Puppies....to love or not to love.

Ty hasn't been impressed enough to actually hold one of the puppies until today. And today, he was all over them. They like his bare toes and consider them snack-worthy. As of now, Ty can easily get away but we are all too close to a stage they will over power him if given half a chance.

Greg and I were both up in the night with Brutus who contracted Kennel Cough at his annual appointment two weeks ago. It was a miserable night as he vomited all over my house. At one point I was cleaning TWELVE spots after Brutus when I noticed an all too familiar odor coming from the crate. Woody pooped and then climbed over Mia. Not only did the crate need disinfected, but Mia needed a bath. IT WAS 4 AM!
No worries.....I was the only one bothered by the mess.

After a rough night, we enjoyed some fresh air, "mountain climbing" and dinosaur hunting today. Mia should have been named Killer.

And of course, a few of us were able to nap this afternoon because keeping me awake half the night is hard work.

God's in the Details.....

Friday night around 9:30 I got a frantic call from Robyn who was in Memphis, Tennessee. She asked me to go to Kosair Children's Hospital to support Brian, who was on his way there with Colby. He'd had a seizure. Greg and Lauren were at the Purity Ball and Erin was sent home from school sick that day, so she was at home with my little ones who were in bed. On a typical Friday night, jumping into the van to support a friend would have required me locating someone to watch my younger kids as Greg would be at work and the teens would be out with friends. I arrived at Kosair within 20 minutes of the call, almost immediately after Colby. He was still seizing. His little body was surrounded by a team of experts who were doing all they could to pull him out of it. Brian was calm and on the phone with Robyn, who was literally out of her mind with worry. A friend was driving her seven hours to the hospital. Colby's seizure lasted an hour. It was the most horrendous thing I have ever witnessed. I have never felt so helpless and spent the half hour I watched them work on Colby pleading with God to stop this thing. Once he came out of it, Robyn shared her belief he was reacting to his MMR vaccine from the Friday prior. Robyn is an infectious disease pediatrician and vaccines are an area of expertise for her. The ER doctors think a virus and the sudden onset of a fever caused it. Colby spent two nights at Kosair, had multiple tests run and has been discharged with no expectation that this will ever happen again. Thank God.
Once the seizure ended and we were finally able to hold him, Brian and I started talking about all the ways God was clearly in control. It could have been much worse. Colby's seizure started at a high school basketball game. Brian is a Campus Life minister for that school and wanted to support his teens by attending the game, even though it would have Colby up past bedtime. During the third period of the game, an ambulance was called to aid in an elderly person's medical issue. Two ambulances arrived for that call. One stayed. Brian was able to run to the EMT personnel as soon as the seizure started. As result, Colby was immediately given oxygen, preventing any brain damage.  We also realized that had Robyn been in town, Colby would have been in his bed when this occurred. No one would have realized he needed help. God is in the details. We would never want Colby to go through this but God can use it to reveal He has this precious boy in His hands. He is in control.

1 week ago

Last Friday we picked up these little cuties. They've grown quite a bit. Woody is eating moistened puppy chow. Mia is still being bottle fed even though she's expressed a little interest in the food. Both growl and wrestle. Woody also howls and it is adorable, especially when he's copying Lauren who likes to egg him on. Mia still has an issue with the fridge and has added the dishwasher to appliances she thinks she can beat. She is feisty and smart. Woody struts around like a little body builder with a wide stance.  Ty calls Mia his princess. It's very sweet. Kate's teacher has expressed interest in adopting Mia. I passed along Tracye's contact information. The girls are pretty upset with me as they see no reason why we can't adopt the puppies. Three full size dogs in this house with five kids? I don't think so. 

Lauren and Greg are attending the Purity Ball at church tonight. The annual event is always special and they anticipate a good time.

Greg is taking the girls to a defensive driving course tomorrow morning. It is an all day event they are not looking forward to as "it will do nothing to help us get our permits". Oh but it will, because we aren't signing for permits until they take this course. The parents aren't very popular around here this weekend.

I live in a zoo!

Things with Woody concerned me enough that I invited the lady we are fostering the pups for over to evaluate them. Tracye is wonderful. She was on her way home with the puppies' mom from another surgery so we got to meet Miracle as well. When Tracye walked in, smelling like momma, the puppies went crazy. Their reaction literally brought tears to my and Lauren's eyes. They miss their momma. It just isn't fair. They perked up, ate and she reassured me that whereas Woody isn't doing as well as Mia, he is fine. She is just a little more advanced. She is a smart girl and oh so sweet too. Since that visit, both are eating better, getting teeth so solid food is on the horizon and are following us around. They are not seeing clearly but can see shadows. Mia keeps growling at the fridge. I don't know what she thinks she is going to do with it but she believes she can take it on every time she is in the kitchen! Greg came home from work this morning to find Woody under our entertainment center. Clearly the laundry basket is not going to work for safety reasons any longer. I put a request on Facebook to borrow a crate and was immediately offered two. I borrowed one and after the boys had a blast playing in it all afternoon, considered taking the second! Just kidding. That would be wrong. Smart. But wrong.

I was getting a shot of all the kids piled onto the couch and realized who was watching over puppies in the background.

It was beautiful outside yesterday and Ty was FINALLY fever free so we went out to play a bit. He had both Roseola and the herpes simplex virus. He has since developed a cough and sore throat. It's been a rough week with very little sleep but he's on the mend!

