Teddy vs. A Bug

summer heat

Well, it's just starting to get hot here, which means sleeping all day and going outside in the mornings and evenings when it's cooler. Wait...I do that anyway. Tropical Storm Barry came and went...I liked chasing the blowing leaves all around. It was a welcome change from the wildfire smoke/smog. It was hard for us all to breathe. So I didn't get to go outside much. Zach and Stacy took me to a bigger dog park last weekend. It was fun to run around and meet everyone. I'm learning to get along better with other dogs and a few of them will even play with me! I got a little scratched up on my legs last time, but my cuts are healing. I followed Z and S around, just so they knew I still liked them. I made them feel special. My new favorite thing is when Zach or Stacy talk to me through a wrapping paper tube. It sounds funny. Zach cleaned up the porch, so now, I get to go out there and help him work on his writing. Stacy gets a few weeks off from work and is doing lots of things...too many for me to figure out.

My Gma

This is Stacy here. Last Friday, my Gma (dad's mom) died. Frances Pearl (Rummel) Bailey She had a hard time, battling pneumonia and a collapsed lung, and it was time for her to be gone from this world. She would have been 90 in June. Last Thursday, Megan and I drove up to Ohio from Baltimore together. I don't know if she realized who we were or if she even knew we were there, but it was so good that we were able to go see her. Megan was a big huge help and support for me. First, she helped us make sense of all the machines and monitors in Gma's room, and then Thursday night helped me through a 2-hour panic attack by praying out loud for me and quoting Scripture. We tried to remember all the verses we could. I guess that it happened while I was trying to control my mind and feelings, and my body just decided to take over. It had been very intense that day at the hospital. In the hospital room that day was Dad, Aunt Joyce, Aunt Carolyn, Aunt Doris, 2nd cousin Brad, and Megan.

It was a learning trip. During the calling hours, I was able to look through all kinds of "stuff" that Gma had. She wrote down everything. And I mean everything. She had boxes of letters, journals, picture albums, annuals, and an autobiography she wrote upon graduating high school. She was Class Historian and Salutatorian, eventually giving an address to her Class entitled "The Worthy Use of Leisure Time." We found part of this speech (pages 4-5) written in her eloquent handwriting. She was a philosopher. Gma went to Nursing School in Delaware and eventually was an ER Nurse in the same hospital she had her 5 children in and eventually died in. She had old anatomy and physiology notes. She had scraps of paper saying things like "my great grandpa Rummel met his wife on the boat to America from Germany." Her mother's maiden name was LeMasters (she was French) She was creative, always experimenting with colors, design, drawing, and recipes. She had boxes of calendars on which she wrote day-day things, including a heartbreaking note about her husband on a calendar 10 years ago..."Today Dick died. I don't know what I'm going to do" and the pen line trailed down and off the page. Gma recounted many stories from her work in the ER...Bomb threats, people grabbing her from behind, patients demanding drugs, pregnant ladies giving birth on the steps of the hospital...when Megan read these stories, she said, "That's exactly what I have to deal with now...." She is an ER nurse, too. I think my Gma had a big role in Megan being a nurse, and in my dad going back to school to be a nurse after all these years. Gma and Gpa had 5 kids, 17 grandkids, 30-something great-grandkids, and 3 great-great-grandkids. She was a blessed woman, a kind and thoughtful person, and always influencing in ways she may have never realized. Goodbye for now, Grandma!

Star Blanket

This is a star blanket Stacy made for one of her friends' babies. This is either going to be for Ella Horn or Maddie Cline. Probably for Maddie since she was just born. Ella will get one, too, when she's born. Stacy crocheted it, and I made sure to fetch the balls of yarn if they fell off the couch. I heard she also had expert color advise from her favorite mother in law. So there ya go...

