We've officially moved. If you need the new website address just e-mail me, contact me through facebook, call me or get a hold of one of our family or friends.

Rainboots

This is my first attempt at a scheduled post so we'll see if it actually posts. Those lovely little rainboots arrived in the mail from Aunt Megan & Aunt Molly for Jonah's birthday and we had to try them on. They have little cats and dogs on them. So cute! He'll probably wear them this spring. Toddler Jonah will be so adorable. I just picked up a couple of 18 and 24 month t-shirts for him on clearance. I figure he can wear a long sleeved shirt underneath when it is cold. I don't really have any definitive plans for this week so I don't know how busy we'll be. Matt is on call the night before Jonah's birthday and then the day after switches to his emergency medicine rotation at another hospital and does night shift. But tomorrow (Saturday) is his first day off in 17 or 18 days. That is crazy! We're all missing him (especially the dogs). The picture below is funny because Jonah has a pacifier in his mouth. Much to my dismay, he would never take a pacifier. I blame the newborn nursery who thought I didn't want him to have one. He has always been a thumb/finger sucker. In retrospect I'm glad because we never had to worry about having the pacifier with us or him dropping it and he has always been able to self-soothe really well. The only time he sucks his thumb is when he is tired and wants to nurse. So I'm sure he'll outgrow it by age 4 (after which we would have to worry about his teeth). Anyway, I found this pacifier in the drawer of his changing table and gave it to him one day to distract him so I could get him changed and he stuck it in his mouth. He doesn't actually suck on it but chews on it for a few minutes before crawling off and leaving it for the dog to take.

Happy Birthday, Torey!

It seems like just yesterday your Uncle Matt and I were sleeping on the waiting room floor awaiting your arrival. We miss you! I hope your day is filled with lots of sugar and firetrucks!

200th post!

Getting familiar with the tools of the trade. Don't worry, this is our home stethescope not used in the hospital. We've had it out because I seem to have a little pneumonia. Yep, I have horrible lungs. I've lost count of the number of times I've had pneumonia in my life.

I thought I would make my 200th post a great one but it didn't turn out that way. It is just a regular, boring one. I can't believe Jonah will be a year old in less than a week. I've been mourning his infancy. As I told Matt last night, I was so comfortable with the baby thing but now that he's moving and requires guidance in addition to his basic needs being met, I'm deathly terrified. He is giving me a glimpse of what the next year(s) will be like with fits and mischieviousness. He throws a mean fit. It starts with wrinkling up his face and screaming and then moves on to holding his breath and ends with banging his head on the floor. He continues to test me with doing things he know he shouldn't like pulling at cords and watching me the entire time. But we're also excited about how much more fun we'll have together. Last night Matt was scolding Jo for going to the bathroom on the floor (a multiple times a day occurence this week) and Jonah starting cracking up. Everytime Matt would say in a stern voice "Did you do this?", Jonah would do his belly laugh. It was so funny Matt couldn't keep a straight face.

Anyway, I thought I would get a quick post up before Jonah woke up and I hear him now. We have our first visitor coming tomorrow (Grandma Joan) and we are so excited. It will be a hard (but fun) week with Jonah turning 1 and the fact that it won't be as I imagined with all our friends and family there with us to celebrate. And because I couldn't have my 200th post be without a picture, here is our first family photo. (Edited-Added photo of Jonah) I know, I know, I look HORRIBLE. That is what pregnancy, >24 hours of labor, a c-section, TONS of fluids and narcotics do to you. Jonah looks pretty exhausted too. I do not remember this picture being taken. I don't remember much about the first day actually. I don't even remember some people visiting. Matt did get a video of me meeting Jonah for the first time. If I have time I'll try to post that in the next week. Oh yeah, I guess I would have to figure out how to get it from the video camera. Here it is and for everyone's sake, don't click on it and enlarge it. And Mom, don't you dare make this your background.

We all scream for ice cream!

He'll turn 1 in one week from today!

