Sunday, January 29, 2012

Best Friends

So I know that I still owe you guys a catch-up of our move to Brisbane, Christmas, etc but I first have to put this out there.  As some of you know my sweet Punkin was admitted to hospital last week and had surgery on Wednesday. 

For those of you who don't know Punkin's history you can click here

Over the weekend (last weekend) Punkin was squinting her right eye.  This is not unusual for her since she usually does it every time she gets a new spot in her eye.  Usually it goes on for a day or two and once she adjust to having it things are fine.  Then Monday came around.  I remember looking down at her during the day and thinking "Wow, that right eye looks completely white.  I don't think old girl can see".  I bent down, rubbed on her head and gave her a kiss.  Poor girl!  That night she was sitting in the recliner and I noticed that her eye was sunken back and really swollen.  I called Jamie over to look at it and he agreed we needed to take her in.  I called the vet and got an appointment for first thing the next morning.  We didn't think it was an emergency at the time, just that she had probably scratched her eye on something so the next morning was fine.

At the appointment they examined her and said that there was no scratch.  The vet thought that Punkin needed to be seen by a specialist and suggested that I leave her so they could fit her in since this person is usually booked out for months in advance.  I agreed and Kylie wasn't too happy.  We got to the door and she started hitting her leg saying "mon Punkin, mon Punkin".  I felt so bad!  She continued to call for her for the rest of the day.

I got a call later that day stating that Punkin had a number of things wrong with her eyes.  She was diagnosed with Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye), Corneal dystrophy in both eyes, an ulceration of the right eye and an unknown growth on the left eye.  The corneal dystrophy is what was causing the white spots so that was nothing new, everything else took us by surprise. 

The surgery on Wednesday was to repair the dry eye and ulceration on the right eye and since she would be asleep they were going to go ahead and remove the growth from the left eye and do further testing if they need to.  Evidently when the Dr examined the ulceration, the tissue in and around it just fell off. The plan was to go in and debride it and then put a lens over it so it can heal without her touching it. If all went well and she healed okay she would have surgery for the corneal dystrophy next (part 2) to remove all the lipid deposits from both eyes later on.  During the surgery they found that her cornea was in really bad shape though and some of the spots were infected.  Because of this she decided to go ahead and take them out so they didn't turn into ulcerations as well.  She was able to get 99% if them but some of them were really deep and she said Punkin was in lots of pain so she didn't think it was a good idea to bring her home.  They decided to keep her until Friday afternoon so she could get around the clock pain meds and antibiotics. 

I picked her up on Friday and Kylie couldn't have been happier.  She followed Punkin around everywhere, it was the cutest thing I've ever seen!  If Punkin would sit on the floor so would Kylie.  She would pet her and scratch her back, soo stinkin' cute!  Today (Sunday) unfortunately Punkin was readmitted to hospital due to some swelling and pain issues.  Her eye as pretty swollen, she was making some wining noises while sleeping and when I went to clean the eye/put her drops in it she actually snapped at me <---- not like her at all!!  I spoke with Pauline (the eye specialist) before I took her in and she told me by the sound of things she would need to stay overnight for additional medications and a removal of stitches to check the eye out in the morning.  Kylie took leaving her a bit better this time since I was able to coach her before hand that she would be staying.  All this got me to thinking though.

I had no clue that Kylie was that attached. I knew that she loved her, but I guess I didn't realize that she was old enough to really have an attachment like that. After thinking about it, it broke my heart : ( I don't think I'll be able to handle the time when it comes that Punkin (or Budder for that matter) are no longer with us. How am I going to comfort her as well?  Hopefully it's something I don't have to think about for a while.  When it does happen though, thankfully I've been able to capture some great moments with Kylie and Punkin.  How special is it that she'll be able to look back at these photos and always remember her 1st best friend!!

From the first day we brought her home Punkin felt like she had to be the protector!  And to think we were worried that she would be jealous!

First day home (4 days old)



5 weeks old

Just hanging out

Always by her side!

Sweet rubs and kisses!

Maybe this is why Punkin loves her so!

Not all kisses must take place on the face...

But I sure try!

Kylie returning the favors for her best friend!
  Punkin's first afternoon home from surgery.



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Videos for the family

By request for the family, videos of Kylie at Christmas.  Too big to email and facebook was taking FOREVER!!!  Enjoy!

Christmas Morning

Playing on the new swing/playset that Santa left her.  She can't get enough of it!
Pushing her baby on the swing.



Sunday, January 1, 2012

Last weeks in Perth

Our last weeks in Perth were pretty hectic. Jamie was working tons (what’s new?) and we hadn’t found a house on our trip to Brisbane. Add that to the fact that we were supposed to be out of our Perth house on the 24th of October and that made our move a bit stressful. There was other stuff going on behind the scenes that further complicated things, but since I’m writing a blog and not a book there’s really no need to go into the details. The result of everything combined ended with our stay in Perth being extended until the 12th of November and a very stressful few weeks for all involved.

