The end and the beginning.

It's taken me a while to write this, because it took me a while to process it. After 10 days on antibiotics, Aiko did not improve, and his nose began to drip on one side. I took him to the vet on Monday, October 5th. In the 11 days between vet visits, Aiko had developed a large mass in his intestines. Because of the unilateral discharge from his nose, the vet suspected a secondary tumor in his nasal cavity. We could have done painful steroid shots that might reduce or at least slow the growth of the tumors, but his quality of life had declined so much that we didn't want to put him through that. It would give him at most 2-3 months before he would be gone, based on how quickly the tumor was growing.


He was always such a beautiful cat, full of life. As a siamese he was very smart, and would talk to us. If we left for the weekend, when we got home he would corner us and meow and tell us all about while we were gone. You could ask him questions and he would respond. My mom never believed me until he stayed with her for 3 weeks while we went on our road trip. The next time she came to visit, he remembered her and talked and talked and talked to her, like he was catching up with an old friend.


He was a great older brother to Tabetha. And just a great cat overall. After Jason got home from work that monday, we dropped Baxter off at a friend's and took Aiko to the vet again. He was so frail, and tired looking. He was so peaceful through the entire process, and the vet reassured us that we made the right decision. We knew it was, it was just so difficult. Indoor cats are supposed to live much longer than 8.5 years!


Baxter had a grand time, and didn't even notice that we had left him. Jason and I spent the night zoning out, watching TV, and reminiscing about Aiko during commercials. Aiko, you will so be missed. You were a great cat, and we loved you. We loved you enough to try to save you, and to know when you were done.

While Aiko had been sick, Tabetha distanced herself from him. She knew something was wrong. She stopped playing and started eating more. Always a very slight cat, she gained wait and filled out. The night Aiko left us, she walked around the house crying all night. It just about broke my heart.

That left us with a very hard decision. Do we get a new cat right away? Do we grieve longer? It's nearing the end of kitten season. Tabetha is lonely. We knew we needed a kitten, since Tabetha is an alpha female and since she's so small the new cat would need to be physically smaller than her.

Enter Mr. Waffles. Mr. Chester P. Waffles to be exact. And yes, the P stands for "pancakes."


At 7 weeks old, he's all of 1.3lbs, and a complete love. There was no adjustment period for him. He cuddles all night, and plays all day. Except when he's napping, which is often. He adores Baxter, and Baxter adores him, they play all the time. He misses us, and if he can't find us he wanders the house crying until we call out and he can find us for cuddles. Tabetha loves him already, and they've started cuddling together after only 3 days. He hasn't filled the void Aiko left, but he's certainly trying to make a dent in it. He will be a much loved cat as well. In fact, he already is!

So much going on

A few weekends ago we took an over night cruise to Vancouver with Jason's family. It was a great relaxing time, and a fun introduction to cruising! Next time hopefully we'll be on the cruise ship for more than 21 hours. And have a car seat that's not crazy old, hehe.

The big thing going on right now, other than Baxter being adorable, is that I think our kitty Aiko isn't going to be with us much longer :( He's been losing weight, and this last month he's just dropped a ton of weight. He used to be between 11-12 lbs, but now he's down to just over 7. We spent $300 to find out it's an intestinal issue. We could spend another $200 to find out if it's one of 3 things. It could be a bacterial infection (treated with antibiotics that we can afford), a B12 deficiency (shots every week for 6 weeks, then every other week for as long as it takes, at least $1000), Pancreatitis (same treatment but different meds, still about $1000). Or it could be intestinal cancer, which they would have to do an expensive biopsy for and there's no treatment available. Since the only treatment we can afford is the antibiotics, that's what he's been on the last 9 days. We also switched him to a super expensive hypoallergenic food. He's also been really dehydrated. Since then, he stopped making the effort to go upstairs to use the litterbox, so we moved his food to the bathroom, and he's taken up residence in the bath tub. He won't budge, and can't wait to get back in it. I think he's just soiling himself too, and he's not eating enough to have any solid waste. He's eating *maybe* 1/16th a cup of catfood a day. It's just so sad. We got Aiko as a kitten before we got married, and he's only 8 years old. I wish I had the money to save him, but we just can't afford it. I need to take him to the vet again this week to make sure he's not in pain. Poor guy :( He was my first baby.

