Random ramblings

Tomorrow is surgery day.  Taite has to check in at 9 am.  My friend, Talli, has already reminded her husband that he is to take care of Taite when he is put under (Jeremy, her hubby, is the anesthesiologist) and if Chris is lucky he won't need Jeremy's services too.  He's lucky today is his birthday ~ he's kind of got Taite worried about his recovery and if you know my husband at all, you know exactly what I am talking about!

Bray is trying baseball this year and has been sooooo excited to see what team he's on and how many of his friends are on his team!  Tonight we got the call ~ he's on a new team and the coach had no idea what kids were in 4th grade and what kids were in 3rd grade on the team (they go strictly by age ~ in fact, we had to provide a copy of his birth certificate!  YES, you read correctly!)

We are looking at trading in the van.  Soooo exciting!  We are going to get the same, an Odyssey, but a new one.  It has blind spot sensors on it!  Some days, I really, really need those :~)  Yes, they still look like a hearse, but we decided that will luggage rails, it looks much sportier?  Just less like a hearse!

My mom and Josey are coming tomorrow to help with Taite's recovery.  This will do two things.  Josey will get to see Taite and I will have some time to still go to the office and get some things done during his recovery.  He realized today that he had misunderstood his time away from school.  You see the plan is to be out the 7 recommended days + 2 extra which will bring us to spring break = 2 full weeks from school for recovery.  Taite mistakenly thought that spring break = 2 weeks so he thought he was getting 4 (yes FOUR) full weeks away from school.  Sometimes the kid is very, very smart and then others, he just doesn't use his head.  LOL!!  P.S.  he qualified to take pre-algebra next year and is very excited about that!

Well, it finally happened to me.  I ordered something off the internet and it's not happenin'.  Thankfully it was through Amazon so they have a claim that I filed, but we'll see where it leads.  Also, I'm glad it was only a $16 item.  :~(

Bray gets his braces off on Thursday.  He's hoping to get a picture of himself with the Globetrotters because we are going to them on Friday (Taite will not be able to go. . . but he's ready to be done with being this sick, so he's okay with it)

I had my eyes checked last Friday and the Dr asked if I'd considered Lasik.  Well, yes, I have, but was told I wasn't a candidate.  He said the fact that I can wear contacts all day long would show that my eyes are not too dry to have corrective surgery (that was the excuse I was given).

Okay, so I had the BEST idea for a gift for Chris that was inexpensive, but such a good idea that I would be a nominee for WOTY (wife of the year)!!!  So, a few weeks ago our new insurance rep came by to have us sign some papers to make things official and he brought these really good donuts.  We'd been searching for a good bakery here because after having lived in somewhat close proximity to Bloedows in Winona, we KNEW what good was!  Well, these donuts were excellent, SO, I figured that when Chris was at old man basketball this morning (he plays Mon, Wed & Fri) I would run & get donuts for him and the guys who were playing!  Perfect, right??  It would be a special treat & event, so that's why they would have to eat at least one.  The problem?  Or should I say problemS? 
1.  Jitters, the coffee shop/bakery isn't open on Mondays WHAT?!! 
2.  They don't open until 7 am  WHA WHAT?!  What bakery doesn't open at 6???
I thought about buying Casey's donuts for today, but figured Chris wouldn't want to "waste" the calories on lesser quality and I was right.  He said I made a good choice to not have gotten Casey's.

And now for the random photos!  Hehe.  You may have seen some of these, but I'm guessing since I've not been very good about posting that you haven't.
Ahhh, here he is, don't you love that smile??  It's 37 years old today!

A little hang time and I'm almost positive they are watching basketball...

You can never be too safe when playing downstairs.  Button up hat ~ check!

 

Mouth guard ~ check!

Pillows, blankets and anything soft to catch you ~ check, check, check!

 

I believe the Santa hat was on in the beginning, but it kept falling off during the .... landing? rolling?   

And, you just might need to be practicing this move.... 

 These pictures are from December 28th.  For real.  Remember, we had really nice weather??  The boys took full advantage of that!

