COVID Had Me Like...

It was bound to happen, but here we are - Brent and I had COVID last week. I know people who have already had it at least twice, so I am very thankful it hasn't happened more but sheesh the last 9 days have not been the most fun of my life!

Tuesday, May 31 Day 0! I got a pretty bad headache starting in the afternoon but didn't think too much about it because I get a bad headache periodically - usually in hindsight it's from being dehydrated - so I just started upping my water intake and went about life as normal.

Wednesday, June 1 The headache continued into Wednesday {also not uncommon when I get a bad headache} but as the day went on I started to notice some sinus pressure and drainage. I wasn't worried about it until I just felt like I had fever and sure enough, I had just over 100 degree temperature. I was a little concerned but thought I might be getting a sinus infection - totally what it felt like.

Thursday, June 2 I woke and just knew I was pretty sick. My throat was on fire {in the long run, my worst symptom}, I had body aches, headache was still there, fever, runny nose, drainage. Brent was getting ready to go to work, so we decided I needed to take a COVID test. First off, just to be responsible, but secondly, there was no way I could take care of the kids that day. Sure enough, and not surprisingly, positive.

Not nearly as exciting as a positive pregnancy test! {grin}

Brent obviously stayed home, let his team know he wouldn't be in, I told the babysitter what was happening so she wouldn't come over, texted Brent's parents {who had kept the kids the day before}, friends, my parents, my work, etc. I took 2 work calls that were pretty important and then I went back to bed. Frankly, I was exhausted and felt like shit.

The next 2 days passed pretty much the same way - I felt pretty crummy, slept a lot, and was alone in our room. Brent slept on the couch and took care of the kids, the house, his work. Friday night he noticed a little tickle in his throat and some slight achiness...uh-oh.

I rewatched a lot of Downton Abbey. 

The Spanish Flu episode hit especially hard, ha.

Tea with the Dowager while watching the Dowager!

I lived off of tea with honey and cough drops with occasional tiny meals {think Goldfish, so not really 'meals'} because it just hurt my throat too much to eat.

Saturday, June 4 My fever broke and Brent started running fever, so while I should not have been taking care of the kids, Brent and I switched places. He went to the bed, and I went to the couch. The kids basically stayed on their side of the house, spent an insane amount of time on devices and would come as far as the entrance to the kitchen to ask for food. I'd get up, wash my hands, put on a mask, go make them food, and take it to the playroom {but they had to leave the playroom first}, and then they could come get the food after I left the room. The diffuser ran non-stop with germ-fighting oils! The girls were pretty pitiful and sad about not being able to snuggle or cuddle with me. So sad!

Sunday, June 5 We tested Brent and the kids for COVID. Obviously, we knew Brent had it, but he wanted to take a test - sure enough, that positive line formed instantly ha. But all 3 kids were negative yay! Brent's fever broke, and he was already feeling better - excellent news as my fever came back and I started going downhill -although my sore throat was gone after 3 days and didn't come back, yay. We switched again, and I went back to the bedroom.

Monday, June 6 My fever broke again, and I needed to work, so I worked a full day in the office. My congestion got terrible, and I realized I couldn't smell anything. I was messaging throughout the day with my doctor's office to talk about supplements, checking when we could come out of quarantine, when the kids were safe to be around people, all the things. I had a burst of energy late in the day and did some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. Unfortunately, that energy left and my headache, body aches, and fever came back, boo!

Tuesday, June 7 After more messaging with my doctor's office, I scheduled a telemed appointment. I saw one of the nurse practitioners who said I definitely sounded like I had a secondary bacterial infection and she prescribed antibiotics and steroids for that, which I happily started Tuesday evening. No fever, my congestion cleared up, but I still couldn't smell.

Wednesday, June 8 I woke up fever free, felt 95% normal, and could smell! I was curious if the loss of smell was going to preclude a loss of taste, but that didn't seem to happen. We tested the kids again today - all negative still!

