With the end of the year right around the corner, I’m feeling a tad overwhelmed. Where has 2021 gone?!
We kicked off November with some somber news. In the 4th, the Mister had his face to face appointment with his PCM. They have decided to start the med board process. While the news was expected, it is not an easy pill to swallow.
The silver lining is that we don’t have to move to Fort Hood in the next month like we were expecting. Now instead of worrying about selling the house and finding a new place to live in another state, we have to start planning for life after the Army potentially.
There’s still a lot to figure out and the med board process doesn’t necessarily mean Army life is over. If he is found to still be fit for duty, we could go back on our orders. If not, there is the possibility of staying in but going to an administrative (desk) job. That’s probably best case scenario at the moment.
So, while we have a direction, we still need to figure out what the next step is so we can plan financially etc…
To cheer up the month, my mom flew in for Thanksgiving. Dad had a ball game, so he wasn’t able to come this time. I don’t know if anyone else was as excited as I was to have Mom here. We really hate living so far away from everyone.
Little Man was thrilled to have Nana here too.
Helping Nana work.
She wore him out playing in the leaves and on the swing set.
Worn out.
He was feeling especially brave and took on the slide all on his own.
We lost count of how many times he went up and down the slide.
Even our old man Audie was feeling spry.
He wanted to be out playing too.
The Mister had staff duty the day of Thanksgiving, so Mom, Little Man, and I just hung out. It was dreary and rainy, so we watched the parade on tv and cooked our pies/prepped our sides.
Black Friday didn’t see any shopping from us. We just cooked our turkey and watched the Nebraska football game. We had our big meal and relaxed.
We took Little Man to see the lights at Christmas on the Cumberland. He was mesmerized and enjoyed running down the sidewalk.
He thought these were so neat!
The visit wasn’t nearly long enough and before we knew it, it was December. We won’t be doing much, if any traveling this year because of the Mister’s med board process. If we do, it will only be Little Man and me, so I’m not quite sure if I can handle that (flying with a toddler solo doesn’t sound like a grand time to me).
This year has absolutely flown by. It doesn’t seem like it should nearly be over. December will definitely be a busy month. Lots of appointments and Santa pictures and figuring out our holiday plans. We’ll have to see how it goes.
Is this year really almost over? I can’t believe it’s nearly November.
We started out the month with one more photo session with Briana. We were worried this session would be our last with her. Hard to believe she’s done all of our photos since Little Man was 17 weeks old. As always we adore them.
The next two weekends were busts. Staff duty and cleaning the house took over our time as we prepared for a visit from my in laws, which didn’t end up happening. My FIL couldn’t get off work and my MIL wasn’t able to board their dogs. Normally, I don’t mind the dogs visiting, but Little Man was having a bit of a mean streak with our doggos and I wasn’t comfortable with having four dogs in the house while the Mister wasn’t home. I didn’t want anyone getting hurt. I still feel awful about it. It’s been so long since we’ve seen them.
I shouldn’t say the weeks were total fails. We did check out 3 new pumpkin patches in the area. None of them were as good as last year, but we figured we had to try some new ones.
First stop was just a local pumpkin patch. Boyd’s Pumpkin Patch in Clarksville, TN. Nothing fancy. Just some pumpkins, a sunflower field, and a handful of displays for photo ops.
Those baby blues looked great with the yellow sunflowers.He loved the huge pumpkins.
The next stop was a family-run working farm with lots of animals and some decorative pumpkins. Patterson Family Farm in Woodlawn, TN.
He kept trying to eat the gourds and pick up/throw the pumpkins. Wasn’t too sure about the pony but kept trying to feed him.Baby goats were his favorite. He immediately tried to hug them.
The third patch we visited was Fiddle Dee Farms in Greenbrier, TN. It was more of your traditional pumpkin patch experience with activities, a corn maze, and overpriced pumpkins. Ironically, this one was the least fun in my opinion. It should have been a great time, but maybe there were too many people or the fact that Little Man was a bit of a grump. Or maybe I expected it to be like the ones back home or even the one we went to last year…I don’t really know.
