Translator, please?!

Everyone keeps asking me, "How is Emer? Is she talking up a storm yet?"
And I say, "She's doing great! She is quite a talker, but not so much in English..."




Can someone translate this for me please?!?!

Demitri 1997-2009

I said I was going to write a blog with pics from Christmas sometime during the second week of my holidays. However, the holidays came to a crashing halt during that time and I haven't really felt like writing much. I can't begin to describe how lonely I feel now, which to non-pet people sounds ridiculous. But I don't care what those people think, I only care about how much I miss Demitri.

Here's the brief run-down of his last week of life:

Christmas Eve - He wouldn't leave the bathroom mat unless I moved him. He did eat and was still using his litter box.
Christmas - He was better! He didn't move around and chase his toys that he got like he used to, but he was his old self anyway. He got his first shot of insulin.
December 26th - He ate and was acting normal again! We thought the insulin surely had helped him get back to normal. In the evening he tried to jump onto the chair and missed. He fell on his back. He tried to jump onto the counter and missed. Just landed on his feet.
December 27th - He was very slow again. He barely ate a thing. By evening he hadn't even eaten one full meal. We did give him his evening insulin b/c he ended up eating a little chicken and some yogurt. He jumped in the bath with Emer but didn't react, just stood there. I slept downstairs with him because I was afraid he would get hurt if he tried to jump into bed with us. This was the worst night's sleep I've had in a long time b/c at one point he jumped off the couch only to find that he couldn't stand on his back legs.
December 28th - He couldn't stand, he looked like he was swimming when he tried to move. He wouldn't eat a thing. I called my brother early and left a message. I called the emergency clinic where Scotty works. I got ready to take him in but decided not to b/c we already had set up to take him to a vet for blood work that morning. The vet at the emergency clinic was very nice and talked to me for about half an hour. Scotty called as I was getting ready to take D to the vet. He said he would have advised me to wait for the vet anyway.
-> The long and short of it is that I took him in and his blood work showed glucose levels of 700, kidney stones, gall stones, he was very dehydrated, his bowels were completely full, his heart was in arrythmia. He didn't care that he was at the vet's, he didn't even growl at all. They kept him on very aggressive fluids which helped a little. But when they backed off the fluids he got worse again. This was one of the worst days of my life. I had to go back to the vet's and make a decision to lose Demitri. I know we stopped his pain and gave him strength again. But I wish I could hold him on my lap and I'd give anything to clean up a massive pee on the floor again. It crushes me to think I'll never see Emer hug him again. I'll never have to watch out for the food left on the counter. And the other night I turned to where he used to relax on the couch to ask if he was coming to bed with me. I'd forgotten he wasn't there. It's lonely. And it sucks...

Here I Am! and Other News...

Wow, it's been nearly 2 months since I last wrote a blog entry. It hasn't really occurred to me to sit down and write something and I'm not sure why. I haven't been super busy...maybe that's it. We have just been living life without anything too exciting going on so there hasn't been anything spectacular to share. ... Except that I just checked back to see if I posted Emer's Halloween costume and I didn't! So you've missed Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday, and nearly Christmas. I suppose I should back up to October, then, to begin this post:
Emer was a duck for Halloween this year! We took her trick or treating to grandma's house then Grammie and Poppy's house. Later that evening she helped me hand out candy to the neighborhood kids. She liked watching the other kids and kept her costume on for most of the evening. Since you haven't seen her walking yet, check this out!

I know she's mine, but I think she's the cutest duck since Ming Ming :)
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Following Halloween was Thanksgiving. I don't have any pictures from this to share but we had a wonderful meal at Grammie and Poppy's house with Uncle Scotty, Auntie Eron, and Hayden. Someday I should just hang out with the babies with my camera poised because Hayden and Emer are so cute together! They see each other and just light up. They love to share toys, laugh at each other, and keep each other from taking their much-needed naps! Our fearless babysitter (Grammie) recently took some video of Hayden chasing Emer around the couch. Emer is pulling a little toy puppy behind her and she's so fast that she actually catches up to Hayd! They just laughed and hugged. The two of them are a wonderful example of babies hard at "work" - just playing. We should all take a lesson from them!

<-- Here's a picture of Emer racing around the island and kitchen table in our house pulling her empty golf bag. Yes, it's fuzzy, but it's only because she wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a good picture!

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As many, if not all, of you know, my birthday follows Thanksgiving. It was a big one this year. I figured, after years of being 29 it might be time to enter the new decade. So I told my husband that he had to throw me a party. Little did I know, he had already started planning a party! On Sunday, Nov. 29th Emer and I are playing, waiting for the Colts game to start, and my friend Kelli shows up. (I knew she was coming because she was at our house when I told Steve he had to throw me a party). Next, my mother-in-law shows up. And she has a pumpkin cake (yum!) I'm thinking, "Fantastic! He actually listened to me!" Steve then asks if I want to know who else is coming and proceeds to list half the Fantasy football league and their families, my family, and other close friends with their families. Everyone brought my favorite foods (one friend made sushi, my parents brough Famous Dave's Mac N Cheese, to name a couple of things). To top off the party, the Colts won!!

This man here -->

is one good party planner. Thanks, dear husband, for the best birthday surprise party an 'old lady' could ever hope for!!

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BTW, the day before my birthday we all attended Friendsgiving, an annual Thanksgiving tradition with one of my great friends from grad school. This picture was taken at this event, which is why Em's mouth is totally full!

