Ode to Molly

Posted on December 22, 2012 by simzgirl

Today we said good-bye to our lovely dog, Molly. She just turned nine in July and yet it feels like she was only with us for such a short time.

Yesterday Molly wasn’t acting like herself. I was vacuuming the house and as a rule she generally avoids me when I am associating with that machine. So it wasn’t until I almost walked right into a big pile of vomit that I realized I hadn’t seen much of her all day. She was laying downstairs and wasn’t following my every move like normal. But it wasn’t until we gave her dinner and she took two bites, looked at us, and went to go lay down again that we REALLY knew something was the matter. Anyone who knows a labrador retriever knows that labs don’t mess around when it comes to food. Period. So we kept an eye on her and said if she wasn’t better in the morning I would take her to the vet.

Morning came and she still wouldn’t eat. So I had Sim help me load her up (she wouldn’t even jump into the back of the car) and I took her to the vet. They said her weight was fine, she didn’t have a temp, but her heart rate was pretty rapid so they wanted to run some blood work. Based on the levels, all signs pointed to a liver infection. They gave her a shot of some strong antibiotics and sent me home with some meds. I was to keep an eye on her, feed her small, bland meals (chicken and rice) when the meds kicked in and she got her appetite back. They said if she got worse, to come back. So we let the vets office with a sigh of relief and optimism in our hearts.

So when I returned home from running a few errands and picking up Ana from school to find Molly still laying in the same spot I left her, in a puddle of her own urine, I knew things were worse. I cleaned her up and tried to get her to drink some water. She just stared at me. It was the first time she refused to drink and it was the first time I got really scared. Her breathing was labored and her eyes were darting back and forth. I told Sim I needed him to take her back to the vet. NOW. Molly wouldn’t even lift her head and Sim had to carry her to the back of the Jeep. When he got to the vet she said “Oh my! That’s much worse than earlier! What happened, Molly?” So they took her in for an X-ray to see what was going on. Sim called me a little while later and said I need to bring the girls to say good-bye to Molly. They found a tumor in her heart and it was filling her all organs with blood. The only thing they could do was make her comfortable until we could get there to say good-bye. On the way to the vet I had to explain to the girls that we were going to see Molly for the last time because she was very sick and the vet was going to take her pain away by helping her go to sleep forever. Ana was very upset and said she didn’t want to say good-bye to her friend. Through sobs from the back seat she told me, “Mom, I changed my mind. I don’t want any toys for Christmas. I just want Molly to be ok.” I had to hold back my own tears as I explained that sometimes people and animals don’t get better, no matter how much we wish for it. All we could do was tell her how much we love her and remember all the happiness she brought to our family.

We all huddled around Molly and she spent her final moments being petted, cuddled, and told what an amazing dog she was. She was an important part of her family and she will be greatly missed.

Molly Bateman
July, 10 2003-December 21, 2012

Two Year Doctors Appointment

Posted on November 20, 2012 by simzgirl

Friday was quite the day for doctors. Hadley had her two-year doctors appointment. Here are her stats from the appt:

Height: 35″ (75th percentile)
Weight: 27 lbs (53rd percentile)

Hadley had a great time at the doctors office the other day. I think she is the only kid who WANTS to go to the doctor. As we pulled up to the office, she got all excited, saying, “Doctor! Doctor! Right dere, Mama! Right there!” Then once we were inside the building, she literally ran down the hall to the doctors office.

Once the nurse called us back, Hadley was recalling her last appointment at the doctor for her ear infection and kept saying, “Doctor? Ears? Medicine?” I assured her the doctor would check her ears, as well as her mouth, eyes, nose, and many other things. The doctor came in and very cleverly started asking her questions and asking Hadley to show him things she could do, all while blowing bubbles. Hadley was having a blast and dancing around trying to catch the bubbles and didn’t even realize she was being examined. One of the funnier moments was when he asked her how old she was and she said somberly, “Just two.” He started laughing and she made him completely forget what he was going to say next. That’s my girl!

Then he got to the part of the exam where he needed to check her eyes, ears, etc. so he had to put the bubbles away. For the rest of the appointment after each thing he did, she looked at him expectantly and said, “More bubbles, p’ease Doctor?” He finally appeased her by telling her she could have more bubbles at the end of the exam. He did check her ears and said there is still a little fluid in them (which is very common following an ear infection) which should clear up in a few weeks but all the infection was gone. Hooray! Everything looked great and she is doing wonderfully.

Then the nurse came back in to give Hadley her flu shot and her Hep A vaccination. Hadley gave us a very stern look after the vaccine and said, “Ow. Hurts me!” but never cried. She quickly forgave us for the shots as soon as she realized there would be band-aids, stickers, AND suckers for being so brave. So she was able to leave the appointment just as happy about doctors as when she arrived at the office.