Oh, and Baxter is using more and more sign language.

This is a short and completely uninformative update, sorry!

A break from the silence

We've had a super busy summer. I'll do a quick recap. We spent the first week in Seattle for Baxter's birthday. While there Baxter had TWO birthday parties, we had family photos taken, and we went to the zoo. While in Seattle my beloved laptop somewhat died. It may be fixable, but not by me. We came home for a day then went to Chelan to spend time with friends and their two boys. Baxter learned a ton, ate a lot of grapes, and fun was had by all. So this entire time I was accumulating photos and had no way to upload them! THANKFULLY I had backed up my laptop before we left, just in case. When we got home from Chelan I ordered myself a spiffy new iMac. The goal is to have Dilley Dally pay for it. If it's not going that direction I may finally get a business license so I can claim a loss this year. Fun times.

We had some down time where I caught up on a few things and attempted to get photos up and so forth. I'm happy to say Flickr is fully updated, and there are pages and pages of photos to sort though! Well, I take that back. I have a few more to upload from recently...

Then over labor day weekend we went to Seattle. We had friends visiting from Virginia who we going to PAX, a giant nerdy video game conference. Baxter and I went on Saturday, and Jason went on Saturday and Sunday. Then Geoff came up to visit on Monday night and went home yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Sadly Jason, Geoff and Janet all contracted what is being known as "PAX Pox" - AKA Swine Flu. So far only Janet has had it confirmed with a doctor, but there was quite an outbreak at the conference. Jason is home sick, and Baxter and I are staying clear. We're feeling fine, but now we're on self imposed quarantine :(

So some of the new things Baxter has been doing.

He learned how to eat with a spoon and fork, and now all meals require them even if he doesn't use them.

Everything is a phone, including his hands and occasionally a foot during a diaper change.

We had our first experience with disposable diapers (yuck!) and Jason declared that except for an upcoming exception lets not buy them again because they STINK and leak. We had to buy them because Baxter had a terrible diaper rash caused by too much fruit and pooping during naps and in the middle of the night. His poo became acid and burned his little bum, and the prescription cream would ruin the cloth diapers, so we sucked it up and bought a pack of sposies. We'll use them again when we go to Canada in two weeks, but that's another post.

He started to say words on accident. He said "kitty" twice (but never again) and today started to say "hi" and "hello."

Cats are his most favorite thing ever. He waves, says his "ahhhh" (which is a high pitched sound approximating hi) and then squats down so he can try to kiss them on the nose. He's good with gentle pets though, and has never been scratched or bitten.

He learned how to turn the tv on and how to change the channels. His favorite shows to stop on are Animal Planet (where he waves at the tigers and tries to kiss them through the TV), daytime courtroom shows like Judge Judy, and The Golden Girls. He mostly ignores cartoons.

He's really into giving kisses, and will sometime do it on demand. But kisses only go on mouths. Never cheeks or on tops of heads. We asked him to give his cousin Riley a kiss while he was doing tummy time on the floor, and Bax had to squat down and try to get Riley to look up at him before he would attempt a kiss. It was ridiculously cute.

Baxter likes feeding other people, and has started to have an opinion on food. He really likes some things now, and it's different from what it used to be. Sometimes he will have 3 bites of food and be done, and other times he will eat a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, a whole banana, and a slice of toast (like he did for breakfast today). He tends to eat the most in the mornings.

Baxter loves sprinklers and splash pads, but can't stand bodies of water or bubbles. Lakes, pools, large bathtubs and bubble baths send him into hysterics. But he will play for a really long time in a sprinkler or at the splash pad.

Baxter is still breastfeeding, but never asks for it. Mostly if he's fussy it's how I distract him. He also nurses before naps and bed.

