A comedy of errors, kind of... Not really...

Although we had a wonderful Christmas Eve with family complete with a sleigh ride and an even better Christmas day with more family, the past seven days have been the near death of me.  I am blaming the entire experience on the fact that our travel day last week went off without a hitch!

James is still sick.  In fact, I had to take him back to urgent care on Christmas Day because his fever was still high all the time and he was just miserable.  Turns out he had a double ear infection and a sinus infection.  Antibiotics were procured after a long wait due to it being CHRISTMAS DAY!  I am not sure if it was him being sick that morning or not, but James was frightened of all of his presents except for Mr. Potato Head.  For that, he jumped up and down in between crying and wiping his snot on my shirt!  James managed to pass his germs around successfully and as of now, Grandpa and Cousin R went down. 

And then there was last night.  Lilly had remained relatively unscathed, just a small runny nose but all in all she was having the time of her life.  Flash forward to 1am this morning.  We had to move around the sleeping arrangements because more family arrived, so Jeff was sleeping downstairs on the couch and Lilly with me.  At 1am, I turned over, looked at Lilly and she proceeded to projectile vomit all over me and the bed.  Twice.  I scrambled to get help to help clean up the bed while I cleaned up Lilly.  She went straight back to sleep and seems fine today.

Now lets flash forward again to about 7:45 this morning.  James was waking up so I went downstairs to get him and started to change his diaper in the dark when I noticed a strange coloring around his mouth.  I ran him upstairs and found dried blood around his mouth and nose.  I lost it.  After a thorough cleaning, I deduced that he had a bloody nose sometime during the night and it had dried.  I immediately called the doctor, cause you know, his brain was bleeding and he has been sick for a week.  Turns out they weren't worried and I was told to just watch it.  He still has a low grade fever and isn't the happiest of babies but as we get to our 48 hour of antibiotics, I am hoping beyond hope that he begins to get healthy again.

It hasn't been all horrible.  The family fun has been full of laughs, food and wine, so there is that.  Lilly had the greatest time with her cousins and took part in the traditional Christmas Eve skating.

My in-laws neighborhood is simply beautiful on Christmas Eve.  

Their house lights up the cul-de-sac!

Everyone got great gifts and the little ones were simply in heaven! 

(Well James was in heaven he just didn't know it.)

This is a horrible picture but see, he is having fun!

Lilly also went to her first Bronco game with her dad.

I can't say I have been having the time of my life like my little Lilly.  I hadn't slept more than three to four hours straight since we arrived.  Jeff finally took the monitor away from me on Christmas night so I could get some sleep.  Even before the craziness that was early this morning and James pool of blood, I had reached my limit.  This morning I attempted to take off and spend some time with myself.  I needed a break from the kids and being inside.  I hadn't really left the house other than an occassional errand here and there.  It was getting to me.

I tried to enjoy myself but after getting lost, having a restaurant I wanted to enjoy being closed and finally a failed shopping experience, I just had to laugh and acknowledge, that as a mom, this is my life.  I endure the days and nights of sickness and no sleep.  I may get a chance to be young and carefree every once in a while, but the realty is that I am mom.  I embrace it.  Mostly!

happymommy

Oh the joys of parenting....

After last Sunday's losing the child episode, I thought it would be smooth sailing until we left on our yearly adventure to Denver for Christmas.  I sure was wrong.  

On Monday morning, James started complaining about his belly but he seemed fine, albeit a tad pale but I took him to daycare anyway because there was no throwing up or fever.  However, when I picked him up he was full on sick.  103 temperature for forty-eight hours.  On Wednesday he woke up right as rain and once again I tricked myself into believing all was well with the world.  HAHAHA!

Lilly was up all Wednesday night with a raging fever.  Of course, Lilly had a big playdate at our house that afternoon, so in addition to worrying about Lilly, I had to freak out about Lilly giving her little friend the plague.  So Thursday, off to the doctor we went.  Lilly was shivering with fever, and James was jumping around singing.  I wanted to have the doctor check to make sure it was just a virus and there was no ear infection or some other malady.  No ear infection, just a virus.  But wait, let's check for strep.  ARGHHH.  Thank goodness the initial test came back negative because having strep meant so much more than just getting antibiotics.  I would have to call the mother of Lilly's friend, who has three children and is getting ready for her own Christmas trip.  The school would have to be notified, so parents could get that dreaded letter saying their child had been exposed to the dreaded disease.  James' daycare would have to be notified and the woman who runs his daycare just had a baby, ON SUNDAY!  And then there was Lilly...

The poor child was miserable.  She didn't want to eat, drink or even watch TV.  Her temperature soared to 104.1 and I started to lose it.  I prepared myself for a trip to the ER because I just knew she was going to start having seizures and develop rheumatic fever.  Imagine the paperwork involved in that!

The part of being a parent that starts with worry, leads to panic and finally pure, unadulterated panic is not written about in any parenting book.  I imagine the worse case scenario and take it one step further.  I had Lilly already admitted to the hospital and was trying to figure out how to get my mom over to watch James so Jeff could come to the hospital while we stood vigil!  Needless to say, Lilly slept with me last night and after a fitful night of sleep, she woke up this morning good to go and happy as a little clam.

The moral of this story is that I am insane.  Clearly, I love my children.  Clearly, I may need therapy.  

Happy Holidays!  Writing may be more sporadic than usual, or more often over the next two weeks.  You know me, I am nothing if not inconsistent!

 Picture brought to you by Elmo's Monster Maker and Sesame Street

happymommy

Two new pairs of shoes, or medicine....

For the past three months, my children and I have been sick in some form or the other.  It started with my walking pneumonia, Lilly's walking pneumonia, James' ear infections and today, Lilly's ear infection.  In between we have all had colds, fevers and other forms of sickness.

Today culminated in my third trip to the urgent care at the local university hospital.  I must say these people are great with care and getting us in quickly and telling us, yes, you are sick.  Hmmm, you do have a fever.  Oh, that must hurt.  Some days, especially today, I worry that people will think I have Munchhausen by proxy because I am constantly hauling my kids to the doctor.  I make jokes about taking to bed because I have the sniffles, but lately, it has been full blown sickness with chills, fevers and body aches.  My husband is over me.  I am over my kids.  We are a sad state of affairs over here and I am over it all!

When I took Lilly to the doctor today because she has had a fever for 36 hours and her ear hurt and she, the child of non-stop energy, was lethargic and didn't want to do anything. I called the on-call nurse before I hauled her in and since James was just diagnosed on Monday with a double ear infection and sinusitis, she said come in immediately.  Thank goodness we did, because Lilly is sick.  Ear infection and an overly enlarged lymph node.  Whatever that means, but we have to watch it because it could get infected and be very serious.

The purpose of this post is not to talk about feeling sorry for me, (but that is fine if you need to feel bad for me) or to feel sorry for us, or to tell us it could get so much worse.  It is to discuss the ear drops.  They were $149.  $149.  Yes, $149.  We are in a place in our lives that we can afford one dose of such expensive ear drops.  If we have to get many more, then, no, we won't be in the same place.  How do people of lesser means do this?  What about the people that have no money and have a special needs child.  How do they get medicine?  Do they forgo?  WHAT DO THEY DO?  I will think twice many times over the next time I think about health care reform and how the majority of the country can not afford ear drops for their sick, beautiful little children. 

James on Monday

Lilly on Wednesday

happymommy

happymommy