Wilbur the Tetherball Playing Dog!!!

We are still dumbfounded as to why anyone would've gotten rid of this dog as he is pretty close to perfect! He is far better behaved than Tex (though in Tex's defense he is only 10 months old and Wilbur is around 3!!!) He is fully trained, fetches and retrieves as ball right back to your feet, walks well on a leash, rides great in the car, lets the kids jump and climb all over him, can swim, has learned how to "hug" on command, and pretty much does not much throughout the day except for eat and sleep:) Today the boys discovered a hidden talent...he plays tetherball! Yes, I said tetherball! Brian and Matt were out back playing when Wilbur joined right in, using his snout to volley the ball back and forth with the boys much to the delight of the boys! Notice in the video how much weight he's put on...he's not quite so scary skinny anymore:)

Luke's Surgery

Click for a few more pics of the poor guy :(

Poor Lukey...he has no idea what it feels like to be healthy so we decided to fix the problem. The Tuesday after Christmas, we left the boys with my parents and took Luke to the Children's Hospital in Austin for the insertion of a second round of ear tubes, as well as the removal of his tonsils and adenoids. He has had 12 rounds of antibiotics since May and I don't think I've ever seen him without a runny nose or picking his ears.

The Children's Hospital turned out to be a wonderful experience. Luke arrived and got to pick out a bike from the "garage". While I was busy answering questions with the nurses, Luke was busy driving all around the Pre-Op center with Daddy:) Our ENT (who has become more of a family friend seeing as how we've had six surgeries with him the the past three years) came to get Luke and they went off together, driving to the stop sign, turning right at the green light and eventually heading to the O.R. together. Poor guy...he happily drove off without a clue of what was to come!

Luke went through surgery with flying colors and was admitted to the floor for the night. Texas policy is they stay overnight if they are under five, and don't leave until they are "willing" to take pain meds. on their own. He was extremely upset and miserable when we got upstairs, especially seeing the IV in his hand, but became much happier once he was settled with Mickey on the DVD player and his own "people" pillow:) Later that day we took a walk to the playroom which was the highlight of the whole stay! Luckily for us, Luke was taking his medicine without too much of a battle so the next morning we were discharged by 9am!!!

It's been a little over a week and Luke is doing awesome! We kept him pretty drugged for the first five days which helped him to recover and he is almost back to himself (minus the runny nose and chronic ear pain...HOORAY!!!!). Each day he is taking less and less medicine and getting more and more active:) He was an amazing patient, especially for being 3 and not really understanding why he felt so horrible, and we are just looking forward to a new year with a finally healthy little man!!!