steph's stuff

The Grease version of us

I was going to post more quilt pictures today but forgot that we had a shindig to go to last night for Tom's firm so I didn't get the quilt basted. Our local theater society was putting on the musical, "Grease," and Tom's firm was sponsoring an evening out at the theater for all of their clients. Which meant that all of us associated with the firm had to dress up. Which was fine until you realize that I fell down the stairs yesterday morning and had a hideously swollen and very sore ankle.

I managed to pull something together at the very last minute and sent Tom running to the dollar store to get a new white t-shirt for himself and we were good to go!

 

You can't see Tom's white socks in this photo and he took off his leather jacket but he came up with a great (and easy!) outfit. A deck of cards rolled up in his sleeve and he looked pretty good!

Emily had a friend sleeping over and I gave them the mission of styling me. They did a pretty good job, especially considering that they only had about 10 minutes! Check out the pink converse sneakers! (Don't mind the swollen ankle and leg. Ugh.)

And the best part of the whole evening was the pictures I got taken of the two of us together. We haven't had a photo of the two of us taken in over 3 years and I'm just sorry it took this costuming for us to get photos.

Quilt tomorrow!!!

And the crazy puppy is doing well. :)

Comments & the crazy canine

This photo has nothing to do with this post but I can't believe I got this shot! If you look closely, you can see the tiger sticking out his tongue. When we went to the zoo on Tuesday, this guy sat right up and stared at us the minute we came into his view. My camera battery was flashing and I was afraid it was going to die at any moment, so I threw the camera into P mode to avoid wasting any battery time on changing settings. And I got this shot. Total dumb luck.

I've gotten so many wonderful comments and suggestions this past week about Sawyer and quilting and various other things and I haven't yet had time to go through them all. I am so appreciative of every comment and hate to miss any so I'm going to try to get to them by the end of the day. Unfortunately, Typepad no longer gives me an easy email reply method so I will be answering all of the questions and comments IN the comment section of each post. So, check back later today if you're waiting for a response. :)

Today starts 3 months of a new life for the crazy puppy. A life of confinement. :(  After seeing how active he was attempting to be at the surgical center yesterday, the surgeon basically took away what little freedoms he had hoped to give Sawyer. When the vet tech brought Sawyer to me, Sawyer was so excited to see me that he tried to run! On three legs, with one taped up and in a sling, and less than 24 hours after major surgery, this crazy puppy tried to gallop towards me. Unfortunately, it ended with the tech dropping him on hard tile and Sawyer yelping for quite awhile in pain. :(

So, the game plan is that, with the exception of going outside to the bathroom, Sawyer is not allowed to walk for 8-12 weeks. I'm not quite sure how we're going to do it, but we are. His bathroom excursions are limited to 4x/day unless absolutely necessary and he'll have to remain confined at every other moment until approximately November 1st. He'll be on pain meds for 12 days and will remain in the sling for 14 days until his staples come out. Until then, it will be relatively easy to keep him confined but, after that, it's going to be a whole 'nother ball game. Sigh. The term given to us was "strict crate rest," just like "strict bed rest" would be for a human.

I've decided not to post photos of him for a bit. At least not any that show the incision. It is absolutely gruesome. I had no idea how large it would be. It's at least 10 inches long and closed with 25-35 large staples. Not to mention that the area is horribly swollen and bruised. It looks like something out of a horror movie. In fact, I had to call the kids yesterday and warn them about it before I got home with him. It's that bad.

I see a whole lot of digi scrapping  and hand sewing in my future as I sit with him to keep him company. LOL! However, I'm not feeling as trapped as I had been a few days ago. If he has to be confined to the crate at all times, there's no reason why I can't leave for up to 5 hours at a time. Probably not for these first 2-3 weeks, but after that, I can start venturing out.

So, that's where we are and, as Tom said this morning, we've spent so much money on this surgery that our goal now is to protect our investment. :p

Off to try to reply to some comments before the kiddos descend on me!

**ETA: On our first attempt at taking him outside to go to the bathroom, he tried to run away into the neighbors' yard. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Kids' Day

We declared yesterday to be Kids' Day. Kids' Day is where the kids basically get to plan the day (within reason) and Mommy doesn't do any work. This was only our second Kids' Day and I'm growing to really love them. Our kids come up with some cool ideas that motivate me to get out of the house.

We started yesterday with the thought of a day spent at the beach but the forecast was for rain, so that was out. The other ideas included local museums, a Chicago trip, an Indianapolis Zoo trip, shopping, eating out, and lots more.

We ended up cleaning our rooms first (including Mommy), then going to swimming lessons, lunch at Olive Garden, an afternoon at the local zoo (which has an amazing Butterfly exhibit!!!!), followed by Dairy Queen and school supply shopping. My kids LOVE school supply shopping and have been begging me for weeks to get their supplies so yesterday was a perfect day to do it. By this time, it was almost dinner time but I was dying for a few minutes of quiet after a long Kids' Day. So, I drove them through McDonald's and got them all lemonades and then turned away from the road home. They immediately asked why they got lemonades (I never do that) and I told them that it was a bribe to get me 10 minutes alone in the fabric store.

