Remembering Bazooka

Bazooka's Story:

In 2008, Jason and I lived in Long Island, we were going to be graduating from college that year and moving back home after graduation. We had a dog and 2 cats at that time. I frequently browsed Craigslist "just because." On one day in particular I was reading through the pet section and saw an URGENT HELP add, a dog named Buddy was to be put to sleep in the Manhattan animal shelter because he was a bully breed and had bordetella (kennel cough). I had seen these types of posts before, however I was drawn to the profile of Buddy and to his picture. After discussing the possibility with Jason, we decided to inquire about him. After getting in touch with the rescue things were put into place so that we could adopt him. We picked Buddy up from the shelter the following day. It took him a day or so to start to bond with us, but after that he was just another member of the family, we were his people. We did not think the name Buddy was very fitting for him (plus we worked at a boarding kennel... do you know how many "Buddy's there are!?), so we decided on the name Bazooka.

2008 This is out Bazooka shortly after we brought him home.

Bazooka was a wonderful dog from day 1.  When we brought him home he went inside and peed on our garbage.  We told him"NO" very firmly and he NEVER peed nor pooped in the house again.  When he was in the animal shelter in NYC, there was no outdoors for him to go to the bathroom, they took the dogs onto the roof of a building to do their business, we don't know how long he had been using the bathroom inside/on a building for, but he adjusted to going outside quickly!

 

He was always such a ham.  He was silly and he knew it.  He also was great at reading people.  I think he acted silly for our benefit.  If someone was sad, he would always try to cheer them up.  One time when I took him to the vet for a check up there was an older couple that had come in after us with a tiny puppy.  The puppy was there because it was accidentally dropped and would cry any time it was picked up.  The woman owner that brought it in was very distraught and afraid for her puppy.  Bazooka picked up on this immediately, walked over to her and just plopped his big head in her lap.  It was so sweet!  He always impressed the other clients whenever we took him to the vets office.




2008 Goofball!

Bazooka was a BIG BABY, he loved to be with his people and to cuddle.  He also loved to be warm!  We used to allow the animals to sleep in bed with us but 2 people, 2 large dogs and 2 cats in one bed got to be way too much!  He LOVED to get under the covers and be warm.  On his last night with us, Jason let him sleep with him and he slept in bed with me when I got home from work the day we had to put him down.

2009/2010 Cuddle bug, but not fond of cameras!

2009/2010 Getting comfortable.

Bazooka loved us all but he adored Jason!  When we first got him, Jason was able to spend a lot of time with him and he built a very strong bond with Jason.  At times it was rather pitiful, he would sit/lie by the door and whine waiting for Jason to come home.

 

2009/2010 Waiting for Jasonto get home.

2009/2010 Trying to see if Jason is home.

Several of the pictures above we taken at the apartments we had when we first moved back home from college.  In Sept 2010 we had a fire and lost our apartments.  All 4 animals were in the fire.  When the fire fighters broke the door down, the dogs ran out and were running around the village.  One cat was unconscious and the other was nowhere to be found.  It took a few hours but Jason received a call from the police officer that was kind enough to be helping us find the dogs, he said that he was following Bazooka in his cop car because he would not come to him.  Thankfully it was not far from the house and Jason was able to walk and go get him.  I am sure it was quite the sight to see a dog being pursued by the police in a car! 

 

The fire fighters had a baby air mask and applied it to our cat that was found lying on the floor, she was taken to the vet immediately and required a lot of treatment as she suffered from inhaling a lot of smoke.  While a clean up crew was working in the apartment the next day or so, our other cat came strolling in looking for help.  She is a skittish cat who does not like strangers but went right up to them looking for help.  She was once all white, not she was very grey!   She was taken to the vets as well and stayed with her sister. 

 

We searched for our other dog, Sky for a couple of days before we finally got a call from the neighbor, or maybe it was the police that she had been found but was not letting anyone go near her.  I came over right away and she was not even wanting me to go near her.  She was terrified!  Once she finally sniffed me her demeanor completely changed, she came right to me, was wagging her tail and licking everyone in sight!  It was such a relief to know that we had found all of our animals!

