Tuesday, August 28, 2012

We've Acquired a New (Furry) Family Member



















All boys need a buddy and our house had been far too quiet these past few months.  This is Annie, Nate's new pup.  She's a one year old, Whippet, Terrior, Hound, Mix (a dog of diverse heritage, Josh says, not a mut). I'm falling in love with her as we all are.  She is a wiggle worm, goof ball and also a love bug. She comes to us via Texas where she was taken in by a friend's mom.  Our friend and her husband as fate would have it, own a new, local company called Dog Gone Tired and have been raising Annie in her adolescence for the past several months. For any Arlingtonians, they do dog obedience, dog walking and even dog grooming! If you have a dog, call them!

We're so excited for all the fun times to come.  In other good news, we're still working on getting LJ's service dog.  But that is in the works and will take about another year.  More pupdates to come!  Until then, I will try to articulate the bond and love that Nate seems to have instantly cultivated with Annie.  On their neighborhood walk tonight, Nate had the leash wrapped around his waist and Annie was right up next to his side.  They were several yards ahead of us and clearly were old, good friends.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Inspiring Me Today

Words don't come easily.  Lewis continues to work so hard in speech therapy.  A few weeks ago, he reduced me to tears when he approximated the words and I had wished and held out hope to hear someday. And it happened.  Out of the blue.  We were just hanging out at home playing with his toys.

"aaayyy. PAUSE. uuuhhh. PAUSE. ooooo"

I love you.

Sweet, sweet music to my ears. Three words and they brought tears to my eyes.  Still does each time he tries to perfect the sounds and vocalizations of "I love you." And he's been practicing every day.  My heart is so happy.

He's working hard at other words too, like "hi", "eat", "on", "up", "belly", "ear", "eye" and "arm".  But clearly the I love you's are the ones that make us feel so wonderful.