Sadie Celebrates 7 years!

Today, Sadie turned 7. Somehow it seems like she's been with us so much longer. Probably because of all the work she is and has been since she was a puppy. From challenging us with her puppy ways like grabbing the girls bows out of their hair while I was driving to jumping over our backseats in the car to eat the munchkins that were in the front seat to eating her own toys (and having to have emergency surgery) to jiggling the lock on her crate with her nose to escape while we were gone,  she really has been a challenge since we got her. So 7 years really doesn't seem long enough after her antics plus spinal surgery plus bilateral knee surgery. Plus, lots of love and care in between helping her up and down stairs, repositioning her legs when she lies down, helping her up when she falls or just helping her up to get a drink or to join us in another room or to go outside. She's like an old person who needs assisted living! 

So making it to 7 is quite a feat for her really. Seven is actually the start of the life expectancy for Berners. They say 7-9 years and she's just hit it. I always said this dog would live longer than Adler just because she was so much work. That would give her four more years if she does. I don't know if she'll have four more years around the sun but I do know that every day, week or month that she lives beyond her 7, we'll love on her a little more than usual and do all her favorite things like going for rides (she doesn't much like to get out and walk anymore but she loves to ride in the car). She loves donuts and cinnamon rolls (and she's down to 106 lbs so why not indulge!). She loves her people. There's nothing she loves more than curling up on the couch at the end of a long day with all of her people. It's then that you know she's the happiest. She snores away, content and feeling safe and secure. In fact, as I type this, she's sitting next to me, under a blanket (now that she doesn't have any hair), snoring away and happy about how her birthday turned out (lots of treats). She may not know why she got all the attention today but she does know how much she's truly loved and how much we'll do to help her live her best life even as a dog with special needs! 

Hailey's Birthday Card for Sadie

Sadie's Cake (pumpkin since she's allergic to peanut butter now)

She's 7!

It was a good birthday!

Sadie Gets a Shave

It's always something with this dog! Last week, I took her in to get groomed. The place is awesome. I think the owner was actually a professional groomer for dog shows then started his own grooming business. But beyond that, they are also really good with Sadie, letting her rest and sit down when grooming her so she wouldn't have to stand the entire time. 

So when I get a call in the middle of her grooming appointment, I was a little worried to pick up as I sensed something was wrong. I picked up and the owner proceeded to tell me that he recommended we shave Sadie due to her skin issues as well as because she freaked out when they tried to blow dry her (which she had never done before). He knew all about the hair of the Bernese Mountain Dog and how it really is that long to protect her from the heat and snow. He knew that if we kept doing this (shaving) it would eventually damage her hair in about 2-3 years. She's almost 7 (next week) so not sure how much time on this earth she has left but it would be cutting it close to her life expectancy.  

We agreed to shave her this time. I think shorter hair is definitely better for her but when I went to pick her up and saw her, she looked like an entirely different dog! She looked scared and naked. The kids were shocked too when they saw her and would call her name just to make sure I didn't drop off Sadie at the groomer and pick up the wrong dog. She looked strange and weird. This was definitely going to take some getting used to!

The "shave" definitely affected her personality. She was more timid. She shook a lot too. I finally figured out that this was because she was cold! Here was my dog that slept on a cooling pad and had a fan blowing on her in the middle of winter and now she was freezing. So now I cover her most of the time with a blanket so she's warm. This seems to have helped warm her up. 

I think too her skin issues are getting better but I will let this hair grow out. She will never be shaved again but she will definitely be sporting much shorter hair than in the past! 

The Tooth Fairy Sucks

Recently, Hailey had four teeth pulled. They were ones that we had waited and waited to fall out but they never did so finally after her mouth looked so crowded (like a Shark's mouth would), her dentist said he needed to pull them. Our pediatric dentist is amazing. He is so gentle with all the kiddos and treats a lot of kids with special needs too. He's also a family friend so that certainly helps. Hailey was less than excited to get four teeth pulled but she really loves her dentist and trusts him so she decided I didn't need to go back with her. 

She emerged from the back a little bloody but with four teeth in a cute, little plastic tooth carrying case. The dentist said he was glad we finally pulled them because the roots on three out of four of the teeth were still sooo long they would never have fallen out even though she had her second teeth already growing in behind them.  

Anyway, not a big deal at all for Hailey and I didn't make it into a big deal either so she went to religious ed less than an hour later and came home to put out her teeth for the Tooth Fairy. That night, the Tooth Fairy doesn't come. She must've forgot! (Sigh, it happens.) Hailey declares at breakfast that she wants a refund (the teeth put back in) because that darn Tooth Fairy didn't come! Shit, I think, I better get on that Tooth Fairy and she better remember for the next night. I tell Hailey something about the Tooth Fairy being old and forgetful then I put a $20 (four teeth pulled and religious ed after earned her this much) on my mantle by Sadie's bedtime treats so I'll remember for sure the next night. And, I do. I mean the Tooth Fairy does. She slips into Hailey's room, puts down the $20 and takes the plastic tooth case with the teeth. 

The next morning, Hailey comes down to breakfast confused. "I got $20," she says, "but the Tooth Fairy didn't take my teeth." She then goes on to explain how she took her teeth out of the plastic tooth case and laid them on her white night stand because she thought the Tooth Fairy couldn't see them the night before in the plastic case and that's why she didn't come. Oh brother, I think, I just assumed the teeth were in there! Shoot! Tooth Fairy blows it again. So I tell her to leave them out again and maybe she'll come back for them. She gives me the $20 to put with her money that I keep in my room and Tom tells me to take that $20 and give it back to her the next night so she'll think she got $40! So the next night, I creep into her room, scoop up the little, white teeth and leave the money. And, the next morning she is much happier when she came down thinking she made $40. I guess the Tooth Fairy doesn’t suck!

Peyton Finishes Her Middle School Cheer Season

Second from left = Peyton

Cheering for your middle school isn't that cool or at least that's what many of the classes that came before Peyton believed. Therefore, they would have only a few cheerleaders cheering at the boys basketball games. This year, one of Peyton's rec cheer (Falcons) teammates convinced all the girls who go to their middle school to tryout. She said you got to ride the bus with the boys so that was a good reason why all of them needed to do it. 

So they did. They all made the squad plus a few girls who do not regularly cheer with them. But they soon found out that they don't ride the bus with the boys. In fact, they don't cheer at the away games at all. Peyton expressed regret trying out but I'm glad she did it. She made some new friends and got to be a part of her middle school. Cheering for basketball was certainly different because she had to be aware of the players and errant basketballs flying through the air as they cheered from the baseline of the court. 

Either Tom or I attended all of her games (and Hailey came to a few as well). Hailey said she's out for cheerleading next year (she wants to try volleyball) after two years of her team making it to State. But I get it. No other girls from her school are on the team and while she's met some new friends and is actually pretty decent at it, it's no fun when your friends aren't doing it with you (especially at this age). Peyton is on the fence whether she will continue with rec cheerleading. She has one more year to finish out the season before high school. She thinks she doesn't want to cheer in high school and is really committed to playing more team sports now (wish she would have thought more about this when she was younger). She still wants to do swim but now is interested in basketball (which she hasn't played since the 3rd grade) and travel soccer (which I told her that ship has sailed and also hard to do with travel swim). 

Peyton and Hailey are so different than Austen. It's taken them longer to find a sport/something they love and for them I'm not sure they really have found it yet. They still have time but it certainly gets more competitive at our high school to make some of the sports teams with so many kids as well as many kids playing travel sports from a young age. So I say, don't quit just yet! Stick it out! 

Doing her thing