 

The vets office was VERY kind to us, they treated the dogs right away and even picked up the tab for treating the cats who had to stay there for a week!  We are very grateful for everyone who helped us out during that difficult time in our lives.

 

We lived with Jason's parents for several months during that time until we bought our first house.  Bazooka lived with us and the other 3 animals lived with my parents.  At first he was understandably terrified of the fire place!  It did not take him long to realize that it was not hurting him and he qickly grew to LOVE lying in front of it to keep warm.  Did I mention that he loved to be warm!?  It got to the point that his poor skin got very dried out and he had bad dandruff.  After the fire he struggled with staph infections on his skin for a couple of years because of the toll that it took on his immune system.  The dry heat from the fire place probably did not help!  We eventually got him on food that helped to keep him healthy and free from infections.




Christmas 2011

Bazooka was wonderful with all of the animals in our house.  Once he got used to the cats, he left them alone... usually!  He was good with them but would occasionally chase them for fun, he liked that he could make them run away.  Also, we watched a little Maltipoo for a few months with Jason's grandmother was in the hospital.  Bazooka did wonderful with her, he even let Lilly lay next to him and chew her bone!

2009/2010 Friend to all!



He was even friendly with little dogs, in this pic Bazooka and Lilly were both chewing bones!

Bazooka put up with a lot.  He did not being used as a pillow by his sister Sky!  She would often climb all over him to either get warm or to use him as a pillow.  The two of them often cuddled close to one another to sleep.

Willing to be a pillow

 



2012 Sitting pretty for a treat



When Claudia finally came home, Bazooka took to her very quickly, he also learned quickly that she was a source for food!  The two of them were such great buddies!  Bazooka looked after Claudia.  There is a reason that pit bulls were once called nanny dogs!  He let her climb all over him, bounce on him and cuddle.  The two of them could often be found just hanging out together (with supervision of course!)  The relationship that they had was incredible.  I am glad that she got to be with him for the 10 months that she did.

 

2013 Mooch!



2013 Always by her side <3



2013 Willing to be a chair/bounce toy.

2013 The hairdresser thinks he needs a hair clip!

December 2013, Cuddle buddy!

December 2013, Love

It makes me very sad to know that Claudia has lost such a great friend and that Chance never got to meet him. 

 

 Bazooka, you were dearly loved and you are missed so much already!



2013

The Loss of a Friend

December 20th, 2013 was one of the hardest days I have had.  We had to make the difficult decision to put our amazing dog, Bazooka aka Zook to sleep.

This is the story of our last days with our amazing dog Bazooka.  I am writing this therapeutically.  This is part one, the hard post to write.  I will follow it up with a second post of the life of our boy.

On Thursday morning when I came home from work, I noticed that Bazooka seemed to be breathing particularly hard.  I went over to him and cuddled with him on the floor for a minute before going upstairs to bed (I work nights).  I honestly did not think much of it, he did not seem to be in any distress.

Jason got Claudia ready for school that morning,  so he took the dogs outside and fed them before putting them into their crates so that they did not wake me up.  When I woke up and got myself some coffee and lunch before getting Claudia off the bus.  It was a while before i realized that the dogs were still in their crates, usually Bazooka would whine to be let out when he heard me up.  I let them out and got Claudia off the bus.  Then I really noticed that Bazooka was using his abdominal muscles while he was breathing and his chest was not moving much.  I became very worried and Called Jason.  That was when I found out that he did not want to eat his breakfast that morning, which is not like him at all!  I called the vet and told them I was on my way.  Once we got to the vet we were seen quite quickly and Bazooka was taken back for xrays.  It was not good.  There was something large pushing his lungs back so that they could not expand, most likely a tumor.  The vet gave us a few other possibilities such as a pulmonary embolism or torn lung, but those were highly unlikely since the problem was seen with both lungs equally.  We decided to try Lasix, a diuretic to see if there was possibly excess fluid causing the problem, antibiotics as there were some infiltrates seen in his lungs (they looked pretty junky, since he could not expand them all the way, he could not clear them of pathogens), and a bronchodilator to help him breathe easier.  I brought him home to see what would happen.  I was cautiously hopeful that he would show some improvement, but Jason and i had already decided that if there was no improvement, we would likely have to put him to sleep the next day.  As it was, that night he was having trouble breathing while laying down so he sat up most of the time.  It broke my heart to see him struggling so badly and I was starting to regret ever bringing him back home.  To make matters worse, I had to go into work that night.  Of course i worried about him all night, like any good mom would. 

