Umbilical Cording- Day 11. . . .

There is an end in sight with our umbilical cording process. :) I think we are going to make it. Today was somewhat of a breakthrough day for LILLY and I. It almost was if we were in a groove and she finally understood how I moved and how much I moved. It seemed much easier today. I think that is now why I feel like there is an end in sight. I do really appreciate this process and understand why paws4people requires it. I feel certain we will come away MUCH closer because of the challenges and fun times we have had over the last 11 days.

Today was a pretty typical day for LILLY and I. As we walked into school this morning LILLY was prancing. It was so cute. Today was the first day she acted as if she realized and was finally comfortable with going there. She proved her comfort level today even more by using the bathroom twice at school today! We might just be over the "picky pottier" stage. Lets hope?

Tonight has just been lots of packing and organizing for our beach trip. We will be heading out right after school tomorrow. :) I wonder how she will like the sand and ocean? One thing is certain-- LANIE will be sure to show her just how much fun the ocean can be. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES swimming in the ocean.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Umbilical Cording- Day 10. . . .

LILLY is a superstar! She worked hard again today. We had a super busy day at school. It was a full moon and boy did we know it in my classroom-- several seizures, lots of extra adults, a pulled out feeding tube, and a fire drill to mention a few things. Of course LILLY stayed right with me the whole time. She looked up at me several times today as if she was begging me to let her lay down! After work I had a facial appointment and LILLY went right in and laid under the table for the entire hour. My grandmother and I then ran by the grocery store to pick up Frosty Paws and a few other things to celebrate LANIE'S 4th birthday. :) LILLY was great in the grocery store--- she needed a few reminders to help her not eat the many things on the floor, but other than that it is getting much easier to take a dog shopping.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANIE!! We attempted to take a picture of all three dogs eating their Frosty Paws, but all of their eyes turned out super freaky-- so no picture tonight.

Umbilical Cording- Days 8 & 9. . . .

We are getting there! Umbilical cording is much harder than I expected. I am very used to doing my own thing each day and having a dog attached to me sure prevents that at times. :)

Yesterday was great. I was off work and basically just hung around the house all day. LILLY loved having a little down time too. I spent most of the morning running around organizing things around the house. Every time LILLY laid down I moved to another room and she had to get up and move with me. At one point yesterday I had all three dogs (LILLY, LANIE, and BRADIE) take a 2 hour nap with me! I was pretty impressed with that. We spent the afternoon exercising-- we met Amy, Alli, and Chase and walked through the park for an hour. LILLY did much better at the park this time. She was totally focused on me and wasn't near as excited this time. Once we got home we then took LILLY and LANIE for a 2 mile walk in the neighborhood. So all in together LILLY walked for 1 1/2 hours yesterday-- she was exhausted last night!

Today was back to work for LILLY and I. She did good running around like crazy with me at school for the morning. There are times you can tell she really wants to stop and interact with the kids, but being attached to me makes that a little more difficult. I will be anxious to see how she interacts with the kids once she is done with the umbilical cording. We had a staff meeting this afternoon and she slept beautifully through the whole thing. Once we got home she "helped" me cook dinner and then it was time to vacuum. I have quickly learned that vacuuming is NOT her favorite activity. She is scared of it and hates to follow me around while I do it. I feel certain she will stay far away from the vacuum once she has a choice. She is now laying at my feet sound asleep. I LOVE HER!!!

On a more serious note please click on the link below to read about another paws4people dog ELLIE and her little girl Amanda. They were kicked out of a store earlier this week and the situation is getting some much needed media attention. YAY for Amanda's mom and fighting for what is right!

Click Here for ELLIE and Amanda's News Coverage

Umbilical Cording- Day 6 & 7. . . . .

Whew. . . . . .we made it through our first weekend "umbilical corded" together. I must say it was a little tougher than what I expected. I have now realized that the weekends tend to bring more challenges than our typical week days. I will say we made it through and I do believe we are stronger and more bonded because of it! :)

Saturday was a nice relaxing day so Kyria, Paul, and I decided to take the dogs to the park. I was determined to walk both dogs by myself at the park. Well for those of you who know and love our dear LANIE you know how much she loves the park, therefore me walking them both by myself didn't happen this trip. LILLY was also pretty excited about the trip to the park. She did good, but needed constant reminders to focus on me. I must give Paul some props because he handled LANIE beautifully in the park. :) He was so patient with her. I know deep down he really does love the dogs.

