Many opportunities for a photo op!

So it was Raeya's 2nd birthday on July 31st with a Mickey Mouse theme.. so much fun! Raeya had a great time playing with her bubble gun and I had a great time taking over 500 photos! How did I manage that?! Well with a digital camera it sure isn't hard. But I am starting to actually use my DSLR as it should be.. manually.. even manual focus.. I kept getting the exposure wrong but for the most part it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Poor Rob burnt his hand on the lawn mower but he was a real sport, bandaged it up and carried on like nothing happened..

Whenever Raeya got tired of opening gifts, she would play with her ball or dance with anyone who would dance with her..

Then Jen and I took Claire aka: Panda, to Beacon Hill Park where we pet the goats (and they tried to take a nibble of Panda's hat and Jen's shirt) and saw the other animals.. miniature horse and pony, crazy chickens, alpacas and a pot bellied pig.. great day.. until my battery on my camera died.. you'd think I would have recharged it after Lisa and Justin's wedding.. no such luck.. thank goodness for the battery pack or I wouldn't have taken the great shots that I got!

Dog food $30, Vet bill $400, a happy and healthy dog, PRICELESS!

My poor Maddie... every night before bed Maddie runs around and likes me to catch her. She jumps on the bed.. or more like waits for me to help her on the bed, and she runs around in circles, grabs my fingers and tries to use them as chew toys. One night we started to play and when I went to rub her shoulder she yelped.. she had a huge lump.. I was hoping she just banged it or something and she'd be fine in the morning but no luck. The next morning she was still in pain so off to the vet we went. After an extensive examination (and a thermometer up the butt), the vet said Maddie had a boil that needed to be lanced so she was taken into the back where they could perform the surgery. The vet assured me Maddie would have freezing and wouldn't feel anything.

For a dog who couldn't feel anything she sure did kick up a fuss! I've never heard her in so much distress before and I just about went into the back to make sure they weren't taking anything more than they needed to!! Then I heard the vet say to Maddie "I'm not even touching you! Why are you so upset?" I would have been really shocked if I had heard Maddie reply, however it was a bit reasurring to hear the vet talking to her in such a gental manner and trying to calm her down. When she came back into the exam room to explain how things went she told me that while she was performing the surgery, Maddie was quiet and as soon as she would walk away she started to put up a fuss.. the vet said that Maddie has "high anxiety". Good Grief!!! 

When we finally got home (head cone and all), Maddie would not even look at me. She kept on walking into the wall, couldn't get to her food or water dishes so I took the cone off.. the wound was on her shoulder.. unless she's an owl, she can't lick it!!! She was a bit better after that but not by much. It took almost 2 full days, numerous treats and a lot of baby talk before she would look at me, let alone forgive me.

I'm happy to say she is back to her lovable, licky self.. boy, being a mom is stressful! God help me if I have human kids!!