When I got home on the morning of December 20th I did not get good news.  Bazooka did not want to go up/down stairs as his hind legs were weak, likely his whole body was weak from using the accessory muscles to breathe, he was probably sore and tired.  We planned on calling the vet to schedule THE appointment later that day.  I got him to take his pills in some cheese.  I got ready for bed and Jason took care of the dogs.  Before Jason went to work he brought Bazooka upstairs to sleep with me.  I was able to get some sleep as Bazooka was able to get comfortable enough to lay down.  When I woke up, he was happy enough just laying in bed while I got dressed.  I picked him up from the bed and carried him downstairs.  The carrying him brought on a coughing fit.  Once we got down stairs I put him down and he was a bit wobbly on his back legs for a few steps.  He went into the dining room and sat down.  I had to get Claudia off the bus but once she was in the house I spent as much time with Bazooka as I could, making him as comfortable as I could until Jason got home. 

Bazooka was super happy to see Claudia, he gave her lots of kisses and he even ate a pigs ear for us, this was the first thing he had eaten besides a little bit of cheese in a couple days.  He munched away at his pig ear for a while and when he was done his tongue and gums had a blue hue to them, it took so much out of him just to chew on that pigs ear.  I really think he ate it to make us feel better.  His paws were cold and his breathing was not good, I covered him with a blanket and he wagged his tail at me.  Bazooka laid there in that spot, recovering for a while but happily got up to see my in laws when they came over.  He got up and marched in to see them wagging his tail and giving Claudia kisses as he walked by.  My boy was quite the charmer, he really wanted to make those around him happy.  Jason came home shortly afterwards and Bazooka greeted him happily.  My in laws took Claudia so that we could go to the vet.

Bazooka walked out to the car and jumped right in.  He also found some crackers that smelled quite good.  I happily obliged him and fed him my crackers :)  It was nice to see him eagerly eating but hard to see it at the same time.  He was perking up from how he was just an hour before, but I knew we had to do the right thing.  I was glad he felt good, but I also knew it was only temporary.  Any amount of physical exertion exhausted him. 

Bazooka walked right into the vets office and was very curious about a cat there.  He was so well behaved at the office, like always.  The staff were very compassionate, respectful and understanding.  We were allowed to pay the bill before hand so that we could sneak out a back door when the procedure was over.

I requested that the vet sedate Bazooka before putting him to sleep, I wanted him as comfortable as possible.  We got to stay with him, talk to him and pet him as he fell asleep.  Once he was sleeping comfortably the vet came back in and gave him the euthanasia medication and waited there with us until his heart stopped beating.  We were then left alone to say goodbye to our amazing friend.  It was a very VERY emotional time but I was glad that Jason and I could both be there with him.

Bazooka, you were the best dog we could have asked for.  Thank you for being such a loyal companion, we miss you already, but you will be forever in our hearts.  Thank you for being an ambassador for your breed.

 



Our Bazooka, aka Zook, taken December 19th, 2013

 



Announcing....

Yep, we're at it again!  Claudia is going to have a little brother! 

 

Meet "Chance" no, it is not his real name, but it will be what he will be known to everyone until he is legally ours.

 

Due to his country's restrictions, there is very little information that we can share with you until he is legally ours.  So for those inquiring minds, here is what we can share:

 

He is in a country in Eastern Europe, he just turned one in September, this picture was taken in June.  His country requires us to travel there on two separate trips, we will have to leave him there after the first trip and return for him several months later.  It is estimated that the adoption will take anywhere between 15 and 18 months, give or take.  Yes, it will be a long process but at least we have a more realistic time line this time around.