Saturday night Paul and I were guest speakers at a True Love Waits conference. We had committed to this night long before LILLY was scheduled to come to us. It was a sit down dinner for mothers and their sons. It was really a nice program and set up. LILLY went right in and straight under the table. Paul was up socializing and saying hello to everyone while LILLY and I just waited at the table. When it was time for us to get up to speak LILLY came out from underneath the table and most everyone was shocked! They truly had no idea she was even in the room. While we spoke she stood up on stage with us. This was a real tough thing for her. The speakers were right in front of her. She never really got settled the whole time we were speaking. As soon as we were done speaking right back under the table she went! To make the whole situation even more of a challenge-- while we were eating I dropped my entire cup of salsa on the floor right beside of LILLY. So when we got up to go to the stage she had to walk right over the food on the floor. She did amazing!! YAY!

Today was filled with various activities. We started off the morning by going to church. LILLY was an "angel" during the lesson. She laid right under my feet and only moved when the mood changed in the room. She looked up to me as if she was asking "what should I do Mom?" Once I shook my head at her she immediately laid right back down.

After church Kyria and I headed to shop for a little bit. LILLY was great! However, at one point during our shopping experience I stepped right on her poor little paw. She sure let me know in the middle of DSW that it hurt. I felt so bad! I will say that she was much more aware of where I was stepping from that point on. :)

Now the real challenge of today was a trip over to Paul's parents house for a family birthday party for our sister-in-law. Paul's brother and his wife have two small children and they also had some friends in town with a baby. So LILLY quickly got to meet a 3 1/2 year old, a 14 month old, and a 10 month old. Of course they all had lots and lots of toys and balls that were going in every direction. This was super hard for LILLY and myself. I had to learn really fast when to correct, when not to correct, what to say and when to say it. Those of you who really know me know that I don't have a lot of "dog sense" and that was evident tonight. It was almost like speaking a different language. I think at one point LILLY was certain she would rather have a different mom who truly understood her. However, with Kyria's help we worked through everything that got thrown our way tonight. I feel certain I learned a lot tonight and I know I have a lot more to learn, but at least we are doing this together. For that reason I know LILLY and I will come away from this whole experience with a bond like no other!

Tomorrow is a teacher workday and I have taken the day off. So LILLY and I can simply sit back and recover from our crazy weekend! Have a great night everyone.

Candace

Umbilical Cording- Day 5. . . . .

LILLY's first day at school was wonderful! She did so great. Josh absolutely LOVED her being there. He has always loved the dogs, but he seemed to really enjoy LILLY. She is much "softer" than some of the other dogs and I think the kids really appreciated that. They all seemed to enjoy her. I am excited to finish up umbilical cording to see how she really interacts with each kid when she isn't tied to my waist. As you can see from the picture she got right in the ball pool today. There were over 1,000 balls in there and it only took a few times of saying "no" and she left them alone. Today was a half day for students-- we then had a staff development to attend. Our PE teacher walked up to LILLY to say hello a little after the meeting had started. He was dressed in shorts, a bright blue hawaiian shirt, and a huge straw hat-- this was something LILLY really wasn't sure of. She gave a few barks to let me know-- everyone in the staff meeting laughed. After the meeting we went back up and meet the PE teacher again. This time she was fine and sat there to let him pet her.

After school we went to the Shoe Show warehouse sell. LILLY was perfect there. She barely needed any reminders the whole time we were there. We had to sit and wait for some shoes for over 10 minutes and she simply laid at my feet. In my world this was amazing!

