Enough with the pictures mom!

Good-Bye Lexie

Today is a sad day as we say good-bye to Lexie... she was 12 years old and had a fun life but it is sad to see her go.

Wakey to Sleepy

Stamping

Mackenzie gets her fingers and toes stamped for her baby books!

Work in Progress

Mackenzie's room is coming along. It's actually a little more finished than in this picture taken a week or two ago but thought this picture was cute so had to post it. Andrew has finished the built in cabinetry, wainscotting, and priming. Painting is in progress and you can expect to see lots of pink soon!

Months ago, I saw the print below on etsy by IndigoRain but we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl so I waited to buy it until our little one arrived. Now that Mackenzie is here, I'm just working on purchasing it as I just love it and it should fit in well with all the pink and chocolate brown we plan to incorporate... expect to see many doggie things in her room. (We have already purchased Jasper from Spot on Square as I originally wrote about here.)

Introducing Mackenzie

Welcome Mackenzie Wynn! Activity on the blog has been slow as we've been adjusting to life with our new daughter, Mackenzie, who is officially 17 days old today... born via c-section on June 10, 2008 - 7lbs 10oz - 22 inches.

The c-section recovery was initially more painful than I anticipated but after 4 days in the hospital, I was ready to get home despite still being in a lot of pain. We're on day 17 now and I'm feeling a lot better but my stomach is still a little raw/tender but at least it doesn't feel like any of the stitches are pulling inside anymore. I've continued to walk Owen but have had to take it easy somewhat. I'm also hoping to go for my first drive on Wednesday so we'll see how that goes. Things will continue to be a little slow around here for a while as we focus on our adorable new little girl.

After a challenging 9+ months, I'm just so thrilled that she is here safe and sound. So very thankful.

C-Section Tomorrow

Final night before the planned c-section tomorrow... well, that is if the baby is still breech but I'm pretty sure there has been no flipping - doubt I could have missed that happening at this point!

City Life

So after 2 weeks, Owen is adjusting to city living very well... he is super-stimulated by all the action on Yonge Street and at Eglinton Park and by all the dogs in our neighbourhood. It is definitely a dog neighbourhood but he hasn't had an opportunity to be off leash in quite a while so today we ventured to Sherwood Park which has an area of off leash dog trails. Owen didn't go off leash today as we were just checking it out but he REALLY enjoyed it and got to play with some pups. Sherwood Park is pretty close to our house so Owen & Anna are lucky that they'll get to go there often hopefully once baby arrives and I'm recovered and able to walk trails again. We didn't take the camera today but will next time - it is a beautiful clean woodsy area right in the city.

Busy Days

So the days are busy... first, helping Owen recover from surgery and second, moving back to Toronto into the house! Fortunately Andrew & his mom did a whole bunch of cleaning/organizing the weekend before I arrived and then my mom came for the week to help get settled and clean. Lexie was here with mom too so hopefully that helped Owen get adjusted to his new home.

Owen's biopsy results showed no indication of IBD and no indication of an immunity problem - yaye! The cause of his illness was either due to a rare parasite or triggered by a food sensitivity... I figure it is probably due to the latter as he has had food issues ever since I got him 3 years ago. He's doing very well though now and eating Medi Cal Gastro canned food and it seems to be agreeing with him so far - let's hope that continues. Tomorrow he goes back to Guelph to get his staples removed which will be so nice as the e-collar is getting so annoying! (He sure does get a lot of attention in it though during walks. lol) Here we are as mom and Lexie were leaving:

So we are 37 weeks along and full term now (holy cow). The baby is still breech so I have a c-section scheduled. I'm completely exhausted all the time and my feet constantly hurt which makes dog walks not quite as enjoyable/doable so I am looking forward to eventually getting back to myself again.

I've finished The Constant Princesss and loved it and am ready to move to the next book. It took me a little longer than usual to finish as Kim dropped off a whole bag of used magazines that kept me occupied for quite a while! I'm ready for the next Phillipa Gregory book but before that I am reading Mommywood and of course, am loving it too - love the Tori Spelling always. Thanks for the book borrow Mandy!

May Birthday Kids

Happy Birthday to Mom & Owen today and Alayna on Sunday! Owen turns 3 today. Alayna turns 2.

