Sparrow is 5

Sparrow isn't a fan of the birthday hat.

Sparrow turned five last week! I'd had Ellie for several months and it was clear she needed a friend. Ellie was very needy, full of energy, and never left me alone. I loved my puppy but I didn't have the energy to constantly entertain her. When I saw Sparrow, I knew she was perfect! I took Ellie with me to meet this possible new family member and the puppy chased Ellie all over the yard. I hadn't planned to get a puppy that day but I took her home any way.

I named her Sparrow because cavaliers are supposed to have patches over both of their eyes but she has one. I love pirates so I named her after Captain Jack Sparrow. Both girls are very different and it's easy for me to tell them apart, however, Sparrow's eye patch is the first thing I point out to strangers that think they're twins. Sparrow is also thicker, likes people, and snorts.

Sparrow has a short snout and always snores. She's always vocal with her grunts and snorts and I love it! She has a cowlick on the back of her neck, like her dad did. His was worse (so was his snorting). Sparrow licks incessantly and nothing I've done can make her stop. I hate being licked so I have trained her to stop then she licks the air instead. She loves to go outside and is always excited when I say we're going for a ride, even though he hates riding in the car. I think she looks like the Joker when she breaths with her mouth open, which is most of the time. One of her favorite things is belly rubs. She goes completely limp like a rag doll.

Sparrow and Ellie are best friends, as I knew they would be. When we brought Cedric home, Sparrow and Cedric became immediate friends. They still chase each other and wrestle. The hair on one of Sparrow's ears is shorter than the other because Cedric chews on it when they play.

Picture time!!

My puppies together.

Sparrow is always happy!

She used to cuddle when she was little.

You can see her cows lick here.

Yin and Yang. Best friends.

Sparrow loved Brandt right away.

Pretty puppy!

Sparrow likes to "suffocate" people she loves.

Sparrow really loves Brandt.

The girls waiting for Brandt to come over.

Belly rubs!

She can be a little creepy...

Always cuddling together.

Brandt loves the girls too.

Sparrow is terrified of my brother's dog so she hid in our
mom's plants. Notice, she's still smiling!

Brandt's Battle With His Gallbladder

Sorry for the delay about Brandt's negative experience with his disfunctioning gallbladder. It's been an insane week and I'm writing this post as quickly as I can. Please excuse any incoherent portions.

Recently, Brandt was experiencing stabbing pain in his stomach. He started experiencing small bouts after eating certain foods, which some times included throwing up and fighting pain all night. Just before Thanksgiving, his pain was so terrible that he couldn't eat. He visited an emergency care clinic and the doctor diagnosed him with indigestion. All the doctor did was give him lidocaine and Malox. When Brandt couldn't feel the pain any longer, the doctor deduced it was heart burn. Brandt knew he was wrong but filled the prescription for heartburn medicine and ate any way. Turns out, it wasn't heart burn.

Brandt's insides. He had a gallstone blocking his
"Vader" and needed the gallbladder removed too.

He correctly diagnosed himself via the internet, with gallstones. After speaking with his mom, he found out many members of his family had their gallbladders removed, which helped confirm his self-diagnosis. Immediately after eating, Brandt had another attack and went back to emergency care and saw a different doctor. This doctor knew what the problem was and sent him to the ER. At the ER, the doctor drew the amazing picture to the left. Brandt had a gallstone blocking his ampulla of Vater (AKA an Angry Vader) and would also need his gallbladder removed to prevent any further stones from causing problems.

Brandt wouldn't let me help him into his
gown, despite the sign in the ER.

It was the day before Thanksgiving and the ER rooms were full. They hooked him up to an IV and he got a room four or five hours later in the children's ER. We didn't have to wait much more than 30 minutes to admit Brandt and he got a private room on the 8th floor.

Brandt's description of his Angry Vader.

They scheduled a procedure to remove the gallstones blocking his "Angry Vader" for Thanksgiving day. That morning, we learned that only one operating room was open and only available for emergency cases. Brandt spent another night at the hospital and enjoyed his pain killers and fluid diet. He said it was almost like a vacation in a hotel room, except for the interruptions every hour or two to check vitals or take blood. We spent Thanksgiving hanging out in the hospital and then I went to work at 5 p.m., because Target opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day... that's a different rant for another day.

Thanksgiving view from the 8th floor.

They removed Brandt's gallstone via a tube through his throat, through his stomach, and back up into the duct leading to his gallbladder and liver. They successfully removed one stone but another was impacted. They inserted a stint and plan to go back at the end of the month to remove the stone. Brandt immediately felt better (besides the weird sensation of feeling the path the tube took inside of him.) They had to wait at least 12 hours before removing his gallbladder to allow the swelling to go down. His surgery was scheduled for 9 a.m. the following morning.

A rare sunny shot after Brandt's surgery.

Of course, his surgery started late but that was because there was another surgery before his. They took him in at about 9:30 and I spent the next few hours sleeping on a couch in the waiting room. His surgery was supposed to end at 11 a.m. and I had both of his parents' numbers so I could text and let them know how it went. I woke up at 11 but thought the surgery went late. This is where things went awry. The surgeon didn't go to the information desk after the surgery so my pager was never activated.  I ended up having terrible dreams but was awoken by a call from Brandt's cell phone. He was back in his room and more than a little upset. I rushed upstairs. He was stressed that I wasn't there and his phone had been blowing up since I left it in the room. I told Brandt what happened and that helped make him feel better. His surgery went well and his gallbladder was gone. They performed it laproscopically so he had three bandages on his side and one in his belly button.