Our first trip to the grocery store was a little more challenging. She still did good, but I must learn to give her a little more attention and direction in situations like that. I really didn't even need anything specific at the store I just wanted to go when Kyria was in town to help walk me through the process. :)

Our last adventure of the night was a trip to Red Lobster with The Swiger's and CAYLIE. Let's just say my first restaurant experience had me a little more worried-- and to add to it all we had two dogs to get in the restaurant and under one super small booth. Kyria helped me through it all and this too was also a huge success. LILLY was really excited her other service dog friend CAYLIE decided to join us, but was great about settling down quickly once we got to our seat. After some coaching, I figured out how to get her whole body under the booth we did great. I didn't even think another thing about her being under there. Getting out was no problem even though there were TONS of people waiting in the lobby.

Another great day for us! I must say that I think settling down quickly and simply laying at my feet is one of LILLY's best qualities. As I sit here and type she is directly under my feet sound asleep-- I think we just might have worn her out today!

Umbilical Cording- Day 4. . . . .

Another amazing day with LILLY! I really can't believe how wonderful this whole process has been. LILLY again laid under my feet all day at Teacher of the Year Interviews. You could really tell she was much more at ease with the whole process today. I have often heard people say how they bond with dogs, but I have never really had that experience. I must say that this situation with LILLY just might be a little different. I can already tell our bonding has begun!

After the interviews today I had about 2 hours to come home and work around the house. Poor LILLY just follows me everywhere-- doing laundry, emptying the dishwasher, folding clothes, etc. What a trooper!

Then it was off to our fun part of the day! We got to go and babysit precious little Chase. When Allison called to ask if I would mind watching him I was so excited. Of course I said I would love to as long as she didn't mind if I had a dog attached to my hip. Thank goodness Allison is a laid back kind of mom. :) Chase is almost a year old and boy did he enjoy LILLY. I wasn't sure how LILLY would do with an active 11 month old, but yet again she impressed me beyond belief! She was so gentle and good with him. He crawled all over her and she never even moved. Chase then decided it was time to read some books. I thought he wanted me to read to him, but oh no--- as you can see from the first picture Chase wanted to read with LILLY! The only small issue we had was LILLY was truly in awe of all of his toys that made noise and sang. She loved, loved, loved, them! Then it was bath time-- I thought to myself-- how in the world will I bathe a 11 month old with a dog right beside of me! Well it was simple-- LILLY laid down beside of me the whole time I gave Chase a bath. To me that is simply amazing.

Tomorrow will be back in the classroom-- YAY! Should be a fun day. :)

Umbilical Cording- Day 3. . . .

Could it get any better? After much waiting I finally have the dog of my dreams! Now don't get me wrong-- I do love LANIE dearly, but she is just not the working dog I have always dreamed of. LANIE is the dog who loves to make us laugh and lay around on our leather couches and for that we are grateful for what she contributes to our family, but LILLY is my "working partner" I have wanted for so long! I truly have the best of both worlds.

LILLY had another great day at Teacher of the Year interviews. I never imagined she would do so well with this task. She literally lays under my feet from 8:00-3:15. Most people have no idea she is even under my feet. She seemed to be more at ease with me today too.

After leaving the interviews we had to go visit Ella. Ella is a little girl that I tutor once a week. I had emailed her mom to let her know I would have LILLY with me today so when I arrived Ella was so excited to have a dog come to her tutoring session. She worked so hard for me

today--she got to read to LILLY which she loved! Next we did Math. Ella hates to subtract. I promised her if she got the answer right she could give LILLY that number of treats. I have never seen her get so many problems right!

We then had to run over to Starbucks to meet Karen and Fiona for a little meeting about various paws4people things. LILLY laid under the table just like she should the whole time!

Finally, we made our last stop of the day-- Shakira is a student in my classroom. She had surgery today and is staying in the hospital overnight. I met Flossie, Emily, and Tara over at the hospital to go see her. This was my favorite part of the day with LILLY. As you can see from the picture below she did so well visiting with Shakira. She jumped right up on the bed like it was nothing! She laid up there with her for quite some time. It made my heart so happy. :)

I couldn't have been a prouder mom today!! I must say there is only one thing that drives me a little nuts about LILLY-- I have decided that she is a "picky pottier." So far she only use the bathroom in our back yard at home. I have no idea how she holds it all day!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for LILLY and I. . . .have a great night!