He's sooooo close to sleeping through the night (and by that I mean more then the "technical" definition of 5 hour stretches). He goes down around 7 then wakes up from 3:30-5 to nurse then goes back down. He's up for the day between 6:30 and 7 usually. If he dropped that last night feeding I would be sooooo happy! At least until I had to wake up multiple times a night to feed a new baby, but hey, it's bonding right? Baxter and I are plenty bonded now :)

Ok, I'm running out of things to say, so I'll just end this with some photo highlights. Because I know you want them.


Mmmm, birthday cake!


Feeding me some of his birthday cake *swoon*


Splorin the Chelan house yard


My attempt at artsy flower photos getting a lovely background surprise


Sprinkler!


Loving Spinapplemeal - spinach food processed down and combined with applesauce and oatmeal so it's thick enough to stay on an uncoordinated baby spoon.


A funny and cute capture in low light and high ISO, but I'm digging the graininess, at least with the black and white :)

Another year, another half pound

I was right. Baxter hasn't really gained any weight since he started walking. Well, he gained just over half a pound. Not much.

My computer is on it's last legs. I had to take it in and have it wiped and the OS re-installed. I was then told that the harddrive was beginning to fail, and ever since then it's just limped along. It hardly works. So once we get back from Chelan it looks likes we will be looking into a new computer for me. I love this laptop, it has served me very well. I can't say I didn't get my money's worth! But until I get a new computer I can't post or edit photos. Sorry. I'll get them up eventually!!!

A year ago today...

I know, I can't believe it's been a year already! My baby boy has grown into a sturdy little toddler.


This past year has been amazing. I was going to write a sappy post, but my boy needs me to put him down for a nap.

And yes, he's SOOOO BIG!!!

His first haircut...

We've been going back and forth, cut his hair before his birthday? Do it ourselves or have it done? We wanted it done before we go to Chelan on the 8th, and just have too much going on before then. So tonight, I set up the camera, handed it to Jason, and turned on the clippers...





And you better believe I'm keeping his wings...

My Goomba

My Goomba is adorable (especially in his Goomba shirt)


He's an incredibly smart monkey. Yes, he took the laundry basket, turned it upside down, climbed on top and used it as a stepstool.


He likes to sit in the chair. But not watch TV. Unless it's daddy playing Zelda or the creepy Arts channel.


He understands new games and toys right away.


And still tries to catch the sunlight.


I can't believe my baby will be a year old in less than a week! He can wave "bye-bye" now, and he's such a polite and sharing little boy. He loves to give hugs and kisses to his friends. We leave on Thursday to go to Seattle for a week for his birthday and family time, come home for a day, then leave for Chelan for another week. This time we're going with our good friends and their two little boys. It should be a fun filled week of bubbles, sprinklers, lake time, and card games in the evening. So I don't know how much I'll be blogging :) I'll try to keep photos updated though.

Having Jason home is great. Yesterday we took a walk around Lake Padden while Baxter napped in the stroller. And we've been taking turns sleeping in. That combined with Baxter only waking once a night has been glorious!

Oh, just a few more...

Have I commented recently on how much I love photoshop? I"m getting so much more into it! And of course, the Creative Mama is doing TWO more giveaways! One for some Florabella Textures, and one for a fine art print! *SWOON*

So of course I have to share my recent creations :) Just remember, I'm still learning!!!

A black and white kind of day

I'm getting more and more into Photography as I read the series on The Creative Mama. Today's giveaway is amazing, I'm having so much fun with actions, presets and textures. Next time I upload to flickr you'll see more. So yeah, I want to win this time!

I suppose I could tell you more about our Chelan trip, or what's happened this week. But I'm still tired! But there was a fire on the 4th of July (scary) right down the hill from us. Tony took off to try to fight it, but they wouldn't let him. Luckily it was controlled super fast. We went to the beach, and we ate good food, and had a general good time. It was a vacation, I'm not sure what else to say! Grandma Deanna taught Bax how to bang a tin tray with a spoon... And Bax started to want to read books!


Baxter liked playing the piano, and when others played.


Jessie got creative with the blocks and glass topped table (I love this one!)


