My 37th Birthday

Before we went to lunch we stopped by my doctor's office to have my blood drawn to make sure my HCG is going back down to zero since the miscarriage. Not a fun "to-do," but such is life. We go out for Mexican all the time and we did this Friday too. Magnolia had to wave & say "hi" to every single person that walked by her. We were seated at the entry so she did this about 100 times!

We went to the park after lunch & I have no photos of Magnolia's first ride on the swing because she hated it. When we first put her in the swing she was looking at us like "what the heck is this?" About 30 seconds later she was crying her eyes out. We were like 'okay, let's try the slide', and nope, she hated it too. Her reaction to things like this really isn't shocking to me because I can remember feeling the same way as a child. We went for a little walk around the park to enjoy the fresh air before heading home for a bit. 

We went back out for dinner & then we stopped in Land of Paws to hold puppies. Since we lost Mrs. our home hasn't felt the same. I had been dreaming of Magnolia growing up with a dog all her own. There was only one problem with my dream, she is allergic to dog saliva. Anytime a dog licks her she breaks out in awful hives and her eyes turn bright red & itchy. Her pediatrician's advice was avoidance at this age, all the while I've been hopeful she'd outgrow her allergy. I spotted a sleepy Aussiechon puppy & I just had to hold it. We let it lick Magnolia just to see what would happen, knowing we were headed home & she would go straight to the bathtub. We thought a "lick test" would be a good idea! 

I instantly fell in love with this beautiful blue eyed dog that reminded us of a cloudy day. On the drive home I couldn't see Magnolia & I was so anxious to get home so I could see how she was reacting to the puppy dog licks. I was positive she'd be a total mess & I was feeling bad that she was probably in the back seat getting very uncomfortable. To our surprise she didn't have a bump on her face & her eyes seemed just fine. Ryan & I were both happy to think she had gotten over her dog allergy, after all we are a family that loves dogs. My entire mindset about getting a puppy changed that night & I went to bed thinking about the Aussiechon. All night long I was dreaming about Magnolia playing with this puppy & growing up with her very own furbaby. The next morning, on my actual birthday, before we even had coffee I told Ryan I thought maybe we should get her. We spent the entire morning having a serious conversation about life with a puppy! We left for brunch with a puppy on our mind & plans to go back to the pet store (side note about the pet store: this particular pet store is the ONLY pet store I'd ever consider buying from because they are owned by two veterinarian's wives & they aren't buying from awful puppy mills!). 

For brunch we headed to Kansas City to try this new place called, The Russell, that I heard has the BEST chocolate chip cookies - my all time favorite dessert. Oh my goodness, the ambiance of this place was perfect with vases of fresh tulips everywhere we looked, dark walls with overflowing natural light (even on a cloudy day), a wide open fire grill behind the counter, & every detail from the bathroom to the menu to the dessert counter was noteworthy! 

For lunch I had the Salmon & Avocado and Ryan got the Steak & Eggs. Magnolia had bites of my salmon and we got a side of sweet potatoes for her. The Bloody Mary was huge & there was no way I could finish it! 

We named our sweet girl Goldie! I've never heard Magnolia giggle as much as she did Saturday night when she was playing with her new fursister. It was the sweetest thing ever! Goldie was perfect & loved to cuddle. Even at dinner time when she wasn't on our lap, she found her way to our feet, where she laid her soft little head and went right to sleep. 

Ryan & Magnolia sang me Happy Birthday and then we all shared a coconut marshmallow cupcake before bed. It was a wonderful birthday & my sweet Ry spoils me with so much love! 

On Sunday morning I noticed Magnolia was sneezing a lot & rubbing her little nose, and my eyes & ears were itchy! I tried to ignore it, because I really did NOT want to believe our furbaby was making the both of us itchy. We went over to my sister's house & we had another little birthday celebration. All the girls were in love with our Goldie! 

Sunday night after I got Magnolia to sleep I had a serious conversation with Ryan about the sneezing & itchiness. And we had to make a very tough parenting decision to return our furbaby. Ugh. It was not an easy decision that Ryan ultimately let me make, of course getting her was my decision too, and he was supportive either way no matter what we did! The thought of Magnolia needing allergy medicine for the next 15 years was not a risk I wanted to take. Of course, she could have gotten better, but what if the allergy persisted or got worse? Thankfully my aunt came over on Monday & helped me with taking her back. That was not fun. It's probably no surprise to anyone that knows what I've gone through this year that I made a very emotional decision. Puppy buying is already an emotional thing, but add in all the other stuff that has happened this year and I kind of feel like - whoa, I'm glad I didn't get a tattoo or buy a red corvette (or black Range Rover in my case 😉). 

In all seriousness, this birthday seems very appropriate for the year of 37! As for the puppy we will eventually have another dog that we fully research first & will most likely be 100% hypoallergenic. 

So that was our weekend, I hope yours was a great one! I'm counting down the days until we are at the beach!!! 

xo