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We'll miss you cat-tee!

On Saturday, June 11th we heard a lot of commotion upstairs.  Joe & Kman were in the bath, so we knew it wasn't them.  When the dog came running down with her tongue hanging out in pure post-cat-chasing joy, we knew she ran into Tigger in the hall and gave her a good chase.  Tigger hid for a few days, which is perfectly normal after a Sonya run-in.  Mom found her under her bed that night, but she refused to come out, so she gave Tigger her food and treats.  She kept checking in on her, but she still wouldn't come out.  She did finally heard Tig come out one night, but didn't see her when she was out.  It wasn't until a few nights later that Cat-tee (as Kellan calls her) came out and Mom saw that her back leg was broken.  We took her to the vet, and they confirmed that it was a break - a spiral break across her whole leg at the ankle area.  Cat-tee was a trouper and an excellent patient according to the vet.  She and the vet tech couldn't say enough what a great cat she is.  But this was just confirmation of what we already knew - Tigger has always been the best, most gentle cat!

I should take a step back I think.  I lived alone the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college while my Mom and Nate went to Colorado for the summer to be with my Dad.  I was so lonely and wanted a pet, but my parents were smart enough to tell me NO DOGS!  They never dreamed I'd get a cat because I hated cats.  But I didn't want a hamster, fish, or some other animal - I wanted something I could snuggle with.  :)  I was gone a lot on the weekends and a cat seemed like the perfect solution.  And, I knew people at OWU who had cats stashed in their dorm rooms, and Rae, my friend & roommate the next year, was a cat lover, so I thought we were golden.  Tiggy was the best companion!  She was a bit of a terror (and actually scared me a few nights) at first, but she quickly mellowed out and made friends with the cat in the mirror on my closet and we became fast friends.  Unfortunately as she grew older, I became more and more allergic.  It got to the point where I could not touch her, or where she had been sitting even without my eyes swelling.  We tried to take her down to OWU that year, but we realized since we were in a dorm where the cleaning person came each week to pretend to wipe down the bathroom in our room, we weren't going to be able to hide a cat.  So Tigger went back on the 2+ hour trip to Stow with my Mom, screaming the whole way.

Tigger stayed with my Mom in Ohio until she moved back to Colorado when Nate graduated. She & Nate were good friends and I always wondered if maybe she would ultimately live with him. Tigger made the move to Colorado with my Mom when Nate went to OSU.  My Mom had a dog at the time (Mittens) and she and Tiggy were definitely buds.  They didn't always interact, but you could occasionally catch them snuggling.  When we had to put Mittens down, Tigger was there for my Mom.  She and Sonya (our dog) could never get along though.  When we lived with my parents after first moving to Colorado, Sonya terrorized poor Tiggy.  She eventually lived in the basement and would only come out when we would lock Sonya up at night.  When we moved out and my Dad got transferred to California, Tigger was there so my Mom wasn't lonely.  She really was the best cat!!

 Tigger & my brother, Nate, had a very special relationship!  She also loved to hid in his backpack (and any suitcase, bag or laundry basket for that matter).  It always made packing interesting!

When we moved back in after Kellan was born poor Tigger resigned herself to the basement again.  Mom kept trying to bring her up to her room and Tigger finally acquiesced and started living in Mom's room - and would of course come out and visit at night.

I'm not sure how it happened, but one night I brought Kellan in after his bath to say goodnight to Mom.  Tiggy was on the bed and she started rubbing her head on him, and he thought it was the greatest thing since he can't pet Sonya since she's too grumpy, so it became a ritual.  Every night I brought him in to try and feed a treat to Tigger, snuggle with her and say good night to Grandma.  Kitty was one of his first words, and for some reason that became Cat-Tee and Cat-Tee stuck.  We have found ourselves even calling her Cat-Tee.  In fact when I texted Joe to tell him the sad news, I called her Cat-Tee then too.  She was really his best furry friend.  She loved with him almost every night and he just glowed when she rubbed her head on him, or sniffed a treat he offered her.  He's so confused right now!  I've been saying for a long time that I need to get a picture of them together one night, but I never remembered to grab my camera until after she was hurt.  By then we tried to keep him away from here (except to blow kisses) because we didn't want him to accidentally hurt her.  I know he won't remember her, but I'd love to be able to show him a picture of them together when he's grown.  Oh well, it's more important to live life then try and capture it all in pictures.