The puppies are busier and have such cute personalities. Woody did the famous "boxer swat" at Makenna's hand when she was playing with him last night. He was growling and chasing her hand on the carpet. They both love to snuggle with Brutus and he is rather nurturing which Tracye says is unusual for a male. He bathes them! Erin says he's after their leftover milk because his diet is killing him. It is good for the puppies and cuddle time with Brutus leads to better feedings.

Off topic but very exciting....our bridge opened this weekend and it was a big deal. After six months of total chaos the bridge opened with a police escort and parties on both sides. We are looking forward to venturing into Louisville again soon. You know, once the puppies don't need fed every two hours, the boys are fed and napped, the kids have a day off.....never-mind.

I ask his parents if they are concerned when he looks this filthy at the end of the day. I hope everyone knows it means he had fun! And the shiner, I can happily report that one didn't happen on my watch. Thank God. I don't ever want to make that call! You feel badly enough when it happens to your own child, but someone else's? No thanks.

Tidbits

Our little guy, Woody is not doing as well as we'd like. He is fighting feedings and lethargic. We've added pedialite to his regimen in hopes of turning his health around. Miss Mia, on the other hand, is a feisty little thing. She growls, bulldozes her brother around and finds feedings very worthwhile. She potties on her own and quickly once we set her on the linoleum floor. I wish it was warm enough to take her outside as I think she'd easily train.

Mia

Woody hiding under the cabinets

Woody...isn't that the sweetest face?

Wrestling. They push each other around and around until they finally relax and nap together.

Without provocation the other day, Kate asked me how old my friend Anne was. I answered that I wasn't sure. She then had the nerve to say, "because she looks WAY younger than you"! Nice. I still feed her and will continue being friends with Anne.

The girl scout cookies arrived today. My anti-inflammation diet departed.

Relaxed

Our little guests are rather sweet. I love how they invite me to sit and snuggle throughout the day. Brutus is going to lose weight fretting over them but he can afford it, according to his annual checkup last week. If a little puppy was not on my lap today, a little boy was. Ty is on the mend but still has periods of extreme crankiness. The medicine is clearly gaining the upper hand as most of his blisters are crusted over.

Lauren spent the night lying on the living room floor next to the laundry basket we are using for a puppy bed. She was amazing about setting her alarm for every other hour to wake up and feed them. Brutus slept with them as well. By late morning Lauren declared that she will never have a baby if this is expected. I love it. I did assure her that she was worth it. She assures me that only puppies are worth it. I love the life plans of 15 year old girls!
Greg got to call 911 today. The field behind our house caught fire. The firetrucks arrived at our house rather than the field so we all got up close and personal views of the action. Ty was as impressed as Greg.

Ruff Week

It's been a long week around here. I had a head cold while treating and array of symptoms among most of my children. None of it was serious, just draining. I had originally posted about Greg's rough week on Valentine's Day but quickly discovered those details could not be made public as they are part of an on-going investigation. He dealt with the sudden death of an employee. It hit him hard. We celebrated Valentines with a nice dinner as a family to remind ourselves about what really matters in life. Well, the food and decorations were nice. Our younger two children were less than pleasant to the point that we had to laugh at our attempt. We will try again without high expectations. Food wasn't thrown so I think we could start with that standard and work our way into table manners.
Ty has been running 103 and 104 temperatures since Wednesday morning. He woke up this morning looking like this.....

The virus that causes his cold sores hit him hard this time. This is a very similar outbreak to the one he had in February 2010 that was initially diagnosed as impetigo. He is back on acyclovir in hopes of getting this reigned in. He is miserable. The blisters are painful and the fever remains. He is breaking my heart.

We found out last night a lady in our area rescued a severely malnourished boxer who had just given birth to seven puppies. Miracle was chosen for her name as she has already come a long way in her recovery; however, her needs are constant and her babies all need around the clock bottle feedings because they can't feed off their infected mother. Lauren has always had a heart for suffering animals and I thought this would be a great way for her to contribute. We are fostering two of the 17 day old babies. She has named them Mia and Woody. I suggested Foster and Temporary but was quickly out-voted. They are rather adorable; much more than that nasty bird she nursed back to health two years ago!

Brutus is quite protective and they love being close to him. They need to be bottle fed every two hours. The surprise for me was learning that they have to be stimulated to use the restroom. (Not pretty but necessary) However, Mia had a surprise of her own for us this evening as she pooped and peed on my carpet. Sigh.

Fun finder/ Stud finder

Ty objected to his nap today....in fact, he's been skipping those a day or two a week lately. He needs the nap. I need him to take the nap. Within a few minutes of putting him down for today's, I heard him yell from his room, "Hey Mom, I think Ty's awake"! 

Kate and Mabry made tu-tus at Mabry's house this week. Kate wore hers to her parent/teacher conferences and out to run errands yesterday. Today was dress up day at our house. She loves having a friend out our back door. They check in with each other every day and are always asking to eat dinner with one another.

Kate and I attended a Mother Daughter Pottery Night at church last week with a friend she's made at school who also attends our church. She loved it and is thrilled with her flower figurine. I attempted a free hand daisy on a trivet. Popular opinion is that I made a fried egg trivet. Oh well, maybe I'll make a bacon one next year?

Not all my creative attempts fail......I have been harassing Greg to help me complete this little vision for several months now. That old door needed some work and we are still watching for an antique knob to finish it, but I love the results.

Greg came into the kitchen with all of the tools necessary for hanging a solid wood door onto drywall and mentioned that "it's a good thing (he) turned this thing off" while referencing his stud finder. I love this man.