Saying Goodbye to Salem :(

With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?

Fernand Mery, Her Majesty the Cat

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SALEM GUAPO FISHER

July 2, 2001 - May 30, 2009

Not long after we were married, Garrett and I decided we would get a cat. I was lonely having just moved to MA and Garrett grew up with cats. Labor Day weekend, we had a BBQ at our home on Hanscom AFB with some of our neighbors, one of whom worked at a Vet Clinic. Turns out they had an entire litter of kittens that had been abandoned and she brought them home until they could find homes for all of them. We all went across the street to meet these kittens. They were all adorable and it was hard to choose, until that is, we saw Salem. I was holding another kitty that I put down the moment I saw Salem. Garrett was just as captivated by him. Unlike his brothers and sisters, Salem had spunk. He was tackling his siblings and two very large dogs and trying to scale a large wooden bear. We instantly knew he was the cat for us and he seemed to like us as well! For six years, Salem was our "baby." His life changed quite a bit after Alli was born but he was still very loved. The move to WA seemed like a dream come true for him as he could go outside as much as he wanted and there was always someone around to give him attention even when we were focused on Alli. He was not always the easiest cat to love as he could be quite fiesty with anyone other than us but he truly loved us and we loved him.

Prior to moving to WA, we never let him outside at night but we loosened up a bit here. Friday night (technically Saturday morning) a little after midnight he was driving us bonkers trying to get out the back door. Finally, I relented, letting him out but telling him he was out for the night since we were going to bed. I had no idea that would be the last time we would ever see him. He never came back and Salem always comes back. He is never gone for more than a couple of hours. The guilt I feel is horrible, especially because we were so caught up in our lives on Saturday that we didn't even notice that he was missing until my mom casually asked where he was. Suddenly it hit us like a ton of bricks. We searched for him but found nothing. Now we are left with an overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness as we see his food and water dishes that have not been touched in days but we cannot bring ourselves to put them away yet.

So far, Alli has not noticed that her kitty is missing and we have decided not to bring it to her attention. If she asks, we'll tell her but why bring it up now? Every noise I hear I keep thinking is Salem at the door but we know he's not coming back this time. We would like to share some pictures of our furry friend as we mourn this loss.

Salem's first Christmas & his personalized stocking

About as close as he wanted to be to Alli when she was an infant,
they were actually becoming pretty good pals lately

He was a real trooper taking his picture with our nephew Kyle's "Flat Stanley"

He loved playing with bags :)

He was always great for snuggling with us.

We miss you Salem!!!

Another Trip to Labor & Delivery

Well we were in for another little adventure last night. I was feeling crampy much of yesterday but really didn't think much of it, par for the course these days :) By the time I picked Alli up and we got home, I was having pretty painful contractions every 5-10 minutes and they just felt different. My OB had warned me that I needed to be cautious and call if anything changed so after dealing with it for a couple of hours (Alli was such a sweetheart and kept giving me hugs and kisses to help with the "boo boo") I called the doc after putting Alli to bed. We spent a couple of hours in L&D hooked up to lots of machines that verified I was indeed having contractions. Luckily, the test was negative, reassuring us that it is highly unlikely I will give birth in the next two weeks. We finally got home a little before midnight and were both exhausted. I had a follow-up with my doc this morning. We discussed options to stop or at least lessen the contractions but unforutnately, because of my low blood pressure and tachycardia, I really cannot take any of the medications so I get to rest, drink fluids and pray!!! I still have a sneaking suspicion that despite all of these little scares, the little guy is just going to stay put until the scheduled c-section ;-)

Happy Memorial Day!!!

What an amazing weekend we had!!! The weather could not have been better ~ sunny and in the 70s Friday through Monday. Garrett was fortunate enough to have Friday off work so we all enjoyed a wonderful four-day weekend ~ only wish every weekend was like that :)

We spent Friday around the house/neighborhood as Alli and I had our playgroup in the morning and Garrett was in charge of getting the big girl bed ready for nap time. That was a bit of a fiasco in that, contrary to the manufacturer's assurances, it needs an Twin XL mattress NOT a standard twin. Luckily, the trundle mattress fit well and that's where we planned on her sleeping for now anyway. The new mattress had to be ordered and will arrive next Saturday. Alli LOVES her new bed and has been sleeping like a champ ~ woo hoo! She got out during her first nap to play by emptying her dresser drawers but we explained that was not allowed and now she stays in and is pretty cute about telling us "no out." Here's a shot of our little sleeping beauty zonked in her new bed:

No pictures of the "new" big girl room until the new mattress arrives and we can set it up completely.

We spent both Saturday and Sunday out at the beach on Treasure Island, having a wonderful time throwing rocks in the water. It was so beautiful and relaxing out there and Alli could not have been happier to spend so much time at the beach ~ we're pretty sure that is currently her favorite thing to do ;-) Doesn't get much better than this!

