Surgery

Stella was about to be 6 months old and it was time to get her spayed as per our adoption contract. So I took her in early one morning (November 8) and she was to stay most of the day. They were going to do the surgery and check her eye which is weepy sometimes. We got the call to come and pick her up around 6pm. According to the vet, she had more bleeding than normal and the incision was longer than usual. She was fine but just so we knew. When they brought her out to me she had a e-collar on and was SO groggy. She laid down in the lobby and didn't want to move.

At home I brought her in and tried to get her to eat since she had to be fasting for the surgery. She just lay there. I had to go to scouts and when I came back hours later she still hadn't moved.

We eventually got her in her crate for bed that night.

In the morning, when the meds all wore off, she was as hyper as ever (and super annoyed at that collar). But she was supposed to be kept quiet and calm so no walks or exercise for 2 weeks. Easier said than done with energizer bunny puppy here. By the end of day 2 she was running up and down the stairs. Sigh.

The kids often took pity on her as she tried to get comfortable wearing that collar. 

She didn't seem too bothered by it after a while but kept forgetting about it as she tried to squeeze into small areas. It was hard for her to enter her crate. We ended up buying a bigger one (she was outgrowing it anyway.

She developed a seroma (fluid filled swelling beneath the incision site) and that was likely due to the activity she had every day. We just couldn't keep her calm unless she was crated all day, which hardly seems fair. I had to take her back to the vet and they gave instructions in what to do (more restrictions and longer crate time) what meds to take. When she was finally given the okay to go on walks and play vigorously again it had been three weeks. She had developed a few bad habits due to boredom. We are hoping more exercise and mental stimulation will help correct some of those. We will need to beef up training too since we slacked during recovery.

She had beaten up the e-collar so badly that I had to tape it a few times. When we were done with it I let her rip it to shreds.

Now, weeks later, the stitches are absorbed, no swelling and her belly fur is growing back where they shaved it. She's a cute, energetic dog but adolescence is proving challenging. Raising a puppy is no joke.

O Christmas Tree

   

We set up our tree after Thanksgiving. I always love the glow it gives the front room.

It also meant that we began our Life of Christ Christmas devotionals at night. The church had a campaign this year centered around service for the month of December called Light the World. They had videos to watch and service "challenges" every day. Here are Brendan and Jason watching church videos on a Sunday evening.

This campaign inspired Brendan to be more helpful and kind. He said it made him feel good. Here he is filling up everyone's water bottles without being asked and bringing the bottles to the family.

The girls dressed up Buddy too. He was not so excited as the rest of us.

Family pictures

 Last week I got an email from the photographer I contacted about taking our family pictures months ago. She had emailed me back telling me that she was booked up until spring. Bummer. But this latest email came saying that her holiday plans changed, that she would be in the area for Thanksgiving and was hoping to  book some appointments. Because it was so last minute she was offering a discount. Score! And so we set up an appointment for early the morning after Thanksgiving at the Library of Congress.

It was cold but I bribed the kids with treats and some fun in DC if they would just cooperate. The session went well and  the photographer was very kind. We brought blankets to cuddle in between shots.

After the session we went into the Library of Congress. It was amazing! The architecture was gorgeous and intricate. There were domes and mosaics and sculpture and paintings all over.

Not to mention what was actually housed inside. We say the Thomas Jefferson Library exhibit - his entire personal collection of books on display. Paige thought the ceiling was beautiful (it was) so she laid down in the middle of the room.

An original copy of Common Sense was there.

We even saw the Gutenberg Bible.

 Not all the kids were old enough to go to the actually library so we just got a picture from the balcony.

It was all just so amazing. We are definitely going to have to go back.

Thanksgiving

I realize now that I only took one picture of Thanksgiving. But we had such a good holiday that I guess I was too busy to notice.  The Thompsons and our family decided to have the feast together, splitting the dinner dishes. We made rolls, mashed potatoes (Darby helped with those as you can see), sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole. They made the turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries and cider. We both brought pies. It was all SO yummy!!! We didn't even have many leftovers. ;)
It was great to spent half the day with our best friends. We are indeed blessed and thankful.

Beauty of Belvoir

I live in a beautiful place. These photos are from the woods behind our house.

These are on post.

And these are of the Potomac River taken from behind our neighborhood or on the way to our church building.

Its lovely. I have come to see that I need to live in beautiful places from now on.

All I want for Christmas . . .

My two front teeth!!

One day, Darby lost a front tooth. She was so excited.

Then, a week later (and in the same beloved shirt and necklace) she lost the other one. Now she whistles a little when she talks and it is SO cute!!

At Home with Paige

Paige is the only kid home alone with me for another year. Its always interesting with Paigey around. She likes to play in the sandbox at the bus stop.

She let Darby dress her on this day. Not too bad. ;)

She runs errands with me. This time we stopped at the Swedish bakery near the Scout Shop after I bought all the awards for Pack Meeting. Cupcakes are a great bribe.

Sometimes we just cuddle.

 

She plays with Sohvi down the street A LOT. They are frenemies. Sometimes they love each other and other times they fight and run away from each other.  

   
She's a smart little thing. We work on letters, numbers and other educational stuff when she's interested.

But she gets in trouble a lot. Here she was supposed to be in time out for hitting me but, as I left the area, she climbed on the railing. The trouble was that she couldn't get down. I let her hang out a while.

 

And we often find interesting things around the house courtesy of Paige. Imagine being greeted by this during a nighttime potty break.  

 

    Life is never boring with Paige around.

Trick or Treating

            

Our neighborhood is great for trick or treating. Not only do most houses participate but its a loop so its easy to walk. The dads decided to bring their candy buckets to the D instead of at the doorsteps to pass them out. That way they could chat by the fire pit. I think Darby already sampled some candy here. ;)

Daddy Jason got kisses from cute girls tonight!

Erica and I took the kids out. We met at her house right before we were to begin for pictures and laying out expectations to the kiddos.

The older boys could go on their own with instructions to watch over Viktor. They were off like a shot and finished much before we did.

Paige fell just outside our house and hurt her knees. She didn't want to trick or treat any more but I made her.  She lagged behind so I brought up the rear with her and we spent most of our time having to catch up the rest of our party.

They all loved the decorations and the costumes of neighboring families.

Then she tells me that she has to go potty. We were too far from our house so I asked a nice mom handing out candy if I could use her bathroom. Another benefit of living here is that we all have at least three kids. She saw that I had a preschooler doing the potty dance and let us in. By the time we finished we had lost sight of Erica and the other girls so Paige and I went home. She was done anyway. The rest of them were in the D with with dads helping hand out the rest of the candy. The boys were inside having what they called a"sour off" with all their sour candies. Brendan won.

Finally, when the candy was almost all passed out and our kids had eaten what was likely WAY too much of their hauls, we made them go to bed. Good luck tomorrow schoolteachers. :)