Well, the Bakers are on the move once again but this time we are moving into a home we have purchased! It is both exciting and scary since we realize that we will not be paying off this new purchase until we are in our late fifties! We are moving to a cute little circle on the south side of Lodi. The circle has a walkway to a park and it will be nice to live on a street where cars aren't zooming by. The house is a three bedroom/two bathroom home with a lot of nice touches. The solar-heated pool in the backyard is the perk! The doggies will love being able to spend more time outside since we will now have a fenced yard. After he fully mends, we are sure that Baxter will be living on the top step of the pool. That dog LOVES water. We are also happy that there is a large shaded arbor area with a gate off of the backdoor which will keep the girls away from the pool when playing outdoors. We should be moving this next weekend and we will hopefully be able to get in a few days before to paint the girls rooms. Everything else in the home is great as-is.
We are sad to be leaving our awesome home on Curry Avenue. It really feels like home to us and it is where we brought Lorelei when she was only 9 weeks old and where we brought Charlotte home! So many "firsts" happend here and we will have tons of great memories from the time we spent here. As first-time home buyers in the current market, now was really the time for us to act and we are anxious to make the Port Chelsea house "home".
We are anxious to have visitors to our new place! So, whether you live nearby or far away, our doors are open to you!
We'll post photos soon.
Monday, September 15, 2008
WE ARE MOVING!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Baxter update
Thank you all for your concern for Baxter. He is doing pretty well. After the strong pain medication wore off (morphine from the vet) he was visibly uncomfortable, but with the pain medicine that they sent home for him he is doing fine. We apply an antibiotic ointment to his uncovered wounds 3-4 times a day, give him oral antibiotics and a lot of TLC. He is still on soft foods due to his mouth wound, but he gave kibble a try yesterday and did ok. His front left leg is still in full dressing and will probably remain so for quite a while. It is a pretty bad wound. His front right paw is looking better and better but we have to keep an eye on him because he licks it until it is raw. We have been wrapping that foot as well to stop him from being able to get at it. He has been going to the office with Matt every day so that Matt can keep an eye on him. Baxter just curls up in a ball and sleeps the day away and I think he is enjoying the attention from others in the building. Bailey is missing her wrestling buddy and is a bit freaked out seeing him this way. Overall things are going well and we are so glad that we still have him with us.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Battle wound photos (not too graphic)
Well, to prove that Baxter did survive this ordeal, we posted his battle wounds to show how tough our doggie really is! What a champ. He's getting better day by day with medication, rest and TLC. We love you Baxter!
Here are the photos: Double click on the image
Monday, September 8, 2008
Baxter vs. car
So, last night at around 10:30 PM Baxter was hit by a car in front of our house. I had let him out for his last potty break for the night and went to our back porch to call him in. As soon as I opened the back patio door I heard a sickening double thud from the steet and saw car lights slow and then leave. Even though I had not heard any whining or yelping, I just had this feeling that he had been hit. I woke Matt and he and I called Baxter relentlessly from the pack porch hoping that the sound and lights were just coincidental. After ten minutes there was still no sign of him. Matt retrieved his spotlight and made his way out to the street. Just then I had let Bailey out figuring that she would find him. She rounded the corner of the back of our house and headed directly for our covered patio despite me calling her back. I went back in the house and approached the glass door where I had let him out. I saw him leaning against the door with a pool of blood in front of him. He had made his way back to the door after being struck and was in very bad shape. I called for Matt and he ran for the back door. Baxter's breathing was labored and he was loosing quite a bit of blood from his nose and mouth. His head had several cuts and his front legs were cut up badly and road-rashed. Matt sat with him on the back porch trying to make him comforable while I made phone calls to our parents to ask for help in getting him to an emergency vet. We thought we were going to lose him on the porch. His eyes were closing, his breathing was getting worse and he looked as if he was fading. I just couldn't bring myself to see him like this. Matt sat with him and I talked with him through the door. If we were going to lose Bax I wanted my last memory of him to be from a half-hour before when he was curled up at the base of my chair acting as a foot rest for me. Matt's parents arrived as well as mine and the Dads helped to get Baxter in the back of the truck. Matt rode with Baxter in the truck bed on the way to the Emergency Vet in Stockton despite the cold night air and the trip on the freeway. The moms stayed with Bailey and I to console us.
