Two Birthdays!

 Birthdays in our family mostly come in pairs.   Emma and Adam were both born in October.   Cami and Glen have birthdays a couple weeks apart from each other in mid-summer and mine and Spencer's birthdays are the closest of all--just 5 days apart at the end of April.  Ellie is the only one with a birthday all by her lonesome in March!   

  This year my birthday came right after all the craziness I've mentioned in the last couple posts, including houseguests x2, a quick trip to Texas, an injured dog, and a whole lot of other random things on the calendar.    My birthday arrived just after Cami and crew (and Emma) had returned to Alabama, Ellie was back at school, and  Glen was at a work retreat in Saint George. That meant with Spence at work, that  I was mostly by myself for the day.   We'd celebrated with everyone before they left town, so it's not like I was forgotten in any sense, but it was a bit of a let-down to spend the day on my own.   All in all, though, I can't complain....I frankly needed a minute to breathe after the craziness of the previous weeks...

Here's a glimpse at my birthday...

I got flowers from Dad and Cam...

And Pete Doordashed me some Via313 gluten free cinnamon sticks...

Then, at the end of the work day, Heather, Grandma, Spence, and I went for fish tacos at Taqueria27.  Then Heather made cake.     I definitely ate way too much food! 

I spent my quiet day/week doing things like cleaning out the laundry room/back pantry, which had become a dumping ground of sorts...

I also kept eagerly checking my phone for pictures from Alabama to pop up in our camera roll from Emma...

Cami just started back to work after her maternity leave, so I think she was grateful to have Emma there.   

Random pictures from Ellie have also been entertaining...

This picture popped up in my memories today and cracked me up...It's from 2009 and it was when Glen was participating in a triathlon!   Look how little my peeps were!   😆

A few days after my birthday, we started celebrating Spencer's birthday in shifts.  I made him Philly Cheesesteak for dinner, as well as homemade PB bars on his actual birthday, then we went out and did a few more things once Emma and Glen got home.  

Oh, and did I mention that Spence just turned 29?    That means I've been doing this Mom gig for almost 30 years now and I won't lie....between my birthday, my inability to get a good night's rest lately, and Spence's birthday, I've been feeling a little extra old lately.   

Thank goodness for Facetimes with Lucie to keep me young!   I now know more about Facetime filters and stickers than I ever thought possible and I have to admit that I get very excited every time she calls and asks me to read a book to her.   If I can't be with them in person, I'm grateful to live in a day and a time that Facetime keeps us connected.  

Poor Denali

A couple weeks ago, we took Denali back to the new groomer we recently discovered and really like. She came back smelling fresh and looking snazzy...

Apparently the shampoo scent was too fresh and foreign smelling for Kiwi though and she didn't recognize Denali as her daily playmate.   There had been some growling and barking from Kiwi after previous grooming visits, so it was our intention to only let them have a very brief supervised sniff of each other before separating them for a few days, while Denali got back to smelling more like herself.   That very brief interaction with two of us supervising was too much though.   Kiwi ended up attacking Denali instantly and thank goodness Ellie and I were both right there to stop things quickly, but even still we ended up having to take Denali to the veterinary ER.    All this while Glen and Spencer were out of town. 

The left picture is what it looked like before we took her in.   After examining her more thoroughly, the vet ended up having to shave the wound and give her three stitches.  Additionally, they found two more punctures where other teeth had entered.  Thankfully those did not need stitching.  

She cried in pain quite a bit the first couple days (even with pain meds) and also wore a cone and/or a onesie for the next two weeks, to keep her from bothering the stitches.  She has since gotten her stitches removed and has recovered quite well.

This all came in the middle of a crazy few weeks at our house and was just "one more thing" to keep our stress levels high.  Kiwi is 98% sweet as can be, but that 2% is terrifying and we are trying to figure out a new way going forward.  

For now we are just keeping them completely separated in different parts of the house while we figure things out.  

Here's to happier dog days ahead...