Well, this was the best I could do. Poor little Daisy is so humiliated wearing the E-collar that I tried dressing it up for her with some of my scrapbook supplies. It actually looks cuter in person than on this picture, but you get the idea!! Today is Saturday, and Monday morning she gets her sutures out and what's left of her bandages off. Bless her heart!! She's trying SO hard to be cheerful through all of this!!

Poor Daisy!! Despite my long and winded lectures, she didn't listen. She got it in her head that she didn't want the bandages on anymore and she took it upon herself to take them off. This afternoon, I thought it was so cute that she was hiding in Adam's crate. The other dogs went outside and she has been feeling so well lately that I thought she'd like to join them for the first time so I called her to come out of the crate and join them out there. I called and called. She didn't come (unusual for her). I looked in her bed and her eyes were HUGE (doesn't take much for that, but you know...). She had this look about her that made me wonder...

I coaxed her out of the crate and she hobbled out (and she hasn't been hobbling much anymore). And there she stood, with 1/2 of her bandage around her ankle, hanging onto the other half on the top by a piece of tape. She looked SO GUILTY. That's what she was doing in there when I thought she was being so sweet and cute!! UGH!

I found some sharp scissors and carefully cut away the lower part of her bandage (which really was just tape, not really a bandage. There was some non-stick stuff over her stitches, but mostly very sticky tape on her shaved skin.). It was so red and irritated from being licked to death and puuuuuulling off of her skin! Poor baby!! The incision was intact, but red and wet from her licking.

She gave me no choice. I went to Petco (it's where the pets go) and bought an Elizabethan collar for her. She is NOT happy with me.

She is hobbling still, and seems very weak in that leg. I'm assuming that the tape was on there so tight that it formed a sort of brace for her and she used it for support instead of her muscle; as a result, I think her muscles atrophied a bit and that's why she's hobbling. I can only imagine what it'll be like when she gets the other bandage off...! Poor baby!!

So here she is, in all of her glory: you can see what's left of her bandage/tape, her incision, and of course, the look on her face...

I love pelicans!! When we were out at the marina there were multiple penguins hanging about (there was a seafood restaurant there at the dock). They just crack me up; sometimes I like to just go to the river and simply watch them dive for fish. They are so comical! Anyway, while Reese and I were waiting to board the boat to parasail, I got some pictures. I'd like to make a postcard or something out of the first one!

One week after Nikolai and I went up, Reese and I went up! And THIS time, the guy's camera worked!! LOL We had a blast, and though initially Reese said parasailing wasn't his "thing", he admitted that he enjoyed it a lot! The day was beautiful (the blue sky doesn't project at all in this picture, unfortunately)!! It was around 73 degrees, soft clouds in the sky, and no humidity at all. PERFECT!! I love having kids that are fun to play with. :o)

Here we are, WAY up in the sky!! We had an 800 ft. line. You can see Cape Canaveral in the background. The Space Shuttle is on the launchpad off to the right prepping for Wednesday's launch - too far to see in this picture, though. We saw multiple dolphins swimming around our boat, and Reese saw a stingray!! No fair - I missed it!! Maybe next time... ;op



We were coming in for a landing when this photo and the next were taken. Reese is as cute as ever. ;o) (He did complain, though: "I look so young in this picture!" He's trying so hard to grow up!)

For my mother's benefit I added this one in here. I'm mostly hidden, so I don't mind. lol I had a good time, of course! I always love doing fun things, especially with my kids. I'm so glad they are good sports! :o)

Here is our little baby girl. She had her surgery today and it went well. The doctor said that there is a 98 - 99% chance that she will be just fine and that in a month or two she can resume her normal activity (a month or two?? Knowing Daisy, in a day or two she'll be bouncing off the walls with glee!). But for now she is resting comfortably in her little bed, all bandaged up. Poor little thing!! She looked SOOOO sad on the drive home. I almost couldn't look at her. You can't really see the bandages very well in this picture, but both knees are bandaged pretty thoroughly. Should be fun keeping them on and her stitches clean for 10 days...! Ack!! Thanks for the prayers and all of the concern! The support for us with her has been amazing. She is quite a dog, and very, very loved.



Mark is still out of town (wahh!!) but he sent me these flowers to tell me how much he missed me and loved me. Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever heard??? I love him so much!!


Here was Daisy last night, feeling miserable. Not sure if she's more miserable now, or then, though!! Poor little thing! I know she misses her daddy.