So back to poor Cat-Tee's boo-boo.  So after we had her x-rays done, the vet put a splint on and recommended surgery.  She wasn't sure if their surgeon there was going to be able to perform the surgery to put a rod in her leg, or whether we would have to go to a specialist.  Of course, all we could worry about was how expensive it was going to be.  I feel so bad now, but we complained about the $450 the initial visit cost us, and worried about how much surgery would be.  We heard numbers between $1200 and $2000+ and started wondering if it was a good idea to spend that on a 13 year old cat.  My Mom talked to the vet surgeon the next day (he was out of the office during our first visit) and he said he could certainly do it in-house, and the estimates we received were probably WAY on the high end.  My Mom asked about letting it heal, as the other vet had mentioned that we may be able to do that because of the location of the break, but that it would be a long process and Cat-Tee would hate having her splints changed.  The vet surgeon said that because of the way it broke, it was best to do surgery, so surgery was scheduled for Tuesday - this morning.

We picked Cat-Tee up and took her home in her little splint with red tape, and a bunch of pain meds.  She lounged around Mom's room all week and would sometimes even get up and hobble around.  Once she tried to get on the bed (in the middle of the night, of course) and smacked into it because she just couldn't get the lift right.  :(  But other times she had no problem getting up.  This morning she snuggled with my Mom for about an hour, which I am so thankful that she did.  She hated that splint!  She was slowly tearing the top of it off, so it was a a bit in strings at the top.

Mom dropped Cat-Tee off at about 8:15 this morning.  They had done blood work previously and said everything looked fine.  She set up an appointment to pick her up tomorrow at 11:30, and I was going to help get her and then have a nice lunch with my boy and my mom.  I left asking my Mom to update me when she heard from the vet that Tiggy was out of surgery.  I was a little surprised when Mom called just a little bit later.  Something didn't sound right in her voice - "Do you want to hear some bad news?"  "No, of course I don't" I said half joking.  "Okay, then I'll just talk to you toooonnniiiigghhhttt!".  I knew, I  knew, I knew what she was about to say - please don't say it, just don't say it and it won't be real.  "Mom, you have to tell me now!"

Poor Tigger had a massive heart attack when they were prepping her for surgery.  They didn't even get the anesthetics in all of the way.  She was so stressed by the whole procedure that her heart just gave out.  The vet (who called my Mom personally, and apparently did not sound any better than we did) tried to resuscitate her for 30 minutes, but just could not save her. Statistically this doesn't happen - it's so rare that it's not even an advised risk.  The vet has been doing this for 40 years and has never had this happen.  He was incredibly devastated and told my Mom that "we just kept looking at each other like 'how could this happen; what happened?'"  I lose focus for a while and then hear "She's being cremated and we can pick her up tomorrow".  My poor Mom - I can hear Kellan in the back ground whining for the phone and I know he's confused as to why Grandma is crying.  Grandma is his rock and one of his favorite people and he just doesn't know what's going on.

Mom texted me later that the vet sent some beautiful flowers and a card.  Her message says "Guess that means it's true".  She said that Kellan has been on edge all day.  I hoped right that that he didn't ask for Cat-Tee that night when we go to say good night to Grandma as I wasn't sure any of us will know how to react.  I think it may be time for a new nightly routine...

Unfortunately when we went in for good nights, he jumped out of our arms on her bed and started pointing for where the cat treats last were.  Thankfully the Nuk kept him from actually saying "Cat-Tee", but I'm guessing those were the muted words he uttered.  My poor Monkey - she was the only animal he could snuggle and love and he wants to snuggle and love EVERYTHING!!  Especially living things!! :(

The good news is that Cat-Tee is running freely in heaven, rubbing on anything and everything and not being afraid of the mean little dog anymore!  We love you Tigger!!

 Tigger Cat-Tee Leppo
Fur Baby & Best Friend to Kman

5/5/1998 - 6/21/2011

 

Daddy-Only Weekend

Mommy's leavin' on a jet plane...

On May 13th I hopped a flight to San Francisco to meet up with my law school girlfriends to celebrate the wedding of our little Nicole.  And so marked my furthest trip from Kellan EVER.  Previously I have not been more than a 3 hour drive from him at all times - and that was only twice - an overnight trip to Aspen for work and an overnight trip to Ohio for Jen-nay's wedding [while K and Joe were in Indy, so still not far].  I was worried...not about Kellan and Joe.  I have every faith in Joe - he's a wonderful Dad.  I was worried about whether or not I could do it.  Could I be away from my baby for that long.  Sure, I work long hours and occasionally will just get a couple of minutes in the evening with him, but I still get to see him on the monitor and I know I'm close if he needs me (and I HATE those nights anyway and come home sad and mopey).