Even with all the stress, we tried to make the most of it. I’m sad to say that there are a number of things we didn’t get to see/do before we left, but I guess that just gives us a reason to go back and visit one day. Well, that and the fact that Perth is Kylie’s hometown. I feel sad that she won’t grow up in the same place that she was born, much less get to visit it. By the time she starts school she will have lived in at least 2 places, most likely 3 or more though. At the moment, assuming that we don’t move back to Perth one day, my plan is to return with Kylie when she graduates from high school. Jamie’s response to this was “yeah right, likes she’s going to want to spend her summer before college in Australia with her mom. She’ll want to go to Cancun with her friends.” My response, “That’s fine, I’ll go to Cancun with her and then we’ll head to Oz from there.” I was half joking, but I do have every intention of bringing her back to visit one day. I think that she would think it was pretty cool as well. I guess we shall see what the future brings!

Instead of spitting out commentary of our last few weeks I’ll hit the highlights with a few photos below.

Kylie’s Nursery, completed.  Not sure if I ever posted any photos of her room once it was all done but here it is.  Probably the saddest moment of our last few weeks was having to return Kylie’s room back to the original color.  I hated doing it and I think it freaked her out as she didn’t sleep though the night for a few days afterwards.  I have to admit, it was a great '1st' room If I do say so myself!


 
Kylie’s 1st trip to the zoo.  I was a little disappointed in our trip to the Perth zoo.  I really thought that Kylie was going to be really into it, but she wasn’t quite old enough to get it.  She wasn’t very interested in the animals and had more fun running around from exhibit to exhibit.

 

Lots of time was spent playing in the backyard.  The weather was perfect when we returned from our trip to the US/Brisbane and we couldn’t get enough of the outdoor activities.   Great memories were made in this backyard, I hated to leave it  : (
 The girl can't get enough of her books!

Or her Daddy!

We continued to send Kylie to daycare up to the very end since we knew that it may take awhile to get her into another one in Brisbane.  Having to say goodbye to the people there was the 2nd saddest part of leaving.  I loved that center and Kylie did as well.  They were extremely nice and took lots of photos of Kylie enjoying her last few weeks there.


Kylie and her 'bestie' Matilda-Rose

She was so sad that it was her last day with Tash and Sara she wouldn't even smile for the photo!

Since we left a few weeks later than we expected I had 2 weeks of Kylie in daycare with no work.  I used this time to get the house ready for our move and hanging with my girls!   After one of our ‘booze lunches’ we decided to make an afternoon of it since we didn’t have to get the girls from daycare until 5-ish.  We extended our lunch by heading down to Subiaco Hotel and had a few more drinks there.  It must have been the place to be because we ended up meeting the ‘1st bloke’ (the Prime Minister of Australia’s partner Tim Mathieson).  He was there celebrating his birthday with some mates and after a few drinks I decided it would be a good idea to go up and talk to him.  He was very polite and after a nice conversation with him he even took a few photos with us.  How many people do you know can say they hang out with cool crowds like this??


The same weekend I hung with the 1st bloke Kylie and I attended the Queen’s BBQ.  She was in town for the commonwealth heads of government meetings (which was why the PM and her partner were there) and on her last day in town they held a big BBQ for her and Prince Phillip on the foreshore.  I took Kylie down there not because I thought she would remember it, but because how many American’s can actually say they’ve seen the Queen in person?  Not to mention she’s like 90, so I don’t think she’ll be travelling much longer.  Her visit to Perth was probably the first and last time we’d get to see her.  I was pretty aggravated that I moved from our original spot, as she ended up greeting people right where we were standing (we were right on the barricade with only 1 person in front of us).  I moved because 1.  At the time I didn’t think she was going to walk that way and 2.  I was afraid that if Kylie had a breakdown I wouldn’t be able to get out once the people started filling in behind us.  In the end we still had a great view and hey, I attended a BBQ with the Queen of England.  How many people can say they’ve done the same?
Eating lunch while waiting for the Queen to arrive

 


It's exhausting seeing the Queen!

 The last family event we attended in Perth was the Little Feet Fest.  Kylie had a great time running around in the mazes and at the petting zoo.  She was still a little young for some of the stuff, but I think overall she had a great time.

Fun in the maze

Feeling a bit overwhelmed!

Starting to warm up

It's all good now!

Of course we couldn’t leave without having a proper Melbourne Cup luncheon. It was a great time with the girls and the kiddos and I ended up getting 2nd place in my draw, which is always a plus.
  

Some of the girls I work with arranged a ‘going away’ outing one night to relax, have some drinks and say goodbye.  It was nice to have a night to hang out with a few friends before I left for Brisbane where I would know no one.  After the week I’d had getting the house ready to hand over (our property manager was a pain in the ass!) I needed (and deserved) a few drinks so the timing worked out well!  Here’s a photo of me and the Hollywood Private Hospital theater (OR/recovery) girls!!


Since Kylie had so much fun at the LFF I got together with my Perth bestie (and Kylie’s bestie) and we went to the grand opening of the Waterford Plaza center.  I had a great time hanging out with Shell and the girls had a good time at the petting zoo and with the balloon lady. We ended the day at Gloria Jeans having yummy chocolate drinks and baby chinos.  What a great way to end the day!
Patiently waiting for the ballon lady to finish

The best part of the day!

Wow!!  Even though I feel like I’ve been writing forever I can’t believe that our last days in Perth went by so fast!  Of course, we had to have some family photos taken before we left Kylie’s home town.  Here’s a few from our last day in Perth at our favorite spot and our last visit to our first family home!  Thank goodness it’s time to end this post as I can no longer see to type anymore!!

 
 
 

The best one we could get!  She was actually trying to get away in this photo, lol!