Cassie hasn't been feeling great this week. She's been very sore, especially on the bottoms of her feet, and extremely itchy. She's needed a lot of pain medication the last couple of days, much more than usual. Sometimes increased pain can be an early sign of infection, so I'm crossing my fingers that's not the case this time.

Last week Cassie went to the roller derby with her friend Rachael, but wasn't able to stay very long. She said the heat was just too much for her. I hate that not only pain, but simple things like the weather deprive her of opportunities to go out and have fun.

After eagerly stalking the internet all week for Monster High news coming from San Diego Comic Con, she got a very special surprise in the mail today; a SDCC exclusive Wydowna Spyder Monster High doll. I'm so grateful to our friend Sean for connecting us with his friend Rita, who picked up the doll for us, then insisted on sending it as a gift.

The Little Things

Cassie has two friends over spending the night tonight. They have played video games and had ice cream and giggled all night. It's amazing to see her light up, to see what an extrovert and true social butterfly she is. It's so hard for her to get out of the house and enjoy herself, so I have tried hard to have the kind of home where all the kids want to come over and hang out so that Cassie's friends feel comfortable coming to her. It's harder on her now, most of her friends her age are now driving, have jobs, boyfriends or girlfriends, or camp, or other activities that she just can't participate in, so she gets to feeling very isolated. But tonight she's happy. She's got two of her best friends here and she's just a regular teenage girl staying up way too late during summer vacation. I'm eternally grateful for these moments when she gets to feel normal and alive.