Sick

I've spent most of this holiday morning in bed so far. When I got up this morning I was a little achy, but figured it was still from all the hiking I did on Saturday. The achiness hasn't gone away and not it's joined with some queasiness and a fever. Why me? Is it from sleeping in an extremely damp tent or was someone among the other 20 families sick? At least my kids are self sufficient. They'll find their way up to the pantry for lunch eventually.

Cold or Allergies?

I'm still trying to decided, but all I know is that whichever it is, it's gotten me really good. Please send some Vitamin C my way.

Winter's Last Attack

Ryan walked in the door afterschool today with a 103.4 fever. He's got some Ibuprofen in him now, so he seems a lot better for now. Regardless, he'll have to stay home from school tomorrow which means I need to wipe tomorrow's busy day clean. That means no gym for me. No dentist for Ryan. No tumbling for Chloe. No Tiger Scouts for Ryan. And if he's still sick on Friday? One of us will have to miss Ashley's first Volleyball Tournament.

Maybe we can reschedule this bout of illness until next winter, because I certainly don't have time for it to run it's course through our whole entire family now. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the corner doing shots of Emergen C and spraying anyone who dares to come near me with Lysol.

Ready To Check Out

It's been a long day and I'm ready to stop being "mom" for awhile. One kid is in bed - one still left to get there. The kids are I started dropping like flies last night and this morning.

*

Yesterday had turned out to the a beautiful day - 70 degrees - and the kids and I walked aroung the outdoor mall helping Ashley spend her birthday gift cards. The day flew by and we settled down together later last night to watch the first Indiana Jones movie. (Ryan's soon to be new obsession, I'm sure. He's already drooling over the new Lego's that are out.)

*

Towards the end of the movie it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was freezing cold at first, and then boiling hot with a headache fast approaching. I took my temperature while Bret put the kids to bed and found it was 101.5. I took some Advil and then headed off to bed where my body couldn't decide if it was warm or cold.

*

By 5am, Ryan was in our bed burning up with a fever, too. I got up and gave him Tylenol and then Bret and I spent the next hour and a half trying to convince him that it was still the middle of the night and he couldn't get up and play Webkinz on the computer. He did fall back asleep and was still out when I woke up at 10am, achy and just feeling yucky.

*

Ashley woke up soon after at 10:30am and was already starting on her fever and headache. At 11:30am I went in and started waking Ryan up so he'd be able to sleep tonight. There may be no hope for me in that department since I dozed on and off on the couch while he watched Star Wars movies this afternoon.

*

So yes, we all sat around today all lazy like and got absolutely nothing done. Chloe stayed home today and will be home again tomorrow so we can make sure we're not passing this stuff back and fourth. It just seems like we've been sick on and off since January. I'm over it already - I don't have time to be sick.

*

At least we got it all together this time, instead of taking turns over the next couple of weeks.

*

*Blogger is being a non double spacing brat again.

T.G.I.F.

I'm not sure how I've made it through this week. It's been a long one. I woke up Monday with a horrible cough. A cough so bad that I was holding a pillow to my ribs everytime I had to cough because they hurt so bad. By Tuesday the cough started to break up a little bit, but my ribs and my abdominal muscles still felt like they had been run over by a semi and I was beginning to run a fever. On Wednesday, my day went to crap before lunchtime even got here. I was still running a fever, my cough was determined not to go anywhere and by now my sinuses must have felt left out because they decided it was their turn to make me miserable. I was tired, cranky and just wanted to crawl in bed and hide under the covers.

Instead, I got in my van and made the trip to school while the snow started to come down. I nailed a curb, got stranded, had to call a tow truck and now we still don't have a total estimate of repairs, but were up to a grand, not including labor. That curb is going to hear from me, darnnit! (Ha, we're not going past $4.25 today.)

