Happy Birthday Aspyn!!!

Monday was Aspyn's third birthday and man was she excited! We went the Saturday before and picked up her bike at Sears. So since Saturday she was consistently asking to ride her bike. The day had finally come. First thing out of her mouth Monday morning was "Now can I ride my bike?" Aaron hadn't gone to work yet so he was able to see her open her presents. He favorite gifts were her bike, her My Little Pony, and a ball that sprays water. I felt badly taking her outside to ride her bike because I felt like that was probably a daddy thing to do. Well, she loved riding but I think that she loved putting on her "hat" and her knee "paddles" and elbow "paddles". She loved ridding and teaching her to push the pedals forward is how you go and pushing them backwards is how you stop. That is a hard thing for a three year old to understand. She is learning and had her first accident. I felt old, like an out of body experience only fast forwarded, telling her to get back up on the bike after she fell. She did and I was so proud that she did want to get back on and not give up. Way to go Appy!

That night we were planning on going to Cold Stone to get ice cream but we had to take Aaron's car to the repair shop. Well, his car died in the middle of a busy road at rush hour. Luckily he called his friend, Ben, to come and tow his car. They had their complication's, like his car coming off the tow straps in the middle of the intersection. So by the time Aaron got back it was too late to go get ice cream. We were given cupcakes from Kristen, my sister in law, with a dinner that she brought over so we used those for her cake. Good thing she is three and is happy with cupcakes. She went to bed wearing her new pony pajamas and was so excited to go to bed so she could wear them. Yea for pony p.j.'s.

We are so grateful that she is in our lives and it is crazy to think back to what we had to go through when she was born. She is stubborn and independent which is a good thing and at times not so good. Keep smiling and being true to yourself.

The Verdict Is In!

We went to the Vet. tonight and he said that there are.............six puppies! Yea! We couldn't be more pleased. The vet. tech. took her back and did the x-ray and when he came back he said there are a lot of puppies in there. So we were thinking 10-12 puppies. We were told that is a typical litter for great danes. Then the veterinarian told us that there were six puppies. I am so happy for Tally and am kind of relieved that there are six. The good news is that the puppies will be getting more milk so they will be bigger. The other good news is that there will be less puppy poop to clean up.

The vet. also said that she will be getting bigger within this next week! She weighed in today at 135 lbs. She is laying down more and is starting to show nesting signs (i.e. digging more in the backyard). Her favorite thing to do right now is to be touching us as much as possible. Yea six puppies!!!

Less of a Woman Who is Surrounded by Angels

About nine months ago my stomach started hurting really bad. It was keeping me up at nights for about four to five hours at a time. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what position I was in. I did some research at the wee hours of the night and I had a suspicion it was my gallbladder.

Well, my husband kept on bugging me to go to the doctor for months. I finally consented when on one specific episode it had me in tears. I consider myself to be pretty tolerant of pain but I felt like there was no end in sight. At least in labor you know they pain is going to end and you get a bundle of blessing in the end. Anyway, I made an appointment to go to the doctor for the next day.

Doctor Watson took some blood samples and asked questions and gave me a prescription for acid reflux. He told me I either have an ulcer, acid reflux, or gallstones. I was to take the prescription for a month and if I still had the same pain I was to take it for another month. If the pain then still continued then I was to go back in for another visit.

Well, I got a phone call about three weeks later, on a Wednesday, telling me that my liver was acting abnormal. I don't know the correct doctor vocabulary but if you want to know ask either Jon or Sarah. They can tell you. I was to go into their lab that upcoming Saturday morning to get an ultra sound. It sounded pretty serious so I scheduled an appointment. The crazy thing was that it was at the same day and time when Aaron was suppose to take Tally in to have her ultra sound. AHHH.

I then got a phone call telling me that my insurance wouldn't cover the ultra sound at their clinic but that it had to be at an IHC hospital. So I had to wait and hear from the nurse when that appointment was going to be. I got a phone call that next week telling me that my appointment was to be the next day. Hello, I have kids. Where am I going to find a babysitter at such short notice. Thank heaven for neighbors like Brandy Seaman. She is an angel and nothing short of that!

As I was taking my girls over to her house, literally around the corner, Aspyn throws up. Seriously, when it rains it pours. I called Brandy and she said to still bring them over. Luckily we found out it was just something that she ate and it wasn't contagious. So needless to say I found out that I had one large gallstone in my gallbladder.

I called the general surgeon that Doctor Watson recommended and at that appointment he went over with me how he was to remove my gallbladder. My appointment to get it removed was less than a week later. I had to schedule it quick because Tally was due three weeks from when my surgery was. My family and I were planning on going down to St. George for the Easter weekend and now we were not quite sure what to do. We did end up going down and it was a huge blessing. It got my mind off of the surgery that was going to happen the next day when we got home. It was also a blessing because I received a blessing from my husband, dad, and brothers. In the blessing it stated that I was to recover quickly. We drove home on Sunday listening to General Conference and went to bed.

My surgery was scheduled to be at 7:30 in the morning and the nurse said that I was to be there an hour before surgery. Awesome was the only word that entered my mind. This is going to be interesting with a one year old and a soon to be three year old. My parents got home late from St. George and were still willing to watch our girls that early in the morning. Thanks mom and dad.

As Aaron and I were driving to drop off the girls he told me "You are going to be less of a Woman". When we were first married I would have been so mad at him. What the .... Seriously. Now I know there is man lingo and there is woman lingo. I will be less of a woman because I will have less in me. All the men get exactly what he is talking about but us women get offended. I have learned to take the meaning that is not offensive. It makes for happier times.

