challenging times = bigger hearts

About a week after we got back from Turkey, and right before we moved, Teagan came down with her first illness. We're not exactly sure what she had, but over the course of about 4 weeks, she experienced fevers, vomitting, sleepness nights, and a double ear infection- all while breaking in a couple new teeth. She was such a trooper despite having a mom and dad who were freaking out. (We've been very blessed by Teagan's temperament; experiencing what it's like to have a "fussy" baby really opened our eyes to what it could be like.)

The first night- after she projectile vomitted three times- all over my silk shirt. :-)

We had to use up a free plane ticket so we took a quick trip to Houston over the Columbus Day weekend. Even though Teagan was diagnosed with a double ear infection the day before we flew down, she faired really well on the flights and put up with us as we ventured out to a crazy holiday farm, the Houston Zoo, and to visit friends and family.

After watching the pig races (with Papaw).

Giving Memaw (great-grandma) sweet kisses. Teags= 8 mos. Memaw= 95 yrs.

At the zoo with Papaw. Breaking in another tooth.

At the end of October, the weather started shifting and we've been enjoying more time outside. We spent the day before hurricane Sandy picking out carving pumpkins. 

Luckily, we didn't experience any damage from the storm. Teags was ready for the wind and rain though, in mom's boots!

Also at the end of October, we made the hard decision to look for a new home for Clementine. Over the last nine months, she had become increasingly stressed out by being around the baby (or so we thought). Since September, she started losing hair and wasn't eating much. We found an animal welfare league that was planning to put her up for adoption. Once the vet did a work up on her though, we found out that her kidney disease had progressed rapidly since July (the last time we tested for it). Her liver was failing and she was being poisoned. The vet made the decision to put her down. It was really hard news to bear given that we thought she was going to be adopted. In retropect, some of her behaviors from the last week we had her really made sense, and we felt terrible for not realizing that her illness had progressed so rapidly. Thankfully, she is not in pain anymore. We'll miss you, Clem!

Sunbating the day we said good-bye.

Fake-biting Sean. Her favorite thing to do.