Poor Matty.  He is having a tough time this weekend.  Rachel’s dad didn’t get her last weekend so I swapped weekends with him.  Usually when Matt goes away on his weekends, Rachel does too.  But Matty is here all on his own this weekend.  Matty and Rachel share a bedroom.  She can sleep through him talking and rolling around.  And he can sleep through her grating her teeth and having her random nightmares.

It was almost 9 p.m. when I told Matty it was time to head to bed.  Kevin volunteered to tuck him in since I can’t bend down too well.  Kevin didn’t come back right away.  After about 3 minutes I started wondering if something was wrong.  Then I heard Kevin calling my name.  I went in there to see Kevin pinned to the bed.  My 4′10″  65 lb son had my 6′2″ 190 lb husband pinned to the bed.  Matty had Kevin in what we call the “monkey death grip.”  Matty wraps his arms around Kevin’s neck and will not let go.  And if someone tries to pull him off he involves the legs too. 

Kevin asked him if he was tired and he told him no.  So he asked him if he was mad and he said, “Yeah.”  Kevin realized then that Matty didn’t want to go to bed in his own room.  He didn’t like the idea of Rachel not being in there too.  So Kevin got him out of bed and let him come lay next to me.  We were about to watch the first National Treasure so we told him he could hang out with us and watch the movie. 

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.  But every once in a while he would wake up a little and whisper, “Rachel.”  It just broke my heart.

After the movie Kevin was finally able to put him in his own bed.  Normally we would have just let him sleep in our bed, but with me just having surgery we didn’t want to risk him hurting me.  I’m sure at the crack of dawn he will be up and right back to our bed.  Thankfully, Rachel will be home tomorrow.

When I had surgery they put a breathing tube down my throat.  My throat is really sore now.  When I talk it sounds really raspy.  And I have to speak softly because if I don’t my ribs hurt. 

Well, Matty finds all of this hilarous!! Everytime I talk he looks at the floor and just giggles and giggles. 

And he won’t do what I ask him to do.  I told him 3 times this morning to go get on the potty.  He never budged.  I finally had to wake up Kevin so he could tell Matty. 

Mom is just not Mom without the right voice.

I got a call from the hospital late this morning.  The nurses in the OR were checking up on me.  After lunch my doctors nurse called to check on me too.  The poor nurse has seen me soo much the past couple of years.  I think she was just as emotionally involved in this as well.  We talked for about five minutes about my latest surgery.  I felt really good talking to her.  She was in awe of how bad my ovaries looked.  Her exact words were, “I looked at your photos and it appears that they were begging to come out.” 

Everything that I have dealt with and fought for was justified in that one sentence.  There were times I though I was crazy.  There were times that I worried that I was a hypochondriac like my great-grandmother and my grandfather were.  I would feel so guilty when I couldn’t make it to work or have to bail on an activity with my children.  Only a small amount of my tears were for the pain.  The rest was for the disappointment in me, that I felt everyone else must be feeling. 

I was terrified that I would enter this surgery and it would be like the past two.  The doc would look around, test tissue, etc. and never find anything that could be wrong.  I started questioning what my quality of life would be if they didn’t find anything wrong and it didn’t fix the pain.  Let me tell you….it wasn’t looking too hot. 

But my prayers were answered, as well as all of the prayers that my bloggy friends sent up to our wonderful Father.    There was a problem.  A huge problem.  And this time they saw it too.  My pain was 100% justified.  There is proof.  There are photos.  And now the problem is gone.  I should be able to heal and have a wonderful quality of life again.  I will be able to help my baby girl with soccer.  I’ll be able to help coach Matty with his special olympics.  Lots and lots of stuff is now open to me.  It is like the jail cell door opened and I got a “Get out of Jail Free” card.

It is the best relief that I could ever get.

I am home from my surgery.  Everything went pretty well.  The only thing that happened was that the nurse accidentally blew out a vein during the first try at the IV.  But she worked her magic and got it down the second time. 

When they did the surgery they found that my ovaries were covered in cysts.  It’s amazing that they didn’t see that in the ultrasounds but maybe because it was so bad they  looked okay.  I’ve heard that happening before.  I was sitting there watching the screen with the nurse and I only saw just the one. But they are gone now so no more worries there.

