Paul cuddling w Maggie. Tyler saw Maggie in our bed and got scared. Apparently he associated Jake being sick with being allowed to be in our bed (which was true), but assumed that if Maggie was in there she was going to die too.
Things are pretty quiet around here without Jake. Paul and I took Maggie and Katie on a hike Sunday morning before we got the kids. We both agreed it was good for us to do “the first one without Jake” on our own before having the kids do their first Jake-less walk.
Anna and Tyler both handled Jake’s death better than Sam’s. They cried when they first saw him laid out by his grave, but once we went through the photos and toys that we wanted to bury with Jake, they were ok. Tyler did a good job helping Paul bury Jake. Anna chose a photo of her as a baby, Paul and Jake that she wanted to put in the frame with the photo she has of Sam.
Enjoying a favorite past time--riding in the car--on the 4th of July this year. He was diagnosed w lymphoma the next day.
Yesterday we buried my man’s best friend. It was so quiet when I fed Maggie and Katie this morning–no Jake to bark his hungry head off. Paul wondered when he was going to stop looking for him in every room. Never. My mom said it best: it will leave a hole in your heart the shape of your pet. And Jake was a big big dog, with an even bigger personality.
The boys after another of Jake's past times--swimming. This was also July of this year, at a local lake one morning before work. Probably after a 3rd past time--Jake tricking us into thinking he was coming out of the water when it was time to go. It always took a few tries to get him back on the leash.
That’s right! The countdown is on! Check out the new link on the right hand column to the web’s official 100 days countdown! Let’s get planning, people!
What is a favorite tradition from your family holiday season?
Jake at the vet on Friday. Dr Thomas was very surprised at how well he was doing--that he was still alive at all really. We just want him to be able to enjoy the things he loves as long as he can.
I guess I should have kept my trap shut. Jake took a turn for the worse this weekend. We took the dogs to the Dog Splash (more on that in another post), which we knew would be hard for him physically b/c of the gigantic lymph nodes making it hard to breathe. But we strongly feel that quality of life is what we are shooting for here and Jake CLEARLY had a ball swimming.
Last night he was having a really hard time breathing and we considered taking him to the emergency vet to have him euthanized. Paul laid on the floor with him for awhile and Jake’s breathing finally calmed down and Jake was able to fall asleep. This morning he was just lying around and we had a plan set for Paul to take him. Paul told the kids about it and Tyler got Jake some ice (one of Jake’s favorite treats that he gets… legally at least!). After eating about 10 ice cubes, Tyler gave him cheese, which he snarfed in 1 swallow. [[time out: spell check knows the word "snarfed," but not the word "euthanized." What's up with THAT?!]] Then Jake turned around and snatched Anna’s bagel out of her hand while she wasn’t paying attention. Paul and I just looked at each other stunned.
So we decided to hold off and watch him for now. I have plans to travel to Cincinnati to see Sydney and the rest of my family for a few days. Worried about leaving Paul to handle all that by himself: he will have the kids T, W, Th (read: homework those nights, plus getting on the bus on W, Th, F). If he needs to put Jake down in the middle of all that, wow. But knowing Jake, he will probably be “helping” Paul make lunches every morning for many more weeks to come.
It’s weird how quickly you can go from “inside” to “outside” in a relationship. Kind of like high school clicks I guess. Sort of goes along the lines of “2′s company, 3′s a crowd” kind of thing. Here is what happened:
Today Paul and I took the kids to Subway for dinner, then we decided to try to do our part to stimulate the economy by buying ice cream at the new Summerfield Creamery. We were getting back in the car and I noticed today is September 10 [you don't pay much attention to the date when you are not working]. I said to Paul, “10 days until our anniversary!!” Paul confirmed with a, “Yep!” [you know he is a man of few words]. I had a few beats of silence to contemplate the past 2 years of marriage–wow, TWO YEARS!! Good for me! Good for us! Good stuff, we can do anything as long as we have each other!”
Then from the back seat, Anna pipes up, “What are we doing for your anniversary!?” Isn’t perspective funny?! I had not even considered this would be on their radar! What is even funnier is that Paul and Tyler will be at Tyler’s soccer practice, and Anna and I will be going to her school for a Parent Night thing.
Jake is hanging in there like the stubborn dog he is. We still give him the max dose of prednisone that the vet originally prescribed. That makes him eat lots and pee more. When we let him out in the morning and after work, its about a 2 minute steady stream. No wonder he is panting when we get up.
He has good days and bad. Yesterday he was running after the ball and the Frisbee some when we were in the back yard. But then when it was time for bed, he had a hard time climbing up. There is a small section of my brain that thinks that he is playing us. Because we are not sure how much longer he will be with us, he pretty much gets what he wants. He gets a can of soft food each morning (also b/c he can’t swallow the hard food so he wasn’t eating much), he doesn’t get yelled at as much when he tramples the garden and eats the tomatoes off the vine the day before Paul was going to pick them, and he sleeps on the bed with us at night. Most nights Jake and I are sacked out before Paul even starts practicing guitar so a couple hours later he has to wiggle in between us. That is always funny b/c he either does it in the dark or leaves the light on , then has to figure out how to get the lamp clicked off.
