Abby's birthday and Petunia's accident

Hello everybody,

long time no post from me! The month of September was just basically focused on Abby's school and my work with the strange hours.

On the last week of Sept, we had a birthday party for Abby. She is now 9 years old! This was her first birthday party here in WV since we moved here. It was great to see Abby with her friends that she made over the year. My sister's family, some kids from her class, some from homeschooling group, and a couple of neighbors' kids came. No pictures because my computer still won't recognize the camera to upload!

Something awful happened the following week, on Thursday - October 3rd. Petunia's collar and the leash somehow got disconnected and she got away. I called her name, she looked at me but then went on sniffing other people's yard. I kept on calling her to come back to me but she was stubborn and wouldn't come on command. She started to walk further away from home, I followed her but she kept on going on. I was getting worried because she was getting closer to the busy road which is 2 blocks away from our house. By the time she was just one house away from the busy road, I started calling her name like crazy because I was afraid for her.

The next thing I knew, she was down on the road. I did not see the car hit her but I knew she was hit because she was down and she tried to get up but couldn't. That was an awful thing to see, and she cried and cried but as soon as she saw me, she stopped crying out and just gave me her saddest puppy eyes. I ran to her and saw that she couldn't move her back legs. There were some blood on her face, and on 3 of her legs. It just broke my heart. A lady from across the street came down and asked me if this dog was mine. I said "Yes, she's mine." I did not want to waste a minute, I wanted to take her to the vet right away. I asked the lady if she could hold Petunia while I go to get the car. She was a very nice lady, she sat down on the grass with her and waited for me. That was the hardest thing I had to do,...leaving her there. She looked at me and I said "I will be right back".

I ran all the way home and found Abby crying because she did not know where I was. I went to grab my keys but couldn't find my money for the vet. I was frantically searching for my credit card or bank card but couldn't find it. Abby was still upset about me "disappearing" and asked me a lot of questions. I told her to get in the car, but she kept on asking me why did I leave, why did I not tell her that I was going outside, etc. I was still trying to find my money finally I stopped and looked at her and said "Petunia was hit by a car." Abby got very upset and cried again because she thought Petunia was dead. I told her that she is alive but very hurt. I just gave up looking for my money and left because I wanted to get Petunia to the vet ASAP.

The drive to the vet was the longest drive I have had to do because it was just so hard to see Petunia being in pain while I'm trying my best to hurry to the vet. Abby said that she was growling, and whining at the same time or back and forth. Two nurses at the vet carried her in right away and we stayed for 3 hours to wait for the pain medicine to kick in before they could do an X-ray. They said that they have to pull the legs to do the X-ray but Petunia was obviously in too much pain for them to do that so that's why they waited which is a good thing. That shows that this Vet's team of staff really cared for Petunia.

They finally got the X-ray and showed it to me, her pelvis was broken in 2 places. Her whole left side of the pelvis was shifted down. They said that she can't have puppies because they could get stuck in the left side if she were to get pregnant. We will have to schedule for her to get spayed next year because right now, all we can focus on is her recovery. They said that they don't put a cast on broken pelvis, it have to be healed on its own! The vet said that it takes about 6 to 8 weeks for it to heal.

We brought her back home that night and she growled and whined the whole night. The next morning, my brother-in-law came over to help me take her outside to relieve herself. We used a towel and put it underneath her stomach and held both ends up like a "pulley" to lift up her back end so that she could walk on her front legs. (The nurses at the vet taught me that) She wagged her tail when we took her outside. The 2nd time around, I asked a neighbor to help me do that for the evening bathroom time. By the 3rd time, I was able to do it myself with Abby's help. After one week, she started walking on her own without the towel's support but very limited because her back legs were weak. She can walk on the grass but not on my hardwood floors, she slipped and fell down. She couldn't get up and I did not want to see that happen ever again! So, I went to the basement and took two floor rugs, and all of the colorful "puzzle" mats to put it on the floors from the living room to the front door.

The car hit her left side of the body but I didn't understand how her face got hurt. The vet said that she fell flat on her face after being hit and that made sense. Now, because of that, she can't chew food and still can't today - 2 weeks later. I try dog food kibbles everyday but she just can't so I am feeding her the canned moist food so that she could lick it. She won't eat it unless I am sitting by her and holding the bowl near her face. I've been feeding her like this for 2 weeks, just right besides her.

