Fall

I love fall, always have. That's why I wanted to get married in October and now God has seen to it that my kiddos birthdays, as well as Harper's are in the fall. The air is different, the light is less intense, and all seems right in the world. This fall is no exception, however I am not going to be making it to any football games this year. I am taking a break while pregnant with Willa.

Things have been pretty much the same these past few weeks. Fay never ceases to amaze us, she is "talking" all the time, testing her limits, and playing hard. She loves to be tickled under the chin and on her chest, she loves to watch me put on makeup, and then I pretend to put it on her and she giggles this perfect giggle. She is all girl and is getting this beautifully blonde thick hair.

Willa is getting bigger every day and so am I...one really cool thing is when I feed Fay and I have her all settled down, we rock and Willa will kick her sister, and I have to pinch myself to really take it all in. I have my babies both right there with me, and I can feel and love on them both at once. It really is the coolest experience. Fay has also started patting my tummy...I tell her that there is a baby in there and then she tries to say "baby". I can't wait to meet Willa...she is going to make this family complete (at least for now).

Fay says hello.

Snake Bite

I haven't posted about this until now because quite honestly it was too fresh and it was a very traumatic experience but our sweet Harper was bitten buy a water moccasin over Labor Day weekend. He is TOTALLY fine now but it definitely was a big scare and something we will never forget for better or worse.

Dave and my dad had been hunting and we decided to go down to the river to clean the birds. We had Harper and my parent's dog Scout with us and then it was me, my dad and Dave. Once we got down to the bank the dogs went ahead and started into the water when my dad saw this HUGE snake with it's mouth open ready to strike. We called the dogs, both heeled, and then Dave shot. It happened very quickly and the snake was blown in half. What we didn't anticipate is that Harper would go to retrieve the snake because that is what he has been trained to do...retrieve what Dave has shot. At just the moment we realized what he was doing he had already been bit buy the top half which was still alive. His whole face was immediately bloodied and he looked confused and stunned. I was already crying at this point.

We rushed up to the house, got Harper into the back of the truck and then my dad and Dave went to go call the local Llano vet, which happens to be my Dad's best friend from high school. I stayed with Harper out in the truck, which is when it went from bad to really horrible. I kept yelling for help but they couldn't hear me, Harper had started vomiting blood, defecating himself, and was laboring very hard to breath. He was bleeding EVERY WHERE and i was just holding him and praying. There was no doubt in my mind that he was dying and I was just trying to comfort him, as he was in a lot of pain and suffering to fight the venom. I was a total wreck. Finally Dave came out of the house and saw how bad things had gotten and we immediately rushed to the vet's office.

At first when they had called Harper hadn't looked too bad so there was some question as to whether the vet needed to see him because he had the snake vaccine, but once he heard what new symptoms he had there was no doubt he needed to come in. The next question was whether or not he would need the anti-venom, which is a last resort because of the risks associated with administering this foreign substance into his body.

Dave rode in the back of the truck with Harper and my Dad and I were up front. We flew into to town and once we got there he had at least stopped vomiting. He was still having a hard time breathing and he was still bleeding like crazy. We had to carry him into the office, and he checked all his vitals which looked good...it turned out that the vaccine had finally kicked in and Harper's body was beginning to win the fight. He gave him pain meds, steroids and sent us home with antibiotics.

He was VERY swollen for days and bled for a couple of days after, but in the end, he was fine. He is a big strong boy and that snake was on the loosing end. We are very grateful to have him with us. He is a joy, a family member, and a great dog. We love him very much and he is truly a blessing to this family. In fact Fay can say his name now! She knows mama, dada, bye bye, and Harper! I even got it on video.

Here is a pic of from Labor day. Everyone was dressed to hunt, but Harper couldn't go...he was still recovering. You can kind of see the wound on the side of his snout.

Fay's 9 Month Check Up and Mom's 28 Weeks

Fay had her well baby check today and she is in the 25th percentile for weight and 90th for height! Tall and skinny...oh to be so blessed. She is exceeding the milestones and just gabbing up a storm. The Dr predicts that she will be walking soon, she is already cruising at light speed around all of the furniture and she is starting to let go and try to stand on her own. She still has only the two bottom teeth but the Dr showed us four top teeth that are about to be here. Good thing, I was wondering if those were the only two she had in her head. She got one vaccine and then we were done. We don't go back until her one year check up and that means Willa will be here by then! Its starting to seem closer and closer!

I had my 28 week appt and Willa's heartbeat is strong and loud :) I am starting to really have trouble getting around because everything hurts but I am so accustomed to being uncomfortable I don't know what it will be like to feel really good. We go back at 32 weeks which is Sept 28th and then we then our next appt will be 36 weeks and that's when we will have our big sonogram and get an estimated weight for Willa. I can't believe I only have 2 more appointments before I start going weekly.

We are still working on Willa's room but things are progressing and we should have everything done by Halloween which was my goal. And I am probably going to have all of Christmas ready to go, in fact i started updating my Christmas card list just the other day. This year I am not so naive to think I will be able to shop! Besides decking the tree Christmas will be ready to roll at our house with Trick or Treat!

Fay started Mother's Day Out this week and she is in the Black Bears class. And we got four new pairs of shoes for the occasion. Gold gladiator sandals, nike shocks, white Keds mary janes, and silver sunday school shoes. She is SO stylish!