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| From The Ballad of John Robert and Baby Brother Benjamin |
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Pirate and Princess
Today there were two free* events for Jack. First, he built a cool pull-back race car at Lowes, then he dressed up as a pirate for a Pirate and Princess party at Chic-fil-A. Olivia came too, dressed as a princess.
*I know, the Chick-fil-A thing wasn't free because we bought lunch there. TNSTAAFL**
**(I'm reading Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.)
*I know, the Chick-fil-A thing wasn't free because we bought lunch there. TNSTAAFL**
**(I'm reading Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Exit Caliban
Caliban--one of our cats, and, dare I say, our favorite one--goes to her "forever sleep" today.
She was injured sometime around Friday or Saturday before last, we think by the dogs playing too rough with her. She had been hiding under the bed and would not move much. She acted like her back legs were hurt. Megan took her to the emergency vet last Sunday, and to our regular vet last Monday, for X-rays and specialist's opinion. Nothing was broken, but she appeared to have nerve damage. She was put on steroids for a week to treat pain and inflammation from the possible spine injury.
Over the past week, she seemed to be doing better in some aspects--she would walk, albeit tentatively with arched back. She would eat and use he litter box. But she would drool (at least partly due to the steroids), and would often meow and hiss. She lost control of her bladder on Saturday, but otherwise seemed to use the litter box when needed. I got her to walk up and down stairs on Sunday, although she never climbed the stairs on her own volition during the past week.
Megan has the day off for President's day, and brought Caliban in for the follow-up appointment this morning. The vet's diagnosis was that she is not herself; that the neurological damage is affecting her mental state--the meowing, hissing, and other behavior could be due to misinterpreting her surroundings, or even hallucinating. The drooling is more severe than the steroids would induce. And while we can't tell for sure, she's probably in pain and will continue to be indefinitely.
There's nothing we can do. Even if we proceeded with pain medication, it would be so strong that she might spend the rest of her life basically sedated. He recommended, and Megan agreed, that the best thing now is to put Caliban to sleep. She will have a "country cremation," where her ashes will go with other animals' to a field in the countryside.
Caliban, of course, takes her name from the character in Shakespeare's "The Tempest." I found the following quote from from Act III, Scene 2:
CALIBAN:
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
She was injured sometime around Friday or Saturday before last, we think by the dogs playing too rough with her. She had been hiding under the bed and would not move much. She acted like her back legs were hurt. Megan took her to the emergency vet last Sunday, and to our regular vet last Monday, for X-rays and specialist's opinion. Nothing was broken, but she appeared to have nerve damage. She was put on steroids for a week to treat pain and inflammation from the possible spine injury.
Over the past week, she seemed to be doing better in some aspects--she would walk, albeit tentatively with arched back. She would eat and use he litter box. But she would drool (at least partly due to the steroids), and would often meow and hiss. She lost control of her bladder on Saturday, but otherwise seemed to use the litter box when needed. I got her to walk up and down stairs on Sunday, although she never climbed the stairs on her own volition during the past week.
Megan has the day off for President's day, and brought Caliban in for the follow-up appointment this morning. The vet's diagnosis was that she is not herself; that the neurological damage is affecting her mental state--the meowing, hissing, and other behavior could be due to misinterpreting her surroundings, or even hallucinating. The drooling is more severe than the steroids would induce. And while we can't tell for sure, she's probably in pain and will continue to be indefinitely.
There's nothing we can do. Even if we proceeded with pain medication, it would be so strong that she might spend the rest of her life basically sedated. He recommended, and Megan agreed, that the best thing now is to put Caliban to sleep. She will have a "country cremation," where her ashes will go with other animals' to a field in the countryside.
Caliban, of course, takes her name from the character in Shakespeare's "The Tempest." I found the following quote from from Act III, Scene 2:
CALIBAN:
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
Ben is cutting four teeth.
He now has the top two front teeth coming in, in addition to the bottom two front teeth.
Crawling around Mommy's office
The boys visited Megan while she was at school on Saturday.
Jack was pretending to be a puppy. Benjamin was just being Benjamin.
Jack was pretending to be a puppy. Benjamin was just being Benjamin.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Close to crawling
This video is from a day and a half ago. He's getting better at crawling every day.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Benjamin 2.7.11
Benjamin took a bath, spit up, brushed his hair, spit up, then made this video for you.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Pumpkin Day
We went to Legare (pronounced LaGree) farms to visit their pumpkin patch and take a hayride. We were glad to have Erin along, too. Jack had a great time, and of course he's ready to go back "tomorrow."
Saturday, October 23, 2010
a spooky craft project
We were planning to go to a pumpkin patch today, but it got to be too late after nap time kicked in. So while trying to think of a different special activity, Granma and Pop suggested a Halloween craft. We didn't end up doing the one they suggested, but we got out some party cups, some construction paper, tape, and flashlights to make spooky projectors and glowing faces. we ended up with a jack-o-lantern projector (seen in the video bleow), star projectors, and a couple silly/scary faces that just glowed.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Jack & Ben 8.21.2010
The Boys Together. John Robert really loves his "Baby Brudder" except when he cries. We are working on that.
Monday, August 9, 2010
A Morning at the Beach
Jack thought it would be fun to go to the beach. We agreed, and invited Olivia to join us. We went early and left by lunchtime. It was a very pleasant outing.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
X-rays
Megan noticed a soft lump or "bubble" of fluid on the back upper right side of Benjamin's head during his first few days home. The doctor took a look at it during his 1-week appointment, and scheduled a follow-up appointment for a week later. There had been no change by the follow-up appointment, so he ordered an ultrasound of the area to see what more we could find out.
The ultrasound showed the pocket of fluid, but we didn't learn much more from it. So the doctor ordered an X-ray to check for any problems with his skull. That decision alone was a relief, as Megan had come home from the ultrasound imaging appointment wishing that we could see how the bones were arranged.
So at 20 days old, Benjamin had his first X-rays.
And I got to wear my second special hospital get-up on account of Benjamin.
After reviewing the X-rays, our doctor called to say that they looked normal. He thinks the "bubble" may be a result of Benjamin being stuck during delivery, and expects it to simply go away over time.
UPDATE: After a week or two the bubble had dissolved and we could no longer feel anything abnormal in the spot on Ben's head.
The ultrasound showed the pocket of fluid, but we didn't learn much more from it. So the doctor ordered an X-ray to check for any problems with his skull. That decision alone was a relief, as Megan had come home from the ultrasound imaging appointment wishing that we could see how the bones were arranged.
So at 20 days old, Benjamin had his first X-rays.
And I got to wear my second special hospital get-up on account of Benjamin.
After reviewing the X-rays, our doctor called to say that they looked normal. He thinks the "bubble" may be a result of Benjamin being stuck during delivery, and expects it to simply go away over time.
UPDATE: After a week or two the bubble had dissolved and we could no longer feel anything abnormal in the spot on Ben's head.
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