Today was the day.

There have been moments since returning to Texas that it's hard to believe we cut our time in Italy short. These thoughts came more frequently while B was furloughed. I miss my friends in Italy, terribly. I miss seeing the mountains, I miss the wine and fresh milk, I miss grabbing dinner at Regina's. I miss my ''me'' time on Tuesday's and Thursday's while the kids were all in school. When B was furloughed while it Italy, it presented time to go to Slovenia or Croatia. To spend a day in Asiago eating cheese or wandering around Bassano del Grappa.

While B was furloughed here (which thankfully is over and he will receive back pay) it was worrisome. We just moved, we just bought a house and I think we both had a few ''what were we thinking'' thoughts fly through our heads. We weren't given a ''Furlough Friday'' it was a ''Furlough with no known end in sight''. We couldn't really enjoy the time here because we didn't know when it would end.

But after spending this past weekend with our families, after meeting my nephew for the first time, hugging my grandma who was diagnosed with Parkinson's while we were overseas and celebrating everyone being together, I feel good about our decision. Sure it's a ten hour drive, but it was completely manageable. We left at 6am and we were hugging family by 6pm...the same day, in the same time zone. Now that Ron has returned to a career that he enjoys, the boys are having fun with spirit week at school and I am decorating a house that we own...things feel good. Things feel really good.


The BIG "we did the right thing moment'' came on the walk home from school today. (Sidenote: the fact that the kids are able to WALK to school is ah-mazing. In Italy they rode a bus for close to an hour each way.) While walking home I asked how their day went. Logan told me about painting a cow at art. Ryan shared that he ran FIVE laps at school and when he added on the ''and I didn't even need my inhaler" it just reaffirmed what I already knew....We made the right choice.

We have been in Texas almost three months now. Three months without one of the kids needing a breathing treatment, without albuterol, without a single dose of an oral steroid or a doctor's appointment. Three months without having to run a vaporizer. Three months without taking a daily preventive inhaler. Three months without coughing. Three months of happy, healthy kids who are riding bikes outside, running laps at school and doing it without worry. While there was a downside to living in Italy with four kids, I can't find one for Texas.

Today was the day I realized that this is home. This is where we are meant to be. Where we NEED to be. Texas may not have amazing (and cheap!) Italian wine or views of the mountains but I guess I'll need to get used to sweet tea and views of the gulf. Something tells me it shouldn't be too hard.

Connor about gave me a heart-attack today!

Connor gave us the scare of a lifetime today. **let me just say, everyone is FINE now**

We had been playing outside. Today was the last day of school, it was a half day as well, so we came home and filled up the kiddie pool. Connor is not a water baby. He would rather take a bucket and dump all the water out of the pool and that's okay. He was in the pool for maybe five minutes, went down the slide a few times and then wanted a snack. 

He's sitting there, eating chex mix in his lawn chair when all of the sudden he grabs his neck with his head cocked to the side and just starts bawling while screaming ''it hurts! it hurts!". So I immediately think he had to have gotten stung by a bee. But I look all over his neck, no bite, no scratch, no redness. I start asking him questions: Does it hurt on your skin or inside, like your bones? He says '' I don't know but it hurts". His head was really bent over, so I tried tilting his neck to the other side...bad idea. He started screaming louder. 

Let me interrupt myself here by saying that on Sunday, Connor had a fever of 103, goopy green eyes and needed his inhaler...virtually out of nowhere. He was wheezing, coughing and burning up. I treated him with motrin/tylenol, gave him his inhaler and he calmed down. Monday I took him to the doctor and he was put on an oral steriod for his cough, as it was caused by his wheezing from his Asthma. So on Wednesday morning he was checked again and he sounded much much better. Doctor said to finish up the 5 day course of steriods to be on the safe side but that he was doing great.

So when today he is clutching his neck and screaming, my first thought was ''Oh shit, meningitis". I immediately yelled at everyone to strip off their swimsuits, go inside, go potty and get dressed as quickly as possible. It was 4:02 at this point and our health clinic on post closes at 4:30. I did not want to have to take him to the Emergency Room downtown. So I called the nurse at the clinic and she was hesitant ''The doctor is confident that Connor was doing better yesterday, maybe he pulled his neck playing outside, give him Motrin and rest''. I said ''No''. The way his neck was bent, I just knew something wasn't right. I said I could be there in 10 minutes, she said to bring him in. I left my house at 4:06 and was at the clinic by 4:13...I live about 12-15 minutes away but drove like an Italian and cut that time in half. To make a really long story shorter, it wasn't meningitis. 

It took two doctors but they finally said ''We think it's an acute dystonic reaction to his oral steroid medication." They were honest as they weren't sure. Neither doctor had ever heard of anyone having such a reaction after an oral steroid (only after anti-psychotic drugs or anti-nausea drugs) but since the treatment for this dystonic reaction is a high dose of Benadryl, we really had no reason not to try. If it was what they thought it was he would be better in 15 minutes or less. If it wasn't, then we would have to go to the ER for x-rays. So Connor got a big ol' shot of Benadryl. 

10 minutes passed and he was still refusing to move his head and the crying was now worse from the shot. 

20 minutes passed and Connor (who had been crying because of his shot) had snot running down his face. He immediately sat up and said ''I need a tissue'' and when doing so, had straightened out his neck. For over an hour; his neck was so bent that his left ear was touching his left shoulder and he would not stop crying. Luckily after this one shot and a full 30 minutes later, he was back to normal. We do have to give him Benadryl around the clock for the first 24 hours, just to make sure it doesn't reoccur before the prednisone works it's way out of his system. And he's done taking that. His lungs still sounded clear today so it's not an issue that he didn't take the entire treatment.

I was trying to stay calm, cool and collected but I was freaking out! Seeing him and knowing that he couldn't control his own neck, seeing how scared he was, made it really hard. Luckily Ron was able to meet me at the clinic and watch the other kiddos and I was able to devout my full attention to Connor. 

Once home, he changed into his superhero pajamas and was back to fighting crime. He's still pretty slow moving, still pretty moody but he's okay, he's home and while it might happen again, we know that it is more annoying than dangerous. (I'll be honest, I did NOT ask what would have happened had I not brought him straight to the clinic). I think I lost five years off of my life today, but he had it worse. 

The downside of living in Italy when you have 4 kids

We have lived in Italy for over a year and overall it's been a fantastic year. We have gotten to do so many things that I never imagined ever being able to do/see. Spring break in Tuscany? Check. Spending the day after Christmas is Venice? Done. Visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa...twice? That happened. Visiting the highest point in Germany which means being in the Alps? Did that too. Spending an afternoon in Austria? Yep! I've drank amazing wine, ate fantastic food, met wonderful people. 

But Italy has been very hard on us medically. One of the things that we were not warned about before coming here was that asthma sufferers usually have it worse here. Which when 2 out of 4 kids have asthma, would have been nice to know. Sissy has even been prescribed at inhaler since being here, though she doesn't carry the diagnosis yet. Mold is also a HUGE problem here in Northern Italy and Bubba's number one allergy is mold. Needless to say we are constantly dealing with albuterol & Flo-vent inhalers and oral prednisone. While all of these medicines make the kids better, I worry about the long term effects of being on them so often. These are steroids and these are small kids. (Bubba is almost 7 and weighs 42lbs) Bubba rarely needed his inhaler in Texas...maybe twice a month after playing outside or walking home from school. Now he takes them daily. Often I wake up in the middle of the night to his wheezing cough. It's really hard.