My boys loved on each other


And Grandma Deanna got lots of cuddles


Maybe next time I'll share some that aren't Black and White? There are more on the flickr page, but these are some favorites :) Oh, and YES, I've been photoshopping them all. Not like switching heads or anything, just some gentle enhancements, or converting to Black and White. Ya know, the good type of photoshopping!

Home

We were here:


Doing things like this:


And taking beautiful pictures like this:



And now I'm home, catching up on more mundane things. So I'll leave it at that tidbit for now, while I still have hundreds of photos to go through. What I would really love is a new copy of CS4, which The Creative Mama is giving away in a short giveaway today... She's doing photography related giveaways all week, so stay tuned, and I'll tell you about each one! With maybe some fun photos of our vacation each time :)

Reconnecting / Disconnecting

Tomorrow morning we're heading out bright and early to spend some quality family time over at Lake Chelan. It will be reconnecting time with Jason's younger sister Jessica, my Mom and Step Dad, My Step Sister and Nephew, my Step Brother, and a few other assorted family members along the way! I'm looking forward to it... We have plenty of sun block and water toys. My camera batteries are charged, and I'm prepared to take a TON of photos!

The disconnecting part is that I will be internet-free for the most part. I'll have my phone, so I'll have email and facebook, but I don't expect to be online much :)

That's all for now! Look for an exciting photo filled post next week some time!

eight?

So Baxter had 5 teeth for a long time. Then he broke 3 teeth in the last three days, and he only woke up once last night!

Today we had a playdate (well, actually lunch) with some new friends. Now Jason is taking the car back to the shop because it came home with a new dent... I'm hoping they fix it, or we won't be using them again!

I'm finally starting to feel normal again, it's nice. Tomorrow I'm helping to run the breastfeeding booth at the farmers market for the mother baby center. Fun stuff!!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

About Life

Hmmm, How should I explain what all has happened in the last week and a half? I'll just go chronologically. Because then I'll be less likely to forget something! And I'm looking at my calendar, so that helps too....

A week ago Sunday we went to Lake Padden to my friend Danielle's graduation BBQ. Baxter was a hit, and he wanted to walk everywhere, and meet all the dogs. Jason took him to the playground for a bit, but he found having to be held on all the toys a bit too constraining. And I think it might have been too close to nap time to enjoy the slide.


On monday I got a haircut, and Baxter sat sweetly in the stroller the whole time! Even though it was nap time and I got there early hoping to walk him to sleep in the stroller... he just thought that was funny. So he only took ONE nap that day, in the middle of the day, and went to bed early. He behaved really well though, so now I know he can do it if I need him to. Tuesday we spent doing a ton of laundry, because the rest of the week was going to be FULL.

On wednesday the 17th was Jason's last day of school. They were doing a block schedule, and they only had 6th period that day. Jason has 6th period planning, so he had no students. He had some cleaning and organizing to do, so Baxter and I joined him at school. A few students came in, and Baxter charmed all of them :) He's so sweet. I even managed to get him to nap in the sling for 40 minutes while Jason had a staff meeting! After that there was a staff BBQ, where Baxter continued his conquest to acquire as many admirers as possible. Then we went home, exhausted.

Thursday was spent packing, and cleaning, and doing all sorts of preparing stuffs, so we could go to Seattle for the weekend. We decided to try something new, before now Baxter's carseat has always been in our 4 door Nissan. The Nissan is a good little car, but the gas milage is only okay, and there's only a radio that doesn't tune well. The trunk space is minimal to say the least. So we decided to try putting the carseat in the 2 door Toyota, since it gets much better mileage, has a CD player, a radio, and the iPod player works in that car. As Baxter gets bigger it's somewhat easier to get him in and out of the carseat, and we found that this worked well for us. Good thing too! This was planned as a trial run for our trip to Chelan. Another bonus? The carseat only fits in the middle of the back in the Nissan, but fits on the side in the echo. I know the middle is a little safer, but on the side means the passenger in the front can lean the seat back... almost a must for long drives! We also managed to find time to do some finger painting... Well, more like finger painting the deck, but I did manage to get two paintings finished before Baxter was.



