A Bittersweet Beginning

Well, it's been an interesting weekend to say the very least.  I am going to start out with the "sweet" portion.

We decided to begin our summer vacation with a little weekend getaway down South.  I was dying to be with Brittany and see baby Kaiden and we haven't been "home" since December.

On Saturday, we grabbed Brittany's kids and Chantelle & Haiven and went swimming at their pool.  The kids were all in heaven.  It was a beautiful day, although Abbie complained that it was too hot.  :/  Guess what dear...it's summertime.

We had a fun time with cousins and Josh and Emma went to a movie with Grandpa.

I was able to spend a little time at the hospital with Mr. Cutie Pie.

The newest superhero....Super Kaiden!

Here's the latest on the situation.  They have discovered 2 small holes in his heart and he is still having some problems breathing.  Just a case of being taken out of the oven a little too quickly.  :(  But we are glad that he is here and in the good hands of his wonderful doctors.  He ended up being a little bit jaundice too so he is getting a little bit of fake sun to clear that up.  That's why he is wearing the superhero mask.  :)

I love the top picture.  He looks so comfy and I couldn't resist taking a picture of his cute little diaper bum and feet.  I can't wait until he can break out of that hospital and we can all snuggle with him.

Now on to the very bitter part of our weekend.

In the midst of our swim time, I got an urgent text from Mark.  I called him back and he had to give the horrible news that our sweet dog, Mei Mei had just passed away.  

We are in a state of shock at the moment.  She was only going to be 6 this year.  We were expecting that she would be with us for a good 4 or 5 years more at least.  

We are not sure why she died.  She had been favoring her right hip for a little over a month so I took her to the vet last week.  They gave her a full check-up, took blood and everything.  They said that she had probably developed a little arthritis in her hip, sent me home with some pain medication and glucosamine and wished us luck.  They called me back with the blood results a few days later and said that everything looked okay.  So we put her on a diet because she was a little overweight and gave her the meds.  I almost took her back to the vet earlier this week because she was not eating and seemed very listless.  But as soon as I would decide to call and make an appointment, she would perk up and go eat a little bit so we thought she was okay.  Mark took her for a walk on Saturday morning and started to do some things around the house.  He let her outside about 11 am and went into the garage to grab something.  As he came out of the garage he had the thought to check on Mei Mei.  She was lying on the grass, which was one of her favorite things to do.  Mark said she took a really deep breath, her chest expanded quite a bit, and then she let it out.  She shuddered as she let her breath out and then she stopped breathing altogether.

Our friend, Blaine, came over to help Mark take her from the grass to his car and he took her to the vet.  So that is where she is now.  We are still waiting to hear back from the vet.  They were going to review her chart and take a look at her to see if they could figure out what happened.  

I did not tell the kids until we were on the way home today.  I didn't want to spoil their fun weekend and to tell you the truth, I was avoiding it.  One of those moments where I really hated being the parent.  I hate breaking my kids hearts and that is exactly what we are all suffering from at the moment...broken hearts.

Mei Mei was such a sweet dog.  We brought her home as a puppy when I was 8 months pregnant with Ellie.  She and Ellie have been the best of buds.  She loved anyone and everyone.  She loved to be outside as long as someone was out there with her.  Her favorite thing was to run and chase the kids when it snowed.  She would stay out there forever eating the snow and rolling around in it. 

I guess the risk you take when you own a pet is that one day you will have to say goodbye.  I feel like our time with her was too short, but the time that we did have with her was great.  She lived a good life and brought a lot of happiness into our home.  

I would get really annoyed with her sometimes because she would follow me around the house and had a knack for lying right in the most inconvenient spot.  I will always remember one of the times she would not leave my side though~ the day I was diagnosed with cancer.  She seemed to sense my sadness and knew that something was wrong and she just stayed with me the whole day. 

It was really hard to come home from our trip today and not have her jumping all over us because she was excited to see us.  It's going to be a rough start for this summer vacation. :(

We love you Mei Mei and will miss you!