Piper, our new dog

We spent all of our time last weekend with this sweet girl:

This adorable Brittany Spaniel showed up on my in-laws door step two weeks ago, has not wandered off, and has not been claimed. She wasn't wearing a collar and she looked pretty healthy. I took her into the vet on Friday to see if she had a microchip or signs of being spayed, which might indicate that she had an owner that was probably looking for her. She was clear of both, and she checked out to be very healthy. She has a slight case of hookworm, as many strays do, but that's easy to clear up (just 3 days of meds). We had assumed that she was still in the 'puppy stages' due to her temperament, but the vet said she's likely between 2-5. She informed me that most Brittanys have a lot of energy! She also told me that she's heard of cases where Brittanys will stray from their masters while trying to pick up smells. The hunters will get frustrated that the dog doesn't return timely, as trained, and 'give up' on them. Sad! If that's the case and she's a wanderer, I need to get a chip in her and a tag for her new collar soon!

I told the vet that we intended to keep her since she'd been with us for two weeks without anyone responding to ads or posting 'lost' ads. I had her groomed and vaccinated, and then our family officially named her Piper. We had a laundry list of names that we liked, but because we're 'sharing custody' of her with my in-laws (the ones with the nice big yard, which we are missing), we all needed to come to an agreement. 'Piper' is cute and very fitting of her peppy personality.

On Saturday, we made several trips to PetCo and Big Lots. We wanted to see how she would act inside our home. We got a puppy gate, a bed, and some toys. She was super excited all day, running all over the apartment. It was a lot to handle. Occasionally she'd settle down for a few minutes and use her bed:

We gated her off in the kitchen overnight, and she did pretty well. Our overall takeaway from the experience is that she is predominately an outside dog (needing to be with Harrison's parents until we eventually get our home in the country), but we can have play dates and sleepovers with her a few times a month :)
We miss her :(


Monday was my dad's 60th BIRTHDAY! My mom did something special to his tool truck without him knowing. People were honking at him all morning:

Hope you had a great birthday, Dad. We're all looking forward to getting together very soon in Atlanta to celebrate BIG!


On another note, I took a few pictures of where I work, since Harrison wonders what Union Springs/my office is like.

Here's the quaint little town of Union Springs, AL:

The office (bad photo):

 Office entrance:

 I love the waiting area:

My office:

I need to dig out all of my books that are still in storage (in-laws' house) and stock them in my bookcase. That's a bust of Hippocrates (the father of Western medicine) on the shelf. Can you guess who might've gifted that to me?

Having a private office bathroom is pretty sweet:

One of my exam rooms:

Another view:

We're going back to Asheville this coming weekend for a wedding and to visit friends! I'm BEYOND excited!

Have to include a picture of the most beautiful baby ever, Miss Paige:

XOXO, Paige. Love, Aunt Trey & Uncle Harrison

Egleston, then Pennsylvania... and a dog?

I spent this past Saturday visiting with Nate, Kellye, and Paige at Egleston (Children's Hospital of Atlanta). Paige was full of energy and cuteness. She's learned how to wave good-bye and she sits up with so much strength now! She likes to show off her new bottom teeth, as you see above.

On Sunday, Nate, David and I headed to the airport at 5:30 am to get on our flight to Philadelphia for my grandfather's funeral. Harrison would've come, but the $700 price tag per ticket (last minute) was just a little high. We arrived early and had some time to grab lunch in the city before meeting up with family. My cousin (Philly resident), Tim, suggested McGillin's Old Ale House. It was an awesome old pub downtown, situated in an alley. I would've never found it on my own. It was well worth it. I'm a bit of a beer snob after having lived in Asheville (Beer City USA), so I was excited to try out Stoudt's Octoberfest and McGillan's Lager. Both brews were very tasty. There was a nice fall chill in the air, so I had a bowl of chili with a grilled cheese which completely hit the spot.

On our way back to the car, we dipped into this crazy alley and discovered 'The Graffiti Bar.'

It actually looked pretty upscale. I think it's a brilliant use of space in the city!

We drove out to Lansdale where we met up with my cousins, aunt, uncles, sister and her family. After dinner and some reminiscing about our dear Grandpop, several of us decided to head out to watch a Phillies game. Afterall, my grandfather was a big fan. During our last phone conversation, he'd been watching a Phillies game.

