Diary of a Teenage Dog

Hello, my name is Cinder.  I am a six month old labradane (Lab/Dane) and that means I'm a very big girl.  I look full grown but I'm really still an over active puppy.  I was born March 20, 2013 and adopted by the Moss family in July, when I was almost four months old.  You can see how little I was in the picture above with my new mom, Renie.   My human sister, Helen, adores me, and tries to ride me like a pony.

This is me on my first drive to Tennessee to visit my grandparents in Brownsville. I got to meet Dixie, who is technically my aunt, a brown labrador.  

With all my energy, at the end of a long day I love taking up the entire floor space in front of the couch.  I'm just a big pillow pet and my human siblins love to cuddle with me.  Sometime I dont' realize how big my dog paws are when I reach up and try to hug them.  I'm learning to be gentle.

My favorite treat is eating bubbles and soap.  When Helen takes  a bubble bath, I've been know to jump in with her if my mom isn't watching.  It's how I keep my shiny black coat.  One time I ate half a Lever 2000 bar of soap.  My breath smelled great for a few days.

This is my very old feline brother, Atticus.  Atticus was adopted by my mom right after she graduated from college, way before she ever met my dad, Philip.  Atticus had a sweet sixteen party recently.  I really wanted to high five Atticus, but he's not a big fan of me quite yet.  He doesn't hiss at me as much anymore and other than scowling at me when I walk by, I'd say thing are getting much better.

First Day of School

And just like that, my children are all in grade school.  As pithy as it sounds, I truly blinked and my precious infant daughter was standing in front of her new school ready to meet her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cooke.

Helen was very nervous about starting school.  She loved her sweet teacher, Miss Sherry, at Trinity CDC and the loving preschool environment the school provided.  This was a big step for her small but growing spirit of courage.  There were some tears, lots of prayers, and encouragement from friends and family.  In the end, there was one person to help calm her, make her feel safe, and help her trust that this was going to be a great new adventure.

This is one of those images I will replay in my mind for years to come.
Philip Jr, second grade.  Helen Boyce, kindergarten - 2013

Philip, Jr.- July 2013 MRI

As scary as the above video seems, we received good news from Little Philip's latest MRI.  This is a 3D orbit that shows just how complex the tumor is and why it is considered inoperable.  However, it is not causing any concerns with blood vessels, nerve function, airway or swallowing.  Comparing the January 2013 MRI to this latest July 2013 showed no significant growth.  When Dr. Korf did the volumetric analysis on the tumor shown above, it was 86 ml in January 2013 and is 89 ml now. That is negligible when significant growth is defined as 20% increase in volume or more. So this is good news.

So where are we?

We will do another MRI in six months. If the tumor shows no growth at that time then we can go back to once a year MRIs. Concerns to watch for with this nodular tumor:
* sudden onset of pain. If this happens, it could mean the tumor has turned malignant. There is a 10% chance over our son's lifetime that this tumor may turn malignant. If the tumor shows rapid sudden growth it could also be a sign of malignancy.  It is a serious concern that warrants our vigilance.
* obstructed airway. The tumor is touching the sides of Philip's windpipe but it is not compressing it at this time. We will watch for any changes in breathing or swallowing.

Otherwise, this latest MRI of his head, neck, spine, chest and abdomen showed no other signs of tumor activity and for that we are greatly relieved. 

We again are incredibly blessed by the outstanding care we continue to receive from Dr. Korf, other physicians within his UAB NF Clinic as well as the clinic genetic counselors and staff.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Meet Cinder

 We are please to introduce the newest member of the Moss house.  This is Cinder, a 14 week old lab/dane female puppy.  Puppy is a funny term since she is already 40 pounds!  She is a rescue puppy adopted through the Alabama Animal Adoption Agency, lovingly fostered by a lady in Birmingham that made sure she would be comfortable around kids, cats, and everything in between.  Our cats are slowly warming up to her and she is desperate to make them her best friends.  Helen and Little Philip are in heaven having a dog again.

Envelopes

It is June, and that means that Big Philip is living in Starkville for most of the month to help coordinate new student orientation at MSU.  After several years, our family has learned to adjust, especially as the children have grown older and able to keep busy with either each other or with friends and summer activities.