new writer

So, Teddy has agreed to let me type as myself sometimes. This is Stacy! I am sitting here listening to Forrest Gump on TV. "Only 500 more chances to watch this weekend!" says the new CW. I hope I don't miss seeing it again. Zach and I went to church this morning and I saw Sarah Julich and her little baby Olivia. We are going to meet for a gelato tomorrow. Most people have tomorrow off because it's MLK day, but I'm still teaching lessons. There are way too many Monday holidays to miss. Zach has been working on his personal website today. I'd really like to do a Bible study--Either "Living Beyond Yourself" (about the fruits of the spirit) or "The Patriarchs" --both Beth Moore studies. I have done a few of hers, and you really have to be in the "right place" in your life to get something out of it. I guess that's how all study is. I generally like her studies..they are very entertaining but invite in-depth study as well. The only thing is that our study group is co-ed, and I don't know if everyone would want to do a "beth moore" study...I think they are written for women mainly. But, maybe we could split up men/women for this next bit of time. I'll have to figure it out. Oh yeah...gma, I have been reading "Cross Creek" and really enjoying it. I think you gave it to Zach for Christmas.

hi hi hi

Hi everyone, just thought I'd tell you what's been going on. I got a visit from my gma rose and gpaul a few weeks ago. I was such a pain to them, I know. I really didn't know how to act, though. I'm working on not shoving my scratchy bone on people when they're trying to sleep.

The weekend after that, Stacy ran the baltimore half-marathon with my aunt megan. They both did well, finishing in about 1 hour 50 minutes, even though they had to walk from megan's house to the start because no taxis were operating. Here is a picture of Stacy and Megan:

The weekend after that, Stacy's parents, other sister Jill, and my cousins Ethan and Caleb came to visit. I didn't go too crazy, except that I ate part of Zach's shirt and now I have a swollen lymph node. It doesn't hurt. Here is a picture of Zach and Ethan being cool:

Stacy got her hairs cut this morning. She said she was nervous, but now she likes it:

More Allergy Problems

Well, I'm definitely allergic to something. This past week I went with Stacy and Zach to Stacy's parents house in South Carolina. One day while we were there, we went with Stacy's friend Melanie on a pretty long run. We ran for about 30 minutes, which is the longest I've ever run. It was lots of fun though because it was all and grass and there was all kinds of stuff to sniff at and pick up.

I don't remember getting bit by anything, but when we got home, my nose was really itchy. Stacy noticed I was scratching it a lot, so she went to find some Benadryl. By the time she got back, my head was about 3 times its normal size and my eyes were swollen shut. Have you ever seen one of those Chinese dogs with all the skin bunched up on their faces? I looked like that except my skin was lumpy and red. I also had bumps and red spots all over the rest of me.

I was pretty miserable, as you can imagine. I kept trying to shake off the extra weight on my head, but that just made it itch more. I kept rubbing my face on the carpet to scratch it, but that didn't help much either. Zach was there to help keep me calm, and it did feel good to have a wet washcloth over my face.

When Stacy finally got back with the Benadryl, I had a hard time eating it because my lips were so big, but Stacy and Zach just crammed it down my throat. I ended up chomping on Zach's finger by accident, but it only bled a little. I felt bad, but it wasn't like I could actually see what I was doing.

Zach and Stacy rushed me to a vet, which was fortunately pretty close by. Even though I was pretty miserable and really weird looking, I still like going to the vet because I get to meet people and other dogs. So I said hi to everybody even though I couldn't see them. The benadryl was working by then, but I still itched like crazy.

The vet, Dr. Amy, was very nice and gave me some shots that made me feel a lot better. She explained everything to Zach and Stacy who were (understandably) really worried.

Since I was still really swollen, Dr. Amy wanted to keep an eye on me to make sure my throat didn't close up, so she asked Zach and Stacy if I could stay at the vet. That was OK with me. Anything to make my face stop itching.

I ended up staying at the vet for the rest of the day, and my swelling came down a lot. When Zach came to pick me up, I was really glad to see him, even though staying at the animal hospital was actually kind of fun. Zach said I still looked pretty bad, but I was definitely a lot better because I could open my eyes most of the way. Zach actually took a picture of me like that, which is kind of embarrassing, but you can see how swollen my cheeks still were. I don't know how to work the camera yet, so I'll have to wait until Zach or Stacy come home before I can post it.

So we're back home now and I'm really tired from the whole ordeal. I think I'll probably just sleep for about a week. Stacy didn't even bother to put me in my kennel, which is why I can type this now ;), because I'm definitely to sleepy to chew on anything I'm not supposed to. Really, it's not much fun getting into trouble when no one's around, so I might as well just go back to sleep.

Update: Here's that picture of me after I came home from the vet. This is after the swelling had come down a lot.