Callie

Callie had her amputation surgery last Thursday, July 14th.  Recovery has been pretty easy for the most part so far.  We had a few sleepless nights in the beginning, mostly for Greg and I because we were worried of what she might do during the night.  We solved that problem by putting the lampshade collar on her...she hates it, but its for the best for everyone!  Brayden has surprisngly been very accepting of Callie's new 3 leggedness (and the big "booboo" on her side) and didn't even ask questions.  He is really gentle with her now and asks us if he can pet her most of the time.  He loves his dog and is so happy to have her home...he asked for her a majority of the two days she was at the vet for the surgery.  

Below are some of our favorite pictures of our sweet, loving, crazy, neurotic Callie over the years : ) Greg and I got her from the SPCA shortly after we were married and she has been a big part of the family ever since.  Although she has taken a little bit of a back seat since Brayden came along, we still love her very much and hope we have many years left to spend with her.

 Our new puppy

 Pretty girl

Gradution from training classes (not sure how she passed!!)

Checking on her new baby brother 

 Where's Callie?

 Christmas card photo out-take

 Best friends

Last day with four legs

1 week after surgery

      Callie may not like the collar, but someone else does!

Beach vacation

We spent last Monday through Thursday in Myrtle Beach with Greg's family.  Skip, Bernadette and Luciana came down from NY for the week, so we all took a short beach vacation together, including Grammy and Grampa Parr.  We stayed at the Caribbean Resort in an oceanfront condo, which was wonderful!  Besides having the beach right there, the hotel had several pools, splash parks, lazy rivers, etc., so there was plenty to keep us entertained.  Brayden was not a big fan of the beach on the first day, but he warmed up to it on the second day.  He and Luciana had a big time digging in the sand, looking for seashells, and playing in the pools.  Besides enjoying the beach and water amenities, we also went to the aquarium one afternoon.  They had a very neat tank exhibit where we stood on a moving sidewalk through it and were surrounded on both sides and above by all the sharks, fish, stingrays, etc.  We also got to see and touch some stingrays and crabs, and saw lots of other neat sea life. We were in Myrtle Beach on July 4th, so we were able to see their fireworks display from the beach at the hotel.  It was really neat because we could see several other town firework displays in the distance to our left and right, and there were a lot of people lighting them off right there on the beach into the night.  Needless to say, we saw a lot of fireworks, which Brayen LOVED!  We had a wonderful few days at the beach with everyone, but it went by too quickly.

On another note, the day before leaving for our vacation we learned that our beloved dog, Callie, has osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her right hind leg, which is a very agressive cancer.  We went ahead on vacation and tried to enjoy it the best we could, but she was definitely on our minds the whole time.  We met with our vet the day we got back and scheduled amputation surgery for this coming Thursday.  Even with surgery, it is likely that Callie will only be with us a few more months based on statistics.  It is a very difficult decision to make, but we want to at least try to give her more pain free time with us and not regret not doing anything later down the line.  Callie was our first baby, and despite all her "flaws", we love her very, very much.  Please keep both Callie and us in your thoughts as we try to fight the cancer.  Although it is hard, we are trying to be hopeful and think positively about her future.