Jake

Our golden retriever, Jake, has more problems than any dog I know. From his head to his rear, he is literally full of issues! If it weren't for Hudson, I'm not sure if Jake would still be with my family today. Hudson freaking LOVES that dog. He gets so excited when he sees Jake. He even gets excited when we start going down the basement stairs because he knows Jake is down there. When we lowered his pack n' play, he had so much fun being able to watch Jake through the mesh sides. Jake is wonderful with Hudson as well. That's about the only good thing I can say about the dog! Hudson climbs all over him and pulls on his fur, ears, tail, and collar. It doesn't seem to phase Jake one bit!

Looks like somebody's been in the trash. 

Trying to squeeze into spots that are too small for him.

The cone.

Busted with Thom's trail camera

However, I can only do so much for a dog (especially one that drives me crazy)! He sheds like crazy - that's why he's banned to the basement and our bedroom (at night) so we can keep the fur under control as much as possible.

I get the pleasure of taking the 99 pound dog to the groomer and vet since Thomas works strictly days. I don't weigh a whole heck of a lot more than him and he most certainly doesn't obey my commands since he can't hear me! I'm that person who takes her dog in public even though I can't control him at all.

After a vet appointment, he wouldn't get out of the car.

He's had recurrent ear infections all of his life which is common in golden retrievers, but it's been worse this year. His right ear has been infected for over 7 months despite multiple oral antibiotics, steroids, and antibiotic ointments. At one point, we think he ended up with Horner's Syndrome where the inner ear infection caused damage to a nerve which led to bulging, drooping eyes along with dizziness, trouble walking, and vomiting. That was a SUPER fun trip to the vet, let me tell ya! He could hardly walk - I would pull on his leash in the opposite direction that he was leaning to try to keep him on his feet. So he obviously couldn't jump in or out of the vehicle... I got quite the workout that day. The vet eventually did a culture since none of the meds were helping much at all. Of course the culture was positive for MRSA (staph). No wonder the meds weren't working! It was resistant to all of them! So then we did 3 weeks of an antibiotic that worked against the bacteria. The ear cleared up! It's been about a week since we finished the antibiotic… and his ear is terribly infected again. Sigh. Can't we just remove his ears completely??

Horner's Syndrome

He's a butt-surfer. One snowy morning when I let him outside to potty, he butt-surfed/slid all the way down the hill in our back yard, pooped, then puked. I'm glad he did all of this outside, but I sure as heck didn't want to let that animal back in my house! He gets his anal glands expressed every month at the groomer, and any time he has to go to the vet (which is about once a month as well). This helps with the butt-surfing, but the glands seem to fill up again immediately. I once attempted to express his anal glands on my own several years ago at Bill's house. Let's just say it didn't go so well and I will never try that again!

He also randomly licks the bottom of his paws - to the point that they are raw and infected. Then he limps around with a cone on his head. But wait, now he's figured out how to get to his paws even with the massive cone on his head! He's also had to take antibiotics for his paws. At night, we will hear him start licking his paws. He can't hear you yell at him to stop, so you have to crawl to the end of the bed and reach down and swat him on the head to get him to stop. Naturally I'm the only one who hears the licking so guess who has to get up??

Monday he is going to the vet for oral surgery. I guess he will get his ear looked at again while he's there! He has a mass developing in his gums that has continued to get larger so it needs to be removed with a laser. I'm pretty sure they send it off to be analyzed for cancer so we'll see how that turns out.

Jake is just over 8 years old.

The average lifespan for the breed is 10-12 years...

Sick of Being Sick

Since Christmas, Hudson has continued to suffer from one illness or another. Thomas and I have taken turns staying home from work with him on and off which has been a challenge in itself. Lucky for us, we work with some awesome people and they have been very understanding. When I'm at work and Thomas is home with Hudson, I make him send me pics of Hudson because I feel bad that I can't be home with him. I constantly ask, "How's he doing?" Why do I ask? I'm not really sure. I already know the answer! Crabby, sleepy, wants to be held, diarrhea diaper #4, can't breathe through his nose, etc. Here are some of those pitiful pictures I received at work over the last month and a half.