For the first 2 weeks, she have not been able to lay down comfortably. She just finds a corner where she leans her body against the wall and keep her head up with her front legs straight. I try to help her lay down but she refuse to move her legs down. I called the vet a couple of times and she said to just wait, she will eventually lay down when she can. I just feel bad for her because she can't really sleep "deep" because of that. She starts to fall asleep and then her front legs starts to collapse but then she wakes up and straighten up again. I have been trying many, many different ways to help her lay down by putting pillows around her, blankets, couch cushions, and all that. I tried different set ups, and etc. finally 2 days ago I found an arrangement that made her lay down for the first time.

I hope now that she is finally sleeping laying down that she will be recovering faster than the first 2 weeks with the much needed rest. I took her to the vet on Wednesday for the 2 weeks follow-up. She said that Petunia is recovering well for her type of injury at 2 weeks. They want to see her again in a month.

Oh by the way, the nurse asked if I was willing to pay for the X-ray and I told her that I couldn't find my money in time but that I would come back and pay the next day. She said no, but then she went to ask the vet and I am soooo glad that I have a nice vet because she said yes! She knows me from my 3 cats and Petunia, and that I always bring them in for their vaccinations, check-ups so she knows that I will pay. It cost me $450! Oh well, it had to be done. I think Petunia will be okay eventually, it will just take time.

Back to School, my new job and today!

Abby's first day back to school after one year of homeschooling. She's enrolled in a private school where they have only 9 kids in her class.
I don't know what she's doing here...my sister took all these pictures. I couldn't be there for her first day of school cuz I was at my new job at the time. Being silly, I guess! Abby sitting outside with her cousins - ready to go to school!
Kids playing around : )
On the way to school!


After school, I went to pick her up and asked her all about her first day. She said that one boy in her class likes Pokemon, just like her. There's only 3 girls in her class including her, and 6 boys. Her teacher wants Abby to teach the class some sign language. So far, she has taught the kids "hi, bye, and I want a cookie" haha. She also told me that they played an awesome math game that she really loved. (For a girl who hates math...that's pretty good!!)

I see that I haven't added anything to this blog for almost 3 months...the whole summer! I've been busy for most of June and part of July just playing outside, taking Abby to swim with friends or by ourselves at a nearby community pool, or simply in our backyard with water balloons and neighbor kids. Also for two full weeks, Abby had her 2 best friends stay with us and Abby really enjoyed having them here. She was very sad to see them go back home and asked me if we could move closer to them. They live in Frederick, MD which is 4 hours from here.

Another reason why I've not blogged is because my camera is now considered as a foreign object every time I try to upload pictures on my computer! I don't know what happened!?!? So I have no pictures to show on my blog! You see the photos of Abby's first day of school because that's from my sister's camera and she e-mailed me those pix.

Then in mid-July, I applied for a job at Pressley Ridge and got the job! You can check out the website...http://www.pressleyridge.org/about/ Between July and now, I've been training like crazy! I like working, but I just wish I could work during the hours that Abby is in school. Right now, I work the owl shift...overnight and I get off at 8am but don't get home till 9am cuz it's one hour from home. Some days, I don't get to leave work till 9:30am or so but it just depends on what happens each morning.

Anyway, it's Thursday and I'm off from work so I took Abby to school this morning with Petunia in the back seat. After I dropped Abby off, I took Petunia to the nearest playground to see if there's any walking trails for us. As soon as I got out of the car, Petunia jumped out and ran! I was afraid that she'll get out of the park and get hit by a car so I chased her! I love bicycling, rollerblading, swimming, but NOT running and she got me running! I ran after her for a while as she was zigzagging all over the park! Thank goodness, there's nobody at the park...it was 8am! She crouched down to take care of her nature call and I took that opportunity to step on the leash before she could escape from me! We walked around the park and there wasn't much of a walking trail so we just stayed there for a little while.

Then I saw a huge dog that was free and it was about 50-100 feet away or whatever, and Petunia saw it as it was looking at her so I was waiting for one of them to start barking but neither one of them did. They just stood STILL and stared at each other but then I noticed its' tail...it was not a dog but a deer! The deer was trying to get out of the park but couldn't find her way out cuz of the fence all around and she was banging her head on the fence trying to break it. I didn't want it to come towards us and hit us with her head so I thought it was time to go home.

