Bailey Liz: Cutest 6-month-old Ever

Somehow I've lost the charger to my digital camera and video camera. As a result, today's post will be text only. Sorry, folks. The park's closed. The moose out front should have told you

So Bailey turned 6-months-old this week, which is just crazy. We've been looking forward to this milestone for a while now, but now that it's here we can't help but get a little sad knowing that Bailey has grown up so quickly. Her second set of front teeth are just starting to show and she's days away from crawling all over the place. She's already figured out a way to make her way around the room when she's playing on the floor. Her moves consist of a combination of inchworm and wiggle. It's hysterical to look away for a moment only to realize she's moved about 5 feet in 5 seconds. It’s amazing. Her determination is fueled by a raging fire deep inside that manifests itself with a constant grunting/whining noise that's as annoying as any noise can get. It's almost as bad as the noise Joey now makes thanks to his new ailment, kennel cough.

Kennel cough is an extremely contagious respiratory virus that dogs usually get in kennels. We're not sure exactly how or where Joey picked it up, but he's coughing, retching and puking like a one-eyed cat with a constant hairball. Obviously we'd never put Joey in a kennel (he’d never last) and he's certainly not the most social dog in the world, so we’re stumped as to how he got it.

Kristin took him to the vet yesterday, but wasn't allowed to bring him into the building because he's so contagious. So the poor thing had to figure out a way to leave Joey in the car, take Bailey into the vet building (in a stroller with no ramp) and then eventually get Joey straight from the car into the exam room. Unfortunately, the girls working the desk were less than helpful and unsympathetic, but his doctor was a very nice woman who seemed to love Joey. She gave him some drugs, trimmed his nails and sent him on his way.

The drugs have softened the cough a bit, but he’s still having a tough time. Last night I had to sleep with him on the couch to keep him calm and quiet so Kristin could sleep. She needed it, too. Bailey decided it was time to get up at around 3AM today, the little shit. Kristin has a habit of making very threatening statements when things like this happen. This morning I seem to recall hearing her say she was going to “just run away” right before I fell back asleep and left her to deal with the screaming little psycho Bailey. Let’s hope these are just idle threats – I could never be a single Dad. I don’t have the makeup for that kind of pressure. I’d crack in one day if I had to do what Kristin does.

Happy Birthday to Auntie Linda, our #1 fan!