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To conclude this post, I'd like to share a quick update about my first baby, Demitri (he's the black one). He's nearly always been a health challenge for us - possible heart issues when he was younger, he's been on meds for years to help control irritable bowel disease, he's a compulsive over-eater. Well in the last few months or so we've noticed that he's started peeing a LOT more than usual and he's looking ragged and somewhat skinny (for him!). My brother, the super, internal-medicine-resident vet, wanted to draw blood to run some tests and find out what was going on. At first D. was a mystery - his kidneys were good, his glucose levels were high however his fructosamine (sp?) levels were normal, he had a heart worm. Gasp! Yep, I kind of freaked a little at that! We then ran a urine screen a week or so later and the glucose levels were very high. So the verdict - poor health-challenged Demitri has diabetes.

After much discussion, we have decided to start him on insulin this week. My phobia of needles will make this one of the greatest challenges of my life, but luckily I have a husband who has agreed to help. It took a little heart break on my part, and a lot of discussion with other people he knows on his part, but he finally decided there could be worse things than taking care of our oldest 'baby'...especially when he and our tiny wonder get along so well (picture in your mind Emer hugging on D.; you're smiling, aren't you?!)

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Stay tuned because after Christmas I'm going to post more pics of the family and finally get around to the blog I was talking about on facebook when I mentioned that I have too many thoughts to post in one status update. Until then:

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

New York City 2009!!!

There was some BIG excitement with part of the O-C household this past weekend. I took Emer to my favorite city in the whole world - New York City! I'd been trying to get there since last spring and Auntie Kelli and I decided it would be nice to go in warm weather for a change. (The last time I was there and didn't have to wear a winter coat was 2001!) So we checked our calendars, kept an eye on the airline prices and eventually decided Oct. would work. Ha! October is NOT warm weather! But the weather didn't matter b/c we had the best time ever and Emer seemed to love the city as much as I do :)

A few notes about our trip:

* Em did great on the airplane and we think she's going to be a FA when she grows up :) She got fussy waiting (don't we all when they have to de-ice the wings!) so the FA took her and showed her the galley, let her talk on the phone, etc. What a fun way to start our trip!
* As you can see from the pic above, Em loved looking out the window at the city. She just seemed to enjoy the city!
* We did go to China Town on Monday and shopped for her. She got a cute zip-up hoodie that says New York. Looks great on her!
* While waiting for the flight home Emer made friends with another baby girl who just turned 1 a few days before. She's always the social butterfly :)

And now that we're back home we've finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch and today, yes TODAY - Emer is walking on her own!!! She made a full lap around the coffee table without holding on. Big events in the O-C household! :)

Mobility, Part 2!

Do you ever sit back in life and realize that things are moving so fast you haven't had time to fully realize the effect? Well that's how I feel lately. I love being busy and on the go constantly - anyone who knows me knows I can't sit still! But this past week I've tried 3 or 4 times to sit down and blog about the happenings in The O-C Household and haven't! (Hmmm, maybe the problem is the sitting still part...) So here I am watching the Colts trying to write out the latest events. Let's see how I do...(confession - I actually started this blog 2 days ago while Emer napped...)

One thing I'd like to point out, before I go any further, is my lack of writing skill. I've started following a couple other friends' blogs lately and they are so eloquent. I just bascially recap life. I hope that it's exciting enough and well-written enough to capture and keep your interest...but now that I'm already boring you, let me get to the fun stuff!

* At the very end of August Emer started standing on her own! She would let go of something, leg press herself up, and laugh. She's since gotten quite good at keeping her balance, but still thinks it is a great feat and claps when she stands.
* The next big thing she discovered she could do was taking steps. It became a game. We would stand her up then back away and tell her to walk to us. She would take 2-3 steps then fall into our arms. It's a wonderful thing to have such a tiny wonder trust me so much that she would rather fall and laugh than try to walk to me!
* Moving on, she can now stand up pretty much anywhere but still doesn't walk a whole lot. She prefers to knee around. I have yet to see her get up and walk on her own when she's playing and doesn't think anyone is watching. I don't mind, though, as she's super cute (and very fast!) kneeing around the house. Check out this video and tell me what you think?!

* Now, since she's doing the whole standing and small walking thing, Grammy decided she needed shoes. So she now has 2 new pairs of shoes which are just as cute as ever. I was worried that if Emer didn't like them she wouldn't let me put them on without throwing a fit (see bullet point below). But she seems to love them and sits quietly while I put the shoes on her feet. She has this pair:
and a pair of brown shoes that are more like play shoes.

* She is becoming quite stubborn yet is still very social. She knows what she wants and will do just about anything to get it. She screams, pulls my hair, and then cries as a last resort. Of course she's battling the most stubborn woman ever so I predict years of "fun". She fights naps like she's a super hero who never needs to sleep, then gets cranky when the sleep starts to win. It's like she doesn't want to miss one minute of the day! The best remedy for these things is to take her out. I've never seen someone so happy to be out - she waves at everyone, smiles at most people, and sings in the car. I wish I had some audio to share with you as she sounds like an angel. And then she usually falls asleep on the drive home!

We have our challenges but we also have our special moments. Sometimes she makes me feel like I'm the best mom ever. I can see my attitude and drive in her and I know this a good thing. I feel fortunate that when she loses patience or gets angry I usually understand. I think that helps me keep my patience. And it gives me hope that she's going to LOVE New York City as much as I do!
Next Time in The Final Countdown: Emer and I are going to NYC with a friend of mine. We'll be spending 2 days in the great city. I should have an update for you after I get home. In the meantime, wish us luck! :)

Pike Y Summer Family Adventure! (shown above!)