Sick again!!

We had a scary night last night. At 9:30 when I was putting a cranky Brakston to bed, I realized he was hot!! We took his temp and it was somewhere between 101 and 104 (those ear thermometers are worthless). I called out doctor at home, who's luckily a friend of ours, and after talking with him, Boomer went off to the store. I gave him Tylenol at 10:30 and then when I woke him up at 12:30 for the Motrin, the fever was gone and it stayed away, until this afternoon when it was back to 102. Ugh!! Brian told us to come in this morning at 9:00, which we did, and he has an upper resp. infection, but his ears looked good. Two weeks ago it was a double ear infection. It seems like as soon as the antibiotics were done, he was sick again. Oh the joys of daycare!! I hope when he wakes up the fever is back down. I made the mistake of not giving him any medicine after the doctor visit because his fever was back to normal. Guess that wasn't a good idea.

The pictures are from last weekend. We had dinner with Pops, Nana, and LT's stepsister Paula and her boyfriend Nick. Paula hadn't met Brakston yet. They got along very well as you can see from the photos. (Pops=Larry, Nana=Margie).

UPDATE: His temp is down again, thank goodness. Hopefully it stays that way.

One year ago today.........

One year ago today, the day before my birthday, we received our referral of Brakston. Our coordinator worked all day to get the paperwork ready so she could call us before my birthday (it was on Saturday last year and the office is closed on the weekend). There's a part of me that can't believe it's been a year, but there's another part of me that feels like the year took forever. I did not realize until this summer, and even now as school has started and I'm back to work, just how depressed and unhappy I was last year. When Guatemala changed the laws mid-stream, there were a lot of days that I really didn't think Brakston would ever come home. The stress level was unbelievable and there were many days when I didn't get out of bed. I asked our psychologist friend why she didn't say something, and she said I wouldn't have believed at the time just how bad I really was.....I know she's right. I tried to pretend that everything was just fine, but inside, I was a wreck, and the funny thing, I didn't even tell Boomer how many bad things I had read on the internet, I just kept them to myself....I didn't want to stress him out too.

What a difference a year makes......I'm not even on blood pressure medicine anymore, and when I went to the doctor last week, it was 120/72, and that's with the start of school, Amazing what a baby can do. Since we were gone on vacation over his birthday, I've really taken some time the last few days, as the referral date came closer, to think about his birthmother, and thank and praise God that she made such a difficult and courageous decision to let someone else raise her baby, someone she didn't even know and would never meet. Brakston is the most precious gift in the world. I can't believe how happy he makes us, how much both Boomer and I smile now, and how much we love him. It seems like I waited a lifetime to become a mom, but the wait was so worth it. Life is good at the Taylor household.

So when you read this, say a prayer for Silvia, who was brave enough, and strong enough, to give up her son because she wanted a better life for him than she could provide.....I can't even imagine, but we're forever grateful.

Heidi

Brakston's new toy???

Boomer wouldn't tell me where he was going yesterday. I knew he went to pick something up, but he wouldn't tell me what is was.....when I came home from school today, I saw two new arcarde games in the garage. The one the two of them are plaing is "Cruisin' USA.' Brakston and Boomer played it while on vacation and Brakston loved it. So, I don't know who the game is for, Boomer, or Brakston??? Either way, it's just too cute!! I have two such handsome men, I'm so lucky!!

We survived our first day of daycare!!

I say "we" survived because it was hard on me too. I didn't want to leave him today. Since he didn't know what was going on, he didn't cry when we snuck out, but when I returned with his shoes 15 mintues later (who knew......it's a state regulation that they have to wear shoes over the age of 1), he was really crying, and he didn't even see me. He was SO excited when I picked him up at 3:00. I don't start work until Wednesday, but I have to move my office and I didn't want us both to start on the same day, so that's why he started today. I know tomorrow is going to be bad, he'll know what's going to happen. It's harder than I imagined. I just hope he'll understand that we're not leaving him too. He's been thru a lot, first he lost his birth mother, and then his foster family. I know he had to be scared today, and that just eats at me......but, I have to work, at least a little.

Here's a couple of pictures from his birthday party in French Lick last weekend, he had a good time, he's still scared of my dad, which is so awful, but I hope that if we make an effort to get down there more, he'll get used to him.

A day of firsts....

Well, today Brakston made his first attempt at finger painting and I made my first attempt at a cake. I've posted pictures. As soon as I get Boomer to upload his pictures, I'll post pictures from vacation and Brakston's first birthday in Virginia Beach. He really, really loved his giant cupcake from Aunt Erin and Uncle Gordon. He did a really good job eating almost all of it!!

Happy 3 month anniversay Brakston!!

Well, today marks 3 months since we've been home with Brakston, that's just unbelievable!! I posted some pictures of him "reading." (of course, the book is upside down) To celebrate, I got out one of my Language Scales that measures the abilities of children under the age of three. I'm happy to report that Brakston falls in the 15-18 month age range for Language Comprehension and Language Expression, not bad for someone that's getting ready to turn 1 and heard a completely different language the first 8 months of his lift. I guess our all day speech sessions are working (just kidding, but I do feel sorry for him, it seems like I'm always asking him to do something.)

Brakston now dances on command (a must see, it's just too cute) and signs "more" when he wants something, spontaneously. The other day I was getting him up from a nap, and he's signing more like crazy, turns out, he wanted a snack. He imitates every animal sound known to man and is starting to say them when I ask him "How does a ________ go." When he hears the dogs bark, he says "dog," or "woof." He can also sign "ball" now, but it looks a lot like "more."

It's been a wonderful 3 months, and I'm so happy that I've gotten to stay home this summer. I'm already dreading going back to school, but, at least it's only 3 days a week. The joy Brakston brings to our lives is amazing, I don't think I've ever seen Boomer smile so much. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, we've been busy the last week. We went out to my aunt's campground on the 4th of July and had dinner with KK, Joyce, Nona, and Joe. Brakston slept on the way home and then stayed up for the fireworks, which he watched for 30 minutes. He got scared twice, but otherwise, really enjoyed it. Of course, we did the redneck version of fireworks and pulled down the tailgate of the truck and watched them from our driveway. I took my camera to the campground, but forgot to take pictures. On Saturday the 5th, we went to a birthday party/reunion for Uncle Vick in Bedford. Brakston's cousin Grant really enjoyed Brakston's book (i.e., he kept trying to steal it away and Brakston would yell, it was quite funny). I again took my camera, and didn't take any pictures. I have to get better with the camera! On Monday this week, we went to a Lion's Club meeting at the fairgrounds, and I did take pictures this time. Brakston looks thrilled, doesn't he? Today during lunch, I asked Brakston if he wanted more tomato soup, and he immediately signed more with no assistance from me. I asked him later what a cat said, and he said, "meow." I was shocked. He probably gets really tired of having speech therapy all day long!! He even signed more for daddy at dinner, which is huge since he does all of this stuff with me and then refuses to do it in front of others. I think LT thought I was making it all up. I forgot to mention that on Sunday the 6th, we ate lunch out at LT's new store with Aunt Pammie. Brakston truly enjoys french fries.

Now we're trying to get ready for a garage sale on Saturday and then the fair starts on the 18th, and we leave for Virginia on the 26th. Brakston will be celebrating his first birthday with Aunt Erin and Uncle Gordon in Norfolk. We're looking forward to it.