Oh Happy!

IMG_9967, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday my phone was very active with phone calls from...well just about everyone who has been dealing with getting things moving for the house! The best phone call came at 3:30 yesterday afternoon though. It was the phone call that we have waited forever for...the title and deed to the land were transfered into our names and the first round of funding was paid out so the build can really get going! My best phone conversation of the day was getting to share the news with Todd last night when he got done working in Colorado. We have time frame list out of when for things now and tomorrow will bring the moving of the house to the property...our property! (so love saying that!) So what better than to share another picture of the house? This is of the family room just off of the kitchen. The space is open between the two which is something that I just love about it. The living room is on the other side of the house. Can't you just picture some color on those walls?

Anyway, I hope that everyone's week is off to a great start and I'm going to try to get my feet back on the ground again here.

Great News Kind of Day

It is late and I don't have a picture to share that would come anywhere close to showing how I feel at what is the near the end of today. Binky Sue had her appointment with GYN today and the possibility of PCOS was quickly removed. She does have one good sized cyst on the right side, but that is all. We learned something about the people that read the ultrasounds of the ovaries today, and it seems that they tend to refer to just about everything as a cyst...even if it happens to be eggs! Binky Sue is starting treatment for the cyst and has a follow up appointment in three months. Binky Sue is very happy and feels so much better knowing just what is going on and how she is going to be treated for it.

Today was also an appointment for Army Guy. This was the one with the cardiologist and I'm very happy and oh so pleased to say that he will not be using any of the three follow up appointments that were authorized with the referral. His heart is perfectly fine, perfect, wonderful, good, healthy. Pick a word that you like best and go with it. His heart is working exactly how it is supposed and the people that did the first EKG really should probably go back to school and learn to do a better job and not scare the life out of people! Alright I feel much better now getting that off of my chest.

Like I said, it was a great news day for two of the people that I love dearly. I hope that everyone had a great news kind of day or at the very least a great day spent with the people that you love dearly.

One more time

IMG_4425, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Just one more time...HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETPEA! One last cake picture to post and probably one of the biggest smiles on Sweetpea's face ever. Our trip to Tubac was absolutely perfect today. There are still a couple more streets worth of galleries that we have yet to make it into, but they are just going to have to wait for another trip down there.
Sweetpea picked out some great birthday gifts which could very well tonight be adding to the huge smile on her face. A calm relaxing drive out there and back, and her being able to have a conversation with her Mom. (To bad Mom can not have the ability to sit and type this in whole sentences vs. the couple of word at a time thing that is going on here.)
Sweetpea thinks that seventeen is going to be a great year, and if the whole year could be like today, then I'm sure it would be.

I hope that everyone had a good day and yet one more time Sweetpea, Happy Birthday Baby Girl!! I love you very much!

Eighteen Today!

Proof 11, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I have spent a good amount of time this weekend thinking about Binky Sue turning 18, and even with doing that I still don't know just what to say other than WOW! The feeling of not really knowing just where the last 17 years went is amazing. I'm wishing that I could find the ability to type something great here this morning, but I doubt that I'm going to find that here today. My first baby girl is eighteen, and even though she swore she wasn't ready, I know in my heart that she is.

Binky Sue I have watched you grow from a very happy baby to a beautiful (most of the time) happy young woman. Your drive and determination to achieve any goal you set for yourself, blows me away. I know for you the months counting down to this day and graduation in two months have had you fearful of the "what do I do next". But I have no doubt that you will find just what path it is that you want to put your once so tiny feet upon. Remember that you have the job of breaking the ground with all of the "Firsts" for Mommy, and while there is no end to being a Mommy there is a time we have to step aside and let wings be spread to start your own flight through life. Today is one of those major mile stones with another one steam rolling up upon us both.(Enough time to think about that one later though) For today enjoy a wonderful birthday and remember that Mommy is old now and might not be able to keep up with you at the mall. : )
I love you much my Binky Sue and hope that today is all that you want it to be!