Friday morning Jason dropped us off at playgroup then went home and packed up the car. He came to pick us up, then we had to stop in Seedro Woolley to do a few things before heading down to Seattle for a long weekend. Baxter was a doll the entire time. Did I forget to mention that I taught Baxter a few new tricks on Thursday? :) If you ask "How big is Baxter?" he raises his arms above his head and grins, and you then have to respond enthusiastically with "So big!!!" and then he's pleased and will often do it several more times to see if he can get the same response. And now when you clap your hands, he claps right away, then continues to clap for a little bit... So cute!

Ok, anyway, we got into Seattle around 4:00 and tried to surprise my mom at her office, but she wasn't there. Fail #1. So we went to my brother Brent's store to surprise him, but he was with a really long customer (quoting an entire deck). Fail #2. Luckily, we had arranged with Jessica, Jason's younger sister, to babysit for us that night. So we headed over to the Dilley house and settled in for the weekend. After Baxter went to bed, Jason and I set out for our first date night since Bax was born!

We started at King Wa's, our FAVORITE chinese restaurant ever. We had thought about seeing a movie, but we didn't think it would work timing wise, because it left us just under an hour to eat. Well, King Wa's had exceptionally fast and excellent service, so when we were done we decided to try for the movie anyway. We (when I say we I mean mostly Jason) wanted to see "The Hangover", and it was playing at Southcenter. So we got there 2 minutes after the movie had started, and realized when they remodeled the mall they put in a new theater... and we were at the wrong one. So we decided what the heck, lets check out the other one and see if we make it, it's ok if we miss the first few minutes. Can I just say that the Southcenter mall is now amazing? We didn't have time to explore, but Jason and I just boggled as we rode the escalators (escalators!?!) up to the third floor (third floor!?!). The movie was not 15 minutes in, but we got tickets at what looked like a fancy touch screen atm, and went in. Guess what? We still saw a preview! LOL! Of course, we rushed home after the movie, so there were only two things our date night was missing... drinks and dessert. Ah well, another time.

Saturday we spent hanging out at my Mom's house in honor of her birthday (which is actually today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!). April and Riley were there, and Andrew was there for a bit (my step-siblings and nephew). Richard (my step-father) grilled, and we had a fantastic meal. I took about a billion pictures. A fun time was had by all :) That night after getting Baxter down for bed, Jessica babysat again (LOVE THAT GIRL!) and we went out to dinner with Mom, Richard, and Brent. Tony was flying home from California, and managed to get here an hour early, so Richard left to go pick him up right after ordering. We went to the Ram, and my fries came cold. And they forgot to bring the Chicken for Jason's fajitas. But they kept Richard's steak warm while he was gone, got me new fries, and discounted Jason's dinner, so it ended up ok. It was nice being able to spend a bit of time with Brent. While at my mom's I could feel a bit of Mastitis coming on that morning, so I tried to take it easy. No luck. By the end of the day I was miserable. I had a really bad fever Saturday night that just took me out for the count.

Sunday was Father's day, and we spent the day hanging with the Dilley clan. Jason's older sister JoAnne came to visit, and Jason's parents bought him a bike (which he really wanted). I spent most of the day on the couch or in bed. I must say, that if you have to have mastitis, having it while around a super helpful 16 year old who loves her nephew makes it soooooo much easier. Oh, and Baxter loves her too. I swear, that boy only wanted attention from me if it was for food. I could have been chopped liver all weekend for all he was concerned. Jason grilled up some nice ribeye steaks and we had it with baked potatoes for dinner. Overall, very satisfying even if I was pretty sick.

When I've had mastitis in the past, it's passed in about a day. Not this time. Our plan was to leave on Monday whenever, but it was pretty clear by monday morning when I was still having fevers and my mastitis was still getting worse that it was time for me to see a doctor. So I had a 3:15 appt on monday back in Bellingham, and we tried to get out by 11:30... which turned into 12:30. On top of that we needed to stop by and pick something up from my brother and drop something off with him too, and get gas. We finally got on the road and made good time. At this time I'd like to mention that having a passenger seat that reclined was a LIFESAVER. I was in so much pain I couldn't have done it any other way. Baxter was an angel in the car too. We ended up going straight to the doctors office, and I got some antibiotics. So much fun.

