We've gone Mac

We have been wanting to get a MacBook for awhile. We have the iPods, iPhones and even the iPad but our PC was still decent (despite a virus here and there) so we couldn't really justify the expense. So, thankfully Ryan had an amazing year at work breaking all the records and exceeding all of his metrics earning him top honors in his region. What was the award you ask? A MacBook! Yes!

But I would like to take a minute to appreciate Ryan, who is in sales in a tough economy; his award was quite the feat. I am immensely proud of him.

We have been having a lot of fun with the new MacBook...I can't believe we were ever PC people now. This laptop is so fast and easy to use, plus the photo/video organization and capability is amazing! So, below I have added our first creation - it is a rough draft as we were trying it out but I think it is pretty funny - a movie trailer about our beloved cats!

Cats in Hats

We really aren't the kind of people who dress our cats up....REALLY. But, we were shopping in Target today and saw this adorable little winter hat especially made for cats and we just had to buy it. Thankfully, our boys are good sports because we got a good laugh out of trying it on them!

I think it's a natural fit for Coodie - he looks like he is about to do some serious outdoorsy activities! Although they look a bit grouchy, I can assure you they were purring the whole time...

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hooray for my mom for so many things but especially for raising me....a stubborn, slightly know-it-all, do it my own way type of gal. I'm not sure how she or my dad put up with me growing up (especially in the pre-teen years) but they did put up with me and they always fully supported me. I will never forget the time when I was decorating for the prom and I encountered a bit of a stomach issue. My mom drove over from work, brought me home until I felt better and brought me back to school after so I could finish what I am sure was an amazing display of confetti, candles and crepe paper in our school gym. That's just what mom was all about, I always knew I could count on her. So, here are a few photos to celebrate her throughout the years:

Happy Birthday mom! Thanks for always being there.

Holisti-Cats

As everyone knows, our big boy Coodie has had a lot of health issues this year. He is only 4 and we love him enormously so we have done a lot of research on his issues which led us to research information on overall health for both of our cats. As it turns out both of their diets were....well, not so good. Coodie was even on a prescription diet for his urinary blockage issues but as we started reading the label we wondered, "what the heck are these ingredients?" As it turns out, cats should not have grains and should especially not have corn. The first ingredient in Coodie's prescription food was CORN!

A friend from work recommended that I go to "America's Pets" in Hudson, NH where they sell holistic food for pets and are extremely knowledgeable about diet and health issues. It made sense because we have been trying to buy more organic and whole foods for ourselves why not our cats? When I mentioned our cat had calcium oxate stones, they knew exactly what I was talking about. They researched his current issues and food and were able to recommend food much better for him. The bonus was that we could feed both cats the same food.



The recommended food was Weruva: http://www.weruva.com/. Not only does the food look like stuff I would eat...huge chunks of fish and chicken in a hearty stew ... but the cans are also BPA free. I also double checked all of the nutritional info for Coodie and it checks out. These people know what they are doing.

So, now you know that mom and dad are happy with the new diet...but how do the boys like it?



I could barely get photos with the food in them because their little snouts were buried in the food. They LOVE it and they also both seem so much more energetic and bright eyed. Now, we can sleep a little sounder at night knowing that we have done the right thing by our little furry guys (and it helps that they agree!).

Coodini - Master Escape Artist

I need my sleep or I can be a straight up grumpapotamus. For the last 3 nights, I have been woken up at 4am....by the cats.



We put the cats in our semi-finished basement each night so we can ensure a good night's sleep. We kiss them goodnight, lock the cat door and head up to bed. So, we were stumped when they came waltzing in the bedroom at 7am Sunday morning. At the time, I figured I forgot to lock the cat door.

Then came Monday morning at 3:45 am. I woke up to Coodie on my chest and Gus behind my head. Half asleep, I put them back in the basement only to find them back in the bed as soon as I fell back asleep. The same scenario occurred Tuesday and Wednesday morning. So now we realize that they are somehow getting through the locked door (I know, it took a few nights but I don't think well when tired!)

I told a friend at work yesterday about our dilemma and her comment was, "So, you mean your cats are outsmarting you?" Snap.... yes, yes they are.

Well, I was able to record the culprit last night. Apparently Coodie has some sort of superhuman strength or he is an escape artist because I cannot push the door through with my hand. Gus just happens to reap the fruits of his labor - his henchman of sorts as he silently encourages and follows him through to freedom.

This morning, "Coodini" showed up on my dresser around 5am...whew, got an extra hour in! I promptly brought him to the basement, locked the cat door and secured it with packing tape. I then put a large box in front of it just in case he broke through the tape. We were able to keep the boys in the basement but the incessant banging on the door woke us up again.... Maybe we'll just board it up or get a new door or something...