They all cracked up at that! I pulled up right in front of the door so that I could see the van at all times, locked them in the car, and ran inside. And lookie what I found. :)

I certainly didn't buy all of it but ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.......the blue, orange, green and white combinations totally got me. Swoon. So, there is another quilt in the works. ;)

All in all, it was a great day and I love that the kids worked together to come up with a plan for the day and that they all chose some fun things, some educational things and behaved themselves.

Waiting on the vet to call this morning to let us know if crazy puppy can come home today.......

In the meantime, I'm re-designing my blog so pardon the dust for the next few days.

A puppy, some fabric, and an invitation

 

Before I start with the crazy puppy pictures, I want to give you a friendly warning so I thought I'd start with some pretty fabric photos instead of the pathetic puppy photos. LOL! I'm currently deciding on a pattern for quilt #3 using the above fabrics. Yummy!!!

The crazy puppy update before the photos and the warning: I took him across state yesterday to meet with the surgeon and we basically have 2 surgical options. The first is to put 3 pins in his leg to reattach the bone. (He broke his leg at the femoral head on the growth plate.) The second is to remove the femoral head altogether, allowing a false joint to form over time. Option one is what we're going with because the second option (FHO surgery for those who might know about these things) is not recommended for large dogs. However, there's a chance that option one won't work and we just won't know until the surgeon actually sees the bone. If that's the case, we simply will have to go with option two and hope for the best. I had to leave Sawyer yesterday and will pick him up on Wednesday if all goes well.

The sad part is that the crazy puppy will probably always have a limp and has a 100% chance of getting arthritis. The arthritis could end up being severe and painful but we're not going to worry about it now. We'll just have to see how he recovers. And, speaking of recovery, this is not going to be easy. I'm sure I will whine and complain and feel utterly trapped in my house over the next few months, but I am going to try my best to remember that we are grateful to have him in one piece.

Basically, he's not supposed to walk for 6-8 weeks. The first 2-3 weeks, he will probably have to be carried anywhere. After that, he has to be crated 99.9% of the time. :(  They can't cast the bone and it needs to have as little movement as possible so he's going to be allowed out of his crate only to go to the bathroom and to get a bit of attention. It's basically bedrest for an almost 9-month-old puppy. I'm going to try and stay zen about it for now, but in a few weeks, I know I'm going to be going out of my mind dealing with a very sad and cooped-up puppy. I've lodged October 1st in my mind as his (and my) release date. LOL!

Sooooooo.......here's the invitation part. If you want to come visit, please do!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, come and visit because I'll be trapped. :p Bring kids, bring food, bring scrapping or quilting supplies and distract me. :)

And now it's time for the warning before you see the next photos. Actually, only one of the photos needs a warning. And, no, it's not a warning about anything yucky or the broken bone or anything like that. It's a warning about your heart breaking if you are a dog lover. Because this dog has the biggest, saddest, most pathetic puppy dog eyes you've ever seen. And the saddest part is that, at least in this circumstance, they are for real. He's not putting on a show for attention. He really was that sad and pathetic and confused about the pain and why he's got one leg that won't work. So, you've been warned. I'll save that photo for last so that you still have time to change your mind before your heart breaks. ;)

Basically, all Sawyer has done since Friday is lay on the floor with some heavy duty pain meds. We made him a bed by the wall and the kids' toys so that he would be out of the way, yet still involved. We weren't sure he'd make it outside to go to the bathroom so we laid a tarp under the blanket just in case. That's the blue you see under the blanket in this photo.

When he has to go to the bathroom, Tom has had to carry him outside. Which, by the way, I'm gonna have to learn how to do by tomorrow. He's almost 70 pounds and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to lift him, but I'll have to figure it out quickly. :p

The bandage you see is a sling that taped up his bad leg until his surgery.

By Sunday afternoon, he was perking up a bit and was being a bit of an attention hog. Even then, though, you can clearly see his sadness. Or maybe it was irritation with the girls bothering him. LOL!

We found out that it was easier for him to be alert when he had something to lean on, so we put him by the ottoman and the couch and he liked that much better. Plus, he was getting a lot more attention than he had up against the wall. LOL!

And, here's the picture that will break your heart. Don't say I didn't warn you! By Monday morning, he was trying to be active and would attempt to sit up for short periods of time. I think you'll be able to tell, though, that it wasn't the most comfortable thing for him to do.

My poor crazy puppy. :(  We can't wait to have this whole ordeal over with.

The puppy is fixable!

There has been a lingering fear in the back of my mind since Friday that Sawyer's leg was not going to be salvagable. But, after meeting with the surgeon today, those fears are gone. He's fixable. :) It's not going to be easy or cheap and there are complications but he'll still be our crazy puppy and should be home on Wednesday.

I'll update more tomorrow with pics and for those who want to read a bit more about today, you can follow me on Twitter - over there on my right sidebar.

Anywhere

Journaling: Andrew is Tom's shadow, no matter where they are, no matter what they do. When we went up to Cadillac Mountain, Andrew followed Tom to the edge of every rock. There was no fear as long as he was with Daddy. Even if he gave Mommy a heart attack in the process! I think he would follow his Daddy anywhere.