The vets stabilized him, put in an IV, took X-rays, medicated him and gave us their initial report: He had no broken bones (amazing), tons of road rash and some pretty bad gashes, air in his chest from the blunt trauma of the impact, and a VERY messed up lip. He was basically split fang to fang inside his upper lip between his gums and nose. This accounted for the blood from his nose and mouth and partially for his difficulty breathing. They kept him overnight and watched for the air in his chest to improve. They wanted to make sure that there was no major tear in the lungs before they put him under anesthesia to repair his face and extremity wounds.
We spent a sleepless night worrying about our Baxter and Matt headed over to pick him up at around 7:00am this morning. He took him to our regular vet who ended up further observing him and then operated on him this afternoon to fix his mouth (which he said ended up being a lot more involved than he had expected) and to clean up all of his wounds and bandage them. We picked him up from our vet this evening at around 6:00pm. He looked really terrible: legs wrapped in bandages, shaved spots all over his body to allow access to his wounds, ears drooping, limping, and a terrible sound coming from his nose as he struggled to breath through it.
We brought him home tonight and he headed straight for his comfy bed to sleep. The pain meds had him pretty groggy (thank GOD). Bailey was very concerned that Baxter was in such bad shape. We were given instructions on how to feed him (soft/wattery foods only because of his mouth wound), antibiotic pills to give him, ointment to apply and general information on what to expect and what to look for. He will have his bandages changed at the vet tomorrow and will be laying low for quite a while to heal.
It is so hard seeing him this way, but through it all his tail has been wagging. Isn't that so Baxter? Nothing can stop that tail. He is one very lucky dog that apparantly has nine lives despite not being a cat...and thank goodness he is such a big dog! His eighty-two pounds at least gave him a chance when up against that car. The vets were amazed that he was doing so well. Matt will be taking him to the office with him to give him all of the attention he needs since my arms are kinda full during the days with the girls. We will try to keep things calm around him even though we are in a packing frenzy right now and move to our new house in a week and a half! Lorelei was told that Baxter was at the Doctor because he had "boo-boos". She greeted him with "You're Ok Baxie...Love you Baxie". Her buddy will hopefully be back and ready to play soon. We all hope so.
Give your beloved animals an extra hug and kiss tonight.
We'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Lorelei turned two!
Well, we now have a two year old in the house! Today was Lorelei's official birthday, but we celebrated this weekend with an outdoor party with family. Everyone had a blast and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Lorelei's Godparents, Chrissy and Mando attended with their adorable sons as well as my old roommate Brandie who recently moved from Washington to the Bay Area. Our neighbor Jimmy also came to Lola's party since he is Lorelei's buddy and surrogate Grandpa! The party was Elmo-themed and Sesame Street decorations were everywhere! Grandma Barrow and I had a great time making Lola's Elmo cake and it turned out pretty cute, yummy and HUGE! Lola even blew out her own candle! We had fun playing lawn games and visiting with everyone. She received a lot of adorable clothing and fun toys! She enjoyed opening the packages, but began to lose interest about half-way through when she took off towards the lawn with a little rabbit Birthday card as company. I guess she needed a break! Lola kept saying, "Lili's Birthday...cake, ice cream!". She was really digging all of the attention even though her little sister was trying to steal the attention away by crying uncontrollably for long stretches of time! Lorelei just looked like "one of the boys" since the only children in attendance were her God-siblings Hayden and Conner and her three male cousins! But she fit right in. Lorelei loved her gift from Mommy and Daddy: a cozy coupe with sounds! The boys pushed her all around the driveway for about an hour and she finally let them have a chance to try it out once they were all worn out! What a great day.
Happy Second Birthday Lorelei!
Here are photos: Double click on the image to see the gallery and captions