Post Thanksgiving Coma

So Thanksgiving is over, and I'm, well, exhausted. It was great to have 4 days off of work, but it went by so fast, and I was so busy, that I really had no time to relax. I never realized how exhausting cooking/entertaining is. (Not that I really had to entertain, but whatever.)

Thanksgiving dinner turned out well, being that it was my first Thanksgiving cooking the full meal myself. I really need a double oven....that's something I'll maybe look for in our next house. However, I feel like those kind of kitchens are only found in more upscale homes.....so that's many years down the road. I did make my first southern-style cornbread dressing!! I got the recipe from a girl at work....I couldn't eat it b/c it sicked me out, but Dave enjoyed it. We still have a huge pan full in the fridge... But everyone at work was pleased to hear that it was edible.

This weekend also consisted of another vet visit for Oscar. He's gained 4 pounds in 2 weeks, more than doubling his size. Our little man is getting so big!! He had quite a few accidents while everyone was around, but we attributed that to a lot of people in his home that he wasn't used to. He has conquered our massive flight of stairs in the back yard, so he's doing a lot better with his potty training.

I did think he may be a bit bipolar. However, the vet assured me that this is normal. He will seriously be running around in circles, growling, nipping, doing everything bad puppies do (let's not forget chewing on our Christmas tree;) then he plops down and passes out in the middle of the rug. He looks so peaceful and wonderful....until he wakes up again. And did I mention that sleeping in for us now is about 7am? Not fun...it's like a child.

P.S. I have been having baby nightmares. The other morning I woke up after a dream, thinking that I had a baby-bump. (And I was crying in my dream mind you, so I'm not wanting one at the moment!) Turns out it was just my Thanksgiving dinner. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving week!! We're really excited that my sister, Jerris (her boyfriend) and her friend Erin are coming Wednesday night through Sunday for Thanksgiving. This will be my first Thanksgiving dinner that I'll be cooking. ----It has the potential to be a disaster.---- We're going to have our lunch on Friday because Dave is on-call all day Thursday until Friday noon.
I'm going to make 'dressing'. I feel like it's very southern. So I got the recipe from a girl at work. I don't think any of us have had it before, which is good because then know one will know if it's terrible.

This is our menu: Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade macaroni and cheese (also southern), dressing, my mom's homemade dinner rolls (which will hopefully turn out), and green beans. And for dessert, fruit pizza and homemade chocolate cake. (I bought Dave a pumpkin pie from Publix's bakery b/c he LOVES it, but is the only one.)

I just want to say that we are so thankful for everything this season. Our family, friends, health, and all the blessings in our life. Seriously, every day I just thank God for all of our blessings....sometimes I think it's just too good to be true. We're all healthy...and that within itself is truly amazing. My heart just breaks for my patients and their families this time of year...it really puts things into perspective. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving!!

Constipated Puppy

So Saturday night Dave and I were invited to a couples baby shower for a girl I work with. We had a really great time...but when we came home we came home to a very constipated puppy. If you're not in the medical field, this may not be funny to you...but looking back on it, we were being obsessive parents.

First, like any good parent would do, we googled Oscar's symptoms and how to 'cure' puppy constipation. We were running through everything in our minds....outloud.
-Is his tummy distended?
-When's the last time he pooed?
-What in the world could he have ate? Maybe Dave should start picking up his socks...
-What if we gave him a laxative and he has a bowel obstruction? He'd perforate his bowel
and then we'd have bigger problems....
-Is there such thing as a nurse line for a vet office?
-If there such a thing as puppy health insurance??

Let me just say that the thought did cross our mind to digitally disimpact. Of course, Dave thought I would be the better option....because I have small fingers?? I don't know. And if you don't know what that is.....consider yourself lucky. Let's just say I was a nervous wreck...but was going to wait until office hours to call, because it really wasn't an 'emergency'.

I hate being a single mom.

Seriously....this dog is going to be the death of me.

I'm home by myself tonight because Dave is on-call, (he was Saturday too, and that was one of the longest days of my life because I have to watch that puppy AT ALL TIMES.) But anyway, I'm trying to study for a chemotherapy exam/oral test for tomorrow so that I can be certified at Children's. So what does he do for the 1st time EVER for me!? Poops on the rug...in my dining room. I take him outside and all he wants to do is play, so I bring him back in and he goes to the other side of the rug and PEES!! I cussed. I wonder if he can tell by the tone of my voice that I was mad?

I then threw him in the kennel, (well, not 'threw' I placed him briskly) and he fell asleep and was the cutest thing ever. I still feel tense. I'm gritting my teeth. And now I'm not even studying, I'm blogging.

I'm going to make myself a drink.

Sunday Funday

So today we raked leaves. Let me rephrase that, we blew leaves with our blower into an 'area' in our front yard, (because the word pile can't even begin to describe) and then bagged them. Some of the leaf drifts were up to my waist. Unfortunately, the tree still has approximately 3/4 it's leaves, so that's humbling when we look up. But does anyone want to guess how many bags we bagged in the end??.............Our final total was 28. 28 large lawn/leaf bags from our front yard, and we haven't even touched the back yard... which is twice as big and has twice as many trees. We're exhausted. Even my fingers are too tired to move over the keys of the keyboard. I'll let the pictures tell the story. Good night.

Wellll....another first.