For some reason Jonah's nap schedule was 1 1/2 hours off today so he was napping during the time we had planned to go to Gymboree. He is usually ready to nurse and go to bed at 7 but it is 8 and he is still going strong. I hope we get back on schedule tomorrow. Matt thought he would give Jonah a little bite of his ice cream bar. I warned him that just a bite wouldn't be enough for Jonah.

A first taste...

I want more!

It's all mine!

Quack

Because I didn't have any good pictures of the little man today, here is a video. Although the quality is horrible. I think my finger must have been hitting the microphone. So, sorry about that.

I took Jonah to the Children's Museum this morning for a "Pollock-Palooza Mess Fest." Someone should have told Jonah it was about the fine arts and not the culinary arts. More paint went in his mouth than on the paper. I don't have any good pictures because I spent the whole time trying to stop him from eating the paint and brushes. Next week is dough making. I don't think we'll attend. We'll try again in a couple months. The museum is at the foot of the Space Needle. It looks like there is a lot to do around there but I hate paying for parking. We have something fun planned for tomorrow too. After Jonah's nap we are going to try to find a post office (again). I've had Torey & Taylor's birthday presents ready to go but google maps keeps sending me to residential neighborhoods when I look for a post office. Matt wasn't scheduled for any surgeries today but he still had to go in and do something. He got zero sleep on Saturday night. So he was up from 5 am on Saturday until 12 pm on Sunday. He is afraid he is becoming a black cloud because they are really busy whenever he's on call. I told him he is their Carey.

For Matt

I joke with Matt that he gets a glimpse of what it would be like if I ever had twitter via my text messages to him. (Don't worry, my life is way too boring to tweet. Have you seen the cell phone commercial with the parents getting a lecture from their kids and the dad is tweeting? I think that is so funny). Posting pictures and stories about Jonah on the blog is also a way Matt can keep up with him because he doesn't get to see him as often as he would like. I know he is missing us as much as we are missing him. He isn't always able to call home but sometimes he has the opportunity to check out the blog at the hospital. So because we won't see him until tomorrow afternoon, here is an update for him:

Jonah has started banging his head on the floor when he is mad/tired. I also caught him chewing on the side of his crib so I'll be finishing up those side covers this evening. I bought him one of those big bouncy balls at the grocery store. We went to babies r us to get the hydrogels and he was very good. I had him in the sling instead of the cart and it made a huge difference. It was packed with pregnant women and couples with itty bitty babies. Jonah seemed so old. Jonah needed more fruit so we checked out Albertsons. I haven't made up my mind about shopping there yet. It is way down on Aurora in Seattle. I'll go again on a weekday morning when it isn't so busy. I got myself some sushi for dinner. Yum! The new neighbors have 3 kids. The youngest is a 1 month old boy. The dogs didn't bark or growl at them but they were distracted by having to go to the bathroom. Oh and babies r us is no longer selling the stroller in the store either. I'm so glad I ordered it when I did or I wouldn't be able to find it anywhere. I think that is everything. Jonah is napping so I'm going to prepare his dinner because you know he doesn't like to wait.

It has been cool here this week and I'm loving it. The temperature has been in the 60s during the day. I've even had to wear a jacket. If we are going to continue having days like this then Jonah needs to get taller for his pants to fit. He has been wearing shorts with his leggings because he is too short for his 12 month pants. Matt had something tonight (I guess I should have asked what) and won't be home until late. He is on call tomorrow and will most likely sleep most of Sunday. I lost my phone for a couple days. I knew it was here somewhere but didn't know where. Matt said he heard it in the bedroom so while I was looking for it everywhere I heard it ringing in the living room (it was in the couch). Thanks for calling, Laura! Jonah is eating dinner so I should go police the dogs. Caleb tears Jonah's bib off to get the food out of it. Caleb and I are not speaking right now. He ate my sandwich I had sitting on the counter. Oh and I think Jonah said hi. He said it 3 different times but I'll have to see if I can get him to do it again. Of course, I could never get it on film because he sees the camera and tries to grab it. I'm glad you're enjoying the pictures of the little man. My camera gets a good workout almost daily. I'm going to hit 10,000 pictures soon. And this blog will hit 200 posts soon too.

