$400 and Counting

Here is our patient post-op. He's not feeling so hot in this shot. He seems to be better this morning than he was yesterday morning. Which is good, since we dropped another $200 on him yesterday!


The injured foot. Be glad I have spared you the gore and chosen not to show a picture of it unwrapped! It is not for the faint-of-heart. If you want the gory details, keep reading, otherwise just skip to the picture! (For those of you who are curious about such medical things: The injury basically sliced the large section of his paw a third of the way across. The laceration is about two inches long and an 1 1/2 inches deep. It goes completely through the pad and reveals the tendons beneath it. Pretty yucky!)

Stitches and Super-Glue

That is what is holding Kip's poor little paw together right now. And a large amount of bandaging. He isn't too happy right now, but the good news is that everything should heal up.

I will say that one nice thing about a small town, is that the cost of living is way lower than it is at home - which means much lower emergency vet bills. I think we paid the same amount we would have for a regular visit to our vet at home.

Kip has managed to get the wrapping off a couple of times, and the wound looks pretty nasty. I am going to try and get him in to see our vet this morning and make sure everything is looking okay.

When It Rains, It Pours

Well, we had been having a great Christmas spent with Tim's family. But things have headed downhill...

• Ellie swallowed a poisonous berry on Christmas afternoon. Tim called poison control (I was taking a nap) and found out that she would most likely be fine; just keep an eye on her.
• Found out that the key we had made to leave with Hailey didn't work, so Moxie has been sans extra food and water.
• Ellie got her fingers shut hard in the door this evening. We ended up in the ER. No broken bones, just bruising and soreness.
• Tim and his step-dad are currently at the Veterinary Hospital with Kip, who managed to splice the pad of his foot to the tendon while we were at the ER with Ellie. Don't know the outcome of this one yet, stay tuned. (One outcome I am sure of: $$$ down the drain...)

A very merry Christmas indeed....

Mommy, No!

Ellie's favorite thing to say these days is, "No Mommy, no!" At least she is cute.

Yes, I know...

I can't really call myself a blogger if I never blog. But you see, it has been very busy around here. I've been busy with blanket selling and such, Tim has been putting in time on the weekends to make a big deadline at work, and then there is Ellie. Ellie never stops (not that we'd want her to ;). I kept telling myself that I would blog tomorrow, but tomorrow kept coming and no blogging occurred. Sorry about that. I will do better. I promise.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures:

Halloween 2008

Ellie had a blast on Halloween, even if she was a little scared of the bigger kids and their often gross costumes. At the first few houses she tried to go inside when they answered the door (I mean, what else are you supposed to do after you knock on someone's door?) but then she realized that she was to stay outside and hold up her bucket. Slight political commentary: She got double candy at one house for yelling "Obama!"

As promised, here are the pictures.

The "alley kids" - our neighborhood crew keeps growing!

Ellie and Berlin, I mean Hannah Montana.

She's off!

Growing Up

I'm not quite sure when it happened, but we are no longer "Mama" and "Dada" to Ellie. We are now "my Mommy" and "my Daddy." Yesterday Ellie even spent the entire afternoon calling me just "Mom." Time goes by, doesn't it?

I'll get Ellie's 20/21 month update done this weekend, but I'm sure I won't remember everything that has changed. Like the fact that she now uses 4-5 word sentences. And plurals. And possessives. And the past tense when she talks.

As a walk down memory lane, here is Ellie last Halloween. This year she is going to be a clown (the same costume that my mom made for me 27 years ago). I'll get this year's pics up this weekend also.