There was only a small fight with my mom and Theresa.  Theresa stood her ground though.  My mom told me later that she apologized to Theresa.  I asked Theresa if she did but she said that there was never an “I’m sorry” or an “I apologize.”  All she got was an explanation for her crappy behavior.  Theresa said that my dad showed up and things got a lot better.  My dad is an amazing guy.  I just wonder why the heck he stays married to my mom.  She would drive me to the loony bin.  But whatever floats his boat.

Anyway, so Theresa is cooking the kids grilled cheeses and noodles.  She was in awe of how much food we actually eat.  It’s nuts.  And with Brandon here too….wow!  The food we go through is amazing.  Brandon’s mom is sending us some $ just so we can feed the kid.  He’s a growing 12 year old.

I think after dinner we will watch a movie or two and then I might just crash right out.  The oxycodone makes me sleepy.

Well, today is the day of the surgery.  I’m not as freaked out as I was last night.  I don’t know why.  I guess maybe because the Zoloft was wearing off last night and it is in full force this morning.

I told Kevin to go to work.  With Brandon (Lauren picked out his blog name…lol) coming up to visit I didn’t want him to waste a day off on me.  I mean, seriously, what is he going to do there anyway that everyone else can’t do for me.  So Theresa is taking me.  And I guess my mom is going up too.  But not in the same car as us.  Thank you, Lord.  Theresa and my mom conflict even worse than Kevin and my mom do so it will be interesting to see how that goes.  Theresa was going to find ways to look really busy so my mom won’t talk to her.

So Theresa will be here in about 30 minutes.  The drive will be about an hour.  I have to check in at 10:30.  My surgery is scheduled at 12:30.  It will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Then I’ll have an hour in the recovery room.  Then they will put me in another recovery room but this one allows visitors.  I’ll be in there until they decide I can leave or they need to admit me.  I’m strongly praying for the leaving part of the story.  I don’t want to stay overnight. 

As soon as I am coherent, I’ll blog how it goes.  I think after my partial hysterectomy in February I blogged the next day so maybe I’ll be on tomorrow

Have a great one and I’ll try my best to do the same.

Lauren is having quite the adventurous summer.  She has dealt with some crazy stuff with Matty.  Today the drama surrounded a tooth.

Lauren was brushing his teeth for him and the tooth fell on out.  It didn’t come all the way out though.  Matty kind of felt it with his tongue for a second and then spit it in the sink.  He then picked it up and threw it at Lauren.  Apparently, since she was the one brushing his teeth, it was her fault he was now bleeding and losing teeth.

She called me in an excited panic.  For one, she has never had a tooth thrown at her before.  For another, Matty didn’t eat his tooth this time!!  So I guess he gets a tooth fairy visit.

Us girls had a very rare treat yesterday.  A girls day!! 

I had to work the morning but I had the afternoon off to go do my pre-op appointment.  Since Matty was still with his paternal grandparents I asked Lauren and Rachel if they wanted to tag along.  The town where my surgery is held is a huge tourist town.  So summer is a great time to just go hang out.  Plus it was cloudy and sprinkly so the weather was beautiful.

We did my preop first.  The girls were very supportive until the nurse went to draw blood.  Lauren even traded places with Rachel because she could be close to me

Once that was over with we went and had lunch at Subway.  Kevin is not extremely fond of Subway so it is a treat to get to go.  For an extra treat I bought each of us a chocolate chip cookie for when we were done.  It would be a sin to eat all healthy all the time

We worked off that cookie though.  We spent the next 2 hours cruising up and down Main Street.  We checked out the different shops.  Lauren was excited to actually enter a lingerie store and no boys were making gagging noises or giggly sounds behind her.  We raided the chocolate factory and got a free sample.  We checked out a museum.  The girls bought themselves matching mood rings.

Towards the end of the window shopping our feet were really starting to ache and blister.  None of us brought tennis shoes.  We were all in sandles and flip flops.  We decided it was time to go to the park and walk in the cool grass barefoot.

We headed down there.  Rachel was all excited to play on the play ground equipment.  The park sits on a river.  The water seemed much more appealing than the grass.  So the three of us headed down to the water.  The water was freezing cold.  It not only soothed, it numbed.  The girls loved it though.  Before we left they were standing in it and wiggling their toes in the silky soft mud. 

By then it was 5 p.m. and we figured we better head home.  Home was an hour away.  It was also starting to do a little more than sprinkle. 

