As you all read, our dog Daisy was due for a grooming! Many of you asked to see Daisy after her make-over!

She has longer fur than most cockapoo’s (one of the reason’s I thought she was SO CUTE), and is buff colored, with copper ears.

Anyway from all the snow, and rain with mudd,  she was looking a little scraggley! I normally give her a bath, but since she needed a trim, figured Id get it done professionally!

I dont even think she could see anymore! LOL! Here is the photo the morning before her grooming

 Daisy & Alexa

See-where are her eyes? LOL!

Now we have the after

 Daisy & Noah

There is her face!

She looked SO different. I wasn’t use to her body hair being so short! They shaved her “under-carriage” as I call it, and her hiney-for sanitary reasons, but I didn’t expect the rest of her to be shorter.

She is SUPER soft, and smells great! She was FUR BALL when I picked her up! LOL!

She looks really cute though-well her face anyway. You can see her sweet eyes now! I just think I have to get used to it KWIM?

Put it this way-we brought Daisy to the groomer when Alexa was at school.

When she returned home, Daisy ran up to greet her and Alexa said “Oh boy! We got a new puppy!”

Um, no Alexa-THAT is our puppy!

UGH! Pinch me! I think I’m awake.

I hope I’m not, but I’m pretty sure I am. Its another dental nightmare.

PLEASE-if you are putting off taking your kids to the dentist DON’T. I don’t care if you legs are falling off-don’t go through what I am.

OK so in one of my posts, I went on how I was FINALLY taking the kids to the dentist-that I wasn’t going to let myself feel bad for NOT taking them in 2 years because all our family had going on.

Alexa was the only one who has been before. When Noah turned of age-Alexa got cancer, and blah, blah, blah, a million excuses later, that amount to nothing.

Well now I feel like the WORST parent in the world! I wanted to die when I heard the “news”.

So we take the kids. Who ALL were totally AWESOME! The dental people ROCKED!!! OMG! I was so happy with the way they did things with them.

Amber was just so good-especially for a 3yo! I did take my camera but it died right there! That was a huge sign. A sign I would want NO documented PROOF of what a horrible parent I am.

Amber got a clean bill of health! YEAH! One kid-good. She did the x-rays like a PRO!

Alexa-only got an exam. Due to her counts and chemo tomorrow. She couldn’t get x-rays either, because in case the slides cut the inside of her mouth it could result in a serious infection. She will ahve one in 2 weeks-count dependent. She also has thrush from all the daily antibiotics she is on to fight her own germs! FUN!

She has one “possible” cavity that they want to put a Veneer on. That is HUNDREDS of dollars, out of pocket! But its a permanent tooth, and in the FRONT! So worth it in the end. Also not bad considering people with DS have little enamel, and she has had MONTHS -(yes I said months) where I could NOT brush her teeth due to severe mouth sores from her chemo-she drinks LOTS of water and doesn’t eat allot of candy, so that saved her! I have no guilt with her cause I seriously did my best, given her situation.

Oh now for the KICKER!

NOAH-

He was the cutest, sweetest, funniest kid getting his cleaning. Just awesome.

I had a inkling Noah had a cavity at the bottom right. He complained Sunday-so I immediately made an appointment.

Um yeah can you say FIVE!!! Yes FIVE CAVITIES!!!

2 being very deep! one in his front baby teeth!

Let me say before I go on, I also help the kids brush their teeth so I am just astonished by this.

WHAT!

How does a 5 yo get that many cavities?

Believe me-I make my kids brush their teeth at least twice a day. There is a very occasional morning that the bus arrives a little too early and it doesn’t get done, but first thing when they get home, those suckers are scrubbed.

Myself having dental woes never wanted my kids to.

Anyway-Noah has to go back, in 2 weeks and the the child equivalent of 2 route canals!

SHOOT ME PLEASE!! The poor kid. All because I put off taking him to the dentist till I had to.

OMG! He is going to HATE the dentist forever. Its going to cost a small fortune too. Since insurance doesn’t cover much for route canals, nor the Nitrous! Which for a kid I totally dont understand.

I’m glad I didn’t get my stuff fixed so I can pay to get him all fixed up first.

Oh look at all my ((!!!!!!)). Can you tell Im freaking out?

