Zoe...our oldest one...

6 months after Mark and I got married we got Zoe, a wonderful golden retriever. She is the best dog, wonderful with the girls and so much fun to have around. For as long as we can remember she has had problem with allergies. She is constantly licking her paws, scratching her ears, licking her legs until they are bleeding (hot spots.) She has been on an antihistamine for 4-5 years now and a steroid every other day for 4-5 years now. She also gets allergy shots here and there. So we decided to have her allergy tested to see what she was allergic to and then give her monthly allergy shots. No big deal right??

She had to be sedated for the allergy testing. This is what we found out: She is allergic to grass, trees, mold, house dust mites, tobacco, cockroach, black ant, mosquito, and human dander. Poor dog, no wonder she has been itching and scratching her whole life!

This is how we have to keep her legs covered once she licks so much she starts bleeding. Under the bandage is a hot spot. The vet said to wrap it a little more loosely and place gauze under the dressing. Well the vet does not know our dog at all. She had that dressing off last night after we all went to bed. Spread out all over the living room.

Theses are the meds that Zoe has to take. We found out she has a yeast infection in her feet and around her bottom (so she takes an anti fungal med), she has a bacterial infection around her bottom and in her ears (so she takes an antibiotic, we have to clean her ears twice a day, put ear drops in twice a day, and put some kind of antibiotic cream around her bottom (lovely huh?) She is still on the antihistamine and the steroid until the allergy shots get up to the maintenance dose that will hopefully hold her over for a month.

This is her calendar of all her meds. Mark asked me why I made a calendar...uh she has like 9 different meds and I have no idea how to keep track of everything. Some meds she takes once a day, some twice a day, some every other day. Hopefully in the next few months we will get her allergies and itching under control and she will be so much more comfortable. We have to go back to the vet in a month to see if all her infections are clear (her feet, ears, bottom.)

Seems like a lot for a dog, but we decided it was time to go forth with it. Hopefully we will get to giving her a shot a month and she will be itch free!

Oh and the other thing we found accidentally was a tennis ball size growth on the inside of one of her hind legs. How long has that been there? The vet tested the fluid and said it was some kind of fatty tissue deposit. It was not cancerous...thank God...it was just something that happens to dogs. He told us to watch it and if it gets bigger it will need to be removed. Wow this dog is really starting to cost us a fortune, but we just love her to pieces...So hopefully everything will be fine with the tumor on her leg....Poor Zoe...

Oh and this is our little Addison with her new piggy tails....SO CUTE!!!!

Her Winter Coat

The past few days when we are at home Addison has wanted to wear her winter coat. After dinner she points to her coat, grunts, stomps her feet and screams until we put it on. So I put it on her, why not? Mark says "I am not going to let her wear her winter coat around. She falls over all the time in her coat." I figure what the heck? What harm is it doing? She does fall down a lot, she is a little top heavy in the fluffy coat, but she is getting better walking around in it since she has had it on for 2 days now! When we pick her up from daycare she walks straight over to her coat, points, and says please in sign language until we get her coat on! What a hoot....She also has to have her hat on or the hood up on the coat. If not she is crying and screaming and upset. This one is going to give us trouble. I know she is not going to be the quiet, shy, laid back one like her sister. Mark and I just shake our heads with little Addison. She is going to be the tough one! But we love her to pieces...how couldn't you with that little face. So sweet!!!

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Pre-K

So today is the first day of Pre-K for Lauren and she is so excited. I am not really sure why Pre-K is so exciting but she has been talking about it since last week when she found out she would be moving to Pre-K on Monday. Our daycare center is so awesome that they are moving Lauren and her buddy Killian together today so the transition will be easier. Killian turned 4 back in December and Lauren will be 4 in just a few weeks, but I was surprised that she was ready to move because usually it is after her birthday. Needless to say, she is so excited and all weekend I tried to figure out what was so cool about Pre-K. All I got out of her was that there was a Dora kitchen in Pre-K. Well there must be more than that because she was up and ready for school this morning. Ready for Pre-K. Makes me wonder where the time goes...