When Kevin got home, Lauren exclaimed, “Daddy, I had an awesome afternoon.”

Today is Kevin and I’s 2nd anniversary.  We don’t get to do anything special this year like a trip or fancy presents but I have something romantical planned…and no it’s not like that

We gained a child this weekend.  He will be here for two weeks.  I don’t have a blog name for him yet.  I need to have him pick one out.  Though Austin may get mad cuz I picked his out for him.  Oh well. 

Our new kid will be here for two weeks.  He is Kevin’s stepson from his second marriage.  Kevin raised him since birth so Kevin is “dad” to him.  He is 12 but will be 13 next month.

Austin is pretty stoked to have him here because he has a partner in crime.  They already converted the living room into a massive fort which they had to take down this morning.  We couldn’t get to the dogs kennels to let them outside. 

Today the boys are at Grandma J’s helping her with yard work.  She was very excited to see our new addition.  It has been two years since we’ve been able to get him up here.  I don’t think we will have such a huge gap in the future.  Everyone just misses him way to much.  And he is growing like a weed!!

Matty:  Watcha doin?

Kevin:  Opening the steaks.

Matty:  Steak!?

Kevin:  Yep

Matty:  I like steak.

Kevin:  Do ya?

Matty:  Steak is goooood.

Kevin:  I’m putting them in a marinade.

Matty:  Mmmmmm.

Kevin:  We’ll have them tomorrow for dinner.

Matty:  Oh.  Wonder what Mom is doing?

Then he skipped off down the hall.  Poor Kevin learned that all he was good for was steak.

I got some very unexpected kudos yesterday.  My supervisor was asking me something about fragile x.  Here’s the convo.

Supervisor:   With all your medical knowledge you should be a doctor.

Beth:  No way.  I know how my kids work and that is about it.  The internal stuff…nope.  That is what real doctors are for.

Intern:  Oh don’t be modest.  My mother has her masters and she says that you are a 100 times smarter than she is.

I was a little taken aback.  The interns mom had been Matty’s kindergarten and first grade teacher.  I had her demoted.  The class was too much for her.  It was taking a ton out of her.  In turn, the children were suffering.  I was done when she sent me a note saying that she had to drag Matt to the changing table. 

She confided in me about a month before her last semester was over in the class.  She was grateful to be moving to a different room.  The room had been way too much.  She didn’t know what she had signed up for until the first day of class.  She said that she had walked in and almost cried.  There were two autistic children, a few downs syndrome boys, and one boy in a wheelchair.  She had no idea this is what her job was going to be.  It was the toughest job she had had in her entire life and she was glad to be done.

I sat down last night and pondered why this woman would say that about me.  This woman comes from a heap of money.  She has never had to struggle like I had.  Yeah, she deals with everyday life stuff but that is it.  When most people grow up at 18 to 25, I grew up extremely too fast at 15.  I had to use the instincts that God instilled in all of us just to make it through the day.  Luckily, I was blessed with the gift of resiliency and a strong will to live.  I know that if it wasn’t for that, I would not have survived that horrible time in my life. 

When Matty appeared a year after I stopped being a ward of the state, instinct took over again.  I had no basis for good parenting so I rolled with it.  I went in search of answers.  I’m like Tom Hanks in Cast Away.  I would have analyzed how to hang myself too.  :lol: 

The same has been true every step of the way with Matt’s diagnosis and every other trial.  I learn from each and everything I do.  I don’t think it makes me smarter.  It just makes me a survivor.

Rachel had a kick butt kind of day!!

Counseling

Both girls had counseling today.  Rachel went first.  She has been having a hard time with Lauren.  Lauren has been having a hard time letting go of the perfection her bio mom expected of her children.  Lauren was expecting everyone and everything around her to be perfect just like it had to be in her old home.  There if it wasn’t perfect the kids would be subject to emotional and physical abuse. 

We all know that autistic and fragile x kids are far from perfection.  To me that is part of their joy.  To Lauren that is part of her stress.  She worries that if Rachel doesn’t do her chores just right I will yell at her instead of Rachel.  Or she thinks she will have to serve as her buffer.  So she is always on Rachel’s case to get things don’t just right.  That causes a lot of anxiety for Rachel and the rest of our home.

Rachel had counseling first.  The counselor pulled in Lauren for the session.  I didn’t go in because I would like the girls to work on this together as a team so I don’t know what all was talked about.  But the counselor created a new rule for the girls.  Every time Lauren starts yelling at her, Rachel has to give her a hug. 

