First Halloween as a family!

Chris, Loganne and I met up with family and friends at Valley River for their trick or treating. Terri and I pulled into the parking lot and she was asleep. I got her out of her seat and she was STILL asleep, which never happens. Then we dressed her in her skunk costume and she was still out like a light! It was PACKED with people! That part wasn't so great, but Loganne had fun when she was finally woke up!
For the first half of the trip around the mall she was asleep and Chris carried her around with us while I collected her (I mean OUR) candy. :) We began referring to her as 'roadkill' because she was so sound asleep! Well, here's a look!

In Memorium

I felt it was time to write a little about my friend. Her passing has greatly affected our lives but I hope this will help me heal. It seems selfish, but maybe it will help.

As most of you know, we had to put down my very dear friend and companion Myndi,  my Mini Australian Shepherd. She was 12 1/2 years old and I had her for a little over half my life. She was a constant friend and was true to dog nature in that she loved unconditionally.

We, unfortunately, were not able to determine the cause of her illness due to lack of funds and a less than 50 percent chance (a generous estimate according to the vet) of living. She had not been eating well since July, and stopped eating pretty much all together about 2 weeks before her passing. We tried to get her to eat any and everything we could from fried chicken to animal crackers! She would eat bites here and there, but nothing substantial enough to keep her going. About the time she stopped eating, her breathing patterns became very short, quick and shallow. She was obviously not well. Upon taking her into the vets office, nothing could be done without testing that we could not afford. We opted for steroid treatment to help her breathing. This helped somewhat, probably by about 50 percent. She still wasn't eating, which was, I believe, what led to the rapid decline over the next few days. I took her back to another vet who gave a MUCH better explanation of what she believed to be happening. She thought Myndi most likely had cancer and there was probably a tumor near or in her lung. One side of her chest sounded normal, the other very crackly and clearly NOT normal. Tests and x-rays would need to be done, but she thought that even if a diagnosis was reached, she would still only have less than a 50 percent chance (probably more like 125, I think) at living through treatment. So even if we did treat, she would most still most likely die.

Needless to say, we had to make THE hardest decision either Chris or I has ever had to make. She was 12 1/2 years old and had led a great life. We took her almost everywhere with us, and loved her as unconditionally as she loved us. She was a wonderful animal, a constant in our lives.  These thoughts were the only thing that has goten us through the past few days. We know in our hearts that we did the right thing by ending her suffering and to help her let go without having to endure tests and pain, etc.

All this being said, it still hurts knowing that I was the one that signed the paper to allow the lethal dose of anesthesia to enter her blood. It was very difficult, no, the MOST difficult,  to stand there holding her and feel the life drain away. I miss her more each day as the reality sinks in that she will not be coming home to me.

Sorry this is so depressing. It hurts me to type it all out, strangely more than it does to talk about it. Is that weird? I will never forget her as long as I live, she will never be replaced and holds a VERY special place in my heart, and Chris' too. We love you Myndi girl.

Free Photo Shoot

Kristen Moss Photography is giving away a free photo shoot. Visit her blog at http://kristenmoss.blogspot.com/ to enter! Her photos are amazing!

Loganne, 10 months and her first E.R. visit

Swinging at the park. She LOVED it!

I can't believe it's October! Loganne is just over 10 months old and I haven't posted in a while, so here's an update on how she's doing!

• She weighs 19 lbs 4 oz and is 29" tall
• She has 4 teeth with 2-3 more on the way
• She is very healthy and active, she is about halfway to walking on her own (maybe by Halloween?)
• She can get off the couch by herself, the correct way
• She LOVES bananas! She gets them almost every morning and will eat 2 whole ones in a sitting if we let her
• Her favorite things are still the cats, playing on the bed, and bath time

Here are a few pictures!

And last, but certainly not least, we took our first trip to the ER this morning. I was vacuuming and I hear Loganne scream the 'hurt' scream. Mom's know the one I mean! I turn around and she is by the outlet in the hallway where the vacuum is plugged in. I go over and I find this:

I put 2 and 2 together and I can only assume she was trying to unplug the vacuum and she touched the prongs on the plug! So I scooped her up and called Triage. They wanted me to bring her in, but of course, we're an hour away and they wanted her seen soon. So I had to take her to the ER, but by this time I was 95% sure she was fine. She had no burns, she didn't lose consciousness, etc, etc. Better safe than sorry though. The nice thing about a small town, is we were in a room within 10 minutes. They gave her a little bracelet to wear:

This brought back memories of the itty bitty one she wore when she was born!

 A med student came in and did an exam, then the doctor ordered an EKG even! She did SO good, I was so proud. Thankfully I don't have a shy baby! They were very nice and understanding, and said everything looked fine. We were on our way. Loganne was asleep about 5 minutes after we got home!

More to come at Halloween. Love you all!

Loganne, 9 months

I can't believe our little girl will be 9 months old in less than a week! She is growing SO fast which is VERY bittersweet for Chris and I. We want her to be big and do more, but we want her to stay little too. Well here are a few things she's doing now, oh, and some pics too since I know that's why you're here! :)

• Weigh 18.6 pounds and is 28 inches long
• Has her two bottom teeth ( and the top two aren't far off!)
• Pulls herself to standing
• Walks assisted, sometimes with only one hand
• Cruises on the furniture
• Waves 'hi' and 'bye'
• Reaches for us when she wants us
• Has started wanting to share her food with us
• Loves to eat 'real' food, then throws a fit if she can't have it
• Gets into anything she can get her little hands on!
• Knows when we tell her 'no'

That's about it I think. Oh, and she loves the Wiggles and Blues Clues...UGH! Could it be two more ANNOYING shows? Haha. Oh well. She doesn't watch much t.v. so I guess I can handle it for an hour, but still! Ok, ok. Here's the pics!

More Lincoln City

These pics are from Katy Moes. She has a wonderful camera that takes amazing shots! Thankfully she was with us since our cameras batteries died after 10 minutes of being there ;(

Loving this shot!

I love this one because it actually LOOKS like I'm skimming! About 0.5 seconds later I was eating sand! Haha

Swinging

Loganne got to swing for the first time, we think she enjoyed it! There's a video but I can't get it to upload, so here's a few pics.