Bye, Bye!

We are all on the mend.  Luke and I both had Scarlet Fever, which is just a scary sounding way to say we had strep throat and didn't know it until we got the rash that goes along with it.  I sent Luke to school on Tuesday  because I had no idea he was still sick until he broke out into a nasty looking rash Tuesday night.  I knew he didn't look like he felt 100%, but I kept trying to talk to him about how he felt until he said, "Mama, you've asked me one hundred times!" 

Okay, then. 

I knew I had a sinus infection but couldn't figure out why I could sleep four hours during the day and still happily go to sleep at night.  Let's just say the laundry got washed, everybody got fed and the rest took care of itself.  Anyway, we're much better.  Unfortunately, over half of Luke's class was out today.  Most with a rash.  I have been assured that it could have come from other sources, but you can imagine that I have heaped mounds of guilt upon myself about not realizing Luke was sick before the rash.  C'est La Vie.

Anyway, Judah is the star of this post with his new, super cute trick. It's much cuter in person, of course.  And I tried to explain to him that the screaming at the end takes away from the cuteness, but he said to stop wasting my breath and feed him more sweet potatoes.

Better Left Behind

Some things are better left behind.  This week is most assuredly one of them. 

WARNING:  I'm about to whine.  If you don't like whining, consider yourself warned.

I'll put it simply.

Sunday: Eli-Stitches.
Monday/Tuesday: Judah-stomach bug.
Wednesday: Luke-fever, Eli-fever (continued through Friday).
Friday: Stitches removed, strep test on Eli negative.
Saturday: Mama-cough, dizzy head, achy.
Sunday: Luke, Eli, Mama - More of the same.  But no stitches.

Here's to a better week starting now!

The Most Pitiful Sound You've Ever Heard

Judah is a "little bit" under the weather (You can read that "the most rotten cold ever".)  He was crying this morning, and I got a recording of how he sounds.  While that probably isn't the best mama thing I could have been doing as he was sitting at my feet trying to wail, at least I didn't actually video him.  Right?

Double Bug

We've had a double bug around these parts. Kris, Luke and Judah had a cold last week. Judah passed it to me. His ears are infected. I'm counting on my sinuses staying clear this time.

Luke and Kris both were throwing up yesterday. They're back to normal today, thank you, Lord. My hands are absolutely raw from washing like an OCD maniac.

This morning we were sitting at the table doing a puzzle, and Luke started sniffing. He said, "What's that smell?"

Me: "I don't know, what does it smell like?"

L: "I fink it smells like frow up. It smells like frow up in my nose. It's dis-GUSTING!"

Poor fella. He had to get in the shower to get the "frow up" smell out of his nose. I know the feeling.

One Tough Cookie

Do you want to see a picture of the toughest baby ever? I thought you did.

And yes, I did say toughest, but you're right, he is the cutest too.

As you can see in the picture, his nose is absolutely raw and really gross. All last week he had a rotten cold, didn't sleep very well, had a fever off and on. But he never really fussed. I have flown with a cold. It is a painful, miserable experience. When we flew home on Saturday, he whimpered as we landed. That's all. I finally took Judah to the doctor yesterday because his nose was getting worse, not better. Diagnosis? Double ear infection. Are you kidding me?

Oh yeah, and he has four teeth coming in on top. He is one tough cookie!

A Week Worth Forgetting

The title pretty much speaks for itself. After all having colds and then the stomach bug, numerous meetings, appointments, visits to the lab/doctor/hospital, we are all glad this week is over.

Eli was up all night Monday night, Luke threw up Tuesday night, I was in the bed all day Thursday and ended up having to go to the hospital due to contractions (apparently my uterus and stomach have been competing for room and irritating each other, thanks to the stomach bug) and Kris threw up Thursday night. I was in the bed again yesterday, but I feel much better today and think I'm on the mend.

Which is good because....

We're going to Disney today! Mama, Daddy, brothers, sisters, spouses, nieces, nephews, self, children. We're all going to Disney for the whole week! Kris and Mark, unfortunately, have to work but will join us later in the week. We're even getting a sitter two nights so we can go out to dinner without children, and then Friday night the adults are going to see Cirque du Soleil. And we are so excited!

Expect lots of pictures and maybe some video next week!

Stomach Bug, Part Deux

This morning we woke up to the sequel of this fun time. Fortunately, we had a new main character. (And by "fortunately" I mean for me.)