Hayride. Not my best look…He wasn’t as crabby if Daddy held him. Trying to throw more pumpkins.Can’t tell who’s kid he is at all…haha. Must’ve been leaning because he’s 31″+ tall.He was pretty content to run through the corn maze.
The following week was full of doctor’s appointments and sleep studies for the Mister. The injections in his back were pretty rough this time. We learned he is having trouble breathing while he sleeps, but since it’s not full blown sleep apnea, they’re going to give him a mouth guard to position his jaw rather than a CPAP machine.
We still aren’t 100% sure if PCSing will happen, but we’re going to treat things like it is and prep for a move. The hope not to move is pretty dim, but we have some direction now. The Mister is having a face to face with his PCM on November 4 and a spinal ablation November 9. If that doesn’t work, the next step is to return to Walter Reed to see the neurosurgeon again. Once again, hurry up and wait at its finest.
The following weekend we took a little trek down to Franklin, TN to try one more pumpkin patch: Gentry Farm. We should have gone here first! This 150+year working farm was beautiful and the atmosphere was so much nicer. There was a lot of photo ops and the history of the place was so interesting. There were several mazes and lots of decorative pumpkins to choose from. The staff was so helpful and kind and Little Man was able to burn off some energy. It was a gorgeous day as well.
Slightly better attempt on the “bale-less hay ride.”Checking out the sorghum Munchkin MazeLove the old Army jeep and Little Man got a kick out of “driving”.So many funky pumpkins!
The rest of the month was low key. We squeezed in one more mini Halloween session with Briana. Corduroy was a hit!
His costume ended up being a nightmare to put together. Originally, I had a teddy bear costume ordered to go with the overalls but it never showed (thanks to delays in shipping/supply chain issues). So I had to hustle to find all the pieces.
That was just the beginning. I ordered solid tan/brown jammies but what arrived was the completely wrong color. Then, the slippers arrived but were the wrong size (despite measuring his feet and ordering based on the size chart). His ears came but didn’t match since his jammies were wrong.
So…I had to reorder everything. The jammies in the right color weren’t in stock. The slippers didn’t come any bigger. And the ears only came in sets of 4. We ended up scouring the mall for a brown solid top. No one had any! Luckily, Old Navy had a pajama set that was brown in his size. It wasn’t solid, but the pattern was subtle (they’re even bear-themed!). I managed to find slippers to match that arrived in time…only for them to be too big! They stayed on though and he’ll grow into them. Despite the struggle, I think he looked cute.
We had to try both types of ears because he wasn’t keen on wearing any!
Then we did our own little Halloween shoot at home. No trick or treaters since the pups aren’t keen on the doorbell. Had him in his Corduroy outfit but he loooooves the skeleton romper, so we switched it up.
Sitting was not in the cards.
We ended up carving pumpkins and staying home to watch Halloween movies. I think next year we’ll try trick or treating. Since Little Man doesn’t say much yet, it will be better that way.
He wasn’t sure about the insides and kept trying to put the seeds back inside.They weren’t our best efforts, but they turned out pretty good. The Mister’s is on the left, mine on the right.
November is going to be interesting. Doctors appointments, potentially trying to get our house ready to sell (sad face), staff duty on Thanksgiving (super frustrating!)…it’s a bit overwhelming to think about. We’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
Excuse me, HOW is it nearly October? I feel like this year has absolutely flown by. I’m still processing 2020 and here it’s almost 2022.
We kicked off (like the football pun?) September with Audie’s 8th birthday. We weren’t sure he’d still be around for this one, but needless to say, we are so glad he was. He’s been doing really well. I’m almost afraid to type that for fear of jinxing it.
He’s such a handsome devil.
