Beautiful Boy

Close your eyes
Have no fear
The monster's gone
He's on the run and your mommy's here

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy

Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy

Out on the ocean sailing away
I can hardly wait
To see you to come of age
But I guess we'll both
Just have to be patient
Yes it's a long way to go
But in the meantime

Before you cross the street
Take my hand
Life is just what happens to you
While your busy making other plans

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Tristan

Brindle Pit Bull/Lab Mix (Male)

This is the ad I put on KSL for Chili Pepper. If you know anyone who is interested in having my dog, please have them contact me a.s.a.p.

My husband and I are looking for a good home for our 2 year old pit bull/lab mix. He is all brindle with the exception of a small white patch of fur on his chest, and he weighs approximately 64 lbs. He is a beautiful animal; he is neutered, and is current on all of his vaccinations.

He does not get along well with young children or other pets, but he is great with adults and older kids. He is very active and loves to go camping, fishing, and take long walks. So someone who loves the outdoors would be preferred.

A large, fenced backyard is a must for this dog. He has a lot of energy and needs a lot of area to run around in.

He is a lot of fun and a great dog. We would love to keep him, but we have a new baby and we haven't had time to give him the attention he needs and deserves.

We are not asking for any money. We are giving him away. What is important to us is that he goes to a good and loving home.

Does Anyone Want A Dog?

Does anyone want a pit bull/lab mix, or know anyone who might? There was an incident with Chili Pepper and Roadie and we have to get rid of him. It breaks my heart because Robbie and I have raised Chili from a puppy, but I can't risk anything happening to Tristan after what happened to Roadie. I'll explain...

About two weeks ago Roadie was chewing on one of Chili's raw hides. Chili got mad. Normally Chili will just let it go, but this time he didn't. He bit Roadie's head and Roadie's eye popped out of the socket. It was just hanging out of his head! It was probably one of the most traumatizing things I've ever seen.

We had to take Roadie to the vet right away. It was about 8:30 at night when this happened so they were closed. Luckily, the vet had an emergency number to call. We were able to get a hold of him and he met us at the vet office.

Roadie had to have emergency surgery and had to stay over night and most of the next day. The vet was able to get his eye back in, but poor Roadie is now blind in his left eye. Other than that he is okay. Thank God!

I love Chili to death, but all I have been thinking about since this happened is what if this had happened to Tristan? I would be devastated! It was bad enough that it happened to Roadie. I knew right away that we had to get rid of him. Robbie wanted to keep him. Chili is Robbie's dog and he is very attached to him. We argued and fought about it constantly until two days ago. He now realizes that we can't take a chance on our son.

So, we need to find a good home for Chili. We don't want any money for him. We are giving him away. It needs to be someone that will love him and give him the attention that he needs. Someone who doesn't have young kids or other pets. He is great with adults and older kids though!

A big, fenced yard is a must! He has a lot of energy and needs to be able to run around. Someone who is active and loves outdoors activities. Robbie and I used to take him to the dog park, camping, fishing, on long walks, etc. If he doesn't have this he gets antsy and he'll drive you crazy! Lol!

I'm really sad about everything that has happened, but I have to think about my family and what is best for us. I wish we had the time to give Chili the attention that he needs, but with a new baby we don't anymore. If you all could spread the word I would greatly appreciate it. I would rather someone that we know have him to put my mind at ease and so that we might be able to visit him once in awhile. Thanks everyone!

Stay At Home Mommy!

Well, work at home mommy anyway. I gave 30 days notice at my job last week and it felt so good! My last day is January 8th. Just four more weeks and I'll be home with my baby full time. I am so happy I can hardly stand it!

Everything is falling into place for my home day care. I am CPR and First Aid certified, I have my food handlers permit, I'm calling Tooele City about my business license tomorrow, I have all of things to safety proof my house. I should be ready to open up for business mid January.

I am so happy. I feel so blessed that I have this opportunity. Merry Christmas to me and my wonderful family! It's the best gift ever! =)

An Update of Sorts...

Well, it's been a month since I've posted so I thought I would update. I just never have time anymore.

Chili is fine. Our neighbors were assholes and said that Chili bit their dog when he didn't. He passed all of his aggression tests and was very well behaved while in quarentine. So we got him back after two days instead of ten. I'm so thankful I got my dog back.

