A Dream Come True

Soccer. Soccer. Soccer. Soccer. It has been the most consistent activity in my life since I was a kid. I have played for 21 years. Can you believe that. I started when I was 5 and I am still playing. Soccer is how I went to college, how I met my husband, and how I have such a great 2nd job now. It was not surprise the man I would marry would be obsessed with this as well. It is no bigger surprise that all of our children will play the game of soccer and love it! (WE WILL MAKE THEM LOVE IT) HA! All of my students keep asking, "Is Ryan Lily going to play soccer." In my mind I am thinking of course, this child has not choice. Her mother and her father played soccer at Auburn. Her Aunt Kim played soccer at Bama. Her Uncle Kevin played soccer at UAB. Her Pa coached soccer all of his life. Her Grammay drove her momma to endless soccer games and matches. Her Jo Jo & Pap had to support her soccer addicted father. I mean she is literally trapped.

I always worried how she would be with soccer, you know after hearing about my niece's Kate soccer season (GOOO TIGERS!!! Sorry Kim). But, this video left her dad and I very reassured she is in the right family.

My poor baby

No, I am not talking about Ryan, my other baby- Radly. We had a very eventful Friday night with him. I'll start from the beginning.

I got home from work around 4:00 and found about 16-18 piles of throw up all over our back porch. Of course, I knew it was Rad man, so I tried to give him some water (his was gone). As soon as he drank some, he threw it up. I tried to give him some spoon fed food, he didn't want it. This was pretty much how our whole Friday night went and Radly kept looking worse and worse. Around 1:00, I just cuddled up with him on the floor and started crying, sobbing really. I honestly thought that was it, he was dying and I was going to wake up the next morning and my little man would be dead. Well, neither Bill nor I could deal with this, so we made the decision to take him to the Auburn University Vet Clinic. We knew going down this road would definitely be more pricey, but we also knew neither one of us could sit aside and just let him die.

We took him in around 2:00 AM on Saturday morning. They said he was fatally dehydrated, so we made the right choice bringing him in. After a series of tests, the found out he has pancreaitis, a consolidated right lung, and pneumonia. The biggest threat here was the lung, because he is unable to breath on his own. They immediately put him on an IV (it has now been 6 days since he's eaten anything) and on Oxygen. We left the office around 3:30 feeling a bit better that he was in good hands, but also a little woozy knowing what the bill would be.

I went to pick him up at 1:00 the next day and immediately transported him to our vet's hospital. Our vet is so amazing, his name is Glenn and we can just totally tell that he genuially cares about Radly and wants him to get better. So he continues to be on oxygen and an IV. I know this sounds bad, but it is really his treatment. In order to cure this pneumonia, he has to go through intensive treatment of oxygen and iv fluids. This is the only way to get all of that junk out of his lungs.

We were told he can pull out of this, but it does require intensive treatment. I just want him home. Kramer is starting to just lay around and get pretty sluggish. I really think it is affecting him not seeing Radly in three days. We had some friends in town this weekend and one of them had never met Kramer. She said, I thought he was the crazy, hyper one- well maybe he is just replenishing his craziness and will be back to normal once Radly is home.

I am going by the clinic today after work to check on my baby and to get an ETA of when he might be able to come home. I will keep you all posted.

Radly

My precious babies (yes, Radly is on top, he had a good 30 pounds on Kramer)

I have been avoiding this post because I really do not want to accept that it is all happening. My little man, Radly, is extremely sick. This all started about a month ago. Radly laid his head on my lap one night and I started petting him and noticed he looked really swollen. Bill and I thought that he may have gotten into something, so we just made sure he was comfortable that night and decided we would take him to the vet the next day.

They ran a ton of tests and nothing was found, they put him on medication and waited to see if it would work. One week later, no improvement, actually it got worse. So, it was time for surgery, he had to have a biopsy on his lymph nodes (they were extremely swollen). They biopsy results showed nothing. Meanwhile, Radly stopped eating. So in about a month he has lost 24 pounds and has been running a fever this whole time. We took him back to the vet yesterday because he just looked horrible. They basically told us there was nothing more they could do for him.

A referral could be made to the Auburn University Vet Clinic, but the amount of money spent would be OUTRAGEOUS. It is $1,500 minimum for a diagnostic test, then the amounts of test, surgeries, treatments after that could be infinite. We would be digging ourselves into about a $6,000 hole by the end of May (this was a guestimate from our doctor). So as of now, Radly is on a new round of meds, involving two different steroids, a temperature regulator, and some pain killers. We will see how these meds work and re-evaluate in 4-5 days.

Those of you who know me well, know this is absolutely killing me. My dogs are my children. Of course Ryan is my number one Stunna, but my dogs are my babies. I do not understand the 'outside dog" mentality. I would let both of them sleep with me every night just so they had something to snuggle with. Recently, I have snuck Radly in bed with Bill and I and just pet him until we are asleep. This is just such an emotional time. I do not know how my parents put our first dog to sleep. How hard to explain to your children that their dog had to die.

