New TRACTOR & Some MUD!

We went to pick up Brandon's new (to us) tractor yesterday. His friend gave it to us as it needs work and he didn't have the time or energy to do so. Lucky for us not only are we on a tight budget but Brandon loves projects! It's a 1978 John Deere Lawn Tractor and Cash James is in HOG HEAVEN!!!! (As is Buzz!)


Mama & sweet pea, 24 weeks, note to self; this is what happens when you try to squeeze into non-maternity shirts that were FITTED 20 lbs ago!! Not the most attractive pic of me but I love Cash in the corner, he's mad because we were leaving to go to Home Depot and he wanted to drive the Tractor some more! LOL




Brandon & Cash are out back starting the foundation for the new deck... here are a few pics so show how bad it is, so you will all appreciate the "AFTER" when it's all complete! It's such a mud pit back there, mostly thanks to the off-shoot of the creek but also because my dad did some "muddin" in his truck a few times delivering fire wood!! Cash loves playing in the mud but when he falls he gets a bit peeved, especially when the mud seeps into his boots - EW! Dada dumped the muddy water out of his boots while I got cookies and all was good again!!











And just for fun ( hoping to SHAME him into a hair cut!)

Spring has Sprung!

I THINK it's official, spring is here... although WA has been known to bust out a random snow storm in March/April from time to time so *KNOCK ON WOOD*, just to be safe! I didn't think we'd ever see spring or get to DEFROST! It has been a very cold winter in our old house. Our FIRST winter, something to remember that's for sure.


For those of you that have not had the pleasure of visiting this Winter let me paint you a picture. Our house is almost 100 years old. Upon poking around Brandon has figured out that in leiu of insulation we have newspaper in the walls, yes, that means we are as warm as a hampster cage! lol We also have old windows and the back of the house, under the kitchen and 2nd bedroom, is open underneathe the crawl space so air drafts in and thus makes it IMPOSSIBLE to go into the kitchen unless you are wearing snow boots. brrrrrr....

Some of the highlights of our winter include having the heater come on even when it is in the OFF Position (we heat our house by stove) - this means our house was below 30 degrees. Having spilled bath water on the bathroom floor turn into slush. And of course the classic time when Cash asked to use to the potty and immedidatly started to cry because the toilet seat was SO VERY COLD! Poor kid is going to be in diapers until he's 6 now! LOL




So now that we have survived, we have some 'upgrades' and repairs to make before the next winter sets in, as I do not want to go through this again, especially with an infant!

Keep checking back for fun Spring pics and progress on all our projects. Brandon is starting the back deck today and is also picking up his 1978 John Deere Riding lawn tractor ( which needs a few tweaks!) Until then here are a few pics from the past month, sorry about the quality. I usually just grab my cell to take pics when the mood strikes me!

First car ride at the outlet mall, he wasn't a fan!


Mama, I need more tooth paste!


TIME OUT! (He threw his shoe at the cat, naughty!)


I tricked him into smiling by taking a pic of his truck, he refuses to smile or even look at me when I grab the camera!



Dancing along to Dora, his new AMIGA! She helped us survive 2 weeks of Pneumonia, God Bless her!


Oh and Baby Girl and I are doing well, despite my sore bum from the fall, we are 24 weeks and FINALLY healthy and happy now that we've kicked the pneumonia! Updated belly pic to come soon, I haven't showered yet! :) We are officially on the surgery schedule to have her on July 7th (since I have to have a repeat c-section); let's hope she doesn't decide to come early!!

On the trail with Billie girl, 23 weeks!

HAPPY SPRING!!!

Lemonade

The Jackson house has had a rough couple of weeks. Just when we think things can't get worse something else brings us down... I'm writing this post to release all of this bad juju from our home! I've heard bad things happen in 3's so i'm hoping we're good for a while. After Jack's passing I fell down our front stairs, slipped in the snow. Luckily baby girl was fine but my tailbone is cracked; i'm still unable to sit properly. This past week we've had the plague, I was diagnosed with Pneumonia and i'm wondering if Brandon has it as well... so that's three! So we're DONE right!?!? Time to buy a lotto ticket!

When life gives ya lemons you're suppose to make lemonade, but a little sugar is needed as well! So bring on the sugar! We need it!!

Answering the painful questions

For those of you hurting and wanting to know WHY jack-jack is no longer with us below is a web address (copy & paste into browser) about Adrenal Failure in dogs. It states dogs can have it for a long time with little or no signs then have an 'episode' that can be fatal. The vet mentioned this could be the cause but was not positive. This fits the bill for our little monkey more so than if he were poisoned. He just wouldn't eat anything foreign. He was SO picky he wouldn't even eat chicken if he didn't like the sauce!

