WARNING: THIS IS LONG!!! Feel free to not read if you don't want to. This post is more of a journal entry for me to remember this past week.
Sunday was our Sacrament Christmas program. Z had a little part on the program. He was very nervous but he did a very good job. The choir music was so beautiful. I loved it. Someday, I will sing in the choir, but not at this time in my life. H started running a light fever on Sunday night but nothing that concerned me.
On Monday, we cancelled going out to my mom's Christmas party due to illness at their house and ours. H's fever was a little worse but nothing that wasn't manageable with Tylenol and Motrin. Instead, we put together some plates of goodies and took them around to some friends and relatives. We didn't want to be out too late though, so we started early and headed home at dinner time. Once home, we put together some favorite appetizer type finger foods and had a light dinner. Then we headed into the living room to read stories and sing songs. The kids were so excited for Santa and the later into the evening it got, the more excited they became. We let them open their Christmas pajamas
and then we finally had to send them to bed for fear that they would never be able to settle down to sleep.
About 11pm they were all asleep so K pulled out all the unwrapped Christmas presents and we got to work. I wrapped, he labeled and put under the tree. Z kept getting up around midnight because his stomach hurt but he didn't come downstairs. We just kept running him medicine upstairs but he wouldn't come down because he didn't want to spoil his Christmas morning surprise. We got to bed by 1am. At 2am I was awakened, and spent the rest of the night throwing up. H's fever was getting harder to manage, Z was still pacing the floor upstairs with a stomach ache and K was coughing pretty hard.
By morning, we were so wiped out that it took everything we had to drag ourselves out of bed by 9am. Our poor children. We missed seeing their first glimpses of the tree. I'm very sad about that but at the time, that was the last thing on my mind. We finally got up and K made Egg Mc Muffins and Blueberry Muffins and Orange Juice for the kids. It was very good. Then we opened presents. H was very fussy because he was running a pretty high fever but everyone else seemed to act well at that point. The kids were all happy with their loot and they headed upstairs to play while K, H, and I went back to bed. We skipped out on a nice meal that day due to exhaustion and lack of appetite.
I called my mom to let her know how we were doing, and to wish them a Merry Christmas. I found out that our dog Shiloh, had just died. She has been a part of the family for a very long time, ever since I was living at home. The dog was 5 or 6 when I got married, and has been with the family for the last 14 years. Mom also told me that my sister-in-law had spent Christmas Eve in the hospital.
Tylenol was no longer working on H's fever so I called the doctor. They couldn't get him in until Thursday morning. His fever was getting up to 103-103.5, and it would take hours, Motrin, and bathing to get it to break his fever to break, only to have it come back within a couple of hours just to start the process over again, meanwhile K's cough was getting worse.
The tree and other Christmas decorations seemed to be in the way and kept adding to my stress level, so sadly, the kids helped me put Christmas away until next year. It was sad to say good bye to all their little treasures, and box them up safely until next year. We left the furniture the way it was because where the tree was is a really great place for playing games and driving toys around.
We took H into the doctor the next morning. He had a bad ear infection. The doc put him on Amoxicillan. By that afternoon, H's fever was gone and he was acting much better.
K got called out Thursday night on an emergency work deal. He called home around 9 pm to check in on us and tell us he was going to be out late. H had just woken up from a late nap and he was screaming intensely. It was so weird. We had no idea what was wrong with him. Finally, he just cried himself back to sleep. At 7 am on Friday morning, I called K to find out wher
e he was. He was just leaving the hospital to come home. I guess they had gotten into a meth lab and so they had to go to the hospital to detox. He spent 3 hours chasing one of the crooks in snow, to finally find him hiding in a haystack nice and warm. K was laughing trying to figure out how this guy thought the fresh snow wouldn't give him up. It was 18 degrees that night while he was chasing the moron around. He came home, coughing really hard, changed his clothes in the garage, threw them away, showered and then headed back to work by 8 to brief with the other guys and head back to finish up the case.
That morning H was once again screaming hysterically like he was in severe pain, and A had been up all night puking. K came home around 1pm to take me to my doctors appointment. Just before we left, I noticed that H was developing a rash all over his body. I decided to call H's doctor to see about changing his medicine. Since it was Friday afternoon of the New Years Eve weekend, they had gone home early. Eventually, he called me back and agreed to call in a new prescription for H. That evening we started H on a different prescription. He seemed to be acting better. He slept very well last night. A was up all night throwing up and K's cough was much worse due to his lack of sleep and being outside all night the night before.
This morning, K and Z headed over to a grocery store owned by someone in our ward who was having a service project. They had invited the ward members to come do inventory for them, and they in turn would pay the ward to help with the scout budget. H woke up and he had a very bad diaper. I was only half awake (mostly asleep) so I called J to come help me. J started screaming and turned on the light. I opened my eyes to see that H was covered in blood. His whole diaper was completely red and so were his clothes. It wasn't just a little bit of blood. There was no green in the diaper, only red. I calmly...freaked out! I called the hospital to have the doctor paged, sent H up to have a bath, and called K to come home. Once K got home, we loaded up the diaper and H and headed to the hospital. They were very calm about the whole situation. Apparently, one bloody diaper is not a big deal. They don't get worried until a child has had several bloody diapers. They told us to stop the meds, they gave him two shots i
n his legs of a different medicine to finish getting rid of the ear infection and sent us home with 4 stool collecting bottles for the lab, some spoons and a little bucket for the toilet to catch his poop in so that we can fill the little lab bottles. We were thinking, "he's 10 months old people! He doesn't poop in the toilet. How are we suppose to fill these stupid little bottles?"
So, to update all these stories: K has lost his voice and is feels miserable, I have to go in on the 7th for further tests, A is still throwing up, and we are watching H closely for any sign of pooping so that we can put him on the toilet and catch it in that bowl thing. Everyone else seems to be doing fine at this point but I'm sure that whatever A has will have to go through at least half of the other kids. So for now we will just stay home and wait. The kids have watched LOTS of movies and played LOTS of games and had LOTS of fights. 5 days later and the kids are still wearing the same pajamas they wore to bed on Christmas Eve. If they don't care, neither do I. It has been a very miserable week and yet I have loved having us all home together with no where to go. It's fun to watch them all play together and enjoy one another.
The kids are out of school until the 7th so maybe we will all get better and be able to play outside in the snow next week. Or maybe we'll just stay in where it is warm. It looks like 2007 is going out in a blurr of chaos and 2008 is not looking much calmer. Life seems like it just flies by so quickly.
What happened to the entire year of 2007? I think I missed it. I love this time of year though because I love to think about the previous year and try to decide what went good and what I can try to change and improve for next year. It's like I get the chance to have a fresh start and try to do better in 2008. So, tonight while I rub A's back and hold her hair out of her face while she throws up, I'm looking forward to some quiet time to reflect and renew my spirit and set some goals to be a better wife, a better mother, a better member of my church, my community, and a better me!
K was talking to Hubby last night while we were in bed trying to go to sleep. She was rubbing his back and telling him all about her day. After a while, Hubby stopped commenting and started snoring. K says, "Daddy, are you awake?"...No response..."Daddy! Are. You. Awake?"...No response....She starts shaking him and yelling,"DADDY, ARE YOU AWAKE?"...Hubby rolls over and mumbles a "Uh-huh". K starts to giggle and says, "Oh, cuz I foughts you was asleep"....Hubby mumbles "I was"...K says "But Daddy, I was talking to you."
