Big day for Ernie

Yesterday was a rough day in the Hart household. Since Sunday, I have been feeling really crappy with a sore throat, running nose and earache. It may seem silly but I absolutely hate taking medicine. People pop advil like vitamins these days and I have massive fears about it eating away at the lining of my stomach (maybe I read too much on the internet). I figure my body can naturally fight off the sickness if I fuel it correctly so I  have been downing water, trying to get as much sleep as possible and popping these two vitamins:

Zinc and Echinacea are both 100% natural and help build your immune system. Jon grew up without health insurance and swears by this remedy. Note: Do NOT take on an empty stomach! The first time I took these, I took them right when I woke up and they came back up within minutes, they are potent!

I didn't sleep well Monday night and woke up feeling like a zombie and trudged off to work. Jon had to drive up to Dallas for an afternoon meeting which meant Mr. Ernie had to be in his crate all day :-(. I came home at lunch and the little guy was thrilled to romp in the backyard with me. He ate some lunch, we played some more and all the sudden he started throwing up. I cleaned it up and held little man until he wanted to play some more....and then....he started violently throwing up 3 more times. Now Ernie is my first dog so I treat him like a son, my little baby, so I start tearing up watching him convulse and hack up his food and white goopy stuff...poor little bug! I took a longer lunch, sending emails from my iPhone, so I could spend more time with him but sadly put him in his crate when I had to go back. He is a typical puppy who puts anything and everything into his mouth so after some research, we attribute the upset tummy to the fact that he will eat ANYTHING in our backyard (and that he will eat really fast then run around and play). I raced home at 5p to find my bubbly little pup happy to see me. My mom used to give our family dog white rice when she had an upset stomach (to which she would turn her nose up to) but Ernie LOVED it! I made instant "boil in a bag" white rice and drizzled it with chicken broth and he gobbled it right up! This morning I tried to give him a few pieces of his regular food and he was sniffing around for the rice!

It seems like something crazy always happens when Jon is out of town. Ernie got into some paint a few weeks ago when Jon was away, you can read about the minor emergency here. Luckily Jon was only gone for the day and was surprising me with dinner. If he goes to get dinner,  it is 99.9% of the time Rudy's BBQ but when he wouldn't tell me, I knew exactly what it was. My suit and tie wearing husband walked in with a huge bag of this....

Unfortunately, we don't live anywhere near a Cracker Barrell so we try to go there anytime we see one (and there are probably 5 on I-35 from Dallas to Austin). Our spread included: chicken and dumplings, catfish with french fries and hush puppies, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet carrots, mac and cheese, beans, and cornbread....let's just say we totally stuffed our faces.

Ernie didn't throw up any more the rest of the day and seemed perfectly normal. Since it's been a little colder the past few days, he's been so cuddly which I love! Before we got him, I bought a few little outfits for him and did a little fashion show last night. Jon's birthday is coming up (and it is a dress up party of course) so here is Ernie's little costume....

He was such a good boy with his pirate costume on! He just stood there awkwardly which made for great pictures. I can't wait to get him a Halloween costume!

Jon is working from home today with Ernie so I am crossing my fingers he doesn't yak today! Oh and last night we got 9+ hours of sleep and I am feeling a good bit better!