Little Addison is keeping us on our toes these days. She is into everything. We joke that she can destroy a room in seconds if you are not watching her. She is talking a lot with a few words that she knows, but there is so much more going on in that little head that she usually just points, grunts, and cries if she does not get her way. She really wanted to go outside several times this weekend so we finally bundled her up and took her out. She loves the swing and loves to be outside.

Lauren and I stayed inside and made brownies in her new Easy Bake Oven that she got for Christmas. We usually make something every weekend for her and Addison to snack on. Lauren and I have a lot of fun together in the kitchen. She loves to help me make dinner each night. It usually takes a little longer, but it is well worth it when she looks up at me and says "this is fun Mommy." It just melts my heart.

We are getting for Lauren's big 4th birthday here in a few weeks. She is very excited for it. I am just taking it easy recovering from a little surgery I had done. I have the whole week off! I think it is going to be a long week, but I need to just take it easy and enjoy the time. Enjoy the pictures...

Happy New Year

Sorry it has been a few weeks since I have posted. Nothing too exciting happening in the Harding household since it is so cold. We had a great New Years Eve party with 2 other couples over and their kids. The kids enjoyed eating, playing, and watching movies, while the adults enjoyed eating, drinking and playing games.

This is Lauren's best friend (and soon to be husband) Killian. Apparently they play well together at school, get along great, follow directions, and the teachers just love them. Well on New Years Eve they fought (like a married couple!) all night. It was hard to believe that at school they get along so well because New Years Eve was a different story.

Killian, Lauren and Sydney with their noise makers.

Addison enjoyed the party too. She was in bed by 7 so she missed out on a lot of the fun. When she was awake she had fun with Charley, Killian's sister.

Since it has been so cold we have been a little stir crazy at home. Mark made a fort with all the pillows and blankets he could find. The girls loved it.

Lauren played in there all afternoon. She even found a way to read her books.

My two girls just hanging out today.

Lauren and Mark ventured outside today for about 15 minutes. I think Lauren had a blast. The snow in our backyard is very deep in some spots. Zoe loves the snow too and had fun with Mark and Lauren out there.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was so much fun.  Mark and I got way too many gifts for the girls, but it was so fun to watch and listen to excitement pouring out of Lauren Christmas morning.  Here are just a few of the MANY pictures I took of the girls. 

Addison in Omaha the weekend before.  I never got a chance to get these pictures uploaded.  She had a lot of fun playing with her cousin Eve who is about 6 months older than her. 

Lauren and Emma.  Emma is by far Lauren's favorite cousin. 

All of the princesses you could ever imagine.  Lauren loves her Disney princesses. 

Lauren giving Addison a hug after she opened the gift that Addison got her, a barbie CD player.  I love it!  She also got a Taylor Swift CD, a Hannah Montana CD, and I got a Carrie Underwood CD. 

Addison loved all of her new toys.  There were so many toys in the living room that Addison kept tripping over things as she was walking all over the place.  Now that she has figured out how to walk that is all she wants to do...so exhausting for Mark and I! 

Lauren, Addison and Claire.  The three grandkids at my parents house Christmas night. 

Lauren loves Tinkerbell and she got the second movie. 

My Dad made all the girls these baby cradles.  Pretty amazing huh?  He had been working on them since May.

I got Mark a bearcat national chamionship sweatshirt for Christmas and my Mom got my Dad a long sleeve t-shirt.  This picuture was taking right after they did a chest bump.  Men???

If you look really close you can see all the chapstick Lauren has on.  It looks like it could be lip stick but it is just chapstick...

Zoe loved the snow as much as Lauren did! 

Sunday evening we finally got out in the snow to play and Lauren loved it!  She made several snow angels. 

To top off the weekend our power went out Sunday night for about 2 1/2 hours. I had soup in the crock pot so we ate by candlelight and a flashlight. We ended up going over to my sister's house after about 1 1/2 hours of no power as it was starting to get very cold and very hard to entertain the girls in the dark!

