Update on Dakota

Dakota had another doctor's appointment today to see how his leg is progressing and we have GREAT news!  We are rid of the clunky, super heavy, pain in the butt wheelchair.  WOOHOO!!!!!!!   He is still required to use his walker full time for now, but during the next three to four weeks of physical therapy (starting next week) he will hopefully regain enough strength to re-learn to walk without using a walker or crutches.  So here's hoping he will start out the New Year on foot :)

We had new x-rays taken of the hips and of the leg itself and all is looking like it should at this point.  The ball joint is starting to thin out and will soon start to fall apart, but will be held in place when it starts regenerating because of the plate and pins.  This process, the deteriorating/re-growth of the bone, is going to take roughly a year to 18 months.

Dakota got the okay to start swim therapy and he is looking forward to that.  So am I since his activities are pretty limited and will be for some time.  He'll be able to burn off some of that energy.  The doctor checked Dakota's range of motion and he is still pretty stiff, so we have some exercises to work on more at home to get the muscles loosened up a bit.

At the last appointment we had a month ago, I had been very concerned about the weight loss and the depression that Dakota seemed to be suffering from.  I am very glad to report that once he was allowed to go back to school and interact with other children again, he snapped right out of it.  He is also, very slowly gaining weight.  I believe we have gained a pound in the last month and a half.  His appetite is steadily getting better though.

Well I believe for now that is all I have to update ya'll on.  Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers for us.....keep em' coming.  We have a long road ahead of us yet!

Recipe For Love

Ingredients:

2 Hearts Full of Love
2 Heaping Cups of Kindness
2 Armfuls of Gentleness
2 Cups of Friendship
2 Cups of Joy
2 Big Heart's Full of Forgiveness
1 Lifetime Together
2 Minds Full of Tenderness

Method:
Stir daily with Happiness, Humor and Patience.  Serve with Warmth, Compassion, Respect and Loyalty.

I Love Him, I Hate Him!

So I had a mental break down today!  No Joke, I really did!  I had sort of felt it coming on all week long....lots of things had been building up, but the icing on the cake today was my puppy Oreo.

So last week it snowed and now he doesn't want to go outside to pee pee or poop (can't really blame him there, I wouldn't want to take a crap outside in the snow either when it's only 20 degrees outside).  So for a week he has been having accidents left and right, which is not only frustrating for me, but pisses my mom off something awful since it's HER carpet getting peed on!

Normally Oreo would ring the bells hanging on the door knob (he's smart enough to get trained to do that, but apparently then forgets how to pee)  we would open the front door and let him out, he would do his business and come back up the steps.  Whole process would maybe take five minutes, if that ( I love him)!  Not today....nope we are talking a good half hour process and it ending with me in tears and totally pissed at him.

So this afternoon, he rings the bells like a good boy (I love him) to go outside to pee.  I open the door, let him out and tell him to, "Go Potty".  He stares at me like are you insane woman?  I stick my head out the door again and tell him again to, "Go Potty".  He starts sniffing around and I think to myself okay he's looking for a spot.  Nope, WRONG!  After about 10 minutes I go stand out on the step and he decides about then that he's gonna play....Tag, your it and takes off running (I hate him).  At this moment I feel my blood start to get a little warm, but I try to stay calm and call him inside.  He looks DIRECTLY AT ME, turns and runs the OTHER WAY! (I hate, hate, hate him).  Finally after 20 minutes of this crap, I am in tears downstairs in my room, watching him through my window, wondering how in the hell I am going to get him inside.

Finally my mom opens the door and calls him inside and he runs inside and comes downstairs into my room wagging his tail (did I mention I hate him?).  I was so angry with him (and was still crying) I picked him up and put him in his crate.  He must have known I was not liking him at that moment, cause he laid right down and I didn't hear a peep from him for a couple hours.  In the meantime, I decided to re-arrange the furniture in my room while telling myself to calm down and tried to convince myself that I STILL loved him.

Two hours later, I have a very clean, re-arranged room, a migraine and a puppy that needs to be let out again so he can pee (oh joy)!  This time however I put him on a leash and decided to try attaching him to the doggie post outside to see if he will go that way.  Nope!  I took him off the doggie post and walked him around for two minutes and he went potty.  We then went inside and he showered me with puppy kisses (little shit knew I was angry with him).  How can you not love puppy kisses?

