Easter Sunday

Maddie's first easter, 2009

This year Easter 2010

Committed to blogging this time!

Darn it! I am! I feel awful that I haven't kept up with this blog like I should be. I am disappointed in myself but I wont let more time slip away unwritten. Maddie is doing a ton of new things and I want to document them all. Her second birthday is next week and while she is not walking yet, she is pulling to stand and cruising very well. Our goal is for her to be walking on that beach sand this summer :) She began hands and knees crawling about 5 months ago and she is fantastic at at now, so much so that she has little interest in standing alone. It was confirmed by her PT that she needed orthodics in her shoes to help stabilize her ankles. We got them last week, they are a size 5 and Maddie's current foot is a size 3. We bought the recommended shoes for them and they seem huge. Now she has even less interest in walking. Go figure. Its only been a few days so I am hoping this will change.

Our big girl is feeding herself with a spoon, no fork yet. She is a signing machine and knows the following words without prompting. Meaning I say the word or show her a picture and she signs it! Amazing. I am so proud of her.
mama, dada, dog, baby, ball, eat, drink, milk, more, please, thank you, cow, fish, and quite a few others I cant think of off the top of my mind. She is so smart. She has this adorable way of letting you know what songs she wants you to sing to her. I will have to take some pictures of it to post later. She knows "If you re happy and you know it" and "Wheels on the bus" and asks me to sing them at least 20 times a day.

On the hearing aid front, still the same. I have yet to find a suitable ENT here locally that either has a halfway decent bedside manner or wont accidentally puncture her eardrum. Thats a whole other post. I just want a solid answer about her hearing loss once and for all. I might wait my entire life. Its been a huge battle to keep her aids on and I have all but given up some days. We are getting new molds on Thursday so I am praying they will be a better fit and easier to keep on.

Her thyroid levels at last check were pretty good. Her synthroid dose is still very high for her age/weight (50mcg) but it took a year to get them close to normal. The thyroid gland is the command center of the brain. Potentially the most detrimental thing that could happen to Maddie is for her to miss a few doses of her synthroid. Dr. D still believes she may not even have a thyroid gland at all because of her levels when she was first born. The only way to know for sure is to take her off of all the meds for a week and see how out of whack they are. Not an option at all Im willing to explore anytime soon. She will get a whole new set of blood work done at her 2 year check up next week.

Well, thats it for now. Im off to bed, we have a long week of party planning to do! I have some great photos to share in my next post.

Saying Goodbye

She's a beauty isnt she?? Before I met Chad, this was his girl. Marley was the main lady in his myspace photos and the first Hendricks family member I got to meet. During her puppy years Chad says she was a rowdy thing, chewing well over $1,000 of items. From pillows to jeans and one of each of several pairs of shoes (a few of mine.) He says he dreamed of owning an English bully since college. So, after buying his College Park house in 2005 he purchased this pretty little girl. No research on the breed. Not knowing the expense and demand she would have in her later years. Not knowing that sweet sweet Marley would have you chasing her for miles around the streets of our neighborhood after she darted out the front door. Even though shes fat, that dog can run fast. No joke!

Here we are in 2010. Moved into a smaller house, no fenced yard, an older dog, and a mobile toddler. When Maddie was born everyone encouraged us to consider finding a better home for her, where she could run free in a fenced yard. The encouragement came mostly after me being late to work several mornings because I had spent 30 minutes to an hour to chase down and corral a 60lb bulldog, me being 8 months pregnant. Yeah, good times. None the less we couldn't bear the thought of giving her away. She was a part of Chad and I loved her way too much. Over the last 2 years we've realized that the amount of love we have for Marley warrants us giving her a better life. She is 5 years old. About halfway through her life expectancy and a great companion. She has a very sweet disposition and craves attention. Attention we couldn't give her the way we needed to. Maddie pretty much consumes all of our attention now. Like I said it was hard to admit that 2 years ago but its true. Her vet bills alone were going to put us in the poor house.

So, Chad pretty much found the perfect family. It is one of the hardest decisions we've had to make since we've been married. It was very emotional. We changed our mind the first attempt to drive her over. Im pretty sure Chad cried a little. I balled my eyes out almost the entire one hour trip there. Chad emailed the family several times before hand, and even then we were prepared to refuse to leave her if we felt their situation was not right for Marley. I knew in my heart they were perfect though. They had a huge beautiful home. Several of their neighbors have bullys and Marley has already had several play dates from what we hear. They have 3 boys. 10,11 and 12. It was confirmed Marley was the perfect match for them when the mom shared that the middle boy has autism. It took us over an hour to say goodbye and we left with a box of tissues we did not walk in the door with. I pray to God that Marley is being loved and played with and that she is getting plenty of butt scratching!

Chad, Maddie and I have had so many great times and memories with Marley. I am kind of glad we wont have to watch her suffer through her older years and eventually her death. Its been so hard to post this and see all of the photos we have of her. I miss her terribly and I know Chad does too. It will be hard when we turn the calender to the month of June to and see the photo that was selected of Marley and Maddie.