My favorite sight - 3 negative kiddos!

It seems like we might be in the clear, and even though I didn't feel great, I had what is still considered a mild case, so I'm very thankful it passed as quickly as it did, no one besides Brent got sick {and his case was super mild}, and we seem to be on the other side. I'm not excited to do this again anytime soon, but it sounds like that's going to be the normal going forward. Oh boy!

I Wonder Why I'm Tired: A Timeline

Don't ever let someone say being a parent is boring. Just when you think things are settling down, there's always something fun that gets sprung on you. This weekend was one of those times where I just had to laugh at the curveball of parenting.

Friday night:
10:50pm - I go to sleep. I had been reading in bed and couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.
10:54pm - Yes, literally 4 minutes later, Paige starts crying. I go in there and she wants milk, so we nurse for a few minutes and I put her back in bed. [Yes, I'm weaning her. No, I don't know how to stop her bedtime or occasional middle-of-the-night nursing.]
12:15am - Paige wakes up again. I just snuggle her for a minute, don't let her nurse, and put her back in bed.
2:30am - Paige wakes up AGAIN. What is going on? I go in her room AGAIN and don't let her nurse so get out of there in a few minutes. Brent had been at our neighbor's house and came home at some point and is snoring like a freight train on the couch. 
7:00am - Drew comes into our room with a bloody nose, her 4th of the week. It lasts for AN HOUR, so I turn the TV on for her to watch Nick Jr. because I am exhausted.

Saturday night:
Paige has trouble settling down so I have to go in there twice - once within about 30 minutes of putting her down and the second time in the middle of night. I don't understand how she can sleep through the night for weeks on end and then have several bad nights in a row?

Sunday night:
8:00pm - Paige goes to bed and Brent and I start Game of Thrones!!!
8:15pm - The WiFi is spotting and we can't get the show to work. Ugggggh.
8:30pm - We move into the living room to see if that receiver is working better. It is! We start the episode!
8:35pm - PAIGE IS CRYING!!! Are you kidding me?
8:45pm - Thankfully I have her down and she stays down the rest of the night! And we get to watch the whole episode!

Paige is really lucky she didn't mess TOO much with my TV watching. {grin}

Flu-Mageddon 2018

Whew. The past 10 days have been a mess! 

Last Friday, I took the kids to visit my in-laws after school and then had book club. I came home earlier than normal because I was so tired and had a headache. #foreshadowing 

Saturday morning, I nursed Paige and when I got back in bed I was so cold and couldn't get warm no matter what. I had the chills for hours. When I got up, I took my temperature and it was almost 103. I slept most of the day and my parents took the big kids.

Sunday, my fever came and went but I felt much better. Monday I still had fever and Brent did too. It was his day to sleep all day, but by Tuesday we were all fever free. Paige had a little bit of fever in the middle of the night but nothing significant. I thought it must have been just a short-lived cold.

Tuesday the kids were all home due to ice, and we kept everyone home Wednesday just to be safe before sending everything back.

Thursday, everyone went back to school! But then I got a call at 1:00 to get Drew - she was complaining of a bad headache. I went ahead and grabbed Paige too while I was at school and in the time I put Paige down for a nap, Drew started running fever and was crying and crying over her headache. My father-in-law came over to sit while Paige slept, and I took Drew to urgent care.

Drew tested positive for flu, and the PA who saw us said it was likely Brent and I already had the flu if we had fever, fatigue, etc. earlier in the week. Drew's fever got up to 105 that night, but her spirits were pretty good. Friday I kept everyone home again because I didn't know if Trent and Paige were carriers now.

I started running fever again Thursday evening and went to urgent care Friday and got diagnosed with bronchitis.

Saturday, Paige just didn't seem right and Trent had been fighting a cough for a long time, so I took both of them to the pediatrician. Paige tested positive for the flu and had an ear infection. Luckily, Trent's flu test was negative and the cough was determined to be allergies.

