Misery

That flu shot that I kept putting off? Wish I'd gotten it! I had a couple of bad colds around the holidays, which I assumed was the flu because it was around the time that Steve and Griffin had it. I never ran a fever then, like they did, and I just attributed that to my stellar immune system. Turns out those were just little wussy colds that I had, because now I actually have the flu, and I am miserable. Started out over the weekend with an annoying tickle-cough, and a sore throat. Then, I woke up yesterday morning with the full-on body aches, fever, snot, headache, and every other bit of unpleasantness that goes along with it. I seriously cannot recall the last time I have felt so awful. Still running a fever tonight, but I am hoping I will wake up feeling a little better in the a.m.

 

I had to post this picture of the Walgreen's knock-off of TheraFlu that Steve got for me yesterday. Seriously, Wal-Flu? That's the only name they could come up with? It makes me laugh every time I see it. Then again, I maxed out the Internet at some point yesterday, so I am bored stiff. I do not like to lay around so I am also going stir-crazy, but alas, I am as weak as a kitten. Thank goodness for Steve - - he has been pulling double-duty and taking care of everything for me.

 

Now, please go and get your flu shot!

....and a Christmas Change of Plans

Seriously? Nothing but illness in this house since Thanksgiving. It started with Steve, passed on to me, then to Griffin, back to me, and then on Christmas Eve, Griff got really sick. The poor kid pretty much forfeited his Christmas vacation to a raging case of influenza. Knock wood, Camden has escaped unscathed, with the exception of a minor cold somewhere in the mix. Now in a few days, I will send my poor boys back to school, where everyone will bring their Christmas Vacation Germs and thus will start another round of sickness. I certainly hope that Griffin's immune system has been charged up a bit, and that Camden will continue to have good health. It is no wonder that right around this time every year, I start longing for spring and the ability to throw the windows open and circulate the air.

Thanksgiving Change of Plans

Yesterday started off just as I thought it probably would - - fire blazing in the fire place, kids playing, and I was busy in the kitchen, finishing up things for our Thanksgiving dinner. Steve took the boys down to the river to throw rocks into the water (something they STILL love doing), and then they came back for snacks and to grab their scooters so they could head to the skateboard park and do some scooting. When they came back from that, Steve mentioned that he felt like he was coming down with a chest cold, and I remarked that his voice sounded funny.

 Within about an hour of that conversation, he was running a high fever and was all bundled up and shivering. Poor man! He pretty much stayed in the basement for the rest of the day (this is where all sick people go in our house...kinda like quarantine!), but claimed he would be up for dinner. Around 5 p.m. everything was ready, and Steve appeared - - even put on a nice sweater for the occasion. He made it through about half of his plate but then had to go lay down and sure enough he was burning up again. I felt so bad for him, one, because it stinks to be sick, and two, because I suspect he dragged himself to the table to be nice, because he knew how much time I'd put into dinner. It was very sweet of him, but the food will keep and hopefully tonight we can enjoy it. Mostly I was just glad to have him here. He has been gone for three out of eleven Thanksgivings since we were married, and I definitely like it better when he's here, sick or not.

When I woke up this morning I snuck downstairs to check on him, and no fever, so we will see what today brings. Now if the little boys and I can just avoid a fever, we'll be in good shape.

I will admit that when Steve announced he would sleep downstairs last night, I had visions of being able to sprawl out in our bed. It was not to be, however, because Roy and Smokey got wind of this and, while Smokey minded her manners, Roy and all of his nearly 15 lbs. made it mostly impossible for me to move at all last night. He likes to snuggle and he makes no apologies for it. I did manage to squeeze in an episode of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix before turning in though, so all was not lost!

On the Road to Health

Finally...I think we may be on our way to a healthy household. I don't want to jinx myself, but I think we have more than paid our dues in the past four weeks. The body count as of today is: Steve ~ healthy. Heather ~ healthy. Camden ~ fighting a cold, but seems to be on the upswing as of this morning. Griffin ~ Finally, FINALLY on the mend. When he wasn't getting any better, after 4 WEEKS of illness, we headed back to the pediatrician (for the third time). I don't enjoy medicating my children, but I had my fingers crossed that the doctor would prescribe something that would get this kid on the mend. With the addition of wheezing and some chest pain, the doctor prescribed an oral steroid for post-infections lung inflammation. I can already see a difference in him, and I am hoping that this will put an end to the scourge that has plagued this household since early January!

