Kalvin is ONE!!!!

I can't believe my little baby has turned one! We had a party for him and our awesome friends and family helped us celebrate! I have tons of pictures from the day but those will be posted later when I'm on a real computer (and not using my phone and netbook...) Check out the awesome ride-on toy Kalvin's Gammy and Gandu got him! He LOVES it! He'd sit there all day if I'd let him :)
Last week I discovered the hard way that Vera is allergic to bees!!! It was super scary! Thankfully with a call to the on-call vet and 2 hefty doses of Benadryl, her face became less puffy by the next day! My poor dog has had a terrible few months!!

I've been trying to do fun projects with Kalvin. It's so fun watching him try new things. He was a big fan of coloring with markers! Thank goodness for back to school art supplies on sale right now!!

Kalvin still doesn't really like food. Someday maybe....

He had his one year shots last week. The doctor said everything looked great! We're pretty sure he's going to be a little peanut when he's older! Right now he weighs 21 pounds and is in the 24th percentile and he's only in the 19th percentile for length! I think it's God's way of trying to help my hands not hurt so much!

Our other big news is...We're for sure going to be building a house!!!!! I'm guessing we're going to break ground next Spring because we can't get everything in order for this year I'm sure. The water well and septic will probably be going in this fall though!

I'm nervous and super excited at the same time. Nervous about being the General Contractor and trying to get everything in order while also caring for Kalvin and also excited to get out of the old house we're living in! The thought of less spiders and having a bathtub that actually drains is keeping me motivated!

Hope everyone is having a great start of August! I'll TRY to get birthday pictures up very soon!!

Diagnosis on Vera!!!

After 2 trips and many calls to the vet, 2 rounds of antibiotics, and several hundred dollars later...We have a diagnosis on what we thought were bug bites on Vera!! She has something called Demodectic Mange (otherwise called Red Mange). It's a parasite which lives in her hair follicles! So now we have the correct medicine to fix it! She'll be on more medicine for the next few months but we're praying it completely goes away! Poor dog!

Holy Humidity!!

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Weekend. Dan spent the weekend working so we didn't get to do anything fun. :( I'm already looking forward to my birthday next Monday. Dan took the day off work to be with Kalvin and I!!!!!!!!!!! It has been way too long since we had an entire day without Dan working!! In fact, I can't even remember when it was...

Any ideas of fun things to do for the day?? Last year for my birthday we went to Como Zoo and then went for ice cream. It was a really fun day but I was 8 months pregnant. Walking around in 90 degree heat was a bad idea!! I felt like a big fat sweaty whale!

Speaking of being sweaty...Our house is so incredibly humid!! It was pretty hard to sleep last night. I'm getting pretty sick of living in this old house :( The windows don't open and even if they did...there are no screens so critters would walk or fly right in! I don't want another bat in our bedroom!! EEK! Someday we'll live in a new place!!

Here are a few pictures from this morning!

And this is what's going on at this very second:

I snuck in to take some sleeping pictures of Kalvin. He always looks so peaceful. I still have the crib bumper in because Kalvin uses it to calm himself down. When he's trying to fall asleep he'll touch those bumps on the minky fabric.

And here's Vera! I had to physically carry her back in the house...all 40lbs of her! She didn't want to come in. I don't blame her! It's beautiful (but windy) out! I'm scared for Vera to spend time outside because I don't want her to get bit up again! The fields and tall grass behind her are breeding grounds for bugs (and snakes!!).

Maybe after Kalvin wakes up we'll slather sunscreen on Kalvin and brave the wind so we can go for a walk! YAY for not having to be so sheltered in the house anymore!

A wonderful day!

AHHHHH!! Today has been an amazing day compared to the rest of my week! I got the lawn mowed, Vera's neck is looking slightly better, the house is (kind of) clean, went for a play date with a great friend, Dan had a productive day at work, Kalvin is in bed, and now I'm finally enjoying some supper and a cold beer!

Here are some pictures from today:

Vera always scoots her butt right up to Kalvin's face and then he grabs her tail...It really grosses me out and I always scrub Kalvin's hands with anti-bacterial soap after this!

Kalvin got his faced licked...notice the hair sticking up on the left! He got a bath tonight to clean off the layers of sunscreen, dog spit, and dirt!