Nate, David, me, and Christine (cousin)

The stadium was really awesome! It was complete with all of the great Philadelphia food, of which I indulged: Philly cheese steak, crabby fries, hot pretzels, and Rolling Rock. We all ate so much we felt sick.

The Philly Fanatic put on a cute show:

On Monday, we celebrated the life of my grandfather. He was a military man and the military service at the gravesite was very special. It was followed by a nice meal with all of our family at a nearby restaurant. We had a little more time to visit back at my aunt's house before we had to catch our flight home. We got into Atlanta around 10pm, so I stayed at David's apartment for the night. The next morning, he and I went back to visit Baby Paige at Egleston. She was really enjoying her new Philly Fanatic:

When I made it back to Auburn, I met Harrison at his parents home where he's been taking care of a sweet, stray Brittany Spaniel. No one has yet claimed it, and we're considering keeping her. If you've ever seen my blog's 'puppy love' page, you know that we've always wanted a Brittany Spaniel. She's a sweety. She has a ton of energy though and needs to live in a place with a big yard. Our living situation isn't ideal for her, so Perry and Esther may be keeping her (with us visiting frequently) until we get a bigger place. I'll probably take her to the vet this Friday if no one claims her.

When I got back to our apartment, Harrison had these beautiful flowers waiting for me! They're my favorite: Ambiance roses (carried them in our wedding).

Heart broken about a broken heart

Paige is officially on the heart transplant list. Because she's dependent on the IV med that helps her heart pump blood to the rest of her body, she's at the top of the priority list to get a heart. She can also accept any blood type, so that increases her chance of getting a heart. The transplant team told Kellye and Nate that it will be likely to happen in the next 5-8 weeks. After getting the transplant, she'll likely be in the hospital from 7 days to 3 weeks afterward.  Faith is so important at this time in our lives. I'm praying constantly, and my heart literally aches these days. I know she's in great hands with the skilled staff at Egleston/Children's Hospital of Atlanta, and I'm so glad that she has such amazing parents! Please pray for Paige, Nate, and Kellye Cunningham. Please pray that Kellye's pregnancy continues to be very healthy, as we are looking forward to meeting Paige's twin brothers or twin sisters in January/February.

Here's the lastest carepage post from Kellye:

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/BabyPaige/

As expected, today was a busy day with lots of information from a number of different people involved with the transplant team. We did receive official notification this afternoon that Paige has been listed on the heart transplant list. She is considered "1a status" which is the highest priority because she is dependent on the milrinone IV. Thus begins the waiting game.
We received some positive feedback from Paige's lab work. First of all, her kidney numbers are looking much better already. Secondly, we previously learned that there are a few advantages to performing a heart transplant before a child turns two, mainly because the immune system is not fully formed. Paige has type O blood but because her body has not developed any antibodies against A or B blood, she can receive a heart from a person with a different blood type than herself. This obviously broadens the scope of possibilities and may mean that she is able to get a heart more quickly.
There are a lot of different numbers and statistics that go along with the heart transplant surgery and some of them are scary to think about. Still, I found it interesting to hear that the surgery itself is one of the more simple procedures that the surgeons here perform.
We did move back to the Cardiac Stepdown Unit this afternoon and actually got the coveted corner "suite." So we are settling in for an indefinite period to our new home here at the hospital.
Thank you all for the prayers, support, and encouraging notes, posts, etc. In our meetings today, we were asked multiple times about our support system and our resounding answer is that we receive INCREDIBLE SUPPORT from family, friends, and even strangers. We are so humbled and grateful.
Please know that I will continue to post -- maybe not daily -- depending on what happens here. I trust you will continue to keep Paige (and us) in your prayers. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.

A weekend of ups and downs

This was an interesting weekend to say the least. It started off great! A bunch of Harrison's family came into town for the weekend (from NYC, Albuquerque, Tampa, Jackson (MS), Valdosta, and Atlanta). We had a big BBQ dinner at my in-laws' home. I made a dessert that I got from Catherine Bailey's blog, and it was FANTASTIC. Almost everyone had two servings! It's a very summery dessert (Lemon Blueberry Trifle), so this was probably the last opportunity I had for the year to make it. I'm glad I did; it's a keeper.