Poor little Daisy. This morning, after a calm quiet night, I found her standing beside her little bed on the floor holding her leg up again. She was okay last night, and even trotted around the yard, acting so much happier! She even tried jumping up on our VERY high bed, but I was able to stop her. So this morning I was so surprised to see that her hip was out of joint again...!!

I took her to the vet at 8am, and he said her hip was fine - the joint was deep and it was okay - but her KNEE was dislocated again!! He said that her knee will continue to do this until we had it fixed, and the other knee is bad too, and will eventually need to be fixed; he suggested we have both knees done at the same time to prevent problems with the "good" knee down the road, to give her only one surgery procedure, reduce expenses, etc. So on Friday, payday, she will have both knees repaired. Poor baby!!

The surgery will cost almost as much as our mortgage payment, so please pray that we will be able to flex enough to pay the mortgage without being TOO late! This check was supposed to cover that expense. Ugh. And we still wait for the final big check from the insurance company. Oy!! When it rains, it pours!

So just to keep you updated. Thanks for the support!!

Missy

POOR LITTLE DAISY!!! Today was not her favorite day. Yesterday afternoon, she and Ellie were playing and I heard a small "bang!" and she cried out a little. The game stopped and I saw that she was holding up one of her hind legs. Poor baby! I threw some sympathy her way and continued on with my doings. A few minutes later I looked at her and saw that she was still holding her leg in the air and she looked very miserable. I picked her up and she cried a little bit (she never makes much noise at ALL) and I placed her in one of the crates so she could calm down and rest in peace (not necessarily quiet, though). She likes it in the big dogs' crates - I think she thinks she's "big" when she's in there.

Anyway, after awhile I took her outside, and she still would NOT put that leg down! Nor would she go potty. She just stood there outside looking up at me with this SAD SAD face! She wasn't crying or anything, just standing there very awkwardly, refusing to put her foot on the ground.

I'd inspected her leg pretty thoroughly and honestly couldn't find anything wrong! I thought she'd pulled a muscle or something.

Well, the next morning she was still at it. No walking, sad faces, no potty. I cleared my schedule for the early afternoon and made a vet appt. I was convinced *something* was wrong with my little girl!!

The vet quickly diagnosed her with a dislocated hip!! ACK!! I thought maybe she broke a toe or something, but nope!! Poor baby!!!! Mean mama made her wait almost 24 hours with a dislocated hip! He said that the "bang!" I heard was probably the joint coming out! He said she needed to be sedated completely so that he could pop it back in place. Total cost for the whole visit (including updating her shots, etc)?? Around $800!!!!!! Oh, my head was swimming!!! I didn't know if I felt more sorry for Daisy or for ME!! I reluctantly called her doting Daddy (who is traveling out of state) and told him. Much to my not-surprise, he was more worried about Daisy than the money. :o) Such a sweetheart.

So I left her and came home to wait out the few hours before I could take her home. I called the vet and he said, "Good news! As I was getting ready to X-Ray her, her hip popped back into place on its own! You can come and get her!" He did say that both of her knees were bad, though, and the blow not only popped out her hip, but threw out her knee!! He said it's rather unusual for Boston Terriers to have bad hips and knees, but she does. Genetics. Ugh. He said that her knees might be fine, but if not, he c0uld fix them surgically for around $900. Cough!!

But for now, she is okay. She is resting in one of her favorite places: Adam's crate (she loves Adam!). We are supposed to keep her from playing rough, jumping, and being wild. Yeah, RIGHT!!! Keep THIS bullet quiet?!? How are we going to do THAT?! We may have to sedate her for a month. UGH. Poor baby! Daisy is so hyper and happy and full of life! To have to keep her quiet for a month is going to be VERY hard. And keep her from jumping? She loves to daredevil herself wherever possible, FLYING off of beds and furniture, simply for the joy of being airborne!

Pray for all of us, that she recovers without re-dislocating her hip and that her knees heal, would you please? She's the most darling dog alive and only one year old. To have issues like this at her age is really sad. Thanks!

Let's try it again!! Today I sent off a MONEY ORDER to the USCIS along with two other documents I didn't know they needed (a copy of the social worker's license and the agency's license), plus I sent all of the documents that we needed for our homestudy to the homestudy agency!

If each place has everything they need, then we're doing GREAT!! Pray that we didn't forget anything this time! :o)

This was what Nik and I did yesterday. This is not us, because as you can read below, the photographer's camera broke during our flight!! HOPEFULLY next weekend there will be a real picture of us!!!

(If I hadn't've already told you about the broken camera, I COULD have used this picture and said, "Look at us!!" because you wouldn't be able to tell, anyway! But hindsight being what it is... LOL I wouldn't do that, anyway. ;op )