Last night was our second school carnival planning meeting and everything went fine, thank goodness. I think I may have the hang of this now. Went out for an appetizer and drink with my co-chair (Thanks, Teri.) to go over everything that had come up during the meeting so that we were on the same page. Felt like crap, so I went home and watched Survivor with Bret and Ashley. Toss and turned, got up to pee, choke and blow my nose all freaking night long and now I feel like a zombie with three kids to take care of. My ear hurts, my glands are swollen and now my throat hurts. I should have gotten that flu shot!

Can someone maybe clone me and send in my replacement so I can take a nap?

Potty Mouth

It's recently come to my attention that I have a potty mouth. I never thought too much about it, but over the last week, I've noticed that Chloe is starting to repeat words I say. Since neither of her parents use that kind of language, I better get it under control. I'm sure that in a matter of days she'll be repeating everything I say and the last thing I need is for her to go home and drop the F Bomb. I'm kidding. That's the one word I rarely use. I just thought it sounded good.

So, I will now be paying myself a quarter for every naughty word that comes out of my mouth. (Creepy googlers are going to go nuts with that one.)

No more bad words that start with D, S or H.

****

My cough that I picked up over the course of today has gone from midly irritating to downright annoying. I'm starting to feel it in my chest and back. I'm hoping it's just my asthma and suffucating fog that's doing it, but we'll have to wait and see.

For now, here's a picture of what I had to (dumbly) brave to go get toilet paper and cough syrup tonight. I swear it's just getting worse out there.

I Am So Regretting That Nap

Earlier tonight, I wasn't feeling very well. All of a sudden I was just wiped out and really sick to my stomach. I hadn't taken my second Chantix yet, so I really didn't think it was that, even though it has been messing up my stomach again lately. I also skipped lunch and had my blood sugar take a dive in the middle of grocery shopping at Kroger late this afternoon. That's my best guess as to what happened.

I feel better now, but pretty much passed out on the couch while we were all just kind of hanging out watching TV. I was so cold that I couldn't warm up for anything and my body felt like it was being weighed down. The last thing I remembered was talking to my friend Teri on the phone and then waking up.

The problem now? I was passed out for 2 1/2 hours. Now I'm the furthest thing from tired and it's 11:15pm. I have to be up at 6am so I can shower and get Ashley to school for Volleyball practice in the morning - and then be functional enough to take care of two babies.

It may be a long night...

Jury's Still Out

Ryan woke up this morning with a horrible headache and stomach ache that I'm pretty sure is due to sinuses and the sudden drop in temperature. I gave in and let him stay home from school, figuring that if I did send him, he'd for sure be home by lunchtime with a fever. Well, by 9:30am he was fine and I was kicking myself and my mommy intuition. He sure looks pretty sick, doesn't he?

School Must Be Back In Session

I tell you, we just can't seem to catch a break around here. About three weeks ago, the kids and I went through the whole fever and headache thing that was going around. We got better. And now a second wave has hit us.

For the past week, we've all had what seemed like either a horrible cold or annoying allergies. However, over the past couple of days it's progressed to fever and sore throats. Ryan came home after school yesterday thoroughly drained, saying he was tired and that his throat hurt. He felt warm so I gave him some Advil and later on left for my PTO meeting at his school.


At 5am this morning, he came and crawled into bed with us, burning up with a fever. Desperate to get more sleep before the alarm clocks went off, we drugged him up and tried (unsuccessfully) to fall back asleep, assuming he wouldn't be going to school today. By seven this morning, he was bouncing around the living room playing his Nintendo Wii and I thought, there is no way he's staying home today if he's going to act fine. So I sent him. (Cringes, yes, knowing he had a fever two hours earlier.)

You see, he can't afford to miss school. He has to work that much harder than the other kids in his class because of his hearing loss and one day away from school could put him behind. So I sent him. Then four hours later, I was picking him up. Fever. Sore throat. Tummy ache. Sigh. Will this ever end?

While waiting for him to come down to the office at school, the substitute secretary was telling me that the school's normal secretary was out today because her daughter is home with strep throat.