This is the first week of the new year and Peanut got hit hard with it. He had a light cough on Sunday and by Monday morning he is wheezing and I can see his chest doing that slight cave when he breathes. So we are back to breathing treatments (which for some reason are more effective than the inhaler with chamber for him).

So what started as a cold has now lead to prednisone twice a day, pulmicort via nebulizer twice a day and albuterol every 3 hours via nebulizer. He also has a slight fever and is complaining of his ears. So Motrin/Tylenol as needed too.

Now I know kids get sick, but as they get older they should start to outgrow this, so to speak. And Bubba was...but Italy makes it so hard.

Another part of the problem is hard water. Kids who have asthma, often have eczema...which is true for us. Both Bubba and Sissy will get to the point where they scratch so much in their sleep that they bleed. Despite limiting their time in the tub, using Cetaphil for their bath soap...its just so dry. So in addition to the asthma meds, both use a hydro cortisone cream on their skin and take Zyrtec daily. That is a lot of medicine for kids. Daily. Everyday, not just when having an asthma flare up.

Adding to all this is the amount of times that I've had a sinus infection since being here. I am also on Zyrtec daily, as well as Flo-nase. I use nasal rinses daily and still average one sinus infection every 6 weeks or so. So much so that I have to go for a follow up this month and if my sinuses are still swollen, I'm being referred to an ENT for sinus surgery. Since being here I've also had a few other issues resulting in neurologist consults, MRIs and seeing doctors on the economy. Nothing due to Italy but I'm not getting treatment like I should, being here. And paying €400 for an MRI isn't easy when you're a family of six and stateside insurance would cover 100%.

So as awesome as Italy is, and as much as we haven't gotten to do/see since being here...we're starting to think about life after Italy. Being here as civilians, we are here for 3 years. However, after one year if you get a job back in the states that will cover a PCS move you are able to leave. Due to the medical issues we're having here and the fact that at the end of 3 years we have return rights to San Antonio (none of us wants to move back to SA, even the kids) B has begun looking and at some jobs stateside now.

It's bittersweet. Of course in this economy it may end up that we will be here for a full three years and we realize that. We made it through a year of this, we could do two more. Just if we get the chance to return home, we are at the point where we will take it. It's leave earlier for a place and job that we would love to have and finally be able to settle down, or stay for 2 years and return to SA where we do not want to settle and end up moving yet again.

All of that being said, we're still planning on making the most of it while we are here! We are planning out our Spring Break trip now....Paris! We want to take the kids to Disneyland Paris as well as see the sights. I want to spend a 4 day weekend in Spain and I would love to visit Belgium. We're well within driving distance to Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia. As well as the French Riviera. We have big plans while we're here (and now that Sissy is potty trained everything is that much easier!) but we are okay if they don't happen either. I see it as yes, there is certainly a lot that I haven't done but I am so, so grateful for what I *have* done and I will not leave with regrets. I've already experienced so much more that I ever thought possible.

Sick kids = tired mom

When one has four kids, you think "Man! That's a lot of laundry/food/cleaning/expenses!" but you never really think about viruses. Ugh! This week, they are passing them back and forth faster than I can keep track. Last week Pooks had a rash that they thought was Strep, the culture came back negative though so it was deemed ''viral''. Let it run it's course and on Monday, Peanut woke up and didn't want to do anything. He fell asleep on the couch numerous times, didn't want to eat or drink and when he finally did drink, he puked...everywhere! After that he seemed fine and scarfed down everything. Wednesday night Sissy spiked a fever of 101.9. Thursday morning she woke up dry...which never happens. That means she hadn't peed since 6pm the night before. By 10am she still hadn't peed (despite having nursed twice, drank a cup of water and a sippy cup of diluted cranberry juice) and her fever was up to 103.6. I got her into the doctor and she had a bulging eardrum and possibly a UTI but they didn't feel the need to cath her to test since either way, she needed antibiotics. She was put on antibiotics and tylenol/motrin. She finally did pee on the way home, so I was feeling much better!

So Friday starts out pretty good; she has a low fever but is back to her usual self. Napping more but she is also cutting a tooth so I figured that was par for the course. By Friday afternoon, Pooks has a horrible cough. Not just any cough but a barking cough. So I am 99% confident that he has croup so after consulting Dr.Google I see that other than Tyleonl/Vicks the only other thing I can really do is cool steam and maybe an inhaler. Both of which we have. I think we have finally kicked this crap. Until Saturday morning when as I'm getting Peanut dressed I notice that he has these bumps all over his feet and toes...even on the bottoms of his feet.

"Look at all my bug bites Mom''

Ummm...."I don't think those are bug bites hon. Let me see your hands"

Yep, blistery bumps on hands and feet.

"Peanut, let me see in your mouth''.

Yep, whitish blisters in his mouth.

So I call the doctor because while I know he has ''Hand, Foot, Mouth'' I don't know how to treat it and I thought as long as I'm at the clinic I can get them to check Pooks cough out.

Dr. Mommy was right; HFM for Peanut, and while five year olds can't officially have ''Croup'' he said to treat Pooks like I was. Maybe give him a spoonful of honey to help the coughing fits in addition to the vicks and inhaler as needed.

So now it's Sunday, we've got one kid with Hand, Foot, Mouth which is highly contagious and likely to spread. One kid with something viral causing a ''croup like'' cough, one kid one antibiotics for an ear infection who is also cutting a molar and a (so far!) perfectly healthy six year old. All of this means a very, very tired mom. A mom who also has a toothache and is sorta, kinda terrified because on Tuesday I get to go to the Italian dentist to get it looked out. Since my Italian doesn't go much farther than words necessary for greetings and ordering Gelato/Pizza, this could get interesting.

I love having four kids. I really, truly do. I know some people think we're nuts, especially with how close in age our crew is but I wouldn't change it for the world. Honestly, if I *had* to make one change, it would be that we had Sissy sooner so that her and Peanut were closer in age. Yeah, you heard me....22 months isn't as easy at 13 months or 18 months. But no one thinks about how hand me downs aren't the only thing they are passing around! Please for the sake of B and I's sanity, let the kids kick this junk...today!

Nothing like a little meningitis scare, to stir things up!

So on Tuesday night (though it posted Wednesday) I blogged about my migraine. It was pretty bad Tuesday night. I woke up in pain several times and ended up taking a Percocet to help with the pain...it didn't help.

It was horrific on Wednesday. Now I know that I tend to over-dramatize and exaggerate a bit but I seriously wasn't sure I was going to make it. I cried, a lot. It felt like someone had bashed my head with a baseball bat. Like my head was 4 sizes bigger than what my neck could support. And it wasn't just the migraine...I was exhausted. My back and neck hurt, I was so nauseous and was vomiting up everything. Water, crackers, 7up...nothing would stay down.

I let the kids watch Scooby Doo at 7am and when they wanted popcorn for breakfast I rationalized that it was okay because I mixed in Crasins and I made them drink soy milk with it. By 7:50am I actually cracked down and called the doctor because I just knew something wasn't right. Yeah, we'd been up less than one hour. The earliest that the office could get me in was 3pm and I may have called B, begging, crying, pleading...to come home and just watch the boys for me. It wasn't that he didn't want to but he had missed part of Thursday last week, all day Friday, all day Monday and here it is Wednesday morning and I can't hack it. He felt horrible for me but also bad for his job, he was way behind. So we agreed that he would meet me at the office and watch the kids, rather than drive 20 minutes home so that I could hop in the van and drive 20 minutes (the opposite direction) to my appointment.