This makes me smile.....

...and sing and dance. Not even kidding, every time I hear it my shoulder starts moving, then my head starts bopping and before you know it - I'm dancing. Who knew Sesame Street could still have that impact on me?

Loving Fall

I love this season. I can put on my snuggly sweaters and it gives me a good reason to cuddle a lot more! We have hardly turned on our heat so we are not the only ones who are snuggling....


Coodie actually has both paws wrapped around Gussie as he snoozes.And now Gussie has his head on Coodie. They slept like this for hours on their snuggly bed. Ahhhh, to be snuggly and warm....

Boothbay Harbor

We just love visiting the coast and the best time to go is just before summer or just after summer when there are less people! As posted before, we headed to our yearly spot in Ogunquit Labor Day weekend and then during the first weekend in October, we headed to Boothbay Harbor with my parents. Although we arrived in the midst of a torrential downpour, the rest of the weekend was beautiful - perfect fall weather. We went for a hike on the first morning through Ovens Mouth. We brought our packed lunch and had a perfect day for a hike.In the afternoon, we headed into downtown Boothbay for some shopping and Ryan met up with a bear who was quite dapper in his fishing vest.This was the view from our hotel rooms at the Ocean Point Inn in East Boothbay. It had a great restaurant to boot.Mom, Ryan and Dad on our oceanside walk the morning we left. Thanks mom and dad for another fun trip!

Birthday Trip 2010!

Now that our big boy Coodie is feeling a lot better, I want to go back to Labor Day weekend and my birthday trip to Ogunquit! We have taken this trip almost every year we have been together because my birthday used to fall on the holiday weekend but in the past 2 years, it has been the week before. That's okay, though. It just means my birthday celebration last longer...I'm all about dragging it out.

This year, we found a new favorite place for dinner. Oarweed is a restaurant on Perkins Cove with a direct view of the water. We were told they had one of the best lobster rolls (which was more of a lobster sandwich) in town and Ryan was really craving one so we headed over there. I can't stomach shellfish although I have tried (an allergy perhaps?) but I do enjoy fresh fish so I was also happy with my broiled haddock. We had a seat outside overlooking the ocean and a nice walk back to the hotel along Marginal Way in the dark....very dark but pretty cool listening to the waves crash.

The view from Marginal Way during the day.

We also went swimming...brrrrr. I have extremely sensitive skin and eczema so the salt water is like heaven even though it felt like dipping in a large vat of ice.

We also found a new tapas bar called "Tapas and Tinis"...yum! Above, I am pictured with my Lemonade Stand martini Ryan's delish rum punch. Below is the tapas we ordered of homemade pita chips and guacamole.

I so love the ocean so we also spent a lot of time walking along the beach, through town and along Marginal Way. After dinner one night, we stopped in to the bakery and picked up some cookies and milk and had our treats on the adirondack chairs overlooking the water (the photo above was the view).... ahhhhhh... Can I go back now? Thanks for another relaxing and fun trip, babe!

Not so relieved....

Apparently I was a bit premature on my last post titled "Relief". Yesterday afternoon, Coodie started yowling and hissing and his belly was sensitive to the touch. We remembered the signs and took him directly to the emergency vet center. Since Coodie's regular vet is not open on the weekends, we have to take him to the animal er.


The signs we remember were from back in April when he had a bladder stone that blocked his urinary tract which also blocked him from urinating. When this happened, he was hospitalized for 2 nights while he was sedated and catheterized. He was sent home with special prescription food which was to help in avoiding future stones.


Fast forward to a few weeks ago when he was ill from a stomach bug....our big guy was x-rayed. They found out that he still had the bladder stone from April and when out vet started reading the records, we found out that the doctor at the emergency vet clinic pushed the stone back into his bladder so it has been bouncing around for the past 5 months just waiting to find it's way back to his urethra.


There we were (yesterday) at the er again with a new doctor. She states..."if this were my cat, I would want the stone out of there..." Heck, yes we do and we did! We had NO idea that the stone was pushed back in and were under the assumption that it had been removed back in April. This new vet had a more natural, holistic and preventative approach and it is so unfortunate we had not met her months or even years ago.


She was able to push the stone back in to his bladder, cut into his bladder and remove it. The stone is now on it's way to the midwest somewhere to be analyzed. Once we find out what type of stone it is, we can figure out what the game plan is for the remaining stones in his kidney (yes, he has them there as well but they are not nearly as dangerous as the one was in his bladder).



Coodie's shaved belly and incision area.

