Toothless...

No, I'm not talking about the dragon from the movie, "How To Train Your Dragon".  I am talking about my two year old daughter and her latest activity.  On Saturday, I was at the Wilton Tent Sale with my sister and 2 friends and my cell phone went off.  It was Ryan.  "Juliana faceplanted in the grass and her mouth is bleeding.  I pushed her lip down and her gum is torn a bit.  I think she is okay.  What should I do?"  In the background I can hear Juliana screaming.  Now, Juliana is not your typical child.  She fell down the steps (all the way from the top to the ceramic tile at the bottom) and did not cry.  When she falls and skins her knees outside, she doesn't even whimper.  My response, "Call the dentist and see what they want you to do."  10 minutes later my phone goes off again, and Ryan tells me that he and Juliana are on their way to Lombard, because our dentist is closed this weekend but the Lombard office is open and they want to see her. 

The next time I hear from Ryan, he is calling because they are on their way home.  "One of her bottom teeth is very loose.  The dentist wanted to pull it right then, but because they couldn't get ahold of her cardiologist to see if she needed to be pre-treated they couldn't pull it."  "So what are they going to do?"  "They are sending us home with a prescription for antibiotics to start today and she can only eat soft foods.  On Monday we have to call and get her into the normal office so they can re-evaluate her and have time to talk to her cardiologist."

So, today was the first day they were able to get us in.  I was able to leave Noah with Theresa, and she told me to bring his swim stuff since it's so hot out.  Dr. Chung looked in Juliana's mouth and noted that the tooth had stabilized a tiny bit and said that we could continue the soft food diet for a few more weeks and then re-evaluate again or we could just pull it today and be done with it.  I made the decision to pull it, because since we started the soft food diet, Juliana has barely eaten anything, and we've been pulling out the "big guns" to bribe her to eat: ice cream, pudding, yogurt, milk shakes, but she has wanted nothing to do with it and instead has wanted to eat the "forbidden" food.  I weighed her this morning and she was already down in weight, so even though I didn't want to pull one of her teeth, I didn't want to go through another few weeks of her not eating when it's hard enough to get her to want to eat.

They brought us back into a room and closed the doors so that her screaming wouldn't be as loud to the other patients.  I got into the chair with her and she knew something was up and began to whimper a bit.  I started praying hard.  First they needed to numb her, so they had me lay back and wrap my legs around her legs and my arms around her to restrain her.  Then a tech held her head down while Dr. Chung numbed her.  Juliana screamed through that.  Then we had to let that kick in a little bit, and Juliana settled down.  Then, Dr. Chung came back in.  I resumed my position, and Juliana started to scream again.  It didn't take long to remove her tooth, and as soon as they were done Juliana stopped screaming.  I think it was more traumatic for me than it was for her (since it seems like I'm always the one doing the restraining).  Dr. Chung said that this won't affect anything, she will just have a gap there until her adult tooth comes in several years from now (all this from falling in the grass!).

After we picked up Noah, he made sure to let me know that I need to put Juliana's tooth somewhere so the Tooth Fairy will find it and bring Juli something special.  What a day!  But Juliana came through it like a champ.  I'm so proud of her!

Juli's tooth!  This big thing came out of her mouth!  Nasty, eh?



Heart Of A Lion...

It takes a special person to work in special education.  I couldn't do it.  I have known a lot of awesome special education teachers, Emily, the Heathers, Rhonda, etc.  Last year was my first year teaching REI Chemistry (REI stands for Regular Education Initiative), and I met my collaborative special ed teacher, Lisa. 

Lisa is a tiny lady with a big voice, an infectious laugh, and the heart of a lion.  You always know where she is because you can hear her coming down the hallway if she's yelling or if she's laughing.  Lisa is a no-nonsense lady who doesn't take anything from any of the kids, but once they break through her outer shell, they see that she is just a teddy bear inside (hee hee).  She has several black belts and almost made the Olympic team when she was younger- how cool is that?!? 