Then we took advantage of the long weekend and spent the day at the Memphis Zoo.
This entrance is so cool!
Despite it being a bit hot, we had a nice day out and it wasn’t super busy. It’s not the best zoo we’ve been to, but they had pandas, which was a highlight (the Mister and I had only seen them in San Diego and it was rushed).
Naps were the thing to do.
Little Man had his 15 month check up. He is now up to 31″ tall and 24lbs. Still growing like a weed. He handled his vaccines like a champ. He has 11 teeth and is cutting a few more. We’re still nursing a couple times a day and he hasn’t mastered sleeping in his own bed yet. Our routine is kind of crappy so we’re going to work on that in the coming weeks, as well as his language milestones. He has already nailed most of his fine motor and comunication skills for his 18 month checklist, but despite babbling all the time, he hasn’t made much headway talking. We think he says certain things but aren’t 100%. Luckily he has 3 months to master that.
His “shark face”.
The Mister had his first treatment on his back. It didn’t do anything but he was given pain killers and muscle relaxers. He also has to have a sleep study. No new updates in that department unfortunately. Pretty standard, hurry up and wait.
The following weekend, we went to the Trail of Tears Intertribal Pow Wow in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
We’ve been to this one a couple of times, but this was the busiest we’d seen (which is fantastic for the dancers, just not so great for taking Little Man out).
Grand Entry Junior Boy’s FancyJunior Girl’s Fancy
Still, Little Man did great and really enjoyed the drums. But it’s hard for this kiddo to sit still in the bleachers so we didn’t get to stay out too long.
He was definitely too distracted by all the people to want to stay.
The 3rd weekend brought lots of rain and cooler weather, so not much happened in the adventuring department. We took a quick stroll through the women’s small business fall festival to get out of the house.
The final weekend of the month didn’t see much action either. We went to the mall to find outfits for our family photos next week. That took forever and wasn’t very fruitful. I think I managed to figure something out, but we’ll see if it looks as good as it did in my head.
October will be a whirlwind month. The Mister has his next treatment for his back, a sleep study, and of course staff duty back to back. We’re getting photos done (squeezing in as many shoots with our favorite photographer as we can in case we do end up moving) and should have some visitors this month by way the in laws. Plus of course there’s Halloween (and I have yet to settle on a costume for Little Man).
It will also hopefully give us a concrete answer to the Fort Hood question and hopefully end the stress of not knowing what the next steps are. As is our #WaidLuck, I have no doubt something new will pop up so I can continue my stressing.
It’s been hot and gross around here lately. Between the heat/humidity and the mutant mosquitoes, we’ve been pretty keen on staying indoors recently.
We did manage to do a little bit for the month, though.
We took Little Man to the Dino Stroll in Nashville since it was free for him and the Mister. Plus it was inside so yay air conditioning!
He wasn’t too sure about the whole thing but he didn’t cry!
Later, we had a back yard get together with some of the Mister’s coworkers/friends. It was nice to be around other adults for awhile, even if the whole premise was the boys starting their D&D group.
The following weekends were relatively quiet. Staff duty tends to gum up the works.
We did manage to go to Free Comic Book Day at our local shop. We didn’t find a lot of issues we were still needing, but we grabbed a few and it got us out of the house.
Not a comic book but couldn’t resist the cover.
We have been working on the landscaping at the house. It’s proven to be a more tedious project than anticipated and rain has slowed things down.
12 bags of rock for this little space!Hunting plants was quite the adventure!
I think once it’s done it’ll look nice. Just bummed that we’ll likely have to turn around and sell the house in a few months. We’ll see what the doctor says in the next week or so.
Hope to stay here is definitely fading. But I guess the silver lining is that the housing market is insanely hot, so we should get a good return on the investment. I still don’t want to move to Texas with all that is going on lately, but such is the life I suppose.