Next up, Lauren had her session with a different counselor.  This counselor doesn’t know anything about the situation with Lauren and Rachel.  So I had to laugh when the counselor brought up her need for perfection.  He told Lauren that from now on when she yells at Rachel she has to pay Rachel a quarter.  He then pulled Rachel into the session to let her know.  Rachel’s face just totally lit up and she giggled for a good 20 minutes.  The counselor also gave Lauren five quarters to hopefully get her home

Soccer

A couple of hours after we got home, Rachel’s soccer coach called me.  There is a soccer clinic next week in the city.  It is with a major national coach who has gotten all kinds of awards for his instruction.  Rachel’s coach is going to pay for her to go and she is going to transport her there and back!!

Rachel is dancing on cloud nine.  She is so stoked it’s not even funny.  I so should have filmed it when I told her.  It was priceless.  The camp is for kids 9-14 so age wise she is just getting in.  The coach is also paying for the top player on Rachel’s team and the top boy player on her boys’ team.  So this isn’t something she is just tossing out there.  Rachel is a weak player but the coach is impressed with her desire to learn and the fact that she gives 110% to the sport and she doesn’t want her to miss out on this amazing opportunity.

After the fiasco last fall that we had with her old team, this just feels so amazing.  We have come 180 degrees on this. 

We have to chuckle at this hill every time we see it

Newly married and beaming.  Seth is sooo in love with her.  He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.  And she was just hoping to get off that knee soon…lol

Nothing is better suited for toting a gigantic bridal party than this!

Table arrangements

Bridal Table

Wedding Cake right after the bride and groom cut it

My uncle and brother getting down during the dollar dance!

No wedding goes without a hitch.  My brothers wedding was no exception.  A few days before the wedding my sister in law sent out this plea:

So…. some how by bending down to put my niece’s shoe on i have hurt my knee!! it is very very swollen with a weird growth bump on the outer side and it’s hard for me to stay off of it with my wedding day only 5 days away and it has been getting worse the past three days… i am in need of healing! please pray, Thanks a ton!
Can’t wait to see you all on July 4th!!!!

She did wind up going to the doctor to have it looked at.  The doctor told her to stay off of it.  She wasn’t supposed to dance or anything.  Well, she fits in quite well with my family because she made sure to dance the essential dances at her wedding. 

*   *  *

My brother has an amazing sense of humor.  He makes jokes at his own expense all the time.  My kids just love him because he has no problem playing back with them. 

Well, he did something at his wedding that he will never be allowed to forget.  It came to the part of the ceremony where they were to exchange rings.  Seth went first.  When the pastor asked if Seth had a token, Seth slightly hesitated.  He then pulled out the ring from his pocket and says, “Uh, I have this!?”  We all laughed so hard. 

When it was Katie’s turn she answered, “I have a RING!” 

*   *   *

I had to miss the pictures that they had before the wedding because we didn’t get to check into the hotel until 1 and the wedding was at 4:30. So after the wedding they planned to take a few more shots with my family in them.

Most of us fragile X carriers hate the spotlight on them.  So you can imagine my embarrassment when the photographer says “Is Beth here?!”  I about died.  I raised my hand like a little school girl.  Lauren was like, “Poor Mom.”  At least someone knew my pain.

*   *   *

My extended family is a bunch of ranchers and farmers.  They are very down home, earthy, outside activity kind of people.  There was a dollar dance and we were shocked to see my Uncle Eddie start dancing with my brother!!  It was hilarious.  And it wasn’t one of those, I’m going to barely touch you, here is your dollar, bye kind of things.  They were getting down.  It was great!!

I learned that hives “real” name is urticaria.  I couldn’t even say that on a good day!

Well, the hives returned today.  Around 10 a.m. Lauren called me FREAKING OUT.  My first thought was that one of the dogs got hit by a car.  But no.  The hives returned but this time Lauren was home alone.

I sorta calmed her down.  As calm as anyone can get a 16 year old who is watching her 12 year old mentally handicapped brother who is covered in hives and her parents are 30 minutes away in another town.

I had her put Matty in a cool bath.  She said that the areas of his skin that soaked in the water lost their hives.  So now we think that maybe the dogs might have brought something in and he is allergic to it.  When it happened yesterday Matty was on our floor where all 4 dogs were lolling around.  Today it happened after BeeJay and Brutus were wallowering in his bed. 