Anyway-I chalk it up to drinking too much juice-too many gummy candies, and now I have a TON of guilt.

I could seriously cry.

Even though I did clean their teeth, I bribe them during our tough moments with candy, and now look.

They are paying the price.

What kind of parent does that make me?

Who does that? What an awful thing I have done to Noah.

Sorry to go off, Im just at such an emotional crisis.

I know I have been through worse, but I feel like those things I had no control over, I certainly have control over letting my kids get gummy treats as a reward, AND taking them to the dentist.

They did say it could just be his system harbors more bacteria but c’mon!

OK I need to go.

If you are still reading this thanks for listening, and sorry for the endless ramble.

So now that we have some ground, we sometimes let Diasy play outside for a few minutes, in the driveway, while on the leash. Only when she really wants to stay out.

She can’t be in the yard yet, cause her place is not ready, and we still ahve several feet of snow.

So this afternoon I tied her up, and I went inside to start lunch.

8 minutes later………………………Came out to see this-

Look at that face? If she could talk I think she would say “Oops! Did I do that?”

She immediately sat down, and gave me this pathetic face-only a doggy mom could love.

OK Im sorry if this post bother’s you or offends you but I just could NOT resist.

What do you get when you have a new puppy, and a 5 year old, who doesn’t wear shoe’s?

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You get one unhappy boy, who stepped in a pile of puppy poop!

I couldn’t resist taking this picture, I did refrain from the photographing him throwing up as Jason cleaned off his foot 😀

Gotta love it.

Well you would NOT believe what I bought!

Everyone talks about this new online shopping place called ETSY. The purpose of it is for people/crafter’s (like us), to have a place to buy and sell HANDMADE stuff. Its pretty cool.

OMG! I could spend ALL day just browsing, and drooling over stuff. You can add items to your favorites or even seller’s.

PLUS I thinking its cool to be able to support crafter’s like ourselves.

Anyway-I LOVE Amy Butler paper. Its put out by K & Co.

 Well, to my surprise she (Amy Butler) makes FABRIC line people!! HELLO! Gorgeous fabric! Just like my favorite pieces of cardstock! Its like 2 worlds colliding with LOVELY patterns! LOL!

So upon browsing Etsy, I began my search looking at handbag’s. A girl can NEVER have too many right?

I am normally into getting the newest Vera Bradley stuff. So I said WHY NOT try out some new HANDMADE version right?

So, after browsing the handbag’s section, I found this one particular seller at bagladiesinpa’s shop (her name is Lisa). I was SO drawn to her stuff. Fresh, clean yet funky and fun. I were a bag I would be one of hers.

 I use to sew, and can SO appreciate handmade bags and stuff, cause I could NEVER do anything like that, nor would I want to.

After looking at her collections,  I saw a style bag she made that I LOVED! But not in a FABRIC that I had to have.  I had seen other bag’s with a Amy Butler fabric I WANTED it in. So I PM’d her, and asked her if she could make me her “Cleo style” bag, using the “Lace-work” fabric by Amy Butler. Basically customize a bag for me-LOL!

She got back to me, and said she would! She also made some “accessories” that I had to have too! Smart woman.

Her photos and descriptions were great and helpful. Her communication ROCKED, as did her overall customer service.

She is a MYTIME approved seller :D. I am VERY picky so that is a HUGE compliment.

Here is what I got!

NOTE: This photo was copy/pasted from her site. I figure since I am giving her a good review she won’t mind!

 Bag, check book cover, zip bag, and key toggle

When it was done she contacted me to let me know it was listed if I still wanted it! (UM YEAH!!!! I asked for it)

After she shipped it was on my door 3 days later!

It came beautifully wrapped-so professional. Her communication ROCKED!

When I saw the bag and items, it was even BETTER in person! Very well made.

What a great experience I had. I am now buying my bag’s handmade from her, here on out.

FYI I am not related to this person, or anything. I just HAD to share my experience with all of you, cause I know only YOU could appreciate my babble about a bag-especially since its created from the same style of paper I’m addicted too!

I’ll be back later with some “stamping related” stuff to share.

OK, if you have more than one child, you MAY be able to appreciate this.

Normally this stuff does not seem funny to me until it is LONG over.

People will always ask ” Did you take a picture?”

