Just relaxin'

Only Charlie can manage this pose...silly dog.  We are still hoping that he will start to feel better and return to his spastic self, minus the eating of random objects.  He has had good days with a few not so good days so we are playing wait and see. 

The boy

We are back in daily swim lessons for the next two weeks and he is getting better daily.  I made a really crappy video with my cell phone at yesterday's lesson.  He loves the water and now thinks it is fun to put his face under the water.

He also is practicing lots of other things as well such as dressing himself...

And apparently no pants are needed.  Love the knee-high socks with undies look.  Earlier this morning I had socks on that I didn't want to take off so I just put my flip flops on with my socks on to take the garbage out to the street.  I came back into the garage and E told me that it was not ok to wear socks with flip flops...and now he is wearing knee-highs with crocs...technically not sandals but the same thought should have applied.

He has also figured out how to add...he comes up to J and I regularly with what does 3+2 equal, holding up 3 fingers on one hand and 2 fingers on the other hand.  We practice counting his fingers and he is getting pretty good at adding several different numbers.  I think he is going to like math.

His antics keep me laughing several times a day, here is my current list:

I don't know how to play damnfarts (aka lawndarts).

Mommy, why are you wearing pajamas?  (I was wearing a dress, one of only a handful of times in his life, but I don't wear a nightgown either so not sure why he thought they were Pjs).

Daddy, I want to go to your house to work.  (He thinks because Mommy works from home that Daddy goes to a different house to work).

Mommy:  If you want something to eat you need to eat some fruit or something, not junk.
Ethan's response:  We can't eat junk, junk is penis and we don't eat that (as he starts to pull it out to show me).

You're not my mommy, you are the girl with yeyo hair.  (The day before this I was the girl with red pants, both of which are characters from Indiana Jones Lego game).  His newest question to anyone he comes in contact with is, what character do you want to be?)

E: "The fly is chasing me mommy, die him.

 We had several of our friends over this past Sunday for a bbq and E had a great time playing with his best buddies, Hunter and Peyton.  Funny that Ethan and Peyton are the same height as long as Peyton is sitting on the chair.

Woody, are you missing something?

Apparently it wasn't a Kong piece, as I found both Kongs full together on Saturday, so I have no idea what it was that he threw up at the beginning of this whole adventure.  It has been a really long last 6 days with little Charlie.  Friday and Saturday we continued with the daily dose of IV fluids with him still not eating or drinking anything and nothing exiting either.  He has been a completely different dog, hardly moving at all, and looking so sad and uncomfortable.  Jeff took him to the vet on Saturday and decided that Monday they would try doing x-rays and barium to see if they could see the blockage.  They called me to say that they had found something on the x-rays, which they thought might be a bone...not surprising if you heard about the raw chicken incident from over a month ago...but they decided that as it was stuck it would be best to sedate him and try to get whatever it was out.  However, they took him outside right before putting him under and he was able to poop it out.....OUCH! No wonder he was uncomfortable. 

Of course, who would know what this was...except for Mommy.  Apparently, Woody should have kept better hold of his holster and told Charlie "you're not supposed to eat me."  Honestly, what else can we do with our little pica eater?!?  We took him back in this morning, as he still had something showing up as being in his stomach on the x-rays, and they thought they might have to open him up today in order to scope him.  He seemed back to his old self before taking him in there this morning and the barium went through like it should have, so they tried to induce vomiting to see if something came out without any luck.  We brought him home this evening, and after not eating for nearly a week, he sucked some rice and egg down like his regular vacuum self so we are hopeful that he will be fine from here on out. 

Definitely not reattaching the holster...sorry Woody!  We are crossing our fingers and toes that this will be the last of Charlie's extremely expensive visits to the vet.  I think he is now afraid of going in there.

Kong

Who knew that a Kong dog toy wasn't indestructible, and if they are supposed to be, Charlie has proven them wrong.  Our little troublemaker had definitely made himself some trouble.  It is amazing that out of all the things that he has eaten in the past year that it is his own toy that is doing him in.  He ate part of a Kong, which he has thrown-up a large chunk of, but we think there is still more in his gut that he is unable to get out.  The past several days we have been to the vet twice for IV fluids, he hasn't eaten or drank in several days, and he hasn't even barked.  He is a completely different dog, a nice momentary change, but sad and worrisome at this point.  Unfortunately, our options are extremely costly to try to get out whatever still remains so we are hoping that he will pass it and be back to himself very soon.  If not, we don't want him to suffer, and our options become even fewer.   

FOUR!!!

