Tucker the Hurricane

Tucker has been busy over the weekend, and so have his parents!

Last Wednesday a plumber came out and fixed our pipes, so we now have water pressure! I can not overemphasize what a big difference this has made in my life:) We have a little old house, and we have just "gotten used to" a lot of the problems it has....which is not a good idea! When we moved in we totally redid the place, and got many professionals to come in and fix things. Chris is so laidback, which makes him a perfect for my neurotic anxious self, but sometimes the overanxious and proactive personality is needed! So with this water pressure thing, it has been slowly getting worse over the last few months, and of course I see it the most since I do the clothes and dishes. I finally reached my breaking point and demanded that we call in a professional! We had a fear that it would cost thousands of dollars to fix; it was actually quite affordable and only took a day to fix:) So on Friday the guys came over to finish up, I had a mini-celebration which I know seems funny, my brother Dylan told me "welcome to the 21st century!"

Friday night we took Tucker to do a little shopping. We are really getting used to the idea that Tucker is exhausted all the time. I have consulted the Mito/Metabolic parent board and realized that I am not crazy, lol. Tucker is showing us, in his own way, when he has reached his limit. Many mito kids have the ability to voice "Mom I'm too tired" or "I need a break", Tucker is not able to do that. He goes into the opposite mode-hyper energetic tornado mode! So at that point, it is our signal that he needs a break. He has been like this for years, but I always chalked it up to toddler tantrums, when really I think it has always been a cry for help...so anyways.

Friday night we had some errands to run since all day we had waited at home on the work to get done on our house. Tucker was fine at the first few stores (we looked for him some new school shoes-no luck, but we did find him a few pairs of school pants-yay!).

Then we went to Whole Foods to look for his supplements. Dr K has put him on 4 supplements: CoQ10, Levo-Carnitine, Folate, and B12. The B12 and Levo-Carnitine are prescriptions, but we are going to buy the other 2 over the counter. I have to find them in liquid to go in his g-button, and I have always bought his CoQ10 at Whole Foods along with his multi vitamin Pediavites. I personally LOVE Whole Foods, although almost everything in there is so expensive! The selection of food is incredible, especially the already prepared foods. Tucker started crying when we walked in, I guess he thought we were going home? I grabbed the CoQ10 then tried to show Chris around, we made it to the Bakery section before Tucker was throwing an all-out fit. We picked up a Double Chocolate Bread Pudding...yes I am serious! Of all of the healthy things at Whole Foods, I walked out of there with 4 bottles of CoQ10 (a 1 month supply), 1 bottle of Pediavites, and 1 double chocolate bread pudding:) Chris had to take Tucker out of the store, he was crying "home" and "night night" it broke my heart! When I had paid and got out to the car, Tucker still had tears coming down his face. He continued to request "home" so I told him we had to drive home, so enjoy the car ride. That didn't work, so I said the magic words: "Rap song." Again, Yes I am serious:)

Tucker is IN LOVE with the song "Turn it Up" by Chamillionare. I am not even kidding. It's an older song, it reminds me of high school or college, I think...I am usually very good at dating a song almost down to the month it came out. Anyways, Chris had that song on a CD, and Tucker "dances" and grins like crazy when he would play it. So the other day at my parents' house I pulled up the song on YouTube and Tucker went nuts! It was so cute, he dances as stiff as a board, he has absolutely no dance moves! I need to video it, but the lyrics are really not the best to post....you are welcome to look it up on your own, I am embarassed to post the link to the song! So Chamillionare also sings "Ridin Dirty" which Tucker loves, so at least we added a little variery.

