Quick Snap Sunday

Fast Asleep!

What were you doing in the middle of the night while Federer and Nadal faced off in Australia? Sleeping? Most likely that's what the majority of people in America were doing. The pic above shows what 2 of our fur-babies were doing. Sleeping! Their human parents however, were doing what they could to stay awake during the 4 hour match. Brad went to bed at 6:30 am and I stayed up longer so I could get pet chores done, as well as a few little household things accomplished before heading to bed. 

Overall Cody is the most likely night owl of the trio but he has his limits. Once he reached his limit yet realized we weren't going to bed he turned his back to us and fell fast asleep until time to walk at sunrise. However, little Ms. Pipey next to him. Loves catnaps...ha ha, she's a cat! Cat and catnaps! Funny! See I'm even funny with very little sleep. Just kidding, LOL!  This pic was captured during one of her catnapping moments...obviously! She was the furry one pushing her limits, up with us the most during the night. She's normally not a night owl. I think her curiosity of why mommie and daddy were up and cheering so much got the best of her.  

Do I need to explain why Simon isn't in this pic? Clearly he's the smartest one of all. He put himself to bed after his last walk of the day. As a result he is strutting around here with bright eyes and good energy. Unlike his human parents! Thank goodness it's Sunday, we can catch up on the all-nighter we just forced ourselves to endure. Congrats to Federer, he won his 18th career Grand Slam. I'm slightly more of a Nadal fan but not against Federer at all. Good for him!

A Hubs Story (#2)

I spoke of featuring husband stories form time to time. Here is the 2nd installment in what I call "A Hubs Story".  Anyone that knows Brad knows he loves games. He'd likely trade in one of his fur-babies for a Madden NFL game. Just kidding! Totally kidding little fur-babies of ours. Rest easy "kids". 

But seriously, he loves games. Plays video games all the time. I've tried playing Madden before but my football player I'm forced to control with the Xbox controller never goes quite where I want him to go. He's off at the concession stand or in a sky box instead of running down the field. It's pathetic. I'm all about games where I can move slow or I'm given a multiple choice. Expecting me to get a football player to run a touchdown in is not going to happen. Oh and it's quite comical when I have the Xbox controller in hand, the player I'm controlling walks like he's drunk. Not just a little tipsy either. Total drunkard!

Brad today came into our room while I was folding clothes and with a big coy grin he announced to me that I was looking at the star defensive back of the Super Bowl winning....are you ready for it....Cleveland Browns. I couldn't keep a straight face. I busted out laughing. He looked so cute announcing the Browns won a Super Bowl. Anyone that knows anything about football knows the Browns aren't winning a Super Bowl anytime soon. The Browns can at least win a ring on Madden football.

Is it surprising that he doesn't choose to play as his beloved Cowboys? He very rarely does. He doesn't choose to be his 2nd favorite team the Cardinals either(wink-wink). He likes the challenge of picking the worst team in the league and building them up as he goes through the season. To play as a good team like the Cowboys or Cardinals would be simply too easy he believes.  I love his theories on things. He's such a cute man!

The All-Nighter

As I mentioned in a previous post, the end of the Australian Open is tonight. Technically in the middle of the night for us due to time difference. So can I pull an all-nighter?

The last time I pulled an all-nighter was earlier this month. My year started with two all-nighters only 6 days apart. I started 2017 with an all-nighter. Simon wasn't doing well on the 31st and his troubles went into the 1st. So him and I went way past toasting midnight. Daddy went to sleepsville at about 5:30 but I stayed up with Simon still.

Then a week later Simon was having another round of issues and I stayed up with him all night once again. So there's no question I can do it. The main difference is the motivation. They will replay the tennis sometime during the day tomorrow. Brad on the other hand can't deal with watching a Grand Slam final tape delayed. He's too much of a tennis fan to tolerate tape delayed. He has to see it live. So I will certainly attempt to stay up to watch tennis with my husband tonight but I'm not guaranteeing I won't take a few cat naps here and there. I actually took a little cat nap earlier to help me be prepared for tonight.