Our lilacs are also blooming!!! They smell AMAZING! I love having fresh flowers in the house!

I was so excited about the mason jars full of lilacs that I called Dan and told him how good our house smelled...He didn't seem impressed...I guess he's allergic to the pollen :( Rats!! I guess it's good he's not home much because I'm not removing them from the house! He'll just have to suffer the 7 hours he's home to sleep :) he he!

**WARNING**Nasty pictures of my puppy...Do not scroll all the way down if you have a wimpy tummy!!

OK...I'm Serious...these pictures are pretty disturbing so consider yourself warned if you choose to scroll down. I'm not responsible if you throw-up in your mouth a little or if you have nightmares...

Two days ago, Vera was outside for a couple hours in the afternoon. She was busy playing and never complained so I left her out there to burn off some energy. Well...while she was out, mosquitoes decided Vera tasted good. She literally has thousands of bites on her body :( Soooo sad!! I bought her some OTC doggy benadryl hoping that would help her stop itching.

By yesterday afternoon, One of the spots on her neck was seriously raw, bleeding, and swollen. I didn't know what else I could do and I didn't want an infection to set in! I called the Vet in town, woke Kalvin up from his nap, and drove our dog in for an emergency appointment.

I'd never been to this Vet but I will definitely be taking her back there!! They were so good with Vera and extremely helpful!! Her neck was starting to get infected so they shaved the area and scrubbed it really good. We were sent home with antibiotics, steroid pills and a medicated shampoo (and a $200 Vet bill!!!!) I hope it gets better quickly because I want my healthy puppy back!! Also...her wound smells like raw meat....sick...there's a reason I'm a vegetarian!!!!

Vera's belly

This is her neck before they shaved it and scrubbed it. Poor baby!

The bites are everywhere :(


Her white face mostly looks pink from the bites :( She was sleeping/relaxed...that's why her tongue is out!!)

I had to throw one cute one in! This was from a few days ago!

Hope everyone kept there food down! Lets pray these next few days are better and Vera heals up fast!!!!

Vera's tongue issue...

Isn't this weird??? Sometimes when Vera is sleeping, her tongue hangs out!!! It always freaks Dan and I out!

Last night I finally decided to googled it. Turns out, she's fine...some dogs just do that when they get super relaxed. Even though she's fine...it still weirds me out and I'll continue to try to shove her tongue back in her mouth every time I see it like this!!

Did anyone else know about this tongue issue???

Special Dog/Mommy time!

I'm just waiting for Kalvin to wake up from his nap (he's already been sleeping 3 hours!) I thought I'd cuddle with Vera and take some pictures of us! She was mighty happy to sit on my lap! She wasn't shy about crawling right up!

My parents beagle, Roma, wasn't so happy about all Vera's attention!

PS...Any tricks for keeping my eyes open for pictures???? I'm thinking eyelid removal surgery maybe?

Kalvin is definitely my child!

Kalvin can't seem to get enough of my parents vacuum! He'll crawl across the house just to get to it! He's definitely my child if he enjoys cleaning! I'm A-OK with him playing with it because it seems to keep him occupied and if he's occupied...he's not pinching and scratching at my neck!!

Kalvin also learned a new trick (yeah...I know...that sounds like he's a puppy). Since he was a tiny baby I did the thing where you say "Kalvin, how big are you?" and then you raise their hands above their head and say "SOOO big!" Well now Kalvin raises his own hands when I ask him! He can't really get his hands completely over his head...mostly just to his ears :) It's pretty cute!

Poor Puppy :(

I picked Vera up from the vet today. She's been so sad and droopy all day. As nice as it is to have her so calm...I wish she felt better. She's not even pestering my parents dog!!

Kalvin and I have just been hanging out. My mom has been busy all day and my dad is FINALLY in the fields! YAY! It's nice hanging out in a spider free/snake free house!!

I think it may be time for a glass of delicious wine :) Happy Tuesday!

1st communion

My favorite (and only!) niece had her first communion this weekend. My sister asked me to take a few pictures. She looked beautiful in her fancy white dress and the vail my mom made her! Maybe I'm a tiny bit bias but I think she looked the best!! :)

I'm at my parent's house all week so Kalvin and I are happy for a week of hanging out with family! Bring on the fun!!