More of the Same

I last blogged 15 days ago, and not much has changed around here, unfortunately. After Griff's bout with the upper-respiratory junk, I caught it (no surprise there), and right about the time I started to feel human again, he started feeling poorly. It was off to the doctor yesterday to make sure his nasty cough wasn't something more serious (it wasn't), and now we are back in the juice-drinking, forced-resting mode in hopes of kicking this sickness to the curb. Poor Griff. He is a good little patient, but really, enough is enough.

As you can see from the quality of my pictures, I am still phone-blogging, which is why I haven't been blogging. Yesterday I decided to just chalk January up as one of those months that seems to evaporate before your eyes, and if someone asked you, you couldn't really tell them what you'd done all month. All of the days seemed to blur together and mostly I am just very happy that today is February 1st. It gives me that "clean slate" feeling, and the hope that health will be restored to this house. Pronto.

We have been experiencing an extremely mild winter here in Idaho. One would think that this would alleviate the 'winter blahs', and while it does help somewhat, I find myself extremely impatient for spring to just get here already. These mild days are a tease and I am just ready for the children to be playing outside and to just chalk this winter up as a bust and get on with it.

Steve's office has relocated, away from the military base he's always worked on, so this has added a good 45 minutes to his already one hour (each way) commute time every day. This means some adjusting and some changes for all of us, but mostly I just feel for Steve because really, who wants to spend 3.5 hours in a car every day? He's a trooper, that's for sure.

We have not broken the news to Smokey yet, but tomorrow is "Letter C" day at preschool, and so she will be going to visit a gaggle of hyperactive 4-year olds.

Slow Days

Griffin, convalescing, with the ever-faithful Smokey

Things have been pretty slow around here these past few days, and things haven't been going exactly as planned. That is usually the case when there is sickness in the air. The latest victim in our family is Griffin - - he seems to be fighting some sort of respiratory flu, complete with fever, chills, hacking cough, and the like. So, he is resting, and I am playing nursemaid. Days like today serve to remind me of how thankful I am to be doing what I do. I am so glad that I don't have to fret about whether or not I have sick time to use so that I can stay home from work, or that I have to send a child back to school before he is truly ready, because I can't miss another day of work. So, while I am sad that Griff is sick, I am glad that I am here with him.

The weather has turned bitter-cold here in Idaho, and the weatherman tells us that we are in for some snow. Finally! I was starting to think that maybe winter had decided to skip us all together. Unfortunately, that snow is going to be followed by a string of days of rain and gloom. At this point I think I will be happy if we get an early spring. If it is going to be cold, I'd at least like some snow to go with it.

I am currently still computer-less, and struggling to maintain this blog. I miss writing, and I've also found that since my computer died, I'm just not taking many pictures. Typically, I take pictures nearly every day, and upload them every couple of days. Steve finally uploaded pictures from my Sony camera the other day, and it still had my pictures from Christmas on it. Not sure when I will solve this problem, but I'm not thinking it will be any time soon. So, I'm hoping to come up with a plan pretty quick here.

In the meantime, I have a sick boy to tend to. Here's hoping his fever will subside and we can be done with this current round of illness!

Blah

Double rainbow over Emmett ~ 3/3/11

For me, this is the absolute worst part of a deployment. At least this deployment anyway. The last time, I was working full-time, so I was blessed with the distraction of my job, the two hours of commute time each day, coworkers, and dare I say, the break in the monotony.

These past few days, I just cannot seem to escape that terrible lonely feeling. I thought today would be better, since it is the weekend and Camden is home, but I feel like I could climb the walls. At the moment, I can't fathom that there are 7 more months of this to get through.

The boys and I are planning to go to a matinee this afternoon, but I'll tell you, with Griff asking every 5 minutes if it is 4:00 yet, I'm starting to wonder if 4:00 will ever get here! I know this will all pass soon enough, and we will be back into our regular routine, but for now, it just plain stinks.

