Counting On

For those of you that know me or follow me on social media, you probably know that there have been two major dates that I've been counting down to and counting up from. Well, I'm here to tell you that the countDOWN is officially over! As of last Saturday, January 13th at about 1:30pm, I am now officially MRS. Courtney Williams. That's right! Zido and I walked down the aisle to the man of our dreams and walked back with a husband (and a dad!)

Our pictures should be ready in a few weeks, but until then, we received a few sneak peeks from the big day. Our photographer, Taylor Rose Photography, was an absolute and total Godsend. From the very first time we met her, we knew she was the perfect woman to capture our big day and some of the major days leading up to it with an engagement session AND a bridal session. Seriously, if you're getting married, check her out. She. Is. Amazing.

Now the thing to remember as an engaged couple is that no wedding is perfect. Ours had a song malfunction which made me walk down the aisle to silence, we had a unity cross that just did NOT want to get built, we had another song malfunction that made us not too sure when to leave the chapel, AND I got an alert that night which caused the reception to end about 30 minutes early! BUT, because of the imperfection, we had an absolutely perfect day that we shared with our friends and family. It was the ultimate day of displaying the love God has given us and celebrating the amazing journey we're now on.

Huge shoutout to Hitchcock Creative for the perfect invitations and programs!

Flats...because I can trip barefooted....

I cannot thank our friend, Danielle, and her service dog, Rollo, enough for creating the absolute most perfect bow tie and cufflinks for my main dog

Yeah...my husband's fun to look at... :)

The other major date that I've been counting UP from has been October 25, 2014 which was the day of my last episode. While our wedding was absolutely perfect and everything we could have dreamed of, it didn't come without some hardships. Only my parents, siblings, and Zack know about this, but I want to be sure that my followers can truly see what life with a service dog and a medical condition is like. At about 3pm on January 12th, my count-up restarted.

Weddings and wedding planning are by far one of the most stressful events someone can go through. Even though we had a year to plan and an incredibly supportive set of parents and friends who helped us every step of the way, there were still some stressers that just could not be avoided. Now, unfortunately, one of the only things we know for sure about my condition is that it's stress-induced. As I mentioned a while ago, happy stress, bad stress, and shock lead my body to overcompensate by just shutting down. The day before the wedding, there was a perfect storm of, to be quite honest, totally normal stresses that would make the average person just lay down for a bit and keep going. The other thing to note is that my way of handling the random disappointments or stresses of life is often times through crying. I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm confused and frustrated, I cry when Zido does something that's so cute I just can't handle it. Well, at this particular moment, I had already been upset at two events and was close to tears. When the third event happened very shortly after, it all turned. I was sitting on a bed with Zido and my sister and the buildup of everything quickly led me to hyperventilating. No, Zido didn't alert before this, but there was honestly nothing to really alert to. My body went from upset to catastrophic in a matter of seconds, but as soon as that shift happened, Zido was on it.

I was trying to catch a breath, but at the beginning of an episode my muscles start to stiffen. Your diaphragm is a muscle, so breathing becomes incredibly difficult. At this point, Zido had gotten in front of me, jumped up to his back legs and landed his front legs on my shoulders to force me to lay down before he began licking my face. For some reason, my hands, arms, feet, and legs become catatonic-like and are unable to be easily moved, but are incredibly painful. As my sister and parents began massaging each of the body parts, Zido went from laying on my abdomen, creating a kind of heated pressure blanket, to licking my face, to laying his head on the leg that was hurting the most. At one point, my family saw that both arms, both hands, and one leg were relaxed, however Zido would not get off of my right leg when they tried to call him. My parents looked and saw that he was laying on my ankle, which was still stiff and incredibly painful. Once they were able to get it to relax, Zido finally moved and came up to lay by me.

I was able to rest for a little bit, but still had to get to the church for our rehearsal. It was an incredibly disheartening moment for me because it was a smack in the face that this condition isn't going anywhere. It may have been 1,175 days since my last episode, but it's still there lurking. I've never wanted to be someone that looks for pity or who flaunts having a medical condition, but the reality is that this thing is sticking around.

HOWEVER,

the blessing of knowing that there is an army of support behind me and the most amazing service dog beside me gives me the hope of knowing that it's going to be okay. I may be back down to day 9 of being episode free, but hey, that's 9 days of health and freedom!

I want to thank everyone for all of the amazing love and support as I've stepped into this new role as a "wife" (seriously, what?) and I'm really looking forward to all of the adventures and stories that are to come. As always, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or topic suggestions!

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me

These Are a Few of Our Favorite (and Not so Favorite) Things

Hello everyone and Happy 2018!

