Tree's, Nutcracker's, & a Marinated Doggy?

The weekend is just about over and Connor is doing good! What a relief after another bumpy week. The mouth issues got bad enough to call the doctor...without looking in his mouth-just by what I described to them and the kind of pain I was describing-the doctor does NOT think these are mouth sores we are dealing with. He thinks the spots I saw in Connor's mouth might be from where he possibly bit his cheek or maybe a little thrush going on which we know he has been struggling with...He thinks it is jaw pain. It makes sense-the way he is holding his fingers under his tongue, and won't eat anything but soft foods and drinks...poor baby.

So not only does he have the intense pain to deal with for the two weeks out of the month following the 3 days of high dose steroids he takes each month-now his jaw is killing him all month? He said yes, pain in and around the jawline is common. He said to give him the Vicadin to help with the pain since the Motrin isn't helping. Thankfully today he is doing much better, so maybe it is easing up a bit. I just hate all these side effects-but without the steroids-he will be back to having a full relapse and probably lose his speech, his walking, all that he has learned the last few months...

We set the Christmas tree up today! Connor is VERY interested in any and all decorations this year, so we figured a jumpstart on decorating might be a good idea. The house looks festive and ready for lots of fun-good thing because we have a couple parties coming up soon.

Samantha is having "A Nutcracker Ballet" party for her birthday this year. She is really into her ballet, can you tell? :-) I am not quite sure what we are doing at this party yet-but I have a feeling dancing is involved.

Oh, here is a funny story that happened tonight.

Sam grilled tonight for dinner, with lots of help from Samantha and Belle, when suddenly Samantha and the dog came in the house and Belle was all wet.
None of us could figure out how the dog got wet when it wasn't raining outside...as I was setting the table, Belle was running around all soggy-and the floor was getting slippery.
Then, Sam comes in and confesses what happened. He threw all the marinade the meat was in out in the grass after he put the meat on the grill!
So Belle had been outside just rolling around in his "mystery marinade" for who knows how long?
GROSS! She must have been in heaven with all those raw meat smells and the oils and spices, lol...Off to the bathtub for her! She smelled bad, and for those of you that have ever seen Sam marinate meat-you know what I mean by "mystery" :-} Probably a whole can of diet soda thrown in with the oil!

We'll be in Atlanta Tuesday, so please keep Connor and all the children in your prayers for a smooth day for all.
Thanks and love to all!
Debbie