Scarlet Fever Boy

Poor Griff has had a rough day. Late yesterday afternoon, he broke out in a small rash. By this morning, it covered his entire body, and he was soooo itchy, and he just didn't feel well at all. I called his pediatrician and ended up speaking to an on-call doctor who asked me to meet him at the hospital. After an exam, it was determined that he had scarlet fever, which was shocking to me because....people still GET scarlet fever??? Apparently so. After spending a few more hours at the hospital sitting in the ER, getting lab work done, etc., we were on our way home. Poor boy has had a rough few weeks. Here's hoping that after this round of antibiotics, we will have a healthy spring.

Spring Cannot Come Soon Enough

We seem to have a case of The Plague at our house, and apparently it is Lysol-wipe-resistant, because I cannot tell you how many times I have Lysoled, bleached, mopped, wiped, etc., just about every doorknob, surface, and so-on in this house, and yet, there seems to be a never-ending cycle of illness in one form or another. I'm tired of it!! We've had fevers, infections (viral and bacterial, thankyouverymuch), runny noses, sore throats, stomach bugs...you name it, it has cycled through. Today, Griffin is the latest victim - - a restless night of fever, and today he just feels puny. He's a trooper though, and hasn't let it get him down too much. As for me, I am counting down the 58 days remaining until spring arrives. Never mind the inversions - - I'm sick of being cooped up. Fresh air always puts an end to the cycle of winter illness, and I cannot wait for it to be over with!

The Wee Little Patient

Poor Griffer. He's had a rough week. He was sick last Tuesday, while I was kicking my heels up in New Orleans. In fact, in case you were wondering about the level of my mother's awesomeness, he threw up all over her, and she didn't bat an eyelash. She and my father spent the rest of the day taking extra-special care of him in my absence, ensuring that I didn't need to worry about him. Unfortunately, he was back at it early this morning (throwing up, that is), so we're off to the doctor this afternoon. He's had a cold for weeks that just won't go away, and the doctor thinks it sounds like a sinus infection. I'm hoping that is the case and that he'll soon be on the mend.

So, for today, life is on hold while we snuggle in the family room, and watch lots and lots of cartoons. And do laundry. And Lysol-wipe everything.

Sniffy Sunday

Derailed by the Swine Flu!

I had grand plans of sharing a recipe for Butternut Squash Soup last Thursday, and Friday would have brought the World's Best Banana Bread. Instead, we found ourselves with one very sick little guy, who, as it turns out, had the H1N1 virus.

Sweet Camden, packed in ice

So, we've been pretty busy around these parts, fighting the seemingly never-ending fever, Lysol-wiping everything, and tending to our little guy. I'm happy to report that the rest of us have remained healthy, and that Camden is finally on the mend. I think he'll be ready to head back to school tomorrow.

Desensitized (Sort of. Okay, not really)

Remember when I told you about my completely irrational fear of vomit? Well, I dare say, if anything good has come out of the past three days, it would be that I am slightly desensitized now. One thing I dislike almost as much as vomit, is reading about it on other people's blogs. It makes my stomach churn, and then I feel like I need to run away from the keyboard and go wash my hands. However, here I am, writing about it on my own blog, so my apologies to you. My poor Camden has been sick since Friday morning. I thought it was all over as of this morning, when he bounced out of bed and proceeded to act like a lunatic all day. Alas, just as we were getting ready for bed tonight, he started barfing again. So, he's in a heap on the sofa until we make sure he is done for the night (please, oh please, let him be done). Then, I will tuck him in and say a little prayer that Griffin and I remain healthy. I cannot wait until Steve gets back Tuesday evening!

Cleansed

I am here to tell you that I had an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and a colonoscopy this morning, and I don't remember a darn thing! This was my first experience with conscious sedation, and it was a loopy trip, if I do say so myself. In fact, I just called Steve a little while ago to tell him that I was done with my appointment and back at home, and he told me I'd already called him. Crazy! I had all of this done today, because ever since I had Griffin, I've had a lot of digestive issues, nausea, acid reflux, etc., but in the past few months it has started to get a bit out of control, where it interferes with what I am trying to accomplish on a daily basis. My doctor was able to rule out all of the really bad stuff today (cancer, ulcers, and the like) so I'm going to be treated for IBS (like you really wanted to know that). The way I'm looking at all of this is, it is high time for a lifestyle change anyway. Treatment includes switching to a low-fat diet, giving up chocolate for the most part (waaaaaa!), staying away from fried foods & processed foods, getting daily exercise, and finding better ways of dealing with stress. All of this sounds good to me...kind of like, doctor's orders to take better care of myself. This is something that I have not been good about, since becoming a mother. Now, I know that if I want to feel better, I have to make these changes. So, here's to a new (and improved) me!