Recently (as in last night) a friend asked if I was thinking of keeping up with this blog. I told her that I really wanted to, but that it had just been so long since my last post that I wasn't sure if it was even worth it. She told me that time between posts doesn't matter; what matters is to just do it! So, Erin, thank you because we're back and ready for a new year!

The topic I'd like to get at today is a fun but crucial one from my partnership with Zido: safe toys and not-so-safe toys. I never really thought about dog toys until I was in training with Zee and they taught us about what our dogs can and can't have. I worked it into our daily lives, but found that when I would mention them to friends and family, they were shocked! Almost every time I bring up a toy that I try to keep away from Zido, someone says "I never thought of that!" Some of the toys I mention may come as a surprise, but together let's keep your dogs safe, happy, and healthy.

**Fine print: I'm not a toy or dog expert. I'm a Zido expert, and you are the expert of your dog. Take the advice you want but please talk to your vet or dog professional before making ANY toy, food, or treat changes. They'll help you with the process of finding what works for your furball**

**Larger fine print: No matter what toy your dog is playing with, they should ALWAYS be supervised. I know how tempting it is to want to just give them a bone so they'll stay out of your way, and I'm not saying you have to stare at them the entire time they're gnawing away. Just keep them in the same room as you so you can hear or see if anything starts to go awry.**

The Naughty List

1. Rope Toys

The first toys that I keep far far away from Zido are any toys that have rope, but it stinks because they tend to be the cheapest and can be found anywhere. They're awesome for tugging and gripping, but as you may expect, they start to shred. Those tiny fibers can either get caught in their teeth and harm their gums, or get swallowed and wrap around intestines. When someone gives us a toy that has rope elements to it, there's no reason the whole toy should go to waste. I'll just snip off the rope before giving it to him.

If you know me, you know how hard it was to say no to this sloth toy...but the rope around its body would have been impossible to remove and too dangerous for him to play with

2. Chewing on Tennis Balls

Zido LOVES tennis balls. He loves catching them, squeaking them, throwing them for himself (weird but adorable...) and don't even get me started on if we throw more than one for him. So, overall, tennis balls are a great and cheap option for these guys, but I take it away once he starts chewing on it. I had no idea about this until we were in our Team Training class, but tennis balls have similar fibers to rope toys. While the fibers don't necessarily wrap around their intestines, they do hurt their gums. Think about it - the hair on a tennis ball is essentially a ton of tiny little pieces of floss. When a dog sits and chews and chews and chews, those tiny floss bits start to eat away at the lining of their gums, leading to potential dental issues. Basically, while ropes are an immediate no-go, tennis balls are more of a supervised toy that should be removed once the dog is no longer just catching or squeaking it.

3. Rawhide Bones

Rawhide bones are another one of those toys that are incredibly cheap and available EVERYWHERE. They seem like a great option for a fun little treat for your dog, but unfortunately they are ones that we stay away from completely. The problem with a rawhide is because they aren't necessarily the highest quality, they can become mushy very quickly once the dogs start chewing. When they become mushy, they then become incredibly pliable, giving the dogs the ability to mold them into sharp edges or accidentally swallow whole pieces. The upcoming "Nice List" will give some of our favorite alternatives, but anytime your dog is gnashing away on a good bone, you'll want to keep an eye on their productivity. Once sharp edges show up and especially if you hear a piece crack off, go take a look at it and decide if you think play time is over for the time being.

The Nice List

While it may seem like I've just eliminated the most popular dog toys from our shopping cart, there are still plenty of other amazing toys out there that I know our little guys will love! Here are a few of Zido's favorite:

1. Tuffy Dog Toys

These toys can stand up against Zido The Ultimate Chewing Champion. They're strong, fun, and easy for either you or other dogs to hold onto. We like to get these as a replacement for traditional rope toys because they're tough (hence the name), they're easy to find, and they don't shred. Two of Zido's favorites are the shark and the lobster. Zido rating: 2 dewclaws up

2.. JW Dog Toys

These fun squeaky toys are a great alternative to tennis balls! They still bounce, they squeak, and they're smooth so no floss fear! This brand has a ton of different styles of toys and so far all of them have been a major success with the Zeester.

3. Antlers

Instead of rawhide bones, antlers are a super fun (albeit slightly expensive) chew toy for your dog. They're super tough and the marrow in the middle tastes delicious. If you know any hunters, you can always ask them to bring home any antlers they may find on the land. Some toy companies, like Nylabone, also have synthetic antlers that have all of the flavor and durability of a real antler, but with a slightly cheaper price tag.

I'm excited to be back up here and to start off the biggest year of my life (my wedding is in 7 days!!!) Feel free to leave a comment with any other topics you'd be interested in and thank you all for sticking with us!

Love and Blessings,

Zee and Me