Advent in June...

So, what goes into preparing to be a mother of three?  

Well, it has truly been a season of Advent in the Cedeno household for the last five weeks.  A season of waiting, preparing, trials, and rewards.  It has also been extremely liberating and now that it's done, exactly like Christmas morning!

It began with emptying out our storage unit.  That took 5-6 trips.  Most of it was heaved, the remainder is now downstairs.  Next came the apartment.  I bought a tower fan, an ionic air purifier and a chef's rack for the den.  I tore apart the computer desk, set up the rack and now all of Alex's...stuff...has a home (which used to be my floor).  I got rid of another book case and lots of other stuff.  The apartment was really starting to come together and I thought I had plenty of space now for all the kids.

Just when I thought we were done, Alex saw an Allergist and our world was turned upside down again.  Turns out he is highly allergic to cats (which we knew), dust, dust mites, and feathers.  Good thing I heaved that down comforter a few weeks ago!  The allergist wanted us to encase the mattress, get a hypoallergenic pillow, move Chica out of the bedroom, rip up the carpeting, and chuck the sofa.  He was put on a cream to clear up his allergy induced dermatitis and told to take a Zyrtec before bed each night.  And thus began another marathon weekend in our home.

Saturday afternoon Alex and I ripped up the carpet in the family room and look what has been hiding under all that mint-green shag for the last 15 + years...

...a gorgeous hardwood floor!!!  We managed to fill every dumpster in the back and when we were done, Alex went out and bought a beautiful chocolate area rug that looks wonderful in here.  With all the different earth tones and the white walls, it's very soothing in here now.  

But tearing up that carpet stirred up a lot of dust and dust mites, so I got busy on Sunday.  I dusted everything and got rid of some nick-knacks as we were told to get rid of as much stuff that will hold dust as possible.  I cut the mats under my elliptical down, which let push it in a few more inches.  I cleaned out the downstairs storage unit...again...finally letting go of all my collectible boxes and other stuff that I don't know why I was keeping.  The only things left to tackle are the bedroom and my side of the closet.

So what does Christmas morning look like????  It's a little distorted because I used my super wide angle at a weird angle-the room is actually much bigger than it appears...but this is our "new" apartment after a whole lot of work...

The mint green shag you can see in the den used to cover the entire family room as well, covered in stains from 15 years of living.  I'm no longer embarrassed to have someone come over.  Now I can't wait to show it off!

The Power of Prayer and Positive Thinking!

Tuesday night I got an e-mail from Tammy at Abandoned Angels.  In the week since Ellen's e-mail about Dolores' concerns, Curley began making huge strides in his recovery.  His tail started wagging again, he began to allow them to touch his ears and he was going for walks with that Cocker swagger.  They were able to get him professionally groomed, too.  Tammy said Dolores was once again considering allowing us to adopt him and asked me to give her a call.  We were finally able to connect on Friday and after talking through her concerns about the puppy, she has decided to let the placement go forward in light of his progress.  She said she wanted to give him one more week as he's only four weeks post his TECA surgery, then send him for a dental.  Then he would be ready to come home.  She asked me to touch base with Tammy and Ellen the following week to firm up arrangements.

Because the health and happiness of all our kids is our number one priority, I sent off some questions to the ladies about any medication he's on for the glaucoma, the type of artificial tears he's on since the surgery has rendered him unable to blink, what heart worm med he's on and whether we'll be given a script for the balance of a year's supply or will have to have him re-tested with our vet, whether they've started teaching him any signs, what food he's on, if he's met other people or dogs while out for walks and how that's gone, and any behavioral issues we need to know about, such as muzzling him for vet appointments.  Since we're heading out for a very short "mini-cation", I wanted to make sure I have everything ready for him if we're able to pick him up on the 27th.

Ellen wrote back a few minutes later that she did not know the answers to many of my questions, which I was expecting, but telling us to plan on picking him up on the 27th as he'll be ready to go by then.  She copied Dolores on the e-mail and asked her to give me a call in the next day or so as we need to be prepared for his homecoming!!!

After last week's e-mail, I went to PetSmart on Saturday and picked up his crate.  I also had his name tags made up.  I made two for him.  One says I AM DEAF in big letters on one side and has his name, address and my phone numbers on it. The second one has his name and all our phone numbers on one side and our vet's name and number on the other.  You can never be too careful!

He's been on my mind so much I even had a dream about him the other day.  In it, he was so happy to meet me, he jumped in my arms and started licking my face, just like Peanut did when I first met him.  We are so blessed to have this little one coming into our life in just 9 short days!

