Week in Review

Well, Bryce has finally adjusted to Bella not being here. He has done very well--after the initial 2-3 days of aggressive behavior and "deafness" to adult directions.

We tried to make it a fun week this past week, and tonight we are making cookies together. He loves to do that. I have hopes that one day he will be a famous chef.

We went out to lunch today and we took Breckin with us. Both boys did remarkably well, and it is nice to have a pleasant lunch with my son and nephew--just the 3 of us. I can't wait for them both to get older and we can go and do all sorts of fun things!

This past Saturday we went to Hershey Park in the Dark. Bryce rode the Trailblazer last year---the smallest roller coaster there---and cried the ENTIRE time. At the end, he wiped away the tears and stated that it wasn't so bad. THIS YEAR, he screamed the whole time and had a blast. We had to ride it 3 times in a row and he wanted to go more. However, Mom was the one who was starting to feel sick and had to put a halt to the rerides. **Note to others--don't eat a soft pretzel and drink Pepsi before riding** There weren't that many people in line, so when we would go back, we would walk right into a waiting car. He screamed the entire ride all 3 times, but at least I knew he was breathing.
Then he rode the kiddie pirate ship and loved that as well. Bryce vows that he WILL ride Splash Mountain when we go in late November to Walt Disney World.

On another note, Bryce got his school pictures back this week. He wears his glasses all day at school, so he has them on in the picture. The photographer was able to "fix" his puffy purple lip from the fall he had 2 days before the pics. I am impressed with the result!!!



I think he looks about 10 in this pic, but it is just because he is growing so quickly. The last time we measured him, he was 42 inches. That was almost 4 months ago, and I KNOW that he has grown since then.

Sad Day

I hate to write about sad things on the blog, but this was too important not to acknowledge it's occurance. Tonight we had to put our oldest dog, Bella, to sleep. She had a tumor on her hind quarters that we had removed a year or two ago, but it just kept growing. It was to the point that she couldn't walk properly and the last week she really had trouble going to the bathroom etc. You could tell she didn't feel well, and she actually started to hemorrhage into that area internally. As a family, we decided that putting her to sleep was the humane option. Bryce was included in the decision and was there when she was put to sleep at his own request. I think he handled it very maturely, and the tears he cried were for one of his very best friends.

Isabella Marie Durham was born December 22, 2000. We adopted her in March of 2001---with my first tax return as an RN. She was a great dog and we all have very happy memories of her. So this page is dedicated to the memory of a stubborn soul with big chocolate eyes full of life and love for her humans. We will never forget you and know that you have found your star in heaven.

Below are just a few pictures of Bella. Unfortunately, all of her puppy pictures were taken with 35mm film--digital cameras weren't that popular when we first got her.

Bryce and Bella were inseperable when he was small

A final picture of the duo taken this afternoon

Chance just keeps growing and growing and ......

Chance is officially 4 months old today. He is getting HUGE and we lovingly refer to his as our horse. He is not that big, but compared to Bella he is HUGE. We know that he won't get too big--we hope--but the rate of growth is phenomenal.




Here is an old photo from when we first brought him home for comparison: