Important Announcement

After much deliberation, and full approval by Jim, I have decided to close down this blog and maintain just the one.  I've started including more and more family information there, so you will still be able to see the kids as they grow, stay involved in their activities, and keep up with the family news.  Please check out Michelle's Masterful Musings for all the Shannon comings and goings!

Spring Update

Whew!  The beginning of the year saw Jim spending an inordinate amount of time at work after hours and on the weekends.  We immediately sequed into a sporting event schedule that required some form of commitment every day of the week.  It got a bit crazy for a while, but the end is now in sight.  I think we are all ready for a bit of a break.  We will definitely need to rest up because the fall is slated to be much, much worse.

School gets out on June 4th; as usual, the kids are both excited and a bit sad to see the school year end.  Both kids have had a great year and have thoroughly enjoyed themselves this year, so much so that they both do not necessarily want it to end.  Then again, they know that the end of school brings a month-long vacation to see both sets of grandparents, and that has them jumping up and down for joy.  Honestly, even though we will miss them terribly, the idea of a month-long break from the kids has Momma and Daddy jumping up and down for joy too.  Just the thought of not having to rush home only to have to rush back out immediately to get one of the kids to soccer or ballet or piano...

Anyway, Holly finished her first full year of ballet.  She LOVED it and does nothing but dance around the house these days.  Here are a few pictures of Holly at her final demonstration this past Sunday.  Nothing makes her happier than showing us what she has learned.  We have already signed her up for ballet next year.  Added to that, she expressed a sincere and driving interest to cheer for pee wee football next fall.  ***Sigh***  We'll be signing her up this weekend. 

Connor is doing an excellent job in his club soccer!  While his team is struggling, it has been a joy to watch Connor blossom as a soccer player this spring.  He's aggressive, he has some amazing dribbling skills, and he has a pure love of the game.  He is so fun to watch!  His last game is scheduled for this weekend, but he has a summer soccer camp to help him with practicing his skills.  In addition, Connor proved what an amazing runner he is.  He ran one mile in 6 min. 54 sec. for school.  Only one other fifth grader beat him.  We are definitely trying to nurture this natural ability of his, as Daddy and he have gone for several 5K runs together.  The next step is to run an official race together. 

We can't forget about piano!  We had Holly step away from piano for the spring.  She wasn't progressing and did not express an interest in practicing at all.  She will be starting back up again this fall, and we do catch her pulling out her old song books to practice every once in a while.  I think the break will have been good for her.  As for Connor, he continues to amaze us.  He got the highest scores for his spring competition in his age group.  He has one more recital in early June, and then we move to the summer schedule.  He has been working on learning John Lennon's "Imagine".  It is such a nice song to hear over and over (and over) again.

We have been horrible about taking pictures this spring, which you would think would not be an issue with smartphones but it is.  What can I say?  Now that our schedule has freed up, we would love visitors!  We even have a fun new toy to share with everyone.  We'll also get better about at least updating this thing...and taking pictures.  It's rather difficult to share family news without pictures of the kids. 

We hope everything is well wherever you are!

Health Update

No - Holly does not have any allergies.  After two years of hearing from her pediatrician that her stuffy nose and recurring ear infections are from allergies, we were absolutely shocked when the results of her allergy testing came back and showed nothing.  Well, that's not true.  It showed a slight reaction to dairy.  But no reactions to animal dander, pollen, pollutants, mold, or anything else.  No more allergy medicine for her! 

Now that we have ruled out allergies, the next step is to get her adenoids checked out for possible removal.  The girl does snore, and since the ear infections are being caused by a lack of drainage from somewhere in the ear canal, our bets are that she is going to have to have surgery.  We took her this morning for her x-rays to determine if they can tell whether they are enlarged or not.  We should find out by the end of this week what our next steps are.

Time to report the first soccer injury.  That's right.  Connor, who after five years finally learned the lesson of following the ball towards the goal, got tangled up with the goalie in last night's indoor soccer game and landed pretty hard on his shoulder.  He states that he jammed his shoulder into his ear.  All we know is that the top shoulder joint is VERY tender, and he has a difficult time moving his arm right now.  Unfortunately, this weekend is a big piano recital.  He had to skip out on rehearsal because it hurts to raise his arm into proper position.  We promised his piano teacher that he will still attend the recital.  Whether he can play or not remains to be seen.  When given the choice of going to the doctor, he does not want to go but wants to wait until Monday to see how it is.  Hopefully, between ice, rest, and ibuprofen, the inflammation will go down on its own.  We told him this will most likely be the first of many soccer injuries!

