Welcome Lily!

I have a new niece: Lily Patricia Matczak! !
7 lbs. 10 oz., 19 in. long.
She has 1o fingers and 10 toes and lots of dark hair; little lips, rosy complexion and the infamous "Matczak" (i.e. wide) nose!

She was born on the same day (July 26) as her cousin, Kate, and a day before her parents' anniversary!

I'm sure my mom (Pat) almost wet her pants when they told her. In her defense, my dad already has two grandchildren named after him (William Bernard and Jack Bernard), my deceased aunt has two (McKenzie Mary and Mary Madeleine) and one is after my grandmother (Kathleen Alice). Heck, one has our family name (Robert Matczak) and another is named after a country (John Ireland). My mom, never one to be subtle, always made it well known that "Patricia Ann" was still not taken when my siblings would throw around potential baby names. Like all 11 others, she'll spoil this one extra rotten.



Lily had lots of visitors at the hospital, including her cousins Isabella and Ben, and twin siblings, Jack and Elle. I heard they seemed to like her in the hospital, but we'll see how they feel about her when she is at THEIR house, playing with THEIR toys, taking away from THEIR attention. That could be interesting!
She is going home today and will probably have lots of visitors. She's a cutie pie!! Of course, I am a little biased...

Peppy Kelly

Kelly's back (I took this photo today!)
She's definitely back to her more normal self, only not as crazy as before.
She wants to play, cuddle, bark, go for walks, chase rabbits, sleep on my bed, eat a lot, be nosy and nibble at my food. I'll take this Kelly any day, compared to the sad one I had for a few weeks.

I've been putting some aspirin in her food, and I think it's helping. If it makes her feel better, then I'm all for it.

I'm glad she's back to her former self, because when she's happy, I seem to be happier, too. She just has that crazy, stupid way of always cheering me up. If I need a little nap after work, she knows to just lay next to me and take it easy. If I'm not feeling well, she knows not to pester.

I know she won't live forever, but I'd like her around for awhile yet. I can't imagine not having her or another dog in my life. It's amazing how attached I've become, and its surprised me more than anyone else. When I agreed to take her, it was on a "trial" basis. The deal was that I could give her back if at any time it wasn't working out. Now if someone tried to take her from me I'd probably fight tooth and nail!

Taking her in has definitely changed my life and lifestyle, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Talent?

Once in awhile I'll catch that show on NBC, America's Got Talent.

Is it just me, or are the acts really not that talented? I mean, I'm not saying they're not, or that I could do some of those things. But if I'm watching people compete for a 1 million dollar prize, I should see some pretty amazing talent. Like, falling off my couch talent. Some of the singers probably wouldn't make the Top 24 on Idol, and some of the other acts are just cheesy with a capital C.

Like I said, if this is "America's Best," I'd hate to see our worst.

Where's Kelly?

This morning I woke up and expected to see Kelly on the floor next to me, but she wasn't. I checked the other side of the bed. Still....no Kelly. Hmmm...I figured she must've went into the living room at some point.
I went into the living room...no Kelly.
I checked the dining room...no Kelly.
I checked the kitchen...no Kelly.
I checked the bathroom...no Kelly.

By now I was starting to get really worried, because in the last two weeks Kelly has not used the stairs. I dashed upstairs anyway, and still, no Kelly. Well, what the heck? She couldn't get out. She couldn't have been kidnapped, or dog-napped. Or could she?

I started going downstairs to the basement, and much to my dismay, there she was, at the base of the stairs with her tail flapping crazily. Wow!! How she got down there without killing herself, I haven't a clue. Is she feeling better?!? I can only hope so.

I'm sure when she looked up at the stairs, it looked like Mount Everest, and she seemed groggy from sleeping. I didn't have a lot of time to dink around and still had to let her out and shower for work. So I stuck my arms underneath her belly, hoisted up all 60+ pounds of her and carried her upstairs. I heard her grumble, kind of like...."I can do this myself, you knucklehead!" But I carried her anyway. And maybe she didn't mind.

I took this photo of her on Wednesday. She's looking more perky, is holding her neck up better, eating well and enjoys her walks. As long as she's happy, that's fine with me.

Not the Same

Kelly is not the same.

I noticed some changes in her about a week ago. She didn't want to play fetch anymore. She wasn't barking hysterically when I, or even strangers would enter the house. When I threw her a treat in the air, expecting her to jump and gobble it up, it clunked her in the face.
Maybe it's the heat, my friend said.
Maybe your cold is rubbing off on her, others said.
Maybe she is just getting used to you and isn't as hyper, my sister said.

I wasn't sure what it was, but she certainly wasn't the same Kelly as when I brought her home.
When I described her conditions on the phone to John, he knew right away what it was. Kelly had very extensive neck surgery a few years ago, and he thinks it's acting up again or that one of her discs might be leaking fluid. That would explain the no jumping, less barking and no ball fetching.

I took her to John and Amy's house yesterday, and my other brother had to lift her out of my car. She was walking with her head down. She was tentative, timid and wasn't herself. I asked what we could do, knowing full well that there isn't probably anything short of putting her through another surgery, which we don't want to do. John said, "if she doesn't improve, and she'll probably get worse before she gets better, we'll probably have to put Kelly-dog to sleep."

As much as I hate that thought and have balled my eyes out since hearing that, I know it's the right thing to do. Kelly has lived a very good life, and if she's hurting and not the same, then we don't want her miserable. I had to lift out of my car yesterday, and had a hard time getting her to go outside. This morning I let her out the front door, because she won't go near the deck, and after she went pottie, I had to carry her back into the house. Two weeks ago I couldn't go outside without her if I wanted to, and now she's hesitant to go anywhere. That's not the Kelly I know.

For now, I'm trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. I made her homemade doggie treats last night, I let her sleep on the couch (which was a no-no before), and her walks will be short, if there will be any. That's all I can do. We'll take it one day at a time.