moron and I do not.

Walking is FUN! I get to hold TWO completely non-toy objects in my hands, at the same time!

Check out my sexy post-playing-in-the-yard outfit. Striped socks. Jealous??

Mere milliseconds before I cheerfully walked right off the edge of the stair and would have landed SPLAT on my face if Mom hadn't caught me with the hand that wasn't holding the camera.

Day 22 and 23 - Uh-Oh

So day 2 of Level 3 was still pretty sucky. Jump! Jump some more! And then - how about you jump! But I survived, and felt pretty good. And then today. Oh, today. Not my day, apparently. I started Jillian, got 2/3 of the way through the WARM-UP, and I felt something pop in my knee. In the WARM-UP. WTF? The thing that broke me? Knee circles. Meant to loosen the knee joint. My knee apparently doesn't want loosening. And the knee that hurts right now is the knee I had surgery on a few years ago. So I don't mess around with that knee. You hurt, knee? Alrighty, then. We'll stop. I'll try again tomorrow.

We're looking at the calendar and noticing that our challenge (if my knee lets me back on the wagon) ends right before Easter. And then we are falling RIGHT off the wagon and eating so much chocolate. Because, HELLLLLOOOO? Bomboy's chocolate Easter eggs? THE BOMB.

What else, what else. Yesterday I took Dex to a make-up class at My Gym. So I left the house, drove 25 minutes, was pulling in to My Gym, and suddenly remembered what day it was. Wednesday. And the class we were going to? Didn't start for another hour. I was completely thinking it was Thursday. SO - we had an hour to kill, and we needed some lunch. Off to a diner we go! It was no problem. I had some emergency Cheerios, a bib, and a placemat with me. The diner had grilled cheese. And, hey - can we get some veggies with that? Peas and carrots? Most excellent! Dexter's favorite! So we were set. Except for milk. Formula, really, as that's what he still drinks. I ordered him some whole milk in a cup with a straw. His first sip was fine. Second sip? Funny face. Third sip? More funny face and push the cup away. Aaaaand, that was it. No more milk for that boy! I was hoping the formula to milk transition would be an easy one, but it looks like no.

See above for video from yesterday at My Gym. Plenty of walking, and still crawling plenty if there's nothing for him to pull himself up with. Enjoy!

Day 21 - Rubber Legs

Jillian Level 3. I knew I might be in trouble when I heard John grunting while working out last night, and then heard him yell "WHAT?" in disbelief to the television. I didn't experience any grunting, because I still do sissy push-ups. But the "WHAT?" in disbelief? I can see where that came from. We have now entered a whole new level of jumping pain with Jillian. And my legs? Were TIRED.

Dex and I shall be enjoying our last week of My Gym this week, and then our classes are over. It's summer. It's nice out. Our mom playgroup schedules two sessions a month at My Gym that I can go to, instead.

SO - enjoy some photos of Dex from My Gym last week. I'll try to remember to bring my camera this week to take a few more.

BALLS!

OOOOOH, BUBBLES....

MORE BUBBLES!

And below, quickly following Dex as he wanders across My Gym in search of something else to play with. I didn't get the video turned on fast enough - he walked across the whole room before he fell down. Good work, Dex!

Day... 20? Maybe? Every Light in the House is On

I seriously can't keep track. Is today Day 20? I think it might be. I didn't do Jillian Friday or Saturday. Sunday was Day 19, I just didn't post. So, yes. Today is Day 20 for me. Day 21 for John - he is heading down to the basement right now to try out Level 3 and let me know how much it sucks.

My mom emailed me yesterday wondering why I haven't posted in three days. Aww, you're thinking. She's worried about you, right? Nah. Not at all. She's wondering why she's had to go three days without seeing a picture of her cute grandson. I knew I shouldn't have started this "I'll post every day" promise. Ten more days, grandmas, and then I'm done with the every day stuff!

Busy busy this weekend. Girly movie night (we never watch movies, but we're not sure what else to call it) ran late Friday night - I got home around 3AM. Awakened at 6 by one small child. Ran around like mad Saturday morning getting the house ready for our first showing. And then we loaded up the baby and the pup and went to the big park in Havre de Grace to do some of this:

In the interest of full disclosure, the above pictures were actually taken Sunday, when we went BACK to the playground. But we did essentially the same thing on Saturday. Minus the swing, which Dex didn't discover til Sunday. CoCo was quite a hit at the playground. She had several kids wanting to pet her.

SO! Someone came and looked at the house on Saturday. And then they were interested enough to ask for our disclosures. But, no offer from them yet. Darn!

We were supposed to have another person look at the house tonight, so I spent Dexter's nap getting the house ready AGAIN, then loaded up the dog and the baby and we all went to swimming lessons in Elkton. I was about 5 minutes away from the house, on the way to swimming, when the listing service called and said the people had canceled. Darn again! Here I've left every light in the house on, music playing, made the poor old dog go for a ride in the car with the slippery leather seats that she hates. And now people aren't coming. Boooooo.

Perhaps it's for the best, though, as what is usually Lake Norman in our backyard has evolved and grown in to the Ocean Norman. It's out of control. And currently being pumped in to the street, thanks to a very handy pump lent to us by Dad. Yay, Dad!

