Bee-fore and After

This is the Marcos I've always known and loved--happy, enthusiastic, easy to please. That was before--before he got his tonsils out.

This is the Marcos I love now--today was his fourth day after surgery. Since he's so young (the tender little guy's only three) I didn't really believe the doctor when he said every day would be worse for about a week. The doctor was right. Marcos cries a lot and gets shaky and hysterical. It brings tears to my eyes. The pain medication burns his throat going down. The other morning I was trying to get him to take it. "This will help you feel better," I said. "But I'm not getting better!" He sounded so sad and desperate. I am learning how difficult it would be to have a chronically ill child. I feel blessed that my children are usually very healthy and that this is a temporary situation for little Marcos. I took this picture of him today and said, "Should we take a picture of you for Grandma and Grandpa?" He said yes, and without any prompting from me, said a weak little, "Cheese." Bless his heart.
Yesterday was a surprise 40th birthday party for my brother-in-law, Robert. He's a beekeeper (among many other things) and so I made him a beehive cake. I had made the bees bee-fore Marcos's surgery. I had made a few more than forty and put everything away when I caught Marcos (the bee-fore surgery, normal Marcos) eating one. After counting, I realized he'd eaten seven! I had to get everything out again and make more bees. Now Marcos won't eat anything. I wouldn't mind if he'd eat a bee or two.

Robert was a great sport. Here he is wearing a bee mask Marianne got for him. Our other news of the week is that we are the proud owners of a German Wirehair Pointer. Lili has always wanted a dog and lately she's been even more insistent that she get one. She wrote me a letter this week, saying "Pleese can I have a dog? Even just a littel one." I refuse to take responsibility for her wobbly spelling. It turned out that this week we found out about a family that needed a home for Hunter--our new dog. Hunter is great with the kids and doesn't bark at night, and seems like a nice enough fellow--for a dog. He also has an incredible amount of energy and a great desire to run all the time. I weigh quite a lot now, but it is difficult for me to control him. There's no way Lili could take him on a walk by herself, but we're hoping to get him used to us and our home here and then maybe he won't try to run away. He got away three times yesterday--his collar was too loose. Now he has a new collar and he's doing better. Lili is so happy with him. Her happiness is worth a lot.