Lisa helps me stay sane, and sometimes our classes think we are nuts (sometimes they think we are the devil as well).  No matter what they think, I couldn't teach my REI classes without her help.  We feed off of each other and when one of us is having a bad day we carry each other.  This year was a tough year for both of us, emotionally and physically.  I know that if I didn't have her support, I would have crumbled halfway through the school year.

Last week we invited Lisa over for dinner (her husband was out of town or we would have invited him as well).  Juliana LOVED her!  Ryan and I have never seen her eat so well, and we think that it had something to do with our dinner guest.  We grilled burgers for dinner, and Juliana sat across from Lisa.  First she ate her part of Noah's burger.  Then Ryan cut her some more of Noah's burger and she finished that.  Then, she ate the rest of Noah's burger that he didn't finish!- Unheard of.  At bedtime, she gave Lisa a big hug, which she doesn't usually do to people she meets the first time.  While she was going to bed, Noah put Lisa to work helping him peel stickers to decorate a paper he was making.  Noah wants to know when she's going to come back over and help him with his art projects.

So, thank you, Lisa, for all that you do.  I look forward to working with you for many more years!



Lisa refused to let me take her picture so I had to get it while she was coming out of another classroom (I know, almost stalker-like)

Preschool Graduate...

Noah graduated preschool a few weeks ago.  One of the nice things about him going to the preschool at my high school is that I was able to sneak in during his graduation ceremony and see part of it.  During my 5th period class, I have a co-taught class and when my co-teacher isn't there, I have a TA in with me, Adam.  Adam told me to stay as long as I wanted at Noah's ceremony. 

I walked into the classroom, and I was sure Noah saw me.  Then his teacher thanked all the parents for coming, and Noah said, "My momma isn't here.  She had to work."  His teacher told him that I was right behind him, and I was able to capture part of the look on Noah's face when he started to turn around to look for me.

Then, the high schoolers started to call their names for them to receive their "diplomas".  I got that on video on my camera (not very high quality, but I didn't want to bring my nice camera to school).  If you watch the bottom corner of the screen, there's a little boy who falls off his chair right as Noah goes up to get his diploma- kind of funny (the kid wasn't hurt, so it's okay to laugh).

As a special present, Noah's teacher made each preschooler a scrapbook of pictures of their 10 weeks with the Advanced Child Development kids.  It was really sweet and Noah shows his to everyone who comes over to our house.  My little boy is growing up!

One Of The Best Feelings...

Around 2 o'clock this morning, I woke up for no reason.  The Chili Dawg had some how gotten up on our bed again.  This time, he was curled up next to Ryan and his "cone of shame" was gone (I found it on his dog bed).  Ryan woke up too (unheard of, by the way) and told Chili to get off the bed.  Clearly, Chili is feeling better post-amputation, because he gave Ryan a look like, "you're kidding, right?" and crawled over him to get to me.  He immediately assumed our snuggle position for when Ryan is out of town with his head on my shoulder and let me pet his soft fur until I fell back to sleep- one of the best feelings in the world.

Conversations With Noah...

Yesterday we were driving to a doctor's appointment and Noah proceeded to ask, "Momma, when is it Noah's Mother's Day?"  "Well, first you have to be a Mom to have a Mother's Day."  "Well, when is it Noah's Father's Day?"  "First you have to be a Daddy to have a Father's Day."  "How do I become a Daddy?"  "Well, first you have to get a lot bigger and older.  Then you need to find a nice girl and get married.  Then you need to have a baby.  Then you will become a Daddy."  "When I have a baby I know what I'm going to name him.  It's the best name I know."  "What is the name?"  "Jesus.  Isn't it the best name, Momma?"  "Yes, Noah."