So here it is, Tuesday. My mastitis still isn't better, but the antibiotics got rid of the fevers at least. But they give me migraines... so I haven't been overly productive. My friend Danielle came over to visit, which was nice though. Oh, and the lack oh photos of all of this? Two reasons....

1) I pretty much only took photos on Saturday
2) Jason left my camera at his parents house.....

Luckily my friend Laura is coming up to visit on Thursday and she graciously offered to pick it up and bring it to me. Then I can edit cute nephew photos, cute Baxter photos, and start taking more photos! I guess tomorrow I should try to video Baxter's new tricks. He can now climb onto the glider ottoman (which I tried to constrain but it still rocks some). He then sits and rocks it back and forth clapping... too cute!

GAH! I LOVE THAT BOY! Wow, this turned into a long update!

Love this boy!

I posted these on flickr, but I needed to blog about them too.

My little man is growing up! See how handsome he is?



He's turned into SUCH a climber. He will try to climb on anything and everything. This was before the cat litter got taken upstairs. It made a great ladder.



Oh, and here's his funny new scrunched face smile. It cracks me up!

It's entirely too late to do this

It's after 10pm, and I should be heading to bed. But I sat down at my computer desk, and realized I have been super neglectful.



Baxter is still ridiculously cute. No worries. I actually have more pictures on my camera I should upload and edit, but as previously state, it's too late tonight. So just an update. Maybe short, maybe long? We'll see :)

Ok, it's been a LONG time! Baxter is walking everywhere now. He hates to crawl it seems like. Until earlier this week he was crawling a tiny bit so he could pull himself to standing so he could take off again, but he learned how to stand up on his own. It's sooo cute! But it means my baby boy is growing up :( Can you believe he's 10 months old already? It's crazy! He still isn't working on any words, but he has learned a few signs. He rarely uses them though. In fact, I taught him to sign "more" the other day using blueberries, but now he only wants more blueberries. He loves blueberries. Almost as much as he loves pudding.




Oh yeah, if you didn't see them on Flickr or Facebook already, we gave Baxter chocolate pudding. He made a royal mess, but it was so stinkin cute, and he loved it. I still have pudding spots on my walls though... Oops! He's starting to want to eat 3 meals a day, but not eating much. He's such a slow eater, and HATES bibs, so now that its finally warm I've just been stripping him down.

I started doing some Photography on the side, and I've been really liking it! Right now I've only taken pictures of a few friend's kids, and I have more to put up, but here's my gallery of photos. I'm hoping that if I get good enough it can bring in a little bit of extra cash next year. I've still been sewing diapers, and my newest creations, embellished birthday diapers, have been a hit so far! Check out my Dilley Dally blog for pictures of those though.

Jason is getting close to the end of the school year. His last day is the 17th, but then the 18-19 are the beginning of summer school. He's teaching a Geometry class this summer for students who want to skip ahead to Advanced Algebra next year. Usually it goes Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Algebra. So this class will be mostly online, and then Jason will be at the school for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays to be there for help. It's a pretty neat system, and I'm looking forward to having him around this summer!

Speaking of summer plans, I'm totally excited to be taking our first vacation over the 4th of July! The Spears/Irvine family is going to the Chelan house, but we're staying a whole week. So some family time, and some just us. We bought a pool/lake toy for Baxter, and stocked up on sunscreen. I even faced the dreaded swimsuit shopping, because none of my old ones fit.

Now, swimsuit shopping is NEVER fun, but it's worse right now. My old suits are all too big, which is a nice feeling, but my tummy is in need of a lot more ahem control now, and by chest is in need of a lot more support. I also can't use anything that ties behind the neck, and V-necks and low necks are out. Yes, Baxter knows where his next meal is coming from, and he's not afraid to go after it if he's hungry enough. So those had to stay on the hangar. Luckily I found the perfect suit at the first place, and scored two amazing skirts that have been a lifesaver in this weather.

Ok, that's enough of an update for now, right? Steve and Krystal and little Bruce are coming over tomorrow, so I better get some rest tonight :)