Yikes

When we left for the hospital yesterday my brain was working over time trying to figure out everything we might need, who to call immediately that would be expecting me or Mason in the next couple of days, and what to do with Tanner. My friend Susie picked up Tanner before we left and Brad picked him up after work. On the drive to the hospital I called one of Tanner's friends and spoke to his mom about after school tomorrow. The plan was Tanner would get off the bus at the same stop and go home with Luke. Luke's parents would take the boys trick or treating if Brad had not made it home in time. About 5:00 I called to check on Tanner. Lisa said Tanner was at home. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't! My heart stopped. She said when he got off the bus he went to the garage and punched in the code. He saw my truck in the garage and told Briant I was home. Tanner went inside and did God knows what for an hour. Lisa said Luke went to our house 30 minutes earlier and rang the doorbell to see if Tanner wanted to play. Of course he didn't answer, that is our rule when he and Mason are ever home alone. I just wonder what was going on in that little boys mind when he got in the house and no one was home. Did he celebrate and have a little party or was he scared? In my mind I think of him being scared to death and crying for his mommy. But if I know Tanner it didn't faze him a bit. If that had been me as a child I would have been hysterical. One time my mom couldn't pick me up from swimming lessons on time. She called the place and told them she would be late. I remember the lady telling me this and offering me chips and coke, but I wouldn't stop crying until I saw my mom. I guess you see where Tanner gets his emotional side.

When I hung up with Lisa she sent Briant back over to the house and I told her I would call him. I had to call several times before he would pick up. The thoughts that were going through my head were not good. I was almost in tears. He finally picked up and said, "Luke is here to get me." No duh! I told him to go and open the door and he said he had to put on shorts first. I bet he was eating in the living room, in his boxers, and watching cartoons. Like I said he was in hog heaven.

Hospital

Last night Mason was admitted to the hospital. I went to the pediatrician again yesterday because Mason was still running a fever and he was complaining of his mouth hurting. The doctor said it was herpes. What the ......? I asked him how he got that and he said it was very common and kids pass it all the time. Who knew? When I got home I looked on the internet and it said you can take antiviral medication for this. I called his nephrologists and told them what was going on and they told me to take him to the ER so he could be admitted for IV antiviral meds. We got to the ER at 6:30 and didn't get up to a room until 10:30. They didn't start the IV until around 1:30 and it was so loud we couldn't sleep. Then they kept coming in at least every hour for one thing or another. The labs showed his BUN level was a little elevated, that is his kidney function. He is still not spilling protein. His blood showed some new bands (I have never heard of bands) He said that you are suppose to have 0 bands and he has 6. This means his body is fighting an infection. Really??!! The worst part is they have him in isolation so he feels like he is in jail. He is tired and very crabby. Nothing is good enough at this moment. He is very sad he is missing Halloween. He had plans for a friend to ride the bus home and they were going trick or treating by themselves. He has a very important football game tomorrow. He has two baseball games on Sunday. He is very disappointed to not be able to participate. The doctor said the earliest we can get out is this weekend, perhaps tomorrow.

Tanner Football

I just learned how to post videos. Here is one of Tanner getting a tackle. He is number 30 on the white team. Do you hear Brad in the background?

Still home

This is day four being home with Mason. I am a little bored. I should be using this time wisely. I have bathrooms that need to be cleaned and floors that need to be mopped. Instead I am surfing the Internet and finding funny videos to post on my blog. Watch the video I posted below.

I thought Mason was better this morning. His fever was only 100, but I can't get him to eat. He says his stomach hurts and he has a sore on the tip of his tongue. His doctor wanted me to bring him back in this morning if he wasn't any better. I didn't take him, but I just called them and they want me to bring him in at 2. Will this ever end??

I need to take Tanner to the allergy doctor for his shots today. His doctor is in the same building as our pediatrician. I think I might check him out of school a little early, so I only have to make one trip. Is that bad? The poor kid hasn't had a chance to carve his pumpkin yet and he has football practice tonight. If I pick him up and get the allergy doctor out of the way, he will have time to carve his pumpkin, do homework, eat dinner, go to practice , and still get to bed on time.

This is funny!

Still Sick

Mason ran a fever all day. It went down to 100 while he was on Tylenol, but as soon as it started wearing off the fever was high again. We went to the doctor this morning. He thinks it is just a virus. He checked his urine and the results were good. He is still not showing any protien in his urine. This is the sickest he as been in a while. If he can get through this with out spilling protien maybe he has outgrown the nephrotic syndrome. We go and see the nephrologist in November. Hopefully he will start weaning Mason off these medicines. I am probably being too hopeful. Our doctor wants me to call him tomorrow and update him. Tonight Mason't fever went back up to 103, so I gave him another tylenol. More than an hour later the fever was still at 102. Of course this caused me to to get on the computer and research what to do with a fever. Nothing really helped because Mason isn't a normal kid. All these medicines he takes weaken his immune system, so I don't know why I was wasting my time. I just worry about him so much. He is sleeping soundly right now, so I should just relax. Maybe he will wake up in the morning and be fever free.

