More on Tucker

Tucker ended up not having surgery on Wednesday.  His parents told the surgeon they wanted to wait and see if the antibiotics would work before they subjected him to more surgery and recovery and possible complications.  The surgeon wasn't thrilled, but I am proud of his parents for standing their ground. 

Tucker continues to improve. His color looks good and he has no fever and is eating. It has been a quiet, restful weekend for them.

Monday morning (today) they will do an ultrasound on his abdomen to check the abscess. If it looks good, the tubes will come out. Tucker is very anxious about these tubes coming out. He is afraid it will hurt. He will be sedated when/if they do it so just pray for a sense of peace and calm for him.

They will also do an ultrasound on his lungs to check the fluid. Pray that the fluid has thinned out and is breaking up so no chest tube will be needed to drain the fluid. He would most likely be on IV antibiotics through his PICC line at home for several weeks to treat the remaining pneumonia. Some people have asked why this pneumonia seems so different. This is considered the "bad bacterial pneumonia" that older people usually get after a surgery or long hospital stay. This isn't the kind that kids normally get.

Ultrasounds are scheduled for 9 am and 9:30 am Monday morning. The doc will see the results and decide how to proceed. Everyone is hoping he gets to come home soon. 

On an unrelated and lighter note:
Yesterday Kevin took Fletcher and Luke with him to Lowe's to buy some fertilizer.  They like to "surf" the radio stations and listen to various music.  The song "Dream On" by Aerosmith came on.  They turned it up, rolled the windows down and sang as loud as they could.  Kevin sang the "Sing with me, sing for the year, sing for the laugh, sing for the tear."  Luke chimed in with "Dream owl, dream owl, dream owl, dream owl...."
Despite Fletcher's correction, he continued to sing "Dream owl, dream owl..."   Steven Tyler would be so proud. 


Teresa and Grant and Tucker are so very thankful for your prayers.

More Surgery

Tucker is having surgery this morning between 11 am and 12 noon to drain the fluid in his right lung from the pneumonia.  The docs were hoping that the strong antibiotics would take care of the fluid without surgery, but that didn't happen.  It is so very hard watching our friends go through this.  I know they know God is in control and He is faithful and good.  But watching your only child suffer so much is so hard for them. 

Teresa and I were talking yesterday about the fact that every single time a parent approaches Jesus with a sick or dying (or in the case of Jarius' daughter - already dead) child, Jesus never turned a parent away.  He always listened.  I know God can heal Tucker completely.  I know hundreds of people are praying for him.  Needless to say, this is weighing very heavy on my heart which is why I haven't felt  like blogging much recently.  Selfishly I want God to remove this situation because it is hard to watch our dear friends hurting. But God keeps reminding me that instead of praying for Him to remove it, I should be praying for God to carry them through it and use the situation to draw them closer to Him. 

Tucker

Our sweet friend Tucker is back in the hospital again.  This is the third time in three months.  He has pneumonia in his right lung and an abscess in his abdomen from the surgery a few weeks ago.  He is running a high fever and is in so much pain.  The docs will be going in this morning to drain the abscess and probably drain his lung as well.  Please pray for complete healing for Tucker and pray for strength and peace for his parents Grant and Teresa. 

So Many Questions

So I have more than a few questions:
Do you think he gave himself that nickname?
Do you think he still lives at home with his parents?
When did he decide to pursue this career?  Perhaps during the Presidential Fitness Challenge in elementary school.  "I can't do a chin up, but I can clap my hands faster than my entire third grade class." 
How many hours a day must one practice to get this good?
Is there a Professional Hand Clapping circuit similar to the PGA TOUR?
Who counts number of claps per second?
Do they have to have a slow motion camera for instant replays?
Who is his arch nemesis? 

His facial expressions are priceless. 

Follow your dreams "Toast".

If Dogs Could Talk...

Sadie would owe money to the Cuss Jar.

You can tell by the look on her face she was not having a good time. 

"Dad, please take this thing off of me."

V Day 2011

I don't know what got into me. It would have been easy to just go purchase two boxes of Valentines for the boys to give to their classmates. However, I saw this cute idea on a craft blog and thought they might have fun making these for their friends. We actually made it a family project and we all had fun with it.