Taking the Good With the Bad

We had some disappointing news this week.  Last Sunday I sent an e-mail to Abandoned Angels to check on Curley.  When I didn't hear anything by Tuesday, I sent an e-mail to another of the girls there, who forwarded it to the woman who sent me the original e-mail telling me we sounded like the perfect family for him.  She wrote me back they are having some concerns about Curley's placement with us.  Apparently whenever anyone comes near his ears he screams.  They aren't sure if he's still in pain or if he was just in so much pain for so long that he anticipates it whenever they're touched.  They are concerned that Bailey will playfully bite his ears and asked if we have the ability to keep the dogs separated until he overcomes this reaction or, in the alternative, if we would be interested in taking another dog that had the same surgery, but doesn't show the same sensitivity that Curley does.  I responded that I was expecting gates the following day that would divide the apartment in half, making it no problem to leave Curley napping the day away with Chica without being interrupted by a playful puppy.  I said we have no intentions of allowing the puppy to rough-house or display dominance over the other two dogs, especially given Curley's surgery.  I told them I would be honored to give any dog a loving home that needed it, but that I would like to discuss that further with Alex once their final decision on Curley has been made.  I emphasized we are in no hurry to bring him home.  I hope that I have restored their faith in us and they will allow him to come home with us at some point as planned.  We would be the perfect family for him and he would be the perfect dog for us.  I just wished I knew why this was happening.  They knew about the puppy before they wrote and called me that he would be ours.  I was really upset Tuesday because for two weeks he was ours and I'd become so attached to him, watching for every update and photo of him.  Wednesday was just as hard because the beds I ordered for him arrived.  But I'm not giving up!  As Cesar says, "we don't get the dogs we want, we get the dogs we need."  I need to give this little boy a loving home so badly-to show him that not all humans are like his prior owners.  They are supposed to call me to discuss it further soon.  Until then, I will continue to believe and hope that he will be coming home to us where he so belongs.

On the good side, Sue posted the two week old photos of Bailey and her brothers and sisters.  They're all adorable, but I, of course, think Bailey Glory is the most beautiful. I'm not biased at all :)!  It will be 3-4 more weeks before we see more photos of her and by then she'll really look like a Cocker.  Right now she could double for a Golden Retriever puppy, too.  The weeks until she comes home will fly by.  We have so much to do to get ready for whoever comes our way!

It's A Girl!!!

A few days ago, I introduced you to our new little boy, Curley.  Later on that day, about an hour away, our little girl was being born.  Meet Bailey Glory Cedeno.  She is one of seven silver Cocker Spaniels born to Snuggie and Rio of High Calling Cockers. 

Since they were born over Memorial Day weekend, Sue gave them all patriotic names.  The four boys were named Roosevelt, Patton, Omar Bradley, and Patriot.  The three girls were named Cadence, Lady Liberty, and Glory.  She took the most beautiful pictures of them in her garden and created incredible pages for each one before sending out the link to her waiting list yesterday afternoon.  The three girls were gone in minutes, the four boys followed shortly thereafter.  The entire litter was sold in less than two hours.

I chose Glory because I thought she was adorable, as they all were, and because I loved the name Sue gave her.  Today marks the six month anniversary of Peanut's loss and the beginning of a very dark period in my life.  I didn't want to do anything.  I just wanted to sit and cry and miss my little boy.  Alex is the one that helped pull me out of it.  He kept saying Chica needs a companion.  I wasn't so sure, but I started giving it some thought.

The beginning of February, while Alex was at work, I started googling "Cocker Spaniel puppies for sale in Buffalo."  It brought up the most beautiful puppy I'd ever seen with a link to High Calling Cockers.  I couldn't wait to show it to Alex.  I spent all day looking at her dogs, her recent litters, her blog, and the special pages she'd created to help those like me who were mourning the loss of a baby and to support our troops. 

Alex fell in love with them, too, particularly Rio, and encouraged me to contact her.  At that time, the upcoming litters listed were all due to go home around planned trips.  The first was when I'd be in Syracuse for our annual meeting, the second when I'd intended to be in Germany, and the third when I expected to be in Chicago.  The trips to Germany and Chicago were canceled, but by the time that happened, she'd already announced the litter that was meant to be ours.

Snuggie had been bred to Rio and she originally thought they would be due in late June, ready to go home in late August, which was perfect.  Two weeks later she posted that Snuggie got pregnant earlier than expected and was now due on May 28th.  The dame I loved, who shares my Mom's nickname, was bred to the male Alex loves, and was due on Mom's birthday.  Everything was falling into place.

And yesterday, when I finally saw that little face, it was time.  It was time to give Glory to God for leading me through the darkest period in my life.  For sending us Sue when we needed someone so badly.  For so many blessings He's given us over the last six months.  And that is why we chose to keep Glory as her middle name.

We look forward to July 22nd when our family will once again be complete.  In the meantime, there's lots to be done!  I've begun buying supplies for two dogs-another bed has been ordered, as have gates for the front hall and archway between the living room and den.  I've made tremendous progress on organizing the apartment.  My books on deaf dogs and American Sign Language came today and I can't wait to delve into them.  The next seven and a half weeks are going to fly by!!!!  It's going to be the best Summer in 10 years-the Summer we brought Chica home to be Peanut's companion.  I miss you, Baby!