This should be a great match between Nadal and Federer. Most likely the last time to see these two legends of the game face each other in a Grand Slam final. Let's be real both of them are getting older and both of them have struggled with injuries in recent years. Yep, there's no way I'm going to bed, this match is too intriguing for the big time tennis fan I have become.

Three Incidents

With a busted lip, 2 messed up fingers, and one pug dripping blood...it was quite the interesting week for this pug mommie. It's not easy being a mommie to fur-babies sometimes. LOL! During the week I was sporting quite the battle wounds and so was one pug, thanks to 3 separate incidents.

Incident number one happened while I was holding Simon. He gets held a lot nowadays. Never goes a day without special holding time from one of his human parents. Yes, I realize such an admission may ruin his street credit as he has such a tough guy aura when he walks out of our house. Anyway,there I was holding Simon in my arms, like a baby. Don't judge...he is after all a fur-BABY! As I held him he jerked his head around super quick to see what Piper was doing someway-somehow he caught me in the mouth. A bleeding busted lip was the result. Just one of those freak things that happens, he certainly didn't intend to cause an injury.

Next up, while walking the boys I see Simon grab something. Not wanting him to ingest something harmful I dive down to his level and begin "wrestling" with a pug to get whatever he has out of his mouth. Well I can confirm Simon still has a good amount of teeth left. He has lost some thanks to his advanced age but trust me he's got plenty left and they are sharp too. In the process of our wrestling two of my fingers got bit. One finger was chomped on so hard there's now an indentation in the fingernail.

Lastly, this one was the most bothersome. The boys are brothers, through and through. Okay so they weren't actually from the same litter and Cody does like to throw it in Simon's face that he is the OLDER more DISTINGUISHED pug, still they are brothers, getting along perfectly 98% of the time. Yet they also fight like brothers, same as the "human" kind. So I come home for the day, upon entering the front door I immediately notice a few drops of blood on the rug. I continue down the entryway hall, looking out into our living room to see one pug is sound asleep in a pet bed by the fish tank. The other pug is staring in my direction with a small amount of blood dripping from his mouth/chin as he sat in a pet bed by the window. I walked towards the bleeding pug, noticing as I get closer blood on a pet bed and a towel too. Geesh! I clean up the bleeding pug, asking him the whole time what happened? Of course he didn't answer except with his eyes. His eyes told me his pathetic story of how his little brother beat him up again.

I know these boys. I don't have to guess what happened. I know what happened! Cody tries to "punk" Simon. Simon is then forced to defend himself. In 14 years of his life, I've never seen Simon start a fight. Cody has started every fight that has ever gone down between him and Simon as well as between him and Piper. Fights between him and Piper are super minor because she has a mini white flag she keeps near and waves it without much thought. She'll never be brave enough to stand up to him! Simon is great at avoiding Cody and his issues when he recognizes Cody is in a certain mood. But when provoked Simon's attitude switches to "I don't want to tear your head off but I will if you make me".

Other than a week spotted with weird fur baby incidents to deal with, what else has been going on you ask? Well, Brad is settling into his new job with a new company and at a new property. The new property is quite the mess according to him lots of files and things to organize. He loves his huge office and this is the newest property he has worked at in about 8 years. Newer the property means less major things going wrong. Yesterday, Brad started physical therapy for his knee. He's rather excited to be doing physical therapy. I guess because he knows his knee will now finish recovering. Our evenings for the last 12 days have consisted of watching the Aussie Open on a nightly basis. It will end with a showdown between Federer and Nadal in the finals. How sweet it is! I'm also looking forward to the Pro Bowl tomorrow night. Yes, I know they don't play very hard. But I'll always enjoy the Pro Bowl whether it's serious play or not. I still like to see who shows up. There was lack of interest for awhile from the players. Now it seems the players are more interested, I think they needed to get it out of Hawaii sooner. Plus there's newer players to the league that are getting good enough to earn Pro Bowl recognition. I realize some might disagree with me about moving it out of Hawaii but think about it like this, it's harder to get to Hawaii. Based on proximity getting to Orlando, or Dallas, or Phoenix is easier and quicker. NFL players can afford a trip to Hawaii whenever they want so trying to dazzle them with that is useless. Just have the Pro Bowl in a somewhat easy location to get to or have it in the stadium hosting the Super Bowl and be done with it. Just my opinion certainly my humble opinion is of zero concern to the NFL. Understandably! :)

Quick Snap Sunday

 Piper and Her Tunnel!