Last summer jack had an absessed tooth which grew into an infection in his cheek, he had to have a few teeth removed and the absess cleaned out. It was a minor situation but i'm wondering if his blood was tainted from the infection thus maybe setting off this adrenal failure? Knowing or not knowing won't bring our little man back but it gives us some piece of mind.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5669913_adrenal-failure-dogs.html




Another disease that we found that seems to fit the symptoms, although the vet didn't mention it is •Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis (HGE). copy & paste the link into your browser then click on the "common disease" tab and it will take you to a list, then click on HGE.

http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseaseh/a/HGEindogs.htm


RIP little Monkey, we love and miss you SO SO much!

Heavy Heart...

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post today. Our little "furry child" jack-jack passed suddenly today. We aren't sure exactly what happened. The vet thought maybe he ate something poisonous but we really doubt that could be it. He is the pickiest little eater ever. He wouldn't eat table scraps unless they were chicken or beef... they said he could maybe had adrenal failure but we aren't sure why? He was fine yesterday but got sick, puking/diahrea in the middle of the night. It isn't totally abonormal for him to puke. He was much like a cat in that he would puke from time to time. I didn't think much of it as the puke didn't look bad or abnormal. I figured it would pass through him. He rested and when B checked on him at 7am ( he usually sleeps in our bed but we put him in the mudroom b/c of the mess) he seemed "better". He greeted Brandon and he held him for a bit and he had even been drinking water, which i felt was a great sign. I went to check on him at 9ish ( i had slept in since i was up with him in the middle of the night) and when i picked him up there was blood in his bed ( from his stool) and he was listless. I wasn't even sure if he was alive, I brought him to Brandon in the shower and then we rushed him to the vet but they couldn't save him. They tried everything but the poor little guy was just too little to fight.

He was 3.3lbs. 4 1/2 years old and our baby. We are both at a total loss and grieving. Cash keeps asking "where'd monkey go" and he says " don't cry mommy". Billie-girl our springer is moping around as well. She keeps looking for him.

For those of you lucky enough to have known Jack-Jack you know he was 1,000% loved and spoiled and lived more life in his short 4 1/2 years than most pups live in 12. He was never left at home (except for extreme hot/cold weather days when he'd need to stay in the car) and from day 1 he even went to the office with me EVERY day when I was in Real Estate. My boss even INSISTED he be allowed to come in with me when we switched offices from Cbbain to Windermere. (Thank you Maria!) Jack was a wonderful little guy and he will be missed each and every day. I'm so sad he won't get to meet our little girl, he loved Cash when he was a newborn, snuggling up with him in the lamb chair.

I hope you all give your pets a few extra hugs today for us.

With Love
Gretchen, Brandon, Cash and Billie-dog

The Name Game...

So of course, as it was with Cash James, we had a boy name we both agreed upon. (And we're keeping it hush hush in case there is a NEXT TIME). Boy names are easy. At least in our family we feel they are. Girl names on the other hand are harder. Maybe because you want them to be cute & girly when they are little but then professional (you know, in case she becomes a lawyer) when they are older. Probably how STIFF & PROPER names came into play back in the day. Even the most grown up girl name has a cute 'n sweet nick-name hiding in there. Case in point my grandma MILDRED... can you imagine calling a tiny baby girl Mildred. Thus comes into play MILLIE. So super sweet you can almost see the pig-tails and smell the lolipops! Although my grandma is still that sweet so she still goes by Millie. =)

Anyhow, I digress... our number one name, which we have told some, mostly to mixed review just seems sweet. It ends in an "IE" and thus I worry she will never be taken seriously as an adult. Granted you can drop off the "IE", which would be a somewhat odd "given" name but could give her some street cred lol

As for her middle name i'm all about "family" middle names. So we are leaning towards RAE (maternal grandfather & uncle) or MAY (paternal great aunt). They both fit nicely with our choice, assuming we stick with the name most people don't love.

A good friend of mine told me that at the end of the day we need to be happy with our choice. Everyone else will just have to DEAL! I'm just trying to keep my yap shut so people stop "opinionating" on our almost 99% choice. I'm sure once they meet her, in all her sweet & precious glory they will see how perfect our choice is.

So if you have an IDEA feel free to throw it our way, but if you have a negative opion just remember one of hte golden rules:

IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO SAY, DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL! =)

Pretty in Pink at 18 weeks!

For some reason when I woke up this A.M. I just KNEW I had to wear pink. So much so that I ended up doing a load of laundry as I only have 2 pink maternity shirts and both were dirty.



I was anxious and nervous all morning. We went to lunch with Rhonda at a yummy burger joint in Snohomish Station then headed to the Everett Clinic for our ultra sound.

Turns out the pink shirt was a sign...


IT'S A GIRL!!!







I was, and am still SHOCKED! I think I felt it was a girl deep down inside but have always thought i'd be the mama of dirty little ruff n tuff boys. So it's going to take me a little while to 'come around'. Don't get me wrong, i'm very happy and looking forward to shopping. =)