As I looked at my calendar today I saw this appointment scheduled for 5:00pm. Interestingly enough, this is exactly what my 5:00pm looks like-CRAZY!!! I guess Griffin scheduled it for me??? I even got a reminder ten minutes prior.
Griffin loves hats! He wears them every day-to the store, to church, to bed, to play, out to eat etc. His hats vary from buckets to bowls to flower pots to actual hats. Sometimes he even wears multiple hats at one time. His favorite hat to wear to church is the green flower pot. His siblings have told everyone at church that their brother is a “pothead.” At church they are wondering if he might show up next week with a lampshade on his head. If you take him to the store he begs for new hats. He will even pick out a hat over a toy.
I am sure that some may wonder why I let him wear his “hats” out in public. Sometimes I wonder that myself as we receive sideways glances from people in the store or in restaurants. But, it makes him happy. It makes me laugh. It gives his siblings something to talk about together. I’ve also seen total strangers giggle as they have passed us by. That joy is greater than the little bit of embarrassment that might come from showing up to an event with my son wearing a bucket on his head!
Over the last two years Griffin has had several bouts of pneumonia and bronchiolitis. Any time he gets a runny nose or a cough, it goes straight to his lungs. His pediatrician told us that many children outgrow this by the time they turn two. He continued getting sick and had to go on a daily steroid and other asthma medications as needed. I hated giving his so many medications and I hoped he would be one of the many children who would outgrow this airway disease.
A few months after he turned two he got a runny nose and a cough. Within a couple hours he was hardly able to breath. I took him to the pediatricians office who sent him straight to Children’s Hospital which is an hour from our home.
Griffin continued struggling for breath. Phil took him to Children’s while I attended to the other kids. When they got to the ER, Griffin was met by a whole team of specialists who pumped him full of several medications and breathing treatments. It was really scary as they tried to decide if he should be placed in the icu. I made arrangements for the other kids and drove to meet them at the hospital.
At that point he had been admitted to the regular ward with special instructions for extra attention from the health care providers. He was on hourly treatments that were expected to continue throughout the night. We called a dear friend who lived near Children’s to come help Phil give Griffin a blessing. I was reluctant to call our friend because he had an infant born with a heart condition who spent several months in the same hospital before he passed away the year before. I knew it would be difficult for him to come back to the hospital, but he gladly did and I was so grateful for his efforts to help save my son.
After the blessing, Griffin started improving and the treatments started spacing out further and further until he was discharged the next day with prescriptions for even more medications, inhalers, and nebulizer treatments, and a pretty sure diagnosis of asthma.
It was very scary. I hated that he was always sick, but at least before this happened, I felt like I could manage it-just start the meds at the onset of cold symptoms and wait for him to out grown it. Now, he had asthma, that could turn life threatening very quickly. I am afraid to leave him alone or go out of town any more.
Phil and I were out of the country on a trip for his company just the week before. I am thankful this didn’t happen while we were gone. I am thankful I am a pharmacist so I have a good understanding of how to treat him. But most of all, I am thankful for priesthood blessings that heal and comfort in times of need.
We had spaghetti for dinner. What did you have?
Griffin loves wearing glasses, goggles, and masks. This is one day in the life of Griffin!
Griffin isn’t a big swimmer. He prefers to play on the side of the pool. I am always concerned about his feet getting burned on the hot concrete. I tried swim shoes but they gave him a blister so my mom suggested socks. He insisted on the goggles. As I watched him run around in his socks, goggles, swim shirt, and red hair, I couldn’t stop laughing. What a geek he looked like! To me he is super cute, but I can’t wait until his future wife sees this picture!
We are so blessed to live near my parents who have a swimming pool. We spend most of our summer days there. I sat on the lawn chair today watching my kids. Ella and Preston were swimming and Brennen was playing by the side of the pool with Griffin. Griffin was sitting in a baby seat and Brennen was dropping water in his face over and over. Griffin loved it. I sat there with joy in my heart watching my two little red heads playing together.
“Hands” are the theme for the photo challenge this week at “iheartfaces.” As I looked back through some of my photos I realized that I love taking pictures of hands. They can tell a story all by themselves. I had to pick the photo of Preston’s dirty hands handing me flowers from last summer as my entry. I loved the flowers but I loved his dirty little hands even better! Here are a few of my other favorites.
And I simply couldn’t resist this photo-it’s Mr. Potato Head’s hand holding Ella’s tooth so the tooth fairy can find it!
Preston: “Mom, what does crush mean?”
Mom: “To break into many pieces.”
Preston: “Not that kind of crush.”
Mom: “You mean when you think a girl is cute?”
Preston: “Yes, does it always have to be a girl?”
Mom: “Um yes, what do you mean?”
Preston: ”Because I kind of have a crush on Griffin.”