Pneumonia...

We just found out tonight that Joshua has pneumonia, for the first time ever. We've truly tried our best to help him avoid this for the past three years. We assume it was bound to happen at some point (just wish it didn't have too). We know his little lungs still have remaining lung disease, but hopefully they have had time to grow and heal enough to fight this off right away.

So far, it's been six complete days that he has been sick with a fever and significant cough. This is a much "different" cough than he has ever had before. Supposedly there is a crackling in the base of his lungs and he sounds like my aunt who has asthma, lol (not actually funny, but gotta make light of the situation right?). He's been on antibiotics and they don't seem to be helping so tonight his doctor switched him to a different, broader spectrum, antibiotic to hopefully combat this. Tomorrow will be his seventh full day with temps up to 103 degrees, but they are managable with tylenol/motrin. The whites of his eyes turned bloodshot red days ago. The poor little guy is a trooper. He is so strong.

Last night was pretty rough and neither I or Josh have slept much since Thursday. We are praying tonight that this second medication does the job it's supposed to and that he can avoid hospitalization at all costs!

My son, the toe picker...

It's been established. Joshua is a toe picker. It's like a calming technique to him. This makes me think of my sister, Stephanie, who had a foot fetish too as a child. It's hilarious. Right now, he is sick with a cough and fever, watching Dora the Explorer on Nick Jr. and picking at his infamous fourth toe (a spitting image of Sammie's) without even realizing it. Whatever floats your boat I guess, lol.

Mail Man...

I have tons to post from 2010's end, but before I do that I wanted to jot down a couple cute things Josh has been up to lately. He is obsessed with presents and the mail man. He learned what the mail man was a while back, but this Christmas really reinforced that concept, lol. Nick and I are online shopper's, so literally, every day, there was something (either ordered or a gift) waiting for us at the door. Joshua caught on to this and now, to him, the mail man is someone who brings you presents to your door. This has been kind of funny. He is so cute when he says, "Mail man bring presents." Of course it sounds more like, "Ah-may man peasant."

Recently I had to send something out so I took Josh with me to the UPS store. I handed our box to the guy behind the counter and he taped it up. Josh had a real difficult time leaving our "present" with the man, lol. All he could talk about the rest of the day was the mail man and our present. He thought the mail man was going to bring it back to us at our house. He waited for day, always expecting it to be returned to us. He kept asking me where the mail man was with our present and when it was going to get here. The poor kid.

Yesterday, Josh was watching Toy Story 2 and there is a part where one of the characters rings someone's doorbell at their arrival. Joshua was adamant this was our doorbell ringing. All he could think was that the mail man was at our house with our present. It was hilarious but sad too because I couldn't get him to understand that it was just the movie. I even replayed the thing over and over and tried to help him see. But it didn't work. He was hysterical with enthusiasm and anticipation to go open our door and find the mail man. I felt so bad for him. Needless to say, I had to get his mind on something else.

P.S. Josh is really sick this week, and he conned my parents into getting him a present for being sick. Go figure, lol. When I told them this story they decided to send the present to him in the mail. So, in three sleeps, his dreams will come true. The mail man will bring his present to the door! :)

This is Joshua's "no more presents" face, lol.
Click to enlarge.

Loving school again...

Josh is back to loving school again. His first 4 days were this way too. Then we went 5 days with uncertainty (just about broke my heart, lol). Every single one of those mornings I had to let Joshua pick out the Mickey Mouse sticker of his choice. We would stick it right on the top of one of his hands. He thought it was so exciting! And this very much relaxed him going to school. The greatest part was, he would come home after the long 6 hours and the sticker would still be neatly stuck in the same place.

Today, after 4 days off from school (Friday he stays home for therapy & Monday was Labor Day), he was actually excited to go back. He was actually standing at the door telling me to hurry before we left. Then, when we were getting out of the car I realized we forgot to pick out a Mickey (mee-la in Joshua speak) sticker. I didn't draw attention to it of course and he didn't even notice. He hopped along the sidewalk to school and happily went with his teacher when we got to the drop off ramp. I looked back and he had a big smile on his face as he was climbing up on the bench to sit next to the other kids in his grade.

Let's hope this sticks. Hopefully he is adjusted now and will continue to love school. My refrigerator is growing artwork as we speak! It's way too cute!!

This is Joshua's "no more presents" face, lol