The bug in my tummy.

 Dani's had a rough few days.  She couldn't keep anything down yesterday, and had a low grade fever.  By midnight, her temp was about 102, and she could not sleep.  She was up, in my room just miserable, until about 4am when she finally got a few hours of sleep.  And that means, I got even less, as there was a Tommy feeding after Dani finally slept.  Welcome to the house of zombie.  The fever, slightly lower, raged on today, and she was out of sorts, exhausted, and still pukey.  No signs of a cold or anything else.  So Daddy told her yesterday that it must be a stomach bug. 

(No wonder she couldn't sleep, she was probably scared of the bug...thanks Big Man.)

 

Tonight, after she puked up her dinner, while snuggling with me, she told me that she was ready to get the bug out of her tummy.  "I just want myself to feel like myself again," she insisted.  I wrote that one down so I wouldn't forget it!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, everyone else is great.  Tommy climbed the stairs today!  He also said "ut oh, spaghetti o" mimicking Tori in his mumble speak.  Adorable!

Get Croupy.

It's been hard to have time to post lately, with all the sicky sick at the ol' homestead. Our poor little children are like those indigenous tribes in the rainforest, not exposed often to people or germs, and who, when exposed, are felled by a common cold virus.

Dani and Tori had a little friend over a few weeks ago, and within a few days, it was a house o'plague. Fever! Sniffles! Coughs! Oh my!

Everyone is, happily, on the mend. Big Man and I broke down and bought some new living room furniture, a couch and chair. Given the age of our kids and relatively pukiness of our cat, it was a profoundly unwise decision from a financial perspective...as there's just no way it is going to last a fraction of the time that one would hope a couch to last. But Big Man's old sectional was a fine bachelor pad couch, and withstood, no doubt, many years of big men watching football, only to be turned into a giant petri dish/trampoline for our kids. We had to get rid of it before it created a new life form. As it was being moved out of the house, toys and other goodies were literally falling out of the bottom of it. At least there didn't appear to be any creatures inside.

So the girls are turning the corner after over a week of sick. Little dude, is too. His croup came back, so we had a course of steroids and he's taking antibiotics for a sinus infection. He saw the doctor a couple of times. The 'roids are making him hungry and in two days (being weighed at the doc) he gained two ounces. The kid weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces, which I believe is more than Dani weighed at one year.

I probably shouldn't be terribly surprised he gets sick more than the girls, with all the kisses they bestow upon him, and the sly sucks of his pacifier they take while playing. I tell myself they're building up their little immune systems--somehow that makes cleaning up a bed full of puke at midnight minimally less horrible.

Sick or no, he is one happy little dude. And one big little dude. He's wearing 12 month size clothes in this pic...at 5 1/2 months.

Lots of other exciting, stressful and life-y events going here...hope to get to share them soon!

Baby Plague.

It was bound to happen eventually. It's actually pretty amazing that at nearly 3, Dani's never had a sick visit to the doctor, and neither has Tori. Dani still hasn't. Last Wednesday, Tori was a mess; she's had a low grade fever and bad cold for a few days and it seemed to have settled in her lungs. Tommy was starting to sound sneezy and Big Man was a mess too. We piled in the family truckster and headed to the doc. Tori had an ear infection and bronchitis; Big Man had bronchitis and Tommy was deemed to only have the sniffles. Antibiotics were prescribed for Tori and Big Man, and (as Dani would call it) the "snot snucker" with saline drops for Tommy's nose.

It's kinda hard to keep germs to one's self in this house. Dani and Tori share everything from sippy cups to toys; they are also always helping themselves to whatever Big Man and I have.

They are constantly picking up Tommy's pacifier and toys and playing with them or even trying to help give them to him.

He's even been known to sport a play 'stache or two. So it should have come as no surprise that Tommy woke up from his afternoon nap on Thursday and sounded like he couldn't breathe. He was hoarse and congested and had spiked a fever. I called the doctor's office, who heard him breathing and instructed me to go right to the Emergency Room. I did. It's croup. The whole way there in the car, I was convinced he was going to stop breathing. After a few hours at the ER, he received a shot to open his airways and a prescription for steroids.

After a rough couple of days, Little Dude got his smile back. Now mommy can breathe again.

Just like in Stand by Me.

Really, that's how it was at my house tonight. Let me set the scene for you. I brought the kids to my office at around 4pm, because Big Man thinks he's going to have to work a double due to mandatory overtime tomorrow, and I figured he could use a little extra sleep. I bring them home, and make a little mac and cheese; the note from Big Man said not to feed Dani too much as she's just getting over a cold and wasn't too hungry today. So, Dani wants to watch Mickey on the couch, while we eat, and I'm all, that's fine with me because I'm tired too. So, Tori's walking around, I'm feeding Dani mac, and give Tori a bite or two. Then, Tori coughs up a noodle and starts projectile vomiting on the couch and rug. Seriously, I think she had 3 gallons of liquid in her tiny body. I'm terrified because she's never puked before and she's just unloading. Dani then looks at Tori and gets this look. Before I can say, "nooooooooo" Dani is now projectile vomiting all over the couch and Tori. Dani's sick was just a reaction to Tori's as Dani, covered in puke, is still trying to feed herself macaroni. Remember the scene in the movie Stand by Me? Yep, that was my house. I stripped them down to their diapers and put them in the pack and play where they giggled and sumo wrestled and were fine, while I cleaned up the mess. If Big Man hadn't been sleeping upstairs, I would have considered packing the kids in the car and torching the place and just rebuilding a new puke-free environment. Ain't parenting fun?

