K-911

We had a big scare this week with our dog Cooper. On Tuesday night, Cooper threw up, which normally is not a cause for alarm. This happened sometime in the middle of the night while we were asleep. When we woke up on Wednesday, he was acting strange and making a wimpery-wheezy noise. I didn't give it a second thought and left for work. Marty doesn't leave for work for a couple hours after I do, which turned out to be a lucky thing in this case. Cooper's breathing got progressively worse, so much that Marty wanted to take him to the vet.

After he dropped Brianne off, Marty took Cooper to our vet. They took one look at Cooper, and sent him straight to the veterinary emergency room. I didn't even know such things existed, but thankfully, there was a pet emergency room close by to our vet's office. Cooper was almost unconscious at this point, so when Marty walked through the door, they whisked Cooper back and put him on oxygen.

Long story short, Cooper had inhaled some of his vomit during the night, which severly injured his lungs. At the worst point, only 30% of his lungs were actually functioning, and they were filling with fluid. He spent 4 days in the pet hospital, confined to a little acrylic kennel with oxygen pumping into it, and an IV in his leg. Thanks to the hard work of the doctors, he pulled through it and we were able to bring him home Sunday, February 28. He shouldn't have any lasting effects. The only permanent change is that we will no longer be giving him raw hide bones to chew on, which we think was the reason he threw up in the first place (he ate almost an entire raw hide bone on Tuesday night before we went to bed).

Here is Cooper resting on a pillow, and Brianne giving him a welcome-home pat on the head.

Baby's First Parade

On February 27, Brianne was in her first parade! The Town of Davie hosts the annual Orange Blossom festival every year, and Marty and I have ridden in since he has been in office. This year had a really big turn out, so we were excited to show off our little cutie. Though we really would have liked to have Brianne ride in the parade with us, we decided that safety comes first, so she got to enjoy the parade from the side lines in her stroller with Grandma Mimi.

There were a bunch of neat things to see at the parade. Brianne got to see her first solar-powered vehicle, a lot of horses, a marching band, a donkey decorated with body glitter, a fire truck, a brigade of motorcycles, a mini-civil war re-enactment and the oldest person she has ever met, a very nice man that was 100 years old! And a partridge in a pear tree - just kidding. Brianne really enjoyed herself at the festival and meeting all her Davie neighbors!

Here is Brianne in her stroller taking everything in. She even wore a special hair bow for the occasion!

Here we are before the start of the parade. Even though she didn't ride with us, I couldn't resist getting a family picture before we started moving!

Brianne getting up close and personal with her very first horse. We do live in Davie after all, so a love of horses is almost a requirement.

Chomping at the Bit

It's official - Brianne has teeth! Two teeth to be precise. Her bottom-middle two teeth have come in. Not quite all the way, but you can see them easily now. Marty actually spotted them first a few weeks ago, but I didn't believe him.

Even though she has two teeth, she is still on pureed food. She cant really chew, but she could take your finger off given half the chance. Those little teeth are sharp! We're moving on to baby food that's slightly lumpy now to get her used to chewing. She is doing very well with it and will be chowing down like a grown up in no time.

If you look really close, you can see two little white dots in the center of her lower gums. Those are her little teeth-ies!

That's Edu-tainment

We still go to Mommy and Me classes at Nova University most Saturdays. As Brianne gets bigger, we enjoy our time in Mommy and Me in new and different ways. I feel like we have gotten a lot out of the classes, and each class we take is better than the last. I love learning new activities to do at home with Brianne, and have gotten a lot of great advice from the teachers and other moms.

Here is a peek inside our classes. We had just finished circle time and were exploring the free-play activities around the class room. If it looks like tons of fun, that's because it is!

Super Bowl Sunday in the Park

Super Bowl Sunday ended up being a gorgeous day to be outdoors. And it was the first Sunday of the month, so it was time to go back to the park for Sunday Jazz Brunch. We had some new additions to our picnic. Marty was able to break away from campaigning to join us, and my Grandma Marvelyn (my Dad's mom) came as well. We also had a flock of noisy green parrots and a ton of tourists/football fans thrown into the mix, which made for a fun day of people/bird watching. It was a lovely day as always, and we're look forward to doing it again!

Brianne and Granddad Steve sharing a smile.

Relaxing on our picnic blanket.

Brianne with Great-Grandma Marvelyn.

What a cutie!

Party like it's 1999

Recently we went up to Wellington to celebrate Brianne's friend, Abby Goldasich's second birthday. It's funny to me to think that when we attended Abby's first birthday party, I was still pregnant. Kids parties are so much more fun when you go with a little kid of your own! Abby's parents threw her a super fun party, with a bounce house and a surprise special guest - Dora the Explorer! While Brianne seemed excited to meet Dora, I think her favorite part of the day was exploring all the toys in Abby's play room and spending time with her friends, Abby, Abby's new baby sister Peyton, Bradley DiPaolo and Tyler Child. There were a lot of bigger kids there too, and it's hard to believe that pretty soon, she'll be screaming right along with them, playing and enjoying being a kid.

Here we are in the play room at Abby's birthday party.

Of all the cool things in there, I think she liked the red spinning top the most.

Look at all those babies! From left to right: Tiffany with Baby Tyler, Lauren with Birthday girl Abby and Baby Peyton, Alona with Baby Bradley, and me and Brianne.


Brianne with Dora the Explorer. She may not look it in this picture, but she is getting ready to burst with excitement at meeting Dora.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a LOVE-ly Baby's First Valentine's Day. We never go out to eat on Valentine's since everyone and their mother goes out to eat on this day, so we just made dinner in and enjoyed no lines, no waiting and excellent cuisine at Chez Kiar. We gave Brianne the ultimate Valentine's gift by getting her a card with extra sparkles on it. She played with her card for a good 30 minutes. It was a pain scrubbing all the glitter off her later, but it was fun to watch her having a great time with a piece of paper.

Here's Brianne with her special Valentine - Daddy!

Here is Brianne playing with her card.

And here's a little romantic tune from the Kiars to all you lovers out there - Happy Valentine's Day!