Last Celebration of Summer

Thanks for everyone who's been asking how Elaine's doing. We're not too sure about her--we may have to take her to a urologist. Her sample came back negative for an infection, but she is still having all the same problems. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, we've been trying to distract her. On Saturday morning, we got up early and headed over to my parents'. Their neighbor Sarah has a little shih-tzu named Lilo who just had her second litter of puppies. Her first litter was three puppies; this time she had six. It made me glad the number of children didn't double each time I was pregnant.

Lilo is the sweetest, most gentle, mellow dog you'd ever want to meet. She takes wonderful care of her puppies, but she didn't mind us petting and picking them up at all. Here is the proud little mother:


Currently, all the puppies are named after rivers since Sarah and her husband are into kayaking. They'll be sold eventually, but they need names right now to distinguish them. I can't remember what they all are, but Lucy loved a little brown and white one and my mom and I loved the little black runt ("Just like Wilbur!" Lucy exclaimed).



Elaine loved the puppies too, but then she got in trouble because I told her no, she couldn't have a Tic-tac (since she never wants to stop eating them once she starts) and she threw the box angrily into my purse. She had to go sit out on the front porch. We eventually bid Lilo and her puppies good-bye. I felt my heart tugging to get a dog, but I ignored it.

In the afternoon, we went with our friends to a local mini-golf course and arcade to celebrate the last weekend before school starts. Here are two cute little golfers, Isabella and Lucy:


Daddy showing Lucy the proper way to swing...



Again, Elaine had a rough time. In addition to her bladder troubles, she fell down and scraped her knee on the blacktop. Then she got upset because she couldn't run around and pick up all our pretty colored golf balls. Then she fell again on some of the rocks in the golf course and scraped her other knee. I finally took her inside to the arcade. We sat at a table and shared a pink lemonade and some popcorn. Then we got some tokens, and I let her pick whatever she wanted to do.

This is what she picked--over and over and over and over:



Afterward, we all went to Giordano's. The kids had a blast, giggling and then giggling some more. After we ate, Lucy needed to go to the restroom. On the way back, she wanted to grab one of the after-dinner mints at the front. She told me, "See, I get kind of wild? And these mints really calm me down." I'll take her word for it.

During the night, at around 2:30, Elaine made us one of her nocturnal visits that she's been doing ever since she started feeling bad. She crawled into our bed and wiggled and wiggled uncomfortably and fussed until she finally fell back asleep again. I think we have some sort of dubious record: she went to the bathroom (in the bathtub) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night. The next time she went was Sunday afternoon at 1:00.

It's just not been her week. I'm not looking forward to a trek to the urologist. This is someone who didn't even want the doctor to look in her ears. I can't imagine how she's going to react to a visit like this. Maybe I better bring some of those Giordano's mints along to calm everyone down...either that or a puppy.