So Harper, Man About Town, has a new love in his life. For those who haven't seen her yet, this is Harper's girlfriend Milly Rue. She belongs to Amy and Floyd down the street and she and Harper are best buds. If Harper isn't outside, Milly comes and sits on our front step and waits to see if he can come out. Talk about cute!
These are some of the photos that Milly's mom, Amy took out behind our house over the weekend. The last one is by far my favorite of our little hound dog in all his puppy glory.
So, after wanting to do it pretty much my whole life, I finally got up the courage to start researching ptosis surgery. What's ptosis, you might ask? Well, it means that my left eye is all droopy and uneven with my right. I find it highly annoying because in pictures, it's all I see (even though some of my best friends have known me for literally years and never noticed). Recently, it's become more annoying because when I work on the computer all day long, it gets slooooooooooowly looooooooooower as the day goes on, and by the time I drive home, its really a mess.
So I started the process a few months ago and went to get a visual field test. It was kind of neat. They covered my right eye, and I looked into this machine with my left. Little flashes of light would occur and I had to push a button whenever I saw one. They did one round with my eye as it is, and one round with my lid taped up to mimic what my vision would be like if I had the surgery.
I have never been so happy to fail a test in my entire life...
Round One was with my eye as is. The red dots are the parts of a normal person's vision that I am missing. Round Two shows how I will see with the lid lifted. No wonder I've been having so much trouble!
So needless to say after seeing the results, the ophthalmologist sent me for a surgery consultation. That was the appointment I had on Wednesday night. I went to the office and was thrilled to hear all about the procedure and how easy it is. They do it under local in a surgery center (I am terrified of general), you can drive the next day, there is very little pain and if you use ice, very little bruising, etc. Total results within a month to six weeks of healing. Plus he does all his work on the inside of the eyelid, so the only scar I will have is one stitch's worth.
While I was there, they took photos for insurance to prove that I will benefit from being corrected. They also ran a few tests to see how my eyes would react to the surgery. One of the tests was adding epinephrine dilating drops to my left eye. This basically overrides the "lazy" muscle and makes it work normally for a short amount of time — mimicking the effect that surgery would have. I was very excited about this because I have literally had the problem my whole life and have never seen myself "even."
So Dr. Abel put the drops in and we were chatting while we waited for them to work. He was telling me about his eight-year-old and two-year-old daughters, the eight year old with a currently broken arm and a birthday coming up....and all of a sudden I felt bad. Really really really bad. Woozy. Dizzy. Warm. Annnnnnnnnnnnd passing out.
Apparently I told him I wasn't feeling well before I went totally out because before I knew it I was reclined back in the chair with a bottle of water behind my neck and the lights off. Awesome. And of course since the drops only work for so long, I'm lying all the way back and they're showing me in a mirror what it looks like, and I'm excited despite being sweaty and pale as hell. (For the record I actually do get paler when I get peakish. I actually lose all color in my lips and don't have freckles. It's really weird.)
So after getting myself together but still not feeling well, I had them hand me my phone. Since Alex was in class, I called Mom who came right over to take me back to her place since I obviously wasn't going to drive all pass out prone and such. In the short time it took her to get there, even though I hadn't moved or sat up, I decided it might be fun to get woozy and pass out again. Sweet.
Needless to say I made an impression, and I don't think that office is going to forget me anytime soon. The good news is, they were very cool about it. And I am thrilled with all my news about being able to have surgery (and never having to have epinephrine eye drops ever again).
Looks like I'll be scheduled for surgery on Monday and then we'll find out insurance info. Very exciting.
So Harper had a big weekend of meeting new people. We learned a lot.
Harper Loves:
Mom Mom and Pop Pop
Eating mulch and pieces of the new driveway
Daddy's stinky socks
Sleeping on Mommy's pillow on the couch
Stinkbugs
Licking the water out of the shower basin
Riding in the car
Taking the food out of his bowl and walking it over to the carpet before eating it
Farts
Baths after being covered in Logan drool and dryer lint
Harper is Terrified of:
The ice maker
The dishwasher
The washing machine
The blow dryer
His reflection in the french doors
The blender
Logan, with his giant head, tearing out the door after him
We started on Friday with his first car ride confined to the back seat. After a few minutes of attempting to get in the front, he finally gave up and snuggled into Mommy's raincoat and fell fast asleep. First on the agenda was getting to know Logan. First impressions did not go specifically well because Fathead Logan came bounding out the door and Harper went running for the car. Finding that the doors were closed, H did the next best thing and dove UNDER the car...giving Mommy a heart attack.