Our Anniversary

Hanging out at the park. Poor kid, you can always tell when it is nap time by looking at his eyes.

Yesterday was our 3 year wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been 3 years but at the same time it feels like it has been a million. We've moved twice in those years, added a dog, then a baby, and Matt graduated from medical school. He got home really early from the hospital but Jonah and I were at the park. I came home to find a dozen red roses. I don't know what came over him as he usually just gets one or two flowers because he thinks they're expensive. But I love them. He is on call again this weekend. We can't wait for intern year to be over. Can everyone see the pictures? Matt was trying to look at them at the hospital and said he couldn't see the petting zoo pictures. I didn't know if it was just a problem at the hospital or if no one could see them.

And because it never gets old (to us at least) another picture of Jonah eating.

Matt is on call again tonight. Jonah and I just got back from choosing his pictures. It was extremely hard and it might have been better if Matt was there. I'm the type of person who will order something they don't want at the drive thru because I feel rushed. Considering they were all great pictures I think I did pretty good. We'll go back to her again (when we can afford it). She also does pet portraits but I don't think that is happening anytime soon. So I successfully drove into the city by myself and back out again for the first time. It was good practice because Jonah and I have a trip to the Children's Museum planned for next week. Stay tuned for the link to the photographer's blog. She said she would try to get them posted soon. In the meantime, a picture of Jonah's mean mullet.

Happy Birthday!

Because we couldn't get the perfect picture, here are a few not so perfect pictures.

Petting Zoo

Jonah's version of a kiss. He does this to the dogs too. And me.

I've never seen a rabbit sleeping like this.

This rabbit was so cute and gigantic. I think it was as big as Jo.

Matt is home (and currently sleeping) but he had a few hours of sleep last night so we went to the petting zoo this afternoon. Jonah will have so much more fun next year when he is able to run around. They also have a splash playground at the park which he'll enjoy next year too. I'm exhausted just thinking about chasing him around. I'm going to try to get the other blog finished soon. I'm messing with the template so I can post larger pictures but that means I have to change the background and header. I'm trying to make one myself but I might just go with a premade one. So, it will be done soon.

My attempt at getting a picture with Jonah. He is making sure he gets every little piece of food off his bib.

This little bunny plays Jesus Loves Me and Jonah sits and listens to it over and over again. He also likes the bunny's bunny slippers.

Matt is at the hospital today and tonight and half of tomorrow. He called me a while ago and explained a situation and asked if he should apologize to a nurse. In this case I didn't think it was warranted but I'm glad we've had some influence on him (I was afraid aunt minnie had ruined him). Something I've been meaning to post but keep forgetting is Jonah's new habit of laughing when he's happy. Almost everything makes him happy but especially seeing Matt. He smiles really big and laughs. He is also starting to watch my reaction when he does something he is not supposed to do. After he throws his plate on the floor (empty of course, the boy likes to eat) he looks at me to see what I'll do. Before he is about to get into something or touch something (mainly the fan) he looks at me. It has become his new routine to throw a fit when in line at the grocery store. I'm never embarrassed but I wish people would keep their advice to themselves. He gets mad because he has had enough and I won't let him push the buttons on the debit machine or chew on my keys. As soon as we walk out of the store he is okay. Part of it is also that he hates riding in the cart. I don't think he is old enough for the little car carts yet. And I don't really want to push one. Here is a little video of the mess he made in about 1 minutes this evening and his escape from it.

More wedding pictures!

Another installment of Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner. This week is wedding parties and flowers. I had a really, really hard time choosing pictures because there are so many I love (but also many I hate. Why didn't anyone tell me to stand up straight?!) and so many things I could have included. My original list had 9 pictures but I narrowed it down to 3.


A great picture of the wedding party in front of the building where Matt proposed. I'm not going to go into detail about who everyone is but they were and still are our loved ones and we're happy they were a part of the day. Our colors were red and gold so the ladies had yellow and red roses and the guys had red calla lily boutonnieres (I think).