 

Sadly, we will be unable to share any other pictures of videos of "Chance" with you all until he is legally ours.  We cannot wait until the day we can call him our son.

 

Please join us in our journey to adopt him, it is sure to be full of twists and turns as is any adoption!

 

In order to earn some extra money to pay for the adoption, I have become an Origami Owl consultant, my personal page is www.origami4orphans.origamiowl.com.  All purchases made through that link will go directly to me and will go towards bringing Chance home.

 

We have a Family Sponsorship Page set up through Reece's Rainbow if anyone would like to make a tax-deductible donation towards our adoption, the link to that page is: http://reecesrainbow.org/69430/sponsorvanhalle-2

 

I hope you will share our excitement!  Claudia has progressed SO MUCH in the 10 months she has been home, we can't wait to be able to provide stability and love to Chance.

Thanksgiving and beyond

Things have been going pretty good around here lately.  We are really starting to figure out our schedule and routine.  We have been able to go out and do more over the last few weeks and that has been really nice!

 

We got Claudia's school pictures back just before Thanksgiving and were pleasantly surprised. We were not sure how well she would do, but I think she did just fine!

We had a relatively quiet Thanksgiving at my grandmothers house.  Claudia had lots of fun playing on the stairs, up and down...repeat...  She is getting quite strong!  Claudia ate about as much as I did at Thanksgiving dinner, she ate everything on her plate from turkey, potatoes, coleslaw, green bean casserole, ambrosia salad, black olives and stuffing!  Then she shared a yummy pumpkin dessert with me!  She certainly goes through phases where she wants to eat, eat, eat and then other times where she won't eat much at all.  Perhaps we are in for another growth spurt?

 

 

 





The weekend following Thanksgiving we had the pleasure of meeting up with Natalie and Sara Keller at a localish play house with lots of bouncing fun!  The girls loved it!  They had a huge (for Claudia) slide that Claudia quickly learned to climb up (and down) by herself.  She did go down the slide part as well.  She loved watching the other kids going up and down it as well.  Claudia did so good with the other kids, I was so proud of her!  The trouble came when I had to take her away from the slide, even though she was exhausted and laying down on it she was very upset that we were leaving.  After the play place we went to Moe's for dinner.  It was quite good food, Claudia agreed but she was more interested in drinking, the playing made her really thirsty.  It was a great time getting to hang out with friends and getting out of the house.

 

 

On Sunday we started our Christmas decorating.  When we moved into our new house, there was a small Christmas tree left behind, we decided to put up 2 trees and to let Claudia help with the smaller one.  Sorry for the poor picture and video quality...

 



 

 

This is what I get when I ask her to stand by the tree... her back haha!

 

I am so excited for Claudia's first Christmas home!!!



Skills!

Check out Claudia's newly learned moves!

 

 

It's a busy life

I always feel like I should be apologizing for not blogging more.  Sometimes life is just busy and I get caught up in the day to day things.  There has been a lot going on in the last couple of months.

As you probably know, Claudia started school back up in September.  Since then there have been 2 IEP meetings, one to get her a 1:1 and a second to discuss the approval of Assistive Technology.  The 1:1 is great and helps to keep Claudia more focused at school.  She has been using a Dynavox for communication at school, we should be getting trained on how to use it soon and then it will come home with her.  I hope that this will help to make her communication more effective.

In October we moved, only across town but it was a busy and stressful time for all of us.  (the move is a big part of why I have not blogged, I did not have my desktop computer for some time) It was hard on Claudia as well, she did have some regression and behavioral difficulties for a couple of weeks which I think were related to the move.

I have been working nights at my new job which has been great as far as child care goes.  Jason is able to get her on the bus each morning, I sleep while she is in school and then I wake up to get her off of the bus.  It works out pretty well except I am often  very tired still when I get her off of the bus and she just wants to play!  I love playing with her and working with her on new skills but sometimes it is just hard.  Sometimes I want to relax, my body and my mind need it. 

