Pets

I want to dedicate this post to family pets. Mike's niece, Sam, had a cat named Catfish that passed away. I think with our busy lives and schedules and babies, we don't always get to spend as much time with our beloved animals as we would like. I know that with Mike home, they have definitely gotten more one on one time. As most of you know, I have a fat orange cat named Marmi that is my baby. She is the total alpha dog among the two dogs and the other cat. She loves to snuggle, curl up on your lap, or sleep snuggled up right next to you at night.

I love watching Marmi and Sassafrass wrassle. I don't think Sassafrass realizes how big she is and vice versa I don't think Marmi realizes how little she is. Sassafrass is a giant, goofy, love bug. She wishes she could be a lap dog and would love nothing more then to just play all day long. Gretchen is not a big fan of the dogs and I think she's still trying to figure out Tessa. Her favorite activity is either chasing bugs around or sleeping. She's not much of a cuddler, but she loves to sleep at the foot of the bed.

Dixie loves patrolling the yard and makes sure she greets any person or animal that walks by our house. She makes sure the squirrels stay up in the trees and when they dare each other to climb down the tree Dixie will make sure they don't stay there long.

Anway, I know when I get home tonight I will make sure I pay a little extra attention to each and every one of my animals and let them know how much I appreciate them.

Parent-Teacher Conference

Little Bug is now holding her bottle all by herself, like a big girl. She looks more like a toddler now than the infant that she still is. She has two bottom teeth that she loves to show off. On Monday we have her very first parent-teacher conference. Luckily since Mike is home he'll be able to attend. One of the positives of not working..................more family time. Tessa and I love coming home from work every day and having Daddy home.

Mike Update

Mike is doing much better. He had his 7mm kidney stone blasted yesterday. It was still in his kidney so it wasn't hurting him, but they wanted to make sure it didn't start to travel while he was in surgery. He has a slight bruise on his side and has to drink massive amounts of water to flush out the shattered stone. Hopefully they will take his IV out today, so he won't have to deal with that anymore. Having a needle stick out of your arm all day long is no fun.

His surgery is scheduled for February 4th. He'll be in the hospital for 4-7 days and then another 5-7 days recovering at home. He will no longer be working for 2000 Concrete, so we will see what new and exciting endeavours are to come. There is a possibility he'll go work for Turner Concrete (which is an Enterprise of my comany). I think that would be GREAT. Turner really is a great company to work for and I think Turner Concrete would be a good match for him. But we'll see. He may also go back to work for Precision Concrete. He worked for them for almost 10 years prior to working for 2000 Concrete.

I know he'll do great and impress no matter what.

Pics

Here are some late Christmas Pictures. Yes, we all wore matching PJ's and drove over to my parents house in them. Mike swore that if something happened or we got pulled over he was REFUSING to step out of the car. He looked cute in his PJ's. Thanks Buddy.

Back Home and First Shiner

Mike was released from the Hospital late Saturday night. He is at home recovering. He's still weak and skinny. He didn't eat much at the Hospital and has probably lost 10lbs. I have to hook him up to an IV once a day for the next week and he will have to have several follow up Doctor visits. He still has to have surgery, but we are waiting on the Doctor to tell us when exactly that will be. I think Mike just wanted to play and watch Tessa all day yesterday. He only got to see her for two, very short (and cranky) visits. She is getting her second tooth and she has a cough.

In an effort to show off, Tessa was crawling all over the place for Daddy. She accidentally ran head on into a chair and got her first dose of self-inflicted pain. Along with it she had a small bruise above her eye. The joys of growing up and learning.

Mike

Mike is still in the hospital, but he seems to be doing better. They drained an abscess on Tuesday and that has really helped him. Hopefully he will get to come home tomorrow or saturday. He will still have to have surgery to remove part of his colon. Tessa and I can't wait for him to come home. We miss you, Buddy.

PS - Yes, Tessa is chewing on a wine cork. She is definitely an Ellis. We love our Vino.

Solemn New Year

We had a great Christmas. Santa was good to all of us. Tessa enjoying eating the wrapping paper more than anything. You can totally see her one little tooth. She has defintiely mastered crawling, she no longer looks like a drunk marine doing the low crawl. She has also started sitting up on her own. We finally had to drop the crib mattress, since her little head sticks up when she sits up and it's only a matter of time before she starts pulling herself up. She is just moving along so quickly.

Omi got Dixie and Sassafrass a fw dogs toys for Christmas. Dixie chewed her tennis ball into a trillion pieces in about 5 minutes. Then proceesed to destroy Sassafrass' rope toy. She is a little neurotic when it comes to toys. Sassafrass got a new collar for the invisible fence. We have to do some training and then she will also be able to play in the front yard with the rest of us. Marmi and Gretchen got little stockings with toys also. Although, I think Marmi is just content to sit on someone's lap. She is such a sweet cat. Gretchen is getting a little better with Tessa, but we still have to watch her.

On a more serious note, Mike spent New Years in the hospital. He has been there for a week now. He has diverticulitis and will have to have surgery in two months to remove part of his colon. Right now he is fighting the infection still. Hopefully he will be able to come home tomorrow or Wednesday. It's not how I had planned on ringing in the New Year, but I'm thankful he's getting better and will hopefully be home soon.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get them downloaded. It's been a really long week.