Here is the obligatory jumping picture. Everyone really gave it their all. I'm glad there weren't any injuries! My bouquet was a dream come true. I went to the florist with a list of flowers I wanted in it and she made it happen. I had roses (some big, red and luscious kind with a name I can't remember), stargazer lilies, and gorgeous dahlias. Matt's boutonniere was also a dahlia.


I don't really know why we went along with this pose which isn't particularly flattering to anyone but I love it. This picture had been sitting on my dresser until we moved. It is among the missing items that must all be together in a box in Illinois.


So I said 3 but meant 4. This is also a favorite that I had sitting on my dresser (also missing). I thought they were supposed to be pretending to pull Matt and I apart but as the other not so pretty shots would show if I posted them, I was actually being pulled and almost fell over. I have to give the wedding party props for being so cooperative on a hot August day after standing through a Catholic wedding in a church with no air conditioning. They must love us.

Hot weather hairdos!

The dogs waiting for their ice cubes.

The dogs went to the groomer today. This is the first time since we moved and they really needed it. I had them shaved which we usually do in the summer. I got tired of picking up chunks of hair off the carpet (all from Jo). We were worried about finding a groomer to take Caleb because his vet decided it would be best not to give him his vaccinations this year and all places want your vaccination records. Well I called Petco and was explaining over the phone and they were so nice about it and said it was no problem. The girls there were very friendly and really fast. I was sad when they called to tell me the dogs were done. First of all, we had just arrived at the pool and it was also nice to not have to worry about the dogs being in the hot apartment because I knew they were in air conditioning. Before we had Jonah the days the dogs were at the groomer was like a vacation for me. I usually spent the entire day cleaning and loving that I wasn't tripping over dogs or keeping them out out of trouble. They usually go to the groomer every 6 weeks. I wish we could do it ourselves because it is expensive but we've tried to no avail. They struggle and squirm and are deathly afraid of the clippers. I don't know how the groomers do it. I always apologize ahead of time for the dogs. Since they had never been there before I shared with them what I saw on the top of Caleb's sheet at the last groomer:

Cut before shampoo because of drying time, POOPS!

What can I say, he has a nervous tummy. Until I picked her up I had forgotten about Jo's bald patch on her back. A year or two ago she was underfoot in the kitchen and Matt accidentally spilled a few drops of boiling water on her. It scabbed over and healed but the hair never grew back. So she has a bald spot the size of a quarter on her back. Getting the dogs shaved always reminds us how chunky Caleb has become. It makes me so sad to see pictures of him right before he became sick. He was a beautiful dog. We still hope that we will one day be able to wean his meds and he'll loose the weight. We just passed the two year mark of the initial illness.

But enough about the dogs. Jonah and I have been swimming a couple of times a day. He loves the water more each time. He is napping now and I'll feed him dinner when he wakes up and then maybe Matt will be home and we'll go swimming. Last night it was so hot I couldn't wait and just Jonah and I went swimming. They're not supposed to work more than 80 hours a week but that rule is not followed very closely. He was supposed to be on call Friday but someone asked him to switch to Saturday and being the nice guy he is he did. It means that we'll see him even less than originally planned. He is on call one weekday next week and also the weekend. Have I mentioned that I miss my husband? That is probably why I ramble on and on.

I've been avoiding doing anything other than the daily and necessary housekeeping because it is so hot. I had to break down yesterday and do some laundry so Matt would have scrubs and Jonah would have diapers to wear. I put his diapers on the clothes line shower rod to dry but the other stuff has to be put in the heat up the entire apartment dryer. It is supposed to be cooler next week and I can't wait. I like the summer weather for about 2 days before I've had enough. Now the fall, I could live in that season year round. I love everything about it! Do you hate me for making you read this before I deliver the goods below?

I wasn't kidding about him always having something in his mouth. It just happens to be the duck again. It is usually a block or when he wakes up his lovey, silky, or taggie (yes we have names for his various security items that may seem weird but it is so we know which one we're talking about)

I didn't think he could look more like Matt but he does everyday. I've had at least 3 people in the last couple of days comment how shocked they are at his many teeth.

