Harley Update

It's been 6 weeks since Harley's brush with death. He never ended up getting a hard cast. Instead every week I had to take him to get his leg re-wrapped with a soft type of cast. That would have been ok if I hadn't of had to pay $30 each week for them to wrap it with cute ace bandages that had bones and paws on it. That and the fact that he would eat off the cast every time he got a new one. Sometimes the cast would last a day or two other times an hour or two. When that would happen, I ended up having to re-wrap it myself. No cute bandages then, puppy dog! He got the classic brown ace bandage and when the need arose - duct tape. Yup, duct tape. It lasted so much longer than the regular medical tape. He still ate through the duct tape but it lasted longer.

The bones healed a little crocked but since he is still young, they aren't too worried about it. Right now, he does have several sores on his leg from where the cast rubbed against his leg but they are already healing up and he is walking on all fours now.

The good news is he listens alot better to me when we are outside. Ya think?!?

Just Another Normal Friday Night .... ?

Friday evening after Elianna was in bed, my Chris and I decided to watch a movie outside laying on the hammock. It was a beautiful evening. So quiet and peaceful! When we watch movies outside, we put Harley on his lead so we don't have to worry about him wandering away and us not knowing it. Halfway into our viewing enjoyment, I feel asleep. Once again, I was rudely awakened by Harley. This time he was barking and lunging at an animal along the side of the porch. Chris handed me the computer and turned the flashlight on to see what it was. At first we just saw it's eyes and then ... we saw it's backside with its tail up. Yup, a skunk! And yup, Harley got skunked! Oh the smell. It was awful!

At 10:30 pm Harley got 3 baths and still smells slightly like skunk. He smelled so bad we weren't going to let him sleep inside but someone (ahem *Chris*) felt bad for him and let him come in. However, we didn't let him sleep on his bed for fear that it too would begin to smell skunky. Poor Harley, he has been through it all lately.

Apparently Mr. Skunk lives under our deck. Nice huh? We are now in the process of "finding him a new home."

Baby Shower

As I mentioned on 'Tis the Season, 2 of my 5 close friends are having babies. I misspoke over there and said that they were both having girls. Wendy is having a girl and Stacy is having a boy. Neither one are telling the names. When you are OCD and need to be in control of all things, this little fact will bother you.

Because we were celebrating both a boy and a girl, Cheri and I decided to have a baby blocks theme. I found small - and I do mean small - candles that were baby blocks and smelled like baby powder. They were adorable! We had fruit w/ dip, crackers w/ cheese, fresh squeezed lemonade and baby block cakes. The cakes turned out cute for amateur cake decorators. We have no plans for opening a bakery anytime in the near future for sure!

The days for them to have these new little ones is coming up so soon! Specifically, Wendy needs to have hers on September 5 and Stacy needs to have hers on September 12. We wrote down the date and time, weight and size we think that the babies will be. Those are the two days I guessed. No idea what anyone wins if they are the least bit right. For now, I'm just excited! I can't wait to once again hold a brand new little baby!

Stacy and Wendy

Me, Cheri, Wendy, Karan, Kelly and Stacy

They tasted good. Does that count as anything?

Nightmares

After our busy busy weekend, by Sunday evening all Chris and I wanted to do was sleep! By 11 pm we were all curled up sound asleep ready to sleep the night away. At 1 am we were awakened by Harley jumping out of his bed (his bed is right next to ours on the floor) and running as fast as he can despite his broken cast covered leg. Of course, we were dead to the world and had no idea what was going on resulting in Chris thinking someone had tripped over Harley to which he responded by throwing himself over me to protect me. After realizing no one was there and that Harley was now barreling himself down the stairs, my Chris jumped out of bed and proceeded to following Harley downstairs calling out to whoever was there. Dazed and confused by all the commotion, I did the brave thing and sat in bed.

My Chris said that after Harley literally slid down the stairs, he was staggering and ran into the grill twice. Apparently, the poor dog had a nightmare so bad, he peed his bed and then ran outside.

Needless to say, it took us quite awhile before we could all get back to sleep. Now fast forward to sometime between 2:30 am and 5:30 am. My Chris has a nightmare and once again we are all awake. Thankfully there was no peeing in the bed and running wild in the house! Ha!

Elianna slept through all of the festivities and yeah - the 5:30 am alarm was ignored.

Harley & Me - 11 Months

Well, once again my post is much later than the day I actually turned 11 months. In less than 2 weeks, I will turn 1 years old! I am super duper excited!

Here is what I'm up to these days!

*I have moved up to a size 4 diapers.

Mommy said to be sure to let ya'll know that I can walk, I just would rather not. Crawling is so much faster so I just stick to that. Anyway, I'm still sticking to the idea of "regular" walking on my birthday. Just 12 days to perfect it. Boy I better get practicing.

I still love my Harley! I put my little arms around him and squeeze him tight giving him nice hugs! I also try to pick him up but he is just too heavy for me. He still has the cast on his leg so I have to be super careful not to step on his leg or bang it. Hopefully he will get that off soon so we can run around together.

I am eating just about all "grown up" food. For breakfast I like waffles or banana chocolate chip Fiber one muffins. For lunch I have toasted cheese (my belly is still trying to get used to that though), spaghetti O's, or mac n cheese. For dinner I have ravioli or a jar of turkey & vegetables. I now drink whole milk instead of formula except at bedtime.

I'm just growing all up. Well, I will be sure to give a report about my birthday party!

Talk to you next month on my birthday! Wahoo! ~Elianna

Elianna's Vacation

While Chris and I were in WI with the teens, Elianna stayed with the Butlers. She absolutely loves staying with them. The Butler's two middle girls both have special needs and they dote on her immensely! Here is a little of what she did while we were gone.