Well folks, today I'm walking off the elevator of the parking garage, and I notice that the ground beneath me feels different. When I look down I realize that I am in fact wearing my slippers. Oops. Let me just say though that my slippers could probably pass as shoes, because they do have soles. However, they don't really go well with scrubs. Fortunately, I was in class all day so I didn't have to do any patient care, I was moritfied.

That's all. I just thought I would share that, because I've never done that before. Another first in our life in Alabama. I'm just trying to fit in. :)

The Firsts....

These past few days we've experienced a few firsts:

1. First night as doggie parents

2. First hurricane!! (Well, not really, it was more like a large rainstorm)

Now, let's begin with the first night Oscar spent with us. We weren't really prepared, because we weren't really planning on getting a dog THAT day. So, we blocked off our bathroom (which is tiny, so we thought it'd be fine.) Wellll, that lasted all of about 5 minutes. He howled like a mashed cat....making some of the most pitiful sounds we'd EVER heard. So, we padded the bed with towels, and I was soooo worried he was going to pee all over everything. So I brainstormed, and I put a maxi-pad on an old towel and tried to wrap it around him like a diaper. Dave thought I was crazy and commented, "Sarah....you can't swaddle a dog."------------Turns out, you can't.

The only place he would sleep was on Dave's shoulder with his head in Dave's neck, and even then he only kept quiet for about an hour. After the bed sleeping was unsuccessful we moved him into our main bathroom that wasn't connected to our room....this was about midnight when we were trying to 'puppy proof' the room. Little Oscar continued to yelp throughout the night. The whole time I was thinking to myself, "Good-night, a child is easier than this....why did we buy a dog again?!?" I think we got about 4 hours of sleep Sunday night....I hit up Starbucks the next morning, that's for sure!

Monday night we went to Petsmart and bought a crate and he actually did quite better, but still had his moments. He's eating like crazy too, I Googled it to see if it was normal, but all he does is eat, sleep, tinkle and poo. Oh, and when he eats he lays on the floor, props his head on the rim of the bowl and eats. It's like standing takes too much energy. But he's just so darn cute, my heart breaks when I leave him in the morning. He does make my house quite dirty, so I'm trying to adjust to that.

On another note, we braced our first hurricane! Hah, I think it actually made landfall as a tropical storm, and I don't even know what it's name was; that's how much it WASN'T a big deal. Anyway, lets hope that we never have to deal with a large hurricane. I hear that all we really get with them is a lot of rain and tornadoes, some power outages, strong winds, etc. Yesterday we got 5 inches, with quite a bit of wind, and came home to find a new leak in our roof that just popped up. Great.

We are officially parents.......to a dog.

So we bought a puppy!! Dave called the breeder today to just come 'look' at puppies, because I wasn't really sold on the whole dog thing. The whole way up I was anti-dog too....that was, until I saw him.

His name is Oscar. He's a black labra-doodle, so he has curly hair and doesn't shed!! (That's the only way I would get a dog.) He weighs 4 1/2 pounds, and was the runt and the calmest of the litter. That was my other stipulation....I wanted the one laying in the corner and not jumping on the fence to meet us. I'm sure the breeder thought I was crazy....that I wanted the loner dog.

Our little man has quite a hard time walking on the hard woods, he slips and falls and we just giggle. He'll be sleeping in the bathroom for the next few weeks because he's even to small yet for a kennel. We're just so excited, we're like proud parents. Dave is crawling around on the floor with him....he'll be a good dad.

Oh, and I know some of my girl-friends would laugh. Do ya'll know that Bed-Head shampoo? Well, they also apparently make Pet-Head---for dogs. Of course I had to buy it, it smells delightful and is tear-free for his little eyes. (Dave rolled his eyes)

Hey Yankee!

Dave and I are referred to as Yankee's. I tried explaining to one man that I'm from Nebraska, so I'm not really a true Yankee, but his response was this, "Honey, I grew up in south Georgia and I'm considered a Yankee in these parts.---You've moved to the heart of Dixie" (Whatever that means.)

So a few things happening this past week:

*First night by myself because Dave was on-call last night. My Friday night consisted of having Chick-fil-a for dinner, a glass of wine, worked on thank-you's and watched a Christmas movie. My idea of a good Friday night...did I mention I was in bed by 10pm?

*Another Alabama classic, which you could very well see this in Nebraska too I'm sure. But a little boy....about 3-4 years old, with a binky (pacifier, whatever) in his mouth. Which, I believe is a little too old to still be sucking on one of those, but anyway. Not only did he still have one, it was hanging around his neck by a Miller Light laniard thing. Like a neck thing that I believe are made to be used to hold keys? Yep, classy.

*And one more thing, Dave this week asks me where his towel is; and I tell him I probably washed it. He responds, "Jeez, you really like to wash towels!" I have to explain to him that he's no longer a bachelor and we do wash towels more than once every two weeks. Oh! And that reminds me of another story. He shaved with his electric razor, and he hadn't shaved in a few days. So instead of shaving into the sink, he shaved and let his red wiskers fall onto my white rug. (Come to find out, he didn't want to make a mess in the sink and on the counter.) I only noticed because I went to shake out the bathroom rugs that night and saw them all over. When I asked him about it he responded, "Well I thought about turning the rug over." Ahhhh.....

Dave's 'clean' is nothing compared to my 'clean'. I still love him though...

Our home

So a few people have wanted some pictures of our house/yard after talking about our "forest." So here's a few pictures, they were taken awhile ago so we've done quite a bit of work to the back yard including adding a deck. Which is interesting within itself, b/c it's about 20-25 feet off the ground. It's really more like a tree house....love it!!