This one is at Doctor's Express after Hudson puked all over himself
and then had a diarrhea blowout diaper. That was not a fun night for Dad!

It appears he did a lot of sleeping which he needed since he doesn't sleep that much when he's at daycare. My parents came down to help out one weekend when I had to work. Hudson was finally feeling a little better on Sunday before they headed back home.

Hudson's First Christmas

Christmas 2013 had to be the best Christmas Thomas and I have ever had. There's just something extra special about the holidays when you have a little one! Hudson sure had a blast visiting with the family and playing with lots of wrapping paper (oh, and just a few toys too)!

We started off the festivities with a trip to the Fox Theatre in St. Louis to see "Elf". We went with Trista and Joel and left all the kiddos at home with babysitters. It was quite the entertaining trip, to say the least. Thomas drove and as you can probably guess, he gets distracted very easily. Between me and Trista back-seat driving, it was like WWIII in the truck at times… Luckily we made it to St. Louis in one piece. We had made dinner reservations at Charlie Gitto's and Thomas said he knew where he was going so no one looked up directions. Of course, once we were in the city and asking him which exit we were supposed to take, he somehow didn't have a clue! So Trista started looking up the directions and that's when we realized that our reservations were at the super nice Charlie Gitto's instead of the casual Charlie Gitto's restaurant which is what we were dressed for. Luckily, the one we wanted to go to didn't require reservations so we walked right in and got a table!

After dinner, we headed over to the Fox. Trista got tickets for Joel for Christmas because she thought he would enjoy the show and he agreed. After the first minute or so, both Joel and Thomas were already checked out. Actually, I think they were both ready to go as soon as the singing began! Joel was forewarned that it was a musical, but he was apparently expecting something different?!?

Mom sent me this pic while we were at the Fox. Hudson was
playing with a bag of diapers and chewing on the coffee table.

The next day was Avery's 3rd birthday party. I still can't get over the fact that she is already a big 3 year old! She had a Minnie Mouse themed party and received all sorts of awesome presents including several princess dresses and lots of Doc McStuffins "stuff"! She enjoyed cupcakes and Papa Frank's homemade ice cream. She thought it was pretty funny that we were all wearing Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears! We played "Pin the Bow on Minnie" and Avery spun each person when it was deemed "your turn." There was no "peekin" allowed… until Avery's turn that is! She got tired of watching all of us do such a bad job of putting the bows on Minnie while we were blind-folded. Her bow miraculously ended up precisely on target!

Happy birthday Avery!

Our little Mickey Mouse!

We had Christmas at my mom and dad's after Avery's birthday party. We thought Avery would be very confused going from birthday mode to Christmas mode, but she didn't skip a beat! Hudson and Callie played together and they had lots of stuff to keep themselves entertained.

Callie Jean likes to hold Hudson's hand :) Such a sweetheart.

There she goes again… trying to hold his hand! If only he would sit still!

Hudson wanted to color with Avery's coloring kit!

Hudson is showing Callie some tricks… not sure where his pants went!

Chunky baby legs!

He couldn't get enough wrapping paper in his mouth!

We had Christmas at Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Mark's house. Hudson and Lily were very interested in Rowdy!

Chillin' on the couch

Rowdy says he wants a little brother or sister!

Thanks for the hat, Grandma Shelly!

Christmas at Grandpa Bill's was a blast too! Hudson loves his Mickey Mouse chair. He sees Mickey's face and wants to attack it!

Grandpa Bill got Hudson a bouncing/rocking horse!

Thanks Ainsley and Lily for my new ride!

We made it to a couple other Christmases while we were home, and they were all very entertaining. Hudson received way too many gifts and maybe a few too many germs as well!

Hudson's first Christmas

He thinks he's big stuff in his Mickey Mouse chair!

Christmas evening - still content but not feeling well.

By Christmas night, Hudson was one sick little boy. Daddy took him to the doctor the next day, and he's been fighting either respiratory symptoms or the stomach bug (or both) ever since. The poor guy just can't catch a break!