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve and I love starting traditions with my girls on Christmas Eve. The past few years Lauren and I have made cookies for Santa, which we did today. This year we started a new tradition that Christmas Eve will be jammie day. We started this for a few reasons. Today at school was jammie day and Lauren was very sad that she was missing it, so we had jammie day at home. It was also jammie day because Lauren has been sick the last few days and did not want to get dressed today anyway. I was a little worried this morning that she was going to be sick again today when she fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 this morning, but that passed and she seems to be feeling better!

All dressed up for church. I can't even believe we got out in this mess, but you can't miss church on Christmas Eve right?

After church we always go to my Grandma's house. It was on the way home so we stopped by and dinner. It was a quick visit since you could hear the sleet hitting the house like crazy. Lauren and Addison got to open one present, new jammies. Another tradition that I started this year...New jammies on Christmas Eve.

Lauren wrote Santa a letter to tell him she wanted a water snake. That is the only thing she really wants for Christmas (so we bought 6.)

All the girls loot! I can't wait for morning!

I had to stare at this package all day today when Mark was at work. Lauren told me she picked it out and it was pretty jewels. She said "you can't open it till Christmas Mommy." I can't wait till morning!!!!

I love this picture!

I really need to head to bed. The girls are asleep, and Mark is too. I am just so excited for the morning and the white Christmas. Sure do hope we can make it to my parents later in the day. Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas in Omaha

This past weekend we spent in Omaha with Mark's family. I took tons of pictures of course but I have not had any time to upload them and post them. We got back late Sunday and I was back at work Monday morning, up late putting together Christmas presents and really should be wrapping Christmas presents now.

So I will make this brief. Lauren loves her cousins and had a blast playing with them. I wish she could have had more time with them but it just did not work out. The girls did pretty well in the car, but neither of them really take very good naps in the car so you can imagine entertaining 2 girls for 3 hours...exhausting. I am glad the weather cooperated, that made the drive nice.

Lauren got some new toys from Grandma and her cousins, but nothing that she really asked for--except for the Snow White movie. I am looking forward to giving her all of the things Santa has gotten her (mainly the art easel, she loves coloring and drawing.) Addison enjoyed playing with the paper, and rolling around on the sleeping bag that Lauren got.

Well, more to come after Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

What a Weekend

Warning: Tons of pictures ahead. I took almost 200 this weekend!

This weekend was so busy but so much fun. Saturday morning we started out at the CMH holiday party at the Hyatt downtown. There was tons of activities for the kids including arts and crafts, a magic show, face painting, caricatures, and a visit with Santa if you wanted. Of course, both of my girls skipped Santa this year. Lauren's favorite thing was the magic show. The girls also enjoyed the face painting. Addison got a Christmas tree and Lauren a snowman.

Then if was off to Killian's birthday party at Tunnel Voyage. Killian is Lauren's best friend. They go to school together. She could have been the only one at the party and he would have been completely happy, but there were several little boys from the class and they all had a lot of fun. Addison enjoyed playing in the little baby area, while Lauren took on the big tunnels. A first. Of course, if Killian will do it, then Lauren will follow along. Those two are the best together!

Then it was off to Aiden's party at Gymboree in Mission. We were all over this town on Saturday. Both girls fell asleep on the way to Aiden's party...thank goodness. Lauren only slept about 10 minutes, but when I woke her up she was so excited to be at Aiden's party. Mark and Addison joined us after about a 45 minute nap! Yea for Addison.

Sunday afternoon was Lauren's dance performance. She started dance class in September and she absolutely loves it! They have been practicing for this performance for about a month now and Lauren did awesome. I was not sure how she would do getting up on stage in front of close to 500 people but she was awesome and Mark and I were SO proud of her. It was very sweet watching her dance up on stage and be so proud. The first picture is Lauren's friend Camryn, one of my girl friends from high school's daughter. They are really good friends at dance class.

So here it is Sunday evening and I am exhausted. This weekend was a blast and I would not have it any other way. After the dance performance we had to go buy a few more Christmas presents for school and then we had to make fudge. Wow...what a weekend. I think I might be ready to go back to work to relax!!