Home Sweet Home

Owen is home in Glencoe tonight after 4 days in Guelph... he's very out of it and on lots of meds but he's home at last. Lexie was so excited to see him that she was jumping in excitement... 12 year old sore Lexie was jumping - crazy! Biopsies still not in but we're just so happy he's home.

My Poor Baby Owen

This is going to be a long one...

Sunday morning Owen woke me up at 6.30am wanting to go outside... he *never* does this and will sleep in until 11am if I want to. Downstairs I found runny black bloody liquidy diarrhea/stool and then he threw up with blood in it. He was having similar issues the day before only with no blood. I immediately call the emergency vet in Guelph (as I have had poor luck with the vets around here) and we drove the 2 hours to get him looked at and treated.

After blood work showed high white and red blood cells + they said he was very dehydrated, they started him on IV + antibiotics in the hopes that he had a "spring bacteria" of some sort. He remained on that overnight but this morning we was still vomiting blood. So x-rays were next and they were not good:

-the small intestine is about the size of your pinky finger
-Owen had 2-3 areas that are 2-3x the size... huge gas pockets
-because of the gas pockets you get hairpin turns (like when you fold a balloon and there is the folded area that is pinched) - no one/no animal should have any and he has about 5 of them (extremely abnormal - shouldn't have any)
-likely a foreign body but couldn't see it on an xray (but very strong suspicion)
suspecting potentially a shoe lace (linear foreign body) is stuck somewhere in the intestine.. the problem is that it doesn't just get stuck in 1 place like a piece of spaghetti.. it breaks up
-Major Risk: if the linear foeign body has penetrated the intestine, this is bad bad bad (this happened to another dog apparently - it was older though and they had to euthanize it)
-Owen has been starting to play bow with them (leaning down and stretching like they do when they want to play and he does it before walks) - apparently this is an indicator of pain in the upper abdomen
-Linear foreign body: If this is the cause, it is tricky b/c it is not like a toy or something where they just pinpoint it and go in and get it.... with a linear foreign body, they have to go along the entire small intestine
-Sum Story: his GI tract is very f*cked up and they're not sure what exactly is causing it.... worst case scenario... they find no foreign body but are able to do biopsies while they're in there

So I worried and worried all afternoon and evening that he had a perforated intestine. They did the emergency surgery on him tonight (took over 2 hours) instead of waiting because his x-rays looked a lot like there was a foreign body in there .... so I waaaaaited to hear all night.

Good News: They found no foreign object. (Apparently they checked it over 3x to be sure.) They took 4 samples to biopsy: 1. stomach 2. small intestine (took 2 samples) 3. liver. His kidneys, liver and gall bladder look okay.

Next steps: 1. expand Owen's antibiotics 2. no more food for 18-24 hrs (he hasn't been on food for 2 days already) & then start feeding him after 3. wait for biopsies to come back (earliest a couple of days but for sure before the end of the week) to hopefully find out what he has 4. recovery time is usually 36 hours minimum. The vet is very confident that Owen is going to 'make it' and be okay but I'm still very worried about him.

This is most likely related to his issues last year where he was throwing up after every meal and then was diagnosed with h pylori. After being treated, it seemed to work but Owen has continually had gastrointestinal problems on and off so there is definitely something more wrong with him so hopefully the biopsies tell the story. Last year I thought he had IBD - Inflammatory Bowel Disease but was told it was more serious than what he had.... the surgeon tonight said it is a definite possibility.

The surgeon vet said he is doing well and is hopeful he'll recover and 'make it' but there are about a dozen different diseases/conditions that are being considered by the vet right now. Poor O.

Goofy Sleeper

Owen is such a wacky sleeper... I really need to take more pix of him sleeping sometimes. I've taken a few over the years and I've set up a new flickr folder called "My Goofy Sleeper" to start collecting pix that make me laugh. Here's the newest taken a couple of days ago... no, he didn't fall down the stairs... he's just napping!

To Buy

I have always been a list maker and a calendar tracker... I live by my planner and learned about Healthpod Baby at Moms to Be... and More in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. I've read really good reviews about it so it is officially on my To Buy list.

Watching

Still chugging along... we're 33 weeks along today so hanging on... I've been extremely tired lately (actually, always for the last 8 months) due to the ever continuing low iron. Ugh. We got Season 1 of Mad Men last week but I've been too tired to watch it very much so I'm working through it and have no opinion of it just yet as I've only watched episode #1... working on episode #2 tonight.