Digital Scrapbooking Supplies: Stamped-n-Framed Layered Template No. 3 by Katie Pertiet (coming soon); Pacifica Kit by Michelle Martin

***

Finally back to scrapping after almost a month off. Feels really good to be working on pages again but, wow, am I rusty! I have lots of pages in progress and am not happy with any of them so I'm going to let them sit. I don't usually like to work on more than one page at once but I'm a bit behind on assignments which really bothers me, so there's lots in the works right now. This page above came together so fast because I used a template from Katie it helped get me rolling.

Other than scrapping, all I've done all weekend is hang out on the floor with the crazy puppy. Tom has slept on the floor with Sawyer for the past three nights and I don't know how he's done it. It's exhausting just taking care of him during the day. It's like having an injured baby. Which, I guess, he is.

I'm off to take him across state today to the specialty surgical clinic. I hope he's okay in the car for over two hours. I expect to be leaving him there for a couple of days but I won't really know until I meet with the surgeon.

Back later with an update, I hope!

Update on the broken puppy

 

Sawyer will be having surgery sometime this week. At least, that is the plan for now. We took him to our vet this morning with the x-rays and file notes from the ER vet and our vet is in agreement that he needs to have surgery ASAP. The nearest surgical center that can do this type of surgery is 2 hours away so that is the plan for Monday.

I talked to someone at the surgical center this morning and she warned me that surgeons like to do puppy surgery with 24 hours. Since this happened on a Friday night, we have to wait a lot longer than that for the surgery (it'll be roughly 72 hours since the break) and the wait could complicate things. Coupled with the type of break he has (he broke the femoral head on the growth plate on his right rear leg), this is tricky stuff. And expensive stuff. There is a chance that we will have multiple surgical options but we won't know that until we talk to the surgeon on Monday. At this point, we're committed to the surgery, but if the price tag becomes exorbitant or the surgeon doesn't feel that he can correct the break without crippling Sawyer (which is a possibility with this type of break), then we will have to consider other options. :( But, we're not thinking about that now. We're gonna go with the positive and, if love can heal him, he will be healed thoroughly and quickly.

We also have a second pain medication that definitely seems to be helping a bit with his comfort level. He's on the living room floor surrounded by all of us at most every single minute and getting more snuggles than he knows what to do with.

And, yes, I will be the first to admit that this dog has driven me absolutely crazy since we got him. Hence, the nickname "the crazy puppy." But, this is totally heartbreaking to watch and there is no doubt that this crazy puppy is the most loved dog in the entire world right now.

The crazy puppy is broken. :(

Photo taken with my cell phone.

Literally, our puppy is broken. :(  Sawyer was playing outside tonight and somehow broke his leg. Specifically, the femoral head in his right leg is broken and will require surgery. Unfortunately, there is no one local who does this type of surgery and we may have to travel somewhere else if surgery is our only option. My biggest fear is what if we can't afford it? :(

The vet ER put his leg in a sling and sent him home until we can take him to our vet to see what our options are. Tom is sleeping downstairs with him tonight and I'm upstairs for now but I know I won't sleep.

I don't know what we're going to do and seeing him in this kind of pain is making me sick.

11 going on 21

Just another typical day in our house this summer. The kids get thrown outside because either a) I hear "I'm bored", b) they're being too loud, or c) they're driving me nuts. It's usually C. And when they get thrown outside, they almost always end up chasing each other or wrestling before they come up with something calmer to play.

But, when I look at this photo, I don't really focus on the three of them wrestling and playing. What jumps out at me is how Emily is looking sooooooo much older than the two of them suddenly. Her looks have changed a lot this year and her figure is changing, as well as the shape of her face.

And, of course, the a-t-t-i-t-u-d-e. Sigh. She's a great kid, but that a-t-t-i-t-u-d-e is gonna kill me.

And the interest in boys and the phone and email and boys and lip gloss and hairstyles and clothes and the word "hot" (usually coupled with the name Daniel Radcliffe) and who's wearing a bra and who's not and boys and makeup and going to the mall and boys. You get the picture. Who knew all of this started at 11?

Grandpa and the Batmobile came to visit

The Batmobile came to visit and since Batman lives here, Mommy got some great photos. :)

In reality, my Dad came to visit from Texas and he drove up his new toy - a shiny, black Corvette. Which looks surprising like the Batmobile to a little boy.

Andrew adores my Dad and fell totally in love with the car way before we realized that it looked like the Batmobile.

To Andrew, it was just really cool that his Grandpa had a really cool car and that it only fit two people. No girls allowed on his rides with Grandpa. LOL! (Although Mommy insisted on having the airbag turned off and Andrew had to sit in his booster seat. And, yes, this totally compromised the "coolness" factor, but hey, that's what Mommies do, right?)

And, while Mommy ruined a bit of the coolness factor, Grandpa came to the rescue for Andrew. Andrew saw his (favorite because she's so pretty) babysitter outside her house and Grandpa drove him past her house very slowly so that she could see Andrew in his own personal Batmobile and wave at her from it. :)

P.S. At times like this, the cuteness factor of this kid just about kills me. :)