Logan Loves Letters

Logan is completely obsessed with the alphabet.

Completely obsessed.

I am not exaggerating.

Ask Mimi...she will tell you all about it.

Mom found a deal on these awesome letters tiles recently and got a set for Nora and a set for Logan/Amelia.  This is Logan's first time playing with the ones at our house.

He "says" the letters all the time.  About half actual sound right-ish.  A stranger would probably be able to tell what letter he means.  But he is making HUGE improvements!!  His favorite thing to do with these tiles now is to first arrange the letters in order (he makes a path that he can follow...it's a strange arrangement sometimes but it makes sense to him!), then he fits the letter inside the appropriate tile in order.  One at a time starting back at A after each new letter is placed and then jumping on the newest letter and saying it aloud.  It is hilarious!  We just love this little guy!!

Allergies :(

Ever since we've had Marcie she's suffered from allergies.  It used to be just a rash she would get occasionally on her tummy.  Some benedryl would usually do the trick and occasionally a cortisone shot from the vet would make it all better...for a few months.  Then it was back and worse than before.

Since we've moved into our house her allergies have been getting worse and worse.  It culminated recently in her scratching herself constantly and chewing on her feet.  The scratching resulted in a yeast infection on her head and a bunch of her hair falling out and a bacterial infection in some sores she created on her tummy.  So antifungal and antibiotics were on prescribed, along with baths every other day with a special shampoo.  Needless to say, Marcie was not a happy dog.  She hates baths and the medicine was not her favorite.  The antifungal she took fine in peanut butter, but the antibiotic was twice a day and she hated it!!  She wouldn't take it in anything more than once and sometimes she even spit it out or threw it up.  It was terrible!!

The scratching continued though, since we weren't actually treating the allergies.  The solution:

She really hated this, but it had to be done so her wounds could heal!  We still needed a solution to her allergies though.  I had discussed some options with her vet and one of those was a medication called Atopica.  My mom works with vet who was able to get it for me at cost (it is not cheap and it is weight based so my 60# dog needs a bit) so we got a few months worth to try to see if it would help.  It does seem to be helping, but she just really hates taking pills and I have to basically force it down her throat most days.  Not fun for me or her!

Next option was allergy testing and then allergy shots specially made for her specific allergies.  It was going to be expensive but the shots would be cheaper and less trouble than Atopica long term.  So we had the testing done.  The results:

Marcie is allergic to:

4 kinds of grasses (bluegrass/fescue/bermuda/vernal)

4 kinds of weeds (ragweed/pigweed/lamb's quarters/waterhemp)

4 kinds of trees (juniper/cedar/elm/walnut/mulberry)

5 kinds of fungi

feathers

dust mites

wool

and the kicker...her food allergies:

beef

chicken/turkey

peanuts

kelp

catfish/cod/herring/mackerel/white fish

Seriously...those are my dog's allergies.  I can't believe it!  I totally realize now why she's been so miserable! Our backyard was completely overrun with weeds and the cedar allergy alone is enough to make someone crazy in Austin!  Then throw in the food allergies!  Peanuts!  She love peanut butter and I know her food and treats just about all contain beef or chicken.  Poor baby!  So now I am on a quest to get her food allergens out of her diet and he indoor allergens away as much as possible.  The outdoor allergies are harder to tackle, but we're going to do our best to get rid of the weeds and then see if some benedryl is enough to help her.  If not then we'll start the allergy shots for the outdoor allergies.  I know this is a lot to do for the dog, but she's worth it!  I just want my happy Marcie back :)

Snail

Look what Marcie found on our porch this morning...

I don't think Marcie was as amazed as we were...she was just pissed we wouldn't let her eat it!  I have never seen a real snail and it was "walking" too!  Ah..the small things in life :)

BarkBox

Marcie's world has been totally changed with the addition of Nora to our family.  She has taken to it beautifully, but I still feel bad that I can't give her the attention that I did before.  It is too hard to take her to the park with Nora now, so Marcie is full of pent up energy and she's bored.

I saw an ad for something called a BarkBox and it sounded perfect for her!  Really it's like a bribe to make sure she still loves me...but she doesn't know that :)  Basically you get a box of stuff every month for your dog.  Marcie got her first box yesterday.  She loves it!!  

She will get at least 6 months of boxes (that is what I paid for up front).  This first box came with a pack of disposable grooming mitts, a pack of duck jerky, 2 packets of vitamins that your put in her water, a real cow shin bone full of yumminess, and a rope toy!  There was a large piece of duck jerky too, but I gave it to her when I opened the box last night.

What a good girl...waiting so patiently for me to let her investigate the box!

"Let me at it mom!!"

She likes it!  I think my bribe has worked :)

I love my MarcieMoo!

Logan

Logan.  Yes...we still remember that he is here.  The two beautiful baby girls have not caused us to forget about him.  He is making sure he stays front and center!  He comes running when he sees the camera and he is constantly checking on the babies.  So sweet.

My dad and step-mom were here last week and they spent a lot of time with Logan.  He did great with them and had a great time!  They took him to Wazoo's one day (the bouncy place for kids) and played with him a bunch.  We was constantly crawling up in their laps on the couch or just sitting beside them watching tv.  He is missing them already, I am sure!

He decided to show off his bongo skills too...

Meet Amelia!

Mimi's new sweet baby arrived yesterday!

Amelia Grace Richardson

She was born 3/13/13 at 12:20pm, weighing 8 pounds 14.7 ounces and 22 1/2 inches in length.  She has a ton of dark hair (similar to Logan's when he was born) but she did not get his beautiful eyelashes :(  She has taken well to breastfeeding and overall is doing great!