Monday was spent working and playing in the yard. Garrett was even able to spend the afternoon golfing with his brother while Alli and I napped ~ it was a fun but exhausting weekend :) Sad to see it come to an end but we enjoyed every moment of it!!!

We hope you all enjoyed the weekend as much as we did!

Happy Birthday to our Favorite Moms!!!

That's right, our moms have the same birthday ~ what are the odds??????????

Happy Birthday Moms (Jean & Adele). Hope you both have a fabulous day!!! We love you so much!

Here are some of our favorite pictures of our awesome moms on a special day years ago . . .

Very successful garage sale!!!

Well, we had our garage sale this morning and it could not have gone better! The weather was absolutely perfect ~ sunny and very warm. Tons of people came by and we sold nearly everything :) We were doing this to get back our garage but we actually made quite a bit of money, which was a nice treat. It was a little overwhelming first thing this morning when we were getting set up at 6:30 and people were already showing up ~ yikes! Talk about some serious shoppers! We weren't scheduled to open until 8 but we had sold nearly a third of our stuff before the official start time. No complaints here, we were just glad to see it go. Fortunately, everyone was very pleasant and we enjoyed meeting new folks and visiting. Although it was tough to let go of Alli's cute clothes, I did well ;-) We actually sold most of it and only have two small bins remaining. Alli was a big helper by entertaining all of our shoppers. She went with Daddy to get his hair cut this morning and got her first hair "trim" No length really taken off but it is cleaned up a bit now. I have to say that I'm thrilled I wasn't there for it but glad that G brought home the little bit of hair that they cut. Overall, great day!!! Of course, now I'm ready for a nap . . .

Happy Mothers' Day

I had the BEST Mother's Day so far (okay, so I will probably say that every year but it really was AWESOME!) I woke up to a little pat on my arm around 6 a.m. When I rolled over, I saw my little sweet pea. Apparently she got her foot stuck in her crib around 4:30 a.m. so G brought her to bed with us ~ she never sleeps with us so this was quite a treat. She gave me the sweetest smile, rubbed my arm then fell back asleep. It was AWESOME! We slept a bit longer before getting ready for church. When I came downstairs, I saw three beautiful plants and a couple of cards on the dining room table. Alli had a great time helping me open the cards and helped me put on my "Super Mom" sticker :) Before church, we went to my parents' house to visit and give my mom her gift. Church was a great as always and when I saw Alli after the service (she was down in her Adventures in God's Kingdom) she handed me a little red carnation. She was so proud and I nearly cried ~ I blame the sappiness on the pregnancy hormones. After church, we went for brunch with G's family at the clubhouse where we live ~ yummy!!! The afternoon was fairly relaxing. Alli took a great nap and G planted the flowers they gave me while I supervised During the evening, G took Alli for a run so I could take a bath. I was still in the tub when they got back and Alli came barging in and said, "I wanna come in!" Of course I had to let her and it was the best bath I've had in a long time!!! She was so snuggly. Poor thing has been a bit out of sorts all weekend and wanted to go to bed early (today she spiked a high fever 103+ poor baby). She was zonked before 8 p.m. I also fell asleep early. All in all, I would have to say it was a GREAT day!

What a difference a year makes . . .

I was looking back at our blog from last year and came across the following post:

Many of you know of the uphill battles we've faced with Alli and gaining weight. She's always been a little peanut but growing fine until last Fall when she got repeated ear infections. She lost weight and we've been struggling ever since to get her to eat and gain. We've been working with a team of specialists to address her low weight and had another meeting today. In the past, the main advice we were given was to "relax" and things will get better. Well, in the last month, we've tried to do that and thought it was working. We could not have been more wrong. Since her 1 year appointment on Feb. 4th, Alli has LOST 5 oz. We thought for sure that she would be at least 18 lbs, but nope, she was less than she was 3.5 weeks ago. I think the most frustrating part was they gave us absolutely no advice ~ just said that we're doing everything right. Apparently NOT or she would not be losing weight!!! I feel so helpless. My one job as a parent (aside from loving her with my whole heart) is to feed her so she can grow and I'm failing miserably at that basic job. I have gotten as creative as I can and I am out of ideas ~ what do you do with a child that just won't eat enough?
Posted on Fisher Family Updates 2.29.08 http://garrettandnikkifisher.spaces.live.com

So much has changed in a year. Not long after that post, we met Dr. Duro, a GI attending at Boston Children's Hospital. She gave us hope and a solution. Now, a year later, the little girl who was previously diagnosed failure to thrive, refusing to eat and off the weight charts is 25 lbs 7 oz (2oth percentile!!!) and 36.75 inches (90th percentile!!!). We went to see Dr. D (as Alli refers to him) for a growth check today and she is staying on her weight curve but exploding on height. She's tall and skinny just like her daddy :) What a little trooper she was. She loves Dr. D but usually cries once he comes in the room ~ not today. Nope, today she kept asking the nurse when Dr. D was coming and when he did come in, she smiled and chatted up a storm ~ he was very impressed. She got one shot today and while she didn't like it (who does?) she cried for only a moment then gave everyone a good chuckle when she walked out and asked the nurse for a sucker and stickers :) Life was good.