The newest thing that I'm going through is postpartum depression. I didn't really understand how anyone could be so depressed after giving birth to a beautiful baby. What is there to be sad about? Now I have PPD.

It is awful! I cry everyday. It's mostly when I'm at work. I think about Tristan and I bawl my eyes out because I'm not with him. Sometimes I cry for no reason. I haven't been sleeping well, I never want to eat. I know that my hormones and brain chemicals are out of whack, but I hate feeling like this all of the time.

My doctor prescribed me Zoloft. It's been taking the edge off, but it's making me sick. Apparently my body needs to adjust to it for a couple of weeks though. I have an appt on the 15th to talk about it with my doc.

I think that me being home with Tristan will help so much though. I got my CPR and First Aid Certification today so I'm one step closer to getting my day care business. I'm going to be able to turn in my two weeks after Christmas and that keeps me sane every day I sit behind that desk. Getting state licensed is a lot of work, but it will be so worth it. I'm very grateful to my dad for helping me get started. I couldn't do it without him. At least not this soon.

That's the jist of what's happening now. I'll post again when I can.

I Hate Animal Control

Wow! I haven't blogged in such a long time. I've really been slacking. I do feel that this is important though and I want to share it with all of you.

We came home from work around 5:30 on Friday and found a notice on our door from Tooele City Animal Control. It said that Chili was involved in an incident of biting another dog and that he would have to be quarentined for a minimum of 10 days. It also said if we didn't take him in within 24 hours they would be forced to take further action.

Needless to say, I was in a panic. We rushed inside, then headed straight for our backyard. Chili and Roadie were both still out there. We checked our gate and it was locked and secure. Chili did rip a couple of the planks of our wood fence out which sucks for us, but the hole wasn't big enough for Chili to fit through and he didn't do any damage to the chain link fence in our neighbors yard.

We called animal control to find out what happened. If you know Chili, you know his mouth is too big to fit through a hole in a chain link fence so there was no way he could have bit a dog through there. The lady at animal control had no information because the officer that left the notice on our door didn't file the report before her shift ended. They said we could call back on Monday, but in the mean time we had to bring Chili in, or they would issue a warrant, they would come take him, and we would be fined!

I was furious! They didn't even have a record of what happened, but he has to be quarentined and observed for 10 days anyway and they threatened to fine us and take him away if we didn't comply. So we still have no idea what he did, but if he really did bite our neighbors dog, he was in our neighbors back yard playing so it obviously wasn't serious enough to need medical attention.

Now we have to just wait. If they decide he's not a threat they will release him back to us. If they decide he is dangerous or even potentially dangerous he will have to have a hearing and we can be fined anywhere from $50 to $500. Worst case scenario is that he'll be put down.

I'm so scared for Chili. When we brought him in he was shaking, he was so scared. He started whimpering and crying when they put him in the kennel. The kennels there are so disgusting! It smelled like shit and it didn't look like anyone had cleaned the kennels for days. I felt awful having to leave him there. I hope he's good while he's there so we can bring him home.

I'll post another blog when we get some answers. Fuck Tooele City Animal Control! I am so furious with them and I'm terrified for the fate of Chili Pepper. Everyone cross your fingers and pray that we can bring him home.

Much Needed Update

Wow! I don't think I've ever gone this long without updating my blog. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Between bringing a new baby home, my bedroom ceiling starting to cave in, and my basement flooding, I haven't had time to update. I'll write about part of what has happened now.

Let's start with my favorite, Tristan. =) He is doing so well! When I took him to his two week appointment, he weighed 8 lbs 9 oz, was 22 inches long, and his head circumferance is 37.5 cm. He has a normal sized head and is long and skinny like his daddy. Lol!

He is going through a growth spurt now so all he wants to do is eat. He has been sleeping a lot today, so hopefully he'll be back to his normal schedule soon. He was sleeping in four hour stretches before.