By the time 3pm rolled around, I was sure my head was going to explode. The doctors nurse took one look at me, then closed all the blinds, dimmed the lights and asked if I wanted to lay down. Seriously, I looked like $h!t. Doc comes in, asks me the ''when did it start, on a scale of one to ten, what have you tried/taken, etc" and I responded ''it's on day 3, i'd put it at a 11 on the pain scale and I have tried tylenol, 800mg ibuprofen and percocet left over from childbirth which I didn't use at the time of childbirth". I explained the severe nausea and vomiting. Seriously an un-medicated, natural childbirth was less painful than this migraine, no joke. I have a high pain tolerance but after three days, I couldn't take it anymore.

Well it turns out my vitals were all fine, my eyes passed whatever flashlight shining/tracking test they do, and it was decided to treat this migraine ''aggressively'' and they would be giving me 2 shots: one for my nausea (Zofran...I think) and then 5 minutes later, one for my migraine (Imitrex). He said that by the time I left his office, I'd be virtually pain free. Well long story short  shorter, I had a bad reaction to one of the drugs and started vomiting. So they watched me for another 10 minutes. Nurse came in, had me sit up slowly and I vomited again. Nurse told me to lay down, they brought me water and said that the doctor wanted to keep an eye on me. They took my blood pressure again (it was normal) and after another 20 minutes, I hadn't thrown up and my head felt a little better...not so sensitive to the light/sound but still a headache,  so I was sent home with strict instructions to call if I got worse.

I got home, ate 2 chunks of watermelon, fell asleep. Woke up, threw up aforementioned watermelon and fell back asleep. Woke up again at 8:30pm and felt like death. My head hurt much, much worse. B had taken all the boys to see Kung Fu Panda 2, Sissy was sleeping and I decided to call my mommy. She said I needed to go the ER. I didn't like that so I said I'd wait it out til B got home. B gets home...well, whenever he got home and I woke again at 10:30pm. Again, I vomit. I'm crying yet not really crying because it hurts to bad to cry. I have a fever of 101.8. Not only am I in pain but I'm worried about staying hydrated enough to keep nursing Maggie. In 5 hours, she had nursed 8 times. I know my supply was down. I had tried twice to supplement with formula and she wouldn't take it. So I call the doctor. He said that I had two options. Option 1: he would call in a different anti-nausea drug for me because it sounded like I was dehydrated and/or had meningitis. Option 2: I could go straight to the ER, get IV fluids and find out if I had meningitis. I chose option number 1. I really did think that I was dehydrated. I mean, I hadn't kept down hardly any fluids in close to 36 hours {the only thing that I had kept down were those Freezer Pops...3 of them} and I was still nursing Sissy. So at 11:30pm, B left for Walgreens and I fell back asleep. He woke me a little after midnight, I took the anti nausea and sipped some water.

I didn't wake up again until 6:30am on Thursday morning! I didn't vomit. My head felt better, but I still had a headache and was incredibly tired. I took another pill and some ibuprofen, then fell back asleep. I slept until 1:30pm, waking only when B brought me either medicine or Sissy, who wanted to nurse. {Obviously, B took the day off.} He was a Saint though all of it. I don't know what the kids did. I didn't hear them, I didn't see them, no clue what they ate, where they went...nothing. I was comatose. When I woke that afternoon, the only way I can describe feeling is hungover. Obviously, I wasn't but I had that kinda disorientated feeling, my head was kinda heavy and everything still seemed fuzzy. I showered and felt much better. So we got Rudy's to go (no way was I eating in a crowded restaurant) and after eating a few bites of turkey, I felt human. By the time we got to the peach cobbler, I was pretty sure the worse was behind me.

Today I still have a lingering headache and my appetite is down. But I've been keeping my fluids up (making a pitcher of limeade helped that!) and I feel better. We still don't really know what I "had". It was either a really bad migraine and dehydration, a stomach virus that lead to the migraine or it could have been some sort of viral meningitis. Who knows? Really...who cares? The important thing is I'm better and no one else go sick. I am so thankful for that, as well as for B who really did a stellar job with everything. Me, kids, laundry, meals...all while worried about work. Oh and did I mention that today is his birthday? Thanks hon, for everything that you do for us!

A note to my children

Mommy loves all four of you very much. You are very close in age and keep mommy and daddy very, very busy especially when you are sick. Last Thursday Sissy was pulling on her ears and I took her to the doctor (she weighed 16lbs15oz by the way) but she checked out fine, just a Cold. However when we returned home, pookie you had a fever of 103 degrees and wanted to do nothing but lay down. You didn't even eat dinner! Then Friday sissy had a fever. Then Saturday sissy and bubba had fevers, then Sunday mommy, bubba and peanut had fevers. The only other symptoms were a headache with chills and tiredness thrown in. But Sunday and Monday, mommy and and Ryan both were throwing up. Now it's tuesday and you are all better, hooray! But mommy is not. Mommy had a very, very bad migraine today and you all were very, very loud! I think it was triggered by lack of sleep and a surplus of stress! Because i am still nursing sissy, i can't take anything much stronger than Tylenol. You made it impossible to rest and I instantly thought of nanaw who suffered from migraines a lot when uncle Matt and I were little. We also, failed at being quiet.

Today I realized I was getting a dose of karma. Now I'm blogging about it so one day, when you all have a super bad headache (I am in no way wishing one on you, but I'm sure it will inevitably happen) and your children will not settle down, you will feel as guilty as did today.

I am glad you are all feeling better, and I love you but please let's try not to share all of our germs with each other for a very long time!

It seems to happen about once a year

That I get sick. I mean the kind of sick where it hurts to move. Being the Mom, I rarely get the break and usually just have to power through.

Yesterday and today, I have been that sick. It started out with just a congested nose, sore throat and ear pain. I was sucking down fortified juice, eating Oranges and drinking tons of water to help combat the illness. This went on for four or five days and on Sunday, I thought I was getting better. Until I woke up Monday. I just felt tired and out of it. Monday evening I could barely breathe and was plowing through tissue after tissue. My throat was killing me and because I'm breastfeeding Sweetcheeks, about the only thing I can take is Benadryl. So I popped a Benadryl and fell asleep sitting up in the recliner {it was the only way that I could breathe}. I woke up on Tuesday and felt like I had been ran over by a truck. I mean I woke up wanting to curl up into a ball and just cry. I couldn't smell anything. My entire body ached and I had a killer headache. By 10 am I had called B at work as asked if there was anyway he could come home early, so I could rest. He had a meeting, then would head home.

At 10:45am, I noticed Peanuts diaper was sagging and I plopped him down on the floor to change, what I thought was a wet diaper. Keep in mind, I can't smell anything. Imagine my surprise when I pull down his pants and #2 is seeping out the diaper, all over his sweatpants, and now all over my carpet. I was bawling. Poop is everywhere. I'm mad that it's messy. I'm mad that I had no warning. I'm made that my perfectly capable two year old isn't potty trained {simply because he doesn't want to, not because he can't}. So I clean him up, chuck his pj's in the trash, and start scrubbing the carpet. Never have I been so glad as to not be able to smell because it's at this moment when B walks in the front door, McDonalds in hand and says "Hey Boys, Daddy's home. I brought McDonald's for lunch...get up at the table."then turns to me and asks "What smells like shit?"

Yep, angel in disguise that one is! He helps me finish cleaning up. The boys start eating an early lunch and after munching on a few nuggets, I take Sissy and retire to the bedroom. We napped from 11:45am-3pm. I then slept on and off on the sofa until 11:30pm when I moved to the bedroom. B was an absolute doll and took off today too, so I was able to sleep {on and off} from 11:30pm-10am this morning. It would have been perfect had Sissy slept through the night but she is also congested and waking frequently, fussy and just miserable. Plus, I think I may be slightly dehydrated which obviously affects my milk supply so she was most likely, genuinely hungry.

