No more tubes!

I am quite happy to report that Fez's health has turned around! He had his feeding tube removed on Monday and is eating on his own. He did loose a little bit of weight but continues to scarf down an entire can of high calorie prescription cat/dog food a day. Our little fur baby is getting better!

At least it's not cancer ...

What a way to come back after a 5 month absence, huh? So much has happened in the past 5 months but I'll start with the one that has the most urgent timeline.

Our almost 6 year old cat, Fez, had lost quite a bit of weight rapidly and we noticed that he wasn't eating. On our 4 year anniversary, Ryan took Fez to the vet where he was kept for three days/two nights and received multiple blood tests, IV fluids, antibiotics and was jaundiced.

The vet suspected that Fez may have kitty leukemia but after a small liver sample was taken and analyzed he was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease.

Basically what happens is that this disease manifests itself in a cat (there's no known cause) and causes the cat to loose its appetite. After its available fat stores are used up for energy, the liver starts storing fat - which is bad because kitty livers can't process the fat. If left untreated, the mortality rate is above 90%. This is a very serious disease which also has a high recovery rate if caught in time. The recovery time is 6-7 weeks with an aggressive forced feeding schedule.

So, Fez was able to come home Wednesday afternoon. He has a feeding tube inserted in the front of his neck that goes to his stomach that we have to administer feedings every four hours. The "food" we give him is a high calorie gruel that we mix with a little bit of water and feed him through the tube with a syringe. (I can't help but sing "Food, Glorious Food" from Oliver every time I have to feed him.)

While I don't want to be overly optimistic, Fez has been improving each day that he's been home. In the less than 48 hours that he's been home he doesn't look as jaundiced and he'll purr if you pet him gently. The last two feedings that I gave him he's actually sat up for them (a big improvement from just laying there and taking it). He even hopped off the bed and walked into the hallway looking for his food and tried to snuggle last night too. We've had to put a litter box in our bedroom since he isn't quite strong enough for the trips to the basement to relieve himself.

With his improvement, I'm glad that we didn't opt to put him down right away when we found out he was seriously sick. I know we're not out of the woods by any means - we have a long road ahead of us but I'm grateful that he's turned around and hopeful that he'll make it back to healthy soon.

Not A Very Merry Christmas

So I think my family got the shaft for Christmas. (Don't get me wrong - I know this is a heck of a way to post a blog update in nearly three months but let's just say I got lost and didn't feel like asking for directions. I promise perkier updates later.)

I was all pumped up for my 11 days off from work (mandatory) vacation. 6 of those days I would be able to spend with my husband - time which doesn't come very often. We spend some time visiting with my sister Amanda and her husband Kurtis who drove up from Oklahoma Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas morning with just Kaden, Ryan and myself opening gifts, then off to Ryan's dad's house followed by dinner with my parents.

Sounds awesome? Yes, except for the fact that I've had a "wonderful" stomach flu since Christmas Eve that prevents me from keeping anything in. I hate the bathroom right now. Going on three days straight of this crap, on top of the fact that Ryan seems to be catching the same stuff totally sucks. Where's the rule that at least one parent is supposed to stay healthy when there is a small child in the house? This is so not the way I wanted to spend my vacation.

2 Years Old!

My little man turned two years old on October 1st. We celebrated his birthday party with my family on his birthday and yesterday with Ryan's family. Kaden was showered with attention, presents (yay! lots of new clothes) and food.

He's starting to talk in whole sentences now: "I eat bar." (eating a cereal bar). "Sit down Papa." "Come here Dada." "Hold you!" (We're working on telling him that it's "hold me" when he wants to be picked up.

I never really fully understood what people meant when they said to me "You're growing up so fast!" As a matter of fact I remember rolling my eyes a couple of times. Oh but how true it is. Kaden is already showing signs of independence - not wanting to snuggle so much, wanting to eat by himself, trying things out on his own. He's such a big guy.

Did that just come out of my mouth?

I don't exercise. I should. I could make time for it. I just haven't. There are two medicine balls that live in my bedroom. They look pretty on the floor. One green ball and one blue - 6 and 8 pounds. Somewhere there's also two little red 2-pound balls. Not quite so sure if Kaden hid them some place and not quite concerned enough to go look for them.

My little man will be 2 years old next week. I am currently 45 pounds lighter than my heaviest pregnancy weight. Gaining 30 pounds during my pregnancy, I am also 15 pounds lighter than when I found out I was pregnant with Kaden. Yay me.

I have no clue what has possessed me this week but a devilish thought has poisoned my mind: I want to run a marathon. *Blink-blink* Did I really just think that? Yep. Did I really mean that? I think so. The big problem I see with this is that I'm scared I won't be able to follow through with it and that I hate running.

I'd really like to be able to do this and I think it may be achievable. I obviously need to build up some kind of endurance. We hang out a lot with my neighbors and their family. My neighbor's sister-in-law is a sweetheart of a girl and she runs marathons and has been doing it for a few years. She told me about the "Couch to 5 K" program that (in theory) coaches you in 8 or 9 weeks from a lot of walking and a little jogging to 30 minutes of jogging straight.

Another challenge I'm going to face is to find the time to workout. Four nights out of the week I only get to see Ryan for 2 1/2 hours. By the time he leaves for work, the daycare center at the gym is closed.

We'll see if this is a fleeting thought or if I can at least start doing some kind of long distance walking. I'll be attending the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 1 mile walk this Saturday with Kaden and my mother-in-law Terri. There's a two mile run scheduled the week before Thanksgiving to look forward to and a new running store that should be openning within the next few weeks. Here's to the start of my Bucket List.

I'm an Airbender!

We have recently started watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoons on Nick. It's a cute little series that only ran for 3 seasons. For a short explanation there are people who can control elements (air, water, earth and fire).

The reason I'm telling you about this cute cartoon is because earlier this week the knob that controls which direction the air flows in my car (head, feet, both, defrost etc) broke off. It's a good thing it wasn't winter and I needed to defrost my windshield. I called one of my favorite mechanics and they ordered a replacement for me and had it waiting for me within 4 hours (that's prompt service!). It wasn't until the next morning that I thought to myself "It's so wonderful to be able to control the air. ... Hey! I'm an Airbender!"

It's ok if you don't get it .... I like my stories. :)

Happy Birthday @ Cross Timbers

Sunday was Ryan's 31st birthday. We celebrated the weekend by going camping at Cross Timbers with my in-laws. We tent camped and they pulled the camper out.

Kaden was completely spoiled with a wonderful pool that Papa (grandpa) and Nana (grandma) brought for him. No swim diaper or swim suit? No problem. Naked baby swimming! (He actually had on a pair of shorts though.)

Brent and Terri watched Kaden while Ryan and I went on a hike on a nearby trail. They were doing some repair work on the dam, so the water level was lower than normal.

Here's what the same bridge looked like last September:

It's a good thing we each had our own camelback. I sucked down 3 liters of water on our 5 mile hike. The temperature was over 100 degrees that weekend.

Kaden loved sleeping in the tent. It sprinkled off and on during the whole night. Ryan was very attentive to the rain fly over our tent so we wouldn't get soaked.

A new playground had been build in the tent only camping area. We had fun chasing Kaden down all the slides and following him around.



Terri and I sat on the swings (at Kaden's request) and watched while Papa Brent pushed Kaden and gave underdogs.

Like I mentioned before, we really were roughing it.

Yes. Kaden is watching Coraline. For the millionth time.

Our last evening there, one of our neighbors came over with a copper pipe contraption that you put in the fire and get blue, green and pink flames. It was too cool. I must find out (first if this is toxic) how to recreate this for later.