So this has gotten so bad that Tucker cries for "rap song" when we get in the car, even though I explain that Daddy has that CD, not Mommy. Well, in true Leigh fashion, I bought and downloaded "Turn it Up" onto my IPhone....anything for the kid, right? It was the first song I ever put on my IPhone, and I've had the phone for 5 months! So now he knows that it's on my phone, he requests "rap song" and holds it up to his ear, it's hilarious. So anytime he is past the point of tantrum, saying "rap song" shuts him right up, and he holds his hand out for the phone...yes I realize we are creating a monster, whatever works right? So the poor kid listened to his two rap songs all the way home, (we downloaded Ridin Dirty to Chris's IPhone so we each have a song now in case of emergency).

Then as soon as we got home, he put on his PJs and fell asleep in his bed.....no fuss.....no fight.....so NOT my Tucker. I tested his blood sugar once he was asleep...it was 208, way too high:( It was the highest reading he has had in days, which leads me to my next point: Tucker's blood sugar has been much better! It is still not in normal ranges, but it is definitely manageable. This points to the theory that Tucker's blood sugar is going to go wacko when his body is too tired to regulate it, not really because of what he eats. So maybe he had those super high readings when we were in Texas because he was tired from the trip, and then he had super high readings the first few days of school, but then he got settled into his new routine and the blood sugars leveled out. So last Friday we pushed him too hard and his sugars were way too high. Tucker sees the pediatric Endocrinologist for the first time Wednesday, so we will see what he says about everything. I am still thinking we will get a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, whether or not that is exactly what's going on.

Saturday was great! Chris and my good friends Lacy and Steve are getting married in October, and Saturday was their big couples wedding shower. Saturday morning I went over to Lacy's parents to set up, they had a luau theme and went all out with the decorations and food, it was fantastic! They even had a tiki bar, as you can see from the picture above:) After setting up I went to WalMart to get ingredients and last minute wrapping stuff, then headed home to cook the potato salad. At the same time, Chris headed over to his friend Steven's to cook the big jambalaya for the party. So I had Tucker at home while I needed to cook and get ready...doesn't sound too hard, right? That's what I thought;) Not so easy! At one point Sarah called, she and Brad were bored and wanted to drop by, I said Please do!! So they did, and Brad rocked Tucker, Sarah cut and boiled potatoes, and I wrapped gifts. Domestic goddess, I am not..... Thank goodness for help:)

Mom and Gina picked Tucker up around 5, then Chris came home with the jambalaya in his truck and we headed over to the party. Saturday night was a blast, it was a great night with great friends. Just the distraction we needed!

On Sunday Chris and I attended the Ascension Parish Inclusive League (APIL) TBall meeting. This is a local league for kids with and without disabilities, from age 4-14. I was nervous about it, and I was especially nervous for Chris. Chris is very athletic (unlike me!) and played baseball pretty well back in highschool, he also taught his younger brother all about baseball. So I of course always looked forward to Chris teaching Tucker how to play sports; but Tucker lacks the attention span and coordination to do pretty much anything athletic! I like to put Tucker in many activities because he likes them and benefits from them, not necessarily because he will be very good at the activity. There will be 4 games, 1 each week in September, so I thought it would be a good way to see how he likes it to help us decide whether to sign him up for the longer spring season. The meeting went well, Chris seemed happy about it. There will be 2 teams, the kids aren't divided up by age. Depending on their ability, they will hit off of a tee or be pitched to; they will also have shadows if they need one so that the parents can just sit in the stands and cheer! Tucker is on the blue team, which is named the Hurricanes. The green team is called the Tornados, which is what we often compare Tucker to:) The kids get uniforms, and Chris and I ordered adult size shirts to wear to the games. They encouraged us to bring out as many guests as we'd like....I hope the park can hold all of the Lavigne/Galatas/Townsend crowds:) After the meeting we went up to Betsy (she is in charge of the league) and explained that Tucker has no sports experience and that he will definitely need a shadow as well as lots of patience! We are just hoping that he enjoys being with other kids and maybe behaves himself. We will see. I think I may cry on the first day, I was almost crying at the meeting. I feel very grateful that there is a league like this so my sweet boy can have a chance to play sports; hopefully he enjoys himself and doesn't scream "home" the whole time:)