I have to say that being a mom is totally Laurens element.  She handles this stuff like a pro.  The only time she faltered was when those teen emotions crept up on her.  She got him a Claritin and had him take it while he was in the bath.  She called me and put me on speaker phone because Matty was fussing in the tub.  So I was able to calm him.  When he was done she patted him down with a towel instead of rubbing him.  She had the other two kids off running in different directions to help her.  She had Austin bathing all 4 dogs.  She had Rachel folding laundry so she could start washing Mattys bedding.  Then she had the kids all vaccumming their bedroom floors.  I was just like, “Wow.”  Though I’m sure when I get home I’ll get to hear about how mean Lauren is .

After I got off the phone with Lauren the first time I called Kevin to let him know what was up.  He was ahead on his delivery routes so he stopped by Walgreens.  He was at a customers house when I had called and the customer suggested getting some Benadryl spray.  Matty might handle that better than someone rubbing him.  So Kevin went and got a bunch of stuff from Walgreens to help Matty’s hives and took it to Lauren.  I think she was grateful for stuff that was more Matty friendly. 

When I talked to her earlier this afternoon she insisted I stay at work because she “had it under control.”  By then most of the hives had gone down and he was getting sleepy.  She was going to lay him down for a little siesta.  I’m sure the Benadryl liquid that he took knocked him out. 

I swear I have lots of wedding stuff coming … this is just like a stressful commercial break .

I spent the day in bed yesterday.  Actually, I was in bed from the moment we got back from the big big city until this morning.

Well, Matty was sitting on the floor by my bed.  He was hiding behind his table.  I figured he had an accident in his pants and was hiding.  Kevin, being the amazing dad that he is, got Matty off to the potty.  When Kevin went to get him back off of it he noticed that Matty had broken out in hives.

He brought him to me so I could see.  They were awful!!  I had never seen hives on him before.  He jumped into a cool shower with him.  After the shower I was able to douse him in some calamine lotion.  We also gave him a Benadryl.  By his bedtime the calimined spots were gone but a few more had appeared.  I treated those and sent him to bed.  When he woke up this morning he was good.

We have no idea what did it to him.  He was eating a hot & spicy chicken sandwich with Cheez-its and Gatorade.  I told Kevin that maybe the hot and spicy stuff might have gotten to him since he has had the other food items in the past.  But at the same time maybe it was the red dye that was in the food.  We may never know but we will definitely keep our eyes open in the future

Kazzy Creations make some incredible graphics.  And don’t let the name of the site fool ya…it is all the work of one woman.  Many of them you have seen on my blog back in April during Autism Awareness Month.  Well, the amazingly creative woman who runs Kazzy Creations just designed a few graphics and myspace layouts for National Fragile X Awareness Day on July 22.  One of her creations is at the top of my blog. 

To see what else is on her site please go to Autism Awareness Graphics.  About halfway down the page is a section for fragile X syndrome.  Enjoy

We just got back from the big big city and my little brothers wedding.  His wedding was beautiful.  His wife did good. I’ll be sharing some landscape pictures and stories in the days to come.  But today I wanted to share a snippet of a conversation that we were having in the van on the way down.  And yes no topic is off limits with our kids.

Austin:   I always thought a D (bra size) was bigger than an E.

Beth:  Why son??

Austin:  Well, because (the letter) D is rounded.  Like.  Ya know.  And the E is all pointy and stuff. 

The whole van busted up laughing at the poor kid.

To all my American friends

I feel like I am in a room of mirrors with no way out.  The walls are slowly closing in on me.  If I was a drinker I would sit in a corner and drink myself to oblivion.

My little brother’s wedding is tomorrow.  It is many hours away.  Many hours away we cannot afford right now at $4.04/gallon.  But we have to go.  I mean it is my little brother. 

I just learned that my other brother and his wife are once again expecting.  I want to be happy for them but I’m sad.  Here comes another baby that I won’t have any part of.  They live so far away.  I’ve only seen their 1st baby once in the past 18 months.  I’ll never know my nieces and nephews.

My surgery is hitting at the worst possible time in my life.  I wish I could change the date but my body can’t handle that.  I need to have it done.  Then I feel selfish because I want to just get it over with which means everyone around is having to sacrifice for me.  How fair is that??  I don’t want anyone going out of their way for me.  Ever. 

