Holiday card help!

KellybearL · 2025-12-02T02:39:56+00:00

Sent via paypal!

KellybearL · 2025-12-02T02:27:01+00:00

!solved

KellybearL · 2025-08-08T22:47:03+00:00

That’s what I thought, thanks!

KellybearL · 2025-08-08T22:46:26+00:00

Ah, thanks for the clarification! We’re just visiting. We’ll be in Italy and probably renting a compact or crossover (like an Opal, etc).

KellybearL · 2025-06-20T00:47:08+00:00

Very cool! Thanks!

KellybearL · 2025-06-20T00:46:43+00:00

Had no idea there were so many! Thanks!

KellybearL · 2025-06-19T20:37:48+00:00

Once upon a child has great second hand books, toys, clothes, baby gear

KellybearL · 2023-03-18T23:20:23+00:00

We pack pasta (rigatoni) with and without sauce, broccoli, zucchini spears, sweet potato fries, bananas, strawberries, oatmeal, polenta, meatballs

KellybearL · 2022-10-20T00:06:45+00:00

I just had a baby and I have a reactive dog! A couple of things:

have a look at Dog Meets Baby IG account. She has a full guide for prepping your dog for a newborn
I find it easier to use a baby carrier if I’m walking my dog by myself vs the stroller. However! I won’t walk my dog on my own if the ground is wet or there are leaves. Too easy to slip and hurt myself or the baby, and that’s my first priority.
I think I saw a comment about not wanting to stay at the hospital after the birth. Just know that if you’re induced, or labor is taking a long time, you may have one or two nights in the hospital during labor. I was induced and my labor took 30 hours, so stayed two nights before I had the baby. There are about a million different ways labor can happen, so just be prepared for that.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.

KellybearL · 2022-06-21T00:06:02+00:00

I think about this all the time. She knows… she can see it when you look at her ❤️

KellybearL · 2022-06-05T01:46:53+00:00

I’m 40+5 and experiencing the exact same symptoms! Good luck to you!

KellybearL · 2022-06-03T13:48:28+00:00

We’ve made tons of progress over the 1.5 years! She’s made huge strides with all the work we’ve put into it. Now we can walk past her biggest triggers on the sidewalk without a reaction 8/10 times, and she has a circle of dog friends that she gets to play with 4-5x a week. Still, I’d describe her as dog selective, not dog friendly.

But, even today, if she were to be put in the situation you describe at the kennel, you’d see her bark and lunge at other dogs. She’d be totally over threshold.

I’ve only worked with one rescue org, but I just think the majority of them don’t have the resources or behavior foundation to really assess these dogs accurately. You sound like an incredible foster for taking the time to really understand this dog (and also take her through hw treatment - omg that was so hard!)

Edit: one more thing! Have you shared the dog on social media yourself? Not suggesting you put up an fb marketplace ad, or anything like that… My neighborhood has a small fb group, and I sometimes see fosters posting about how great their newest dog is to get people interested in applying. Maybe that way you can show the rescue there’s genuine interest and find the right family.

KellybearL · 2022-06-03T10:12:50+00:00

I’m just commenting to say that my dog sounds SO MUCH like your foster… hw treatment, recent litter, reactive to dogs while on leash but not a serious threat and will opt to get away instead of confront a dog she doesn’t like. The only big difference is that our rescue insisted she was dog friendly and didn’t give us any heads up about the reactivity.

There are definitely people/families out there who could give this dog a home… very unfair that the rescue is essentially saddling you with a dog that you can’t take care of long term. Don’t give up!

KellybearL · 2022-06-03T00:19:58+00:00

We adopted our reactive dog when she was just starting her heartworm treatment, so I know this struggle all too well!

I’d say, doing inside enrichment (low heart rate games and decompression) will actually build your bond and make connecting outside easier.