Sunday, everyone was fever free! I kept the girls home Monday and they both took long naps and were in great spirits.

Hopefully, this is the end of the Big Flu 2018 for our family!

The Last 24

Well, I am back from Chicago. Had a great time meeting my co-workers, the meetings we had were fantastic for talking about the future of our organization with some really great leaders, and Brent and the kids rocked life without me. BUT...the last 24 hours or so are worth sharing in detail because sometimes you just gotta laugh...and blog about it. {grin}

Wednesday
6:00 PM - Arrive at the airport for my 8:00 PM flight. Get through security - always a fun experience and adding 30 ounces of breastmilk to the mix is an added pleasure. Find out my flight is delayed until 11:00 PM. Womp, womp.

6:45 PM - I was hoping to just push through and not pump until I got home, but knowing my flight was delayed 3 hours...it isn't going to happen. Try to pump in a family bathroom because my flight is in Concourse A and the Mother's Room is in Concourse C - how is there only 1 room? But I get interrupted after less than 10 minutes by a woman in a wheelchair needing to go to the bathroom. The kicker? Aunt Flow has returned after an 18-month hiatus, and I am 0% prepared - isn't that just the icing on the cake?

7:00 PM - Double check at my gate that I didn't misread something - yup, flight is truly delayed 3 hours. Go pump sitting in a stall in a regular bathroom. Enjoy one lady next to me who is farting up a storm.

7:30 PM - 11:20 PM - Read, buy snacks, find a vending machine with Aunt Flow products, talk with other passengers, calculate how much sleep I'll get, get ice for my milk, clean out my email inbox {get it down from over 600 to 35!}...all such super exciting stuff!

11:20 PM - We take off for Austin! Get more ice for my milk because what I had from before has melted and leaked all in my suitcase. I try to sleep the whole flight and am pretty successful.

1:30 AM - Land in Austin. Walk a million miles to my car, stop to get gas {of course I'm way past E}, drive the 45 minutes home.

2:45 AM - Get home! Best feeing in the whole world. Find roses from Brent {pink! my favorite!}, a note from Trent and a drawing from Drew. Cue the waterworks!

Trent's note said: Dear mom, hope you had a great trip we missed you! We got flowers for you thanks for being my mom. Love Trent

3:20 AM - Finally get in bed!

6:30 AM - Alarm goes off. BOOOOOOO. Get up, get kids up and get them ready for school. Trent comes out of his room with a blazing stye, so we decide to keep him home since those suck. Paige has her 9-month well check, and Drew wants to come along since Trent is now getting to go.

8:15 AM - Well check for Paige! I love these appointments so much since I am such a stats nerd. Today should have been her 9-month post, but this post was needed, ha. Leaving the well-check realize Aunt Flow has overflowed. Super. While making a u-turn due to road construction, I hit a traffic cone and get it lodged under my car. A random stranger pulls over to help me get it out. Take D to school, but decide to bring P home for a good morning nap.

12:15 PM - Load T and P up because Trent is starting with a new behavioral therapist today. Take P to school and go to T's therapy appointment. Also, go to Academy to get him new tennis shoes and Drew some soccer shorts.

3:00 PM - Get D and P from school.

4:30 PM - Leave for D's soccer practice. 

5:30 PM - During practice, Trent's eye looks worse. We'd been doing warm compresses and I had him take some omega-3, but there isn't much else to do for a stye... I was kind of surprised it looked worse, so I texted a picture to our eye doctor {her older daughter and Drew are besties at school}. She lets me know she thinks it's infected and to bring Trent in for an appointment in the morning because he probably needs oral antibiotics. 

6:30 PM - When we're home keep texting with our doc, and she suggests giving him antibiotic eye drops first which we have some leftover from Trent's eye infection in the summer. Keep doing warm compresses on the couch, repeat eye drops at bedtime.

9:00 PM - Trent in bed, eye still looks awful. :(

Isn't that a super fun last day???