Today was our first attempt in finding a walking trail...if anybody knows of one that is in my town, please tell me! I know there's one in Tom Run Park but with my hourly commute to and from work, I'm tight with gas! So I want something local where I could take Petunia for a long walk without worrying about cars.

Cell phone making kernels pop!

Hey there, a blog showed 3 very short video clips of cell phones popping kernels. Can't believe it? Check it out! Scary to think about what cell phones could do to our bodies!! Here's the link below...

http://www.earofmyheart.com/wordpress/2008/06/07/deafies-careful-where-you-point-your-pagers/

Kings Dominion, hot weather, and more!

Our puppy will be ONE year old in July! She loves being outside playing catch. She will catch whatever we throw...but she won't give it back to us!! She chews EVERYTHING that she can get her paws on. We still have to make sure there is nothing on the floor or near her reach! We have KONG toys for her, they are indestructible. She have one KONG that is for dental purpose where she can chew on it, 2 KONG that I can fill up with treats and she LOVES them, then a new KONG toy for playing catch outside. You can see the new toy in mid-air.

It have been very HOT for the last few days, up in the 80's, 90's! Even this morning at 5am! Wondering why I was up that early? My alarm clock malfunctioned and went off exactly at 5:00am! Wait...how can an alarm clock wake up a profoundly deaf person like me??? It vibrates and flashes the lamp on and off repeatedly till I get up and turn it off. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to take the trash out while it was supposedly cool but I was surprised it was already hot! The Sun was not even out, the sky was blue and pink! Wow. I want to go out to the store and buy one of those plastic kiddie swimming pool just for the puppy to jump in and cool off if she wanted to. She will, she LOVES the water when Abby plays with the sprinkler or the hose.

Last Friday, Abby and I went to Frederick, MD to stay there for the weekend with Abby's best friend and her sister. Saturday morning, we left very early to go to Kings Dominion which is 2 hours from Frederick. Abby, Jovanna, her older sister Monique and her best friend, Bri all rode in the back of the SUV while the girls' mom and I chatted up in the front. Bri brought her laptop for the 4 girls to watch a movie, and then take some pix like these below! They sure had lots of fun on the way to the amusement park.

Now these pictures below were taken by my sister. She took Abby with her family to feed a horse, and 2 dogs. They are hoping to do this every week with the kids because they really enjoyed doing that. Kade and Abby looking back at the photographer. (Every time I try to upload the pix of the kids with the horse, this is the pix that shows up below..no idea why?)

Yesterday, we went to McDonald's to eat dinner and then play outside. Unfortunately, it's the only restaurant with an outdoors playground that we know of! We ate inside first cuz it was hot outside! You can see all 3 kids smiling, I thought they were really cute!

Oh, at Kings Dominion, they have an annual Deaf Day where lots of deaf people traveled from afar (most within 2-4 hours radius) to meet with old friends for fun with families. There were sign language interpreters at the ticket booths, at the plays/ musicals, and all that. Abby and I have been going there for several years, and I told her that even after we moved to West Virginia that we would still make plans to go every year. We call it our "summer kick off" because it always happens on the first Saturday of June but this time it was on May 31st.

(I just found out that the nearest amusement park to us now is Kennywood, and they have a Deaf day too.)

Anyway, we went straight to the water park first because it was already very hot when we arrived. We got there before the gates opened, so we were concerned that we wouldn't get a place to sit down because there a big crowd waiting right by the waterpark. We made it and got to sit down by the lazy river and that was the first ride the 4 girls chose! Kim and I took turns accompanying the girls on the rides (we didn't ride them because both of us can't...but we just stood in lines w/ them or waited at the exit for them). Anyway, so when it was Kim's turn to go w/ them, I laid down on the chair and read a book I borrowed from the library. I was NOT facing the Sun, but I still got seriously sunburned! We left about an hour before the park closed and got back to Frederick after 11pm. We were all EXHAUSTED!

The next day, I thought I couldn't walk due to the sunburn! OUCH! I took Abby and the 2 sisters to the swimming pool and they had fun while I stayed in the SHADE under the umbrella and went on to finish the book. I proceed to start the 2nd book that I brought but then the girls told me they heard thunder so we all went back inside. I am still trying to finish that book but still getting interrupted every now and then. Abby was sad to leave Frederick and asked if we could move there.

