Chaos and Cupcakes

Taylor wrote out a new schedule for his day for the remainder of the summer.  He doesn’t have times set for each activity; he just has them in the order that he wants each activity performed.  This is the schedule he wrote:

Eat–Practice–Create a clone–Play–Train–Exercise–Grow.

Jared and I particularly like the last one.  We’re hoping he means grow wide.  He’s already very tall, but way too skinny.  He is at the very bottom of the underweight area on the Wii Fit chart.  He also lost a pound after getting his tonsils out.  He is working so hard to try and gain that pound back and then some.  He was so proud at lunch today that he ate one and a half peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Tonight the kids and I were doing some M & M math and I let him keep sneaking extra M & M’s to eat.  Every bite counts.

I had hoped that the way Taylor felt on Thursday when he came home from the hospital would be an indication of the rest of his recovery (he was feeling pretty good). Unfortunately, it wasn’t. His discharge papers stated that the worst days would be days 3 and 4. But for him the downturn started on day 2. Jared and I had tickets with his work to go see The Dark Knight. I asked Taylor if he was feeling well enough for a car ride over to Grandma’s house and he nodded his head yes. So we packed up the kids and I packed a bag for the kids including books, drinks, pudding, and oatmeal for Taylor and he also took his laptop with him. When we went back to my mom’s after the movie, Taylor was just laying lethargically on her bed, burning up with a fever. He had no interest in trying to eat or drink, was on the verge of tears, and was just so miserable. My mom said that all of a sudden he had just started feeling so bad and she felt him and he was so hot. I felt awful. We gave him another dose of his liquid Lortab and Jared carried him out to the car. We stopped at McDonald’s on the way home to get him a milkshake. Taylor took one sip before falling right to sleep. Jared then had to run into AT & T to pick up his iPhone that had just arrived. Taylor slept the whole time. When we got home I gave him some Children’s Tylenol for his fever and settled him on the couch, trying to get him to drink more milkshake or some water. He didn’t want anything. I checked his discharge papers and it said a fever was normal in the 24-48 hours after surgery and to call the doctor if it went over 102 degrees. It wasn’t quite at 102, thankfully. So Taylor just slept on and off and I forced him to drink when he was awake. He woke up on Saturday morning in a lot of pain again and indicated that he wanted his pain medicine. We know the pain is bad when he actually wants the Lortab as he hates the bitter taste of it and we usually have to force him to take it. The past 24 hours have been the same for him painwise, although his fever seems to have pretty much abated. He can’t speak at all so he writes us notes to let us know what he wants. He is getting hungry, though, and is getting tired of liquids and soft foods. Last night he ate some Rice Krispies made soggy with chocolate milk and a soft meatball (my neighbor brought us some of her fantastic homemade meatballs and a ton of other yummy stuff) cut up into tiny pieces.

I feel so awful that he is going through so much pain and discomfort. The doctor had said at the pre-op appointment that the younger kids are, the easier the recovery is. He said, however, that age 7 is about the cut-off for the easier recovery so it would be a toss-up as to if Taylor’s recovery would be easy or painful. But after the surgery he said Taylor’s tonsils were so huge and had to come out. His adenoids were also moderately large so it was good to get them out, as well. So I keep telling Taylor that he really needed this done and it will be so much better in the long run for him. But I still remember how horrible I felt 12 years ago when I got my tonsils out. My big fear with Taylor getting his out is that what happened to me would happen to him. On about the 4th night (I think) of my recovery I woke up in the middle of the night with my pillow and shirt soaked in blood, with more blood gushing from my mouth. I ran to my bathroom and watched the sink fill with blood. I couldn’t yell and so I banged on the wall until someone woke up and heard me (my bedroom was on the ground floor and everyone else was either on the 2nd or 3rd floor). My parents rushed me to the ER where my ENT came and suctioned and cauterized my throat. Apparently, I am quite prone to hemorrhaging. So because of my experience, I have had Taylor sleep in our bed and will have him do so at least until after his follow-up appointment on Tuesday.

So… if you wouldn’t mind, would you include this sad, sweet boy in your prayers for the next couple of days?

The good news is that Taylor lost his 6th tooth today. The bad news is he has no idea where or when. Hopefully the tooth fairy will be understanding when the tooth is not in the tooth fairy pillow tonight since it is probably in Taylor’s stomach. I’m sure she will be.

My baby turns 7 at 3:14 p.m. tomorrow. I can’t believe it has been 7 years since Taylor was born, but at the same time I can’t remember life without my sweet, sweet boy. Since the moment Jared and I got married, I wanted a baby. I took several months and a miscarriage before that wonderful moment finally came when I found out I was pregnant. I was so impatient for him to come, and wouldn’t you know it? He was the only one out of the 6 to make it to his due date. He was so beautiful and perfect. He was the first grandchild on both sides of our families. He was such an adorable, happy, smiley baby. He rarely cried; only when he had an ear infection. He didn’t even cry at all when he had a horrible stomach bug and had to be hospitalized for dehydration. We could take him anywhere with us- the movies, restaurants, YM/YW dances, and he would be perfectly happy the whole time. Even as a baby, he was in a hurry to grow up. He was sitting up at 4 months, crawling at 6 months, and walking at 10 months.

Now at 7 years old, he is still a sweet, happy guy. He is the BEST oldest child anyone could ever ask for. He is such a wonderful helper and is so loving. He is also so intelligent that he constantly amazes me. People have commented his whole life that he seems so much older than he is because he has always been so mature and smart; he’s always been way beyond his years. He is only in first grade but reads at a 6th grade level and does math at a 3rd grade level. He loves computer games, reading, soccer, swimming, and running. He just loves all learning in general. He is a friend to everyone he meets and is thoughtful and generous. He never says a bad thing about anyone and can find the positive in everything and everyone.

I am so thankful to have Taylor in my life. Although I miss the baby that he was, the one who would only sleep cuddled up to Mommy with his hands tangled up in my hair, I am so proud of the boy he is now and of the young man that he is becoming.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

…with Grandma and Grandpa McGrath.  My mom is having a hip replacement surgery today so she will be out of commission for Taylor’s upcoming birthday (May 1st).  So she and my dad picked Taylor up Saturday night and took him out for his birthday.  He was so excited about this and watched the clock all day long in anticipation.  Then he waited outside for 1/2 hour, even though we told him it wasn’t quite time yet, but he was just way too excited to sit inside and wait.  They went to eat at Red Robin, then went to the bookstore and let him choose a book, and then they went to the carnival that was being held in the mall parking lot.  They brought back some cotton candy for the other kids.  I’m so glad they did this date as it made Taylor feel so special and important.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for doing this and making such a happy memory for my sweet boy!

Apparently Taylor is running for President.  I found this in his stack of papers when straightening up our art room (the big closet under the stairs):

A vote for Taylor is a vote for the future.  A vote for Taylor is a vote for robots to be more popular.  A vote for Taylor is a vote to cut taxes.

This kid is so stinking smart and cracks me up.  I don’t know many 6 year olds with such convincing campaign tactics.  He’s got my vote!

Conversation between Taylor and Cameron at dinner tonight:

T: Hola, I am Taylor from Spanishland!

C: Then your name is Taylito!

T: Uno, dos, tres, quattro, zinco!

C: I am from New Mexico. No, no, New Orleans. No, no, New York City!

Then I tried to wipe the milk of off Taylor’s face. Taylor said, “Mom, you are wiping off my mustache. Make that my MOOOstache.”