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
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Battle wound photos (not too graphic)
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
Monday, August 25, 2008
Charlotte...weeks 11 and 12
Where has the time gone? And did June and July really happen? With a new baby at the very end of May, June was a BLUR and July was a haze as well. Now we have an almost three-month-old! WOW! Charlotte is starting to come out of the funk of reflux and colic. THANK GOD! She has been a much happier baby lately which means that the Baker house is a much more sane place to be. She loves to share her smiles with us, coo and her sister, watch the dogs run around, sit in her bumbo chair, swing in her papasan swing (thank GOD for that thing), enjoy the fresh air in our yards and so much more! Tummy time has become much more fun since she is so much stronger now! She lifts her whole chest off of the floor with her arms and turns her head all around to find something interesting. Charlotte is a drool machine. We go through 6-8 bibs a day that we could probably ring out. If we could find a way to power the world with drool we could solve the energy crisis! Charlotte's eyes are looking very blue these days and she is getting cuter and cuter every day. We are all under her spell.
Here are some recent photos:
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| 2008-08-24 Charlotte 11 and 12 weeks |
In the yards with Daddy
Lorelei absolutely loves to be outside with Daddy whenever he is working in the yards. She helps to water the plants with him and helps him tend to our veggie garden (although she loves to pick the green tomatoes instead of the red ones). But most recently, mowing is her new passion! She gets the biggest kick out of pushing her bubble mower behind Daddy as he mows. Charlotte and I sat in the shade and watched Matt and his shadow the other day...here are the photos.
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| 2008-08-24 Outside yard time |
A day of fun with cousin Ethan
Ethan came over the other day to play with Lorelei and the two of them had a BLAST! They are only 12 days apart in age and are both approaching 2 very soon! They LOVE one another. They really are like a little comedy team!
Here are some photos:
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| Fun with Ethan August 24th 2008 |
Go Chiefs!
When Grandpa Chad was in Kansas City a while ago he picked up a Chief's outfit for Lorelei at a Chiefs game...it finally fits!
Here she is:
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| 2008-08-24 GO CHIEFS |
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Hot August Nights 2008!
Along with my parents and Laurie, Brandon and Brenden Harbin, we headed up to Sparks, Nevada for Hot August Nights over the past weekend. We all had rooms right next to one another at The Nugget Casino/Hotel and Brenden (16 months) and Lola had a blast together. Charlotte was pretty much just along for the ride, but she did really well with all of the activity. Laurie's parents, Pam and Ted Roach (long time family friends of our family) were up there as well. We all had such a good time hanging out and although the weather was quite warm (in the 90's) the evenings cooled off nicely. During the days we walked around and checked out all of the cool classic cars on display along Virginia Avenue and all of the festivities (and food). In the afternoons we hit the pool and let the kiddos work off some energy before nap time. The casinos were close by which allowed for some fun for the adults as well! The evenings were the BEST when the "cruise" came through the streets. It was so nice to be able to set chairs out along the route, chill out with our coolers of beverages and watch the cars come by and show off their engines and NOISE! The drivers would throw beads and candy. Lorelei screamed, "Cars, Cars, Yeah, Yeah, Go, Go, Vroom, Vroom" and was plastered against the baracades the entire time. The noise never scared her and she was in HEAVEN! Each morning the first words that came out of her mouth were, "more cars?". She also enjoyed some candy and her first lolly pop! What a blast.
Photos from our weekend:
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| Hot August nights |
Some photos of the girls
These are just some random photos of the girls from the past few weeks. Charlotte is now 10 weeks old! She was 10 lbs, 10oz at her checkup and is 23" long which puts her in the average range for both. She had her 2 month immunizations and there is a photo of her bandaids to prove it! Poor baby! Lorelei is now 23 months old and will be turning 2 soon! Where has time gone? She loves to be outside and has been enjoying sidewalk chalk and bubbles! Lola still loves to hold Charlotte whenever we allow her too. She calls Charlotte "sister" and "friend" which we think is adorable. She even says, "Charlotte, it's ok...don't cry sister" with a very concerned look on her face. What a little mommy she is!
Here are some photos:
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| 2008-08-11 Charlotte Aug 08 and Hot August nights |
Thursday, July 31, 2008
First smiles captured on camera! 9 weeks old
Charlotte has been smiling for us for about two weeks now and we are loving it! We at least get several a day, especially when she is on her changing table, but we had yet to capture any on camera...until today! She is 9 weeks old today and is officially 2 months old. Enjoy the photos of her cute little mug and of Lorelei and Charlotte having "naked baby" time!
Here they are:
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| 2008-07-31 Charlotte 9 weeks old |
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