Here's a few more pictures from Sunday - we went for a walk on the Promenade, to look at the geese and the ducks.
Yep - that's Dexter, looking like a confident walker! Out of control...

Day 18 - Swing

Ah, spring. The sun shining. The birds chirping. The neighbors out walking. The sound of Latino music blaring across the parking lot from some annoying neighbors, while the baby is trying to go to sleep... There are things we won't miss about this place.

It's nice to open the windows, though. It's nice to open the sunroof in the car. It's awesome to have John play hookie from work so he can stay home and put pretty new black mulch in the garden, and hang a swing for Dex so he can spend eons doing this:


We didn't spend nearly as much time outside as I would have liked today, because Dex had his My Gym class (which went awesome). But John did take us out to lunch at a nice little cafe in town with outdoor seating, where Dex was fascinated by the trains that kept going by. We told him they were going up to see Aunt Christy in New York.

Jillian went WAY better for me today. I'm not sure why - maybe because I tried doing squat thrusts and plank jacks on the rug instead of on the slippery floor, so my feet stayed under me better? Maybe because I listened to music instead of listening to Jillian? Whatever the secret, I felt pretty good today, and there's a glimmer of hope that I might be able to move to Level 3 in a couple days.

The not eating sweets thing is going way better than I expected. I was really craving some M&M's yesterday, but I didn't get any. I'm not sure in general I am eating all that much better (as I sit, still full, from a dinner of yummy lasagna and eight trillion crescent rolls). But I am pretty happy with my ability to steer clear of sweets. We'll see how I do this weekend when surrounded by baby shower cake.

And! We're official! Nobody has called us to look at the house yet, which makes me sad. :-) C'mon - it's been on the market for like six hours now!

OUR HOUSE LISTING!!

Here's some more swinging pictures. I expect we'll wear out a place in the grass in front of the swing before we move...

Day 17 - Slip Slidin' Away

Is it really Day 17? Really? I just went back and counted and I think it is. Man. If I am supposed to move to Level 3 in three days... There's no way. Seriously. NO WAY. I am barely making it through Level 2, and I am still doing modified versions of some stuff. We might have to send Superman John on to Level 3, while I languish at Level 2 for a while longer. Til I feel less like dying.

What else? What else is going on here? I am tired and grumpy. And stressed. The house is supposed to go on the market TOMORROW. And do you think the realtor has sent me a copy of the master listing yet? Hells no. So irritated. And the house is currently littered with random toys and bags and boxes, strewn all about, just waiting for a frenzy of cleaning when we get a call that says seventeen billion people want to look at our house NOW. Assuming, of course, the slacker realtor gets the listing up.

The baby fell off his slide AGAIN today. Hard. Poor kid. He's just sitting up on his platform wanting me to sing Pat-A-Cake (yeah, THANKS A LOT, Grandma. Guess what I sing all day every day now?) and then he leans back a bit and - BOOM! Head crashes to the deck. He's a little afraid of the stair part of the slide now. Can't say I blame him.

John is staying home to mulch tomorrow, in the 70 degree sunshine. I don't think he minds.

I really really really need a hair cut. But have yet to find the time to get one. Maybe next weekend I can go in for my semi-annual trim. It's about that time.

And that's about all my little brain can muster tonight. Here - look at some pictures of a cute baby:

Modeling his awesome Hokie sweatshirt

Mmmmmm. Tastes like... orange!

Wheeee!

Fun!

Cute. Again. Still. Some more. Oh - Mr. Cute was completely getting molested by a little girl at the Library today. He cried and came crawling over to his Mom, to save him from the infatuated girl. Poor boy, fighting off the ladies already!

Day 16 - Gulp

So this happened today:

The house isn't officially on the market yet. We just have, apparently, an ambitious sign guy. It doesn't go on the market til Thursday. You know, 36 hours or so from now.

I've known we were going to sell the house for a good year now, but seeing the sign out front makes it so... real. And terrifying. And sad. I mean, it's OUR HOUSE, right? We love this house. If only we had a magic wand and could make it bigger. And with a bigger yard.

Also terrifying because we have not started looking for a new house yet. There's slim pickings where we want to live, in a price range we can afford. So, gulp. Let's hope some new stuff comes on the market soon!

In other news:

I only did like 3/4 of Jillian today, because a small child woke up from his nap before I expected him to. I did, however, take said early-waking small child out for a backpack walk after the nap. So does that count as the other 1/4 of my workout?

I do believe the small child would have napped longer were it not for the explosive, leaked all over the place, diarrhea in his diaper. In retrospect, perhaps letting him eat as many prunes as he so desired at lunch today (and he desired a lot of prunes) was not such a good idea. I decided that after the third clothing change of the day. For Dexter, not for me.

I went for the above mentioned backpack walk wearing only a tee shirt! Well, and pants. But - no long sleeves. Excellent! I tried getting Dex to wear a baseball cap for his blond little head, but he'd have none of it.

Dexter finally got to play with his new slide today. He enjoyed it a lot, although the slide is a bit short, and he has a hard time walking up it in his shoes. And he's also a bit afraid of the step-up part of the slide. Perhaps because he fell off the platform that way today. TWICE.

Aaaaaand, that's a wrap. Time for bed!