Another Trip to Urgent Care

Posted on November 17, 2012 by simzgirl

Playgroup started normal enough. The kids were all running around Chloe’s house, hyped up on sugar, laughing and chasing each other around the house. I went upstairs to check on Hadley to find her playing with her friends, happy to be one of the “big kids.” Then as I turned around to leave the bedroom I saw Ana stumble a little and then walk over to me. She looked like she was about to cry and said she was walking out of the bathroom and hit her head on the banister. I asked her if she wanted to come sit down with me for a bit and she agreed. I should have known something was up when she actual sat, curled up on my lap for several minutes. Finally I asked her if she wanted to go play and she said no, she just wanted to stay with me. A few more minutes passed and as she wiped her face with her hand, I noticed some red streaks on her sleeve. Upon questioning her about it, Ana brushed it off saying she must have gotten marker on her shirt when she was coloring earlier. Since this happens all the time I didn’t think anything of it. A little more time passed and Ana shifted on my lap and it was then that I realized her hair was looking red. Like REALLY red. Not the lovely auburn highlights God gave her, but like blood was drying in streaks in her hair. It was then that I quickly escorted her to the bathroom (and to better light) to examine my oldest daughter’s head wound. I could tell it wasn’t anything too serious, but since I am unfamiliar with head wounds I was not sure how to proceed. The blood was clearly clotting (always a good sign) and it wasn’t too deep (another plus) but it was rather wide. So I called the closest Urgent Care to see what I needed to do. Once I called the clinic, Ana, who had been relatively calm and under control, pretty much lost it. She didn’t really understand what was happening and just overheard the adults around her mentioning key phrases like “shave her head” and “stitches” and wanted nothing to do with any of it.

It was at this point, that I started to feel a little weird. I hadn’t eaten anything in several hours and was suddenly feeling really light-headed. As I was talking on the phone I started losing my ability to focus my eyes and my vision started to get dark around the edges. Worried I was about to pass out (and thoroughly freak out my already frightened children) I handed off my kiddos. Chloe swooped in and grabbed Hadley, telling me that I looked totally green. As Elle picked up Ana she said my lips were the same color as my purple vest. So I decided to call Simeon and ask him to come over. Now.

Once Simeon (and Brad!) arrived, we got the girls ready to go, I ate a cookie, drank some water, and started to feel like myself again. Then we loaded up and headed to Urgent Care.

This was the first time Ana allowed me to get a picture. This was after we had already cleaned up most of the blood (to find the wound) but you can still see all the blood red “highlights” in her hair.

Luckily the Urgent Care office was empty (despite there being NO PARKING because the Urgent Care shares a parking lot with Cinetopia and it was opening weekend for Breaking Dawn) so we were able to go right back to the room. By this time Ana was herself again and giggling and chatting up a storm with the nurse.

Apparently for these types of wounds, staples are the way to go. No need to shave the hair or even need to use medicine to numb it. Just one quick staple and that was that.

In theory.

But our doctor (nurse? practitioner?) shifted ever so slightly just as she pushed in the staple and instead of pulling the two sides together, missed one side entirely. She then had to remove the staple and put in another one. (I was more than a little miffed about THAT.) But Ana was brave and amazing. She didn’t even cry the entire time we were in the office. She kept cool and they rewarded her with a pen with a flashlight in one end.

Ana is doing well. She has a little headache (understandably so, after the banister AND the staples) so I gave her some children’s Tylenol before bed. Tomorrow we will get to wash the rest of the dried blood out of her hair and in 7-10 days we get to go back in to have the staple removed. Fun times. Not exactly the evening I envisioned, but with kids, you never know what is going to happen next.

A Conversation with Hadley

Posted on October 2, 2012 by simzgirl

Me: Ok, Hads, are you ready to go to Target?
Hadley: Yes! Ana too?
Me: No, sweetie, Ana has school today.
Hadley, pointing out the window to St. Pius: Right dere!
Me: That’s right. We will pick her up later.
Hadley, sadly: Oh-kay.
Hadley, suddenly excited: Boys doin’?
Me: Boys? Like Daddy?
Hadley: Daddy-o…. Dabid… B’ad…
Me: Oh, Daddy, David, and Brad are working.
Hadley, sad again: Oh.
Me: But we can go to Target now and see them all later.
Hadley, excited: Yea!!

Pin My Travels

Posted on September 27, 2012 by simzgirl

Our family likes to travel. Who doesn’t? The trill of a new place, exciting adventures, foreign cultures, and delicious cuisine? What’s not to love! I also think travel can be very educational. As I now have a school-aged child (yikes! How did that happen?!) every trip we take is now a lesson for Ana. Whether it’s a linguistic explanation (“We speak English, but in Mexico they speak Spanish.”), cultural differences (“Here in Italy they drive on the left side of the road, while back home we drive on the right.”) or a simple geography lesson (“Your friend Beckham flew all the way from Boston, Massachusetts to visit you here in Portland, Oregon.”) I am always looking for a way to teach my girls. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered Pin My Travels. It’s a personalized map that allows you to mark the places you have been, as well as the places you want to visit.