Not What I Had Planned

I had something a little more interesting in line for today's post, but alas, I woke up feeling just horrible this morning, so my day took an instant detour, straight for the sofa. Unfortunately, Steve left today for business in Eastern Idaho, and he won't be back until Friday. Luckily I am beginning to feel a bit more human - - I'm quite sure today's malady is directly related to my ongoing intestinal troubles, but thankfully, I should have some answers to all of that in the very near future. My boys are being super today - - probably because we are holed up in the family room with a never-ending stream of cartoons. Today, I am thanking the Direct T.V. gods for helping me in my time of need. Yay, children's programming!

I'd also like you all to know that my home is in such a state of disarray that I am very tempted to take pictures of it. I mean, think of your house at it's absolute worst, and then multiply that by about a gajillion. That is what my home looks like today. It is just going to have to wait until tomorrow, I fear!

I took the plunge recently, and purchased a temporary membership to Sam's Club. While I like the idea of wholesale shopping, I've resisted the urge because I figure it is just one more opportunity to buy a bunch of stuff that I don't need. However, I recently read about their "10 Weeks for $10" offer, and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to give it a try and see if it really is worth it to be a full-time member. More than that, I learned of a service that Sam's Club offers called "Click 'n Pull". I can do all of my shopping online, then just show up at the service center, pay my tab, and they will bring my cart of goodies out to me. For me, this is super appealing because I don't have to torture the boys by dragging them around yet another store, and it also eliminates any impulse buys that could potentially end up in my cart. I made a quick trip to Sam's the other day so that I could "case the joint" and see just what they had. I was not disappointed - - they had so many things that are always on my list - - applesauce, honey, Ranch dressing, sugar, flour, etc., and all at huge savings.

Now that our day is heading into late afternoon, it has dawned on me that the boys and I could use more days like this...no agenda, no housework, snuggling on the sofa, and getting a little rest.

Some Things Just Don't Go Well Together

For example:

Toilet, with the heat register right next to it

Add to that.....

5-year-old male child with inconsistent aim

Not good. Not good at all.

Nurse Heather, At Your Service

Yesterday morning, the first full day of school, Camden woke up complaining of a tummy ache. I must admit, I wasn't really convinced that he was actually sick. However, when he vomited all over himself and the sofa, I was convinced. So, my boy missed the first "real" day of school. Luckily by noontime, the worst was over. Now I'm just hoping nobody else gets it, but at least if we do, it seems to be a mild bug. Steve was home yesterday also. To preserve his dignity, I won't tell you why, but I will tell you that his best friends were a bag of frozen corn, a jockstrap, and a bottle of Heavy Duty Narcotics. You figure it out. Steve is not one to lie around, and he doesn't like to be fussed over, so it took him a little while to get use to doing nothing all day long. I suspect he'll be taking it easy for the rest of the weekend. This morning, Griffin and I are off to the farmer's market because we are seriously low on fruits and veggies. Other than that, we have no plans at all, which is just fine with me. Happy weekend, everyone!

A Hitch in My Giddyup

Quite a busy week planned this week...play dates, appointments, dinner guests, to-do's galore, but I am holding my breath at the moment. You see, I am taking care of a dear friend's two children for a couple of days, while she and her husband are out of town. Unfortunately, one of said children is running a very high fever as of tonight, and is rather ill. This, I am assuming, means that since their children/our children have spent the past twelve hours or so, romping around together, I'll most likely be cancelling some of the above-mentioned plans. So, if you wouldn't mind, please take a moment and send me all of your Lysol-wipes-germ-eliminating-fever-reducing vibes our way. Must not get sick! Must not have sick children! Calgon, take me away!

Yet Another Reason I Love My Husband

When I find a kitten head and upper torso in my front yard (yes, you read that right - - bottom half of kitty was missing), he will remove it for me. Poor kitty.