Melted Heart Crayons for Valentine's Day

What you will need:

Lots of old crayons* (Crayola brand works best, other brands are too waxy)

Box cutter

Metal or silicone muffin pan (Mine was heart shaped; be sure it can go in the oven otherwise it will melt)

Pam spray (if using metal pan)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Peel paper off of crayons (We used a box cutter to score each crayon down the side which made it much easier to peel.  Obviously, an adult needs to do this part)

Break crayons into small pieces**

Lightly spray muffin tin with Pam (do this for each batch)

Fill muffin tin with various broken pieces (avoid using too many dark colors)

Put in oven for 10 minutes

Put in freezer for 5-10 minutes until you see crayons pull away from the sides of pan

Pop out

Give away

*Depending on how many you are making, this project takes LOTS of crayons especially if you take out most of the darker colors.  I wanted to use our old ones, but I ended up having to go buy another big box to make enough for both classes.

**Breaking the crayons was Luke's favorite part.  We had to remind him that this was a special project and we shouldn't break crayons at preschool or at church.  We'll see if he remembers. 

I bought 3" X 4" treat bags at Michaels to put the hearts in.  I printed the poem on cardstock and attached it to scrapbook paper.  Then I stapled the paper to the bag. 

 Try not to move the pan too much when you pull it out of the oven or the colors will run together. 

I had read about making camouflage ones using browns, blacks, dark greens, and tans.  We tried it, but they didn't turn out at all. They just looked like dark blobs.  That's what the circles are.  Fletcher thought they were cool, but we decided not to give them away.

Finished product.

It isn't Valentines without a corny poem, right?  I hope the kids like them.  And as an added bonus, they're not candy so maybe the parents will like them too!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011!

Good news:  Tucker got to go home from the hospital yesterday!  Praise the Lord!

Ugh!

4 am

Kevin is out of town.

Luke is crying.

I go in his room and he says, "Mommy, my room is moving."

Uh-oh.

He's burning up.

102.6

He says, "My froat hurts too."

He smells weird. (My kids get this weird smell when they get sick.  It's kinda hard to explain.)

Off to the doctor this morning.

It's strep. 

I had it last week so I probably gave it to him.

Mommy guilt.

All things considered, I'm actually thankful.  So much is going around right now - the flu, a nasty stomach virus, some other "mystery" viruses with no explanations and no meds that help. 
At least with strep we know what it is and we now have antibiotics to treat it. 

He was so pitiful today.  I hate seeing my kids sick. 

He hasn't been napping lately and today he actually asked to go lay down and then slept for almost 4 hours. 

Woke up with more fever. 

Kevin saved the day with more Motrin and Tylenol.

I hope with his medicine and lots of rest he will be all better for his Valentine's party next week at school. 

Just In Case

Just in case you missed it, this was probably my favorite Super Bowl commercial. 

Budding Artist

This is what I noticed yesterday morning when I walked into the kitchen:

Clean lines, broad strokes. What it lacks in color, it makes up for in style. 

I normally ask my children to "tell me about your picture" when they draw something so I can encourage their artistic abilities.  However, I thought it best to skip straight to the "We don't draw on walls; we draw on paper" lecture.  I opted to leave out the "walls are not easels and canvases" portion of the lecture.

I'm not sure when it happened.  I'm pretty sure I know who might have done it (see yesterday's post).  We make it a point to keep the scissors, crayons, markers, and pencils put away in the cabinet.  Someone has figured out where that cabinet is located and how to push the barstool up to the counter to climb up and reach the stuff inside the cabinet. 

At this rate I might never get to shower or go to the bathroom again. 

If you need me, I'll be the unkempt smelly mom wearing Depends. 

On a serious note:  our sweet friend Tucker (age 6 1/2) had to go back to the hospital and have emergency surgery again yesterday.  What they thought was a nasty stomach virus turned into something much worse.  There was a kink in his intestines (doctor said like a "cheap garden hose") and it was causing a blockage.  The doc thinks it was definitely related to his surgery back in December.  About 5 % of people who have had abdominal surgery have bowel obstructions post op.  The doc had to remove the dead tissue at the kink portion and reconnect him.  They also took out his appendix to keep from having to do that anytime in the future.  I suppose if  they are already poking around in there they might as well.  He will be in the hospital for about a week and then recovering at home for a few more weeks.  Please pray for no infections and no complications.  Also pray for much needed rest for Grant and Teresa (mom & dad) and Tucker.  They are all worn out. 