The Beginning

I have finally found what I've been searching for! A delicious new read that is historical and long enough so that I won't finish it in a week. I have started The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. My plan is to read her series in this order:

The Constant Princess
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Boleyn Inheritance
The Queen's Fool
The Virgin's Lover

So far so good!

31 & Easter

Easter weekend and today I turn 31... it is very uneventful relative to last year's birthday - phewf, glad to not have to go through that again this year. In celebration, some Easter pix my mom scanned from Easter 1987.

Watching Emma ... The Movie

It just happened to be on tv when I turned it on tonight and I hate to report that the movie, Emma, is as boring as the book. Yawn...

Mad World

Love love loved Adam Lambert's version of Mad World on American Idol last night - so glad he didn't ruin the song like so many of them like to do - he's almost too good for the show really.

Trying To Read Emma

I've been struggling with this book for a while... it is my first crack at reading a Jane Austen book and after reading the awesome Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Emma is a little... well, boring. I'm trying to stick with it though and there are some cute parts but it just isn't grabbing me. Perhaps I started with the wrong Jane Austen book?

At Least It Has Stopped Snowing

That's about all I can say about today.... snow in April - sheesh.... Plus I'm feeling flu-ish. Fortunately, Owen is happy hibernating with me today in bed.

Milestone

Today we reach 30 weeks pregnant... last April during this time, I was so worried of the number 30 (turned 30 yrs old) and this April I'm so happy to see that number at last. Months ago, 30 weeks was a milestone I really didn't think we'd make it to so it has been a good day however, we still have a ways to go and I'm hoping we keep going and going and get as close to the full term 40 weeks as we can. *Fingers crossed*

Last ultrasound a week ago, we learned that our little one was breech... this explained *so* much to me. Originally I was feeling a lot of dancing around my belly button and then all of a sudden my bladder was constantly being used as a punching bag so I was confused as to how a little head/hands could be doing that damage? So the "breech" thing explained a lot. It was feet on my bladder! In the last week though, our little one has been flipping around like mad so it's tricky keeping track of the position. I will feel comfortable and non-breech for a night and then the next day, ow bladder kicks and nothing above the belly button. So it's confusing keeping track.... tends to always come back to breech positioning lately though so we'll see what happens. My mom had a breech baby and the OB said it could potentially mean I will have one too. (Not sure if that is accurate or not but that's what he said!)

Busier - Lately, things have felt busier as we make decisions on things: cord blood banking, crib, glider, stroller, etc. etc. etc. It seems like the list goes on and on and on! Constant research and constant decisions. Its getting a little overwhelming at times with the whole house renovation as well and then Owen got sick the other day and I was up all night with him worried he was going to die like Marley in the movie Marley & Me. Beware when you watch this movie - it will make you smother your dog with love and be a little overprotective. Owen threw up and recovered quite quickly though - phewf! (Owen has digestive problems in general so it is a constant issue for him.)

Apparently in your third trimester you're supposed to feel like crap and really tired but honestly, I've been feeling better lately because I had so many complications in the first 2 trimesters. We'll see how things continue though!

Finished, Started & Currently Working On

I've recently finished up....

Book: A Great & Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. This is the 1st book of her trilogy set and I really enjoyed it but it was shorter than I thought it was going to be. Good read though! (I actually heard of this book from Girl From Florida a while back... you can read her review here.)

Flick: Marley & Me. Saddest movie ending EVER. Phewf! Great flick though. I actually bought the book about a year ago and lost it during the move... it is all packed away in my stuff somewhere.

Flick: Twilight. I enjoyed this flick - entertaining enough yet it somehow made me miss Keifer in The Lost Boys. Twilight was just a little blah at times... aka. boring... but overall, it was pretty entertaining. I think I would have enjoyed it 10x more back when I was a teenager.


Flick: Slumdog Millionaire. A+... very cool flick as it was not only a cool plot but very visually appealing with good music.

Flick: Changeling. This flick kept me wondering the whole time - awesome story.

Flick: Miracle at St. Anna. Loved this story! It was long so I think I actually took a break during it but I thought it was a great flick for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Recent flicks that made me go.. eck:
1. Rachel Getting Married
2. Australia
3. Baby Mama
4. Pineapple Express
5. The Happening
6. Milk
7. Nick & Norah's Infinet Playlist
8. The Rocker

Just Started: The book, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer:

Currently Working On: The latest April 2009 issue of Canadian House & Home: