Tag Archives: Kerrigan

Hello Again

Gasp! I am alive!

I know, I’ve been neglecting the blog for a while here. Heck, I’ve been neglecting the outside world for a bit. This last semester at school has been the most stressful period of my life… well… ever. Yes, there are other times where there were large events, but this has by far been the busiest I’ve ever been. I felt like I was constantly failing at at least one facet of my life and that’s just not right. We (which has mostly been me, but my husband has offered opinions also with “but it’s your decision” tacked on the end) have decided that I’m going to start doing school part-time again.

It’s just simply not worth my sanity to finish school faster. This means that our whole plan of waiting until I graduate to give Peanut a little brother or sister is now off the table. Having her be 4.5+ years old before we had another child was really pushing it for us anyway, so I’m definitely not going to wait even longer. As for when we’re going to have the next one, we’ve decided on a tentative time period, but you all will just have to wait and see. :-P

We also put down our dog Kerrigan. We went in and talked to the vet and she said that with her cleft palate (which is a genetic disorder) that she likely had more genetic disorders and likely one in her brain that caused her to be aggressive. She said that we had done everything that we could have and she recommended euthanasia. It was an awful decision, but it was the right one. I knew it was the right decision before we did it, but the fact was cemented in my mind when even after she was gone, I still felt like she might suddenly bite me. I felt guilty at how much relief I felt leaving that vet office.

We had decided before we put her down that we wouldn’t get another dog for a long time. Within a few days though, I was out of my mind missing having a dog in my house. I’m a big animal lover and it took years for me to get my husband to agree to get a dog even though he loves them too. Yes, there were many, many bad things about our dog, but there’s just something about having someone curled up at your feet while you read a book and I couldn’t stand not having. After (lots of) arguing, we finally decided to get another. I researched breeds that are best with kids and found a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was for sale. She was only 11 weeks old and the girl selling her had bought her from a breeder, but then afterwards decided that she couldn’t keep her. I did all of the tests that I didn’t know to do when we got Kerri and she passed them all with flying colors.

Meet Curie

You’d think that getting a puppy would add to my stress, but it’s actually been great. Even with all of the potty training, extra responsibility, and training, she’s been a doll. Yeah, she sometimes gets too rambunctious, but it’s great having her around. Other than classes, she’s gone with us everywhere. We even sneaked her into see Tangled! It’s so amazing to have a dog who loves everyone. I carried her around the Festival of Trees and probably about 100 people pet her (people love that dog!) and she was ecstatic each and every time. Peanut loves her too and she’s great with Peanut.

Peanut is now sleeping through the night and in her own bed. I didn’t really do anything to make it that way. We bought Peanut the mattress and started putting her in it for naps and before we go to bed. When I would go to bed and she would still be sleeping, I would just let her continue to sleep in there. By this point, she’s going to bed at 8:30, and most nights not waking up until 5:30 am to nurse. I generally go in her room and fall asleep on her bed with her while she’s nursing. Then we wake up at 6:30 (which I swear will kill me one of these days). Peanut is also a talking machine. I know I missed the last newsletter, but I’ll make up for it with the next one. It’s amazing how quickly things change.

Healthy Living Not-Saturday

I realize I have disappeared from the blogosphere for the past five days… the dog ate my homework? No really, everyone was sick. I mean Everyone. Was. Sick. We took Peanut to urgent care on Wednesday night because she had obvious stomach pain and vomited so the nurse told us to bring her in. Pediatrician said it was just a stomach virus going around. Oh, was it going around. Friday day my husband started vomiting (the first time in 15 years) and by Saturday I was sick too. We spend Saturday and Sunday being taken care of by my wonderful mother. I was luckily feeling better Sunday, but spent all day trying to re-establish my milk supply that had dissipated from the dehydration. Now that things are (kind of) back to normal, I figured I’d post my Healthy Living Saturdays update… two days late.

Without further ado: Healthy Living Not-Saturdays!

My school (final) semester started this week and oh boy is weight loss more difficult when busy! When trying to organize everything before leaving to class it’s hard to make eating healthy and exercising a priority. I need to make it a priority. So I’m taking this week and using it as the example of what not to do. Even when I’m only gone for three hours, there’s a lot of temptation when out and about by myself. So here’s my new plan.

Take healthy snacks every day—no matter how long I’m going to be gone. Considering that I’m already preparing snacks for my husband to give Peanut before I go, this one should be easy. Cutting cheese sticks? Pack a few for myself. Cutting apple slices? Cut an apple for myself! I also should always bring my water bottle with me. Water fountains don’t agree with my sensitive teeth and I almost gave in and bought a water bottle from the machine—bad for my wallet and the environment!