August really didn’t turn out to be as busy or adventurous as we’d hoped. September will probably be more of the same, with the exception of maybe one or two short outings. We do have a long weekend for Labor Day, so the possibility is there.
We celebrated the 4th of July by grilling and watching the fireworks in the neighborhood from our window.
Little Man got to play outside a bunch and got eaten up by mosquitoes.
He’s such an outdoorsy kid.
My parents came down again (it’s been really hard to go back to our normal routines since we got to see them 3 out of 5 recent weeks — we really miss having them around) to come to LBL.
My parents, Little Man, the Mister, the Hozas, and the pups. Fantastic trip!
We wanted to get a slide on the pontoon but settled for a tube. We had a blast!
His life jacket from last year still fits, but boy, what a difference a year makes!
Since we still haven’t heard anything concrete about Fort Hood, we’ve been trying to do small projects around the house in case we end up having to move in a few months.
The Mister has been hard at work on the yard. He’s cut down the mess of bushes/volunteer trees in the front yard and along the fence. He also painted the deck and put new flooring down in an effort to keep it more bug-free. It looks fantastic.
Little Man was very helpful.
It definitely makes me sad to think we might have to leave so soon after it took us so long to find this place. I hate that with only a couple years left before retirement, the Army thinks we should move after keeping us here for more than a normal amount of time. But it’s what we do and we’re still holding out hope for something to change.
On that note, The Mister had an appointment at Walter Reed with a neurosurgeon about his back. He actually took the time to explain what needs to be done before surgery can be performed, so that was worth the long drive to Maryland.
The middle to end of the month stalled out for doing much adventuring. Other than a long 48 hour whirlwind of a drive to the doctor, we haven’t really been out and about.
I doubt August will bring much more adventures as we will likely be working on the house any weekend we have free, but we might try to squeeze a couple short jaunts in there. We still have a long weekend trip to plan and I’ve acquired tickets for Dino Stroll in Nashville and the Memphis Zoo tickets still need to be used before November.
2021 is now officially half over. I have no idea where the time has gone. We have been pretty busy so maybe that has something to do with it.
We kicked off this month with Taz’s 7th birthday. I really don’t know how she managed to turn 7 so soon. It seems like yesterday she appeared in our yard in Hawaii and was petrified of people. She’s still not sure of people outside of our core family, but she is way more accepting than she used to be.
Big marshmallow of a girl.
Over the next week, we packed in the appointments and prepped for Little Man’s first birthday party. The dogs had their annual visits, I had my annual visit (ugh), and Little Man had his check up.
Little Man turned one on the 8th. We did his smash cake photos that day. We had a Bluey theme. He was so dainty with his cake.
He had his 12 month check up the next day. He’s now 30.3 inches tall and 23.06lbs. He’s growing so fast.
His birthday party was the weekend following his birthday. He was spoiled rotten. My parents and youngest sister came as well as a couple of my former coworkers from the college. We had a lovely time, despite the ridiculously high humidity and heat.
He was so happy to have people visiting!We had a rough go with the cake. The first one was nothing like what we asked for. Luckily Kroger was still able to make our cake/cupcakes. This one was perfect!
The next day, we headed home to Nebraska for a week. The drive was a bit more challenging this time, but we managed.
We had a busy week, despite it being our “vacation”. We didn’t do much the first few days apart from a little retail therapy and pedicures.
Then on Thursday, my mom, middle sister, aunt, and I went tanking down the Cedar River. It was hot and the river was low, but we had a great time floating and chatting.
In the tank.
Friday, the Mister and I took Little Man to the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. Our original plan was to go to Omaha but it was unbearably hot and we didn’t get up and around fast enough.
He could have played with this gibbon all day if we’d let him.
We got to feed the giraffes which was definitely a highlight for me!
Up close and personal.
That Saturday was our busiest day. We attended the Diller Picnic Parade and watched the firework show. We were able to catch up with Grammys and Gramps too, which was super special since the last time we saw them, they weren’t able to interact with Little Man.