Still, June is a month of anxiety and stress for us as husband and wife.  We've had a lot to deal with in our marriage over the last few years and at one point, we reached a place where we could not go on...together.  In the midst of that time we experience the devastating diagnosis of NF with our son that would lead to the diagnosis of our daughter and Big Philip this year.  As we reeled from the diagnosis it caused us to pause, make our son the priority in our hearts and minds, and as a result, knee jerk decisions were delayed and ultimately never made.

God has worked miracles in each of our hearts in the last two years and that has led to the miracle of our marriage not just still standing, but being stronger, deeper in the wisdom that God has led us to, and the recognition of the gift of joy we gain from each other through God's work in our lives.

Big Philip left last Thursday for his weekend of class and grandparents picked up the children to take them to the annual family reunion at the beach.  When Big Philip returned from class Saturday we had a little over 24 hours with just each other.  We had a romantic date night and worshipped together as husband and wife on Sunday morning.  And then, it was time for Philip to head to Starkville.

Doubt began to creep into in my heart as I fought back the tears, fears, and worries of the past.  And in that moment, Philip placed three envelopes in my hand:

Open when you have a long day

Open when you really miss me

Open when you need a smile

He knew and my heart swelled with joy once again.  

Fairy Houses

When Helen turned three, we gave the highest form of praise in the form of copying another friend's fairy themed birthday party that had been a smashing success.  We too, had a fairy party where the party guests made little fairy houses.  The houses were beautiful, each lovingly made by the tiny hands of the children and we sent them home as a favor, with the instructions to place the houses where a fairy might take up residence.

When we moved in 2011, I accidentally forgot to move our fairy houses that had been placed beneath our children's bedroom windows in the yard.  I invented a quick tale about how we could not move them because "Puck" and "Pixie" would be homeless, promising that the new house owner would take good care of them (leaving out the part about the new owner being a recent college grad and bachelor).

Helen is quite the imaginative child and we want to celebrate our children's developing personalities by embracing activities that encourage imagination and curiosity about God's beautiful creation around them.  So recently, we made a new fairy house with her.

We started with a peat pot.  You can purchase about 6-8 of these for under $5.00 at any home improvement store.  Simply cut a small door in it and glue it to any discarded piece of wood, heavy cardboard or a leftover floor tile.

If you don't have any natural moss available to you, you can purchase an inexpensive bag at any craft store.  Spanish moss is also a fun thing to attach to your fairy house.  We used simple white glue to cover the walls and roof of our peat pot with moss and then glued natural ornaments gathered from the yard (especially those prickly foot-damaged gumballs).  And this is the end result.  You hear Helen in the background, squealing and giggling with excitement.

From there, we found a home for our fairy house underneath a bush in our front yard.  About a day later, Helen found a green note just inside the front door of her fairy house from Flutter.  Flutter shared that she is the younger cousin of Puck and Pixie that lived at our old house.  And then, she shared rules for Helen.

Helen has cleaned her room completely, even helping her older brother clean his room.  She is enthralled with the idea that a fairy is living in her front yard and that Flutter looks in on her through her bedroom window from time to time.   On the morning after the room cleaning, Helen woke up and ran straight to the fairy house to see if Flutter had noticed.  A small bag of Pop Rocks was there waiting for her.  We have great plans for our little fairy friend and think this will be a good way to embrace Helen's imaginative but strong willed spirit rather than fight it as we help her develop personal responsibility, a loving spirit, and a kind heart.

Early Birthday Party for Little Philip

My poor children have the misfortune of having their birthdays in the summer time and on spring break.  That would seem to be super awesome to some kids but for them, that means that birthday parties will always be sparsely attended due to their friends being on summer and spring break vacations.  As Little Philip prepares to turn eight in July (I can't even type it), we thought it would be a good idea to combine an early birthday party with an end of the year first grade class party celebration.

It was great having the parents and siblings of so many of his classmates join us for a cookout in our back yard, despite the early evening rain shower that surprised even the weatherman.  It was another opportunity for us to realize what a great community we've moved to and we look forward to our children growing up with these families in the years to come.  

We invited all the boys in his class to camp out Saturday night but due to the wet grass from the rain, the party moved inside.  After s'mores over the fire pit we settled down for a sleepover in the den.  I have never been more exhausted and happier as a mother to have pulled it all off.  The boys were all asleep by 10:30 pm and up at 6:15 am back jumping on the trampoline (sorry neighbors).  

This is what childhood is all about.  What joy!