About an hour later after some serious work, Harper and Logan were friendly enough to play. They spent a good two hours romping around the house and Harper figured out that he could hide under things and Logan couldn't get him. This started a game of running from under the chair, to under the table, to under the couch, taunting the bigger dog.
They both seemed to have a really good time. Eventually they both tired themselves out, and Harper came to hang with Mom. Logan came over to get some attention and so my boys and I hung out.
On Saturday, Harper and I headed back to Mom's house and played with Logan in the backyard. After they had tuckered each other out again, Mom and I took Harper over to Mom Mom and Pop Pop's to visit. Needless to say, he was a big hit. Mom Mom didn't want to put him down!
And of course, Pop Pop fed him under the table which Mom Mom yelled about when she caught on. Of course this made Harper very fond of Pop Pop.
Back at Mom's house, Harper and Logan romped while Mom and I tackled some gardening in the backyard. Logan helped by eating all the weeds I pulled and Harper followed suit. Later in the evening after they had tuckered themselves out again, Mom and I got a chance to relax while the boys each chewed on their respective bully sticks.
On Sunday, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Matt came over and played with Harper. Aunt Nicole and I taught Harper "Sit", which it turns out, he is very good at.
In an attempt to make crating him less awful on Sunday night, Nicole and played with him until he literally couldn't keep his little eyes open.
It worked out well though. He calmed himself in the crate in only ten minutes and slept for six hours before he had to have a potty break. That's pretty good!
Today, Harper has another play date with Logan to tucker him out. Afterwards, we're going to hang with Dad and watch some How I Met Your Mother as a family. Speaking of mothers...don't you think he looks more like me than Alex?
Unfortunately, the newest member of Clan Urbanik doesn't like to hold still for pictures, but here he is! Everyone, this is Harper! He's half beagle, half lab, and all cute.
Tonight was his first night home with Mom and Dad, and we are both very proud of him. He handled a car ride, new places, new smells, walking on a leash, and meeting new people like Aunt Nicole, with flying colors. He even spent the night in his crate with only a little protesting. Okay, maybe a lot of protesting, but only for a short amount of time before he snuggled into a t-shirt that smelled like Dad and fell soundly asleep.
So it turns out that I'm at my multitasking best this month! In addition to picking a wedding dress and getting a puppy, we also booked the band for the wedding....The Fabulous Greaseband! If you haven't seen them live, you're really missing out. I'm really excited that they are within our budget and we'll be able to pick the songs that we like from their extensive song list, so there will be something for everyone. A Motown set for Mom and I, of course! And plenty of Beatles!
And the best part is, for a small additional fee, they take care of emcee and DJ duties for all of the announcements, special dances, etc. Glad to not have to worry about it!
This isn't my favorite video of them, but it gives you an idea of all of the styles that they are able to perform. We won't be doing the YMCA....I promise ;-)
So this weekend was jam packed with quite a few of my favorite things. I started off my weekend with a trip down to Simon's Bridal in Dover with Mommy for some good old-fashioned mother daughter bonding.
We had gone up to Fantasia Bridal on 202 (not to be confused with the Gentleman's Club) and had a good experience with adorable, extremely Greek bridal consultant Mietra. She showed us a variety of dresses and helped us to figure out that I prefer strapless sweetheart necklines, slightly full A-line shapes, and apparently secretly like lace even though I don't want to admit it. The two dresses that I tried there are below. I feel comfortable posting them here because I know after shopping around that neither of them is "THE ONE," but instead the distant cousins of "THE ONE."
At Simon's we stuck to the same sort of dress: sweetheart, strapless, and lace with a little bit of detail. Mom and I literally looked through there entire selection and learned why all the bridal consultants are constantly rubbing their shoulders and getting cortizone shots. Mom's tennis elbow is acting up and my shoulders were a bit sore because THOSE DRESSES ARE HEAVY! And when they're packed in and you have to shove them aside to see detailing, you really aren't messing around with how much work it is to move them.
I am pretty sure that I tried on over a dozen gowns while we were there. There were quite a few that were definitely not it. And I now know that I like lace bodices, not lace skirts. Apparently it's a process. And our bridal consultant, Debbie, even made me try on a spectacularly over the top dress that I would never wear, but I have to say that it was definitely fun to try out.
So now it's just a matter of checking a few more stores, but I think I found "THE ONE" on our trip down there. After I'm sure, I'll be taking the caravan of important women in my life down to see it and get the approval. More on that in a few weeks!