Most people who live in D.C., either at or near Gallaudet University, are not there to stay. They go there for college and then move away either back to their hometown or to a new place where a career awaits them. When we moved away last August, we did not know where Jovanna's family would be after her mom graduates from GU. Well, she just graduated last month! It looks like they might live in Frederick, MD after all so that's why Abby wants to move there. I just told her that it's easier to visit Frederick because it is one hour closer to us! Washington D.C. is approx. 5 hours from us plus traffic guaranteed! Also Jovanna's birthday is coming up and we're hoping that we can make it back there for that.

Fishing

These pictures were taken on our first time visiting the state park which is less than 20 minutes from home. We've been there a few times now that it's one of Abby's favorite places!

She caught a fish on her first day here, a Blue Gill.
She would rather to spend her whole day by the water than the playground that you can see

Here, Abby is showing us how to throw it in the water. She was really worried about getting the hook on me as she kept on asking me to move!

Playing baseball

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago at my sister's in-law's backyard. Uncle Mike helped Abby on how to hold a baseball and then pitched for her and she hit a few. It's been very warm since we got back home from DC, so we've been outside almost everyday. Three of my 6 "kids" are always begging to go outside...my daughter, my dog, and my white cat!

Today, "Winter" the white cat, was outside but wouldn't respond to me when I called her because there were several men outside working with loud tools. She was afraid so I had to walk around the block to search for "Winter" and finally found her! I'm not ready to leave her out all day because she has been inside with me since last October when we found her as a stray, so I just let her out for an hour or so.

Last week, I finally purchased a car! I was going crazy being without transportation for 4 months! If I lived in DC without a car, it wouldn't be a problem because they have plenty of public transportation such as metro, city bus, train, and etc. Not here except for when I borrowed my sister's truck, or when she would come to pick me up for shopping or church. My friend, Carrie also helped out by taking us to the gym for Abby's PE classes and shopping. THANKS a bunch for your help!!

The day after we got our car, we went to Carrie's new house! Abby loved it there, and she was also glad to see her friends, finally! Today, we went to my sister's house for a bonfire and we had lots of fun! Abby asked if 2 girls could come and spend the night with her, and of course, I said sure! It's Friday, so why not?

I better go to bed but wanted to post something really quick to catch up!

Last night

I've been in Washington D.C. for the last several days, staying at a friend's apartment. I am babysitting 2 kids, and 2 Pit Bull dogs! I will post photos when I get back home from this trip. They're really cute dogs, Mack is 3 years old and Angel is 4 months old. Abby loves them so much that she is always anxious to get back to the apartment after we drop off 2 girls at school.

Pit Bull dogs are known for biting people, animals and killing them by locking their bite right on the neck. That is because they were taught that, or mistreated when they were growing up. Not the 2 dogs that we are caring for, they are so sweet! They love to sleep with me every night! We will miss them when we leave tomorrow.

Anyway, last night I drove the 3 girls to a shopping center right across the street from the apartment. We usually walk there, but this time we had to drive because it was literally POURING!!!

We needed to buy some band-aids because one of the girls got a scratch at the playground. We've been at 2 different playgrounds almost everyday because of the NICE weather the whole time we were here except for the day we arrived.

When I was driving, I saw white stuff flying around and I was shocked and said "WHAT?!?!?! It's snowing!?" At first, I thought it was flurries but wasn't sure because they looked too big to be snow, so I thought maybe hail but they didn't look like it. It was hard to tell with the pouring rain in the dark so I stared on the road in front of me and tried to figure out what were flying around and landing on the road. Monique laughed at me and said "Cherry Blossoms!"

AHA! Yes, it is the season for the Cherry Blossoms and it's big in Washington D.C. You can see a picture of Abby with Cherry Blossoms from last year, it is on the right side of this blog. I haven't taken any pictures of this year. Maybe I will tomorrow morning before we leave, if I remember to do it!

Firefighter's Demo

Today, after church, we went to a center where they had an "expo" type of thing inside the building from all kinds of places like different businesses in the town and nearby.

Outside, there was a big orange jumping thing for kids, and a mobile home that you can see below. It's a firefighter "demo" home with a kitchen and 2 bedrooms. First, we all went into the kitchen and the firefighter talked to the kids about safety in there with the stove, oven, toaster, and etc. He showed us that there was a pizza box in the oven which will eventually start a "fire".

