Dakota: seizure (#3) :(

Our sweet Dakota, our yellow lab, who's normally so full of energy and wants to play every second of the day started out our morning yesterday flopping around on the floor having a pretty intense seizure. It was devastating for Paul and I to watch our sweet puppy fighting against it for those long couple of minutes. While Dakota was fighting against the seizure, I was fighting back tears looking into my sweet puppies face trying to talk sweetly to him to help him pull out of it.

Although...we thought our sweet Kotaman's seizure was a one time only occurrence...here I am trying to do research to figure out why he may be experiencing these seizures again...with the 1st one on 10/26/2010, another one in between caused most likely by a thunderstorm and the last and worst one yesterday 02/12/2011. It may be diet, it may be genetic or it may be triggered by something environmental...basically no one has answers about why these are happening. Even the vet visit we took him to the last time he went through this seems to be no help in this situation, all blood work points to a very healthy pup. ***no help at all

They can give him anti-seizure medication if it gets progressively worse...a path we may be heading down unfortunately. Aside from that it seems we have very limited options except to be anxious and worried about Kotaman!  We are probably going to buy some dinovite and/or Omega 3 fatty acid supplements to start with and hopefully with a little better diet we won't ever have to experience another one of these again.

Although...I guess this is the same story my scared parents got when they would rush either my sister, myself or both of us to the ER with Grand Mal seizures when we were babies...Seizures are no joke! I'm lucky enough to have only had a few in my life that were triggered by environmental factors with the last one when I was 6 mo. old. I'm hoping that Dakota's are in our past as well!

Sincerely,
This scared but proud puppy parent

The Wedding Planning...thus far

Well with our wedding less than 9 months away there is still a laundry list of to-do's! And while I loathe laundry I haven't pulled my hair out and have managed to enjoy most of the process thus far...

I never knew that it could be so labor-intensive and stressful to plan out your special day. To consider so many things...who to put on the guest list, colors, flower choices, when, how, where...so much planning! But for Paul and I this is a 'Celebration of our Love', cheesy or not ;), and we love that we get to share these moments with our family and close friends!

Scrambling my eggs currently:

• picking a caterer

• picking colors (although I think it's going to be purple..with a hint of red)
• taking engagement pictures (although we've finally scheduled a session for Mar 12th...yay)
• sharing in the adventure with those around us
• continuing to live your own life
• make sure you save money while still having fun

AHH! Oh yeah and my personal goal of studying for the CPA exam...let's see how much more we can jam-pack into a year! Maybe I should just go stand behind a donkey and speed up the end result a bit! ;)

I went to the Austin Bridal Extravaganza a few weekends ago. The whole experience was pretty intense...lots of vendors, lots of "we have the best deals" but overall it was great to share the experience with my mom, older sister and best friend thinking and talking about the BIG day! I did think it was hilarious to watch grown women screaming at the top of their lungs during the 'fashion show' like they were at a Ricky Martin concert though.

I guess that's what makes me the happiest about the whole experience is just that you get to involve so many different people in your life and share the experience with them! We all forget too soon in this crazy, hectic world we live in how valuable our relationships with others are sometimes. Planning has brought me close to so many people. Like our relationship in general I am grateful for the experience! & trying desperately not to turn into a BRIDEZILLA in the process! Uggg...I can't stand those women!

I'm sure this wedding planning will throw a lot more ups and downs at us...but we've got fly-swatters in hand and ready to attack! ;)

P.S. Any money saving tips...bring 'em! I'm all for more money in our pockets at the end of this for a honeymoon! Wahoo!