Feline, Furball & Feathers Friday

Well because I can not seem to pick just one picture for this, I'm going with a multiple picture post. Gypsy is getting one more update about how she is adjusting in her new home, and then next week I will be getting back to more of a rotation of the mini zoo.

Gypsy Rose is defiantly settling into her new loving environment. Within the walls of Binky Sue's room she is getting to the point of being able to be called an active normal kitty. She has discovered that toys are not something that she has to fear, and if she is just bossy enough with her girl, her girl will sit and play with her and the toys for hours on end. Her trips outside of the room to the rest of the house have been increasing in time amounts. We are now up to full hour at a shot two times a day. This may not seem like all that much, but for Gypsy it is a HUGE deal. She still has moments where you can see her poor little body trembling in such fear, but that is slowly passing with each new day and trips out to the rest of the house. This week she has learned that the Mommy of the house will protect her and keep her just as safe as her girl Binky Sue. She also learned that when the Mommy leaves the room, the Daddy of the house will keep her just as safe and does a great job of giving comforting touches. Every day we wonder just a little more about just how horribly this little girl was treated, but not for to long because we are determined to show her that there is lots of love in this world for her.



Among the toys in Binky Sue's room Gypsy has found a baby that seems to give her comfort, and with the way she carries it around and curls up with it maybe it gives her the thought that it will protect her. It is a little rottwiler stuffed puppy. I think to Gypsy it is the best protector, and friend. (Well after her girl Binky Sue)

Gypsy is very much in love with the daily brushings she gets and her fur is starting to take on that healthy sheen that any loved kitty should have, and is oh so very soft to the touch now. Her eyes get brighter with happines each day, and as I look at pictures that I have taken since she arrived here on the 17th of February, I'm seeing less and less fear and anger in those kitty eyes. Gypsy has started to actually walk standing full up this week, instead of her fearful low to the ground crawl that she was doing. Which gave all of us the ability to see that she has longer than one inch legs! We heard her very quietly meow for the first time this week, which has lead to a little concern in my own mind about the possiblity that someone may have caused some damage to her voice, but I'm taking a wait and see attitude right now because I really don't want to put more fear of being given up on in the cat. I'm also hoping that it just sounded strange for any other reason than yet more abuse this poor kitty suffered at the hands of someone cruel.

We all know that we have a very long road ahead of us with Miss Gypsy, and that a lot of things are just going to have to come in her own time. However, I think we have a great start going right now, and this little kitty seems to be starting to understand just how very much she is loved and that we are all willing to take as long as she needs and prove it every day, that she is home permantly and she will be safe always.

Alright, it is Friday and that means time to head over to visit Steve and Pickle and all of the great animals that share our lives with us. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

What is normal?

100_9434, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Alright everyone who reads here knows that Little Bug had a sleep deprived EEG last Friday. Today I got a phone call from the Center for Neuroscience with probably the most amazing news I have heard in the last 3 years 8 months. Little Bugs EEG was normal! NORMAL!! No spikes, no slow sharp waves, it was flipping normal! No epileptic activity of any kind. It is what we have been so wanting to hear, it is what hearing sent Little Bug jumping up and down in the living room screaming at the top of her lungs that she was normal again finally. Which by the way will make sisters wonder just how normal you really can be if you are jumping up and down screaming it. I'm not sure happy is enough to describe just how Little Bug feels about hearing this news. Both Army Guy and myself are wondering where this takes us now since we know that in the last couple of weeks she has had seizures, but now that the EEG is showing normal activity it is leading us to the thought about the migraines. After talking to the nurse today the doctor called to talk about that and that come next month for her appointment we will be having to talk about it. Little Bug of course wants to come off of the Depakote that has been part of her daily routine for just shy of 3 years, and just shy of 4 years since the onset of the Epilepsy. I'm not so sure that dropping medicine is going to be part of the plan next month since the depakote is also being used to fight migraines. For right now though Little Bug is viewing today as the best pre-birthday ever. For right now I am going to agree with her because even if it is migraines causing the current seizures for right now tonight that isn't a thought going through her mind. For the first time in about 4 years Little Bug isn't thinking about Epilepsy...she is just back to being normal.