The good, the bad and the pukey.

Rough week, peeps. Dani's sick. Considering the fact that she is 11 months old and this is the first time she's been really sick, we lucked out, because IT SUCKS!
Sick Dani:
We called the doctor at 4:45am Saturday when her temperature hit 103.7. The doctor, or actually, the snarky PA, was unconcerned, and told us to to alternate Tylenol and Motrin until it went down. Luckily, some baby Tylenol lowered it, but she's been pretty feverish on and off since Friday. Pukey too. She's really not eating or drinking much, and has not kept down solid food since Friday. She is still trying to be happy and playful, but is struggling. And puking. Did I mention that I've been puked on three times today?

And it's really hard for me because she's so miserable, and doesn't want water, or juice, or pedialyte (which tastes like ass anyway) or popsicles, or anything I try to give her, and you can't force a baby to drink. Trust me on that one.
Dani, putting on a brave face for grandma:
Big Man's family came in from Connecticut yesterday, to see us and his mom, who is here until Saturday...it was just too bad that Dani wasn't feeling better.

Justin reads Dani a book yesterday afternoon.

Digging out of the hole.

It's been a rough stretch for us. Big Man was sick, and then I was sick. Fortunately, Dani managed to not get sick which is key. But, working opposite shifts and chasing a baby around is not easy!

Dani's still mainly eating baby food, but we are working in the real food at dinnertime each night. She sits with us, and I share my dinner with her. Tonight, she was enjoying cheesy rice, cornbread and peas. Here's some dinnertime silly:

It's just amazing how fast she's growing and learning. She's dying to walk and talk, now letting go of the things she pulls herself up on and babbling constantly, and some of the babble is starting to sound like words!

I can't believe how much I am really enjoying just being Dani's mom. She is just the cutest, happiest baby ever. (And I'm sure every mom thinks the same about her kid, but I'm right!)

Feeling much worse with this pregnancy than with the last. Queasier. Walking allergy attack. But, looking very forward to the, oh, 199 or so days until I'm done!

The luck of the draw.

Eh, I don't think I feel so well...

We put Dani to bed tonight and she was fussy. I blamed myself because her musical elephant and her snuggy were in the wash so the routine was different. She was screaming her head off, but after about 12 agonizing minutes (and two visits by mommy) she went to sleep. For the record, I told Big Man that it was not the fussy baby who wants attention scream but that I thought something may be the matter. He dismissed me with his stock line, "She's a baby. Babies cry." The sleep was short-lived, lasting for about 25 minutes until a storm blew in and blew the fan out of her window and onto the floor. CRASH! Commence baby screaming. Big Man and I both go upstairs and I pick her up to comfort her, and she's doing that crying/hiccoughing/head jerking tic thing which only happens when she is really, really upset. So, I hand her to Big Man for the ultra-daddy soothe.

It turns out, my timing was perfect, as Dani promptly projectile vomited all over him.

Sometimes, it's just the luck of the draw, who gets puked on.

Baby's first fever.

Last night. 101.8. (not high enough to call the doc, according to the book we had.)

Hot, pukey, miserable baby.
Tired, concerned mommy and daddy.

This morning, fever a little lower (100.9); baby still pukey, but seemingly better-ish.

Death warmed over.

This pic was in the camera, daddy must have taken it this morning:
Death warmed over.........

that's how I feel. Allergies are off the chart bad today--I went home from work at 2:30 because I could barely function. Understandibly, Big Man took that as a sign he could get some extra sleep, so I'm sneezing and sniffing all over my kid, who has been extra cute, perhaps to cheer me up.

She loves to chew on the bill of her stuffed duckie from grandma. She can scream with delight on demand right now, and is laying on the couch shrieking, just for fun!Hopefully I will feel like a human being tomorrow and can take her somewhere while Big Man sleeps.

A lull in the baby blogging.

I haven't been taking as many pictures of Dani lately, ergo fewer posts with pictures. I'm a little uninspired. This is because we keep putting her in the same clothes--the easiest snapping/wearing sleepers and all of the pictures look the same, well they probably would to you, as you might not notice the subtle differences in my baby's day-to-day appearance. And I'm way too tired to put her in actual outfits just to take her picture. This means, too, that there will be entire outfits, onesies, etc., that she will grow out of before she even wears. But anyway how many more pictures do I need of her in her purple stripey baby jailbird suit, or her Eeyore sleeper? I need to mix it up and put her in some new sleepers, I guess, so y'all don't think she's neglected and always in the same clothes. She has others, but they have annoying collars, or hard snaps or something that keeps them in the bottom of the drawer. And, since I don't mind doing laundry regularly, I've never had to get to the bottom of the drawer, but I'll start mixing it up for you faithful reader. Trust me when I say, my baby's still quite cute and huggable.

Also, I have a screamin' sore throat, and I'm hoping not to get her sick. I can't imagine what it will be like to have a screaming hell baby that actually has a legitimate reason to scream. Terrifying!

Anyway, today, I'm going to drink tea, and watch football with Big Man. I would like to see a Cardinals-Ravens superbowl. I'm picking the Cards because conventional wisdom and Cardinals management thought Warner was washed up, destined to be a back up, and he has lit it up this year. In a sport where a quarterback my age is over the hill, I have to cheer for that guy. Plus, they've never been to the superbowl. As for the Ravens, they got boned in their last game with the Steelers, and the Steelers just piss me off these days. So, there it is--fine logic, no?

Death flu.

I'm sick.
Really sick.
Haven't been this sick in long time.
bah.