Glasses and Goodbyes

This week pretty much revolved around glasses and goodbyes for our family.  I will start with the Goodbye part so that we can end on a good note!

Yesterday we finally had to say goodbye to our sweet little Charlie.  I never imagined that it would be so difficult to say goodbye to him.  We tried to keep him around as long as we could, but we never wanted him to be in pain.  He really started to slow down last week and early this week he stopped eating and was not sleeping well at all.  It was clear to us that it was time.  We spent about two days saying goodbye and then Thursday morning I gave him a whole bunch of whipped cream (he loved whipped cream) and took him in.  Dad went with me and we were both there with him.  I pet him until he took his last breath and his tiny little heart stopped beating.  We took him home to my parents' house (I don't have much of a yard and am trying to move) and Dad buried him in the backyard in a nice box that Eric built.  Charlie was one month shy of 5 years old. 

I am left with so many wonderful memories of Charlie.  He really was the most amazing little dog.  I wanted a bichon frise for the longest time.  I have no idea why, since I did not know anyone with one.  For my wedding present, Eric gave me a bank in the shape of a bichon and put a couple hundred dollars in it.  He told me that whenever I found one, I could go get my bichon. I checked the paper just about every day, but decided to wait until the summer when I could spend time training a puppy.  It actually worked out because the breeder lived only about ten minutes from us.  I fell in love with Charlie the moment I saw him.  He was only about 3 pounds and hopped everywhere.  He used to sleep on the top of my pillow at night.  Charlie was my only baby for almost three years.  I feel a little guilty because he didn't get nearly the same attention once my kids came along.  He was very good with the girls though.  He knew to be gentle with them.  When Leah used to cry in her bassinet, Charlie would run over and check on her.  Charlie won over my entire family.  Everyone loved him.  It will not be the same without him.  I like to think of him sitting on Jesus' lap up in heaven.

Charlie as a puppy

Checking out his new sister (Leah)

Just about a month ago. Such a sweet face.

This whole ordeal with Charlie really has been a reminder to me of just how truly blessed I am.  This has seriously been the saddest event that I heave dealt with in my 26 years, which means that I have had a great life.  I hope that I can be more compassionate towards others who face far worse.  I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for all of us.  In the words of the great philosopher, Kelly Clarkson, "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." 

Now to the glasses part.....

Peyton got her glasses this week and boy does she look darling.  It is funny because I thought that her initial response would be to pull them right off, but she didn't.  I think it is because she can finally see well! She actually immediately seemed intrigued.  I did not realize how poorly she could see out of that eye until I saw the prescription in her glasses.  It is like a magnifying glass.  I am already used to her wearing the glasses though.  Her ears stick out a little bit (like her Mommy's do), so that is  helpful in holding her glasses up! Poor thing still has to wear the patch for four hours in the morning too though which she does not like.  Surprisingly, Leah has really cared less about the patch or the glasses.  It is like she almost doesn't even notice that Peyton is wearing them.  As long as her prescription does not change and they don't get messed up somehow, she will wear them until she is 2.  Leah is the family ham, but Peyton might give her a run for her money because these glasses get Peyton so much attention!

Once we knew that this would be Charlie's last week, we decided to get out of town for the weekend to try and get our mind off of our grief.  Honestly, it is not really working.  I still break down every time that I think of my Charlie.  However, it is fun to see the girls enjoying themselves.  We went swimming in the pool and went down to the beach this afternoon and Leah was having a blast.  I am treating myself to a facial and a pedicure at the resort spa in the morning.  Hopefully Eric will survive with the girls alone for two hours.  Also, I am pretty sure that I am going to win $290 million in the Mega Millions lottery tonight, so I will more than likely be a multi millionaire next time that I blog. 

Things are looking up!