Sick Kid

Yesterday Tanner had two baseball games. He did much better. He didn't throw any fits. He did cry when he struck out, but he recovered very quickly.

While Tanner and I were at his game, Mason was at home with Brad. He had baseball practice that afternoon. He kept calling me telling me he didn't feel good, could he miss practice. He said his jaw hurt and he thought it was broken. I thought he was faking it. I let him miss practice but told him he needed to lay in bed and not go out and play. When we got home from Tanner's game Mason had a fever of 99. I still didn't believe that he felt bad. He took a bath and then said he felt much better. Tanner had a birthday party to go to, so while he was at the party Mason and I went to see High School Musical. While we were at the movies Mason kept saying he was cold and started looking terrible. By the time we got home he had a fever of 103. (I am such a great mom. I thought he was faking it all day.) He asked to take another bath. When he was ready to get out he yelled for me and told me he couldn't get out by himself. I took his temp. again and it said 105. I almost had a heart attack. I took it again and it went down to 103 again and then it kept falling getting down to 100. I guess the medicine finally kicked in. I checked him out through out the night. It stayed around 101. Of course I worried all night wondering if this was going to make him relapse again. We have almost gone one year with out relapsing. I checked his urine first thing this morning and he is still negative. I am sure I will be taking him to the doctor today.

Kid update

Mason waiting his turn on the sideline.

Tanner has been doing better. Maybe because he hasn't had a baseball game. Last week he remembered he forgot his math homework at school. He said, "I am going to get a mark." I said, "Yes, you are." He thought for a minute and came up with a plan to ride his bike to a friends house and get his homework, bring it home so I could copy it, and then give it back to him. Great plan, only his friend had forgot his too. He needs to pick smarter friends. We tried to explain to him that getting the mark is the consequence for not following his teachers directions and putting the paper in his binder. He seemed to understand, but he wasn't happy. He worried about it all night. The next morning he mentioned it again, and I told him to try and not cry. When he got home the first thing he said to me was, "I got a mark and I didn't cry." I asked him what happened and he said he had to do the work at recess. He said, "It only took me a minute and then I got to go and play." I told him I wasn't going to punish him because his punishment was doing it during recess.

The next test was Saturday at his football game. They passed the ball to him in the end zone, but he didn't catch it. Brad thought it was pass interference, but it wasn't called. He did cry, but got over it pretty quick. Later in the game they passed it to him again and he ran about 20 yards before getting tackled. He was so proud of himself. I always tell him to say to himself when he strikes out or misses a ball, "next time I'll get it". This was a perfect example of that. He has such a sweet heart. I know that is why he is so sensitive. I don't want that to change about him. He just needs to know how to handle his emotions. Hopefully, we are on the right road.

Kyle moved out a couple of weeks ago. He decided he needed to live with a Mormon family. I guess us asking him to get a job was just too much for him. He hasn't called us to even let us know where he is. He didn't have a phone, because he had lost the one we gave him. He came back Saturday when we were at Tanner's game. He left us his new number. His mom reactivated his old phone. I think he is a lot like his mom. The grass is always greener. That is why she has moved so much. It must be horrible to be that unhappy.

Mason is doing well. He is starting quarterback for his football team. A new kid showed up right before the season started. The kids had already been practicing for a month. They had to try out for their positions. Rumor has it this kid came to the team because he wants to be quarterback and his old team wouldn't let him. His mom is on the board so I guess she gets what she wants. Mason and this kid have switched off. Mason runs a series and then the new kids runs a series. I haven't really been happy about this, but I have kept my mouth shut. The dad even tried to say Mason couldn't play two weeks ago, because Mason had on Tanner's jersey because Mason left his at home. The only thing different was the number, but Mason's team didn't have a 30 so his coach said it was okay. He made a big deal out of it. Then last week the mom said Mason couldn't play because he wasn't in full uniform. He didn't have on the long red socks. He wasn't the only one. There were at least 4 other kids that didn't have the socks on. Our coach said it wasn't an issue. They are trying to get rid of my baby. Don't mess with my baby or I can get ugly. Last week the other parents were saying things to me about why this kid is taking Mason's spot. One even yelled while that kid was out there, "Put in our real quarterback." He threw an interception and caused a safety. After that Mason quarterbacked the rest of the game. I guess things work out the way they are suppose to.