Piper's fave place is likely her tunnel. She's all about her tunnel system. It may take up a good amount of space but she'd be lost without it.

This side of the tunnel seems to collapse a lot but she doesn't care. She curls up inside it and hangs out for hours on certain days. Sometimes she'll back up inside the tunnel in an effort to be completely hidden. Once she feels she's completely hidden she waits to pounce on an unknowing passerby. She's quite successful jumping out of her tunnel to surprise a pug brother. She's successful surprising me only a third of the time. If I'm distracted and on the phone she'll likely catch me. She surprises Brad with her surprise pounce attack from time to time too.

As I've stated before cats can make a game out of nearly anything. Hiding is one of Piper's favorite things ever. Hiding and batting at things that hang on a string. Top notch fun to her!

Where's The Love?

Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut. Is that really me? I went to bed Friday night woke up and the country had gone crazy by Saturday morning. No wait, the country went crazy awhile ago but overnight full blown insanity set in. My oh my!

I couldn't believe my eyes as I read some of the signs women were marching with in DC and other places yesterday. Are you kidding me? Surely this is a joke? If it's not a joke then I must be the stupidest woman alive. I guess I really am a dumb blonde because I'm totally confused what exactly were they marching about? Some wore costumes made to look like female or male external genitalia while carrying signs with words that are ACTUALLY DEMEANING to women. Did anyone clue into the amount of wordage being used by these demonstrators that is demeaning to all females? Didn't anyone teach them you don't use certain language to demean yourself? Among the sea of signs with demeaning wordage were of course signs protesting Trump, as well as signs about equality, and "girl power". Um, okay. Lots of issues rolled into one!

But please, because I'm apparently a dumb blonde...please someone tell me how women in America are so suppressed? As a woman what am I not allowed to do?  I need to know because Piper my little cat-daughter and I need to start complaining to the 2 male pugs and my husband we live with. LOL!

In all seriousness...
We are free right? Women are free. We can come and go as we please each and every day or am I wrong?

We can go to school: elementary, high school, college, grad school. Not like women only get educated thru 12th grade and anything higher is reserved for men only. And might I add women are even allowed to graduate at the top of their class. Becoming a valedictorian or a salutatorian isn't reserved for just boys! :)

We can drive. And we're allowed to drive at the same age teenage boys are allowed to drive.

We can buy alcohol and cigarettes too. Just like men.

We can vote. We've been able to vote for years now. Nothing new.

We can hold down jobs of any kind. We can even become CEO's of companies. I'm CEO of a small company I call Fur-baby Inc. Lol! As I type this, one fur-baby sits in timeout.

We can even pursue careers in pro sports. Okay, so aspiring to be the next Peyton Manning if you are a girl might be a stretch. But hey it's a stretch for the majority of men as well! 

Women coaching men in pro sports, can we do that? Yep, women can even do that. San Antonio Spurs have a female assistant coach. My hometown team the Arizona Cardinals as well as the Buffalo Bills have female assistant coaches on their staffs.

We can marry whom we choose. We aren't sold to the jerk down the street for two calves once we reach marrying age.

We also have the right to choose our sexual orientation. Actually we even have the right to give up our gender, have an operation and join the boys.

We can choose to have families and a career. There's also no limit on how many kids we are allowed to have.

We can worship as we want.

We can dress as we choose.

We can enlist in the military.

And yes, are you ready for this one....we can even run for President of the United States. The woman didn't win but she was permitted to run wasn't she?

I know this list isn't complete, yet I feel I've made my point. Therefore, clearly I must agree with all those protestors from yesterday...American women are very oppressed. NOT!!!! Go be a female in Beirut or how about Pakistan? Or maybe being a woman in Syria or Iraq is more your thing?

Last time I checked America was still quite high on the list of places to build a life. I was raised in an American city that is overrun by illegal foreigners desperately seeking to have the American dream. From where I sit, America still seems to be a desirable nation to move to if you happen to be stuck in an undesirable nation.