We went into the middle room and talked for a while, I have no idea what he said. I was in there holding my niece and with my Abby, and their cousins. Anyway, we went into the last room and the fire alarm went off so the firefighter told all the kids to touch the door first before opening the door, it was warm and there was a little smoke. We all crawled (except me, I walked on my knees cuz I had little Tara with me).

We were back in the middle room, and the firefighter asked us to feel the door, and it was hotter. He asked the kid in the front to open the door a little, and when he did, we saw a lot of smoke so he shut it closed.

We all turned around and went out the window! There's a video of Abby and other kids climbing out of the window : ) After we all got out, we ran around to the front to call 911.
From right to left: Abby, Kade, Tara, and a boy.
Inside the building, there was a table with all different kinds of bottles like Sunny Delight, Apple Juice, and etc that showed how much sugar was literally in that certain bottle. I took a picture of this Coca-Cola cuz that's what I drink sometimes! I prefer tea and I know I don't put that much sugar in my cup, whew!
Abby calling 911

I'm trying to get all 6 kids in the picture, so far I got almost 4 in this one.
Finally, I got all of them! You see the little boy, my only nephew! He wants to be a firefighter when he grows up!

Abby wanted to sleep over at her friend's house Saturday, so she did. Today, she went to church with them and borrowed her friend's clothes. After church, we all met at this place that had a "festival" for the town. I've never seen her so dressed up in shoes like those!

Now the video of kids climbing out of the room.

Nice outside again!

Petunia likes playing tug-a-war
Both of those girls loves sitting on the grass and just relax.


This little one stayed inside most of the time! She just started walking not long ago but still crusing. She's my brother-in-law's cousin's daugther, so cute! They visited from OhioKade and Abby on the see-saw

Bunches of kids on the trampoline, can you see Abby signing to me? She is saying "water!"
Petunia running, but you should have seen her in the basement. She ran super fast! She needs a fence so she can run faster outside in our backyard!

GPS and the Deaf?

Hey DeafRead! I need your help!

I am ready to spend some money on a GPS because I am always getting lost. I am terrible with directions. The last time I got lost was last month in downtown Pittsburgh. I was driving and trying to read my mapquest papers in the dark and watching where I was driving at the same time. I missed the turn so I had to turn around but I couldn't make an U-turn because you know...downtown! One way streets, buses all over, people walking, many intersections, and the street signs sometimes aren't there!

Anyway, I am planning to go to Washington D.c. this weekend and I really want to have a GPS this time! I am tired of printing out mapquest directions, I've been doing that for too long!

My dad loves his GPS, and he said that it talks to him and tells him where his next turn will be in advance! There are many different kinds of GPS out there, with different features.

That is where you guys come in...I really need you to tell me which GPS you use and why you love it? I don't want to buy a GPS that talks because I am profoundly deaf, so which GPS do you think will work for me? Thanks in advance for any feedback, tips, reviews, etc!!

Have a great weekend!

Birthday party with bird feeder!

Pictures are posted in NO order, I wish I could but I'm still learning how to do it on this blog.

This is a picture of my sister with the kids making bird feeders with pine cones. What a way to begin Spring!! We're anxious to hang ours tomorrow (we got home tonight after dark).


The girls beginning to ham up for the camera!
My sister drew this picture of Tigger! She's been a great artist since she was a kid!
Dinner at Flora's house which was taken few days ago, remember...I don't know how to post pictures in the proper order!!!???
My sister was taking turns taking a bite, then giving her little girl, Tara, a bite (cake). However, every time Danielle took a bite, this is what Tara does. Cute, huh?
One of our most recent spontaneous moments together. She saw a bag of potatoes and asked if I knew how to make french fries from scratch. Well, I went and looked it up and it turned out great. Not so healthy, I'm guilty!
This is a box that my sister painted and cut out holes for kids to throw balls through. They had lots of fun with this box all day long!
Aww, Abby with her little cousin who just celebrated her 2nd birthday party today.
The kids went outside for a "hike", and it was too cold for me. I almost went cuz I thought my sister was going to be the only adult out there but then her hubby and sister-in-law went outside so I was off the hook, right?

Philip with his daugther, Tara

Sophia
Kade
Tara
All the kids giving Uncle Philip a new hairdo!


Tara signing! She signed "I'm two!"