Phases and Stages

All kids go through stages and phases.  Just when you think one phase is going to drive you absolutely bonkers, they move on to something else.  One of the "phases" I remember with Fletcher was his need to put tons of toys in a backpack and lug it around the house.  He would cram so many toys in the backpack that I thought the zipper might bust.  If he ever had trouble finding a favorite toy, nine times out of ten it was in a backpack somewhere.  But then he moved on to something else.

Luke's current obsession is making messes.  Dumping stuff out.  Clearing off his bookshelves - not to read the books but just to make a mess.  Piling up the pretend kitchen food under his bed.  Scattering his Legos all over the new dining room/playroom.  Of course, when I tell him it is time to pick it all up, he has a major meltdown. Did I mention he is 3?  It is about to drive me crazy.  We try to get him to put one thing away before he takes something else out, but if I am not on top of my game (which means most days) then he manages to make a huge mess.  I am hoping this phase passes quickly.  No, seriously.  If he stopped tomorrow, I wouldn't be upset. 

See?

Yes, those are all of our shoes that were by the garage door.  We take our shoes off when we come inside.  Some days we end up with tennis shoes, church shoes, basketball shoes, slippers, etc.

He drove around in his truck and threw them out like he was throwing candy from a parade float.  So much for trying to keep the muddy shoes contained in one area.

This was pre-meltdown.  Goodness he sure is cute!

I Big Red Puffy Heart Craigslist

I mentioned a few weeks ago when I posted the trampoline video that we were essentially turning the dining room into a playroom for the boys.  I thought I would just take the leaf out and make our dining room table into a smaller circle and leave it in there.  But the more I thought about it, I didn't think it would work.  It took up too much space.  Plus, a certain older brother likes to play with his legos on the table and a certain younger brother likes to knock them on the floor because they are just at his eye level.  You can imagine how much frustration this causes the older brother. 

So I started looking for a possible solution on craigslist not sure what I was really looking for. 

Then I found it. 

This lady was selling her solid wood (pine, I think) counter height desk, cart and extremely heavy stool. Because it is rectangular, it can go against the wall.  It looks nice on all sides so it could also float in the middle of the room.  Because it is counter height, Fletcher can play with his legos a little higher up where a certain someone might not mess with them as much.  Because it has an overhang on both sides, the boys will both eventually be able to sit and do homework there later on down the road.  We can put puzzles in the drawers, baskets on the shelf and park some of Luke's big machines underneath it.  It is also small enough to fit in Fletcher's room if we ever decide to turn the room back into a dining room. 

The best part?  It was only $500 for everything and it is in excellent condition.  She said she paid over $1800 for it from Pottery Barn. 

We still have some work to do in that room -- maybe a rug and some pictures on the walls.   I'll post pictures when we get it finished. 



A Rare Moment

I'm not sure what amazes me more -- the fact that Fletcher was willing to sit down and read to Luke or the fact that Luke was willing to sit still and listen attentively.  This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  





What Is It Anyway?

This little clip has been making its way around the web and on Facebook:



Hard to believe that was just a little over 15 years ago.

Where Do They Get This Stuff?

Couldn't make it up if I tried.

In the van yesterday just the two of us.

Luke:  Mom?  I wish....I wish I were Bebus (Jesus)
Mom:  You wish you were Jesus?
Luke:  Yes, Bebus.
Mom:  Oh? (not even remotely sure what to say to this one)  Well,  you can't be Jesus, but you can be like Jesus and be kind and loving to others like He was.
Luke:  (very emphatically) But I want to be Bebus!!
Mom:  (trying a different approach) Well, what would you do if you were Jesus?
Luke:  Well, first I would need some disciples.
Mom:  What would the disciples do?
Luke:  Get me some food
Mom:  Get you some food? 
Luke:  And some water.....

Glad he is being so attentive in Sunday School.