Now its 1pm on Wednesday, I'm eating a bowl of soup and then, most likely, going back to bed. Luckily B has been healthy and wonderful. He's done the dishes, countless loads of laundry, entertained the boys, vacuumed and hasn't so much as complained. I can only hope that I feel better as the day goes on.

Sickness has invaded our home

For reals.

First, Peanut fractured his tibia. Monday marked one week in the cast and overall, it's going better than I expected. Okay, that's a lie. I wrote it, but it isn't true.

It's been hell.

Well, scratch that too.

During the daytime, it goes better than I thought it would. He drags and scoots everywhere with pretty much ease. He has figured out how to get up and down off of the couches, he can get his toys or make his brothers do it for him without much effort.

But bedtime, naptime...is horrible. He won't sleep in his toddler bed {really there is no space for him and his giant cast} so he's sharing a bed with me while B gets stuck on the couch. Oh how I envy B.

Peanut sleeps all.over.the.place. I mean he flips and flops, he turns completely upside down and sleeps with his head just inches from the foot-board. He has to sleep with no less than four of his "loveys", two of which sing. He has a mandatory pillow pet as well as a sippy of water.

Did I mention we only have a queen size bed!?

So it's him, his four friends, his pillow, his cup and then me. He wakes no less than once every two hours, usually only half awake screaming, hitting, kicking, and usually trying to pull the cast off. I know it's hard on him. I know it probably hurts. I give Tyleonl and/or Motrin like the doctor suggested but it doesn't begin to help with the night wakings. I try to calm him down and it's no use. These night tantrums last up to 10 minutes and there is no rhyme or reason as to why they suddenly stop. We can't prevent them, we can't control them. We tried moving him to his bed after he fell asleep but before tantrum...yeah he woke up, scooted all the way to the kitchen {with all the previously mentioned ''necessities'' and proceeded to scream for his mommy.

Naptimes are better because he is so tired he falls asleep instantly. The problem is he sleeps about an hour, wakes and is miserable. He's not getting enough sleep which is effecting all of us with his behavior. He's acting out, he's throwing tantrums, hitting and kicking his brothers, throwing toys, slapping me. It's like the terrible two's arrived at the exact wrong time.

I'll be honest, the first couple nights/days I felt horrible for him. By night five, I was starting to get irritated. Now after a full week, I'm about to lose my mind. I've averaging maybe five hours of sleep and it's not even continuous. I have an almost four month old who sleeps all night but yet I'm getting nada. Last night I gave up and made B sleep in the bed with him while I parked on the couch. I try to let him get the peaceful sleep, even if it is on his couch, because he has to go to work in the morning. Of course I have to get up with the kids but I can rock the sweatpant look all day. If I'm lucky, I can even take a nap. It doesn't usually happen but occasionally the moons align and I get to rest.

However if all of the above wasn't stressful enough, every.single.kiddo is now sick.

Bubba has a high fever, nasal congestion and general bodyaches/tiredness.

Pooks has a cough and nasal drainage that leads to him coughing so hard he throws up...anywhere and everywhere, that kid pukes.

Peanut of course has the cast; but on top of that he's had a cough with nasal congestion/drainage which leads to wheezing. I took him to urgent care and they think he has the influenza virus. Despite getting a flu shot, he got the flu. So he's on breathing treatments, Tylenol/Motrin and an oral steroid.

Sweetcheeks didn't get off to easy either. She is really congested so I'm having to suction her nose out several times a day, which of course she hates. The congestion is leading to drainage which is causing a cough. So we've got a vaporizer running, baby vicks slathered on her and we're keeping her as upright as possible.

Basically every kid feels like crap and is moody. No one is getting enough sleep and we're all on our last nerve. Not a good combination. To top things off, it's freakishly cold in Texas and snowing (!) which basically shuts the entire city down. So we can't really get out to change the pace or scenery. It's been a super long week and I don't see it changing anytime soon. 

Well it's really wasn't worth waking up for...

 Yesterday I posted about how Peanut fractured his leg. Today we met with the Pediatric Orthopedic doctor and he reviewed the x-rays and confirmed that yes, Peanut would need a cast. Well I say "we" but I use the term loosely. What really happened was Peanut and I went back to wait for the doctor and he fell asleep. I mean the poor kiddo was out.

 So the doctor showed me the x-rays, explained the fractures (one a buckling and one a non displaced tibial plateau fracture):

He also explained that this is a super common injury seen in kids and that Peanut will heal up nicely with no lasting effects. He will need a full leg cast for three and a half weeks, keeping weight completely off of his injured leg. Now, keep in mind that as he's explaining this to me, Peanut is still asleep. So as the Doctor is talking to me, he is simultaneously working on little mans foot. First they did a layer of cotton, followed by plaster on the bottom half of his leg...

 then they did the same to the top, holding his leg at this angle. Never once did Peanut wake up.

 Lastly they wrapped his leg up in the colored fiberglass tape...since he was sleeping I got the choice of choosing a color and I went with a light blue (as opposed to a hot pink, neon green, neon yellow, dark blue, black, purple, regular green and regular yellow).

I mostly chose it because I knew that when we signed it, the Sharpie would really show up well.


After it was dry, I had to wake him up. The doctor wanted to make sure that he could wiggle his toes and I needed to get him dressed. Needless to say he was less than thrilled. I think he woke up obviously disorientated and then on top of that, his entire leg was in a cast. I promptly said "Look, your leg band-aid is blue just like Tow Mater". So now he is calling it his Mater :) Once he was awake and got his sucker, he was in much better spirits:

 We got him home, changed into some plaster-free clothes and he went right to playing. Here he is showing Chuck his owie...

With the leg bone connected to the knee bone, and the knee bone connected to the thigh bone...

Today we met up with some friends at a really cool indoor playplace that is full of bounce houses, inflatable slides, and kids' toys. The boys had an absolute blast and we were there for over 2 hours this morning! When we were leaving the playplace and on our way to get lunch, the owner mentioned that the $7 we paid was good all day. So if we wanted to come back after lunch or after naps, we were more than welcome to and at no cost. So we ate lunch, came home and took a nap. B ended up coming home from work over an hour early and we had told him all about the playplace. Well I figured ''Hey why not get our moneys worth and head back over?" Thinking we would go play for another hour then get dinner and the kids would sleep like babies tonight. B was up for it, the kids were beyond excited, so off we went.

We got there and naturally, Sissy decided she was ''starving'' so I was nursing her while B was playing with the kids. We were the only ones in the entire building so B was able to do everything with them, not just watch. They had so much fun going down this huge inflatable slide {I'll have to share the video later, its' on his phone} and shortly after moved on to the actual jump houses. Well one minute they are jumping and the next I hear Peanut crying. I go over to see what's wrong and if I can help. I see B holding Peanut against him telling him that it's okay and asking what hurts. Apparently with him and the big boys jumping, Peanut got bounced a little too hard and fell. Well he didn't point or say that anything hurt so we assumed he was just still really tired and worn out. I took him from B and we cuddled on one of the couches with Sissy while the big boys continued to play. Never did he say that anything hurt, he was just really clingly.

Well 5 minutes pass and he is still not getting down and wanting to play so B and I trade places. I run around with the big boys while he sits with the littles. Maybe 10 minutes later he hollers for me and says that he thinks Peanut might have hurt his ankle. B had asked him to put his shoes on and when Peanut slide off the couch to go get them, he immediately started crying when he put weight on his foot. Okay so I take off his socks and really look at his feet...nothing. No swelling, no bruises, no bones sticking out or anything, but as soon as I moved his foot, he started screaming.