I don’t know who was more excited: Little Man or Gramps.The firework show is across from my grandmother’s old house every year. We always get a prime seat.
We headed home the next day. I woke up that Monday with a sore throat and have been battling a summer cold/allergies ever since. The sore throat is gone now, but the coughing from an annoying tickle in my throat is still hanging on. I’m hopeful it’ll be gone by the weekend!
I had some bloodwork done during my annual visit and it showed my kidneys aren’t functioning at full capacity. We thought it might be a fluke so repeated the bloodwork a week later but no new results. Doc thinks it’s related to my ongoing blood pressure issues. I’m going to repeat the bloodwork and urinalysis in the next few days and we’ll repeat once a month for three months to see if it resolves itself. I’m hoping it’s just a matter of improper hydration (I know I’ve been doing terribly with drinking enough water recently). We will see, but good vibes are appreciated.
As we’re gearing up for another month, we have our annual boat trip to Land Between the Lakes scheduled. We waited too long to use our normal marina, but I was able to find another place that still had some boats. We’re looking forward to that outing for sure!
July looks like it’ll be a fun month again. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep this energy going as we get into the next month.
Why do I feel like this month has been nonstop go-go-go, yet we didn’t really do anything?
We have been out of the house a lot, mostly for errands. Adventures were hit and miss.
I celebrated my first real Mother’s Day with a trip to Nashville. I got treated to a day of shopping and German food. It was a nice time, but there were far too many people out for my anxiety levels.
Nothing better than Little Man snuggles.
We got suckered into buying a weekend trip from Bass Pro while out. In exchange for sitting through a timeshare schpeal. But hey, $175 for a weekend away in Gatlinburg seems worth the 2 hours of boredom. We will not be purchasing the timeshare nonsense (been there, done that and never used it unfortunately). Can’t stay a night in Gatlinburg for that.
The following weekend we did our family photos with the focus on Audie. He’s doing so much better, it’s easy to forget that he was so sick. We got to break out matching RSVLTS shirts for the occasion. As always we had such a good time.
The next weekend, we celebrated our 8th anniversary a bit early by catching a Nashville Sounds baseball game. It’d been a couple years since we’d been to one and Little Man did great! He even left his hat on.
We had a blast!
My parents made a quick visit and babysat while the Mister and I caught a movie and had dinner on our anniversary. We weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves alone, but it was a fun change of pace.
Gorgeous flowers and a funny card from the Mister.
What was supposed to be a long Memorial Day weekend was interrupted by staff duty (isn’t that always the case?!). Thus, we have essentially made it to June.
Where has time gone?! Little Man will be a year old in a matter of days. How did that happen? Excuse me while I cry.
We’ll be having a small party and then heading to Nebraska for some leave.
The year is half over and we’re adventuring it away. We’re ready to see where it takes us next.
Another month into the new year and the craziness continues! Don’t worry, it wasn’t nearly as chaotic as last month, thank goodness.
Audie is doing awesome, by the way. He has so much more energy and is acting way better. He’s even put on some weight.
My fighter!
On the first, we celebrated miss Hina’s 8th birthday. She has been back out on the screened in deck as the weather allows and seems very content. Her new food for her thyroid seems to be helping.
Looking very regal for her age.
On the fourth, we had Easter.
We all decided to get a little dressed up, even though it was just us.
The bunny spoiled Little Man with a basket full of goodies.
Squishmallows, chalk, bubbles, a new book and ball (he thinks it’s hilarious when you bounce it).Cutest little Easter bunny!
We dyed eggs and did a little front yard hunt. Basically it was just killing time while the ham finished cooking. He just wanted to chew on them, not look for them.
We filled his plastic eggs with Cheerios and Goldfish crackers.Mmmm….vinegar and food dye.