Now I ask you, should I be freaking out about now? Ashley, along with 13 or so other girls spent the night there this past Friday night for her daughter's birthday party. Ryan had strep 5 times last year and one more time and we were looking at a tonsillectomy for sure. Now we're all over here sucking on popsicles. Coincindence?

If anyone is looking for me, I'll be at the drug store stocking up on Airborne after the doctor's nurse gets around to calling me back. Enough of this, already.

Things That Have Kept Me From Blogging

• My first ear infection that I can remember. I now know why babies scream when they have one.
• Ryan's injured toe being stepped on by a classmate at school. Thankfully, he's fine.
• A sick baby. I have to admit it's nice when they cling to you and want to be cuddled, even if that means nothing else gets done.
• My calendar. It seems there's more than one thing on it each day.
• Did I mention my ear infection? Ouch.

DayQuil & Michelob - HTe Results

Not good.

A Riddle

Question: What's worse than being home with two cranky/teething/ear infection/runny nose babies?

Answer: Being home with two cranky/teething/ear infection/runny nose babies and a sick and cranky runny nosed husband.

Only because I'm just as much fun when I'm sick, right?

Why I Hate Winter

Because 8 hours after you book a hotel room on Thursday for a family weekend getaway and you're looking forward to a Friday with no kids all day, your 6 year old son wakes up later that night with a 103 fever and the wicked sounding cough that you've just gotten over yourself.

Sound familiar?

What Day Is Today?

I'm not quite sure what day of the week it is anymore. It's all been quite a blur. I did indeed end up with that horrible cold that's been going around. The kids got it, too. While we're feeling much better than we did last week, we're still not quite over it. I did finally getting around to unloading the pictures that have been sittting on our camera for the past month.

* * * *

Cecelia and Chloe, who keep me so busy that I'm not sure what day or time it is anymore. I'm not complaining though, because it's been great watching these two grow and discover new things. Chloe is sitting by herself now and Cecelia is almost there herself. They love being together during the day and really amuse each other. This afternoon we even ventured out to Sam's Club since they have such huge carts. The girls did great and since Cecelia's car seat takes up so much room in the cart, she kept me from throwing too much stuff in. Chloe got most of the boxes thrown in around her up front though. She wasn't going anywhere, even if she wanted to.

Ashley's been keeping busy with homework. She and I spent Saturday morning with Shawn getting quite a bit of hair cut off and my much needed highlights redone. Maybe I'll get around to getting pictures of our new do's sometime soon.

Both kids are such a big help when they get home from school with the babies. They look forward to getting down on the floor and playing with them. Ryan is nuts for Chloe and she's quite attached to him, too. Ashley and Cecelia seem to have bonded, too. I guess they've picked their favorites.

Well, I'm off to go get round three of feeding time ready for the girls so they can take their afternoon naps. Might take one myself.

My Turn

Stupid. defiant. cold.

Booked Solid

Throughout the day today, I've felt the same cold that both babies and my two kids have had slowly creeping up on me. I don't have time in my busy schedule for this! I can possibly schedule a cold in for a brief time on Friday evening, but it'll have to be gone by the next day so I can get my house cleaning done on Saturday and join everyone over at Kelly and Dan's (baby Cecelia's parents) for the Bear's game on Sunday. Ugh. I hate colds.

So in my foggy headed state I must have lost my mind today because I packed up the babies and attempted to make a quick trip to the library. Normally that would have worked out fine, but I just had to decide to go to one of the older libraries on the other side of town because the online card catalog said that they had my book in stock. Halfway there, it starts snowing again. Really snowing. Once I got there I loaded them up in the double stroller and pushed them through the snow accumulating on the ground and up the icy ramp towards the door without falling down. So far so good. They had a ramp so one would think the building would be stroller or wheel chair friendly, right? Wrong. Once inside the doors I found there was only a small landing that then went up about 7 or 8 stairs. Bummer. Since I couldn't bring the babies up with me, I just had the librarian look it up for me. Turns out the book wasn't there after all. Figures. Two minutes later, with a hold on the book we were out the door and heading home. I should have just called.