Bill is being so great through this all, but it is hurting him too. We got Radly for each other for a Valentine's Day present in 2005. He was our first present to each other that we would have to have responsibility for. He was the first addition to our little family. We spoiled that dog worst than any big lug of a dog could be spoiled. He slept right by my side every night, sometimes snuggling in my hair- which was never a problem for me. He was my baby!

Please pray for him. It's very tough to watch him lose the weight and continue to get more and more sluggish. Kramer is doing fine, but you can tell he knows Radly is sick. He licks him a lot and lays his head on his back when they relax for the night. I just hope we are not recreating "Where the Red Fern Grows." If Kramer slips into a depression, I will lose my mind. Of course Ryan is doing her part by crawling all over him and giving his back kisses (one of her new favorite things). She actually hugged Radly for about 2 minutes last night and I just sat there and cried. It was the sweetest thing.

Walk it Out

Well, we do have a full blown walker now. We took these videos last week and it's amazing how far she has come since then. They are just too precious not to post.

Ryan Walking

We do have a mobile little girl on our hands nowadays. We want to buy a mini video camera, but for now our phones will have to do. Please notice the two, ginormous road blocks Ryan has to learn to walk around. She's been taken out a time or two by these two lugs, but we just figure it will make her more balanced in the long run.

184th

This weekend I completed my first half marathon, The Gulf Coast Half Marathon in Pensacola, Fl. What an accomplishment. My girlfriend, Jill, and I have been training since January for this and we killed it. We finished in 184th place overall, out of 1,000 participants. I definitely want to toot our own horn, considering it was our first one. Our time was 1:55.42. Our goal was to finish under 2 hours and we did it. Yeah I am definitely feeling a bit sore this evening, but it was more than worth it.

While I was in Pensacola running my booty off, Ryan was at home with daddy and JoJo learning how to walk. When I got home today she has not stopped. She has seriously been walking around all day long. We ate dinner at the Adam's house tonight and she did not sit down once. She even started to speed walk a bit when a neighborhood dog came up to say hello. I am trying to post a video, but I am not very literate with that on the blog. Stay tuned...

Hoppy Easter

We had a fabulous Easter weekend in Huntsville full of events left and right. I will just take a picture walk with ya...

We played at the park with the Fergusons on Saturday evening. Ryan had such an amazing time. She loved climbing in the tunnel with her daddy.

Going down the slide with Pap

Swinging with Uncle Dan and Pap. She LOVED the swing!
Oh and who could forget this little guy. You know if Ryan went in the tunnel, then this dummio is going to do it too. It took some pushing and prodding, but they finally got him through.

Next, it was time to dye eggs. Above is the special egg daddy made his little girl. When I held up the camera, I said, "Smile Ryan!" She is so dang smart!
Look at our big girl. The dress she wore was adorable. It was from her Aunt Kim. A halter dress with pockets, hilarious.

Checking everything out with Pap & JoJo

Not quite sure about the wax paper, but loving every minute of it.
Easter lunch at Aunt Rosemary's house. She enjoyed all of the toys they had to play with, I don't think we have one of these guys!

Egg hunting with daddy. Please notice the face. She just did not quite get the eggs in the middle of the grass. It was adorable.

Okay, okay, now I get it, I pick the egg up and put it in the basket.

Look mom! I can do it!
Double checking for egg strays with Pa.

I am obsessed with this child.

I LOVE IT!!!!!

The best pose we had with her and her basket from Grammy and Pa.

Three cousins sitting on a stoop, so cute! We definitely decided this would have to be a yearly picture.

Precious girls!
Like I said...obsessed!Ryan had such a great time with Grammy and Pa.

All in all, we had a great time and Ryan was an absolute angel. I wanted to give another couple of updates. Ryan has started her new daycare this week and so far things are going great. You know the funniest part about her new room, she no longer has nap time in a crib. We had to buy her a sleeping mat and she has an assigned nap time, from 12-2 and she has to lay on her mat for two hours for her nap. Can you believe it? I mean that is something that her cousin Kate would do and she is 3, not Ryan. But she did it! Her teacher told us that she had trouble laying down the first day, but today she slept longer than any other kid in the class and had to be woken up. They said she woke up once during nap time and her teacher said, Ryan you need to lay your head back down, and SHE DID! I could not believe it. It's amazing how much of a big girl she can be away from mommy. It makes me think I can try new, big-girl things at home more often.

One more update, Ryan is really starting to walk. She takes about 4 steps then will fall. I really hope she picks up on this quick because she is the only kid in her class who is not walking yet. I am not too worried about that, because she is also the youngest kid in the class, but I just want her to be able to hang out with her friends. I mean if they all walk away from her, I want her to be able to go too (is that crazy?Okay I know it is, but poor little baby). Everyone tells me to not wish walking upon your child, but dang my back hurts- I am ready for this.

TEETH & Spaghetti

Very short post, when do I need to take Ryan to the dentist? I mean she has 10 teeth and we brush them twice a day, I feel like I should take her soon. Any advice?

Oh and spaghetti is becoming a regular at this house. Will Ryan ever learn proper etiquette?