Yard Work and Supervising ;-)

Last week was fairly uneventful, I continued to take it easy and work from the couch as Alli enjoyed playing with her grandparents and friends. Garrett was busy with work. Fortunately, we've had a few nice days which allowed us (think Garrett) to get some work done in the yard. We decided to put in a vegetable garden but have not been agreeing as to how best to design it. Luckily, yesterday, we were able to compromise a bit and it is finally completed and ready for us to begin planting. Gardens are not new to us as we had one back in MA with both fruits and veggies but we have a new wild card here . . . deer. We have a lovely family of four deer that frequent our yard and as much as we like them, we do not want them eating our veggies! One of our neighbors suggested planting garlic around the outside to keep the deer out so we will give that a try. If anyone has other tips, we are all ears :) Since I'm still on modified bed rest, I wasn't exactly the most help but being me, I enjoyed playing the supervisor role ~ not too sure what Garrett thought about that ;-)

Aside from working in the yard, we've been going through all Alli's baby clothes to get them ready for our upcoming garage sale. This has been a slow process because I have such great memories of each little outfit and remember all sorts of things that she did while wearing them. Garrett has been patiently listening to me reminisce but I think he wishes I would hurry it up already! I cannot believe what cute clothes she had and as excited as I am to be having a little boy, I must confess that I am a little bummed that I will not get to reuse her clothes. Even Garrett would tell you though that I'm being good about what I'm keeping ~ very little actually!!!! The sale is in two weeks and we are hoping to get rid of everything so we can have our garage back. We are pricing to sell so wish us luck!

In other news, I have been given permission to fly back to Boston for one day to clean up my office and box up files I need to work from home. I fly out tomorrow morning and have to admit that I'm a bit nervous ~ silly huh? I'm sure I will be just fine and be back on my couch on Wednesday. We'll let you know how it goes.

A Busy Weekend

These pictures pretty much sum up our weekend ~ Alli being quite the little helper around the house and yard. Here, she was "helping" Daddy design our new vegetable garden. It wasn't long before she was bored with this and was off to play on her slide, swings and tricycle ;-) I spent my time sitting in a lounge chair supervising ~ Garrett was thrilled. We also had the chance to see our nephew Kyle play in a Little League game, which was fun.

I'm still on modified bed rest. I had another OB appointment yesterday and was actually given permission to take Alli for a short walk around the neighborhood!!! As soon as she awoke from her nap, she saw some of her buddies walking down the street and excitedly exclaimed "Mommy, friends outside, I wanna play" she kept saying "friends, friends" while I got her changed. Since I had the okay, we took our walk and found her friends playing in their yard. She happily joined in the fun of playing on the slide and swings :) It was very cute! When it was time to go back home for dinner, she was done with walking so guess who got to carry her??? That wreaked havoc on my body. I won't go into details but let's just say, today I am back on stricter bed rest ~ keeping legs elevated and me off my feet :( So much for flying again anytime soon. Good news is that yesterday's test came back negative so we have some relief in knowing that it is unlikely I will deliver within the next two weeks ~ woo hoo!!! Keep growing little guy. We'll keep you posted.

Another Small Scare

Tuesday evening, I just really wasn't feeling that great. I was taking it easy but the contractions and pressure were just getting worse so I finally called the doc who advised me to stay off my feet completely and call again in the morning. Wednesday wasn't much better but I spent the entire morning working on the lap top from my bed, got up only to use the bathroom. By the afternoon, the contractions were getting worse and I had to go back in for monitoring and another ultrasound. Fortunately, the little Muffin is just fine (and definitely still a BOY) and the contractions, while strong, are not doing anything yet, which is a great thing!!! However, I'm still at high risk for pre-term labor so I am now on stricter bed rest, which I am actually doing my best to follow. I'm going completely stir crazy but will do whatever is necessary to make sure this Muffin arrives safely :)

I just have to say how fortunate I feel. First, to be near our families has been such a blessing as they have all really been going above and beyond for us. Second, our neighbors are without a doubt the nicest group of people and we feel so blessed to have moved here. Finally, the people I work with have been so supportive, I truly could not ask to work with better people. I was trying so hard to complete a brief for one of the partners yesterday but finally had to throw in the towel when it became obvious that another doctor visit was necessary. Fortunately, I had almost completed every section and not much work remained but the partner did not care about that at all, just whether the baby and I were okay. Wow!

Thank you all for your support and assistance right now, it means the world to our family.