Wow! It is hot!

From a photo session that was a gift from Laura before we left. I was surprised there were any of him smiling. It was during his nap time and he was not happy. The photographer was Kara Kamienski (Kaci's sister for you NICU girls). She lives in Washington, Illinois but came to Mahomet for the pictures. She is really nice and just starting her business (and her kids are adorable). I don't have a website for her but her e-mail is karakamienski at yahoo.

It was even hotter today and will be tomorrow as well. The stores here are sold out of fans. My sister suggested we order one from Walmart and have them overnight it. I checked it out and it still wouldn't be here until Friday at the earliest. So for now we'll manage. We spent this morning in the air conditioned stores (while looking for a fan) and the afternoon in the new pool. I only wish it was big enough for me to get in too! Matt had a few surgeries go long today and almost had to stay for another case but he made it just in time to say goodnight to Jonah. We had a delicious (if I may say so) dinner of miso-glazed tilapia (recipe a la Laura), asparagus and couscous followed by some yogurt gelatin thing Matt saw on the back of the gelatin box and wanted me to make. It was also very yummy. I think he had a good birthday. I tried to get him to pick out a new phone for his birthday as his current one has been dropped many times and is starting to become unreliable. I think he will get one when we have time to go look. He is on call this weekend. How the weekend call works is if you're scheduled for call Friday, Saturday or Sunday, that means you are there all weekend. That weekend is no fun but it makes it so you don't have to do weekend call often. I'm adjusting to being the spouse of a resident. It means that I reheat many dinners because I never know when he'll be home and that some days Jonah doesn't see Matt at all. I'll post soon all about the whole experience.

To show you what I see when I walk in Jonah's room every morning, I brought my camera and took a pictures this morning.

$5 from Walgreens. Money well spent. Out of the 20 or so pictures I took there was not a single one without the duck in the mouth. And that is not unusual. He uses his mouth how some people would use a pocket. He has been spending too much time with the dogs.

Staying hydrated!

It is hot here today and it is supposed to get warmer in the coming days. A little bit more about Seattle, they usually have mild temperatures so air conditioning is not standard in apartments.

I just ordered Jonah the coolest video. He is a little young for it but when I let him watch it on the computer he smiled and laughed. And it isn't something that I mind listening to either. They have a ton of clips on their website and if you go to their blog there is one called Jonah. Click here!

Matt only had one surgery today but then he had conference at 4 so he'll get stuck in traffic and not be home until 6 or so. Boo! Don't forget tomorrow is his birthday!

Oatmeal anyone?

We just got back from having Jonah's pictures taken. Let's just say his approach to cake eating is similar to applesauce. If the photographer posts them on her site I'll put up the link. If not, you'll just have to wait!

The new blog is up but not quite running. I'll tweak it a little bit more before putting up the link. We're missing everyone. We drove by an Arby's yesterday and it made me miss home. I know that's weird but it reminded me of eating there while pregnant with Jonah (because he needed the calories, right?). That snowballed into thinking about everything I miss about home. Which is everything! Even Matt said today as we were navigating the hilly, curvy city that he likes his land flat. There is beauty in the hills and mountains but give me the plains and rows upon rows of corn and soybeans any day.

I hear Jonah squealing instead of napping. His glucose is probably over 400. The icing was his first taste of sugar and boy did he like it. The cake was carrot cake and it smelled so good. My decorating is horrible but I just needed to have icing on it.

I don't want to take away from Matt's big first post but I wanted to wish someone a happy birthday. So...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAYLOR!! I can't believe you're already 3. We love you!

Matt gets paid (and proceeds to post on the blog)

Hi everyone, it's Matt. I'm hoping I'll be posting on the new blog, but before we move there I'd figure I'd better give it a spin on this one.

Kim will probably be handling most of the posts, pictures, and updates (and especially the ones related to Jonah) but I'd figure I'd give everyone a few thoughts on what being a resident is like. I think a great jumping off point is my first paycheck.