I should probably stop but let me briefly add, or rather question where is the love? Groups that demonstrated yesterday said they were doing so to spread love not hate. Okay, so Madonna said what she said about the White House out of love? She better be REAL glad she is a famous celeb because if I had said that or you had said what she said yesterday we'd be behind bars with NO bail set. Nope, my husband wouldn't even have a chance to bail me out. I'd be charged with all sorts of things and likely never see freedom again. An additional anecdote, let me tell this story from a few months ago when Trump was elected. A Republican man that had just got done voting for Trump at the polls was pulled out of his car and beaten. I'm sure those particular protesters did that out of love, right?

What are we teaching our next generation? What are we demonstrating to other nations? Come on get a grip people. This isn't about Trump. Organizers of these protests are using people's dislike for Trump to get people's attention, to help get more people out to their protests. Look deeper, this is a super feminist super liberal movement. Wake up...evil is at work in a new wave under a new disguise of so-called LOVE aimed squarely at women.


****If for some reason you didn't catch what Madonna had to say in DC yesterday as she hyped up the crowds. Here is a link to the video at yahoo... https://www.yahoo.com/news/madonna-at-womens-march-i-have-thought-an-awful-lot-about-blowing-up-the-white-house-200716914.html ...Just in case this link changes or doesn't work you can go to yahoo and search "Madonna at women's march". The part towards the very end about the White House is most noteworthy!

A Simon Update

Just a short update on our little Simmie-boo-boo. I'm happy to report he has been doing quite well this week. I continue to keep my fingers crossed that he is looking at his major episodes in the rearview mirror. Goodbye major episodes!

He's remained episode free for about 6 days now, so almost a week. Without any major episodes occurring that allows him to fully recover from the aftermath of the episodes. His back legs have been quite affected this time around, even more so than back in September. His back legs haven't wanted to be as strong as they should be. Early this week getting Simon to do a full walk was quite hard. As the week has progressed his legs have gotten strong again, stability has returned.

All in all I'm happy with his progress this week. The hope is he can continue to stay episode free for weeks and months to come. Fingers-crossed!

What A Night!

Are we all still here? I think so! Let's see...one puggie...another puggie...one cat and two human parents. Yep, we made it thru that storm. My oh my, in the nearly 8 years I've lived here never has there been tornado warnings issued in JANUARY!!!! JANUARY! Tornados as my husband has told me time after time are a concern in the Spring not Winter. I tell you our weather is kind of screwed up lately. It's like Mother Nature passed control over to her rebel daughter and everything is going haywire.

The major storm started rolling in with about 5 minutes or so to go in the Cowboys game. Things with the game and the weather both took a turn for the worse at about the same time. Yeah, lets not talk about the game. Brad was so furious! Yikes! Anyway, the wind whipped and howled. They broadcast tons of storm coverage and very little of anything else. I watched the eye of the storm make its way closer and closer to us on the weather radar. Our area was in the direct path. I had 3 nervous pets on my hands as well. Cody was even huddled up by the front door. They mentioned on the weather special reports that Cowboy's stadium had been closed before the storm approached. Meaning that fans, players, media, and even the entire Jerry Jones clan was stuck inside the stadium. Trust me, better to be prevented from leaving then have to leave and be stuck outside in the storm.

Lots of winds, super loud thunder, plenty of lightening and tons of rain. Thankfully, no major damage. Our building however, was struck by lightening directly above the elevator shaft. You know what that means? Yep, the elevator is not working. At least there's another elevator in our building to use. It increases the amount we walk to get to it but it's better than having to carry 2 aging puggies up to the top floor.

Whew! What a wild night! I was super thankful the worst of it was over long before we went to bed. That way we could sleep peacefully and not worry about a tornado ripping thru in the middle of the night. I just have to say one more time...JANUARY! A tornado issue in JANUARY! Crazy!