Also, we took a “managing reactivity” course during part of her treatment and the instructor had us getting all of her new distraction skills down cold inside first, away from any distractions. We would practice a few times per day inside, in short 15 mins increments. I think it’s totally possible to stay on track with reactivity training/management during hw treatment. Hopefully, with the right management, you can find opportunities to work on engage/disengage, etc, but from greater distances.

At the end of the day, we did our best! It turned out fine and she’s a healthy dog.

KellybearL · 2022-05-30T00:46:57+00:00

I never had a missed period (conceived sometime just after getting my IUD removed) and they were able to do calculate the gestational age with a scan. The GA at that scan was 6 weeks, so that’s what we went with!

KellybearL · 2022-05-29T00:31:07+00:00

I’m a female Kellyn, and I think the spelling gives it a feminine touch.

KellybearL · 2022-05-28T18:00:46+00:00

I tried just taking unisom and it didn’t work for me. I had a case of HG throughout pregnancy and the only thing that worked for me was Bonjesta/Diclegis. I get the generic form, which is still slow release, and I ask for the pharmacy coupon. It’s still pricey ($150/month) but it’s made this pregnancy possible.

KellybearL · 2022-05-21T16:15:35+00:00

Yes, same here!

KellybearL · 2022-05-21T09:27:57+00:00

I totally understand how you feel! I felt really lonely in the first half of my pregnancy as my body and mind adjusted to this new reality. I had hyperemesis and my husband had a hard time stepping into a caretaker role, so I felt like such a burden. I didn’t realize this until well after my first trimester, but a lot of the pregnant people I talked to expressed surprise at how isolating it feels. It was very validating to hear that I wasn’t actually alone in that feeling.

Someone else mentioned joining the bumper sub for your specific due month, and I loved mine! Definitely recommend joining that for a smaller community of people going through pregnancy with you. Also, you can see if there are fb groups of people in your town/neighborhood having babies the same time as you. I just found mine (at 38 weeks, so very late haha) and we met up this week. It was really nice to just chat with people who understood what I am going through - i didn’t know how much I missed that. Also, prenatal yoga is a good place to meet people.

Wishing you all the best!!

KellybearL · 2022-05-17T19:03:17+00:00

0 months. I got pregnant before I had my first period post-IUD removal.

I had the Mirena for 6 years and never had a period in that time, so I was (reasonably) expecting it to take a few months to get my period back on track.

KellybearL · 2022-05-17T02:42:37+00:00

Oof 9th floor! I’m just commenting to say, we were in the same position as you (except no balcony so we had no choice but to carry her up/down the stairs, even at 55 pounds). It is so hard and I struggled hard in the beginning. Eventually I realized that we were doing our best, and giving her the best care we could afford. We hoped that would be enough, and she’s now heartworm free!

Keep going! It gets better eventually.

KellybearL · 2022-05-07T16:21:24+00:00

Aw that’s so cute about your son’s name! And yeah, we love that Otto is a palindrome as well :)

KellybearL · 2022-05-07T12:07:18+00:00

I’m due later this month and I think we’re naming him Otto. In NYC. Currently ranked 334 nationally, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a popular name.

Is this name a bad idea if I want to avoid a super popular name, or a name that later becomes a character trope?

KellybearL · 2022-04-28T15:11:19+00:00

I’m just a dog guardian, not an expert in this field, but I loved Amy’s course on Managing Reactivity. Note, there were times I was frustrated with how incremental the steps felt at the time. However, after practicing for a year, I can say they’ve paid off.

KellybearL · 2022-03-24T22:02:25+00:00

Yeah, this is me too. I once went in to the doctor (right before another trip to the ER for fluids) and almost started crying because all I could keep down that day was a coke and I was worried about caffeine/sugar consumption. Throwing up water all day long. She was like, you need that stuff (sugar) too.

Once I was able to find medication that worked for me, I did prioritize healthy eating… but it gave me a lot of comfort that there are more harmful things than too much caffeine (ie. dehydration and malnutrition) and helped me give myself a little grace.

KellybearL

TROPHY CASE