Okay so now we're worried. So I ask him if it hurts and he just cries. So I tell the big boys that we're leaving, Peanut has an owie and we need to go. I try to put his shoes on and he screams. Okay so I'm really worried. This isn't like him at all. We get into the van and B and I decide to take him to an Urgent Care for X-rays.

To make an already long story a little bit shorter, it turns out that it was much more serious that Peanut let on. He ended up fracturing his tibia, right below the kneecap  It caused some buckling on the outside of his leg as well. They ended up splinting it for tonight {we were at Urgent care for over 3 hours!} and referring us to see a Pediatric Ortho Specialist tomorrow. The doc this evening, thinks that the Ortho will end up casting it tomorrow. Here is Peanut after dinner, he was telling his brothers how he told the doctor ''No touch me. No bandaid".

So for tonight at least, he is sleeping in our bed with his little leg propped up on a pillow after a good dose of Tylenol. He really is a trooper; while he was extremely tired, mad and obviously in pain at the clinic he would yell at them to stop and don't touch, etc but then when they gave him stickers he would stop crying and say ''Thank you''. He ended up with about 12 stickers and he very nicely, without prompting, gave one to each of his brothers :) Such a sweetie!

The results are in...

Peanut's allergy test results that is. They drew blood on Tuesday testing for an allergies to milk, eggs, nuts, wheat, dogs and/or cats. The nurse called me back today to let me know that everything came back negative except he does have a mild milk allergy. It isn't severe and he may be at the stages of outgrowing it. We should limit his plain milk intake to no more than one sippy cup a day, substituting soy or rice milk in his other sippies. He can have baked goods with milk, he can have cheese and yogurt but we do need to limit his intake of ice cream due to the heavy amounts of milk and cream.

So, Peanut's allergy is very mild. He has no rash, no eczema, no diarrhea and no apparent tummy aches. However, I think we all remember how sick Peanut was this last winter. {He was doing daily breathing treatments. He had bronchitis several times and was diagnosed with "reactive airway disease". Basically when he gets sick, it's hard for his body to get better....colds easily settle into his lungs and airway, thus causing wheezing, coughing and trouble breathing. } Well as it turns out SOME kids with milk allergies present their symptoms via the respiratory tract. "Symptoms can range from a runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, and sneezing to the triggering of asthma with coughing and wheezing" (info found here). When a kid has a milk allergy (which is not the same as a lactose intolerance) they body fights the proteins found in milk; their immune system is hard at work attacking those proteins.

So it's logical that Peanut got ''so'' sick last winter, knowing now that he has/had a milk allergy. We quit breastfeeding in September. He was on formula for about 2 months, then we switched to whole milk (December-ish). By February he got a cold that lead to breathing treatments. We did breathing treatments on and off (although more often than not) until MAY trying to get his wheezing/coughing under control. Turns out that his body was already hard at work dealing with the milk proteins, then he got sick on top of that and his little immune system just couldn't keep up!

Hopefully now that we know the problem, and we know that he is already at the age/stage of outgrowing it, this winter will go much smoother!

In 2 days...

...Peanut will be twenty-one months old!

He's just three short months shy of being 2 years old and he just doesn't seem old enough for that,. I mean in some ways he does: he talks up a storm, he behaves...often times better than his brothers. He uses silverware, he's starting to show signs of potty training.

Take today for instance. Today I took Peanut to the doctor about a rash on his tummy and to see if it was food allergy related {bubba is allergic to eggs and milk and when he was eating those things regularly, he had a rash}. He also has a runny nose and cough that I thought should be checked out. Turns out the rash is not a allergy thing. It's actually a very common skin fungus called Tinea Versicolor. All we have to do is wash his belly with Selsum Blue shampoo once or twice a week and it'll go away. And the runny nose/cough is most likely a virus...he and Pooks both have the same symptoms as well as an ear infection each. Antibiotics for both.

So while the rash isn't caused by food allergies, we still had blood drawn to test for allergies due to "poor weight gain" and family history. See Peanut, truly is a little peanut. At his 1 year check up he weighed 21.2 lbs. At 18mos he weighed 22.4 lbs and today, buck-naked he weighed 24lbs exactly. In 9 months he has grown taller but has gained less than 3lbs. Thus he's fallen from the 25th percentile, to the 20th, to were he's at now, about the 17th. Dr. S isn't highly concerned; he's getting taller, his parents are both smaller than average, etc but because of the family history of allergies she thought we should rule it out just in case.
 
The method of testing? A blood draw. They were testing for any sensitivity or allergy to dogs, cats, nuts, eggs, milk or wheat. Now I know grown adults that don't like having their blood drawn. Bubba has had this done several times and it usually involves me holding him as tightly as possibly, at least one nurse holding his arm down, another nurse who draws the blood and a whole 'lotta tears. And the thing is, Bubba is 4 years old. And I can't blame the kid, I don't know anyone who thinks ''Oh Goodie! Blood draw--YES!" But reminder, Peanut is 21 months old. So we were all kinda expecting the worse.

We get back in the little room and I hold him in the chair. The 1st nurse ties the blue rubber thingy around his upper right arm (doc matt feel free to inform me of the real word) and she starts feeling for a vein. No luck. So she switches to the left arm. No luck. So she calls in another nurse and he thinks that he's found a usable vein in the left arm. They consult a 3rd nurse who checks it out and declares that that it itsn't a vein but an artery and that won't work. They move back to the right arm and between the 1st nurse and 3rd nurse ''find'' one. Meanwhile Peanut is just looking at them like ''what the hell are you doing''. Never fusses, never even moves his arm.

So they get all ready to draw on the left side; 1st nurse sticks him while second nurse holds his hand. Needle goes in and after, I kid you not, two minutes of rooting around in there it is decided that the vein has ''rolled''. They remove the needle. And Peanut? Did not make a peep. Not a grimace. Not even a flinch did that child move. He just watched. And he continued to watch as they searched for a new vein on the left arm. Same routine only this time the 3rd nurse does the draw and she gets it on the first try. They suck 4ml out of him and again, he doesn't bat an eye. Not a tear is shed, not a yelp...nada. We get done I pick him up and hold him, telling him how big he was and he looks at the cotton balls taped to the bends in his arms...looks back at the nurse and says ''Bye".

That was it. Piece of cake. The really ironic part? This evening when Nanaw came over she asked why he still had the taped cotton balls on his arms; I told her because I couldn't bring myself to yank the tape off...hell I'm a grown up and it hurts me. So she reaches over and yanks the tape off...Peanut looks at her, gives a glare and a little body shiver and says ''Ouch!" Apparently, the removal of the tape hurt worse than the removal {and attempted removal} of the blood? 

he's feeling hot, hot, hot

and not in a good way.

*updated at the bottom*

original post:

Bubba is still sick. Like, really sick. Okay well compared to some people's situations, I'm sure it's nothing. But for us and our family, it is something. It started on Sunday with a fever and body aches. Then on Monday he still had a fever, anything from 100-103. Tuesday, still had a fever didn't eat lunch at all, again.Took him to the doctor she ran a strep test, which came back fine. She believed he had a virus and it'd last about 4 days.

Tuesday night when I went to bed, I checked on him and no fever. It was like a Tuesday Night Miracle, he felt absolutely fine. He woke up Wednesday morning, played a little, ate cereal, still no fever. He said that he just wanted pizza for lunch, so off to Pizza Hut for the buffet we went. He ate a slice of cheese piece, 2.5 breadsticks with sauce and drank over 1/2 a cup of water. (Now usually he will eat a slice of pizza, a spoonful of chicken pasta, a breadstick or two, and pudding. So he ate less than usual, but more than he had in days.) He was tired and still kinda pale but his appetite and mood had improved drastically.