Saturday was another 11am kickoff, but we still made the most of our short time to tailgate beforehand.

We played Mississippi State this weekend, who has a really good team this year. Auburn pulled off the win again, and we celebrated the rest of the day!

Players charging the field to celebrate the victory

After the game, we met up again with Harrison's side of the family for more tailgating. Here's a photo of Harrison holding up his cousin's recent Emmy Award:

We're all proud of you, Wesley Whatley! Can't wait to see what's in store for this year's Macy's Parade!

Sunday morning I woke up with the decade old memories of 9/11. Ten years ago I was sitting in Mrs. Hawkins English class. We were popping a movie (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) into the VCR while we caught sight of the cable channel showing a tall building up in smoke. Just when our class started to absorb what had happened, we watched as the second plane crashed into the tower. It was a time in my life that I'll never forget.

Around 9am, my Dad called. My grandfather (my dad's father) had passed away early in the morning. He's been suffering from cancer for a long time now, and he was ready to go. My Dad had been in Pennsylvania with him up until Saturday, so I was glad they got to say their good-byes and Grandpop is no longer suffering. Regardless, it's still hard to lose a grandparent. My grandmother (his wife) passed away last June. Here's a photo of my siblings with Grandpop last year after her funeral:

After coming to terms with that news, my brother, Nate, called. Paige was having to be admitted to the Cardiac Stepdown Unit at Egleston/Children's Hospital in Atlanta because her kidneys aren't doing well. They're not sure if it's her heart condition causing her kidney issues, or if the kidneys were 'bad' to begin with. The plan is to do a heart cath today to see if the pressures in her heart are worsening, which is causing her kidneys to suffer. If this is the case, she'll likely be put back in the ICU (to start the Milrinone IV drip - which helps her heart pump blood to the rest of her body, namely the kidneys) and have to be added to the heart transplant list. I hate that Kellye and Nate are going through this right now, but I know God is with them. It's hard to believe that this beautiful, healthy-seeming child is sick:

Photo 9/4/11:

9/11/11: Baby in Jail (Nate's reference to the hospital crib)

PLEASE keep the prayers coming! Refer to the carepage for updates:

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/BabyPaige

Long holiday weekend...

Saturday was the start of my favorite time of the year: Auburn's football season. Unfortunately, kickoff was planned for 11 am, so there wasn't a whole lot of time to tailgate. Still, we made the most of the time we had, arriving at the tailgate around 8:30. We had a nice brunch spread, complete with Mimosas and a Bloody Mary Bar.

I love Harrison's seersucker pants, but he only gets to wear them once a football season because the first game is almost always Labor Day Weekend:

Megan, Logan, Lee, me, Erin, and Jessica

While walking to the stadium, we spotted this station wagon. It's for sale in exchange for Auburn season tickets!

It was great to see our returning National Champions take the field for the first time this season. I knew that since we'd lost a lot of players to the NFL, that '11 would be a 'rebuilding year' for the Tigers. During our last three seasons, many of our games have been nail biters to the end, and this year's season opener was no different. The Tigers scored two touchdowns in the last three minutes ending the game in an Auburn victory!

We headed back to the tailgate after the game for a little while and then ended up watching football the rest of the night at our house with friends. I had to include this adorable picture of my niece, Paige, that my brother sent me. Auburn is still undefeated in her lifetime!

On Sunday, we went to Newnan, GA for my nephew, Ryan's, fourth birthday. It was a Star Wars/Monster Truck theme (too cute, right?), and my sister created this AWESOME cake:

Isn't Ryan a handsome young man? He starts kindergarten this week!

Blake enjoyed the cake and ice cream too:

Paige wanted to kiss the birthday boy:

Paige has two teeth:

 She's so smart...she touches her new teeth and then reaches in everyone's mouth to find their teeth:

On Sunday night we went to 8pm Mass in Auburn (living in a college town has its benefits). Afterward, our friends came over and we played Mexican Dominoes until 2 AM! Labor Day was ugly and rainy, but I used the day for craft projects. I'll eventually post about what I did (made throw pillows out of placemats and made a stenciled 'W' wall hanging) under the heading on my blog: 'Get Creative.'