Playing Possum

Tonight when Reese, our chihuahua, went out for her last potty break of the day, she started going ballistic. She was barking so much, I had to go see what was going on before she woke up Cade. Well, she had found a little possum in our courtyard. It was about 10" long and was scared to death, huddled in a corner. I actually kinda felt sorry for it. Poor little guy. But don't worry -- in typical David fashion, we've promptly did a little research on your friendly neighborhood possum...and I've accummulated some of those facts, right here, for you.

#1 - Possums are North America's only marsupial.
#2 - Possums are "nature's little santitation engineer"...meaning they eat mice, rats, spiders, snails, slugs and other pesky little dudes.
#3 - Possums aren't aggressive against humans or pets...unless cornered. Woops.
#4 - Possums typically don't carry diseases like Parvo or Rabies.
#5 - Possums like to eat ripe fruit.
#6 - Possums, like racoons, are attracted by our mounds of trash bags.
#7 - Possums are often mistaken for rats. At first, I thought it was a rat. Scary.
#8 - Chihuahuas notice possums very quickly.
#9 - David is scared of possums; however, Brooks tries to get as close as possible to capture good photographs.
#10 - We can rest easy, now, knowing a possum is keeping our property safe.

Derek & Kelsey in JAPAN!!!

Derek and Kelsey have a blog where they update their adventures in Japan. You can visit their blog @ derekelsey.blogspot.com (also added under the "Blogs I Read" section of this site). Just letting you all know! Keep them in your prayers as they eat with chopsticks and ride bikes. :)

The Easter Bunny Virus

Well, Easter was going alright this year until Cade woke up from his lazy Sunday afternoon nap with 102 fever. From there, it just got worse. I stayed in his room that night and checked him off and on and he was just a little oven of heat. It got to 102.5 through the night, but he was such a trooper.

Cade is weird -- he doesn't even act sick when he's sick...which makes it hard to know when I need to take him to the doctor. For example, back in December when he had RSV (which is a REALLY bad virus in the lungs that decreases oxygen levels in the body), I took him in thinking he just had a cough that wouldn't go away and they rushed him to the ER. That wasn't the first time he shocked me. In late November, we took him in for his 9 month immunizations and he had a really bad ear infection that took 2 antibiotics to knock out and I would've never known. He didn't run fever, he didn't fuss (well, not more than normal!), he slept fine. He's either really tough or he just doesn't feel as bad as other kids to when he's real sick. I don't know.

Anyway, Monday when his fever rose up to 103.5, I thought I'd take him to the doctor. Of course, in Cade fashion -- he was laughing and playing the whole time in the car on the way eventhough he was sick as a dog. I was actually kinda scared b/c he was exhibiting early symptoms of meningitis, so we were on our way to the doctor before I even called to tell them I was coming in. He had a weird "mottled" look to his skin (which looks like the skin is transparent and you can see all the blood vessels and stuff. Actually sounds worse than it looked, but I don't know how else to describe it. And he had ice cold hands and feet eventhough he was running over 103. So I panicked.

The doctor basically said that he had a nasty little virus b/c his ears and throat and sinuses and chest looked and sounded good. And if he wasn't better by Tuesday morning, that he wanted him back for blood work.

Well, late Monday night he had 104.5...things were getting worse. At that high fever, even Cade acts kinda pitiful. I was just hoping he'd be better by morning so we didn't have to go through blood tests. Tuesday morning, he woke up with 103 -- not good. Should've called the doctor and gone for blood tests, but I decided to shoot him up (again) with Tylenol and give it a couple more hours. And lo and behold!!!!... he hasn't had fever sense. It broke via a pile of sweaty wet clothes and he's been chipper ever sense.

Glad the last 48 hours is over.

Poor Cade.

Bathtime

We decided to mix things up last night during Cade's bathtime. I put Reese (our long-haired chihuahua) in there with him...well, not actually in the water with him, but we put her in the big bathtub while Cade continued to sit in his little tub with the water in it. But Cade got so excited that Reese was in there, he stepped out of his little bathtub and started petting her and giggling hysterically. We had to capture the moment on film and share it with you. I blurred out his little ding dong, though, because I don't think I want that hanging out on the internet.

Maiden Voyage

David has decided to officially lay off the threats to pack us all up and move to Canada. For today, my friends, we went out on Joe Pool Lake in my parents' new (well, it's actually old, but new to them) BOAT. Yes, a freaking awesome speedboat! So, David has decided it won't be too bad to stay here in Big D for a little while longer. PLUS he found out that the best mountain biking trails in Texas are in Cedar Hill State Park - literally 10 minutes from our house. So, that's also helping the "Stay in Texas" cause. Just to clarify - he was kinda joking when he's say we should just move to Vancouver... kinda. But summers here in the hot, flat, desert lands are looking a bit more optimistic since we'll be spending a lot of time on a lake. Yee Haw!

Dad, David and I took the boat out for its lake debut just today and it was an absolute BLAST!!! I sat in the boat and soaked up the rays while David and Dad took turns playing "Macho" at the wheel. Dad typically wins that game...and since it's his boat, we'll always let him win.

Kelsey and Derek leave for Japan on Thursday. I'm just convincing myself that it isn't really happening. And that's a nice place to live right now -- Delusion. But we're all set up to communicate across the globe as best as possible. We all have iSights, which are video web cams so we can talk while seeing eachother. I'll get to watch Kelsey balloon to 200 pounds eating nothing but carbs...and she'll get to watch me shrink down back to wedding-size since I've pretty much decided to become anorexic - starting tomorrow. KIDDING... well, sort of! :) But I have to get back down to AT LEAST pre-pregnancy weight so that David and I can start trying for baby #2 this summer...late this summer. Who knows, we'll see. No promises.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great next week and I know we're all excited about Elizabeth's wedding!!! You go girl!