A Trip to the Zoo

Today Roy, Warren, and I met some friends at the Waco zoo. It was so much fun! Warren was very aware of the animals and seemed to have a great time. Here are some pics from our day:

Warren with his friend, Evan; he's 3yrs old.

Daddy and Warren on the big snake!

In the treehouse and down the slide with daddy!

Warren loved the tunnels inside the snake and the tree house.

Playing in the dirt with the dinosaur bones.

And I saved our favorite pic for last - our little monkey with a big monkey... well, actually it was an ape, I think, but you get the point. (Strange, they sort of look alike! Must be the ears.)

Eating With a Spoon

Last year at this time I was preparing to have my first baby in 11 days, but this year, I am amazed at how my baby is growing and learning new things so quickly. Today during snack time, Warren learned how to use his spoon! (Yes, I know the spoon is pink; it used to be my niece's; we can't find this style of spoon anywhere, and it's perfect for learning to eat, so we are just dealing with it. Pink can be manly, too.)

Initially I had to put the applesauce on the spoon for him, but then he figured it out himself.
When there was not enough applesauce left to get on his spoon, he just resorted to his manly instincts! It had been a while since I'd gotten a pic of Warren and I together, and I had Roy try today, but this is the best we got. Oh well, I can't expect an 11 1/2 month old to want to sit still and pose for a pic.

Saying "uh-oh"

I can't help but smile when I see, hear, or think about my sweet boy.

Cleo's Home!

We brought Cleo home last night. The vet is excited about her progress so far. She is doing better than expected! She can already empty her bladder on her own, and she can put weight on both her back legs, though her left leg is still weak, and she can walk a little. Sometimes that back left leg falls under her, but it will continue to get stronger. Her left side is where the vet did all of the work, so the muscles on that side are weak right now. We got a bigger kennel for her in which she will have to stay most of the time. It's big enough for her to move around in, but at this point she's mostly just sleeping. We put the kennel in front of her window so she can still look outside.

You can see her incision on top of her back. It's about 6" long, but is healing nicely. She looks a little sad, but I think it's mostly because she wants to be held instead of being in her kennel. This morning when we took her out to do her exercises, she tried to get up on my lap, but I couldn't let her. She is supposed to lie flat.
We take her back to Austin this week for a physical therapy session, and then again on the 29th to get her stitches out.

(Yes, Mom, she's on the blanket you made for Warren. The two quilts you made him are the only blankets we have that aren't furry/fuzzy, and they fit in the kennel w/o bulging up, which helps her to stay flat and move steadily. Hope you don't mind too much. )

Cleo's Surgery

We are feeling empty around our house tonight because Cleo is not with us. She is in Austin recovering from emergency back surgery that she had today.


Yesterday around noon we noticed she was moping and all of a sudden not walking well. Then she started shivering and whimpering. Roy took her to our vet who thought it was a bulging disc and gave her three different medications. By late last night, Cleo couldn't even walk, so first thing this morning Roy took her back to the vet who said one of her discs had ruptured and we had to get her to Austin to a specialist for surgery immediately to prevent damage to the spinal cord.


Through many tears, we got ourselves together quickly and got to Austin by just after 10am. The surgeon examined Cleo and felt he could reverse the problem and prevent future ruptures by surgery. We left his office at 11am, and after 2hrs of surgery, the doctor called us and said our sweet Cleo did perfectly, there were no complications, and she was recovering nicely.


He said several of her lower discs were already calcified, so they would have likely ruptured in the future. He performed a preventative procedure where he drains the fluid in the disc so future ruptures won't happen - she only has a 1% chance of ever rupturing a disc again. She's only four, which means she has many great years ahead of her.


Right now, Cleo is with the surgeon at his home (he is keeping her by his bed tonight; talk about service!), and tomorrow night we will go back to Austin to bring her home. She is on pain meds and antibiotics, and she will have to stay mostly in her crate for three weeks, but afterward, she should be just fine.


We had hoped this day would never come, but it has, and we have faced it with tears.

Spring Break

Warren and I spent the first five days of our spring break visiting family in Ponca City. These are just a few of the pics I took. I hope to post more later:

Warren was fascinated with the toy his cousin John made for him out of Tinker Toys!

Since Warren turns one on the 31st, I decided to have a birthday party for him while in Ponca, so all our family could be there. He was adorable picking at his cake made by Grammie.

This is one of my favorite pics from the trip. Is this little guy ornery or what?

Mom and Dad thought Warren would love Twinkies... and they were right! Here he is at the start of his Twinkie fest.

For most of the trip, Warren was super bashful and didn't really want anyone else to hold him except me, but by the last two days, he had decided that he was a papa's boy.

Warren is learning so many new things these days, I just can't keep up with it all. He is pulling up and walking while holding on, he has added thank you, uh-oh, ball, bear, up, outside, and bye to his vocabulary. He gives the sign for "all done" now, and he waves his hand/arm up and down when I tell him "no, no," which unfortunately I am having to do a lot of these days.

I am dreading being away from him for the rest of the school year. This past week has been wonderful! I love every moment I have with my sweet boy.

11 Months Old

My little baby is already 11mths old! Life with him gets more and more fun every day. Here is a peek at what he is doing these days:


1) Waving hello and goodbye (usually with both hands and a great big smile)

2) Crawling (all over the place and super fast)

3) Pulling up

4) Eating table food

5) Starting on whole milk

6) Sitting in a big boy car seat

7) Talking (he says/has said ball, momma, dadda, cleo, uh-oh)

8) Giving signs - sign language, that is. (He knows most all the signs we've taught him, but he gets rather upset when we ask him to use them!)

9) Dancing

10) Crying when we leave him