Illness Overload

Dan and I were talking one night a few weeks ago about how healthy everyone had been. I think we actually made it about two months without anything attacking our family. Of course, we jinxed it and the next day it all went downhill. When I picked up the kids on the Tuesday after the Fourth of July, Jacob's teacher said that he complained of a stomach ache after being outside for a few minutes in the afternoon. At home, he was utterly exhausted and skipped dinner and went to bed. I figured that he was just worn out from being up late the night before for the fireworks.

He woke up the next morning fine, went to school, ate great all day, ate dinner, played tons, and went to bed. At 11:00 he came out of his room crying. Keep in mind, that he never wakes up in the middle of the night unless he wet the bed. When I went in there he said that food came out of his mouth. Then it hit me.... and the smell. He threw up for the first time in his life and didn't understand what had happened. He then threw up off and on all night, making it into the bathroom each time, bless his heart! I kept him home on Thursday and he relaxed and watched a lot of TV and ate nothing. After drinking some juice (my first mistake), he threw up a ton. He then basically went to bed and slept about 14 hours straight! He woke up on Friday, refused anything to drink or eat, and then slept most of the day. He drank some gatorade and then threw it all up again. He refused any food that day, but woke up pretty normal on Saturday.

He ate well, played, and seemed good. Bailey, however, began having stomach issues, so she stayed home from church on Sunday, while I took Jacob. He seemed fine, but threw up later in the afternoon after a snack and juice. He became lethargic and slept all night and then threw up again in the morning. Dan stayed home with him and got him into the doctor. He had lost between 5-6 pounds and the doctor said his stomach was basically contorted from the virus and needed to gradually be reintroduced to foods and liquids. He gave him a prescription for his stomach, which did wonders. I stayed home with him on Tuesday and followed the plan. He felt great and was absolutely starving. However, I had to control his intake, which was very hard on him (and me). He finally made it back to school on Wednesday with restrictions on what he ate. By Friday he was back to a normal diet. I have never seen the stomach flu take that long to exit the system!

In the middle of all of this, we all got colds. Mine turned into another sinus infection. Ugh! The doctor said that if I keep getting them, I'll have to see an ENT and possibly go through the surgery similar to what Dan just went through. No thanks!!

Anyways, I think we're finally through it all. It's honestly hard to complain, though, as there are many going through MUCH greater illness than we have experienced. My grandparents are fighting their cancer very hard and are having a rough time, particularly my grandma. She is such a tough lady, but she is struggling and I feel so bad for her. I also have a 24-year old cousin undergoing chemo/radiation to fight a cancerous tumor. We just got news that the treatments are working and it is gone! However, he is very sick and weak. It's very hard to complain about colds and flu, when others are fighting for their lives. It really puts things into perspective.

Backyard Water Park

The kids really like playing in water, so I have been trying to change it up all summer so they get a variety of water play. We've gone to the pool a few times, gotten our kiddie pool out here and there, and also set up a mini water park in the backyard. We have a water table, hopscotch sprinkler, beach ball sprinkler, and a redneck water slide that goes into our sandbox filled with water. The favorite, though, seems to be the old-fashioned hose! The kids love it when I water them down after their water play in the grass. I do it so they don't track in dirt and grass, but they think it is fun! Bailey has also been helping me water my flowers at night and she loves getting sprayed. Jacob isn't a fan of getting his clothes wet, but Bailey is all over it!! I have to do it right before bath time because she is literally dripping wet!

Robin Nest

Each year, at least one bird attempts to build a nest in the corner of our deck. They often fail because it gets blown over, the bird abandons it, or a crow gets the eggs. This year a Robin successfully built a perfect nest and laid three eggs that hatched a few of weeks ago. It was been fun watching the process and the kids got a great education out of it. I happened to be looking out our window one day and saw the first baby bird fly out of the nest and fly into our nearby tree. I have to admit that I was a little sad when they were all gone!! The pictures below show the progression of events.

4th of July

We had a great, great, great 4th of July weekend. We didn't have any plans to go anywhere or have anybody in town to visit. I got a new bike the Friday night before and Dan hooked the bike trailer on it Saturday morning so I could take the kids to one of our local splash parks and meet our friends the Brutlag's. We hadn't seen them in awhile and it was great to catch up, although the kids can make it difficult to have a long conversation, but that's okay! We got the kiddie pool out that afternoon and the kids got to play in it that day and Sunday. We missed church on Sunday because Bailey woke up with a slight case of croup, I had to get her into the doctor that morning. Since she wasn't that bad, she could continue playing outside as long as her breathing wasn't troubled.

We met the Rodt's at the pool Monday morning and had a blast. Their daughter, Gwen, is Bailey's best friend at our daycare and they had so much fun playing together. Since the kids are a year older, they absolutely loved the toddler area at the pool and went down the slides over and over again. Once the main pool and adult slides opened up Dan and Jacob went down one of the slides for over an hour! I was not a fan of this idea, but Jacob did great. Dan would go down first and then catch Jacob in the receiving pool. Bailey and I had a great time swimming in the big pool while watching the boys. We hope to get the kids there more this summer now that we know they love it.

We had a picnic lunch, well inside to break from the sun, and then vegged out the rest of the day before fireworks. We went with our neighbors and had a lot of fun while waiting for the fireworks to begin. Our kids like playing with their kids, although they are a few years older than them. I brought lots of glow sticks and bracelets and they were a huge hit and source of entertainment. The park we went to had technical problems and we heard that they were cancelled. Well, the word-of-mouth was incorrect and they started shooting off right when we got back to our car. We could see the top half of them so the kids sat in their wagon for part and then the hood of our SUV for the rest. They didn't know they were missing the full experience, so it worked out.

It seriously was a perfect weekend and since I took lots of pictures, just from the actual 4th, I put them into an album. Enjoy! I also added a couple of videos of the kids going down the kiddie slide.

July 4, 2011

A Black Eye and Nail Polish

Bailey got a black eye one of the mornings following Dan's surgery. It was the morning from you-know-what and I was ready for a nap by the time I got to work that day. Bailey was eating her breakfast at the kitchen table while I was dealing with Jacob and she fell out of her chair and face-planted on the floor. I thought she just had a bruise on her forehead but when I got her out of the car at daycare, I noticed she had a shiner!!

That night decided to paint her nails to try and dress her up some. It was her first pedicure and she loved it! All I had was red tones, so I made a trip to the store for more little girl colors for the next time. Something about a red on a two-year old didn't feel right!

Father's Day

We had a nice Father's Day. We planned on a low-key day - go to church and then hang out at home the rest of the day. My dad was out of town, so we didn't have any real plans. We were about five minutes away from leaving for church, but we decided to take a trip down to Decatur to visit my grandparents. We hadn't seen them in several weeks and I want to spend as much time with them as we can since they aren't doing well. We had a great visit and I am so thankful we went.