We got home from Pizza Hut and all four of us took a nap. When he laid down, he was tired but no fever. But when he woke up, holy hell was he burning up. Like 104.4 burning up. I immediately forced some Tylenol in him, stripped him and put him in a lukewarm bath all while simultaneously calling the doctors office. She said that I was doing everything right. To give him some Motrin (in addition to the Tylenol) keep him in the tub for 15 minutes and retake his temp in 30mins. So I did that. After 30 mins his temp was down to 102.9 so she suggested keeping him at home, rotating Tylenol and Motrin, and using wet washcloths or baths as necessary. But the fact that it was responding well and coming down, was a good sign. Well an hour later it was back up to 103.4 so I ended up wetting 4 washcloths with cool water and placing one on his head, one on his chest, one on his back and the other over his legs. (He refused the tub.) This went on and off all night. Temps varying from 100.6-104.6. Around 7pm, after another bath, he curled up in my bed with a washcloth on his head and another dose of Tylenol.

When I went to bed at 11pm Bubba was slightly warm but not bad. I went ahead and gave Motrin, just in case. I checked on him probably 10 times through the night and while he would get a little warm, he never felt hot. I would just pull the covers back down and he was fine. At 6am I woke to Peanut's cry; changed his diaper and laid him back down. At 7:30 when Peanut and Pooks woke for good, I checked Bubba again. He was super hot again! Using our ear thermometer I checked and one ear read 104.6, the other 105. I checked my ear to make sure it was working. 98.4. Okay, so I took his again. 104.7. Back in the tub, another dose of Tylenol and ice cold juice.

So very long story, brings us to now. The bath and Tylenol brought his fever back down to 102.4, then just now I checked and it's 101.6. It is coming down and yesterday, after 2 hours from dosing time it was climbing again. Thankfully today it's not. (knock on wood). This morning he wanted to eat some dry cereal and 2 PB crackers, both of which he's kept down. He's now laying on the couch in a wife beater and shorts watching Backyardigan's. As long as his brothers leave him alone, he's content. His only symptoms are fever and irritability.

This is day 5, I really truly hope that this is the last of it. I don't know how much more either of us can take. He dreads the baths and medicine almost as much as I dread giving them.

Update:
Just got back from the dr office and bubba had blood drawn. They were checking his white blood count and for mono. Mono test came back clear but his white blood count is up. Somewhere he has a bacterial infection but they don't know where. His ears look good, his sinuses and throat look good, he has no symptoms of a UTI...they don't know. As a precautionary (since his temp has been so high for five days) they are putting him on Zithromax for 10 days. So whew! Hopefully he gets better quickly!

holy sickness batman!

The kids are sick, again. I blame the weather (going from 80 degrees to 55, sunny to rainy all with crazy wind) and the fact that they are at the age where they interact with more kids. School, library story times, all equal more germs.

On Friday I had to take Peanut to our urgent care because his breathing was so labored and his doctors office couldn't squeeze him in for hours. They took one look at him and questioned whether he needed to be at the hospital. His chest was caving in when he breathed and he was miserable...and this was less than an hour after a breathing treatment. He had a cough and a slight fever. They swabbed him for RSV, then gave a breathing treatment that was a steriod, I believe. Whatever it was, it was a night and day difference. He was immediately better. So we were instructed to continue with the breathing treatments every four hours, plus an oral liquid steroid for 10 days and run a humidifer or vaporizer at night. Official diagnosis was Bronchitis. Again.

So by Friday night, he was doing amazingly better. Saturday morning he woke up with only a slight cough and no fever. Because B was leaving on Sunday (for work, 2 weeks, again) we wanted to try to do something with the kids. Hence visiting the Open house. He sat in his stroller the entire time and never once wheezed, let alone coughed. Other than a runny nose, he was/is healthy. He starts wheezing when he gets to hyped up but otherwise he's good. We're still doing the preventive treatments and the steriod, but overall he is doing better.

He is doing better, but Bubba...not so much. He woke up Sunday morning saying his tummy hurt. He had a slight fever so I gave him some Motrin and we hurried up and ran to the grocery store before he got worse. (B had already left). He did fine at the store but on the way home said that he didn't want to eat lunch, he just wanted to sleep. I bribed with Happy Meals; he said he wanted a Cheeseburger but when we got home refused to eat. Not a single bite or even one fry. He actually fell asleep on the sofa while his brothers ate.

After a three hour nap, he woke up not feeling much better. He did eat dinner like a champ and played a little bit while Papa was here but by bedtime he was miserable again. I gave some Motrin and he went to bed, at his request, by 7:28pm. I checked on all the kids at 10pm and he was burning up. I mean really hot to the touch, head sweating--the works. Checked him and his temp was 103.4. He was also complaining of his back and legs hurting "on the inside" I assumed bodyaches.

I immediately looked for Tylenol, knowing that I couldn't give him Motrin again yet and needed to alternate the two. No Tylenol. So I call nanaw and she sent Papa over with some. Meanwhile I finally convinced him to use the potty and to let me put a wet washcloth on his head (after he downright refused a luke-warm bath or laying in my room). Luckily after a dose of medicine and laying like that, his fever started going down. By midnight it was 99.9 so I crawled in bed to get some sleep. At 1am I woke up to him calling for me. He couldn't sleep, wanted more water and wanted to lay in my bed. So I obliged. He wanted to watch TV but at 1am there isn't a lot of kid shows on. Instead I let him watch an episode of Scooby Doo on my iPod. He fell back alseep less than half way through.

While I woke several times throughout the night (to use the restroom, check on him) he slept straight through. At 4am he woke wanting water and felt warm. After a drink, I gave him another dose of Tylenol and he fell right back asleep. He woke up at 7:30 feeling quite warm again...took his temp and it was back up to 102.6. More medicine and water. He's now resting on sofa while his brothers run around like crazies. He won't eat, not even a cracker, but did want water. I know he should pee again (he hasn't gone since 1am) but he is refusing to..saying he doesn't need to. I'm really trying to prevent him getting a UTI, so I'm gonna go convince him otherwise.

I just want them all to get better...I don't think that's too much to ask!

(ps..other than a runny nose pooks is perfectly healthy in all of this)

sickos & seventy degrees

here is a run-down of my morning. woke up at 6:40something to B's cell phone alarm and peanut fussing. got peanut, snuggled in bed and watched a little ''curious george'' this the big brothers woke up around 7:20. came downstairs. changed peanuts diaper. snuggled up in the recliner for a much needed breathing treatment. finish breathing treatment only to discover that he's still wheezing. it's not quite 8am and i can't call the doctors office til 8:30. i know the drill, they'll want me to bring him in ASAP. get kids situated with froot loops and orange juice. get everyone's clothes picked out and placed on the sofa. run upstairs, brush teeth, apply make-up. run downstairs clean up cereal and get the little dudes started on getting dressed. at 8:32 phone doctors office, explain. nurse wants us to head in as soon as i can get us all there. big boys are dressed, i'm dressed. let the dog out, change peanut again and get him dressed. get everyone in the car. go to doctor.

find out that peanut has bronchitis and is now on an oral steriod, breathing treatments every 4 hours and a prescription cough syrup for at bedtime. pooks is also now on prednisone and breathing treatments morning, noon and night for wheezing with his cough.

run to store, grab a few groceries and go to get medicine. clean up pooks vomit off of the pharmacy waiting area's floor. apologize profusely. leave store.

