And the birthday lingers on....

Last Saturday when Daryle was mowing the lawn I heard him hollering for me to come quick. I wondered what in the world was wrong! He wanted to know if I had a jar. What? Then he told me he found a gecko and he thought the kids would like to look at it and check it out. Well, I didn't have a jar but I did have a bug/critter catcher in the closet. The boys were so excited! Travis figured he had a new pet. I was worried as he carried it around, turning it this way and that way. All I could think of is that this gecko didn't have much more time left on this earth. When he left for the Diamondback's game I looked and looked for the thing. I figured he let it go. I was wrong. I went in his bedroom and there it was sitting on his dresser in its cute cage. When he got home that night, after hauling the poor little guy around a little longer, he finally realized that this was not a pet and needed to be let back into the backyard to catch all of the bugs. It was a nice pet while it lasted!He didn't want him to be lonely, so he put in a rubber frog and lizard. I am not quite sure how the gecko felt about this!

Connor's hair is a lot of fun. This is what happened at bath time the other night. When you look at this picture just imagine him laughing and laughing!! (And yes, he has a tan line!)

Just when you think the birthday is over Uncle Billy comes along and sends his gift. His gifts are always a hit. This year he sent two super sized flying monkeys and this new addition to our house.

Yes, that is a castle! As you see from the thumbs up it was a hit!

Here is a view from the inside.

They wasted no time at all in getting the blankets and pillowpets to get "cozy" in the "castle".

Oh, and don't forget the mountain of Webkinz that also joined in the party! The gift came on the perfect day. Travis has been sick again and it is so hard to keep him inside so that he can rest and relax. This gift kept him busy and entertained so he could take it easy! When I say Travis has an incredibly high tolerance for pain I am NOT kidding. He never says he is not feeling well, never cries when he is hurt (he fights those tears like nobodies business) and when he is sick he acts like he isn't and wants to continue at his pace of 150 mph. Take for instance this past week. I knew on Saturday that his asthma was beginning to act up. He refused to do any breathing treatments. Against my better judgement I let it slide, mostly because he is getting old enough that he needs to start being able to listen to his body. On Monday evening I finally told him he needed to get going on the treatments, and he obliged. For the first time EVER he woke up at 3 am calling for us and said he needed a breathing treatment. Holy cow, he must be in bad shape if he is asking for this in the middle of the night! I could tell from his cough/breathing that he was going to be needing a doctor visit the next day. So, the following morning I had planned to call grandpa and see if he could stay with Travis while I went to work in the morning, called in for a half day sub so I could take him in to the doctor in the early afternoon. He insisted he could go to school for the half day. So, I let him. He lives with this constantly, so he is used to nothing getting him down. I knew he had a sinus infection and he was wheezing but I was surprised that he also had an ear infection. Evidently the whole left side was infected from the ears to the sinuses. He was still insisting that he go back to school AND go to the baseball game that night! Oh for pete's sake! Thankfully the doctor backed me up and he went home that day, no game and grandpa came and stayed with him the next day. (Poor grandpa said to me that afternoon, boy it sure is hard to keep him down! Yes, I know! Can you imagine if I had sent him to school??) Thank goodness we have a three day weekend, it forces him to take it easy. I can tell you this is not a simple task!

I won't even begin to go into the long 7 year drama of Travis' health issues. I will say that two weeks ago his ENT decided he was having sinus headaches and not sinus infections. Ok, I figured I would let that play out. Two weeks after that appointment and we have an ear infection, sinus infection, and wheezing issues that have made me decide she doesn't know what she is talking about. What a shame, we have been with her since the beginning. I always liked her, but now I think we need to part ways. This is hard, it's like losing a family member. Oh well. We now have an appointment with another doctor (he is highly recommended and considered the best pediatric ENT around here) for a second opinion. Hopefully he will have a fresh perspective and we can get somewhere with all of this craziness of being on constant antibiotics. He is now getting resistant to one of them. Not cool.

And finally after ten tries I was able to get a cute picture of these Three Musketeers. Oh, and I can't forget... Travis got his first hit last night, he stole second, third and then home! We were so proud of him! (No picture, it is hard for me to even sit and watch the game with my other little tornado running all around the place! Thankfully I did see his hit and steals!) Of course if it had been up to me I would have made him stay home because he is still sick, but when dad is the coach there is an extra obstacle in the way! LOL I am glad he went because he did so well and had a great time. Now if I can just get him healthy by Monday we will be on the right track!