Difficult Week: Goodbye to Maggie & to Seth's Appendix

Last week was a tough one. On Wednesday morning we had to put our Maggie down. She has been slowly getting sicker & sicker from cancer. But finally, we realized it was time for her go........before she started to suffer badly. She has been with us for 8 yrs. She was such a good mommy dog. She reminded me of Nana on Peter Pan. She didn't spoon out medicine for the kids, but she did patiently let them climb all over her. She would swim out to them in the river to "save" them & offer them her tail & watched over them. Where ever the kids were, she was. She never whined or complained or growled about anything. We are all heart broken over losing her & miss her very much already. We hope pets go to heaven. If they do, she will be there. She was such a good girl.

Bye, Maggie. We'll never forget you.

Wednesday afternoon was a nice family pic-nic at the park: a late celebration of Micah's b-day. There was more pizza, cake & presents. Justin played ball with the boys & fetch with Scout. Justin, Deb & Em played some catch in a big field. Sarah & Mom comforted me. It was a nice distraction for the kids. No pics.......sorry.

Then, on Thursday, I took Seth to the ER for some lower-right belly pain he was having. Sure enough, it was his appendix. He went into surgery around 2:30 am Friday. All went well. We had a 2-day hospital stay. I was able to stay with him & had the baby with me too. They even put a bed in there for me. Justin took an extra day off & stayed home with the other 4 boys. I hovered over Seth & drove the nurses crazy. Seth was pretty excited when they wheeled him down the hall into surgery. He said, in complete awe, "I always wondered what this was like!!!" I tried to get the nurse to yell "STAT!!!" for Seth, but he was a party pooper. During the surgery, I was a nervous wreck & talked to God a lot. That was the hardest part for me. I knew it was a common thing.........but, you know........my baby was in SURGERY. Seth said the worst part of his stay & of his pain was the hunger he felt when the Dr wouldn't let him eat for a day & 1/2. He got very tired of juice & jello!!! He would probably say the best part of his stay was the drugs they gave him, though he doesn't remember much from when he was on them. He did do a nice Darth Vader impression for the nurses. He interacted with the TV shows he was watching & told Will Smith (on Fresh Prince) that his friends were just jerks anyway & to let them go. He also said that the TV & the air vent were arch rivals & would kill each other. He found rhyming jello, mellow, fellow & bellow to be very intriguing. He even bellowed once.......so I would know what the word meant. Now he is home & recovering nicely. Thankfully, he only needs Motrin.

Seth feeling sick & tired............of jello!

Seth's buddy, Nic, making fun of Seth for his drug-induced antics.

Seth hugging Nic goodbye while still being made fun of. It's OK. He barely remembers the visit.

A bright spot: Nanny & Papa are here from Seattle to visit.

They brought doughnuts & hats for breakfast.

Nice Papa got on the floor (very brave on THIS floor!!!) & played w/ the kids. They also threw water balloons & a took walk together. Pic-nic & a BBQ (& more pics) still to come before they leave on Friday.