As I put Kellan down to bed Thursday night after rocking him an unusually long time, knowing I wouldn't see him until Sunday night as I was leaving early (read:  VERY early) the next morning, I got a little teary eyed.  I whispered my normal sentiment to him - "good night my sweet Prince, I love you very much" - but instead of telling him I would see him the next morning or evening after work, I tearfully explained that I would see him on Sunday night and that he would have the best Daddy-Son weekend ever!  He looked at me like I was crazy - as he normally does if I'm crying, pulled his arms out of the swaddle, grabbed his lovey of choice that night and went to sleep.

I have to admit that I was sad when I gave the monitor to my Mom the next morning, after taking one last look at him sleeping, gave an over dramatic sigh, and headed off to catch my flight.  Throughout the flight I looked through the pics on my new iPad (thanks honey and the rest of my wonderful fam) and wondered how his day was going.  Upon landing and collecting my luggage, which all arrived much to my delight (I'm always worried about that part - so much so that I pack my make-up in my carry on just to be safe - hey, you know me!), I immediately texted my Mom to tell her I made it safe and check in my my little man.  It was of course nap time and he was sleeping but was having a great day.  Good.

Now, I have to be real honest here.  I fully figured I would be thinking about Mr. K all trip and texting Joe all weekend to see how he was doing.  I left specific requests (read: instructions) for Joe to send a ton of pictures so I could see how he was doing all weekend - after all, weekends are my time with him since I work so much during the week, so I hated to be missing out on my main K-man time.  But then it happened....

...Lauren LANDED (early - totally surprised and amazed at the promptness of Southwest airlines on that day) - SHE LANDED and all of the years of missing my "Angels" came rushing back.  ("Angles" is long story involving a bowling team, our original Charlie who was a crier, some pink pleather pants and Farrah Fawcett wings, and now a new Charlie, aka Nate the Date.)  As we fast walked / slow jogged through the baggage area of San Francisco airport like some lame '80's movie, exchanged big hugs which did involve some light tears and sniffles, and generally cooed over how excited we were to see each other after - how many...5, yeah that's right - 5 long years (during which I got married and she couldn't get the transport plane home; we both had beautiful baby boys; she moved to Germany, then CHI, then MI, and soon to Indiana; and I moved to CO) it totally happened.  I stopped worrying and wondering about my baby and started enjoying the "me" time.  Sheree arrived not long after, and the three of us were together, in SF, after so long.

  

We hopped in the Red Poodle (our affectionately named red HHR rental car) and were off.  It was like we never were apart.  We immediately started catching up and of course figuring out who kept in touch with which classmate and what everyone was doing (read: gossiping - duh!).  Lauren expertly drove us to Golden Gate Park where we ditched the Red Poodle and were off for our adventure, eventually meeting up with Laure and Nate the Date and heading to our wedding of the year (who needs the Royals)!  But I'll save most of those details and pics for another post...

(Sorry Sheree - I love this pic, hope you do too! :>)

Meanwhile back in Colorado, Joe was finishing up his week and heading home to our little man.  The plan was to do baby gym Saturday morning, then head to the zoo Saturday afternoon with one of his wonderful coworkers, Deborah, and go from there.  He had discussed taking in a Rockies' game with Uncle Doug, but he was at Miss Diana's graduation, so no go there.  Plus the weather was bad (who am I kidding - the weather was bad all over!  We froze in SF too).

I did take time out of my new exciting life to put in a call to the fam after our bus tour (interesting trip, which, per our normal bus tours was FREEZING, but you'll have to see my next post if I ever get it written).  Joe was doing well, I believe Kman was napping again, so I still didn't get to "talk" to him, but Joe would send pics...right!  The girls and I stopped for dinner with my Dad, where itty bitty baby pics of K made me remember how much I was missing him and how long it would be before I was home.  I also realized I probably missed my window of opportunity to "talk" to him.

Joe and I talked again very late that night - to my delight (but not surprise) they had survived.  Daddy 1, Kellan...well 1. :)  Unfortunately Kellan had managed to drop Joe's iPhone in the tub again (to which I said "again, I didn't realize it happened once - didn't you learn anything from that"), so I just hoped it would dry out so I could get those much desired pictures.  Hence the Kellan 1.