3 Day Weekend

Obviously today is the middle day of a nice long 3 day weekend. I must admit with everything that has been going on I forgot it was a 3 day weekend until yesterday afternoon. Boy am I glad it's a 3 day weekend though, I need it. I've been a little wacky lately. Super forgetful. Not remembering it's a 3 day weekend is nothing compared to some stuff I've forgotten recently. Last Sunday I was making a soup, after it had been on for hours I went to check on it. It was a mere 30 minutes before I wanted to serve it up when I realized I never turned the crock pot on. I kept wondering why I wasn't smelling anything. Then this past Friday I went to the post office but didn't have all my stuff together to ship whatever I was shipping so I had to come back home then make another trip back to the post office. Oh and this is really embarrassing I sent Christmas gifts out to my family in the Phx area about 3 weeks ago, yes they were being sent late to begin with. Anyway the package was delivered back to us yesterday. Apparently I made a mistake with the zip code. I'm not dyslexic but that zip code error makes it look like I am. So to the Moore family I promise I'll try it again come Tuesday. And expect a little extra goodie, I'm going to do some baking, in an effort to help me clear my head, so something extra tasty will be included when I try to mail out your package again.

Brad is classifying this 3 day weekend as his mini vacation before starting a new job. Tuesday is a big day for him, he starts working at his new property. Before officially accepting this new job he had quite the list of things he asked for from the new company and he got every single criteria met. Sweetness! He was super happy! As for the previous place he was working, they lost almost their whole entire staff. A couple other people decided to "jump ship" so to speak and leave with Brad this past week. Only small negative in my opinion and his opinion is the distance. It will be a much longer commute. We have been planning on moving at the end of February but those plans are not completely for sure. Moving two aging pugs that are having vision issues is not going to be an easy thing. One pug's vision issues is temporary during his aftermath of episodes but his older brother's vision issues is not temporary. We'll see...I'd say the percentage as of this very moment is 70% in favor of moving and 30%  in favor of staying put. More stuff to weigh out!

Obviously things didn't go well for the Texans last night. Hopefully things will go better for Cowboys today. Brad has had a countdown going until game time. And yes, his big request was football pancakes for breakfast. He's spoiled just slightly! Hee-Hee! I make football shaped pancakes for him on numerous football Sundays. It was kind of funny earlier when I noticed the last time the syrup was used it was placed back in our pantry with drips going down the sides of it, a sticky mess. When I questioned who left the syrup bottle a drippy sticky mess Brad had a coy grin on his face then blamed his brother. For a second I felt like I was listening to a blame game story from their childhood. The reason his brother got the blame is because we had an overnight get-together at New Year's and I made waffles for brunch New Year's day. So Brad is sure it was Rob who left the syrup bottle a mess not him. LOL! Oh brother! Pun intended!:)

So football shaped pancakes for breakfast, me in my Cowboys socks, the boys in Cowboys shirts, and my husband in his championship rings shirt should send good positive vibes the Cowboys way today. Let me add Brad is on day 2 of wearing Cowboys gear. He was decked out yesterday too. He's funny! He had to start a day early. LOL! If they win today my bet would be on him wearing his 3rd long-sleeve Cowboys shirt. He only has 3 long sleeve shirts. Numerous short-sleeve though. Ready for game time...our house will be almost as loud as the stadium. ;) 

Quick Snap Sunday

 

The Padded Room

When you have a little fur-baby like our Simon-the-diamond who suffers from seizures and vestibular disease than this is how his sleeping quarters look each night. This is how his "sleeping quarters" look during the day on some days too. Slightly messy and chaotic but whatever it takes to keep him safe. He doesn't need a broken leg or broken hip on top of all his other issues! Geesh!

This morning was moving along just fine, all of a sudden Simmie had...let's call them "episodes" from here on out on this here blog. He suffered an episode. After suffering an episode he is seriously loopy for about 30-45 minutes. He walks in circles, stumbles like a drunken sailor, and suffers temporary blindness. Plus he just can't settle down during the aftermath, he has to be somewhat contained. Within about 30-45 minutes he snaps out of it somewhat, the worst of it passes but he has lingering after effects for days usually. Twitching eyes, unbalanced walking, and general confusion are the lingering after effects.

Our idea of the "padded room" was born about 3 weeks ago. We try our hardest to cover every inch of the floor. His feet are so unstable that slipping on the tile is a huge concern. During his aftermath he has lots of Bambi moments. In the padded room we ball up towels and grab pillows, placing them in strategic areas to pad corners, door hinges, and knobs on drawers. Yes, it looks messy. Yes, I hate a mess. Yes, I hate cluttered looking areas. But I LOVE my Simmie much MORE!

