Curtdog

Please excuse my blog break. We've had a tough few weeks here, with Rylan having bronchiolitis, Max with not one, but two ear infections, return of Death Fever pain, and the death of our pooch.

Rob and I lost our firstborn furbaby a little over a week ago. Curt. Or Curtdog as we'd taken to calling him lately. He was such a sweet and happy dog. Always ready to chase and be chased, super good at catching balls, begging and rolling over. He would do any trick for some of your leftover popcorn. And boy did he live. 16 years. Thats 112 in people years. And, yet, we were still shocked at his death, simply because Curt has fought through some nasty stuff for the past few years and come out shining and happy every time. Frankly, I was starting to think he would outlive all of us.

Here are some of our favorite stories about our fluffy friend

-He loved to run away, not because he didn't like us, he just really liked a good adventure. He was always super excited when we found him.

-He had been trained to "speak" (bark) on command, Rylan loved to say "peek!" at him and throw him a treat. Curt had recently learned that Rylan gives treats even if you don't actually DO a trick.

-One time Curt ran away from Rob's house in Mountain Home, made it to the town square, hopped through an open window into the backseat of a car and partook in a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken they had in there.

-Another time Curt ran away and returned a few hours later with a ham off of someone's grill in his mouth.

-The dog loved a good car ride. We always said he would have been an awesome dog for a truck driver. I wish ANYTHING made me as happy as Curt in the car with an open window and the wind in his face.

I never knew that losing a dog would hurt so much, but I've known and loved Curt a lot longer and a lot more than many of the people I've had in my life. He and I have walked many miles together and I still look outside waiting to see his pointy ears sticking up and him staring at me, wanting to come in. He had figured out that he might want to hang out with Rylan-the food dropper lately and they were becoming fast friends.

-The very last time he ran away, he took our other dog Lola with him. When I found them, they'd only made it half a mile. Curt, the 16 year old dog with congestive heart failure was looking happy and spry, and Lola, the much younger dog was dragging ass, her ears were touching the ground and she was foaming at the mouth. They both hopped back in the car with me and Lola hasn't left my side for an extended period of time since.

I know that dogs don't read blogs, especially ones that have passed. So what!:

Thank you Curt. Thank you for being a super awesome dog and loving us. Thank you for teaching me to become a "dog mom" and for being your happy, funloving self. Thank you for tolerating Lola's overzealous love for you. She misses you and so do we.

Such a big boy

So, while Rylan can climb to the top of a jungle gym, slide down any slide, reach anything off a counter you think he can't, he is a little slow on the talking. He's just been really, really, really busy spending his energy on running, dancing, climbing, tackling, hugging, pushing, pulling, and anything else that falls under the category of: BOY!

We've been staying home a lot more lately, with colds, snow and death fever, so I've been working on Rylan's talking skills lots more. Its really helped. As he was able to verbalize his needs, I watched his terrible two-ness subside little by little.

So, toddler talk is totally cute and I'm going to miss it when Rylan pops out "mother, may I be excused to wash my dishes, dry them and put them away?" Okay, so he'll never say that, but I'll totally miss all the toddler-isms that come out of his mouth.

Here are some favorites

Me: "Rylan, do you want a drink?"

Ry: "Please help, D!"

Me: "Wanna go outside?"

Ry: "Please help, side!"

Me: "need a snack?"

Ry: "Please help, nack!"

Also, he calls Max "Ma", and says "mom" in an English dialect, so I'm "MUM". He loves to eat "peash" (pizza), loves him some "yoya" (lola the dog) and as soon as you snap him into his carseat, he informs you he's "duck" (or stuck). Love it, love it, love it.

Here's Rylan at the park pushing Max in the stroller. So sweet.

Perhaps a new, New Year?

So, at the New Year I had big intentions of starting a weight loss regimen, being super mommy, and Death Fever being a thing of the past. But, my babies got sick, my Death Fever returned, then quelling my attempts at working out.

Welllllllllllll.................................

My friend, Michelle McAwesome watched the boys last Thursday while I went to 3 doctors appointments for some fix ups and fine tuning. Basically I got poked, prodded, felt up, and worst of all FLOSSED!!!!

1. Eye doc-vampire eye is GONE! No more inflammation. Still need glasses since Death Fever gave me wanky vision in one eye. But, beggars can't be choosers.

2. Dentist-zero cavities. I was worried about this one, since alot of post-pregnant ladies say they got like 5 cavities during pregnancy, and I'm a little guilty of having middle of the night cereal during my long nights with Max.