Parenting is hard work, there is no pause button to catch your breath, no rewind to get a do-over.  There are days that I feel like I have failed my daughter, not played with her enough, or when she has gotten upset and I can't figure out what she needs.  Claudia is a strong willed child and tries to be independent and do things on her own.  She wants to do what she wants and does not like it when you try to stop or redirect her (let's face it, no one likes to be told what to do).  She has melt downs, gets angry and takes it out on me.  Yes, it is hard to see her do these things, it is hard on me when she hits, kicks and bites me.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but then I reflect back on everything that has happened, how she has progressed since I first met her.  Claudia has come so far both physically and emotionally.  I am glad she is expressing her emotions, it shows developmental progression.  In many ways she is just a typical child, and that makes me excited for her future. 

Claudia has been laughing and giggling a lot more, and I LOVE her laugh.  She comprehends and can respond appropriately to commands.  Her understanding of English amazes me.  She is using more words (signs) in the proper context consistently.  We have seen so much growth!  Her walking has become much more upright, she looks taller!  I know she has gained weight, Jason and I have both felt it.  She fits into 24month clothes now.  Her bonding and comfort level with us is apparent, she has been super cuddly with us lately, giving Jason and I lots of hugs and kisses!  She wants to be held by us very often now (in fact, I rocked her to sleep tonight).  Lately she has wanted to be carried around a lot more instead of walking, I am OK with that as I know it won't last forever. When we pick her up from places and she sees us, the first thing she does is go get her shoes on because she knows it is time to go home!  She knows we are her parents and she comes to us for comfort.  She is doing so well overall.

It is hard to believe that Claudia has already been home for 9 months, but at the same time, I can't believe that she has not been here all along.  I can't believe that we are about to celebrate our first Thanksgiving and Christmas with her.  I am excited to see how she reacts to Christmas and wish that I could do more with her, right now we have o keep it low key still as she does not do well in large crowds.   Community activities that she is ready to attend are limited.  That just means that she will get new experiences every year!

Here are a few pictures and video of her recently:

 

 

 

Where does the time go?

It is hard to believe that Claudia has been home for over 7 months now.  What a blessing she has been to our family!

Claudia started up her school year in the beginning of the month and has been doing very well.  We continue to see her progressing all of the time.  She has recently been throwing tissues and napkins (and occasionally her dishes in the trash).  She is working hard on potty training, although we still have a long way to go.  Claudia is getting good at putting on and taking off her clothes... and diaper...  Her communication skills continue to improve although she is still not talking. 

I took Claudia to school the other day after an appt. and she walked into her classroom, hung her book bag in her cubby, grabbed the velcro card and took it to her teacher.  her teacher helped her get off her coat and Claudia brought it back to her cubby and hung it up next to her book bag (she needs help actually hanging them, but she tries!)  She is very good with routine and it was awesome to see her do these things. 

Claudia now has a 1:1 with her in the classroom to help keep her focused and from getting too frustrated and taking it out on others.  She seems to be doing very well with this.  She will also be having an assistive technology eval soon, and we will have yet another IEP meeting to discuss this.

We have a very busy week coming up in a few weeks, we will have a meeting with a service coordinator and have our second post-adoption report visit with our social worker.  That just means that our house will be clean for a few days!  We also have our local Buddy Walk coming up in about a week.  I can't wait to go and meet other families of children with DS. 

And now for some pics:

Claudia climbing around at the playground.

It took all summer but she finally does not mid being in grass.  She was actually rolling around on the ground and falling (on purpose) onto the grass, being a goof!  She is still not too sure about walking on it too much since it is uneven ground.

Tackling her Mama down while on vacation in the ADKS.

Boat ride with the family in the ADKS.  She really did not like the life vest, she could barely move in it and if she fell over, could not get up!

Being her cute self!