If anyone reading this out there has any additional ideas on how to pad things in a better manner feel free to comment or send us a text if you know us personally. Yes, we have thought of crating him during the most immediate episode aftermath, but we're worried it might stress him out too much. He's never been crated other than to travel in the car or on a plane. Our thought is to contain but not completely restrict movement.

Optimism!

Houston versus New England...not meaning to be negative in any way but does Houston have a chance? Appears New England should have a rather easy time this week. But hey, I'm sure going to be rooting for Houston. I know the odds are not in their favor and I'm kind of scared to watch this. It might be a massacre? If it is I'll be dealing with a very upset husband as he HATES New England(shh, don't tell his sister-in-law).

To see New England beat up on a Texas team is not going to go over well with him at all if it should happen. My husband is so cute, he's currently sitting on the edge of the sofa anxious for the kickoff. He can't sit back and relax with his feet up. His body has too much anticipation for this game. We are all about Texas teams in this house!

Oh hey, isn't it cool Houston is led by a former Sun Devil? Well of course it's cool! Woo-hoo! 

Catching Up With All

It's been a busy week. It went by extra slow too. Or maybe it went by so slow because us along with the rest of the Dallas area as well as the Houston area has been anxiously awaiting the big NFL weekend. Houston plays tonight and Dallas plays tomorrow. As I type this the Seahawks are taking on Atlanta. Am I rooting for the Seahawks or the Falcons?....you might be surprised. Of those two teams sadly my husband has ZERO tolerance for one and the other hasn't seen playoff action in awhile. Based on those clues one should be able to crack the code as to which team is more preferred to see win in this Dallas home.

Time for a Brad update. He recently had an MRI on his knee that he injured back in December. Yes, he took his time before deciding to have his knee checked. He wanted to see if it would heal on it's own before seeing a doctor. Perhaps, its a husband thing? Anyway he finally went to the doctor and he finally got the MRI done and he finally got the results. None of those things were easy tasks. He really had to do major checking up on the doctors office. Which is rather odd to me. Usually they are more on top of things. He had to keep pursuing them to get everything done. I'm happy to report there is no need for surgery at this point. He will have to do some physical therapy and is not allowed to do any extra exercising or tennis for at least 4-6 more weeks. If his knee doesn't respond to the strengthening exercises from his physical therapy sessions then surgery might be pursued.

Now let's catch up with Simmie. Oh my Simmie! He suffered a few more seizures this week. He's currently in his foggy-unbalanced state. However, seizures have ceased for nearly 2 days now(yay!). As for walking him during the course of the day, those walks are short. Sometimes super short. This morning I took him out briefly then brought him back home and left again with Cody in tow. I will say this too, we have drizzly-chilly weather right now, have had for a couple days now and the drizzly-chilliness is supposed to stick around for at least 4 more days. With weather like that waiting to greet Simon outside, plus his overall foggy-unbalanced feeling, it's no wonder he'd rather pass on a lengthy stay outside.

As for Cody...where should I begin? He's good overall. He's just such a bully. He has earned a new nickname..."bully-dog". I think I've mentioned this before on the blog but Cody has been permanently banned from the trio's sleeping quarters. It's now the sleeping quarters of a Si-Pi duo. We can't trust Cody to not have an issue with a sibling during the night so it's best for all if he sleeps in the living room. Storm became very bossy and overpowering in her old age so I guess we are somewhat experienced with this. He has basically gone blind in his right eye so that throws him off some. I get it, he's dealing with losing his eyesight in a somewhat natural way and his hearing is pretty much gone too. So yeah, I'd be grumpy too! He's still sweet in a cranky-sweet manner. Yes, there's such a thing as cranky-sweet. He's cranky but he'll forever be my sweet Cody-man. He has this sweet little thing he does to nudge his way thru to get close to me. Some of the actions Cody displays towards his siblings I don't believe he sees them as aggressive or mean. I think he thinks he's keeping them in line, after all he is the oldest!