Long Lost Update

It's been a long 5 days since I've updated this blog and I admit that I've been slacking quite a bit. I'll try to do better in the future. Life has been very busy since the holidays. I'm now watching two infants during the day and they keep me very busy. As soon as I think I've got a free minute or two, it's gone in a flash.

Bret is doing better now since his visit with the stomach flu. I've been deathly afraid that myself or the kids might come down with it, but I think enough time has passed that we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Bret was locked in the bedroom in a mandatory quarantine for a good 12 hours until he was feeling better and I stayed in the bedroom downstairs until it was safe to return to my own room.

Then, a day later Cat and Tom (baby Chloe's parents whom I watch during the week) came down with the stomach flu at the same time. I took Chloe off their hands so they could get some rest on Sunday afternoon and kept her overnight and through the next day while Cat tried to go back to work. Did I mention that I'm absolutely done having babies of my own? I got up with her once in the middle of the night and while she did go back to sleep right away, I'm not sure I could ever get use to that again.

I did have quite a few bouts of queasiness during the week and was afraid the flu was coming to get me so maybe I did have a slight strain of it or maybe it was more Migraine related. Who knows.

I'm heading out tonight for our neighborhood Drunko, um, I mean "Bunco" or "Ladies Night Out" night. Unfortunately, it's not going to be a very late night since I've got to get up at 6:15am in the morning for Cecelia to arrive.

I promise to blow the dust off of the camera and get some new pictures of the kids on here soon.

It's All Oprah's Fault

Bret had quite a long night last night. With a guilty conscience, I do have to admit that I slept really well in the guest room downstairs - away from any germs. Bret was pretty much in quarantine all night in our bedroom. (Once again, I am deathly afraid of throwing up!) He woke up this morning feeling a lot better. I spent most of the day disinfecting my house - I dare anyone to try to find even the smallest of germs over here!) However, I have to admit that I did probably go a little overboard. I had seen an episode on Oprah a couple of days ago on germs and dust mites and figured this was as good of an opportunity as any to take them down. After hauling our king size comfortor over to my inlaw's house for a washing in their huge capacity washer and dryer, I dusted every inch of our bedroom (ceiling fan, included) and even vacuumed both sides of our mattress and sprayed our pillows and the rest of the room with lysol. You know, just in case I had missed a germ or two. Let's just say it took our bedroom a couple of hours to air out before we could breathe in there again. Tomorrow I'll be going into the kids' rooms armed with my swiffer duster and vacuum cleaner.

The Plague

The epidemic flu running through our neighborhood hit our house tonight. Bret came home from work with a horrible stomach ache. He has since paid a visit to the porcelein God in the bathroom and is running a 101.7 fever. Ugh. I've instructed him to stay behind closed doors in the bedroom until he's better and I can get in there with a case of lysol cans. I've told the kids that they probably should leave daddy be so that they don't come down with it. I myself have fleed the bedroom and will be staying in the guest room downstairs. Thankfully, he's acting like a big boy and hasn't whined about it once.

Bret is the seventh person in our neighborhood alone to come down with it. Kinda makes you wonder if we were loving on all of our neighbors a bit too much at midnight on New Year's Eve, doesn't it?

Well, I'm going to go wash my hands again in scalding hot water. I feel kind of bad leaving Bret in there all alone tonight, but I am so horribly and deathly afraid of throwing up. However, if I get it, I do expect him to be there holding my hand and rubbing my back through out my bout with it. And my mom can expect the traditional "Mom, I threw up. I'm so sick." phone call, too.

Vacation Curse Update

Well, Ashley woke up with a 103 fever this morning, but Ryan seems to be better. The jury is still out on me, but if history repeats itself, I'll have a full blown case of it by tonight. Guess I have a whole slew of things to cancel today. Not to mention Ryan's family birthday dinner tomorrow night. :-( Am NOT canceling this vacation, so everyone can just hurry up and get better!