So, I'd signed up for direct deposit, but UW said it'd only take effect with the second or third paycheck, so the first one was an actual physical check. At first I was slightly annoyed, but it's kinda cool the more I thought about it. It was interesting to have an actual "paycheck" in my hand for the first time in over four years. Now, I had been "paid" for being a TA in medical school, but that was really just money off my tuition that I never really saw, so I didn't count that. So, it was definitely a surreal experience being "paid" again after going through medical school (where you pay for the opportunity to work your tail off). But it was especially surreal to think that I was being paid for being a doctor.

The thing is, I didn't really do anything that "doctor-ish" to make me think I deserved that money. Most of the hours that went into it were orientation stuff (which is always the same, no matter what hospital you work at). And my first rotation as a resident was not that dissimilar to medical school, as I was basically shadowing an Orthopedic surgeon. Sure, I rounded on patients, wrote a few orders, signed some prescriptions, and was an assist during operations, but it was all stuff a medical student could handle...so it felt weird to get paid for it.

Now, my first night "on call" did fall during this time period, which was definitely a new experience. But, I still don't feel like I did anything to earn my wage. It was mostly just paper pushing stuff. I'd get paged because someone forgot to right an order for something mundane, like for the patient to have tylenol or benadryl, and the nurse has to ask the resident for the order. I did do one consult, but it was for conservative management of a small bowel obstruction (if you're not a medical person, trust me, it's basic stuff that's hard to screw up). And to add insult to injury, the one actual "emergency" that happened on call, a hypotensive ICU patient, had me panic and call my senior resident way early, even though I knew what the first steps to take were. So the first time I would have actually been able to use my fancy four years of education, I stumbled.

It's just weird because I didn't expect it to be like this. The familiar stereotype you always hear about is the poor overworked resident who works twice as many hours as the senior doctors but makes a quarter of their salary. But while I am working a lot of hours as a resident, I feel like I've still got so much to learn during that I'm somewhat guilty for being paid for it. I'm not saying I want to go back to paying tuition like in medical school (far from it), I just wish I felt more dynamic and like I was earning that money.

I imagine this feeling won't last long. The last couple of call nights I've felt like my presence was much more useful. And as the year goes by, I'll be on more demanding rotations (Harborview ER and the General Surgery services) where I'll really be a work-horse for the hospital. And of course, when I get into the thick of my radiology training and figure out what I'm doing, the decisions I make will have huge importance for patient care. I think this conflicted feeling is from still being at the crossroads from fourth year medical student and MD.

Oh, and, I'm sure you've noticed I've obscured the amount I actually got paid. This is just me being old-fashioned. It's not like I'm being modest because I'm pulling in the big bucks...I'm just a resident remember. And it's not like I'm embarrassed about how pitiful my pay is...I'm not on the level of stealing toilet paper and pudding from the hospital like JD and Turk. If you're curious how much I actually make, I'm sure you can find the salary for a PGY1 (that's post graduate year one) resident on the University of Washington website, but it's a good, average living wage. The reasons you hear residents complain about how little they get paid is A) the amount of hours they work (80 hours a week) B) The amount of debt they have (averaging around 150,000 dollars now) and C) It's so little compared to what they'll make when they're finished and less than what a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner doing the same type of work would make. But, for all the reasons I explained above, I'm OK with what I get paid for now. Of course, ask me three years later after I've read and dictated my fifteenth brain MRI of the day if I think I'm underpaid and I'm sure I'll have a different answer.

Wow, that turned into a long post. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

Wedding Dress

I'm participating in Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner this week. It is my first week! Mostly because the previous ones have been about your home and we just unpacked our last boxes last week. This week is wedding dresses. One of my favorite photos is the one in the header but I thought I would post one most of you probably hadn't seen. My dress is from major retail chain David's Bridal. It was the first one I tried on but wasn't what I originally envisioned. I was set on a white dress but this one was so pretty in champagne. Matt didn't see it until I walked down the isle. It fit perfectly the week before the wedding without any alterations but apparently the stress of the wedding caused me to loose a little weight so it was a little loose. I loved my veil. It was made by Grandma Louise and she was able to use some of the lace from my mom's wedding dress. In the picture she is sewing on my head. I wish I had an occasion to wear my dress. It seems like such a waste of a pretty dress to just wear from one day. Head on over to Kelly's Korner to check out all the pretty brides!

