WALKING

I feel so blessed that I am able to be a stay at home mom and spend my days with Duke. I love being able to watch him learn & grow everyday. He is my greatest adventure and there is nothing else I would rather be doing. That being said, hats off to Chad for working so hard for our family that makes it even possible. 

On March 10, 2016, Duke hit a HUGE milestone... He took his first steps! We had the TV on (which we don't even have cable, so it's rarely on), but a little clip was playing on YouTube that had monkeys jumping on the bed. Duke was watching it and Chad and I were talking in the kitchen. We looked over, and Duke stood up on his own in the middle of the floor and started mimicking the monkeys by jumping and then he started walking!! We both grabbed our phones and were able to record it! It's so cute to see how proud he gets of himself!

I went with my sisters and mom to Traverse Outlets and we spent the afternoon shopping. Since the kids did so great during our 3 hours shopping extravaganza, we decided to let them meet the Easter Bunny. They were charging $30 to get a picture with the bunny, which is ridiculous, so I tried to secretly snap a picture of my own... this was the best I got. Duke was so intrigued with the bunny until he sat on his lap, then he was all tears. It was sad, but funny at the same time. After that, he kept crawling up to him going "Uh" and pointing at him. Duke's new way of "talking" is saying "huh?" and "uh", it's pretty cute. 

The past couple weeks have been heart wrenching. Bruno's right pupil suddenly became noticeable smaller than the left and the eyelid looked partially closed. We watched it for a couple days and decided we should probably take him to the vet since it wasn't improving. After blood work, x-rays, and an eye check, the vet referred us to an eye specialist for a better look at it. Long story short, the specialist thinks there's either a growth/tumor/cancer in Bruno's neck that's hitting a nerve that's making his pupil smaller. Since his neck is ridiculously thick, they aren't able to feel any lumps, and so our only option is to do an MRI. Well, since we don't have dog insurance (I didn't even know that was a thing), an MRI would cost us $2,000! We are trying to price match with other offices at the moment because, to be honest, I'm not very happy about forking over 2k for an MRI for a dog, but at the same time, it kills my heart to think that he's only 3 years old and we could potentially have 10+ years with him! What would you do if you were in my situation?! (Plus that doesn't include the cost if they actually find something.... it's 2k JUST for the MRI) :(

So until we decide what's best to do, we are giving him all the love and attention he deserves. He has been the greatest dog we could ask for and best bud for Duke. It makes me teary eyed just thinking about it... why do we get so darn attached to animals?!

Duke has become obsessed with baths (he takes after his father) and has learned how to crawl up to our tub, turn on the water, and give us the best puppy dog face I've ever seen. I mean, how can you say no to a face like that?! Although we find ourselves taking sometimes multiple baths a day, at least I know I have a clean & happy baby.

For our Friday date night, we went out with Ashley and Tyson Gardner. For those of you who have never heard of them, they had quadruplet girls, they are just a month older than Duke. We have run into them a couple times and we have a lot in common (bed rest, cerclages, etc), so we were able to relate to each other from the start. We met up with them at Black Sheep Cafe in Provo for dinner and it was such a great night + my burger & fries were to die for. I'm already craving it again. We topped off the night at Rockwell Ice Cream, which is right next door, for a little homemade ice cream. It was such a great night getting to know them better and have a night out without our kids. Parents deserve a night out alone every once in awhile, right?! Even if all we did was talk about our kids the whole night haha ;)