Theresa graciously is taking me to my surgery so Kevin won’t have to work a weekend to make up for it.  I HATE his job.  I see him for about an hour a day during the week.  And during that hour he is busy either getting ready for work or doing his evening stuff before bed.  He doesn’t have vacation, sick time or holidays off.  If they want it off they have to make it up on a Saturday. 

Kevin normally would sacrifice a weekend to be with me during surgery but his stepson from his second marriage is coming down for two weeks.  The weekend after my surgery is the only full weekend he will get to spend time with him.  I can’t take that away from Kevin or his stepson. 

On top of that I’m struggling with my teens.  It’s just normal parenting stuff but my patience is wearing thin.  And I have a lot of patience.  I don’t want to be the type of parent who yells all the time.  I’m so not a yeller.  I never really had to yell at my kids.  A stern voice and they were busting booty.  But I think because of the issues with the oldest two’s past that just don’t really work.  We’ve tried so many different things and they may work for a while but that is it…if it works at all.  I just pray I can help guide them to 18 without them failing school, teen pregnancies, jail time, whatever.

For a little more stress my little family is feuding with Kevin’s brother and his family.  There is a lot of favoritism that goes on towards my nieces.  And my kids suffer for it.  Kevin is so done with it he is ready to pack up and move.  I don’t blame him.  I feel that way about my family too.  I know I won’t be missed if we moved away.  And if I moved away my family would be at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to visiting us.  My brothers, especially my older one, comes before me.  Oddly enough it is Kevin and I who try to be there for our parents and help them out. 

Oh and back to the surgery, I forgot I have to pay the bank my insurance while I’m out.  I tallied up what that will cost.  $240.38.  Yep, I just have that laying around…NOT!!  I need to go to Personnel and see what I can work out.  Ugh…this sucks so bad. 

I’m ready for the stray bullet.

Rachel is reading to me.  I know.  It’s not rare for a 9 year old to read to her parents.  What is rare is that she is reading this!!  This is a child who was reading below a kindergarten level at the end of 1st grade.  She had minimal problems with this article that is geared for college educated adults. 

Matty is doing much better.  He hasn’t vomited once today.  Woohoo!!  He lost a battle to diarrhea this morning but that was the only battle lost and the only load of laundry that I had to do.  Since he wasn’t vomiting I was able to give him Tylenol and Immodium AD.  So his fever was down most of the day and made it to the toilet every time. 

Just hoping no one else gets it now. 

Do you ever feel like God is trying to tell you something but you just can’t put your finger on what it is?

That is how I feel this morning.  Matty woke up this morning looking and feeling okay.  I put him on the potty and the diarrhea hit once again.  When the diarrhea hit the fever came back full force.  Right now I have him eating some toast and drinking some diluted Crystal Light.  He is refusing water and at this point I’m desperate for him to drink anything.  Yesterday he didn’t eat or drink much, and what he did eat or drink rushed right back out.

I am glad that he is willingly eating since yesterday he was refusing food.  Those of you with fxs and autie kids know how rare that is :lol:  This boy never stops eating. 

So I’m watching him eat and praying that his body won’t reject it.  My washer and I need a break.

I’m terrified to call work in a couple of hours.  I know I have to actually talk to my supervisor about staying home after my closed door meeting last week.  As a carrier though confrontation is not my still.  Flight is more my style.  But I have to fight for my job and I have to fight for family.  Like I said, I feel like God is trying to tell me something here.

3:50 a.m.

I awake to a horrible gushing sound.  As I come out of my slumber a little bit more I realize that it is the sound of someone vomiting.  The only someone in the house is Matty.  I fly out of bed and run around the corner to his bedroom.  He is mumbling to himself. 

I lean down and put my hand on his forehead.  It is burning up.  Then the smell hit me. He had thrown up and he had a battle with diarrhea and, well, it won. 

I get him up as gingerly as I can.  I walk him down the hall to the bathroom.  I stripped him down and placed him in the shower.  I figured the water could do the work for me.  Plus I hoped the water would help cool him down.  He was more than happy to wash the ewwies off of himself.  While he was in the shower rinsing off, I was in the bedroom gathering up the soiled bedding and starting one of many loads of laundry.  Once he was out of the shower I put him back in bed.  I tried giving him a Tylenol Meltaway but it melted right back up.  We changed bedding again.