Long Overdue Updates

I know it has been a long time since I have updated the blog.  Summer has been exciting but very busy!  I am going to do 2 blog posts in 1: Claudia's birthday party and a general 6 month update.  Here you go:


Ok, in my last post, Claudia had just turned 4 years old.  The following weekend we threw her a party.  It turned out wonderful.  So many of our family and friends came out to celebrate and we had beautiful weather.  Claudia did very well and had a great time.  She even opened her own presents.  We were wary about how that would go, but she quickly got the hang of it!

This is the cake that I made for her party.  The inside of this one was also polk-a-dot (like the one I made for her actual birthday).  Sadly I don't have any pictures of the inside (so if anyone has any, please send them to me)



I also made cupcakes!

Feeding her cake :)  Thank you Ben Schoenfelder for capturing some beautiful moments!



Here is my lil Claudia with my cousin Claudia!  So beautiful to see them together :)

Doing her favorite thing!

Happy girl with her Daddy!

Trying to get a family pic with this many people is near impossible!  Claudia decided she would rather steal my dad's hat and put it on me :)



Present time!

Claudia got many great gifts from her family and friends, I don't think we have even taken all of them out of the boxes yet as we are quickly running out of room in our little house!

 

 

 

Can you believe that Claudia has already been home for OVER 6 MONTHS!!!??!!! It is incredible. I am amazed at how far she has come, I know that I say that a lot but it is soo true! 

 

BEFORE:

 

When we first met Claudia, she was a frustrated little girl who was unable to express herself without hurting herself or others. 

 

She very rarely smiled or laughed unless she was eating. 

 

She did not like to be held and most certainly would not cuddle for very long at all. 

 

Claudia could take only a few steps on her own and was very unsteady on her feet.  She did not like to walk very far while holding hands and would tire very quickly. 

 

Claudia was not very interested in many toys at all and it was difficult to keep her occupied.  She threw everything!  She was unable to keep herself occupied and required constant attention.  She tried to eat crayons and when she would try to color, she would dot the page.

 

Developmentally she was somewhere around one year of age.

 

NOW:

 

Now, Claudia is often found smiling and giggling.  She loves to look at herself in the mirror or in pictures and videos.  She usually laughs when she sees herself. 

 

She still loves her food and is slowly getting better at using utensils although she would still rather use her hands. 

 

Claudia will often ask to be picked up by Jason or myself and enjoys it (especially when her Daddy swings her around while holding her).  She still does not often like to be held by others and we are OK with that, it shows us that she has bonded with us!  I can ask Claudia to cuddle with me and she willingly climbs into my lap or lays down next to me. 

 

Claudia is walking!  She can walk and turn around all on her own now.  She is getting more and more stable in the grass everyday.  Claudia is also exploring her independence with walking as well... sometimes when she needs to be holding our hands she does not want to.  Her walking pace is getting faster all the time and she will soon be running.  I think she is now walking more than crawling or bear walking.

 

Claudia has many toys that she plays with now and even does quite a bit of pretend play with her dolls.  She is picking up on games that require skills and for her to think a little more.  Claudia still likes to throw things but not quite as much as she used to.  She has also learned how to use crayons much more appropriately over the last few weeks! 

 

We believe that Claudia is developmentally reaching her "terrible two's" now.  She is starting to throw short tantrums when she does not get what she wants.  She knows what we ask her to do and has a very good understanding of English.  When we ask her to stop doing something, she gives us "the look" haha. 

 

Claudia amazes me every day!  She continues to watch other people and imitate them.  She has a very good memory and will demonstrate things she saw days ago.  We are very encouraged by the progress we have seen in the last 6 months.  I look forward to hearing what her teacher thinks once Claudia goes back to school.  She is a totally different child!

 

 

 



Loving her car rides!

Showing off her walking skills (and running away from Daddy)

My little book worm!

I hope she can read to us soon!

Either kissing her doll or knocking heads with it (she thinks it is hilarious to knock heads with people!  Thankfully she is gentle about it)

And here is my sweet little girl walking!  (Don't mind her belly sticking out... it means she is finally growing out of her 18 month clothes!)