It was hot hot hot last week and the pool was crowded. Jonah was hot and fussy and so was I! A shower curtain liner, towel, basin of water and bath toys in the living room did the trick! (Until he dove in head first but at least the floor didn't get wet)

I was going to make cookies and then saw that the dough has to chill for at least 4 hours. So a bowl of chocolate cereal will have to do. Matt managed to get a few hours of sleep last night and then a couple more when he got home this afternoon. I'm exhausted from taking care of the dogs and baby for two days without a break. Looking forward to the weekend and getting to spend time with Matt. Jonah will have his 1 year pictures taken too. Going to have my cereal now and maybe watch my show, The Little Couple.

The trail near our apartment. It is hilly and a nice workout.

My walking partners

Jo is loving Jonah's new ability to open the door for her.

Matt is on call again. Today was the first day of his second rotation, Breast Surgery. He called earlier to check on Jo. A couple of nights ago she gave us a little scare. I was awakened by her running into things in the bedroom. She didn't appear to be in any pain but was shaking and scared. We gave her a treat and she seemed fine after a few minutes. She walked in the other room and we tried to go back to sleep. About five minutes later I hear her again and saw her attempting to run toward the bedroom but running into the wall. Again, she was fine in a couple of minutes. We thought maybe something was messing up her balance so the plan was to take her to the vet in the morning. Well she acted fine so I decided to just wait to see if it happened again. It has been two days and it hasn't occurred again. We had gone on a really long walk that day and it was hot so maybe she was dehydrated or was having a muscle spasm. I don't know but she appears to be just fine now. I told her we can't afford to have two dogs with health problems. Speaking of the problem (jk), he has been doing okay. He is almost out of his steroids so we'll have to take him to a vet here and see if they have any other ideas or want to continue on his current meds. I had to refill his arthritis medicine at the drugstore last week and it is funny because he has his own prescription card. We don't even have one but he does, with his name on it and everything. He also earns points on other purchases and photo processing.

In stroller news (if you're tired of reading about this then stop reading now) I was prepared to buy it but when I placed it in my (virtual) shopping cart found out that the coupon did not work for that brand. The coupon only excluded Bugaboos but in fine print did say that online offers may vary. I e-mailed BRU and told them I was very disappointed and considered it false advertising and I would be thinking twice about making future purchases with them. I got a "thanks for your input" e-mail and not the 15% off I was hoping to get. They had the stroller in the store but only in orange and wouldn't order any other colors. So I got to test it out a little and put Jonah in it. There is no going back now, we've already bonded. So I'll probably get it from Amazon. I also have a gift card for there too (thank you National City points!). Since I do not have a deadline I have plenty of time to think about what color I want. I just can't make up my mind. I think I'm between the black, green, and stone. I'm done with the stroller talk now!

Stay tuned for a post from the man himself sometime soon. He asked if he could post but hasn't had time to sit down and do it yet. Since I put up the counter thingy (so technical) last week we have had over 275 unique visitors. We love that our friends and family are able to see what we're up to and keep up to date on Jonah. And if people we don't know enjoy reading it too that is wonderful. I've been known to stalk a few blogs (okay, more than a few) daily. We do however have to think about our family's safety. I have considered making this blog private but decided instead to create a new blog that eliminates our name in the title. So stay tuned and I'll let you know when it is up and open for business. I haven't started one and don't even have a title. If you think of one let me know! I'll post the link when it is up and leave this page with the link on it for a month or two before deleting it. That will be plenty of time for everyone to add the new blog to their favorites. And, of course, we'll post it on facebook because we know that is where a lot of our traffic is coming from.