She went swimming

and shopping

and came home with 3 cute little outfits! Thanks Nana Pam!

11 Month Pictures

The Picture People have caught on to me and have now plastered "Proof" all over their pictures. You still get the idea and can enjoy the pictures ... just ignore the words written all over her cute little face.

Pictures from Shepherds Ministries

I forgot my camera on our WI trip. Can you even believe or imagine? So a big thank you to those who did take pictures and let me swipe them off their phones or camera.

Steph with her "buddy" Mary Sue

Robin was one that I enjoyed talking to that week. She lives in one of the on campus apartments.

Dustin sorta attached himself to us for the week - he was funny. He is one who lives in the community.

Crowns of Splendor residents

Loren was Matt's "buddy"

Kathy was pretty upset when she found out that Chris was married. She wanted to marry him. Sorry Kathy!

Gary, Ruth and Brian

Working at Shepherds Enterprises

Gary was a Harley motorcycle lover also.

Rich and his "buddy" Dan

Mr. Butler and a resident in AAC

Randy is in AAC and was loading the Pepsi machines with Chris' help. He did not speak until about a year ago. Chris really enjoyed spending time with him.

Nate and his "buddy" Brad. Brad is also in AAC and does not talk at all. He communicates through grunts which Nate picked up on. Nate did a great job with him.

Matt and Skip

Missions Trip: Shepherds Ministries

This year for our teen Missions Trip, we headed to Shepherds Ministries in Union Grove, Wisconsin. Shepherds Ministries is an organization that "provides compassionate Christian care, vocational education and job opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities, helping them attain Appropriate Independence with fulfilling jobs and lives, while also providing for their spiritual development." It is an awesome organization and we were so blessed to be able to spend a week with the residents.

Chris and I took 6 teens and 1 other adult with us. We left early Sunday morning and drove to OH where we stayed at a church for the night and then woke up bright and early Monday morning to finish our drive to WI. Needless to say, it was a long trip.

The teens and I were assigned "buddies" for the week. We basically integrated ourselves into their lives for the week. We went to work with them, at times ate with them, and simply did what they do. My "buddy" was a 49 year old lady named Ruth. She has lived at Shepherds since she was 17. She is very proud of the fact that she is 49 this year and will be 50 on November 28 and that she has lived at Shepherds for 32 years. Her mother is 90 and obviously, unable to care for her. Ruth gets to go home in December and "won't come back until January." She is super quiet but can easily get riled up when her "boyfriend" teases her. I call him her "boyfriend" but I was told that "We like each other. We are friends." Jeff was terribly hard to understand but Ruth, well Ruth understands every word he says. She was my interpreter for the week.

Ruth and Jeff

Shepherds, in my mind anyway, is divided up into 3 different populations. The first is the "general" population. It is those who have developmental difficulties but go to work everyday and some even live in the community or in apartments on campus. The second is what is called AAC. I have absolutely no idea what that stands for but it is the residents who have more difficulties. Many of the residents within this group are unable to talk and communicate either not at all or with grunts and noises. They at times work and are in the process of being integrated into the "general" population. The third group is those who would be retired and hang out in Crowns of Splendor.

Working in Enterprises

Chris coloring in AAC

Crowns of Splendor

Shepherds has what is called Shepherds Enterprises which is where many of the "general" population go to work each day (others work in the laundry department, greenhouse, domestics and kitchen). Enterprises "provides manufacturing and outsourcing opportunities to Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois." This is where Ruth works and where I hung out all week. Well, technically Ruth only worked on Friday so we hung out and I talked with the other residents.

On Monday we had training and on Tuesday we meet our "buddies" and hung out with them the rest of the day. Wednesday our group conducted chapel which comprised of us singing and using puppets. For the last puppet show we threw in some monkeys. Literally, after they helped us sing, the monkeys were thrown around. The residents absolutely loved them! They talked of those monkeys for days after.

Thursday we hung out with our "buddies" and then I went with Ruth and the people from her housing unit to a nearby lake where we ate McDonalds and watched people do acrobatics on water skis. The rest of our group ended up coming out and watching also. It was quite the impressive show! I have no idea how they do what they do especially on water skis.

Friday was the only day Ruth actually worked in Enterprises. We packaged parts for electric clippers. That evening we packed up all our stuff so we could once again get up super early. That's right, we got up at 5 am to head off to spend Saturday at Cedar Point. We spent the day at the "Roller Coaster Capital of the World!"

After spending the day at the second oldest amusement park in North America, the teens talked us into driving all night so we would get home early Sunday morning. Actually they said, "Can we drive all night so we can get home early?" I'm sorry. We who? We you? or We us? That's what I thought. Oh but they promised to stay up all night. They didn't and neither did I. Chris and Mr. Butler ended up driving the whole night. In short: in 25 hours we drove 904 miles, walked around 1 amusement park and changed a tire. Whew!

We did have to stop at one point because someone needed to use the restroom. Again. Thankfully they had to go - again - because before we left Mr. Butler noticed that the tread on the trailer tire was just about the whole way off. It would not have been good had it come the whole way off while we were driving. This is probably the only time, we have been thankful someone had to use the restroom - again.

I will post more pictures in the days to come of some of the residents we met and also let you know what Elianna did while we were gone. She will also be posting her Harley & Me - 11 months (can you believe that?) soon. As if that is not enough, she also got her 11 month (can you believe that? Oh did I already say that?) pictures done. Think warm beachy pictures.

A Little of This - A Little of That

When did my little girl grow up? She looks so old in this picture.

Watching Mommy make dinner.

Poor Harley.

Me? Getting into trouble? Never!

Richard Simmons look-a-like. (Except she is MUCH cuter!)