Well, last week MY map arrived!

The box was gigantic, but surprisingly light. And it was packed really well.

Sim and I were both really excited for the unveiling.

I even had a spot on the wall already picked out! Perfection.

Now for the fun part: the pins!

You can personalize them how ever you want, but we kept it simple “Bateman Family Travels” and “Our Next Trips.” Our maps could get really complicated really quick if we tried to keep track of “Sim’s Travels” or “Parent Trips” and then add in the kids? Forget about it. If you were apart of the family when we took the trip, it’s a family pin. Simple as that.

These are all of our travel in the US (well I guess Mexico and the Bahamas are technically international, but they are around the US, so there). It was fun remembering each trip as I stuck in the pin.

And our International travels. They are fairly contained…for now. I’m just impressed I was able to pin things in other parts of the world!

The next order of business will be to add in the places we would all like to go in the future. I’m excited to see where the girls want to go. It will definitely make traveling more exciting knowing we always get to come home and add a new pin! You can see all the pictures of my new map here. And if you are interested in one as well, make sure you visit their website, Pin My Travels.

To 10 Years of Happily Ever After

Posted on September 21, 2012 by simzgirl

Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary. We have been together for 14 years (15 in January) and friends for about four years beyond that. Not sure what that looks like, exactly? Well sit back and enjoy a little photographic trip down memory lane…

Happy anniversary, Simeon. I love you more today than ever before. Thank you for being the most amazing thing in my world. To 60 more years together!

Hadley the Ballerina

Posted on September 19, 2012 by simzgirl

Last week Hadley had her first “Tiny Toes” ballet class. She has been watching Ana dance from the sidelines her entire life and was so excited that it was finally her turn. Unlike most dance studios where they start ballet at two (or even three!) Encore Performing Arts Center starts at 18 months. So I signed Hadley up to start once Ana went back to school.

I dressed Hadley in her tiny pink outfit, tights, and slippers and we did our best attempt at “ballerina hair.” Now we were ready to go!

Hadley loved twirling with the scarves.

They practiced pointing their toes by kicking balloons.

She loved the balloons.

Next they twirled the ribbon batons. (I just LOVE this picture.)

My little maestro.

Hadley really wanted to share all her toys with me. She is the sweetest little thing.

Having fun with her teacher.

Hadley made a friend in her class.

She loved her first ballet class.

You can see all the pictures from Hadley’s first ballet class here.

First U6 Soccer Practice

Posted on September 11, 2012 by simzgirl

Over the weekend Sim and Ana got her gear for soccer (shin guards, socks, and cleats.) and picked up their team shirts. Sim got a nice “coach” shirt because he will be the assistant coach for her team. Ana was allowed to pick her own number (from 1-99). She wanted to be just like her cousin Emily and requested to be number 11. Let’s hope it’s as lucky for Ana as it is for Emily!

All ready for practice!

Warming up. (Please note the tiny cheering section.)

Dribbling with the ball.

Retrieving the ball after making a goal.

Fancy footwork!

Big wind up for the kick.

Contemplating the ball? I should probably remind her she can run faster without her hands in her pockets.

Finally they ended the practice with a little game.

Ana had a great first practice. She was very excited to finally get to play soccer outside! And it thrilled her to no end that they have an all girls team. You can see all the pictures from Ana’s first soccer practice here.

Kindergarten Interview

Posted on September 4, 2012 by simzgirl

I’m a big fan of traditions. I particularly love making traditions for my own family based on the things we feel are important. Plus it’s just plain fun. So I get a little excited when I find things that I believe will make a great tradition (annual Back-to-School pedicures? Yes, please!). I found the idea for a Back-to-School Interview on Pinterest and tweaked it a little to make it my own. It’s pretty simple to do and Ana and I had a lot of fun discussing her responses. I’ve interviewed Ana on video in 2009, 2010, and 2011 but I like the idea of making it a little more about school, including pictures, and making it a fun thing to do on the first day of school. What do you think?

(You can click on the picture to load the full size image in Flickr.)

First Day of Kindergarten

Posted on September 4, 2012 by simzgirl

How quickly time flies. It seems like just yesterday it was Ana’s first day of preschool:

Then it was her first day of Pre-K:

And now she’s a full fledge Kindergartener:

Ana had a great day today. She loves her teacher, has already made a new friend, and cannot wait to go back tomorrow. Kindergarten is going to be amazing!! You can see all the pictures from Ana’s first day of Kindergarten at St. Pius X here.