What I have found out today, is that he has to be leashed and has to be escorted outside in the freezing cold weather to pee and to poop (so I must freeze with him)!  And you know what, I will do it every damn day for the rest of his life because....I love him!

Glitter in the Snow!

I love this time of year! It starts to get cold and then before you know it the snow starts falling. You have Thanksgiving which in my family brings wonderful food from both my mom's house and my dad's. It usually also brings my maternal grandparents into town for the weekend, which is nice since I grew up about 1200 miles away from them and for so many years didn't really have them around. Then after Thanksgiving we haul out all the Christmas decorations and everything goes up. The lights, the trees, the garland, the mechanical reindeer and sleigh, and ALL of the Christmas CD's. Something about this time of year just makes me more grateful about all things in my life.

Sometimes I don't think we realize just how precious life is. Today for some reason I remembered something my son said to me last year in the car on our way home from school. There was about 2-3 feet of snow on the ground. It was the beginning of December so we had a tendency to drive through some neighborhoods on our way home to look at lights. We were almost home and Dakota out of the blue asks me, "Mommy, did God put glitter in the snow?" I had to smile and after a split second of me thinking I had the cutest kid on the face of the earth responded with, "No honey, why?" "Cause it sure does sparkle!", he said. After thinking about what he said I realized that I had never noticed before just how much new snow did sparkle and the beauty of it. I told myself that I was going to try really hard to notice the beauty of all seasons for the next year and I have.....

In Spring (the season I hate the most due to my horrible allergies), I noticed how the rain washes all the dirty snow away and everything looks clean. How soon after the snow disappears the grass becomes like a green blanket again covering all the brown from the winter. How a puddle of water can become fun again by standing in it with your bare feet and splashing around like a little kid. The birds start chirping again and the air smells fresh and alive.

In Summer, I noticed how the tiny grains of sand felt on my feet and how fun it can be to fish standing in the water up to my calves. I learned that I care about the icky, slimy fish that we caught. Cared enough about them to learn how to take them off my hook this year so I could throw them back into the water. I noticed their breathing patterns while dangling from the end of my line and felt bad, wondering what was going through their mind at that very moment. I could almost see the fear in their bulging little fish eyes. I noticed the baby bird learning how to fly for the first time and hoped it would be safe until it succeeded in taking flight.

In Fall, I noticed just when the leaves started to change color and just how beautiful the red and purple leaves were. I noticed when the leaves started to crumple and fall off the only home they had ever known. I noticed how once the tree had become bare, that the leaves lay all over the yard and for the first time since I was a kid I raked them up into a pile and kicked them everywhere. I noticed the leaves laying on the sidewalk while my mom and I walked the dog and I kicked those leaves too!

Tonight is the first night this year we are supposed to get snow and I plan to see it's beauty and it's sparkle all over again.......After all God spilled the glitter bottle for all of us to notice. When will you start?

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ~Ashley Smith quotes

Indian Chili Chicken

So here is the recipe that some of you asked me for:

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons flour

4 teaspoons chili powder

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 teaspoons vegetable oil (I used about a tablespoon of butter instead)

1 (10 ounces) can chicken gravy (I used homemade chicken gravy that my mom had frozen)

1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

Directions:

Mix flour and chili powder. Use 1 teaspoon flour and 1 teaspoon chili powder per chicken breast. Coat chicken. I used a bit more cause I like to spice things up a bit :)

Fry chicken in butter, turning often, until browned and done. Once done remove from pan.

Stir in the gravy; heat to a boil.

Add the chicken again, reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with cheese.

My "Friend" No More!

You can stand there and smile you can sit there and laugh

but you can't trick me I know it's a mask

You’re trying to lie to me and everyone else
but why is it that you’re lying to yourself?
You can calmly sit there and try to look cool
but I know your emotions and I know you’re a fool
I know inside you your feelings rage
The suspense builds with the turn of a page
By day you’re one person by night another
and neither of them have anything to do with each other
I've watched you sink farther from your heart
and all of this just tears me apart
I sit here and cry, for you not for me
What you've become I wish you could see
No words could I use to help me explain
what it does to me to see you in pain
You’re not there anymore my dearest friend
I hate to say this but this is our end