Normally I give a look like “Are YOU insane? NO I didn’t take a picture”. But this was rather amusing.

I NEEDED to get some stamp stuff done. I needed a whopping 45 minutes of “my time”, or I was going to go INSANE!

 My kids were fighting like well……………let’s say a pack of wild animals. Sometimes, when I have really had it with the bickering, and the million time outs, I will retreat to my stamp “cave”. Its better for ALL of us to take a breather.

I can hear everything they are doing-which is good in a safety sense, but not a sanity sense sometimes! LOL!

Alexa and Amber have been at eachother throats lately. Alexa isn’t feeling great, and is on edge, and Amber is continuously provoking her.

I am in my stamp room and hear the bickering.

Alexa yelling “Take a break. Get in there. You need a time out. Get in there.”

I’m thinking oh great-here we go. More fighting.

Amber is crying “Let me out!” as well as other things I cant make out. Time to intervene

She is screeching her lungs out, and daisy starts barking-THAT is unusual. She is not a barker.

So I come flying upstairs, to interviene, only to see this

Alexa LOCKED Amber in the dog crate!

Daisy is sitting in front of it barking, and Alexa is happily watching TV.

I grabbed my camera, to which Amber’s tears were quickly turned off, and was then all happy about it.

NOW that is a good time out spot!

Just kidding………………………………………..but you have to admit its pretty funny. I was unsure if I should make Alexa go in there for her time out for shoving her sister into a dog crate!

Lucky for her she isn’t feeling so hot.

Now these are they days Im not so sure I will miss when they are all grown.

Ok so maybe I AM turning into a crazy dog lover!

I call her Daisy Doodle, and Alexa calls her Crazy Daisy. Its really cute to see the kids participate in her care by following commands, and giving rewards, putting her in and out of the crate, feeding, brushing, and of course playing.

I had to share this photo of Daisy with her adorable PINK doggy coat 😀

C’mon you KNOW I was going to have to get her outfits! LOL! She is too adorable not too. She actually likes it. (I think). She is very compilable with whatever I want to do. I think its great I get to start her out like that 😀

But, I had to share my success with all of you, since you did help me with all your advice 😀 So thanks. I especially appreciated the phone calls and emails I received. Really helpful.

Daisy has her first appointment tomorrow, and it should only cost me well over a $100. YIKES :C Now there goes my stocking stuffer’s! LOL! I think she’ll fit in there nicely.

I also want to direct you, who have dogs, to this place—->Ask Me Dogs, that I found, which is like a SCS, but for DOG OWNERS!!! How cool is that? It has an online pet expert that can help with any question, as well as other owner’s give helpful advice.

So I wanted you all to know after all the advice I did the following………………which has lead to success!

No Success Story

 Tuesday-  I deciding to TRY to let Daisy have the run of the kitchen (used lots of gates), instead of being crated. What’s weird is she goes in the crate at times on her own during the day, and when I leave or can’t watch her every move (today I made my bed, and she found and ate a crayon Alexa left on the floor while coloring ;C). She doesn’t mind it all. No crying, fussing or freaking. Totally happy to chill. Come night time-watch out.

OK Night comes- I have her gated in the kitchen, which is good size, and cord safe :D. I kept her crate open, but thought if she could see us it should work. Our room is off the Kitchen. Well she jumped, and jumped and jumped till she knocked it over! Came into our room, and tried to jump up on our King size bed-Um, yeah, not happening. She cried and cried-so I decided that SLEEP would WIN. I then let Daisy sleepwith us. Jason was so NOT happy. But, you wouldn’t even know she was there. She was very good. She woke me up twice in the middle of the night, by nudging my arm, went out for a potty break, then back to bed. I realized I didn’t want this to be long term, so made the decision for the following night to stick it out, be consistent, and try something that would hopefully work.

Just like kids right?? Now is the time to NOT instill BAD habits.

Now Wednesday Night

I keep her crate open. Put up all the gates in the kitchen. I move her bed to the doorway, where there is the gate, but she can see us sleep (thanks Dawn and Bobbie). I then swaddle her like a baby in this blanket that she dores (it was Noah’s when he was a baby). She loves to be swaddled-funny huh??

I included my t-shirt, and her favorite stuffed squirrel. Left a nightlight on, and ran the DISHWASHER!!! That seemed to help.

