As I write this, Don has Casey out mother's day shopping.  I think it's great.  Not because I want a gift - but because Don is planning to go through the store and help Casey understand what it is to pick out a gift for someone.  They're going to talk about mom's favorite color, her favorite things to do, and come up with a gift that is thoughtful rather than just grabbing something Casey secretly wants for himself.  We'll see how it goes.  I can picture it in my mind.  Casey will pick up a Veggie Tales video and say, 'I THINK SHE'LL LOVE THIS!'  Don will say, 'that's for YOU, not mom!'  Then Casey will pick out crayons and say 'I'LL THINK SHE'LL LOVE THIS!'  And so on and so on.  I would be money there will be a tantrum involved.  But hopefully father will be able to model for son what it means to honor his mommy - and maybe a smidge of it will sink in.  If not, at least we tried!  :)

Casey informed me this week that he will be a Dentist when he's  'all growed up.'  I walked in the door yesterday grumpy from the dentist and announced that I have a cracked molar that needs a crown.  Casey wagged his finger at me and said, 'Mom.....you you you you need to FLOSS more!'  (Yes, he's still stuttering.)  I said, 'I DO floss every day!  But thank you Dr. Casey for your analysis.'  He put his hand out as if to say, 'pay up' so I gave him an imaginary $100 dollar bill. 

What a week - I have a cracked molar which requires a crown.  I have newly discovered nodules on my thyroid which require a biopsy.  I have sinus infection for which I'm on anti-biotics.  And to top it off, an ovarian cyst!  Yay for me!  Hahaha.  I'm taking it all in stride but hating having all these extra Dr. appts.  I have this history of thyroid nodules - which aren't an unusual thing - but are just annoying.  They require going to an endocrinologist, then a radiology place for an ultrasound, then another Dr. to biopsy them.  The odds are a landslide that they'll be benign - something like 95% of all nodules are benign.  And mine always have been. So I'm not sweating it.

Cody is still struggling like heck overnight.  Last night he was up at 1:15am and 3:15am for an hour each.  Yawn.  I emailed his neuro and am going to start some big-gun sleep meds.  I just can't keep surviving this crazy night time schedule.  So although I *hate* MORE meds, we're going to do clonadine every night.  He already gets 7.5 mg's melatonin at bedtime which puts him to sleep about half the time.  The other half of the time he's up til midnight.  I know clonadine works for him, but have tried to avoid using it too much.  But I'm pretty desperate.  Hopefully it will help bridge him to sleep for longer periods of time at least.  Don gets up for work at 4:45am so those midnight bed-times for Cody don't really work well for the whole family in our small house. 

His seizures are still doing that strange twist - he has about 20 per day that are under 15 seconds each.  Overnight last night he had 2 big ones, but during the day (right now at least) they are shorter and less intense.  We are still doing cranial sacral appts. 1-2 times a week and they do seem to be helping a bit with his overall temperment.  Yet he still is just averse to being outside our home.  We tried to go out as a family today - needed to return some library books and get some new ones - and he just screams non-stop.  Don had to stroll him outside for a half hour while Casey and I got new books.  It's just really impossible to do anything as a family - there is nowhere Cody will go that isn't a scream-fest for him.  Don and I almost always spend our weekends just taking turns managing Cody while the other person takes Casey.  It is not a very unified, family-feeling way to live.  I think it's really important for Casey to see that we are a whole family - not always segmented out - but it just isn't realistic which is unfortunate for all of us. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you super moms out there.  Despite all the craziness, being a mom is great, isn't it?!?  I will report back on what Casey chose for my mother's day gift.  Whatever it is, I will swoon and blush and scoop him up in my arms in gratitude.  I hope you all have a wonderful day.

with love,

Shawna