Often times there is a milestone that dying people hang on for. We are wondering if that might be the Dog Splash for Jake. Each year the city pool in Burlington closes for a week for cleaning and draining the pool. Before they do they let dogs come swim for $5. We took Jake, Maggie and Katie last year and had a BLAST. The only reason we left was b/c the dogs’ paws were bleeding from running on the concrete and climbing out of the pool (they were not interested in the zero gravity entrance). The 2010 Dog Splash is next weekend (September 11) and we have our reservations set. Here is a picture of Jake at the 2009 Dog Splash:
Back in July, Paul’s aunt and uncle–Dub and Betsey–invited us to their house on Lake Norman. As is the case when you include Paul in fun outdoor activities, it rained. Now I know we were already wet since we were in the water, but you can only ignore intense lightening so long before it really becomes bad parenting. So we piled into Dub and Betsey’s basement rec room and let the wild rumpus begin!
OK, with this last picture…let the record reflect that I was indeed the best “French horn” player there that day. I know it was my mad oboe skills that put me on top.
You can see that we really owe Dub and Betsey a bigger than ever thank you for dealing with our chaos. They really are wonderful hosts and we look forward to our day at the lake every summer!
I think this is the best picture I have ever seen of Elli (besides that one of her and our mom at her wedding). And Sydney is the cutest baby ever so that is an easy one:
We are not converting, we are celebrating Paul, Tyler and Anna’s birthdays and Christmas! We started way back in November (about 10 years ago it seems), we had Thanksgiving and visited w my family. But that last 7 days we have had 7 celebrations. Really 7 in 6 days–tonight is a bye night. Here is the summary:
Day 1, 12/17/09: Anna’s 8th birthday. Paul and I met Robin and Jason, and of course Tyler at Rio Grande for Anna’s birthday dinner. Anna chose the restaurant–Rio G won for the 3rd year in a row. I just LOVE this picture of Anna.
Anna at her Rio Grande birthday dinner, Dec 17
Day 2, 12/18/09: Kids Family Birthday Party. Stephanie and Biz planned a party for Anna and Tyler at their house. Sandie, Brandon, Haley, Hunter and Mom Mom all celebrated with us.
Tyler had a Star Wars cake complete w light up light sabers. Anna had a doll cake complete w Barbie-like doll you lifted out of the cake before cutting.
Day 3, 12/19/09: Tyler’s 6th birthday. Before we could celebrate Tyler’s birthday, we had to play in the snow! That’s right, we had about 7 inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning. Then we met Robin, Jason and Lacey (their baby) at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Tyler’s day.
Anna, Tyler and Frosty. This was after sledding off the ramp Paul built for them!
Ahhhh, my NRA reps.
Day 4, 12/20/09: Extended Sanders Family Christmas/Susan’s half birthday. OK, 1 was celebrated a little more than the other, but still…
Paul and me before starting to open presents at MomMom's.
Day 5, 12/21/09: Susan’s manager Christmas party and Cole’s Annual Christmas party.
(photos unavailable, cameras confiscated by security, paparazzi bounced from property)
Day 6, 12/22/09: Celebrated Paul’s birthday at UNC vs. Marshall basketball game!
My first time in the Dean Dome! I mean... me doing whatever Paul wanted to do for his birthday!
Paul and I are vegging out tonight. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, not sure what the plans are. Then we get the kids on Christmas Day about noon. Then Christmas w Steph and Biz, et. al on Sat afternoon! 9 events in 11 days! Whoooooo hooooooo! Keep in mind this was including 10 loads of laundry, 0 minutes of napping, 3 days of work (which included creating a plan to restructure our cardiac rehab program to make up for $96,000 worth of revenue that we cannot bill for in 2010 and 4 days of 11 state inspectors surveying our hospital), baking 120 cookies and only 30 minutes of physical activity and NO tears shed! Happy Sanders Hanukkah!
No homework this week because of Thanksgiving! I know I am supposed to be supportive of the public education system and all, but homework in kindergarten seems a bit over the top. Anyhow, we were glad. So we watched Toy Story and played computer before dinner. After dinner we played games, including Candy Land.
We MUST do this more often! The saddest thing ever was getting it set up, Anna choosing a card, then saying, “What do I do? I can’t remember!” I should have known we were in trouble when it turned out to only have 2 game pieces (Mom–is that the game from my childhood?). So Paul got a couple more. I was the green man, Anna was the red man, Tyler was a Transformer from McDonald’s named “S” (no one can remember the real name and it has an S on it). Paul was the Emperor from Star Wars, complete w electricity coming from his finger tips. Awesome. I won once, Anna won the 2nd time. There was also the small side game of Paul running around the board as the Emperor electrocuting people.
Then I read some of A Light in the Attic to them. They now think Wild Strawberries are real (with shark teeth and feet and a tail). Then they borrowed a couple books of mine. [my parents brought me a couple boxes of them last year--VERY cool and a HUGE hit w the kids] Tyler got in bed then called me back wanting to know, in a very distressed voice, who colored in that book. He was shocked into silence when I told him it was me. Could’ve knocked him over w a feather….