Bray worked all season on his shot.  He can now hit 3's regularly!



I'm done

I have to apologize.  I'm done thinking I can post on here at any time.  That despite not having pictures to share with you that I will still post something.  I don't.  My bad.

Taite got out of the hospital yesterday morning.  He was in for 2 nights.  Wednesday night he started having ear pain again and wouldn't you know it, at around 6 or 7, it burst.  Again.  For those of you keeping track, it's about the second time in about as many weeks.  Maybe you could add a week to that, but it was still too soon.  Taite instantly started crying.  He was so sure we were done with the pain and we were not.  With our friend's help, we were seen by a different ENT at the local clinic and when he heard we'd been dealing with this roller coaster of pain/ear/congestion, he was all for putting Taite in the hospital so they could administer antibiotics.  As the nurse said, there is nothing like intravenous antibiotics.  I had never thought about it before, but when taking the antibiotics orally, you have to have them be processed by the stomach first, so it would be obvious that they don't work as instantly as you would hope them to.  Anywho. . . the nurse also said that the Dr had prescribed a very strong adult dose of these antibiotics for Taite and she had to explain in the system why they were giving him so much.  It's probably a direct result of the Dr. looking at Taite's adenoid.  He said it was huge and all pussy.  YUCK, but not what we are alien to hearing in the more recent weeks.  Also, his left ear was "angry".  After explaining the possible problems associated with this, I started to worry.  Mastoiditis goes with ear infection.  Severe mastoiditis can lead to meningitis.  I did not know this.  Taite has a very bad case of mastoiditis.  We are very watchful for a headache or any ear pain.  With that, we are to rush him to the ER, call the ENT and will probably have to head to Omaha for surgery.  That is worst case and we are hoping and praying, not our case.  It's the fear of this that has me contemplating sleeping in Taite's room on a cot.  I don't want him not to be able to come to our bedroom in case he has a headache or ear pain.  I don't want to think of the results of that pain. 

I think the Dr's here think we are crazy when we say that our kids aren't normally sick.  They aren't!  They can think what they will, but just help him get better.  This "new" ENT Doc is going to do that.  As soon as we can get it scheduled, Taite is having his adenoid & tonsils removed and a tube put into his left ear.  The thought behind this action is this:  The adenoid is so enlarged, the Eustachian tubes are not allowed to drain correctly and the Strep pneumococal...??  has been hindered while taking antibiotics, but not stopped completely, so after the antibiotics wear off, it starts growing again.  We now know we are battling the strep pneumococal?? virus since that is what was the result of culturing the drainage of Taite's ear.  Did I mention that after his ear drum burst, it would run out, literally, like the tears running down his face?  Constantly.  The draining has slowed considerably, but is still an issue and we have to have a box of Kleenexes accessible at all times.

Tomorrow is the day.  We have to talk to the school.  With what we've dealt with already, Taite has missed a lot of school.  After the surgery, he will miss a lot more.  Until the surgery, he cannot have any activity.  No basketball.  No PE.  No physical activity for 2 weeks.  I assume that since he gets straight A's this surgery won't be a problem, but we want to make sure the school is on board with this.  Well, let me re-phrase that. . . we want them to know our plan.  Even if they weren't "on board" we would still go ahead with the surgery and would deal with the school later.  The plan up until the surgery?  Keep a close eye on Taite because even though they pumped him full of anti-biotics, it doesn't mean we are in the clear yet.  I won't be able to relax until we are free and clear of mastoiditis.  That is our enemy right now. 