4:30 a.m.

I start the movie, Cars, and found a safe spot on his bed.  I figure the safest place for me to be is near him.  Since he doesn’t get up when he vomits, I worry he may choke on it.  He falls back asleep so I allow myself to doze off a bit. 

5:30 a.m. 

My bedroom alarm goes off.  I go and turn it off and slowly wake up Kevin.  I let him know the situation.  Because of what happened at work he is instantly worried about the ramifications I could be facing for needing to stay home.  I don’t care about the ramifications.  I tell Kevin, “If they fire me at least I know that I was doing the right thing by caring for my son.”

6:30 a.m.

I put Matty on the toilet just to see if he needs to go.  He goes and goes and goes.  And unfortunately it was a little too late.  More clothes added to the pile.  As I was cleaning up the latest outpouring, the girls came in from outside.  They decided to camp outside in the tent last night.  The first thing out of Lauren’s mouth was, “Oh my gosh Mom, what is that smell?”  Yep it was that gross.

8:10 a.m.

I finally got the balls to call work.  The whole time I was on the phone with my supervisor Matty was sitting beside me repeating, “I puke.  Ewww.  I puked.”  Can’t fake that.  She seemed cool with it but I don’t trust it.  But then again I don’t trust much anyway.

The rest of the morning was a series of episodes of putting Matty on the potty, washing his clothes and/or bedding, and cleaning. 

12:00 p.m.

I had drifted off to sleep while Matty was snoozing.  Lauren woke me up with, “Oh my God Mom he is really farting.”  Well, it was more than a fart.  And the laundry keeps going. And this time he actually cried.  He never cries.

1:00 p.m.

I get an email from Matt’s paternal grandma.  His cousin had went around him on Sunday.  That night he was experiencing the same symptoms.  It’s contagious. 

3:00 p.m.

He had attempted to eat some crackers and have some water earlier in the afternoon.  I had put him on the potty for another go at it.  I was in the laundry room folding the last load when Lauren ran into the kitchen.  Matty had just told her he was going to puke.  I barely made it with the trash can, for the first round anyway.  The bathroom rug just got done washing. 

4:30 pm.

He is still hotter than ever.  He hasn’t thrown up much since the bathroom incident.  The last time we put him on the potty he actually still had clean undies on.  I’ll take any improvements.  The washer and dryer have stopped running for the moment.  Hopefully he will be better soon.

5:00 p.m.

Matty had another battle with diarrhea, losing once again.  This time my bed was a casualty. The washer is running again.

This is the trailer for the new documentary, Living with Fragile X. For more information visit http://www.livingwithfragilex.com.  It looks really interesting

Recently, my husband went to the dog pound.  Austin has a friend whose mother works there.  Kevin was picking up the friend.  Well, Kevin picked up more than Austin’s friend.  He picked up Brutus. 

Kevin called me and asked if we could foster a dog.  He had been at the pound too long and they would put him down soon.  If we fostered him then we could give him a longer chance.  Our town has a 5 pet limit and Brutus would have us exceed that but the pound knows us a little too well and they were willing to turn a blind eye to it. 

An hour after we got Brutus home, Kevin called the pound to let them know that the Brutus had a home.  Kevin just wanted to see how the three girl dogs would take to him.  My daschund hates everyone but the other dogs loved him.  So we have 4 dogs now. 

Brutus is a basset hound, german shepherd mix.  I’m sure there is more to him than that but those are the two most obvious breeds.  We put him at about 3ish.  He is not fixed but that is on the agenda.  Luckily the girls are.  He is a pretty good dog.  He occasionally pees in the house.  We are having a tough time with that.  Hopefully once he is fixed that will diminish completely.  He was also food agressive but that is diminishing as well.  He will now easily take food out of our hand and he is getting much better at the dog bowl.  And he is learning tricks and commands.  If we tell him to show us his teeth he pulls his lips up and shows us his pearly whites.  He is also doing pretty good with “sit” and “easy.”

So here is Mr. Brutus:

Brutus with Olive resting in the background…

Just chillin…

Guarding a chewy toy…

Checking out a spot where Matty was laying.  He has learned quickly that Matty is the man with the food…

Laying under Laurens bed.  Yep she is a typical sloppy teen…sigh…

Smiling .  He loves it here…