I am a bad blogger.  Most people probably think that being a stay-at-home mom is easy.  I thought it was going to be...back when I had one child.  Well I have been a working mom and a stay-at-home mom and I can honestly say that being a stay-at-home mom is much harder (at least when your children are not in school yet)!  I love my kids more than anything in the world, but when you stay at home, there is no break! I now get excited to go to Publix or take a shower.  It is difficult to find time to blog between potty training Leah and trying to keep Peyton calm while she gets her "patch time" in each day.  Plus, I have never really been the most open person, so this is all quite new to me! Anyways, that is why it has been a month since my last blog.

Our days are pretty boring and monotonous, but here is a brief summary of our life this past month!

Leah is the cutest little toddler in the world.  She just turned two last month, and yes sometimes they are the terrible two's!  However, most of the time, she is the sweetest girl.  We are right in the heart of potty training.  We have had several attempts at potty training since she was about 15 months, but it seems that I have given up each time upon realizing that she just had no interest in being potty trained.  In the past few weeks though, she has shown more interest in being potty training.  She has told me a few times that she needed to go, but most of the time she just tells me after or not at all.  But we are definitely making progress.  I would love for her to be potty-trained by the summer.  I am absolutely amazed at how she picks up on things.  She is saying 4-6 word sentences now.  She counts to 10 and has been since she was about 16 months.  She knows most colors, although she calls brown "chocolate" and black "coffee" for some reason!  It is so funny how she will get really interested in one thing for a few weeks and then switch to something else.  She is currently very in to the Disney Princesses, particularly Sleeping Beauty.  She loves to watch Sleeping Beauty, which is kinda unfortunate for us because it is literally the worst animated Disney movie!  She absolutely adores her little sister.  Surprisingly she did not even seem to notice Peyton's patch, however I did find a sticker directly over her stuffed dog's left eye...so cute!  Leah is just the most loving kid.  The other night we went to Longhorn for dinner and she literally told me she loved me like 100 times.  I just love that kid!

 

Leah gave her puppy a patch!

Peyton is doing very well! She went back to the doctor for a post-op last week and he is still very pleased with her progress.  She now wears the patch every day for 4 hours.  She still doesn't like it, but she is getting used to it.  She was fitted for her glasses and they should be in next week.  She tried some on, and I must say that she looked absolutely adorable.  Keeping them on should be a challenge.  The doctor said that from here on out it is pretty much in our hands, but hopefully she will thank us in 30 years.  She does not go back to the doctor again until May.  I have said before, Peyton has got the sweetest disposition, but she has definitely tried our patience.  She is a pretty fussy baby.  I don't know if it is colic, or gas, or what, but she cries a lot.  This is new to us because Leah has always been the happiest baby and kid!  I keep thinking that she will grow out of it, but that has yet to take place! I am hoping that once she gets her glasses and can see better, she will be happier! But when she is happy, her smile is as big as her face and her laugh is absolutely contagious!

She is quite chunky!

On to sad news...Charlie was not able to have his surgery.  When we went in, the surgeon determined that it was just too advanced for him to do the surgery.  He wanted us to bring Charlie to Knoxville for surgery with an oncologist, but he would have had to have at least three ribs removed and spend a week in the hospital.  He also said that the cancer was likely to recur.  We already spent about $600 just to diagnose him, and after surgery and chemo we could have been looking at spending $10,000 easily.  With the amount of pain he would be in and the likelihood that it would recur, we decided that it was not worth it.  He is still a happy little dog and other than the massive lump, you would never know that he was sick.  He is living with my parents now since they can give him more attention.  When he shows signs of being in pain, then we will put him down, but for now we are just letting him be happy and spoiling him!

I mentioned in my last blog that we are trying to sell our house and have been for like 18 months.  We have had incredible activity lately.  About 10 showings in the past two weeks.  We had refrained from looking at new homes until recently because we did not want to fall in love with something that we could not have, but with all the activity, we feel like it is bound to sell soon! So we started looking and we fell in love!  We went in a model home in a new neighborhood and we pretty much have to have it now.  We will probably build it, provided that our house sells and we are unable to find an incredible deal somewhere.  I will give more details once our house sells (keeping my fingers crossed that it is soon)!

So February was a tough month for us, but things are looking up now! We are loving this warm weather and looking forward to the spring and summer!