Since it was a long weekend (yeah DONSA!), we trekked to Hopkinsville, KY for a quick change of scenery–and to buy Diet Dr. Pepper Cream Soda. We decided to stop by the Trail of Tears Commemorative Park since it was a nice day and we had been cooped up for awhile.
We’ve been a few times for the pow wow, but never actually looked around beyond the pow wow grounds.
Statue commemorating one of the chiefs buried at this site.
Being part-Cherokee, it was a rather somber experience for me. It wasn’t a huge area and didn’t appear to have the upkeep I’d like to have seen. Most of the park was dedicated to a disc golf course. We also unfortunately went on a day the heritage center was closed. Perhaps that would have changed my mind. It’s not far from us, so maybe we’ll try again another day.
The following weekend we celebrated my 33rd birthday by going to the Nashville Zoo.
Love the entrance!Little Man and The Mister being silly on the carousel.
It wasn’t the Omaha zoo by any stretch, but it was so fun to get out of the house and do something semi-normal for the first time in ages.
The next couple of weeks were a bit more quiet as it rained quite a bit and got cold again. The Mister took someone’s staff duty shift, so our routine was thrown off even more.
The last week of the month saw a little more random adventuring.
The Mister volunteered to help some of the Wounded Warriors clean up an old cemetery. Turns out it’s on the national register for historic places. They finished up a bit early one afternoon and the weather was beautiful, so I brought Little Man and the pups for some time outside. I had no idea what to expect.
Mount Olive Cemetery is an all African American cemetery established around 1817. It’s Clarksville’s largest, private African American cemetery. It allowed burials from 1817 to 1958. The signage says an estimated 1350 people are interred there, but based on ground penetrating radar, there are many more in unmarked graves.
There are said to be at least 30 military veterans buried here.
The whole area is very overgrown, but you can still see where the ground has settled in unmarked plots. It was quite sad to see, but it was a peaceful place that is finally getting the respect it needs. The Mister says the group he was working with is going to learn how to clean and preserve the headstones properly so they can keep working towards bettering the upkeep. I would love to see it fully restored.
Other than that, we put new tires on the Charger. Yay adulting. But hey! It meant I got to go shopping while we waited and I bought jeans/shorts that actually fit (I’m down 20lbs more than I was pre-baby! Still about 20 more I’d like to lose to be where I want, but losing all the baby weight +20 more is fantastic). Little things ya know.
The last bit of news is something not officially set in stone yet. The Mister got orders to go to Fort Hood in December. That is not what we were hoping for. It’s literally one of two places we do not want to go. We are still waiting to hear if his position now will be extended another year — the paperwork is moving up the chain. Hurry up and wait, ya know. He also has a referral for back surgery, so it is unlikely we’ll end up going, but we’re not counting on that either.
We don’t really want to have to sell our house yet (we have so many plans for it), but the market is ridiculously hot right now, so that’s a little comfort. We really just don’t want to move to Killeen, Texas. Like I said, there were only two places we absolutely didn’t want to go and Hood was at the top of the list.
We’ll just have to see how things work out. There’s always a chance something can/will change, so until we have dates to move, we’re not going to sweat it. In the meantime, this definitely gives us the incentive to get going on some of our more pressing projects for the house.
We still intend to have more adventures while we’re here and May is another month.
March started off calm like most months. Then it really let loose about a week in and just went to hell.
We had a very scary close call with our Audie boy. We had a vet appointment scheduled for the an exam to check out a couple new bumps. A few days before, however, I woke up from a nap with Little Man and Audie wasn’t on the couch like he normally is. I called him and he didn’t come. I found him in the bedroom on the floor ignoring me (this pup is my shadow so this was super out of character). I got him to follow me into the living room and he acted like it was hard to walk or something hurt. Starting to worry, I messaged the Mister that he was acting weird.
He laid on the living room floor, half whining, half breathing hard. The Mister suggested I try to give him a treat as that always perks him up. He literally let Indie take it from between his feet without as much as batting an eye.