get home in time for another round of breathing treatments. peanut then pooks. turn on backyardigans, fix lunch. find peanut asleep on couch. let him doze for a few minutes while i get lunch on the table. wake a very cranky peanut who sits in his highchair but refuses to eat anything. drinks entire cup of apple juice.

pooks shortly announces that he's full, everyone else follows. dose out prescriptions, wash hands, go upstairs and NAPTIME!

boys nap = mama naps. we all nap from 12:15-2:20. kids wake up in wonderful happy moods.

wander around downstairs while they wake up and have a snack. head to sonic for a bag of ice and happy hour slushes. once outside realize it's 70 degrees so i agree to letting them play in the front yard. happiness ensues:

pooks telling me that ''I's still coffin' mama"

boys pretending to be pirates

bubba, will be 4 on sunday (yikes!)

peanut while sick nonetheless, is a total dare devil. i glanced over to find him attempting to stand on the seat of his ride on toy. he did not like being caught:

and finally what i thought was a super cute pic until i realized he has snot running down from his nose, into his mouth. ugh.

all in all we were outside for about 45 minutes until pooks started throwing up in the grass and peanut kept attempting to run into the street. the rest of the night pretty much was a repeat of eating, breathing treatments, throwing up and chaos.

please oh please let them be better tomorrow!

(i should add that bubba is doing wonderfully. no pain, no coughing and wants to go to school tomorrow!)

multi-tasking

yep, we're back to breathing treatments. again. remember back on march 3 when we were all sick and i said that there seemed to be an end in sight?

yeah, i was wrong.

*warning, some content is not for those with a weak stomach or anyone who may eating while reading*

here it is march 22 and we're still dealing with this "virus". thankfully, B and I are fine (minus some congestion). however bubba, pooks and peanut didn't get off so lucky. we piled them all up and took them to stat-care yesterday with the results being:

• bubba was complaining of his ears and throat hurting, as well as a slight cough and runny nose. turns out he has a double ear infection and an upper respiratory infection. he needs to have breathing treatments before bed to help with his cough, tylenol for comfort/pain and was given an antibiotic for the ears.
• pooks has had a cough since march 3. she listened to his lungs and they are clear. ears, throat and nose all looked clear. tylenol as needed for comfort and an albuterol breathing treatment for bed to help coughing
• peanut had been wheezing, coughing, had a runny nose and a fever. she listened to him and the wheezing is coming from his lungs but his ears were a little pink, his throat and nose all looked fine. he is on breathing treatments every 4 hours, alternating tylenol/motrin to keep his fever down and zithromax as a precautionary because of his ears and fever.

doesn't that sound fun? the real ''problem'' is that being toddlers, they don't know how to clear their throats. or how to cough up the mucous or even how to ''hawk a loogie''. so pooks' especially starts coughing and coughing, which because of the snot in the back of his throat leads to gagging, which leads to vomiting. a lot of vomiting. like 6 times yesterday and 5 times (so far) today. he has a ''coffin cup'' (aka- coughing cup) that he keeps by him now. when he starts coughing he literally picks up his coffin cup and coughs into it, then gags thus vomiting into the cup a couple of times. i then wash the cup out and give it back.

you think that sounds gross?

imagine my floors before the coffin cup. mkay? imagine B's recliner. yeah not pretty. add to that the fact that peanut himself has done the same thing a couple times (sans cup) and mama is not having a fun time. wait, scratch that. daddy isn't having a good time. i do a lot of things as a mom and i take them in stride. messes from blood, poop and {non-partially digested} food i can handle. vomit i can not. especially not in my present 'with child' condition. obviously when alone with the children i deal with it and handle it {while gagging, but i do it}. this weekend however, that was all B's department!

so naturally, i have a call in at the doctors office for some sort of decongestant or cough medicine to give to pooks to end this horrific cycle. i realize it's the nasal drainage causing the cough but being that he's two years old, there really isn't anything OTC that i can give him. there used to be but then they decided that cold medicine didn't work on infants/toddlers... funny because when bubba was a baby, "little colds" had a multi-symptom cold medicine that was like magic in a dropper. ugh.

it's a vicious cycle. and it sucks.

remember the horrible sickness that cascaded over our house this weekend?

yeah well there is finally an end in sight. we all 5 piled into the car yesterday and went to the doctor. there is only so long where one can handle the feeling of coughing up a lung while going back and forth between hot and cold all while taking care of everyone else and wiping noses every 2.2 seconds.

turns out we caught a nasty little virus and on top of that, peanut also has an ear infection. so after a dose of mucinex for B, zithromax for peanut and nothing but fluids and tylenol for the remaining 3 of us we returned home. last night was rough; the virus has moved into peanuts chest, thus resulting in breathing treatments. again. although i have to say, he's taking them pretty well.

bubba, pooks and B have been fever free for over 24 hours. peanut and I haven't been quite so lucky, although mine is much lower than peanuts. bubba will finally get to go to school tomorrow! it's like a christmas miracle {except, well it's not christmas}. he is so excited! of course he'll go tomorrow and then not again til monday {there is no class on fridays} but at least he'll get out of the house for a bit. never in our entire history as a family have we all gotten so sick at the same time. today we went to the grocery store just so the kids could get out of the house!

here is hoping thats the last illness of winter. we're ready for spring!

open gym and one rough weekend!

a local gymnastics place has open gym on fridays. for just $4 the kids can go and run around like wild banshees for an hour and a half. they can play in the foam pits, the trampolines, bars, rings, mats--anything really. i took them once, a long time ago and it turns out it really isn't something that one adult can do with 3 kids. they all take off in different directions and it's impossible to keep an eye on all of them! so we took advantage of B being home on friday and went as a family, along with marc, hollie and lando. the boys had a blast!

peanut walking on the beam

 

 the older boys loved the trampoline, peanut not so much

 

the foam pit was a close second, and no pooks isn't hurt; he didn't want his pic taken

B tossed peanut in there too but he didn't really like it

so after open gym we all went to lunch at mr.goodcents. oh how i love thee! it was delicious and surprisingly calm for having 4 kids under the age of 4 all eating together. shortly after lunch, i started getting a really sharp pain in my lower abdomen. at first i just chalked it up to growing pains as my uterus is expanding at a rapid rate right now. well the longer it went on, the more i thought i should have it checked out. i called my ob/gyn nurse and she agreed; i went straight up for an ultrasound.

it ended up being the worst ultrasound, ever. first off, there was no sign of a baby or a gestational sac. at all. never in all 3 previous pregnancies have i ever seen an empty uterus. it was heart-wrenching. the sonographer kept saying ''no pregnancy seen in uterus''. which can be explained by two things: miscarriage and mis-calculation of dates. while i didn't feel like i'd had a miscarriage, one can't help but wonder. i was 6 weeks along, at that point you can usually see a heartbeat so imagine my shock when we couldn't see anything. so after the ultrasound they wanted me to have blood drawn to find out exactly "how" pregnant i was. when you're pregnant your body starts producing a hormone called hcg and it shows up in your bloodstream. they can actually test to see how much of that hormone is present and in a normal healthy pregnancy, that number will double every 48 hours. so on friday that number was 2,704. not horrible but not great for supposedly being six weeks along. i had to go back in monday morning (today) for another draw to see if it doubled.