So Saturday comes and I play it cool again.  We all agree that we're going to stay in bed (our respective beds - sickoes) until 9:00AM because we were kid free.  I forgot that although I was only 1 hour behind my normal time zone, everyone else was 2-3 hours behind, so when I finally hauled my behind out of bed around 9:00, I was working against the clock and some very hungry friends. :)  I managed a quick text to Joe while we were on the way to brunch (so yummy - I highly recommend Big 3 in Sonoma if you have the time - although it's not a fast meal).  My real reason for texting was to see if they managed to get to baby gym.  You see, baby gym (My Gym) is at 8:30 in the morning on Saturdays, which is always a struggle for Mommy and Daddy, and some weekends even for Kellan.  No word on baby gym - I wonder if they made it.  Hmmm...Joe does text later that K-man is enjoying some grilled cheese and broccoli soup - one of his favs.  I miss him - but only for a little...because we're off again!

Our next adventure is to do some wine tastings and I let go again.  I am thrilled when I get a text simply stating "at the zoo" with this picture of my poor baby all bundled up.  Yeah - they're out and about and doing something super fun!!  Sure, K looks a little tired and it definitely looks yucky out, but he's getting out of the house!  It turned out that Joe's co-worker could not make it, so I was even more proud of my super-dad hubby for doing the zoo on his own (not sure I'm up to that level yet myself!)!

They survive the zoo in true Colorado Palmer fashion, and head home.  I'm again thrilled to get another wonderful picture of my little man looking so innocent post-zoo.  What a sweet boy!  For a minute I experience homesickness for him, then the sommelier pours me another taste and I move past that. :)

Later in the evening - I think it was on the shuttle to the wedding - I get an email with yet one more picture.  This one is of my very proud boy after he finds 2 of his Nuks all by himself between his mattress and the crib frame.  Those little buggers get lost everywhere, but no place is worse than that crib.  He is proud and I'm sure Daddy was relieved that he located not one, but two of those wonderful, sometimes life saving pacies!

Joe and I exchange a few more texts as the evening goes on (well, I send a few more texts - "oh, our song is on", "they're using the flutes we got them on the cake table & they look amazing", things like that), but I never do manage to get a hold of my little family while my baby is awake so we can "talk".  Oh well, I get to see him tomorrow!!  I can't wait!

We get up and basically head straight to the airport the next morning to drop off Red Poodle, grab a quick bite and promise that it won't be this long before we see each other in person again (and I intend to hold us to our promise!).  You can tell Lauren (who has never been away from Mr. James for more than 8 hours) and I are ecstatic to leave - not because we want to get away from each other, but because neither of us can wait to get home to our boys!  I am lucky enough to get to see the K-man tonight, but poor Lauren will have to wait until Monday morning.

After I get in, I basically run to the train, and then to baggage claim to give that little man a hug.  He walks (walks - unassisted, WALKS!) over to give me a quick hug and a beautiful, heart melting smile, and then goes back to the more important task of pushing one of those rental luggage carts into everyone passing by.  As a man standing near by laughs and laughs at my little man's antics, I realize that while I had one of the best trips ever, I am SO HAPPY TO BE HOME!!  :)

The Hearts Have It!!

GREAT NEWS!!!

Kellan had another cardiology appointment and we received the BEST news!!  Miss Barb (his echostenographer and one of his favorite ladies) was running a bit behind, so Dr. B stopped in to get a sneak peak at his "little guy".  One listen to his heart and Dr. B smiled SO big!!  He said he was happy to report that the Kman looked like the picture of health and his ticker sounded great.  Kellan was unbelievable good through the entire 45 minute echo.  Miss Barb put on some "Sesame Street" and sang along to the songs, and although Mom noticed his hands were a little damp from being nervous, he sat really still and let her do her thing.  A few times he got restless and he held her hand through a lot of it, but he was such a trooper!! 

Dr. B reviewed the pictures and came in to give us the best news this year - his levels were still 17 (which is what they were in November, which you would know if I wasn't such a bad blogging Mommy!)!!!  That's the best we could hope for!  You could tell he was thrilled because he smiled from ear-to-ear!  Kman would have smiled too if he knew what was going on!  There is some slight leaking, but absolutely nothing to worry about.  Power lifting is still out of his future, but he will live a very normal life otherwise.  :)

Dr. B was also happy to share that a report just came out from the AAPC (American Academy of Pediatric Cardiologists) that "these little guys" who had cardio balloon caths at such young ages were not at all more prone to sudden death, and there is definitely no reason to restrict their activity ("How would you restrict an active 1 year old's activity?" my Mom smartly commented later).