Tan Man

Tan Man

This is suppose to be a blog about how perfect my kids are and what a great mom I am right? Well, I hate to break it to you, but my kids aren't perfect. I don't know how since I am. LOL



My poor Tanner has been having some issues. Tanner is an emotional kid. I have always described him as the most loving kid one minute and the spawn of Satan the next. He has been that way since he was a baby. When he was two we called him Tanner the Terrible. We couldn't go out to eat with him, because he would be so loud and Brad couldn't handle it. He reacts by yelling, screaming, or crying when he gets upset. This is part of the reason I took him to the doctor when he was in first grade. He was having a little trouble academically. He has never really gotten into trouble in school. Well, not anymore than the average kid. He might get a mark, her or there, but nothing terrible. He always saves his bad behavior for me. Anyway, I took him to the doctor and we determined he has ADHD. He has been on medicine ever since. He has done really well. The first day he was on the medicine his teacher said it was the first time he raised his hand and sat still while they were on the carpet. Another issue he has had is crying when he is playing sports. In football it was when he couldn't do something correctly. In baseball it is if he strikes out or misses a ball. When he was younger I felt like he would out grow it. He did get better for a while, but the last two Sunday's at baseball he has had total breakdowns. His teacher said he sobs if he gets into any kind of trouble or is asked to redo something. Thankfully this has only happened a few times. He has break downs on Monday when we are studying his new words. He thinks he has to know them already and cries and yells if I tell him he spelled it wrong. Anyone that knows me knows I am a pretty laid back person. I really don't beat my kids for not being perfect. I took him to the doctor last week because I thought maybe it was the medicine causing him to react this way. He said he didn't think so. The medicine would not cause this behavior it might enhance what is already there. My sister took the pictures of him above. He was crying when he was playing chess with his uncle a couple of Thanksgivings ago because he was losing. This was before medicine, so the doctor is right. He thinks we should go and see a counselor. I have mixed feeling about this. I tried to call the person he suggested we see, but she isn't in our plan. I started thinking we would just forget it and see if we could work this out ourselves. Then yesterday during his baseball game, Tanner missed a ball. When the first baseman threw it back to him Tanner threw it down on the ground. The ball was still live and the runner kept running. He picked up the ball and the ump called time. Tanner was playing pitcher and he has to give the ball back to the coach so he can pitch the ball. Instead of throwing the ball back he hurled it at the coach as hard as he could. His coach made him go to the dugout. Tanner was bawling. I went over and had a few words with him and told him to stop crying in a not so nice voice. He did. I was so embarrassed. His coach handled it very well. He made him apologize to the coach and I am happy he sent him out of the game. I am hoping this will make a big impact on him. I grounded him from video games and TV for the rest of the day. This is like taking oxygen from him. I also told him if he does it again he will not be playing baseball again. I am really at a loss as to what to do.

Sprouting

Last weekend I told Kyle he needed to clean the upstairs bathroom. He is really the only one to use that restroom because the boys take baths and brush their teeth in our restroom. Kyle informed me he could not clean the sink really well, because Tanner cleaned the hamsters food dish out by dumping all the food into the sink. It had clogged it up. I tried to clean it out, but I couldn't. When Brad got home that night I told him he needed to unclog that sink. He said okay, but as of today, 6 days later, he hasn't done it. I haven't nagged him about it, because I am such a good wife, but I did remind him about Tuesday. It has been bugging me, but Brad is a grown man and should be able to take care of things on his own. This is probably why Brad and I are still married. I am delusional. Kyle moved out on Monday night, so the bathroom sink hasn't been used. Tonight as I was tucking the boys in I was turning out lights and saw something in the sink. The damn seeds in the sink have sprouted. I might have to decorate that restroom with a rain forest theme. I came downstairs and told Brad about the sink and he said he would look at it after his shower. Maybe he will remember, maybe not. You know he did have to work today. We wouldn't want him to over do it.

happenings

We have been very busy with the boys sports lately. Even though things are hectic with them both playing baseball and football right now, nothing gives me more joy than seeing them excel in their activities. I wish Brad would feel the same way. He looks at their activities as a burden. He complains that it takes up so much time. I look at it as a time in our lives that will be over before you know it and when it is over we will miss it. Just like the late nights when they were babies and having to get up with them over and over this to will end. They are growing up so fast.

A little Kyle update........
Last night Brad and I talked to him and told him he needed to have a job by the end of the week. He turned 19 July 21st. When he came to live with us he said he would be leaving on his mission in August, after he turned 19. Well, it is October. Every week we ask him what is up and he tells us he will know in 2 weeks. We have been hearing this two week thing since July. He stopped working in August. He has visited some family, but has spent a lot of his time upstairs on the computer. Brad said to him last night that the Mormon church is putting his life on hold. He is in limbo waiting for them to tell him where he is going. He got upset by this because he thinks we are against his religion. We aren't against it, we just don't really understand it. He told us last night he was going to apply for a job this morning at 8. It is 8:45 and he is still sleeping. After I went to bed last night, Kyle told Brad he was going to move out and live with a Mormon family. He thinks we are being hard on him. I don't think we are expecting too much. All we want him to do is work. It isn't normal for a 19 year old to be doing nothing. Most 19 year olds are in school or working. I really don't think any family regardless of religion will think it is okay to not be doing anything. I am very tempted in calling someone at his church and finding out what is up with the mission.