la mamma artista: This and That

I know, I'm so behind...

Snow and Ice

In the south, it is not uncommon to have some wintery weather early in the new year and for that weather to cause problems. This year, old man winter threw us some curve balls. My fellow Atlantans know that I am referring to January and February's snow and ice storms. The first storm in January really caught us all off guard. Many of our friends and family members got stranded on their commute home because the icy roads were so bad and had to either rough it out and walk home or stay the night in uncommon places like hotel lobbies and grocery stores! It was a terrible mess and it caused a state of emergency. The second ice storm that was prediction and warning was better heeded by the state and luckily most business and schools shut down early enough for people to be safe in their homes when the storm hit.

The light at the end of the tunnel for both storms were that they brought atleast 3 - 5 inches of snow each time and allowed for snowmen and snow angel making by kids of all ages. Bella had a grand ol time getting suited up and playing in the snow with us. She was even able to play with the snow board she got as a christmas present.

Bella and her new friend/neighbor Gabriel

An Itchy Nitemare

Back in January, Oliver started showing some subtle skin irritations that we brought up with his vet. She didn’t find that they were too much a problem until we brought him in a week later for his comprehensive check up. We showed the vet that the irritations had spread and now he was itching, biting and scratching at them causing them to become open lesions that didn’t seem to be healing properly. They put him on antibiotics and injected him with steroids for the inflammation and the itching. Unfortunately, that did not help at all, in fact it exacerbated the condition and more “lesions” appeared all over him - back, legs, ears, tail, neck. It was terrible, he would “cry”, bark and moan all night keeping us up with his restlessness. He wouldn’t eat or drink much at all and he would go into these frantic itching "fits" where he would literally "shout" at us because he couldn’t bite/itch or scratch himself (we kept a jacket on him and an ecollar (cone) around his head because otherwise he would rip into himself). The vet put him on over-the-counter benedryl then zyrtec, while on antibiotics and a painkiller! What a mess… kinda like having a sick baby - they can’t tell you what they are feeling and they keep you up all night!

Since the antibiotics were not helping by preventing more breakouts, our next visit was to get him tested for scabies/mites and take a fungal culture for infections like ringworm. Scabies/mites came back right away negative (thank God!) but the fungal culture was going to take 7-10 days to grow anything! In the meantime Oliver was still in a lot of pain and the lesions were starting to take over his skin. After a week of waiting for the culture and continued worsening of Oliver’s condition, the vet decided to go ahead and start him on an oral antifungal medication even though the culture wasn’t growing much. The vet told us if this didn’t work, he would have to refer us to a canine dermatologist. (WHAT?! they have those?!)

Luckily Oliver started to show some improvement on the oral meds, he wasn't itching, his appetite returned, and his fur is started to grow back. He still had to keep a collar and jacket on so that all the lesions could heal properly and not get reinfected by his scratching. A week later, at another check-up, the doctor confirmed that the fungal test came back positive for ringworm. He just finished his medication, isn't itching and his normal doggy behavior has returned back to normal. It will still take a long time for his skin to return to normal.

I would post photos to show how bad it was, but I'd rather not turn stomachs. I pray no one I know has to go through such an ordeal with their pet.

Ollie on the mend

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Daughter

Another year of Bella's life has come and gone and now she has turned 4 years old! To me she seems to be growing up so quickly - she has become such a sweet, thoughtful, witty, and beautiful young lady. We are now looking forward to the fall when she will be starting pre-k! Bella has learned quite a lot in her daycare class as her teacher has been working with the children to prepare them for pre-k. Bella has learned to write her name, recognize colors, count 1 - 20, recite her ABC's, knows most sounds of letters and she has even memorized several bible verses, the pledge of allegiance, meal blessings and the Lord's prayer. We are proud parents to such a smart cookie!

We celebrated Bella's birthday with a small family gathering - instead of a big party this year we are going to Disney world! We have been waiting for just the right age to take her and four years old is the perfect magical age.