She would get up, and just whine, as oppose to bark, and yelp.

I would tell her down (to make her stop jumping on the gate), and then Daisy Bed. It took several times of me getting up and re wrapping her, and putting her there with the commands. So after several trips I stopped getting up but used my voice, and a snap of my fingers (my mom use to do that with our dogs), and VIOLA. She went to her bed and slept 😀 She did wake up at 1:30 and 5 :30 to go out, but then quietly returned to her bed, without fuss!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now here is a photo of her swaddled in her blanket, on our Suede video rocker chair that she has deemed HERS. You can see her little squeeky squirrel she carries around.

She litterally lets me lay her down and wrap her up. Its Hilarious.

Let me go on and say that Daisy is like the best little thing on 4 paws. Seriously, amazing. She is very well behaved, and is already getting some simple commands. I am using one-to two words to teach her.

I am doing the bell thing as suggested for going out to use the “potty”. She will ring the bell on the door sometimes too! She hardly has any accidents-which I am so thankful for.

She has long curly hair in the “back”. Needless to say she has had 3 baths!!! I never bathed a dog before, but she loves it. Stays perfectly still, then lets me dry her, and brush her. She then let Jay and I cut her hair-NO PROBLEM!

I teach her sit, down, treats, eat, out, fast-fast (that means we are here to potty not sniff the entire yard), and then there is crate-go, and bed Daisy.

I just might actually be able to do this.

So my point was thanks for the advice.

I also think we made the best move buying Daisy. She is a great breed for what we as a family were looking for. Plus she is definitely MY DOG. I am HER PERSON!

I felt like picking her was like a Grey’s Anatomy show, when Meridith says to Derick (when he is deciding over her and Addison) “Pick me, choose me, love me” 😀 Yes I am pathetic

That was exactly what I told Jason. I said that is what she is saying. She belongs with us.

He said we made a good choice. She truly is a darling.

OK thats it for my dog insanity. Thanks for bearing with me, as I am so new to this. I know its a stamping blog, but I wanted to share it with you 😀 Plus the beauty of a blog is I will never really know if you read it or not, and I can still throw it out there!

NOW I am really going to get stamping! I think I have a “routine” in place, so it may just happen.

Till tomorrow. Don’t forget Saturday Sketch time 😀

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Well here it is! The much anticipated Smilebox of the Princess party! I couldnt get the video portion to work-but when I can you KNOW I will fill you all in!

I love how I was able to capture the moments of her party with this Smilebox.

The party went so perfect! I think they all had a great time. You could hear a pin drop during the craft time! And each girl gave Alexa her gift themself.

Most special to me was to see how accepted Alexa was, and her social interaction with the girls! I tell you these girls parents did an excellent job raising such lovely princesses!

To see Alexa as happy as she was was all I could ask for!

The girls made crowns, necklaces, and decorated jewelry boxes!

We used Alexa’s set and polyshrink, and the center charm for the necklaces, and for the top center of their boxes! It was really cool. Whatever wasnt done got sent home with them.

I’m so thankful for my mom who came to help me set up, and Jason did an amazing job too! He is in charge of the decorations-Im in charge of ordering him round! LOL! If it weren’t for them it never would have gone so smoothly.

He’s use to my stress over these things after all these years and takes it quite well 😀

The best part was when it was all over Alexa came out to me and gave me a huge hug and kiss and said “Thank you mommy for my party. It was so fun. It was the best ever.” Then another squeeze and kiss!

That melted my heart!

All I wanted was for her dream party to go well, and it went better than I could have hoped for!

Thanks for following our journey 😀 I cannot believe my baby is EIGHT!

WE ARE HOME!!! We got DISCHARGED!!!

Alexa had a great night, O2 levels were normal the entire time,and they felt she was well enough to get out of the hosptial! What a great present!!!

Im so extatic I could burst!

As we were leaving the floor (Alexa decided to walk instead of take the carriage) the entire staff stood at the exit of the floor and sang happy birthday-Alexa was walking off the floor as they were singing it and she ran by them saying Thanks everybody Im outta here! it was so cute. I pray I dont have to go back there till the last day of Chemo! I will go to say thanks and goodbye! But hey one day at a time right?