And so it begins...

Yes, it is February 23, but Connor had his first soccer practice for the spring season.  He is on a new team this year, one that is going to change the way Connor (and the family) approaches soccer.  For those who used to play soccer, it would be akin to the traveling team that was so highly coveted all those years ago.  He is on a select team, meaning that he was hand-picked by a former coach of his to be on this team.  Many other teams in this league have been playing together for years, while this will be his team's first season together.  It is a huge time (and monetary) commitment, but in order for Connor to progress in his soccer ability, it was time to make this move.  What this means as parents is that every weekend between now and the middle of June will be filled with soccer games, and every week filled with two soccer practices in addition to the ballet and piano lessons we already have on the schedule.  This also means a significantly decreased ability to travel.  This is good news for family and friends who might be interested in seeing Connor play this spring season.  You will have ample opportunity! 

Cullen - Two weeks later

We hit two weeks post-op yesterday, and many of you may be wondering just how he is doing.  The first few days we got him home, he was miserable - bumping his cone into everything and everyone.  Gretchen was quite unsure of the cone too and did not want to have anything to do with him.  You could tell that he was still working to get the drugs out of his system because he was docile and relaxed.  As he started to feel better, he started showing signs of being the same silly dog he was prior to the surgery.  He found ways to gnaw on bones and even found a way to chew on the end of his cone, ripping off the duct tape used to repair a crack in it. 

If we had to guess, he is feeling much better.  We took him in today to get his staples removed, and the vet let us know that he did not need to come back for another re-check.  He still has to wear the cone until Monday, giving the incision a few more days to heal.  Also, he'll go back to an all-solid-food diet starting tomorrow which we are going to introduce slowly, again to limit the stress on his intestines.  Overall, though, I think he is in the clear.

Granted, the vet did warn us that he does not have much intestines left, so our biggest challenge is going to be limiting his access to unhealthy chewing.  I'm thinking we may need to start a nylabone collection to help us in that task.  Any helpful hints?

The Cullen Report - Day Four

I am happy to report that Cullen has turned the tide, and the vet gave us the green light to take him home today.  In fact, the vet was very pleased with Cullen's behavior this morning (friendly and almost happy), and the vet tech who called me later to schedule his pick-up commented that he was wagging his tail and came out of his crate all on his own this morning, very unusual behavior for him this past week. 

Granted, with his release came an entire page of care instructions, three different medications, and two cases of special dog food.  Jim had to create a spreadsheet just to keep track of it all!  He also continues to wear his e-collar (or as I call it, the cone of shame) and will have that lovely accessory until the vet takes out his staples.  Still, he's home, and we all are breathing a sigh of relief.  He still has a long way to go, but hopefully the worst is past.

The funny thing is that Gretchen HATES the collar.  She refuses to go anywhere near him if she can help it and has already snarled and barked whenever Cullen has gone up to her to say hi.  This picture was the first time she let him get close to her since we came home.  It is rather annoying, but I think we'll all take it over the alternative!

Cullen Update #2

The vet called already and informed us that he wanted to keep him for another day.  It seems that his temperature spiked a bit, and the vet wants to make sure that it comes back down.  His fear is that we would get Cullen home, his temperature would continue to increase, and we would have to bring him right back to the hospital.  He mentioned today that five days after the operation are really the most vital; we still are not at 48 hours since they first opened Cullen up. 

The good news is that Cullen did get to eat a little solid food for the first time yesterday and did pretty well with it.  Now, of course, the vet needs to make sure that the sutures in the intestines hold up and do not leak throughout the entire digestive process.  So, we have another day of waiting to see how Cullen is going to fare.  The vet promised that no news is good news, so ideally, we will not hear from the vet again at all today.  It is going to be a long day.

To make matters worse, Jim has to leave for a business trip this afternoon.  He is only supposed to be gone for one night, but there is a possibility that he will not come home until Tuesday.  What a way to start a week...