Wow, Another Week

You guys are going to start thinking we are a cursed family. Sometimes we think that too. We had a great week up until Thursday. The rest of the weekend ended up great though. So, I'll start with the bad news and finish up with the good.

Thursday started out with a bee sting in the foot for me. Ouch! Then, I got another cold sore...for no reason after I just battled one for two weeks. Lame. We took Trooper in for his shots that morning. I had asked the vet about what to do when a puppy is protective of his food. He had been really grumpy when we'd stay over him and watch him eat. She told me to really make an effort to pet him and take his food away and give it back just to get him used to the idea. So this is what we were doing at about 4:30 on Thursday night. Finally I was done and I said, "Come on Kelby, let's go inside." I turned my back and walked toward the door. Trooper got really upset and barked and I turned around to see him jump up on the side of his pen to grab Kelby in the face. That's the only part of her showing as she was looking over it to watch him eat. I freaked out. Kelby had five cuts on her upper lip and a puncture on her lower. I called Mike's parents and they came over to watch Tegan. I called her doctor, and he told me to take her over to the hospital ER in Sedro-Woolley. George got here and took us over. Mike met us over there. She was very upset at first, but by the time we got to the hospital, she was doing okay. She didn't even bleed that much. The doctor there didn't want to look at it too much because it would upset her too much. They sent us over to the hospital in Mount Vernon were they could have an anesthesia team to put her under while a plastic surgeon cleaned it out really well and gave her fifteen tiny stiches to minimize the scaring. I'm thinking that the wounds weren't that bad. If they hadn't been on her face, she probably wouldn't have needed stitches. It was nice that they put her under to do the work so she didn't have to suffer through that pain. She's on antibiotics just to make sure she doesn't get an infection. Before she even got her stitches, she was happy and laughing. Her owies are already looking better. At first her lip was pretty swollen, but now it is fine.

Now I have to decide what to do with Trooper. We know that this behavior was instinct and doesn't mean that he is a ruined dog. So, do I put in some extra work to train him and keep him or do we give him away? We decided it would be up to Kelby. Even the day after the bite, Kelby said, "Don't take my Trooper" as Gramma Wright drove away with him. She was watching him for us while we went camping. She's not afraid of him or any other dogs. We saw some while we were camping and she still wanted to pet them. Can you believe that it didn't even scare her? So, we feel like it might be worth it to work on training Trooper because we think she would miss him a lot. Mike has been working with him and he seems to be doing better already. I won't leave the girls with him if I'm not there. This was mostly my fault for turning my back when he was already upset.

So everything else about this week was great! We went to the park again on Tuesday. Kelby played with the other kids. We just had a laid back week. Of course we had to still go camping because as Kelby was crying about her owie right after it happened, she said, "I still want to go camping." So we packed up and went on Friday afternoon. We went with two other couples and thier kids. Kelby just loved those other kids. They played with her and took care of her as they all explored the area around our camp site. Kelby loves the marshmellow roasting. She is a good little camper girl. She goes to sleep just fine. Tegan did pretty well, but she woke everyone up way too early both mornings. Kelby got to go on a canoe ride because our friend Paul brought one. Michael tried fishing, but to no avail this time. His Father's day consisted of a Egg "Mc"Muffin made over the campfire for breakfast. I think he liked it okay. We finally made it home yesterday...a little tired, a lot dirty, and very content. I appreciate my running water and electicity after camping. Kelby is already ready to go again! Tegan needs to learn to walk a little bit better, so she doesn't have to get so dirty. I think that camping is one of the best ways to spend time with your kids. We had fun, and it was a good way to overcome the trama from Thurday.

Hopefully Kelby's owie will get better quickly. She has her birthday coming up on the 27th this month! I had planned to get some nice pictures done of the girls at Sears this week, but it will have to wait a bit. I just want you all to know that we are doing just fine, so don't worry too much about us. Thanks for your continued prayers.