About Last Night: A Timeline

Let's talk about how my night went down last night, mmm-kay?

7:00 PM - Put Paige to bed. She skipped her second nap because the mowers came, so she was TIRED.

8:00 PM - The big 2 come in from swimming at the neighbors' house {their grandkids are Trent and Drew's age and love playing together}, the grandkids come over and they run nuts through the house with me sounding like a hag whisper shouting 'Don't wake the baby!'

9:00 - 10:00 PM - Get the big 2 sleeping. 

10:15 PM - Paige is up. #awesome

11:00 PM - Brent comes back from another neighbor's house. We chat while I shower/get ready for bed.

12:00 AM - Brent is asleep but I am still reading. Paige wakes up again. #noooo

3:30 AM - Drew comes in our room crying because she had a nightmare. Let her cuddle for a little bit and once she is relaxed I get her set-up to sleep on our couch.

4:00 AM - Drew is standing by my side of the bed crying she had another nightmare. Let her snuggle some more and get her back on the couch.

4:30 AM - DREW IS BACK. I tell her if she can't lay down and go to sleep on the couch, I'm going to put her back in her bed. She decides she wants to go to her bed. She tries to climb in with Trent but starts whining and wakes him up. Get her in her bed {she is SOOOO upset by this point} and snuggle AGAIN. Once she's calm, I tell her if she can be quiet and go to sleep on our couch, she can sleep in our room. She agrees. As we walk back to our room, I hear Paige.

4:45 AM - Nurse Paige for the 3rd time.

5:00 AM - Back in our room. Check on Drew. She's content, snuggled under a blanket with her Paw Patrol pillow and finally ready to sleep.

6:00 AM - Brent's alarm goes off. Glad it's him and not me!

His comment to me? You wanted 3 kids so enjoy. HA! 

DITL: April 15, 2015

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last Day in the Life post, but sure enough it has been! I need to pick a weekend day next time, because I feel like my weekdays are all pretty similar.  It'll still be neat to look back at these in the years to come. {grin} If you want to participate or read other posts, head over to Julia's blog.

6:30 - Alarm goes off, and I only snoozed once. [Technically I was already awake because Brent had left by this point, but I was enjoying just laying in bed.] I'm still working towards my goal to slowly push the wake-up to 6:00 or earlier but this is not the week for stressing on that given I've been working/packing until super late. I am consistently getting up 15 minutes earlier than a few months ago, so I'm making progress! Considered taking a selfie but chose to spare you that view.

My other view instead...

6:40 - Begin getting ready. I washed my hair last night, so I needed to straighten it. The plan was to make Trent's lunch before waking the kids up, but...

7:00 - Drew is up and singing {loudly} in her bed. Go get her. She grabs 2 blankets and a tiny stuffed dog to come with us. She gets her 'milky' first thing in the morning. Haven't quite figured out how to take away the last nursing session of the day. Not going to stress about it until after we move.

2 Gurley gurls

7:20 - Go to wake up Trent. He pops up just as I go to take a picture of him sleeping. Stinker. Yes, he's sleeping without sheets. We washed them a few days ago, and I said 'to heck with it' and packed them, ha.

Blurry but has to be documented!

7:30 - Make pancakes for Trent, Drew picks granola. She won't sit at their table without me, so she sat on the counter while I made pancakes. {And by made, I mean microwave frozen pancakes.}

7:40-8:10 - Get dressed, get the kids dressed {wrangled} and in the car. I tried to get a cute picture of them sitting side-by-side, but neither child would cooperate.

Trent is being slow and living in his own world, and Drew wants to 'hold it' {meaning my phone}.

8:30 - Arrive at school. Listen to '70s music in the car {Cat Stevens and Peter, Paul, and Mary} with the windows rolled down.

My iPhone music montage

9:00-2:30 - Home and working! We are currently dealing with drama with mortgage lendor. 'We must close by April 17' meant 'April 24' to him, and they aren't ready. Um, get ready.