By this point, I’m freaking out. This was not my dog. I checked his gums and they were pale. So pale they’re almost white. Down the Google rabbit hole I went. Bad idea, by the way. I’d already decided he was going to the vet, but was going to wait until the Mister got home (he reasoned that if he didn’t bark at him when he got home like he normally does, we’d know something was wrong). I sat beside him, loving on him, begging him not to leave me yet, asking him what I could do. Something just felt that wrong.
Then Audie vomited on the floor. It was full of fresh blood and foam. Messaged the Mister in a panic and packed Little Man in his car seat. Told Audie to come on and hustled to the car. I didn’t even grab a leash. Called the vet on my way and told the Mister to meet me there, as he’d said he was coming home after the vomit message.
It was the longest 20 minute drive of my life. Audie hates car rides and will pant and whine any time he has to go. He just sat there. I swear we hit every light and ran into all the traffic. Luckily the wait wasn’t long by the time we got to the clinic. They did bloodwork and x rays. He had a large mass in his abdomen. Doc wasn’t sure if it was attached to anything but it wasn’t a good prognosis. He said we could try exploratory surgery but there was no way to tell if it would do him any good or if they’d be able to do anything once they found out what it was.
The Mister and I both got teary eyed and decided that we wanted to try. I wasn’t ready to lose our Audie yet. He stayed the night at the clinic on fluids and medication to keep him comfortable until they could do surgery the next morning.
It was a very rough night. I went back and forth, agonizing about if we’d done the right thing and worrying that he wouldn’t make it through the night. The next morning was also nerve wracking; I was terrified he wouldn’t survive surgery or it wouldn’t do any good and he’d have to be put down.
I bawled for so long and so hard. This is my little nugget. The little zoomie-having pup who knows just when I need him most. The sweetest bub ever. I couldn’t imagine him going like that.
Thankfully he went through surgery beautifully. He had a grapefruit sized mass removed. It was attached to his spleen, so it had to be removed as well.
Recovering after surgery.
The lab report said it was a slow growing malignant tumor (I don’t recall the type, but it was not a nice one), but because the spleen was removed too, it was completely gone. His x rays didn’t show anything on his other major organs, which is a blessing.
His results were much better than the doc anticipated. She was very pleased with the outcome and gave him at least another year before we might have to make a quality of life decision.
For two weeks he wasn’t allowed to exercise or eat more than 1/4 can of food every 6 hours (his spleen had already begun to bleed into his stomach and removing it required vessels from his stomach to be tied off so we didn’t want to stretch it out). Recovery was tough (especially because he wasn’t allowed to jump on the couch or bed) but he has been given the all clear to eat/do whatever he wants now.
Now that his stitches are out, he has been acting like his normal, spry self. Even more energetic than normal. We’re so thankful he is still with us and will give him all the love we can with the time we have left.
He was SO happy to be rid of the cone of shame.
He’ll be having a professional photoshoot with Little Man’s photographer (The Lovely Rose Photography) as soon as his hair comes back in. Silly, maybe, but we love him and think he deserves some nice photos.
During all that craziness, my mom came to visit for her spring break. Her timing couldn’t have been better. It was so great having her here. She helped juggle the pup and the boy and gave my sanity a much needed break. I was even able to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed for the first time since February of last year!
Always so busy (and blurry now!). It was a fun St. Paddy’s with Grandma.
The weather got nice just in time for the mask mandate to be lifted in our county. Most of the businesses still require them to be worn inside though, so we were a little more comfortable taking Little Man into some stores and restaurants for the first time.
Sitting in the cart like a big boy.Taking daddy’s mask while waiting for his dinner at Cracker Barrel.
We planted some flowers and took a nice walk by the river. We even got to try some bubbles.
Little Man is most definitely an outside boy.Bubbles are fascinating.
We were so sad to see Mom head home. It’s really rough being so far away now that Little Man is here. Hopefully this summer she’ll be back for a longer stay with Dad.
