One more day at home.

I decided to keep the boy home one more day. Overall, he was fever-free yesterday (although he was up to 100 at bedtime). But he is still coughing badly and has no appetite. That's just NOT normal for him. I thought the day at school might just be too much for him to handle.

So he is nicely ensconced in my bed, eating Apple Jacks, and watching Donald Duck's "A Duck Tale". He's happy as a clam.

So we went to the doctor...

And came home with a prescription for 'tamiflu'. The doctor isn't absolutely sure he has the flu since they were out of the test strips that they use to confirm. Seems everyone and their brother has the flu, so the test strips are in short supply. But based on my description of the symptoms, she felt this was the best course of action.

I must say that the boy that spent the day with me today is completely different than the boy that laid in bed and watched TV all day yesterday. When we got home from the doctor, he asked "can I go outside and play?" Music to my ears...."of course, sweetheart!"

He's been fever-free all day, so unless something happens tonight, he's got the green light to return to school tomorrow. Yippee.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes.

Oh, and he was disappointed that he never got around to watching Episode III. I turned the TV off before lunch and it hasn't been on since. (I'm still not convinced that I am ready for him to watch Episode III, as my B-I-L reminded me that it is the most graphic of them all. Perhaps I can talk him into starting over with IV again...)

I have a sickie on my hands

Yep, my poor baby boy got sick over the weekend. At one point, his fever climbed to over 104 yesterday. I'm so grateful that he responded well to the tylenol that I gave him. So I will probably need to run him to the doctor today. It's been a long time since he has been this sick. He usually saves this up for when we are out of town.

His first winter home, he contracted RSV that landed us in a hospital for six days. That was while we were in the Chicago area for what was supposed to be a 4 day visit. I call that my Gilligan's Island trip to Chicago.

The very next winter, we went to Hot Springs over the holidays. There, we ended up in the ER and had to cut our trip short. The worst part of that was that we had driven for that vacation and had to make the drive home with an extremely cranky boy that required some kind of medicine every 2 hours.

Needless to say, after ending up at the hospital 2 years in a row, we decided to stay close to home for the next winter holidays. And, of course, had no issues.

Unfortunately, this weekend was our Circuit Assembly. We did get to go on Saturday, but had to miss the Sunday session. We'll see if we can make it up on another weekend.

During Henry's downtime, he has focused on watching the Star Wars series. Yesterday, we finished watching VI. We were also able to watch all of I and II. I had decided that the best way for him to watch them was the way that we all watched them. Therefore, we had started with IV (back when we were in North Dakota). We had also watched V while there. Since he seemed so taken with it all, we picked up the whole series at Target last week. Anyway, I was worried he'd be confused when we started back at I. I explained to him what we were doing and that the little boy Anakin would eventually grow up to become Darth Vader. He seemed to get it. I must say that I have been kind of enjoying watching the whole thing again, but fell asleep through a large part of II.

Another Scrapblog...

I have always wanted to go back and create a photo book for each year for Henry. Needless to say, I have all the scrapbooking materials in a bag in the closet and just can't seem to find the time to get it all out and do it.

But now that I've discovered scrapblog-ing (thanks again, Allegra!!!), it doesn't take that long. I'm not the most creative person in the world, but overall, I am happy with how this turned out.

This was an easy one. It is 2004 and I only had to scrap about 6 weeks worth of material. Don't hold your breath for the subsequent years...they may take a little longer. Afterall, there are THOUSANDS of pictures that must be sorted through. Fortunately, I've always tagged my favorites, and I think I'll just focus my attention on those.

I want to Hold You

August 8, 2007
A couple of really cute things that you say right now are: If you want to be picked up or carried – you say “I want to hold you” It is really precious and of course who could resist that. Also, you love delivery trucks, UPS, FedEx, and the mailman. You call UPS “P-U-S” and right now you tell us when you grow up you are going to be a pilot for a FedEx airplane.

Back to your adoption: Finally, everything is finalized in Russia and you get to come home. You fly from Vlad to Seoul, Korea then to Los Angeles, CA (Nana flies to Chicago from there ) and you fly to Houston. During the flight you get sick and throw up on everything and on Mom. (you always talk about throwing up – it is funny or you will say “I didn’t throw up” you are kind of fascinated by vomiting) They said you were such a good boy on the flight. I pick you up at the airport and this is the first time I meet you. You have been traveling for more than 24 hours and you are still so precious and excited about everything. You want to show me the baggage claim carousel right away. We bring you home and you do fine with you first time in a car seat. The first week you have jet lag but every night gets easier and easier and within 1 week you are adjusted to our Texas time. You come home on November 21st a Saturday. The very next day everyone comes over to meet you and we have your first party. The Suttons, The Noltys, The Winslows, The Legas, The Saouds, and the Dancers all come over – you got presents and everyone thought you were adorable – YOU WERE! You start settling in to your life here much easier than your Mom thought you were. For about a month or so you are afraid to take a bath but we work with you and get you toys and now you love it completely and we can’t get you out. In December, Mom takes you to Chicago so you can meet all your relatives. You have a party while you are up there also however, you got RSV while you were there and you were in the hospital for about 7 days. You went by ambulance – you were a sick little baby and we were all worried. I hated that I couldn’t be there but you were in good hands and your mom never left the hospital the whole time.
In Jan, you, your mom, your Nana and Papa and I go on a Carnival cruise. You loved it. We had a good time. In Cozumel, we went to a beach called Natchi Co Com and it was just a spectacular day – we have some really cute pictures of you there.
You went to your first meeting at the Kingdom Hall, your first Memorial, your first District and Circuit assemblies. You immediately were a good boy and got the routine. Everyone at the hall loves you. You are the “Kingdom Hall Baby” right away. Right now Elton Brown always gives you a piece of candy so he is your favorite and you share a birthday – Elton and his boys love you.
Every September, Nada, your Mom and I rent a beach house at Surfside. You absolutely love it and you settle in to this routine with us also. We are so glad you love the things we love so much. You love to find the moon at night and during the day. You always tell us how good food smells and how pretty things are. You are very dramatic – I think I have rubbed off on you.

Boo hoo, I'm sick!

Here is a picture of me as we left the emergency room in Hot Springs. The doctor was really nice except when she took my temperature (since I wouldn't let her do it in my mouth, she had to resort to other 'openings'). She said I had bronchitis. So yesterday (Monday), I spent the day lounging -- like my loungewear?

Love,

Master Henry