Happy Birthday Brandon!!

Today is Brandon's 31st birthday! Unfortunately, it's not going to be a "happy" one. :( But, we still love him and can't wait to spend many, many more HAPPY birthday's with him!!!

"Max and Me"

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."

—John Grogan

"Marley and Me"

This picture cracks me up because it was probably about a week after we first brought Brody home and it about sums up the way we all felt!!!

Today our beloved dog Max was put to rest, he died peacefully in his "daddy's" arms. I always dreaded this day but never thought it would be this soon. Max was the best dog we've ever known for the entire 8 1/2 years that we had him, up until the end. He did a horrible thing but we are going to remember the good times with him. I will miss him every day I'm sure... just the little things. There is a void in our home right now, it's hard leaving the house and coming back not seeing him at the door wiggling his butt. He was my best friend.
What makes it even worse is that today is Brandon's birthday. :( What a strong man to be able to go through what Brandon went through tonight but, he didn't want Max to be alone. He took some double cheeseburgers to him (his favorites) and played with him for an hour before, so at least he died happy. I only wish I could've been strong enough, just to have been able to say goodbye.
We are at peace with our decision and truly in our hearts believe that he was sick anyway and that we made the right decision. This has been the hardest couple of weeks we've ever had and we hope that time will heal our hearts.

Rest in peace Pig, we love you!

Havin' a ball(oon)!

Brody's good friend Hannah brought these balloons over for him the other day. He loves carrying them all around the house with him! Its the simple things I guess! ;)

Getting back to "normal"...

Yesterday we had Brody's follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon at Children's. We got good news, thank God! They said everything was looking good, aside from the swelling, and the inside of his mouth was healing well too! They gave us the ok to start feeding him whatever he wanted which was such a relief to us and I'm sure to Brody as well, those syringe feedings just broke our hearts. He is also allowed to drink from sippy cups again so the whole way home he clung to his cup even in his sleep! The best news was that we didn't have to clean his wounds as much. That was torture to him and to us and we had to do it 4 times a day!

We are slowly weening him from his pain medication so that is making him less groggy and so much more like the "old Brod"! He is playing again and getting into everything! We are both nervous wrecks now following him around like 2 psycho parents, if I could put him in a bubble right now, trust me, I would!!! But, for now I'll just thank the good Lord that he is recovering and getting back to "normal". Thanks again to you all for your continued prayers and support, it makes us feel so loved. We love you all!

Update

No pictures today, just some updates. We got home last night and that seemed to lift Brody's spirits some. Everyday he looks better and better, just groggy from the pain meds. Today he gave high-fives and even did "heee shoots and scores"!, which made me have another little breakdown but this time a happy one. We are taking him Wednesday for his follow up with the plastic surgeon and hopefully by then all of the stitches will be out.
Brandon has been amazing through this whole ordeal. He is doing everything from washing Brody's face and putting the ointment on to giving meds and even the syringe feedings. It kills me to even have to hold Brody and watch all of these things so I am grateful that I have such a wonderful husband!

It is a tough road but with all of the prayers and support, we have faith that everything is going to be okay. Just keep the prayers coming!

Happier days...

This may be the hardest thing I have ever had to write but, I felt it necessary. The past few days have been like living in a nightmare. I would give anything to take that night back. Max was a part of our family for 8 years and he will be missed terribly but, our first priority is our baby. We want to thank all of our family and friends for all of your prayers and love over the past couple of days. We are going to need your continued support. Our hearts are just broken.

Rain, rain go away...

Brody and Max want to play :(

Elmo loves to s*** with you!

This was a Christmas gift from Aunt Vicki for Brody. He was a little too young then to really "get" what to do with it on his own. Now he plays with it daily, riding it all around! When you are on Elmo, he says a couple different phrases and the one particular phrase is a little hard to understand...I'm assuming that, because he is on a surf board, he says "Elmo loves to SURF with you", but it certainly sounds like another 4 letter word beginning with "S"!!! Hopefully Brody won't pick up on that! Hahahaha!!

It sure ain't the Bahamas...

Today we decided to take Brody to Yellow Creek State Park. It's the closest thing to a beach that we have around here. I know, depressing!! :) It was a nice warm day and we had a good time.

Brody enjoyed a PB & J. It was the first time he'd ever had it like this, usually I cut it up into little bites for him so, it was exciting to see what he would do. He ate it like an old pro!

I didn't know how he would react to the "sand". It's a little rough and filled with rocks. He loved it though and of course had to taste each rock that he found!



I was totally amazed at how he reacted to the water. Although he loves bath time, he is not much into other forms of water (pools, oceans). He went right in with Daddy and splashed around, despite the cold water!

We love having Daddy home with us. Not only does it give me a little break every now and then, but Brody adores him. They are BFF's!! :)

He took a little spill face first into the water...poor guy! We are putting him in swim classes next month so hopefully we don't get this reaction when he goes under!

Little social butterfly decided to go say hello to some sunbathers in his diaper!! No shame!!

More from the walk...

The view was amazing and as you can tell we took full advantage!

My boys :)

My little farmer..."look Ma, no shoes!" Good Lord, what was I thinking?!!! Hahaha!

They had a little petting zoo which I think I may have enjoyed a little more than Brody! :) You could feed the goats too. Well, instead of feeding the animals, Brody fed himself with a big heaping handful!!!

This kid is a huggin' machine!!!

This was the scene in the backseat almost as soon as we started driving! Needless to say, it was a pretty nice ride home for Brandon and I!

"Take Steps" for Uncle Brent

Brandon's oldest ;) brother, Brent, has Crohn's disease. Every year they have a walk in Pittsburgh (a.k.a. "City of Champions"), to help raise money and awareness for the disease. This year it was held in Schenley Park. We had beautiful weather and alot of fun!

For more information on the disease and the walk you can check out the website http://online.ccfa.org/site/TR/Walk/Chapter-WesternPennsylvaniaWestVirginia?px=1330446&pg=personal&fr_id=1253&et=q38iWRkR2YuLT0gUv_UN7w..&s_tafId=1837