After we left the doctor's office, Noah asked, "Momma, where am I going to live when I'm a Daddy with baby Jesus?"  "You're going to live in your house with your baby and your wife."  There was a silence.  I tilted my mirror and saw that he was about to cry.  "What's wrong, Noah?"  "I don't want to live in a different house with my wife and Jesus.  I want to live with you and Daddy in my room."  "Well, where are your wife and baby going to live?  I don't think they will want to live with us."  "My wife can live with her mommy and daddy at her house and Jesus can sleep with Juli in her room!"  "What if Juli doesn't want to share her room with Jesus because he's a baby and she's a big girl now?"  "Well, Momma, she's small and she will want to snuggle with Jesus!  Please don't make me live somewhere else!"  "Sweetie, you can live with us as long as you want."  "Thanks, Momma."

Chili Dawg Update...

Chili Dawg came home on Thursday night.  It was a hard night for him and for me.  Ryan brought him home around 5:30, just as I was finishing getting the kids' dinner ready.  Ryan needed help getting Chili out of the back seat of his car- Chili was heavily sedated and didn't want to move.  I grabbed a chicken nugget and helped lure him out of the back seat.  Chili gave a yelp of pain, but we were able to get him up and get a towel underneath his body as a sling and get him in the house.  We got him onto his dog bed.  I showed the kids where they could pet him and where they could not pet him.  Noah immediately sat next to him and started stroking his back.  Juliana was terrified and literally tried to climb back inside of me.  When I picked her up, I noticed that we had irritated one of Chili's staples and he had blood running down his side.

Normally, I can handle anything, but I wasn't prepared for what the scar and staples were going to look like.  Combined with the blood, not sleeping and not eating because I was worried, I got light headed and started to sweat.  I had to sit on the floor for a little while until the world stopped spinning.  Once that was done, I was ready to take care of my dog.

The first night, Chili slept on the main floor.  There was no way we were going to allow him to climb all the steps up to our bedroom.  Around 11 o'clock, I awoke to Finchy whining on my side of the bed and I heard Chili barking downstairs.  Finch and I went downstairs.  Chili had gone into the kitchen and couldn't figure out how to turn around with the cone on his head.  I got him turned around and back on his dog bed.  Then I went upstairs and got my pillow and spent the rest of the night on the couch.  Every 2 hours Chili would get up and whine trying to find a more comfortable position.  I would help him adjust and then go back to sleep.  It was a long night.

I am happy to say that that was the only night like that.  Chili refused to sleep downstairs the past few nights.  He takes the steps like a champ, and now goes down the steps too (the first morning, Ryan had to carry him down, because he was afraid, but he has conquered that fear).  Juliana is no longer afraid of him as well.  She gives him hugs and pets him as well.  Noah is still a gentle heart and gives him a hug and kiss every time we leave the house.  You can tell that Chili feels better too, because he greets you at the door when you come home and his tail is wagging- 2 weeks ago he didn't do that.

I'm posting a picture of Chili, but it won't be an up close one of his amputation- for those, you can go to his blog that I have started (I haven't had time to make it anything nice yet, though).  He is still beautiful, just in a different way now.

4 days post amputation

Amputation...

Tomorrow is the Chili Dawg's amputation.  I am nervous and scared for him.  He's in a lot of pain right now, but he tries not to show it- I think it's the nature of the Golden Retriever.  He keeps a smile on his face almost all the time, but you can see when he's walking on three legs that he hurts.  He moans and cries in his sleep.  He has stopped eating.  The past few days, I have sat on the floor and hand fed him because the oncologist told us that he needs to be strong for the amputation.

I have been reading up on dog amputation, and he should adapt well to life on three legs- he already is using just three.  He also will no longer have pain from the bone cancer so he should be back to his normal self fairly quickly.  We have also been preparing Noah for what will be happening to Chili.  I had to pull up some video on YouTube of three legged golden retrievers so that he could see that they could walk and run and play, because as soon as I told him that Chili was going to have a leg removed he burst into tears afraid that Chili wouldn't be able to move around.  Every day he asks me the same questions making sure that Chili will be able to walk and run.

The Chili Dawg is my special friend.  My crying blanket.  I hope that our decision was the best decision for him and will not cause him any extra pain.



Chili's Last Weekend With Four Legs