3. New general doc-a needed a new pair of eyes on my Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I felt like the guy that helped me in November was a little weirded out by my illness, maybe it was the "I laid in bed wondering what the heck was wrong with you" statement that made me feel this way. When it was bad, I could barely walk, so a few weeks later, when I could walk, with pain, I felt vastly improved. Well, its now been two months and the walking with pain never went away. I've tried EVERYTHING. Advil, Tylenol, old pain pills leftover from my c-section, ace bandages, epsom salt bathes, working out, not working out, icing my feet, warming my feet.....nothing helped.

New doc got me on steroids, which makes total sense, since that's what fixed Vampire Eyes. The next day, after 5 pills, I got up without pain for the first time since before Max's birth. AND, I'm happy to say, I didn't even grow a beard OR develop massive forearms from the 'roids.

So, anyway, here we go. January 18th, a new, New Year. And, Rohr family? Watch out! We all put in money for a weight loss challenge (we tried this last year, but I messed it up by getting pregnant) and I'm sooooo gonna win.

That's over 50 pounds of kids right there!!!!

Snow Days

Yeah for Rob driving while I blog. He probably thinks I'm a computer addicted, cotton headed ninnymuggin, but who cares? I've been trying to post some sweet winter pics all week and I finally have the time!

In case you didn't know, we got a wee bit of snow last week. Or a bunch. A bunch in Arkansas terms at least. Especially central Arkansas terms. Since having children, snow days have changed for Rob and I. We used to hole up in our house, make soup and alcoholic drinks and alternate sleeping and movie watching and book reading until it was time to leave the house again. Now, we tug and twist and cram our kids into several layers of clothes, only to have them want to come back in after 20 minutes. We still make soup, but coffee has taken the place of beer and wine. We still read books, but smut romance has been replaced by Dr. Suess. We still watch movies, but all 3 Toy Story's took over our house long ago.

Rylan has re-discovered his sweet love for Max. He went through an awful terrible two little period and basically acted like Max wasn't there. Then suddenly the terrible two switch turned off and he is, once again, all about loving and kissing and waving and petting Max's sweet head.

Max's first snow. He was a little unsure what to think.

The best money we have ever spent. This swing gets use, even in freezing temps and snow covered seats.

A picture is worth 1000 words. All 1000 words would be: precious.

Rob wasn't able to make it to work Monday, so he worked from home and had a new boss on hand

We spent our week staying in, getting over colds and even hosted an in-home playdate with lots of kiddos and mamas. Because I get a little crazy during in-home playdates, I have no pics, but you can go to my awesome mama friend, Michelle's blog to see some good pics. The playdate went pretty well. Except for one sweet girl drinking out of the toilet, Rylan dumping goldfish crackers all over the table and the kids shoving them in their mouths like we'd never fed them before, and me dipping into the non-diet food a little too much.

Peek a boo

Not alot of words needed, just an intro for a short vid of a totally presh bambino. Sorry you have to listen to my annoying "peek a boo", and the rustling of the blanket I was using for the hiding. He was wearing a onesie with monkies on the feet, so he keeps looking down at his feet in between laughs.

3 months. Even more stinkin' cute than before

Well hello, cuteness. Max is now 14 pounds 7 oz. Freakin' lightweight. He is getting up once a night and taking 3 or so naps a day. Still loves a good snuggle. Oh, how this baby loves to snuggle.

Not the beginning of the New Year I had planned

Its January 5th and half the house is ill. Luckily Rob and the dogs are holding their own.

My tick fever won't go away. When I was at my sister's house at Christmas, it hurt to go up and down her stairs and I didn't trust myself to carry Max on them. I was thinking I might see about going to another doc to see about the pain in my feet and knees. Blah, its getting old. Then on the 2nd of January, my eye became vampirish (a word?) again. More inflammation, not as bad as last time, but this means back on the steroid drops. Those icky gross, white drops that I hate.

Extreme closeup of vampire eye

And Rylan got a cold. Just a bad enough cold to make him cough at night instead of sleep good. He also can't decide between wanting to run away and have a good tantrum or have me hold him for hours on end.

True fits require no pants.

Mostly we read lots and lots and lots of books. Do I want my baby sick? No. Do I love the extra snuggles and book reading? Yes.

