Life With An 80th Birthday Weekend!

I can't believe our little girl is already 6 weeks old! I'm sad that I have to leave her to go back to work next week. :( I wish I could stay home with her! Max seems to be doing a little better. He has been putting some weight on his back leg and has curled his toes! The vet said we should know by 4-6 weeks after the injury (August 10th) if he will fully heal. We have another appointment on Sept 7th.

This last weekend I went to Sequim with Elli and the rest of the fam to celebrate my grandparent's birthdays! They both turned 80 this month and we had a wonderful party for them thrown by all of their kids! Dirk told some 'old people' jokes, we had a quiz about Grandma & Grandpa and Erica and Kyle wrote an awesome poem about all the fun times spent at their house growing up! Elli was wonderful and had such a fun time meeting the rest of her aunts and uncles! I spent the night with Elli at Aunt Mardel's and Uncle Tim's house. I have a new admiration for my Aunt Mardel after seeing her house. Their entire house is spotless and organized and uncluttered. The yard is beautiful and extremely thought out. The pantry was perfect it could be in a magazine! I wish my house could look like hers for just one day!! On Sunday we went to church and Elli did wonderful, she slept in Grandpa's arms for most of the service! :)

Blowing out 80 candles!
Grandma & Grandpa and all their kids! (and their spouses)
All the grandkids (minus the Mearig kids and Melissa)
Elli with her grandparents
Uncle David with Elli
Janae got to finally meet Elli!
Aunt Nancy playing with Elli
Aunt Karen cuddling with Elli
Aunt Tammie and Elli ready for church
Elli sleeping in church with Grandpa

Life With Two Babies

So I know it has been a long time since I have really posted and I'm sorry. Hopefully I can get this post finished while the little one is napping. Last night she ALMOST slept through the night! She was cranky before bed and finally went down at 11:30. She did wake up a few times in the 3:00 hour but was happy just to get her binkie back and go back to sleep. She then woke up at 5:00. A little early for me still but we are getting there!!

Napping in her crib like a big girl

I can't believe she is already 5 weeks old! Time really does fly! Even being home with her in the day the hours just seem to disappear. I hardly have time to get anything done around the house since I'm with her all the time. She has been having an upset tummy lately, I'm not sure if it is from the formula or the breastmilk, seems that both bother her. She likes to be held with a hand on her belly with a little pressure, seems to make it feel better. At her one month check up she had grown 2.5 inches and is now 22.5 inches long and was 9 lbs 9 oz so she was much better after all that weight she lost. She is getting so big! She also had to have her 2nd Hep B shot, the 1st one was in the hospital. She really didn't enjoy that, she screamed so much she wasn't breathing. I feel bad for her but at the same time all I can do is laugh at her antics. She is smiling now and it is so fun when she recognizes me and smiles! :)

Great Grandma & Grandma Birthday Party

In other news, and why I have two babies, 2 weeks ago Max stopped walking. We noticed on Sat evening that he was walking funny and by Sunday morning he wasn't using his back end at all. We took him to the ER vet here in Issaquah first thing Sunday morning and he has slipped a disc in his back. This is a very common disease with dachshunds, most common after 5 years old, and he just turned 5 according to the shelter. So they gave us some anti-inflammatory and pain pills to give him and put him on cage rest. If you have read previous posts you know that Max doesn't do well with cage rest, he gets too excited and he is supposed to be relaxing to help his back heal. So he has really just been in the corner of the living room for Max in his corner bed

the last 2 weeks. He has to be carried wherever he goes, including going outside to potty. He either pees or poops in the house daily since it is such a hassle to take him out and extremely hard for me to do it alone with a baby and him. The few times I have had to I put Elli in the carrier and Max in the stroller. Looks pretty funny strolling my dog around! We have an appointment with our normal vet on Monday to see if he has made any progress and if he will be able to fully heal. They recommend surgery but that could cost over $5k and it is only a 50% chance of fully healing him. Also, if this happens once, it is more than likely going to happen again sometime. We're hoping the vet says he will be able to make a full recovery, then we have a few more weeks of rest. If not, we have some hard decisions to make next week so please keep us in your prayers! Max tore up my blanket and his pee pad when he was left for one hour

Life With Only Enough Time To Post Photos

Ray, his mom, his grandpa and Elli - 4 Generations

Aunt Jess and Elli at Red Robin

Sarah giving Elli a bottle at Red Robin

I was so excited to see Julie and have her meet Elli!

Funny Faces with Daddy

Elli and Isaac in the car - Isaac is smiling in his sleep!

Elli and Emma at Red Robin - she kept wanting to touch Elli!

What a big smile!