Life with two aging pugs, one with a syndrome that causes him numerous issues including temporary blindness and one that is naturally going blind as well as losing his hearing, add in an endearing-sassy cat and things are never dull. Piper has lots of energy yet loves to lounge around with Simmie. She puts herself to bed each night, following Simon. Brad finds it quite humorous. He's never had a cat like her before. LOL!

Dealing with aging pugs is harder than dealing with puppy pugs. Puppy years are challenging yet exciting. They have their whole lives ahead of them. Not exactly the same way at this stage of their lives. I've cried off and on a little in the last 14 days as I continue to adjust daily to the needs of the pugs. I'm still hopeful Simon will recover fully. He hasn't been able to completely recover like he did back in September. In September he cycled through the syndrome in about 10 days time and showed no symptoms until the last week of December. This time around he keeps cycling through the syndrome, moving through good days and not so good days. But full recovery, looking at the syndrome in the rearview mirror hasn't happened yet. Needless to say my anxiety level is rather high. I get up at least twice during each night to check on him. However, before going to bed I am totally obsessed with checking on him. Once the three of us come in from the last walk of the day he puts himself to bed and I become obsessed with checking on him right up until I go to bed. He has a crazy mommie!    

Quick Snap Sunday

 

 

Piper: Smile Simon, mommie is taking our picture. Apparently she thinks it's noteworthy to feature a cat and a pug snuggled up next to each other.

Simon: Oh geez! Not again? She's obsessed with taking MY picture.

Piper: Hey, she likes taking my picture too.

Simon: Tell yourself whatever you want, whatever gets you through the day!

Piper: I may not have claws but I have teeth and I like to bite. Say something nice or get bit.

Simon: Ouch! (he feels the pain of a cat bite, courtesy of his little sister) How come cats can get away with that? A dog bites someone and they haul us off to be quarantined or worse yet.

Piper: It's the best part of being a cat! Bite and suffer little to no consequences.

Simon: I thought it was having 9 lives?

Piper: Oh wait it is...yes, 9 lives, that's the best part of being a cat.

Simon: Oh geesh, I gotta tell her what the best part of being a cat is when I'm a dog. I guess she's still a work in progress! My little protégé!



Words from their human mommie...Piper is still quite young, just turned 3 a few months ago, as she matures she seems to be emulating Simon more and more. It seems clear she has chosen a favorite brother. Then again, don't most little sisters have a favorite bro to hang with? Trust me, Cody wouldn't take offense, he'd likely be relieved it's not him! Means he gets to sleep alone and without a cat curled up sharing his space. Lol! In our household these two have affectionately been termed "Si & Pi". Pronounced with long "i" sound, just like their names are said.

The Troubles of Simon

Finally I have made my way to 2017! What can I say? Life gets busy around here at times. Simon has been keeping both of his parents busy to say the least. Not just busy but worried. That little boy didn't go into 2017 in the best of health and the first 7 days weren't so great either for him. Finally, yesterday in the late afternoon, things started to change. Let me add, THANKFULLY, things started to change. I am ecstatic to report our little Simmie is pretty much back to being our little Simmie. His fog has lifted, his stomach issues have subsided.

He had quite the time of it though. His troubles started the day before New Year's Eve. Brad sat up with him late into the night and cradled him during one of his seizures. During that episode Brad was nearly sure Simon was checking out. Our poor little fur-baby suffered through numerous seizures during a 3 day period. The day after New Year's day the seizures were done but the after effects were very present. I have termed Simon's after effects as "his fog". He deals with a lot of anxiety, disorientation, and temporary blindness in the days after his seizure episodes. There's moments where we hold him in our arms and wonder if he's still in there.

About the mid-point of last week I was noticing improvement, thought he was on the mends then BAM, he started dealing with some serious stomach problems. This past Friday night I stayed up with him all night long. I cradled him a few times thinking he was about to leave this earth. At one point I even thanked him for being such a good puggie just in case it was the last time. As the daylight approached early Saturday morning the worst of it seemed to be subsiding and he was resting comfortably. Much later in the day yesterday after we returned home from a family gathering he perked up with his usual brightness in his eyes...and he was hungry. He could hardly wait for dinnertime. So far this morning, he's acting normal, well as normal as Simon has ever been. Wink-wink!