So we don't get to go quite a year before our next visit, but we'll be back in almost a year, right around his 2nd birthday.  Second birthday - that's almost 10 months from now!!  I still remember the weekly visits when he was first born!  It seems so crazy to be set out 10 whole months!!  I'm excited, but at the same time I have to admit that the last few months of not having an update were killing me. :)

Perhaps the best news of the day was when Dr. B said that he thinks we'll just be watching this "for a long, long, long, long time!" (I think there were that many "longs" - maybe there were even more).  He does not thing we'll have to even think about valve replacement until well into his adulthood.  I'll worry all the same when that day comes, but at least we won't have to think about it for years to come!

To celebrate the good news Mom & I took Kel to Chili's - one of his favorite dining establishments.  He promptly threw down on some cheese fries and quesidillas.  Yum!!!   Needless to say it was a very good day! :)

First Steps!!!!!

We have liftoff!!!

On April 13th Kellan took some of his first steps!! He's still practicing a lot, and isn't quite ready to make the decision to walk on his own, but he'll gladly walk from Mommy to Daddy to Grandma or Grandpa with a little encouraging. And he's so proud when he does it!! He even showed of for Mr. James, one of his gym teachers, this past Saturday!

Now he cruises with the best of them (he spends a lot of time walking around the coffee table or the bar / kitchen sink area where he can just circle rooms 'til his heart's content! When walking between us now, he'll even try to turn himself around and walk back to the person he just came from. We are so proud!!!

I love My Gym!!

Kellan joined My Gym a few weeks ago and he LOVES it! It's a great chance for him to get out and meet some new kids and he even made his first friend - Hudson. Hudson's a little older than him (15 months I think), but they get so excited when they see each other. He goes to class every Saturday morning with Mommy, and then Grandma takes him to open gym some Tuesdays and Thursdays. He was doing a Thursday class with Grandma too, but he's too big for that class now. Saturday's class is a mix of the smaller class (6-14 months) and the bigger tot class (14-24 months). It's just as well as class and open gym seem to be too much on Thursday and he seems to like open gym better. It's so fun to watch him crawl around the gym and at least watch other kids. He's interacting more and more, and enjoying the organized parts of gym a bit more too (the songs, as well as the tumbling and skill sections). All in all it's just a really good experience for him. :) Here are a few shots from this Saturday's class:

(This is not Hudson, but another little guy at the gym that day.)

Long time, no blog

So I've realized that a lot has happened since last time I blogged - 2 1/4 years ago!!! (Note:  I'm trying to fill in some major milestones backwards, so if there's anything posted between Christmas of '09 and now, that means I got a little work in :> ).

Kellan was born 2/24/10, we've been through heart drama, a move, 1st birthdays, and first teeth, first steps and a whole lot more. I've resolved to blog more...but I've done that in the past too. :) Hopefully this time I can at least try to get an entry or two in a quarter, if not a month! Wish me luck!

And I'll try to go backwards and hit the highlights (like Kellan's birth and 1st birthday at least)...I HOPE! :)

There are more recent posts on Kellan's page - just not that recent (5 months old I think).  That site is http://kellanmichaelpalmer.shutterfly.com/pictures and the password is palmers.  Maybe between the two I can keep up...or maybe that will just exacerbate the situation...hmm...

First birthday par-tay!

I had an awesome first birthday party on Saturday!  I had so many people who loved me come - and even more sent cards and gifts.  I'm one lucky little boy!!  Guests included Grammy & Poppop all the way from Indy, Miss Shannon & Miss Mallory, Miss Brittany with Eisen & Ian, Uncle Doug and of course Mommy & Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa (in from California).  It was awesome!!  Thank you everyone who came and all of you who sent cards, gifts and well wishes. :)

Mommy & Grandma put a lot of hours in this AWESOME "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" cake.

 

 And Mommy made a mini version for Mr. K's smash cake. (Twice actually - one for professional pics and one for the party!)

 I know what's coming...

 Miss Mallory gets in on the action - her birthday was just two weeks earlier!

 I think it looks like you need a little help...I'll just finish that off for you. :)

 I love my trike - thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

 And I love my Cozi Coup from Grammy & Poppop too!

Thanks for the push Uncle Doug!

Awe, I love Miss Mallory!!  :)