Shawn and I are so excited to be Auntie and Uncle again!  Shawn's looking forward to our next baby already so he can form his swimming relay team with the kiddos!  Mom and I took Logan to the hospital to meet her yesterday and he was a little confused.  Now there are 2 babies and he's not quite sure what that is all about!  He was pretty much uninterested in Amelia, but he did likes his presents from his mommy.  He did "hold" her once, but just for a second and he was over it. 

Mom is going to be staying with him while Mimi is in the hospital but he's spending most of the daytime here with me and Nora.  He still thinks Nora is awesome and I am sure he'll feel the same about Amelia very soon!  Logan is gonna love being a big brother!

The Many Adventures of Home Ownership: Fence Edition

A couple of months ago we had a very intense "wind storm" here in Austin.  Now, I know what all you guys living in the midwest or on the east coast are thinking...how can anyone in Austin complain about the weather?  And you're right...except that the crazy wind knocked down a portion of our fence and broke a piece of our storm door!

Luckily, adjacent to our back fence is a wire belonging to that property, so we were in no hurry to fix it.  Especially since Marcie likes the new view! 

Jump forward to 2 days ago when another insane wind storm came through town.  More fence down and this time it is the fence adjacent to our eastern neighbor.  Boo! 

As you can probably see, she has a very nice yard with no weeds and it is well kept...whereas we have a dog and a new baby and little experience with landscaping.  So we really don't want Marcie pooping in the neighbors yard.  Time to call in the fence repair experts.  Hope it won't be too expensive! Any suggestions from those of you that live in Austin??

We brought in all of Marcie's toys from outside (for some reason she always takes them out there and leaves  them.)  She was watching me the whole time.  I think she was trying to figure out what we were doing!

Once everything was inside it didn't take her long to make a mess!  She doesn't seem to like when her toys are in the "toy box."

Logan & Marcie...best friends :)

I just had a few minutes of time (Nora is sleeping!!!) and I decided to get pictures from the camera memory card onto the internet.  I was thinking of pictures of Nora, but I discovered some adorable pictures of Logan and Marcie that Shawn took last week sometime.  They are precious!  Logan just adores Marcie and she loves him...even when he is being a pest ;)

Marcie was just minding her own business.  Enjoying her moment relaxing in the one sunny spot.  But oh no...here comes Logan!

Here's a cute picture of Logan sitting in his special chair with a juice box in his jammies.  Perfect!

Best Dog Ever!

My sweet Marcie has been so patient these last few months as I prepared for the arrival of little Nora.  She totally knew something was coming, but I don't know if she was exactly prepared for another little person to arrive.  Especially since I would have to start dividing my attention...although she did know that I was distracted already.  The last 6 weeks of the pregnancy she decided she would start acting out around the house.  Getting into the trash was her favorite thing, but she also started getting into stuff she never had gone near before.  She got my sunglasses out of my purse and destroyed them.  She got a box of cookies off the high counter in the kitchen and ate them all.  Girl Scout cookies.  Bad dog.  I am sure it was all related to the imminent arrival of Nora, so I was hoping all would be better when she came.  Luckily she won't have to be alone much for the next few months since I'll be home on maternity leave.

So Nora's here now and Marcie has been great with her so far!  She likes to give her kisses but is not really sure about Nora's tummy time yet.  During tummy time when Nora's little legs get kicking Marcie gets kind of weirded out :)  She stays right there though and watches her.  She has been using the bed I made for the nursery and lays in there with me during the night when Nora and I are awake.  I think Marcie has adjusted great to our new bundle of joy and they are gonna be great friends!!

Since I had Shawn take Marcie to get her nails cut today, I decided we would go for a walk and Marcie, of course, was totally pooped out when we got home (but she totally loved it!).  She decided to take her nap in Logan's tent, which she hasn't done it awhile.  I got a couple of cute pictures I wanted to share.

My beautiful Marcie Moo!

Here are some random pictures of the other loves in my life too.  Nora hasn't taken over everything yet :)

Look at that face...he's getting ready to start some trouble making!

My baby brother snuggling with Marcie.  I can't believe he's gonna be in college soon...

Logan decided that laying on Abuelita's back would be the most comfortable spot?

Packing away Christmas...

It is that time again.  Time to pack away all the Christmas stuff.  Normally I am so fast about getting everything up and that gives me a lot of time to enjoy it...not so this year!  I was so pokey about getting my decorations up, and now it's time to put them away already :(   I could leave them out longer, but seeing as the baby is coming sometime in the next month, I figure I should get everything put away otherwise it may be out until summer!

This year I did get a few Pinterest Christmas projects done (and partially finished another).  Here are my Christmas projects for this year.

This garland looked like it would be so easy...not so much!  I struggled with this but I knew it would turn out great so I made myself keep at it...and it did turn out great!  I am going to make some more for next year so it goes all the way up the stairs.  Love it!

I thought this would be such a cool way to display Christmas cards we received.  Just attach ribbon to the cabinets and attach cards with little clips.  Easy!

Easiest project yet...especially since we already had the wreath!

Didn't quite get this one finished, but next year there will be 4 knobs across the bottom to hold stockings.

Now for a few of Logan that didn't get posted from Christmas.  Shawn went over to Mimi's house Christmas morning and took some pictures since I was at work.  Here he is enjoying his new bike in his Christmas pj's.

Could this kid be any cuter???

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!