Not today and Not without a flight!

It's hard to admit but I should have known better. Actually, I did know, I just didn't think it was going to happen to us.
We finally got CoCo spayed two weeks ago. The vet suggested that we also removed the little lumps I pointed out to him during exam, and we agreed. The lumps in her mammary were sent to the lab for a biopsy. A week after her surgery we went back to the clinic to have the drain tubes in her incisions removed. It was a routine thing, a small procedure a vet tech or a vet can do quickly without seeing me. So when they asked me to go in the room with CoCo I didn't think much of it.

One of the lumps turned out to be cancerous. I didn't cry til I got in the car with her (then I cried all the way home.)

--------------------------------July 16, 2009 update---------------------
Since then she's been to a cancer specialist in LA and was checked by a holistic vet who I used to intern for. And I also changed her diet to a high protein, no grain, low carb feed. So far she's doing well on the Innova Evo red meat, her coat is alot shinier and she's putting some weight back on. The incisions from her first surgery have healed well. She's also getting supplements from the holistic vet, as well as healing music (prescribed to her by the holistic vet) she listens to 30mins/day. In the next week or two she's going back for a second surgery to remove more tissue surrending the malignant tumor.

We love you CoCo! Fight on!! Mommy & Daddy are right here with you.

Sad Day

CoCo came home from her surgery around lunchtime today. She had developed some hard lumps in her boobs and the vet suggested taking those out for a biopsy, and while she's at it, getting her spayed as well. CoCo seemed ok when I picked her up but a little mellow. Probably from the drugs they gave her. The vet had told me on the phone that they put in drain tubes in her incisions to let the fluids drain in the next few days, and to put a T- shirt on her to kinda soak up the juice (eww!) So now she's sound asleep under the office desk ( after taking her med) in a gray t-shirt and the e collar. She did scare me though when I put some bread in her face and she didn't wake up (!!) Hopefully she'll be back to her old self soon.
In the afternoon, dad was asking me about the sprinklers. Yesterday when it went off the chickens were on the grass so they got a shower. I told him that the sprinklers go off around 6ish every evening. He thought about it then he went out to move the chickens. I didn't think much of it. A min later he came in and said that one of the chicken had died (!!) Why?? How?? I rushed outside but only saw a chicken in the dog cage, looking normal. Where's the other one?? I went in the house to see that dad had the other chicken in hand and scolding the dogs. It did not look good. Her eyes were closed and her body looked limp. It turned out that dogs went out to the yard with dad to go potty, and when dad picked up the dog cage one of the chickens fell out of the bottom. As soon as she was out the dogs were after her. The rest just happened too fast dad didn't even have time to react.......:0(
Rest in peace Gemma...We'll miss you. I know you're in chicken heaven. Thanks for being such a good chicken when you were with us. I'm sorry the doggies hurt you.
Now we're a little worried about Maddie, hopefully she'll be alright by herself. Or maybe we need to get her another companion since she's never been alone before.....so sad :0(

Z family's amazing race

Z's dad's been really busy with work lately (and neglected his family) so to make up for lost time he decided to take us on a business trip with him. Mommy used to tag along all the time but this is the first time w/ Z....I figured it would be much more tiring to take care of a 9 month old (I know! it's been that long!) in a hotel room than our own house so I told Z daddy NO. NO. Several times. Over several days. On the morning of his trip Z's dad still insisted on us traveling with him....INSISTED. Fine fine fine!! So we packed up quickly but still missed our flight. We persuaded the counter lady to put us on a later flight, then leisurely had lunch at the airport and boarded our new flight. BTW the airport staff made it so easy to travel with little ones...we were able to get thru security in a breeze~
The first leg of the trip started off pretty well...Z snacked and nursed before drifted off to sleep til we landed. We got off the plane and casually walked over to check on our connecting flight only to find out that it was already overbooked by 5 people, and according to the counter lady our chance of getting on was "not good." NOT GOOD!! what did she mean "not good?" How come everyone failed to mention that before we left??? So we did what we thought was the next best option----we got on a flight heading to a city 3 hours outside our final destination.
Thank goodness baby Z behaved even better on this flight. She basically nursed til she passed out and didn't wake up again til AFTER we picked up our rental car and drove to a nearby mall to shop. What a good girl! And poor baby for being so tired.
We figured since we were there we might as well hang out a little and grab dinner before we drove up to our hotel. It turned out to be a nice little stop on our trip. The city was beautiful. We all had a chance to stretch our legs and ate a nice sushi dinner (including Z; She loves avocado roll and tofu!) When we finally checked into our hotel (after we swung by the airport to meet up with our luggage) it was well after midnight. What a long day but what fun!! Z baby quickly passed out alongside us on the big bed after a nice shower. Tomorrow more advanture awaits us, traveling Z's!!

my little baby

Z loves the swing!

Z had her 9 month checkup today. The dr. measured her wt, ht & head size. The ht and head size were still on the low side, but her wt had gone all the way to single digit percentile. 7%. That pretty much means out of 100 babies her age, 93 of them weight more than she does. At 16 lbs, she actually gained more than 1 lb in the 10 days since her roseola outbreak. Hopefully next time we'll get back into the double digit percentile. Mommy doesn't mind you being trim, baby Z, but don't be too skinny now.

New Teeth!

Z has been waking and crying in the middle of the night for the past week. Last night when I was washing her mouth I found the reason....she's got more teeth!! Poor baby, mommy didn't know. Well at least now the teeth have come out she's sleeping better. They don't seem to bother her as much. One curious thing though, it looks like she's getting the two canines on top(instead of the front bunny teeth.) Let's see what it will look like when they're fully out!