Exercise. Is. A. Priority. You see the four periods in that sentence? That means I’m serious! Really, I need to think of exercise as something that must be done rather than a little bonus. Something that will help this is the fact that I’ve been “assigned” by the dog trainer to take Kerri for a 20 minute walk every day. To be honest, we didn’t go over Saturday or Sunday because we were all so sick, but we went today and it felt fantastic! I also need to do some sort of heart pumping thing at least 3 times a week.

Starting weight: 163 lbs

Current weight: 158 lbs (to be honest, most of this was probably the illness)

Does anyone have good tips for keeping motivated while busy? I’m sure it’s just going to get more difficult as the semester goes on.

Peanut’s Two Week Checkup

We went into the doctor today for Peanut’s two week checkup.

She weighs 8 lbs 1 oz (born at 7 lbs 4 oz, left the hospital at 7 lbs, 3 days she was 7 lbs 2 oz, 4 days she was 7 lbs 6 oz, 12 days she was 7 lbs 12 oz). Not only does this mean she’s gaining weight at the perfect rate, but it means WE GET TO SWITCH TO THE GDIAPERS!!! Yay! I’m excited. They didn’t work out so well when we tried them before (leaks because she was too small).

Doctor said we don’t have to do the vitamins. Her coughing is normal. The occasional green poop is normal. We need to massage her eye when it gets clogged. We did her second PKU card. She got her first Hepatits B shot and made the most painful cry ever. Overall, everything went well.

We went on a walk after the appointment. It was the first time we used the stroller (I used the baby wrap when I went on a walk). Kerri got to go with so she was super excited. One downside to the stroller–stickers. I hate people who let their lawns get overrun with stickers. They get in Kerri’s feet too.

I want to have sex. It’s all kind of silly, because I’ve heard that women aren’t supposed to want sex for a long time after having a baby. It sounds like it would be so nice to have the stress relief and the alone time with Curtis. I have a doctors appointment on Thursday and I’m going to talk to the midwife about it. Obviously I want to wait until my tears are healed and I’m on some sort of birth control. Beyond that, I don’t know why I’ve heard about women having to wait for 6 weeks. I wonder if they just say these things so that women have a good excuse to give their husbands. lol

I lost my little pink book that has all of my pregnancy info and Peanut’s appointment info. I like that book. I’m going to go look for it now.

Finally Feeling A Bit Better

My cold is getting better. Sadly, Curtis is sick now. I don’t like seeing him sick. He wont really take medicine either. It’s cute that he still worries about how I feel when he’s sicker than me now. I loveses him. This is really the happiest I’ve been with our relationship. I think the biggest difference for me with being married is the fact that I don’t feel that constant pressure about getting married. I don’t have voices in the back of my head asking why we’re not married yet.

He’s also really taken to the baby stuff. For a while he seemed upset whenever I brought up baby stuff. I don’t blame him, it took me some getting used to also. Now he seems genuinely happy about it. I put together the playpen and floor mat the other day. Curtis tried out the floor mat. It was cute.


My aunt who lives in Texas came to the baby shower. I was really happy to see her because I didn’t think she would be able to make it. She was texting me that day asking if I got her gift in the mail yet. She was sneaky. I wish I would have hung out with her more while she was in town. He has a cocker spaniel too. Her name is Katie and she’s fat. lol. Katie couldn’t fit into a sweater she had anymore so my aunt gave it to me for Kerri.

Curtis’s dad thoroughly hates this sweater. It makes Kerri warm though. Kerri is in the crate right now because she snaped at a guest. I really wish we could do something to make her not snap. Maybe we should get a muzzle for when guests are over. Muzzles are so sad though.

Kerri’s Tooth

So it turns out she didn’t have to have it removed. There was food and what not stuck up there that made it look like it needed to be removed. She was put under and he got everything out. He did tell us we have the option of getting her cleft palate closed. It will cost about 300 dollars and isn’t required immediately, but would be a good thing to do eventually. We’ll probably get it done after Curtis graduates and gets a good job. Until then, we’re supposed to use this little spray guy to get stuff out of her cleft. That will help it not smell or get infected. Interesting ordeal.

I made spa appointments for Friday at 2 pm. I am really excited.

New blog

So I decided to create one of these things. Livejournal has been dead for quite some time and I feel like making an account of my day to day life. Don’t know if I’ll keep up with it, but it sounded like a good idea.

It’s 7:19 am and I’m awake because I have to take Kerri to the vet to get her tooth removed. She has a cleft palate and so one of her teeth has gone skiwankie and is growing back into her gums sideways. She obviously has to have it removed.


I also need to call the spa today and set up an appointment for hopefully Friday. I’m really excited for that. My back has been killing me. And I can get a pregnancy massage, belly exfoliation, and foot reduce-swelling guy all for 94 dollars. That’s really not that much for a spa.

That reminds me, I am 34 weeks and 2 days pregnant as of today. Just about a month and a half to go. Pretty crazy. Baby shower is Saturday. I’ll probably be doing baby shower preparation today also.

I’m going to go to the vet now.