This was the weekend we had the tickets for every state tournament game being played in Sioux Falls.  We had a hotel room at the water park hotel in Sioux Falls for Friday night.  Taite was devastated, Bray was disappointed.  Thanks to our great friends Jeremy, Talli, Mike & Amy who took Bray up with them and took him to the game and hotel on Friday night so we could spend it in Taite's hospital room watching the live broadcast of the game on our phones.  Bray got to experience everything even though we weren't there as a family.  Yesterday when Taite was discharged though, Chris asked the Dr if we could go to the game and he said "Yeah, cheer on DV" (Dakota Valley ~ he has kids that go there too and one is even a 7th grader, so just  year older than Taite).  Cheering on the team to a disappointing loss was about all that Taite had in him.  When the game was over, his cheeks were very red and in our boys that means "tired".  It can be their cheeks or their ears, but red = severe tiredness.  Thankfully I had packed pillows so they could sleep on the way home from the game.  Thank the Lord for good doctors and even better friends!

Hola

I feel like there have been many things I want to share with you, but as this week has progressed, I think I'm just going to talk about Taite today.  No, I'm not favoring one son over the other (I can share stories with you about Bray too, and maybe I will...it will depend on how long this post takes and if I have the battery life for it) :~)

So.....Taite.....

First off, since you have been with us (probably) for the journey with his ear infections, I'd like to share with you that today he got the all-clear!  His ear is healing and we are only now dealing with allergies.  If I didn't post here about it, you'll have to check out FB hehe. 

So, Taite is getting closer and closer to being a teen.  This scares the crap out of me.  It does, and then it doesn't.  I know him and I don't see how he could turn into a moody, crabby, disagreeable teen, but I'm no expert!!!  hehe

Lately we've seen more and more signs of this change.  He doesn't care to spend as much time with us (if he has a choice).  Usually if Chris and I are "running to town" (I realize how weird this sounds since we live "in" town compared to before, but it's still going "to town" if we shop) Bray is the only one who will tag along with us.  Taite is more content to hang out at home. 

He also will come back with a quick, not so nice comment from time to time, but then he seems to "catch" himself and will correct this reaction.  I like this about him. 

In one of his rare moments the other night, I had a chat with him while I made supper.  (side note:  I made him shut off his train or video game downstairs and made him come upstairs and then I guilted him into keeping me company while I cooked ~ he's such a good boy!)  In this conversation, we got to talking about who he sees/hangs out with during lunch/recess since this is the only time during the day that the kids get to choose what they do.  It surprised and saddened me (at first) to hear who he sat with at lunch.  I was surprised because one of the boys I had never heard of before and it made me sad because his other maybe "cooler" friends weren't on the list anymore.  Instead there was one tried & true friend, a couple of new friends and Taite.  After I thought about it, it made sense.  The other group of boys who Taite had been recent friends with had kind of sorted themselves into the "girl lovers" we will call them.  They were the ones who were ALWAYS with their cell phones, texting girls and trying to get outside activities scheduled with these girls.  That's not Taite and believe me, Chris and I are OK with that!  So, I was okay with these new groupings.  I was never the popular girl, I wasn't the athlete, I wasn't friends with any particular group of girls.  I just was content to be friendly to everyone so I get where Taite is.

To take this even further, a few months ago, Taite's classmate's dad (we'll call him "athlete" boy) approached one of Taite's friends' dad (we'll call him "Taite's friend") about "the good boys".  The "good boys" were Taite and his group of friends and this athlete's dad wanted his son to be influenced a little more by the good kids.  (If this is confusing, just wait until your kids are this age and I think it will make a lot more sense!)  Not so long ago, Taite and one of the "girl lovers" hung out all the time and by all the time, I mean ALL-THE-TIME.  This is one of the reasons why the change in friends was concerning me.  Until tonight.  It seems that Taite is still in demand as one of the good boys.  I cannot stress how happy it makes me that despite the changes his friends have chosen to make, he has stayed true to who he is.  He's still the boy who is nice to everyone (we got home today and the neighbor girls were instantly asking him to play, which he did) and he hasn't changed who he is.  This is what makes me happy.  I'm not afraid of the teen years (yet) and I'm o-so-proud of him.  I thank the Lord everyday for our success so far with this boy of mine. 

This reminds me of the country song "He's Mine" which isn't completely descriptive of Taite, but the way the dad feels about his son is exactly how I feel.  I want to yell "He's Mine!" to everyone I see.