So, we have Coodie back home with a fully shaved belly with a 6cm incision. He is a little drugged but otherwise doing very well happily sitting by the back slider. We just really feel so bad that he has been through so much lately and this last bout may have been the original vet's fault... which is not a good feeling. We are hopeful that his prognosis will be excellent once we get the stone results back and he will have a long and happy life with us as he is such an important member of our family.
Coodie eating (above) with his IV bandage still on his front right leg. Below, he is sitting in his favorite spot upon his return from the ER - by the back slider watching the birds. He is a little drugged up but doing quite well considering!

Relief

I am fully convinced that relief is one of the best feelings you can have and the amazing thing is that I am feeling this right now and of course this comes with a story....


...oh, and it's about Coodie who is the namesake of the blog and our very dear 4 year old orange cat who looks like a miniature lion and we love very, very much.


About 3 or 4 weeks ago Coodie started having diarrhea (did I also mention this story contains items about his stool?) on a pretty regular basis and I noticed there was also some blood in there. We took him to the vet and they quickly diagnosed and cured his swollen anal glands by expressing the fluid out of them. We were sent home with some probiotic supplements to add to his food...but, he wouldn't eat his food if it was in there. So, his diarrhea continued and this past weekend he started throwing up and stopped eating. Monday morning, I took him to the vet. They quickly warned me that Coodie was in a bit of a danger zone...cats that don't eat for 3 days or more (Cood was on day 2.5) are in risk of getting fatty liver disease which sounds bad but the reality is VERY bad. The vet tech then put him on the scale. Wow, he had lost 2 pounds in 11 days...for a 13.5 pound cat, that is pretty significant. I choked back tears while I learned that I needed to leave Coodie at the vet for x-rays, a urinalysis and blood tests.




Coodie at the vet feeling pretty yucky.


That afternoon I worked from home and was worried sick. I called Ryan and cried on his voicemail....I then called my mom and sobbed openly (I am not proud of myself for losing control but it is what it is...). The receptionist called a few hours later and asked me to come back to the office for a "discharge appointment" at 4:30. Luckily, Ryan had come home and was able to join me.


When we arrived, they only had information on his x-rays. They informed us that poor Coodie had no food in his stomach or his intestines and the lining of both was very thick, indicating severe irritation and until they got the blood results back, we would not know exactly why. The other thing we learned - which had nothing to do with his diarrhea and nausea - was that he had a bladder stone and several kidney stones. This meant our kitty could not properly process calcium and was in danger of having ANOTHER blocked urinary tract. This issue last occurred in April of this year and cost Coodie 2 nights of hospitalization and his mama and papa quite the vet bill (well worth every penny for his health!).

The most immediate issue was his weight loss and the immediate need to get nutrients into his body. We were sent home with antibiotics in pill form to feed him every 12 hours and very high calorie food that we needed to force feed him with a syringe.

We fed him like this for 2 days when we started to see his eyes sparkle a bit and his spunk come back and finally he was eating on his own...yippee!!! Then, came the ultimate...a solid poo in the litter box. Yes! Ryan and I were high fiving and dancing around the house. Our top cat was back! Even better was that it appeared to be a stomach bug and all of his tests came back normal. We still have to keep an eye out for a blocked urinary tract but we now know what to look for if that happens (no pee in the box, a full bladder and a grouchy Cood). The food he is now on will start to dissolve these stones and soon we will be completely out of the woods.


For now, I am so happy to see the happy boy greeting me at the door at the end of the day... along with my two other guys - really, what could be better?

Cousins BBQ

My sister-in-law, Allison had a great idea to have a BBQ with some of Ryan's local cousins last weekend and we had such a great time. It is so rare that we see each other unless someone is getting married and since we are all now married and starting to have kiddos (well...everyone except Ryan and I!) we don't ever see one another. So, last Sunday, we headed to Allison and Mark's and got to catch up with Ryan's cousins Heather with her family and Lindsy with her family. I think we will try to make this a regular gig!

The ladies above...Lindsy, Heather, me and the hostess Allison.

The guys below...Mike, Mark, Ryan and host Mark.

The little ladies...Ella, Chelsea, Phoebe and Olivia. Chelsea did a great job taking care of the little ones.Hunter eating his s'more.Allison's and my birthday are both in August so our mother-in-law, Donna, called and ordered and arranged for Ryan to pick up a special surprise from Frederick's Pastries for our dessert....super YUM!The kids table.

Phoebe pretty excited that Chelsea gave her some of her old toys.Mark playing Bag-O.Mark and Cody the dog.Ella enjoying her cake!Tired Olivia.

Mike and Olivia.

Thanks to Mark, Allison, Chelsea and Hunter for hosting us!