The surgery went well and Aaron told me that I asked him three times how it went. I continued asking him different questions multiple times. Sorry Love. I guess that is what you get when one is hopped up on drugs. My other mom Shauna, went to the store and bought the groceries that we needed for that week. Thank heaven for mothers! They are life savers. Well, the next day I was walking around everywhere and doing normal chores. My husband continued to rep remand me and would send me back to bed as any good husband would do. By Thursday Aaron was back to work and I was doing laundry, dishes, cleaning, and playing with my girls. All the usually stuff that us homemakers do. So yes it was a quick recovery.

It makes it easier with sisters and neighbors who bring you dinner even when you feel like you can do it. I am so grateful for them. I am surrounded by angels. I hate asking for help especially when I feel like I can push myself to do it. I have no problem helping others when they need help but it is different when I am the one needing help. Anyone else feel that way? Anyway, love you all and thanks for your help.

The Count Down

So today starts the count down. Only 10 days left before the puppies are due. Aaron goes into the veterinarian on Tuesday to find out how many puppies we should be expecting and her official due date. The due date could change or it could stay the same.

Tally is getting big and is slowing down. She is still running outside trying to keep up with Teva and she is doing a good job at it. Tally likes laying down on her side because laying on her belly is just too hard and uncomfortable. The picture posted was taken this past Tuesday, two weeks before her due date, and she looks small then compared to today. Crazy. Poor girl.

We had Spencer and Shayli come and look at Tally. It was really fun to meet them. They are getting married in mid June. Congratulations you guys. They get first pick out of the males. We also got to meet Dawnell. She is getting second choice out of the females. Her daughter is the lucky one who gets this puppy. It is so good to see the future owners of our soon to be babies. The best part is that I feel like they are going to really great homes. We couldn't be more pleased! Thanks you guys for picking our babies.

We will keep you all posted when we find out how many puppies she is going to have. We are so excited! My dream of having a dog that is going to have puppies is finally coming true.

Home Depot break through

So we went to Home Depot tonight to get some wood and other supplies to build the whelping box for Tally and the puppies. While we walking around looking for help, I hear Aspyn say "Mommy, I need to go potty". At first I didn't pay attention to it then a red flag in my brain went, wait a minute.

Can the heaven's really open and pour out a blessing? I have to fight her at home all the time and she is constantly saying "Mommy, I don't want to go potty". So when I heard that, I pulled her out of the cart and took her to the potty. Man, I am so happy that she went. Ah Lea Lu La. I felt like I wanted to run down the isle's saying "She went potty." After almost a year trying it has finally paid off. I know that she will have more accidents but hey she didn't tonight and I didn't have to ask her. She did it on her own! Yea for Aspyn.

Great Dane Puppies

Tally and Ketcher's puppies are due April 20, 2010 according to the ultrasound at the veterinarian's office. The veterinarian said that there were too many puppies to count at this point in Tally's pregnancy, but that it appeared to be more than 5 puppies. We will have a more accurate count of puppies one week prior to delivery.

Tally is an American Great Dane with multiple champions in her pedigree and Ketcher is full European with multiple international championships as well. His parents were imported from Italy. Both the sire and the dame's pedigree's can be accessed upon request.

We are very excited about the upcoming letter because both parents have excellent dispositions and are wonderful guard dogs. They both come from families with children in the home.

The puppies will be raised in our home to the age of 8 weeks before they are available for adoption. They will be raised around our two young children, our other dog (boxer), and our cat. We will begin potty training them by the age of three weeks to prepare them for their eventual adoption. The puppies will be adopted with dewclaws removed, up-to-date immunizations with a health certificate from our vet, and a puppy pedigree included in a packet with information about the breed.

Each puppy will be AKC registered. Limited registration will be available for puppies without breeding rights and WILL need to be neutered/spayed as part of the agreement. Full registration will be available with full breeding and showing rights to approved puppies only.

The puppies adoption price will be negotiated. Once an adoption price is agreed upon, $200 of the adoption price will be required as a non-refundable deposit to maintain the puppy rights until the puppy is ready for adoption. The puppies may be selected when they are born, however, the puppies personalities are not at their peak until five weeks of age. At this point it will be more discernible whether the puppy is more submissive or more active.

No visits will be available for the first two weeks and visits from week 3 to week 6 will be limited to prevent the chance of disease as the puppies develop their immune systems, as recommended by the vet. Other than that, we encourage you to come and see your puppy as much as possible so as to make an easier adjustment when the puppy goes to your home.

For the safety of the puppies, we are requiring that everyone adopting a puppy signs a contract that states if, at any time, you are unable to keep your puppy for any reason you relinquish the puppy/dog back to us. The contract is set up only to make sure that none of the puppies end up in a shelter or rescue.

Initial estimates for the adoption prices will be $700-$1,000 for limited AKC registered puppies and $1500 for full AKC registered puppies.

The Great Dane is a gentle and loving breed that is also an amazing guard dog. Please do your research with this breed before considering adoption of a puppy. Contact us quickly if you are interested. Some of the puppies have already been spoken for.

Tally is Pregnant

On Saturday morning Aaron took Tally into the veterinarian to find out if she was pregnant. I was hoping to hear four or five puppies. When Aaron called me to tell me about the visit he told me that the vet kept saying "she is going to have a lot of puppies". We will not know for sure how many puppies she has until we take her in to get her x-rayed on April 13. The vet told us that on average great danes have between 10-12 puppies. That is a lot of puppy love.

The vet also told us that from the size of the puppies the due date is April 20. According to the pregnancy calendar they were not suppose to be due until April 23. We will find out April 13 when the puppies are due.

Here are some pictures of Tally when we found out and some of Aspyn giving loves to Teva our boxer.