i went in at 8am this morning. i didn't hear anything until after 3pm this afternoon (by which time i was furious). when they finally returned my 2 messages, i found out that my numbers did indeed double. today they were over 5,000! so, YAY i am pregnant. however, it looks like i might not be as far along as we originally thought. when the nurse first called me, i was instructed to come back in on wednesday for another lab draw followed up by an ultrasound next week. well two hours later i got another phone call saying scratch that; Dr P liked the look of my blood draws and doesn't see a purpose to poke me again. my levels rised, i'm not bleeding or cramping, so instead i'm having an ultrasound done this friday. wish us luck that we see a baby!

to top off the entire weekend, we all caught the flu. well i assume it's the flu. it started with B on friday night and progressed to everyone by today. every single one of us has a cough, sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, fever, chills and general aches. i'm talking fevers of 102. we've gone through 3 boxes of tissues. saturday was the worst for B, yesterday the worst for me. the kids were horrible today. pooks told me several times today that his teeth hurt. at one point today, bubba refused to walk. none of them really ate today despite the fact that i let them pick whatever they wanted for dinner. pooks and peanut had a pb&j sandwich with vanilla pudding and bubba chose pizza and pudding. none of them really ate, but they have drank a ton of orange juice. while i still feel a little like death, i feel amazingly better since last night! i am hoping that they wake up feeling better tomorrow, although i still won't take bubba to school since he had a fever today.

ugh, what a weekend! here is hoping that the rest of our week improves!

breathing treatments, oh how i loathe thee

are we noticing a trend here?

i am so sick of kids being sick, i just want them to feel better!

it has been a whirlwind of a week and i'm not even sure where to begin! we left off with me hating amoxicillin...well right now that is old news because i am seriously hating that i have to give peanut albuterol nebulizer treatments every 4 hours. well, scratch that. i am suppose to be giving him treatments every 4 hours but often times he physically needs one before the 4 hour mark.

he was sick on tuesday. took him in, he had an ear infection and was given amoxicillin. by thursday he was much worse. he literally didn't want to do anything.he was super congested, tired but too uncomfortable to actually sleep. i called the dr and they recommended all the things i was already doing: vapor baths, Vicks on the feet, elevating his crib mattress, tylenol for comfort, humidifier/vaporizer in his room, sitting in a steamy bathroom, etc. did that and he wasn't any better. i was having to suction out his nose every hour. and if you are/have been a parent you know that this isn't just suctioning it's an Olympic feat. this involves pinning him down, keeping his arms at his sides, keeping his legs from kicking out, holding his head, closing one nostil and suctioning with your one free-hand. by bedtime he had been pinned down to give tylenol, amox, and suction...by the time he had a bottle he was out like a light.

until 3am when he woke having difficulty breathing. i mean his breathes were super short, i could see his chest caving in, he was wheezing. i knew it wasn't an emergency (he wasn't lethargic, he wasn't blue, his neck wasn't looking tightened, etc) but i knew he'd need to be seen as soon as the doctor's office opened.

i immediately took him into the bathroom, shut the door and ran the hottest water in the shower to build up steam. this calmed him down for about 10 minutes but he couldn't fall asleep. between the hours of 3am and 7am neither of us slept. i tried a vapor bath, suctioning, vicks, everything. i was 95% sure he needed a nebulizer breathing treatment, and while we have a nebulizer I didn't know for sure, nor did i know the doseage. the plan was to wait until 8:30 when the dr office opened and if they couldn't get him in asap, i would take him to the ER.

well to make a long story shorter, they got him in right away. his O2 level was 90, this virus/infection has definitly settled in his chest. they did back to back albuterol treatments, which my tired little guy actually slept through. this was so odd to me because when we had to do them with bubba last winter for the first time, he was crying and miserable. peanut didn't even fight. she put the mask on him and he didn't even try to touch it! our instructions were to continue the antibiotic and do albuterol treatments every 4 hours.

first treatment at home, watching backyardigans

all day friday he was miserable but still better than he had been on thursday. he didn't seem to mind the breathing treatments...we'd turn on backyardigan's and start the treatment and he wasn't even phased. but by 4pm he was needing the albuterol every 2 hours...the on call doc said that we could do 2 treatments close together but if he needed another one before 11pm (it was 7pm at this time) we were to take him to the ER. i was so nervous, he sounded and looked horrible.

luckily, he slept and he slept hard...he didn't wake until almost 3am! so no ER visit but we still needed to watch him closely. today he's doing better and it's obvious by the way he now tries to rip the mask off.

today we had to hold him while giving the treatments

if we really distract him (having to use the TV or the laptop) then he doesn't mind near as much but it's so hard to do and watch. after a treatment, when he's feeling on the top of his game, he is his usual self. climbing on everything and tonight he even took 4 steps! he actually did it more than once...i give it less than a week before he's walking regularly. he also stood up by himself, not pulling himself up but literally just standing up! today he's like my little peanut again but man was i scared for him last night!we have to continue the treatments all day tomorrow and then he has to go back to the doctor on monday. wish us luck! i'm heading to bed now, hopefully tonight will be the first night in 3 nights, that i do not start my day at 3am!

amoxicillin, oh how i loathe thee

**warning, not for those with weak stomachs--vomit mentioned**

the last two nights, peanut has been waking up. he fusses a bit and settles back down fairly easily, but nonetheless he's waking and he wasn't three nights ago. then this morning i noticed he was pulling on his ear but he had just woke up and i thought it might just be from being sleepy. then when nanaw stopped by, she noticed that his ear was red on the inside. call in to the doctor and an appt for this afternoon.

fast-forward to lunchtime when bubba comes and tells me that ''his ear hurts, way down in dere.'' alrighty then, guess i'm taking two kids to the doctor.

one trip later and both boys do have ear infections, peanut also has 3 molars cutting through his gums and pooks is naturally, perfectly fine (that kid is never sick!) at home, bouncing off the walls with b.

so we run to fill the prescriptions, come home and i make the kids strawberry banana smoothies while i was reheating some homemade chicken noodle soup that was in the freezer. dinner goes along fine, the spills, meltdowns or problems. after dinner b cleans up peanut and i needed to give him his amoxicillin. i just figured i'd give it to peanut first because he would go straight into the tub (or so i thought).

first mistake! peanut did not like the medicine. i don't think that it was anything personal to the antibiotic, i think he just doesn't like taking medicine. well he was spitting it out, crying, making a huge mess--you know, being a typical one year old. well, little did i know bubba was watching the whole time.

after seeing the whole ordeal, naturally he didn't want to take his. and when i say type that it didn't want to take his, i mean he DID NOT want to take his. i tried explaining why peanut didn't like his, that the medicine would make him feel better, that it tasted good, etc. he was not having any of it. i pour the pinkness into a medicine cup (all while he is still saying no) and then kneel down to his level to try to convince him, yet again.

big mistake number 2! i kneel down and in the midst of him saying ''no'' he started gagging. i, instinctively put my hand in front of his mouth and he promptly throws up into it. upon seeing the vomit, it causes him to throw up more. this continues for a few more rounds until i finally think to move my hand (duh) and he throws up all over the kitchen floor. seeing it hit the floor, yep you guessed it, only sparks yet another round of throwing up.

so b and i finally get everything and everyone cleaned up and hello, i still have to get him to take the freaking antibiotic. i finally explain that the medicine makes him feel better, it will fix his ears and that if he won't take his medicine, we will have to go back to the doctor and they will give him the medicine in a shot. at the word shot he started BAWLING...which leads to pooks chasing him around saying ''i give you shot brover (brother)" which leads to more crying.

after wiping every single tear off his face, he agreed to take his medicine. he had his little mouth closed to tightly that i didn't think he would even taste it. well he did. and his reaction?

"...mama? dis tastes yike cherries! it's so yummy...i yike it!" um, yeah, i tried telling you that!

great, i only have 9 more days of this!