Vera gets her womanly parts taken out tomorrow. Call me a bad dog mommy but I'm SUPER excited for a 24 hour break from her!!!!!! 8am can't come soon enough!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Rainbow Cupcakes

How awesome are these?!?!?! I offered to bring dessert to Easter so I'd have a reason to make these. I don't normally bake. Mostly because then we'd eat it all!

Super easy to make these! I used a boxed cake mix(yeah...I know...that's kind of cheating) and separated the batter into 4 little bowls. I added food coloring to each of the bowls then spooned it into the muffin cups. Then just bake as you'd normally bake cupcakes and they come out looking like this!! I did put home-made cream cheese frosting on top (YUM!) They look super cool without much work involved!

One more little story...A big scary snake wrapped itself around Vera's leg this morning!! Vera was pretty freaked out (I was too). It took her a while to shake it off! SCARY! Thankfully this critter was outside! Our lawn really needs to be mowed...the snakes can hide too easily right now and that's not ok with me!

Happy Easter {yesterday}!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter. Ours was OK. Kalvin spent half the day sleeping because we went to church on Saturday night and didn't get home until 11!! (3 hours past Mr. Kalvin's bedtime!) Kalvin can't seem to sleep or relax while holding him...He needs his bed and no distractions! Dan was confirmed into the Catholic church that night so we couldn't miss it! We are really proud of Dan for joining the church and uniting our little family!

Here are some pictures of Kalvin and his Easter basket:

The koosh ball is for Kalvin and the candy is for us :)

Dan's mom and dad LOADED us up on candy yesterday!!! Kalvin REALLY enjoys playing with it! I love Kalvin's little pinkie up in the air. ha ha! He's so dainty!

We have a busy rest of the week planned! Between ECFE, swim lessons, a trip to the zoo, and getting Dan all ready to leave for the UK...we will not be bored!

In other news...Vera is SUPER sick today! She is a throw-up machine!! She pooped and threw up in her kennel now she'll probably stay outside the rest of the day! (It's nice out so I don't feel bad!) I've brought many buckets of water outside to wash away nastiness! Poor puppy!

Speaking of nice weather...I looked outside to check on Vera and I see the snakes are also enjoying the sun :)

Vera's Bling

Kalvin discovered Vera's new name tag today and then only wanted to grab at it! Vera was ok with it until Kalvin started pulling really hard. They are two goofy babies!

He's not a huge fan of puppy kisses and I can't blame him!

(Are you getting annoyed with all my Vera/Kalvin posts lately?? It's hard to resist now that they've started interacting more!!!)

Our day of shopping

I'm sure you're all expecting an awesome post because I've been absent for a few days! Truth is...I've got nothing! Sorry!

Today I went shopping with my mother-in-law. Kalvin now has some summer essentials! Bring on the warm weather!! I noticed that it's very hard to spend any money on myself lately but I have no problems buying other people things. I think this is the exact reason many moms get in a plain-Jane rut! It's so much easier to put everyone else first...especially your kids!!

Here's Kalvin's new clothes. A few of those things were 80% off at Macy's! (That's why there's such a random mix of things!!!)

Why yes...these are pink shorts for Kalvin!! Aren't they awesome? I'm super excited for them!

I also have no problem buying our dog things! She actually really needed this jewelry though, I swear! She didn't have any tags on her collar! The back side has our phone number!

It seems like Kalvin spends most of the day napping so I haven't gotten any pictures of him lately! That will change tomorrow..I promise!!

Kalvin LOVES Vera!

Vera is so gentle with Kalvin... and Kalvin is not very gentle with her! She will sit through any and all of Kalvin's rough pets. I seriously can't keep these two apart! They are like magnets!

Here's my photo-shoot from this morning:

And a very Happy 33rd Birthday to my oldest sister, Shawn!!! Love you!!

A normal Tuesday morning...

Happy Tuesday everyone! Here's what's happening here right now:

Kalvin is still pointing at everything!

Poor Vera is getting her lips pinched by Kalvin. She's so sweet that she doesn't seem to mind.

Kalvin is being silly and doing mouth toots/blowing bubbles.

YAY, Vera calmed down and is finally laying and not trying to lick Kalvin!