Then we arrived home to a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers from Diana (BIG THANK YOU!!! Most beautiful bouquet and ballon ever) bunch of cards, and packages! OMG! You are all so sweet. Thanks to all of you for the well wishes, thoughts and prayers. We still arent fully out of the woods-we dont want a relapse!!! We have email birthday wishes, and messages on the phone! You are all just amazing and bring tears to my eyes. I hope to replay top you all, but thought Id post ONE HUGE THANKS here!

I have a TON to do today, and tomorrow but promise I will post lots of photos-most likely Monday-ish. Please bear with me Im in overload!

Then its a doctors visit Tuesday and Chemo on Wednesday! YIKES!

Its a gorgeous day and God has truly blessed us!

Just wanted to let you all know the awesome news!!

See ya later! And thanks again!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXA!!!!! I LOVE YOU!

Hello stamping friends. I have alot to share-and really want to say that I truly get energized by all the wisdom you share, or thoughts, and hugs or prayers you send.

THANK YOU AGAIN.

OK so where do I start-

Well the o2 levels keep dropping at night. There was just an epiphany amongst the doctors after my pleading with them to figure out WHY can she look amazing ALL day AND night but only at night her O2 levels fall so low-and she looks still HEALTHY?? Im was like there HAS to be a REASON. These things dont happen for NO reason!

DING! The lightbulb lights up-and they order labs (waiting for those results) one of the meds she is on can affect this type of thing!

HELLO! Why was this not a thought SOONER???

So we will see what happens with that. That result can seriously inmpact future thought on her O2 levels

Alot of people asked “what the NORMAL O2 saturation is ”

well

90-100% is “normal” generally above 96% is better.

Alexa has been 71-75% at night. You will notice MOST people from about 92% -88% start to get blue in the fingers and around the mouth, 71% um yeah usually WAY BLUE-I would FREAK OUT if this happened-like so much so I dont care what state you live you would hear my screec of PANIC.

Alexa is as pink as a piggy-perfect. Now that my friends is WEIRD. She is one big walkin puzzle piece.

They also agree that due to her heart surgery her O2 levels may normally fall during the night and her body has learned to compensate for that.

So we will see.

Now for the totally AWESOME news-next best thing to going home-

They are giving us 2 DAY passes to go home!

What does that mean you ask? It means that Alexa can go HOME for a few hours during the DAY-tomorrow-where I will then stay at home to prep for her party on Sunday, while her “Pretend dad” (LOL! aka-her biological father-sorry if you knew him or the story you’d get my horrific sarcasm he is quite the jerk) will take her back to the hospital for the night, and she can come home again Suday, for the day in time for her party, then go back Again after. UNLESS by soome miracle she does well enough to be discharged, but Im not even getting too hopeful with that right now. Ill take the little piece I can get right now, and that is giving Alexa her much anticiapted and well deserved day!

Now what is the day pass thing about you ask? 

Since she is perfectly fine during the day, and I am super mom (LOL!) they trust me with her. No pessure right? I can take her home for a few hours. This is not a light thing and not regularly practiced. But when dealing with kids like Alexa when special occassions arise they do their best to let them have as normal a life as possible while getting treatment.

So yeah!

Now for the brownie comment.

I unfortunately am a stress eatter. Being one is a vicious cycle-cause you eat the HUGE MOIST CHOCOLATELY yummy brownie and you feel “happier” till 8 browne hits you in the rear-litterally and nothing fits, then you are depressed again-causing you to eat yet another fine fattening dessert. Now your clothes are snug and definitely NOT happy. All the hard work you did to lose the last bad gain of pounds is out the window!

So by now you will see I found the most amazing brownies here at the store, and instead of snuggles from Jason I am eatting those. WHY OH WHY! I really wish I were a stres anorexic cause then I would look HOT!!! Pre-baby sexy! LOL!

Thank God Jason loves me like I am right? I am very lucky 😀

OK its getting late. I have suffered serious migraines today-most likely stress related-go figure. I was trying to lay down and get some rest, and Alexa wanted to go to the playroom. I was quickly informed “C’mon Mom, let go! You are SO lazy!!!”

KIDS!

I cannot wait to post-the photos and Smilebox of Alexa’s party. Thanks again for the prayers!