I love my little man so much. I had the baby blues bad for the first two weeks. I cried everyday. I was so overwhelmed with being a mom and having my life change so much. It's hard caring for a newborn 24/7. I'm starting to adjust now though and I love being a mother. It's going to be so hard going back to work in October. =(

Okay, now to my house problems. Our bedroom ceiling started caving in. At first we thought it was water damage from the swamp cooler, but no. The contractor that built this house got lazy and didn't seam two pieces of the dry wall so the ceiling started to sag. Luckily my hubbie took construction trade classes and can fix just about anything. So that wasn't bad.

Now to my basement. My mom stayed with me for a week to help around the house while I adjusted to being a mom. Her intentions were good, but she ended up costing us $1,400! She put a shitload of potato peels, peach skins, cherry tomatoes, and God knows what else down our disposal and clogged that drain. So much pressure built up in it that when the drain couldn't hold anymore it burst and all of that water leaked into our basement. I was furious to say the least.

We got it taken care of, but it took a huge chunk out of our pocket that we needed for Robbie's car. Just a lot of un-needed stress.

There is much more going on, but I will write another blog later. I'll try to be better about my weekly posts. =)

Tristan Jude Randall

Is finally here! Well, he was born one week ago, but I haven't had time to blog about his birth yet. There is only so much time when you have a newborn.

Tristan Jude Randall was born on Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 9:42 pm MST. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long at birth. He has a full head of dark hair, has Robbie's nose, and is healthy and perfect!

I had a really good labor and delivery. There were no complications and it was only six hours from the time I was admitted to the time that I delivered him. Of course, I did go to labor and delivery twice before thinking I was in labor. I was, but it was early labor so they sent me home both times. =(

When they admitted me I was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. They checked me about an hour later and nothing had changed, so the doctor decided to break my water to make my labor progress faster. It worked. I was dilated to 10 cm by 8:15. They still wanted me to wait 30 minutes before I started pushing because Tristan needed to descend a little bit more.

I started pushing at 8:45. I pushed for 45 minutes, but I couldn't get his head past my pelvic bone for some reason. I was scared that his head was too big, but as soon as the doctor came in she saw that he was posterior, or face up. Luckily, she was able to turn him around safely. Ten minutes after he was turned I had my beautiful baby boy in my arms.

I can't describe the happiness I felt at that moment. Robbie and I both teared up a bit. The first week has been tough to say the least, but it is so worth it. Everyone tells me it gets much easier once mom and baby have some time to adjust. So I'll trust the words of wisdom from other moms that have been giving me advice. I'm just so glad he is here. I couldn't be happier. =)

40 Weeks

"It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds (a small pumpkin) and is about 20 inches long. His skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason your baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. Rest assured — it's normal and temporary."

Today is my due date, but I am still pregnant. =( Tristan is being a tease. I'll get contractions for hours, but they aren't consistent at all. They will start five minutes apart, then seven minutes, then ten minutes, then 14 minutes, then they stop. I don't know if that's normal or not. They hurt, but they are bearable at least.

I went to labor and delivery yesterday morning because my contractions were really strong and I was having a lot of them. They checked me and monitored Tristan. I'm 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced. There were no problems with me or Tristan, which is good, but they sent me home and told me to come back in when my contractions are four to five minutes apart and I need to time them for an hour.

That was discouraging to say the least. I was really hoping that was true labor, but I guess it wasn't. I hope he comes before my next appointment on the 2nd. My friend, Tannin, told me that her midwife had her take primrose oil tablets to help get labor going. The primrose oil softens your cervix apparently. It's all natural, 100% safe, and no icky side effects like castor oil. So I'm going to try that and see if it helps.

Come on baby boy! I know it's warm and snug in there, but we all love you and want to meet you and hold you. Come out into the world!

And The Waiting Game Continues...

I went to the doctor today. She checked me and I'm still 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced, so she stripped my membranes again! I was really hoping I would have better news this week. I've been trying everything to induce labor. Well, except castor oil, but I refuse to do that.

I have been having stronger contractions since my OB stripped my membranes again, but they aren't consistent at all. They are still really sporadic. =( Ash and I are going to go for a long walk tomorrow and see if we can't help him come out. He is just a really stubborn baby I guess. There is nothing wrong with either one of us. He just wants to stay in there.

I have another appointment scheduled for September 2nd. My doctor said that if I am still pregnant by then we are going to schedule an induction. Please come out before then, Tristan! I don't know if I can handle another week. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!