1st Update Since I Last Updated

Ha, ha, because I'm a little behind, there's lots to catch up on.

Baxter's bump is healing really well. After his late night trip to the ER and his round of antibiotics and painkillers, he is finally e-collar free. What a nuisance he was in that collar. You would think that Baxter has lived in this house for 5 years now and that he wouldn't bang into walls just because he has a collar on that blocks his peripheral vision. And talk about rude, he kept banging into the kids with the collar and was driving the entire family nuts. We're very happy he's feeling better and e-collar free! And it's good that we got the bump removed because it was a benign tumor but the vet said she got it all and it shouldn't grow back.

Bug decided it had been long enough since his last ear infection. At his 15 month well baby check, Dr. Bradshaw said he had lots of fluid in both ears. Within the week he got a double ear infection complete with a 103 fever. The night of the 103 fever we put him to bed over an hour earlier than normal and he slept 13 hours straight. Luckily his fever broke and he was just a little cranky the next couple of days. Kristin was great and still watched him even with his fever. We have an appointment with the ENT next week to learn more about tubes. As mixed as I am about them, all my mommy friends have said they're great. And if we can avoid all the fever and pain, it's probably what's best for the little bug.

This past weekend Daddy stayed home with Bug for a quiet weekend and Roo and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We left on Saturday, stopped at Uncle Matt's for what I planned as a fun time to do some crafts and have lunch but Roo would have none of it, he only wanted to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He had a crazy tantrum in the craft store, even Uncle Matt had to walk away from us! So we dropped Uncle Matt off at his place and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's. Once we got there we had fun painting and coloring and playing for the entire afternoon. We all went to dinner and Roo had lots to tell us about and enjoyed salting and peppering his food. On Sunday Roo didn't want to leave so I went to Trader Joe's while he played with Grandma and Grandpa and then we left to come home. On the way home we stopped to watch airplanes at the airport and then for lunch and a stop at the Peeps store. Roo loves Peeps. Once we got home Roo wanted nothing more to play outside. He did an excellent job of cleaning the driveway with the fresh mud from melted snow and cleaning our cars with it too. Bug loved playing outside too and followed along with whatever Roo was doing and had a blast playing in the cozy coupe. He is ready for his first pair of shoes so we're going shopping for those this weekend.

Bug is also doing great with his talking. At his 15 month appt they asked if he is pointing to body parts yet and we didn't even realize we should be teaching him that yet. He's picked up on it really quickly and loves pointing to his ears and mommy's nose. And he's really enjoying throwing things at the dinner table and saying 'uh oh.' He's got a ton of words and we're just amazed how fast he's picking up new words.

Daddy introduced cookie monster and bedtime and I'm not sure who's laughing more at daddy's cookie monster puppet, me or Roo. Bug really warmed up to the cookie monster puppet tonight and this is definitely a great addition to bed time fun.

Roo has also taken a real liking to Mickey Mouse Club House. I think I have his entire 45 minute movie memorized from the trip this weekend and watching it every morning on the way to work. I can't wait until they're both old enough to go to Disney. In the meantime, we're having Mickey over load.

I think that pretty much covers the last week or so. The snow is starting to melt and we're really looking forward to spring and summer. Next up, Roo's new friend Sophia the giraffe.

Baxter's Trip to the ER

Last night when we got home from dinner Baxter's head was swollen by his mouth under his incision from his surgery. The area around his eye had looked a little off during the day but nothing you wouldn't expect after surgery. After calling the emergency vet in town and a short conversation we decided it would be best to bring him in. Daddy brought him in and they figured out that it was probably celluitis and they prescribed antibiotics and pain killers and we have to do heat and cold compresses on his incision. His incision is actually healing up really really well. The doc thought his must have bumped it. When I spoke with her on the phone, I told her that he wasn't acting like he's in pain, he's not scratching at the area, or going out of his way to protect the area, or crying but that he is a lab....to which she said, and labs are block heads. So today he gets to wear his cone all day. The swelling has come down some, so hopefully that will continue and he won't get an infection.

Cone Head

Since we weren't home with Baxter today, he had to wear his cone.  He did really well last night and didn't scratch at his head at all....we did let him sleep in bed with us just to keep an eye on him too.  So this morning before we left we put his cone on his head.  He was not a fan.  They boys on the other hand, thought it was hilarious, especially Bug.  

He kept bumping into walls so we knew he wouldn't have a fun day.  As soon as we got home we took it off.  He's healing nicely and will get to keep it off again tonight.  But he'll have to wear it again tomorrow.  Poor Baxter :(

Enough About Snow...Let's Give Baxter a Hug

I think I posted a while back about Baxter's head bump.  We dropped him off last night at the vet for them to do surgery today to remove it.  After the surgery the vet called and said everything went well, that she thinks it's a fatty lipoma but she's not positive so she's going to send it off for testing.  She said his heart worm was negative and he did well with his vaccines.  And for once, we didn't get lectured about his weight, but that's probably because we switched vets.  

But, because today is a snow day, again, they asked that we pick him up at 1100 in case the weather got worse and we weren't able to get there later in the day.  He was still really groggy from the anesthesia when he got home and though the boys were so excited to see him, we wanted to keep them away so they didn't touch his boo boo; they surgery was right next to his left eye.

It took a while to settle everyone down and Baxter really struggled.  He didn't want to lay down for some reason so he was fighting falling asleep while sitting.  I felt really bad for him, at the same time, it was pretty funny to watch him catch himself before he toppled over.

Anyway, he's doing a ton better now.  Tomorrow when we go to work, we're going to put the cone on him so he can't scratch it during the day.  He actually only tried to rub it in the snow, but other than that, hasn't gone after it at all, so he'll probably be really mad at us for putting it on.  But, he's a dog and we need to protect him from himself.

Hugs to you Baxter, we're happy you made it through your tough day with flying colors!

Baxter's Head Bump

Some of you may have seen my Facebook update about Baxter going to the vet and getting his head bump looked at.  We had taken him to a different vet a year ago and I specifically asked them to look at the bump next to his left eye.  When I picked him up I asked them what it was and they looked at me funny.  I reminded them that I asked about that not only when I made the appointment but also when I dropped him off.  So they went back and spoke with doctor and came back out and told me 'all labs have a bump on the top of their skull.'  Really?  I had no idea...I've only had Baxter since he was a puppy and I never noticed that before, on him or any other lab in fact.  So I pressed them further and they said, oh, that, well that's probably just a fat cell...you can make an appointment to have us look at that.  Well, wasn't that what I had just done?  Needless to say, I was pretty ticked.  But, being a bad pet mommy, I didn't follow up as quickly as I would have if Baxter were a human; something about taking care of a 2 year old and being pregnant seemed to get in the way.  I'm not justifying this, as I'm completely guilt ridden about this, I'm just letting you know why I was such a slacker.  

Anyhow, when we picked him up from the vet, the doctor actually came out and spoke to daddy to let him know all about the bump.  They weren't able to get any cells from it; they tried twice.  They want to remove it because it's so close to his eye and send the sample off to a pathology lab.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  We're hoping it's nothing bad, but it does concern us that they weren't able to get any cells from it.  It rules out simple things like it being a fat cell.  

I'm going to schedule his surgery next week.  

Do you think he'll be able to manage without pawing at the incision site?  If not, he'll get to wear one of those silly cones; we'll be sure to get lots of pictures of that if he has one!

Oh, and one last thing.  Grandma was right, he has gotten fat.  He's never been over 70lbs before and he weighed in at a whopping 76lbs.  Must be from all the food he's getting from both kids.  Time for a diet, sorry B!