Yesterday A, H, E and I met at the Children's golf course for Ethan's first attempt at golfing.  I bought him his own bag and a few clubs from goodwill and this was his first course to try them out.  Of course, we can't go anywhere without eating snacks nonstop, so H and E had to take several breaks for that purpose, but both boys did pretty well and we had a fun time.  Afterward, we had a lunch date at McDonalds, (E-I-E-I-O as H calls it).  Definite fun with the little boys, and we will be doing it again, but Amy and I are both looking forward to playing golf again with just the bigger boys next week for our golf date.

 H has been practicing for a while, and hit some pretty good balls.

Amy got new pink hybrid golf clubs for her birthday...they make an awesome "ping" sound when she hits the ball.

RS v. M's

We made our annual trek to Seattle this past weekend to watch the Red Sox play the Mariner's.  We saw 2 of the 3 games series, and while the Red Sox lost the 2 games we saw, we had a fun time anyway.   This year Cyndi Christi and Karen Robbins, two of Jeff's friends/co-workers, joined us for the trek.  Cyndi has been a lifelong Red Sox fan growing up in the Boston area and this was Karen's first MLB game.  As with all other games we have attended, Ethan got a baseball that all of us signed, and with this being Karen's first game, we got her a ball as well. 

 Karen brought her binoculars not knowing that we would be so close and not need them...but E made good use of them.

 Cyndi and Karen

 After the game on Sunday it was run the bases for kids 14 and under.  After Jeff and Ethan made the long trek down to the field, Ethan had his chance to run the bases. 

He made it to home plate and had so much fun he wanted to do it again...however, he was caught by the security guards and escorted back to meet daddy.  But he did get a certificate and a pin as a memento.

On our way home we stopped at Cascadia, a cute little diner of sorts in Olympia, for some dinner.  The food was great, homemade hamburger buns and fresh cut fries, and we also got a shake to go...YUMMY!  We were about 20 minutes from home, it was close to 10 pm, and Ethan was really tired but couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep.  As he was sitting in the very back seat, I pulled him up in the middle seat between Cyndi and I so he could cuddle up and fall asleep...however, within a couple of minutes instead he got carsick.  He has only thrown up one other time, probably over 2 years ago, so I survived the best I could with a bad gag reflex for throw up, and so glad that I keep Ziploc bags and wipes in the car.

And true to mischievous form, when we got home I turned on the backyard lights to bring our stuff in from the car to find our backyard toilet-papered...we found 3 empty rolls, from where we are still not sure, but I am sure Charlie, probably with Copper's help, made the most of their time as well.  

Swim lessons, splash pad and school supplies

Summer continues to speed by but we are always ready for fun and adventures so this week we started Ethan in daily swim lessons for the next 2 weeks.  Already 3 days in and he is doing great floating on his back, teacher assisted, blowing bubbles in the water, and attempting to put his face in the water.  Daily to me is a bit of a challenge but I think he will do better with the daily practice rather than weekly and it is nice to only have to take a towel and clothes to change into instead of full fledged winter attire from previous lessons.  Assuming he does really well, we may continue on this adventure.

Today we met Nicole, Peyton and Olivia at the Blue Lake Splash Pad for some water fun.  The sun was shining and the boys took full advantage of splashing.  They both especially liked the bucket being dumped on them and the last time underneath the bucket, the water splash nearly took Ethan's swimsuit right off of him, he was mooning for a few brief seconds.

 
We are also in the getting-ready-for-school mode.  Ethan will start preschool with is buddy, Peyton, at St. Therese in September and he is really excited.  We have been shopping for the list of school supplies needed and he was extremely excited to get to pick out a new backpack...it is probably as big as he is, but exciting nonetheless.  That day has come up a lot faster that I thought it would, but it will be good for both mommy and Ethan. 

This weekend we are heading to Seattle for our annual Red Sox vs. Mariners baseball games, always a fun summer adventure for us.  Go Red Sox!!!

Sleeping under the stars

Ethan and I joined some friends this weekend for a spontaneous camping/boating overnight trip while Jeff drove to the Oregon/Idaho border to meet Papa Hadley and Uncle Brian to pass on our 4wheeler...we are sad to see it go but sadly we will probably get to ride it more on vacations there then we will ever get to ride it while living in Oregon.

We met Amy, Aaron and Hunter at Chinook Landing boat launch where Hilton, Faith and Aiden picked us up for a boat ride across the Columbia to meet Seth and eventually Amy#2, Adam and Desi.  Then the fun began with setting up our tents, playing in the water, throwing rocks, peeing outside, corn hole (beanbag toss), lots of laughing, timeouts, soaking up the sun when it finally came out about 3pm, running on the beach, playing with the dogs, smores, and sleeping under the stars.  We had a blast!

Ethan, Aiden, Hunter and Faith making some delicious rock and leaf soup.

Ethan was loving to wear the life-vest, even when not in the water.

Can always count on at least one bird.