Enoch Training Our Dog

For anyone who wants a good laugh, you can check out this video of Enoch "training" Cora to find a toy in his bed.  (We recently went to a dog show where the dogs had to find a toy that their owner had touched and retrieve it.  I think that this training is based on that activity.)  This happens almost every morning now with about the same results, Enoch is very dedicated and determined, and Cora is... distracted and not sure why he keeps putting her toy in the bed instead of throwing it for her.

Read more >>

FFF: Karis' Eye Surgery

In early December of 2015, Karis had eye surgery on both of her eyes to fix her strabismus (crossed eyes).  Before surgery was necessary, Karis' eye doctor had tried other means of straightening out her eyes (like patching and glasses and even bifocals).  However, none of these treatments were ultimately effective (though the patching did have some short term benefits).

In the Fall of 2015, when we learned that Karis would need surgery, we changed eye doctors to one who was in our state and who also had a better bedside manner.  To be honest, the new eye doctor also had a much smoother office visit system, which made our appointments with him almost effortless (given that I was bringing a few extra kids along for the appointments, this was a BIG deal to me!!).  Anyway, the new doctor did due diligence with Karis in hearing her story, asking about our concerns, giving his recommendations, and then preparing us for surgery.

On the day of surgery, we had to leave our home around 4:00 am in order to arrive to the hospital before 7:00.  Hugh and the kids dropped Karis and I off at the hospital, and then they headed off to eat breakfast and play at a children's museum (which they all loved!).  Karis (who hadn't eaten since dinner the day before) was a trouper in every sense.  We had quite a few lengthy waits in different rooms, met innumerable doctors, nurses, and staff (all of whom she heartily greeted), and eventually I had to give her to a complete stranger so that they could put her under general anesthesia.  Not once did my sweet girl cry or complain!  Now I, on the other hand, boo-hoo-ed like a baby, especially during the final round of questions from the anesthesiologists.

waiting... waiting... and waiting some more

right after surgery

Her surgery lasted around one hour as expected, and everything went great.  After she began waking back up, they allowed me to hold her and comfort her.  She was so pitiful, and was hardly consolable when I first found her because she wasn't all the way awake yet.  After one dose of morphine however, she calmed down and then when she was finally 100% awake, she seemed to not be in pain.   After another hour or so of checking vitals and learning about how to care for her, they released us just in time for Hugh and the kids to have finished lunch and be ready for a nap on the ride home.  Karis wasn't interested in eating lunch, and she wasn't able to keep her post-surgery apple juice down either, but after we got home, she was willing to eat.  The rest of that day Karis was somewhat tired and lethargic.

Groggy at dinner that first night after surgery.

The next morning, however, she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as normal, only with very very red eyes!  The redness was mainly on the insides of her eyes, where the doctor had altered the eye muscle.  Over about 2-3 weeks time, the redness faded.  We did use eye ointment for the first week to prevent infection.  Karis was over-joyed when we no longer had to put it in her eyes!  At our one week visit to her doctor, he said everything looked great, and we really haven't had any trouble with her eyes since then!  We will go back to her doctor in a few months for one more check up, but at our last visit he said he didn't expect that she would need glasses or more surgery.  :)

These two photos show how red eyes were in the first few days after surgery:

And one last look at a before:

And after:  

It's amazing how I didn't even notice how much her eyes were crossing before surgery!  Now when I look back at photos, I am so so thankful for the Lord's provision of Karis' eye doctor's skilled hands!!!  Praise God for a smooth and successful surgery for our sweet girl!

Read more >>

FFF: Our Dog

Here is a long overdue post about our dog!  We adopted Cora, who is a golden retriever mix, from the humane society in February or March of 2015.  She was a fiesty little puppy, and I consider her to still be in the puppy phase, though now she is much bigger than when we first picked her up.  :)

Cora spends a lot of her free time outside, but when she is inside, our bed is like her throne.  

In the early mornings, if she is being especially obedient and we don't have to rush out the door, she gets to come and wake the kids up with me.  She loves this so much, as does one particular son of mine.  ;)  They play fetch and wrestle, and eventually when she gets tired, Enoch tries to be calm and love on her sweetly.  

And if she is being especially, especially obedient, she gets to stay in the house while we eat breakfast and then clean up the plentiful crumbs afterward.  

Cora also enjoys going for walks around our neighborhood!  She likes to walk right beside the stroller and guard the kiddos.  She is still pretty bad about pulling if left to her own desires, but we use a slip collar on her now, and it keeps her in check.  Kaitlin (Hugh's sister) also visited recently and did some doggy obedience training with her (and with us), which has helped immensely.  She taught Cora the beginnings of "stay" and "down" and "back" which are all really useful.  (Cora already knew "sit")  

Alaythia loves Cora's big, wet dog kisses, and is mesmerized by her.  Karis, on the otherhand, mainly enjoys the dog when there is some barrier between them (like the door, the kennel, or her crib).  Throughout the day though Karis likes to go up to the back door and yell "daah" to see if Cora will come up to the window and greet her, which Cora almost always does in hopes of attention.  :)

Read more >>