Dexters eventful week

Dave and I absolutely adore this dog. I grew up with dogs as a little girl, but they were mostly outside dogs, so I don't remember having them as part of my day to day life. Dexter is an inside dog, so he is always around and has grown to become a huge part of our little family. Last week was full of meeting new people. If you are patient enough to read to the end of this post, you will see that this week hasn't started out quite the same.

"This is my commandment, that you love little Dexter, that your joy may be full"

Sarah was in town this week, and she and Dexter became good friends. We all watched a movie together one evening, and Dexter wanted to be with her rather than with Dave and I. I think he enjoyed having someone else doteing on him for a change. After Sarah left, we noticed that Dexter had been itching allot. His allergies have seemed to flare up with the weather warming up, so in addition to some new things the vet recommended, we gave him a bath with some anti-itch shampoo.

Needless to say, Dexter did not really enjoy the bath. But, while we were bathing him, Dave and I noticed that part of his cute, floppy ear was swollen. It felt like a huge fluid pocket. We couldn't figure out if it was a bug bite or if it was related to him scratching his ears. We decided to just watch it for a few days to see what happened. When it hadn't subsided this morning, we called the vet. And now Dexter looks like this.

What you can't see in this picture is the drain they had to put in his hear to release the fluid from the heimatoma on his ear. Turns out that if dogs shake their heads too much, they can bust their capalaries and give themselves a heimatoma. Well, Dexter did just that. We left him with the vet, who performed the procedure with him under anesthesia, and now he is totally wiped out. He barley lifts his head and his poor ear is gross looking. He is resting on the chair with Dave, looking as pitiful as possible. They said in the next few days he would feel much better and be back to his old self, but he has to wear the cone collar for a month and we have to take him in for weekly checkups. Now we leave to go out of town for a week, so this couldn't have happened at a more inconvenient time. We had planned for Dexter to stay with his former owners, but with him being this high maintenance, we may end up boarding him at the vet. After we picked him up from the vet, I cried in the car on the way home. How on earth will I ever manage with kids! Say a little prayer for Dexter if you think about him. God loves our dogs too!

News

Well not too terribly much has happened in the Norvell house over the past few weeks. We have a wonderful, week long visit with Mom and Dad Norvell who came all the way from Arkansas for a visit. I love having them here because we do things Dave and wouldn't normally do. We went shopping in all the malls, of course. They live in a small town, so they love to do "city stuff" when they are here. Dad Norvell loves to garden, so we drove to all the plant nursery's in town and went to the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. As a family, all six (and a half if you count soon to be born Newbie Norvell) went to see Prince Caspian and I got to be totally in my element by cooking some big family dinners for everyone. The week ended with a wonderful, but HOT, trip to Canton to "do some junkin' " as the Norvell's call it. I was tame this time. I only bought a cute little sign for my kitchen and some fabric to sew a few pillows for our new bedroom. I enjoyed spending time with my in-laws. I was the only one that could secure the whole week off from work, so I got to have some one-on-one time with them, which I really enjoyed.

Dave has finished school (YEA!!!) and we celebrated with a trip to Double Dave's Pizza Buffet with some friends. He only got a long weekend off before he started teaching Summer Enrichment. I know that he would probably love to just chill for a summer, but I admire and am thankful for his work ethic. It is his bigger summer paychecks that allow me to pursue my Master's Degree.

Speaking of which, I have almost reached my half way point for my survey count. When I checked this morning, I had 71 responses. Hopefully I can secure 130 more before school starts in August. I have browsed some marriage support websites and left advertisements looking for participants, but that has only yielded me about 5 responses thus far. I am going to have to get a bit creative and maybe step out of my comfort zone to find some others.

Things we still have to look forward to:
Next week I get to spend two whole days with my mom and sister. My sister is in town teaching a strings institute and is staying a couple extra days so we can all play together!
Both of our birthday's are at the end of the month. As usual, we have already started buying each other presents and giving them to one another. I wonder if we will EVER be able to keep surprises from one another.
At the end of the month I will get to see my best friend for a very short, but still wonderful, visit. They will be coming in from College Station for a wedding.
And of course, we are less than a month away from our Fourth of July trip to PHILADELPHIA!!!

Ok, I promise to have a post with pictures next time. I know all text posts are boring :>).