I made Brandt a sign to welcome him home!

Brandt stayed in the hospital one more night and then I was able to bring him home! More miscommunication at the hospital happened the entire last day of his stay. The gastroenteritis never came to see Brandt but made notes about her "visit" with him in his file. We never ended up seeing her before we left either. Brandt couldn't be released until the surgeon completed his paperwork. We finally had a tentative time set for 7 p.m. The last surgery went late but the intern was able to make it in and finish the paperwork by 7:30, which quite surprised me he was able to finish that quickly.

I also got Brandt a grabber.

Brandt has been in a lot of pain but doing better each day. He is able to take the dogs out when I'm not home and we went to the store two days ago and even that walking around left him in slight pain. He also drove his car to the mailboxes yesterday. I wasn't thrilled about that but it turns out he hadn't had a pain pill in seven hours, so he was OK to drive. Brandt can't lift more than 20 lbs and should be able to go back to work in another week.

Brandt is Employed!

Brandt has not just one job, but two! The stock photo to the right depicts his excitement at being so awesome at working. 

He started working as a part-time seasonal team member at Target on November 1. Of course, they love him and already have him working in electronics. Our schedules haven't overlapped much this month, in fact, we've had mostly opposite shifts. It's fun to see him at work when we do have shifts together.

Brandt had orientation this morning for his new position as a teller at Wells Fargo. He won't officially start until December though. The leads at Target have whispered about keeping Brandt past seasonal, which he is considering. He'll be working a lot of hours but hopefully it's something that won't be necessary for the long term.

Now here's a picture of a businessman with a trophy. Why? Because it's almost as funny as the first stock photo. But seriously, Brandt should win a major award for how hard he works to do his part to support our little family. The dogs and I love him!

Cedric Turned 2!

Cedric's birthday was this weekend and our little guy is two years old. I attempted to take cute pictures of him with the birthday hat but he refuses to cooperate in most situations, including this one. He mostly tried to eat the hat or ran away. I did get one though!

It hadn't rained in a few days, so after work, I scooped up the pups and we went to the dog park. It felt like the wind was an icy hand slapping my face for daring to go outside but the dogs had fun. Cedric's favorite activity is running. When it's paired with other dogs and chasing balls, he's the happiest boy in the world.

Adding Cedric to Our Pack
When I met Brandt, he had the sweetest chunkiest pit bull named Sandy. She was his first dog and helped me get over my slight fear of big dogs. I'd had some bad experiences with larger dogs and I had no desire to own one until I met Sandy. She got very sick just before Christmas and we made the difficult decision to end her suffering. Brandt was distraught and deeply missed his Sandy Bear. While Ellie and Sparrow are good dogs, they don't play much.

My mom knew I'd always wanted a Schnoodle (Schnauzer/Poodle) and found one near Wichita a few months later! We'd been looking around at dogs and puppies but nothing seriously. When we saw the picture of the little guy, we decided to take my mom up on the offer of adding a puppy to our pack.

Cedric looked very different when we got him. He was black and tan with almost no curls. I doubted he had much poodle in him but when we shaved him that summer, his hair grew back much curlier.
He was spunky and definitely a terrier. He was very bitey and always barking. Cedric brought excitement back into our grieving house.

Right after we got Cedric.

Where is the puppy?

He loved to crawl under the coffee table.

Ellie couldn't stand him at first but they grew to love each other. 

He had creepy vampire teeth and used them all the time.

Cedric was the dominate dog when it came to boxes!

All of our pups waiting for my sister to come inside.

My buddy.

Brandt was excited to have a dog with a beard and still is. They're beard buddies! Cedric is the best cuddle buddy with me and he goes crazy when it's time to play, which is what Brandt loves. Cedric runs up to us when he's done eating and burps to display his pleasure with the meal. When he gets excited, his stub wags so hard that his entire back side wiggles. 

He wants to do nothing more than play fetch and is constantly doing whatever he can to make us throw anything. He has a great maneuver where he puts the toy on the couch, sets his head on it, then wags his stub and whines until you reach for it. He's ridiculous because he never lets you grab the toy. He always pulls it away, brings it back, and whines because you didn't throw it.

Now time for Cedric pictures!!

Before Cedric's first haircut.

Cedric with his first haircut and fancy bow!

We weren't allowed to go to the bathroom without him.

Cedric is comfortable in the oddest position.

Cedric thinks he's a parrot even though he's huge now.

He can be high maintenance but he's so darn cute.

Cedric doesn't like to be left out when I'm on the hammock.

Buddy with his bee squeaker. Few squeakers lasted as long as that one.

Weird cuddler.

This is my favorite cuddle. He's so hard core when
it comes to cuddle time.

Cedric's second favorite activity is keeping guard.

Cedric loved Oregon and sniffing while I drive!

We watch the sun set together.

I love my boys!