After Mom left, Little Man had his 9 month check up. He is now nearly 28″ tall and a little over 22lbs. He’s ahead on milestones as well. Such a smart boy! He had to get his 2nd flu shot and didn’t feel very good for a couple days.
Slight fever (for him) and mommy was the only cure.
He started feeling better just in time for his Easter photos.
We’ve been going nonstop it seems, I’ve nearly forgotten that it’s officially been a full year since I was furloughed from work. What started as two weeks to flatten the curve turned into a full year of social distancing, face masks, and staying home. It’s a bit surreal.
Thankfully, it worked in my favor as I’ve been able to stay home with Little Man and be present for his many firsts.
Spending time with the family is absolutely what is important. I never would have been able to do some of the things I’ve done this last year if I had returned to work. I really wouldn’t trade it for the world!
We’re so excited for the weather to continue to be nice so we can get out for more adventures as a trio.
We managed to squeeze in a quick day trip to Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Dover, Tennessee.
Cannons along the Cumberland River.
We took the dogs and the stroller. Originally, we went to see the bald eagles that nest along the river, but none were out. So we had plenty of time to take a look around. It’s a small area so we were able to see it all in few hours. It was a nice outing that gave us time in the sun and didn’t have a lot of people to distance from.
April is hopefully going to give us consistently nice weather and some more chances to enjoy it as COVID calms down. We’ll see!
February definitely lived up to being the shortest month. While daily it felt like it would never end, now it’s almost over.
We’ve literally done absolutely nothing noteworthy this month. At least in the adventure department. Honestly, we barely left the house.
But Little Man conquered some big milestones.
He is now fully mobile. And boy is he fast! Crawling all over the place and getting into everything. His favorite pastime is crawling as fast as he can to the Roomba and turning it on before Mommy has to stop it.
With crawling has also come the need to pull up on anything within arm’s reach. Though not quite totally steady, he is fearless. He’s gotten a few boo-boos from his shenanigans, but he’s resilient.
So big!
He is up to six teeth, fully poked through. Which means he has been trying all sorts of new food. He is 100% over purees and wants to try whatever you’re eating. He had chicken lo mein the other night and tacos another day. Thankfully, he’s not found much he doesn’t like/won’t eat.
We’ve been able to stop using his bath seat in the tub now (he outgrew it and has no issue sitting on his own). It’s a bit like wrestling an alligator at bath time and diaper changes. He’s so dang busy.
Let’s see… I didn’t keep up with writing what we did each week like I normally do, so I’m all over the place trying to remember how this month played out.
We ordered in appetizers and beer for the Super Bowl. The game, the halftime show, and the commercials left a lot to be desired in my opinion.
With COVID restrictions still keeping the movie theater closed, the Mister and I weren’t able to celebrate Valentine’s Day like we normally do. The Mister actually got me flowers (which as you know, he has NEVER done because “flowers are for apologies”). He says it’s because I didn’t tell him I wanted anything else other than jokingly saying he could get me some.
Love irises and tulips…and Little Man’s canvas print Valentine.
Miss Independence celebrated her 2nd birthday. I can’t believe she’s only two. It really feels like she has always been with us. She is such a good dog and she adores Little Man.
I just adore this face.
We did have a snow “storm” come through so The Mister was home for about a week from work. Everything shut down and we probably got 4 inches of snow. The rest of the country got it much worse with rolling blackouts and below freezing temperatures.
It didn’t stay long here and the rain has already set in, so mud is the name of the game right now. The doggos have already had to be scrubbed down outside because there’s no grass in the back yard.
Other than that, February was a bit of a bust.
March is bound to be better. My mom is coming to visit for spring break and Little Man’s 9 month check up is right around the corner. I truly don’t know where the time goes. Hopefully the weather will start to feel more spring-like so we can get outside!
The Waid Chronicles 
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