Is it bad that I feel like I've had a small vacation this morning? With Luke laid out on the couch, I've been able to do all kinds of things. I vacuumed, dusted, wiped baseboards. I even mopped my floors for the first time in....well, a long time. Luke is the best sick person I've ever seen. When he feels like he's going to be sick, he whimpers for a few seconds, throws up neatly into his bucket while keeping his eyes glued to the TV the whole time and then lays back down.

Eli has enjoyed having Luke stationary, and he's just played around him so sweetly. I don't think I've had to even once say, "No kicking!" "Play sweetly!" "Luke, get off his head!" "Eli, give Luke back his _______!" (Fill in the blanks here because that child is forever swiping Luke's stuff.)

Not that I'm wishing sickness on my baby, and I do hope he feels better quickly because there's nothing more pitiful than a sick child, but I have enjoyed my morning.

A Crappy Week

I know my title is a little crass, but so appropriate. Eli had the stomach bug this week. He threw up (several times on me) Monday night and Tuesday night and still isn't quite over the other part that lent this post its title. Let's just say that stomach bugs are no fun, especially when the victim is a toddler who can't take care of business for himself.

The patient

We have watched a LOT of "Cars". One plus is that I got to hold and snuggle him more in the past week than I have in his life. His entire life. All put together. Lots of holding. It has really been wonderful. And we're so glad he's almost back to normal.

For the LOVE!!!!!

Make that seven colds in the last three weeks. Eli and I both have colds number 2. The bright side is that I am so used to being congested, having never fully recovered from the original cold, that it's really not bugging me all that much. Eli and Luke's booger noses are just par for the course as well. Sigh.

A side note: the final passy died, so Luke is passy free forever!

"I Will Survive"

I've been thinking that I need to update, but honestly, I don't have much exciting to say. In the past three weeks, between the four of us, we've had:

1 stomach bug (Kris)
5 colds (Luke is on #2)
4 ear infections (Yes, all four of us)
1 sinus infection (me)
and 1 trip to the emergency room.

We ended up in the ER when we were in Camilla because Kris and I had both developed ear infections and me a sinus infection and Eli's ear had not cleared up with the first round of antibiotics. It wasn't a "real" emergency (except that Eli's whining was making me feel homicidal), but there weren't any quick care clinics in town. I felt silly going in, but when the doctor look at our ears and said, "Ooh!", I felt a little better.

So, aside from the leftover coughing and nose blowing, we're much better. Eli even played beside me today instead of climbing on my back like a monkey all day. Seriously, Tuesday was so bad I went to the bathroom with him in my lap. At the end of the day I had claw marks on my neck from his death grip. Silly me for thinking he was going to let me put him down.

Thanksgiving was a blur, and we are definitely ready to head back to Camilla at Christmas and have fun. We're just so glad to be almost totally better!

Sickness Update

We are still alive. Kris was ready to go to work by Tuesday morning. Luke woke up Wednesday morning in the wee hours wailing about his ear hurting. When Kris went in to check on him he asked Kris for a piece of ice for his ear. So sad. We took him to the doctor and he has an "bad" ear infection in one ear (according to the doctor). He seems to be much better now, in health and attitude. The meltdowns are slowing down a bit.

Eli, poor Eli, with the low pain tolerance, also has an ear infection. We took him to the doctor this morning, and she said that the five patients before us had ear infections as well. Apparently, it's an epidemic. After a dose of antibiotic and some ibuprofen, he is still asleep after three and a half hours. Praise God. Did I mention he has a low pain tolerance? Poor Mama.

Sick House

Kris started throwing up at 3:30 this morning, went to work at 7:30, came home at 9:00 (I told him they would rather have him stay away, but because it's a new job and he doesn't have any time off yet he went in.), and has laid around all day. I've been sneaking around behind him wiping off every surface he touches. It's not you I'm rejecting, Darling, it's just your germs.

I've had a little sore throat and my stomach has felt queasy all day. I think it's just because I listened to Kris throwing up in the wee hours of the morning.

Luke has had a temperature and a miserable cold today. He has asked me more than once to "Get me warm, Mama" and to wrap a blanket around him. Pitiful.

Eli has been in a great mood all day and has been walking around saying, "Haaaah, haaah!"

Needless to say, you don't want to be at our house.