And Max. Poor Max. We just got his belly troubles figured out and he got a cold AND an ear infection. Then they gave him antibiotics for the ear infection that made him puke and puke and puke. Apparently pertussis (whooping cough) is going around and its easier to treat kids for it than test for it when they have a hacking cough (like Max had) because the test takes a week to come back. So they gave him a strong antibiotic for the ear infection that would cover the pertussis. And his just fixed belly said "I DON'T THINK SO!"

He's still super happy

Its really not so bad. Illness just seems worse when you multiply it by 3. And I don't mind being the sick one, in fact, I'd prefer it, but it takes away my supermommy abilities, and we can't have that. I just REALLY don't like sick babies. And, Rylan's RSV of 2009 scarred me for life. And apparently, his doctor's office too, since when I called about Max's throwing up they made me come straight back to the doctor because they feel like my kids "turn bad quickly." I'll try not to take that personally.

So, my little family will just hang here with our ibuprofen and epson salt soaks (for me), juice and humidifier (for Rylan) and eye drops and updraft machine (for Max) and count our blessings. Rob and I have two of the super cutest kids evah!!!! And Max is a sweet baby. And Rylan loves to dance.

Sweet Ry snuggles

And, this is Lesson #1 in keeping 2 kids happy at once. The wagon fits Max's carseat perfectly and the thing doesn't budge. You just have to make sure Rylan keeps his precious sticks away from Max. Max doesn't look happy right this minute, but that's cause I stopped moving. He smiles while we are in action.

Happy New Years

2010 was an amazing year at the Qualls's house. This time last year, we knew nothing of a little precious boy named Max, were unaware of the amazingness of the Toy Story trilogy, and were fairly healthy and unschooled in a little thing called Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I'd say 2010 was one of my very favorites, by far. I'll keep the Max and the Buzz and Woody, it can take its Death Fever and shove it where the sun don't shine!!!

Bring on 2011.

Rob and Rylan and Max-tastic aren't really resolution types. Basically they resovle to be super cute ans sweet and fun. They can go ahead and check their lists off as done and its not even 10:30am! Good boys.

Me, on the other hand, just can't help myself. I have a list a mile long.

I had one last year. I accomplished most of them, sort of. I did lose 20 pounds. I actually lost 30 (go me!), except I gained 40 first. OOPS. I started a garden (woo hoo) but then I killed it. I saved for home repairs (shazam!!!), but the home repairs I wanted (new countertops, floors, or anything new and fun) didn't happen, seeing as to how our AC went out when it was 110 degrees and I was 8 months pregnant. And our dog got sick. Like 87 times. And babies need beds and dressers and adorable onesies. And toddlers need beds and bookshelves and anything that has the sock monkey on it.

The one I succeeded was to read 20 books. I lost count, but I actually probably doubled that. I love to read and I am very happy that lots of nights, I have chosen to walk away from the TV and open a book. I re-read all of the Harry Potter books and learned that I completely love John Grisham, which surprised me. I am all caught up on Mary Higgins Clark and I even read one called Fit Mama. I thought if I read it, I'd automatically be a Fit Mama. Judging from my dunlap, baby shelf, and muffin top, me thinks it might take a little more effort than that.

One of my favorite people in the world, Michelle, said on her blog that resolutions are the devil's way of setting us up for failure year after year. And, I agree. So, here's to you, devil. I shall overcome your angry need to hate on me this year.

1. Get up and work out in the mornings 3 days a week. Walk, outside, at least 3 days a week.

2. Spend less time mindlessly reading crap on the computer. If I have extra time to myself, enjoy hobby time, like scrapbooking or reading.

3. Get my cookbook in order and pretty. I made a cookbook while I was on bedrest with Rylan from all the recipes I clipped out of magazines. It was pretty for about a day, then the binder broke, and I realized I won't ever make half of the recipes, and I've added about 500 other recipes that are bulging out of the little folder sides of the binder.

4. Quit biting my nails. How does one stop a 30 something year old habit? I'll let you know December of 2011.

5. Cherish friendships and family that matter. Write more emails, make more phone calls. Write a dang letter every once in a while. Stop spending time with or worrying about people that make me crazy or treat me in a manner that I do not deserve.

6. Make a garden that produces actual vegetables for longer than a week. Water said garden on a very regular basis.

Both of my kids love the outdoors. Just being outside makes both of them calm and happy. We had a few outside days before the monsoon of late December 2010. Here are some pics.

Who needs expensive outdoor equipment? Leaves =free fun for Ry!

Max was not impressed with my attempt to keep him warm

Rylan's new swingset. He actually got a cool toddler swing for Christmas, I've just too busy pushing him in the swing to snap a pic yet.