Dust Storms and Flowers

Monday, May 12th:

Theo was still coughing a lot, so I kept him home from school and Nurse Tracey came over to watch him. He did really well and tolerated his respiratory therapy as long as Nurse Tracey was singing to him!

Theo lost his fifth tooth! We don't know where it went, but it's not in his mouth anymore!

["Theo! Let me see!"]

["All gone!"]

[Such a sweet boy!]

Tuesday, May 13th:

Theo had an appointment in Peoria today with his Pulmonologist, Dr. Yuan. Before we left the house I noticed that there was some fluid leaking out of Theo's right ear. It was mucous mixed with ear wax. Super gross. He does still have a tube in that ear, so it's good that it's still working properly.

Speaking of mucous... on the news this morning they were talking about allergies and how they have gotten worse. Allergy season starts three weeks earlier, goes three weeks longer, AND there is 20% more pollen in the air. Yep! I believe it! We are all suffocating here, but I know my allergies would be way worse if I didn't start allergy therapy four years ago.

Theo and I drove down to Peoria and saw Dr. Yuan. I told him what has been going on with Theo and after a physical exam he determined that Theo is likely having bad seasonal allergies. He prescribed a steroid to help his lungs and said that we should keep doing what we are doing. We will see him again in about 6 months!

[Gotta bring all the toys to the doctors]

That afternoon we went to PT with Ms. Cody and then to see Sherman and his friends! Theo did really well and sat up super strong on Sherman!

Wednesday, May 14th:

Theo went back to school today with Nurse Tracey and guess who was there?! Ms. Jess! She passed her second to last semester of nursing school and we are happy to have her back at Theo's school! He really missed her!

After school we had a Zoom with Theo's feeding/speech therapist Ms. Jen. Theo was very excited to see her! We discussed Theo's lack of progress and what our next steps would be. 

That night I joined a live Zoom with Peter Tuchman and David Green. They were offering a free stock trading class and I thought it would be interesting. And it was! 

Thursday, May 15th:

Today is Ms. Jess' birthday, so Theo brought her a gift! We are so grateful for her!

AND it's Josh's 40th birthday today! We ordered Giordano's and Josh got a lot of fun presents! We love you Josh!

Friday, May 16th:

Theo had another great day at school with Ms. Jess and Nurse Tracey! After school Ms. Cody came over for PT. That afternoon Chicago experience a dust storm! There hasn't been a dust storm in Chicago since the Dust Bowl! We saw the dust coming in and I thought it was clouds or some kind of heavy fog. It was thick and wild!

Weekend:

Milto and Jess watched Theo this weekend, so that Josh and I could work and do some yard work. We did take a break and go to the Coal City Hope Helps All Inclusive Playground.

It's such a great playground and Theo LOVES the swings. However, I was disappointed to see that the city still hasn't fixed the universal changing table in the family bathroom. I reached out to them a year ago and they said back then that they were waiting for parts. I am going to send them a message on Monday to see what the hold up is.

Josh and I went to Vilt's Greenhouse and bought a bunch of flowers for our yard. They had so many beautiful options!

Unfortunately, our rose bushes died (WHY?!?!), so we bought new ones and put them in pots. It seems like a lot of our plants don't like the clay soil around here.

[Before]

[After]

I hope we have a nice spring and these flowers do well!

[Josh trimmed the lilac tree and it started growing back!]