Spring Fever

The girls were out of school Friday so we took off to Columbia for the day and hung out with Aunt Trena! We had breakfast at Chick-Fil-A and then headed to the mall to shop for some spring clothes. Gymboree always makes me wish I had unlimited funds because the girls look SO cute in all of their clothes! So we picked up a few new outfits and then rode the carousel. After lunch in the foodcourt we headed to the zoo. The weather was 63 degrees and sunny! Couldn't have been more perfect! I'll try to post some pics from the trip soon, but Miss Lucy decided to cut my camera cord that connects it to the computer into 3 pieces! Anyway, we had a great day and the pretty weather lasted all weekend. Adam took the girls to the Laurens park on Saturday to play. We are so ready for spring. I promise to post pictures very soon!

Daddy, Snow, and Valentines!!!

What an awesome weekend! Friday afternoon it actually started snowing in Clinton! It snowed from 3:30 till early morning and we got 4.5" of snow!!! We tried to play in it Friday night but got soaking wet and were miserable since it was still snowing. So we got up Saturday morning and headed out to play...just as we were playing, Daddy drove up...home from California!! Just in time to play in the snow! They had such a good time. We couldn't build a snowman because the snow was too soft but we still had a great time. This morning we got up and had heart-shaped chocolate chip pancakes for Valentine's Day! Today is Mommy's day since she's been a single mom all week. Thought I would post a few pics before I retreat to my room to read books and watch movies all day! There are lots of pictures becaues I just couldn't narrow it down. Enjoy!! (To see the entire album, go to www.snapfish.com. The username is abcharles81@gmail.com and the password is crossfit09.)

Family Pictures!

Last Sunday before all our sickness started we had some pictures made of the girls and the dogs. We weren't sure how long we would have with Bailey and wanted some good pictures of him. A photographer friend of mine took a few. Enjoy!!

Stomach Bugs, Tooth Fairy, and San Diego, Oh My!!

What a week this has been! Last Saturday Caroline got the dreaded stomach bug that's hit the town. She had a very mild and short version though. Well, Sunday afternoon Lucy got it and then Adam and I got it in the middle of the night Sunday. We were all sick at the same time!! Of course I had it worse than anybody, throwing up every 15 minutes for 13 hours! It was horrible! But now we're better thank goodness.

Tuesday night Lucy lost her 1st tooth! I'll post pictures later. She was so excited. She had been eating a strawberry popsicle and it came out! We found her special tooth fairy pillow and put it in there safely under her pillow. The next morning the tooth fairy had taken her tooth and left her a dollar! I can't believe how fast she's growing up. She even learned to tie her shoe this week! She's 5 going on 15 for sure.

On a sadder note, Bailey got sick Thursday and had to go back to the vet Friday. He stayed overnight. They're still not sure what's wrong, but we get the results of the pathology report back tomorrow and will know more. He seems better for now. We're continuing to pray that he's going to come through all of this.

Adam left for San Diego this afternoon and won't be home until Saturday! What will we do all week without Daddy?? He's going to a conference and trade show there with work. He better bring back an awesome Valentine for us!! We are praying that he has safe flights and returns safely to us on Saturday. We don't like being by ourselves. We spent the afternoon making homemade valentines for their classmates. Pictures to come soon! Such a busy week!!

Good News!

We got the results of Bailey's lab work back today and he can be treated!! Yay!! His heart, liver, and kidneys are fine so they can proceed with the heartworm treatment. He takes an antibiotic for 3 weeks and then Feb. 15 is his 1st heartworm treatment. One month after that he gets his 2nd and 3rd treatments and then he's good to go. He can run, play, do whatever until he starts the treatments and then he has to be confined for 7 weeks. We are just so happy that he's going to be okay.

We went to visit with Tommy and Brenda Parrish tonight and let Bailey meet his dad, Jake. His mom, Magic, passed away, but they still have Jake so he and Bailey got to reunite. Tommy does field training with his labs and most of them have won National titles. Bailey's dad came in 2nd in the national trials. We can't wait until Bailey's well so that we can go and do some training with Tommy and his labs. I'll be sure and post some new pics soon...he's getting very comfortable here and we've got some cute pics of him.

Update on Bailey

What an awesome dog! We went to see Dr. Wilkie Friday and got some better news. They did blood work to determine whether his liver and kidneys are functioning properly to see if they're able to treat him. We'll get the results of that Monday. She did say that she thought his cough was kennel cough and unrelated to the heartworms. GREAT news! She also didn't think that his enlarged abdomen was really that but more that he was underfed. Being able to see the dog's backbone and ribcage is a sign of advanced heartworms, but in our case she thinks it's just that he's skinny. She commented that if he were advanced like the other vet said, he should act a lot sicker and he's as happy and energetic as he can be.

So Bailey is inside and is loving life as an inside dog. He's already housebroken! Only took 2 days!! I am amazed that he's a sweet, calm, and affectionate as he is given the conditions that he's been in for the last several years. He's already learned to sit, shake, leave it, lie down, and stay. He loves to jump in bed with us and put his head on our pillow! I hope that we'll get good news again Monday and that we can proceed with treatment for him. Please continue to pray, but things are definitely looking better.

Pray for Bailey

PLEASE pray for Bailey! He's been diagnosed with severe advanced heartworms. The aggressvie treatments that they normally do will not work on him because his heart is not strong enough. They have given him an antibiotic and a steroid along with Heartgard to try to make some progress until they can do the more aggressive treatments. He has bleeding in his lungs and has to be confined to a very small space. He can't do anything to get his heart rate up because he'll have a heart attack. He's not house trained and has never been inside so this is an experience for all of us. We have to crate him at night and confine him to the crate or the bathroom during the day. He has to go out to the potty on a leash and can't have any exercise at all. This is a very serious disease and we're trying our best to save him. Tommy and Brenda Parrish have been a huge help and have referred us to their vet, Dr. Jennifer Dixon who is familiar with this family of dogs. He goes to see her today and we'll continue trying to treat him. It is also a very expensive disease to treat. Please just pray for our family and for Bailey that we can save him and give him a chance to have the life he's never had.