My day consisted of conference calls, scheduling requests, and spreadsheet building. It probably doesn't sound exciting, but I love this job SO much better than auditing. Brent says I talk all day, which is partially true, and that is RIGHT up my alley.

My workday view

I usually listen to replays of my favorite morning show.

2:30 - Leave to go get the rugrats.

2:45 - Get to school. Find out Trent had a really good day! {That makes 2 in a row, so excited!!} Tell the kids we have an errand to run, but if they are good we can get Starbucks. Trent decides we need ice cream, and Drew agrees!

3:15 - We arrive at a friend's house to get wardrobe boxes. She just moved last week into an AMAZING house. We got a tour, and the kids played with her kids and dogs. My one big regret at our house is I picked a paint color that I think is too light. Valerie has 1 shade darker of the same color family, and hers is what I thought I was getting. Womp, womp. I'll be saving my pennies to maybe someday fix...ha!

Beautiful house! {And yes, my mirror is zip-tied on. #dontask}

3:55 - Hop back in the car and head to get ice cream!

4:15 - Ice cream time! Trent wants cotton candy, and Drew wants whatever her bubba has, so 2 blue ice cream cones it is.

4:40 - The kids are starting to get wild in the store, so we load up and head home. Drew hasn't finished her cone yet, and while I know this doesn't bode well for the car ride home, I take a chance versus staying in the store while they act like feral cats.

5:00 - Get home. Brent plays golf on Wednesdays, and he left super early this morning, so this is the only window of time we'll see him. We talk about moving stuff, he plays with the kids for a bit and is gone. Drew gets a bath because she is blue. I tried to get B to take a picture with me to document that he was alive today but no dice.

Her pigtails are a little worse for the wear by the end of the day.

5:15-6:00 - The kids watch a little bit of Netflix/YouTube, play, and eat pick at dinner.

A renewed love of Rescue Bots

Moving boxes make for great building sites

6:30 - Drew comes in from the porch coloring herself with a marker. She goes back in the bathtub.

More requests to 'hold it'.

7:00-7:30 - Time to start bedtime with Drew. We read, sing, get interrupted by Trent 3 times, have a slight meltdown over actually getting in the crib, but I call her bluff {'Do you want to lay down and have mommy sing or do you want mommy to leave?' 'Leave.' 'Okay, goodnight.' Boom - that's the sound of Drew laying down ready for me to sing.}

Trying to read to this silly girl

Nope, she took the phone! She finally gets to 'hold it'!

7:30 - Trent's bedtime! I left my phone in Drew's room {which I so knew I was going to do}, so no pictures of us. But we finished reading the Magic Treehouse's first Super edition which was about a mission in World War 2. The end of the book talks about Anne Frank, and I tear-up. Trent laughs at me.

8:00-10:00 - Time for more work! I think I've blogged about this before, but since I leave early a few days a week to get the kids, I work at night to get all my hours in.  I love the flexibility I have to be able to spend more time with the kids during the day. Other than being a doula, I don't think I could ask for more, ha! Eat a bacon sandwich during this time. {We're trying to clean out the fridge and 95% of the kitchen is packed away so it's slim pickings right now.}

9:30 - Sneak into Drew's room to get my phone and take sleeping baby pics. Per usual, Drew is on her stomach or side, and Trent is on his back.

I wash her pillow once a week but girlfriend DROOLS so bad. So please don't judge me for her discolored pillow!

He isn't supposed to have squirty fruits in his room. We're prepping him for the new 'no food on carpet' rule in the new house. #busted

10:15 - Stop working. Somehow manage to waste 45 minutes playing on the internet.

11:00 - Get ready for bed. I read for about 20 minutes before putting the phone away. Reading a really interesting book right now that is making me think a lot. Can't wait to share more about it soon.

And that was our Wednesday, April 15, 2015!

Day in the Life: January 30, 2015

I've occasionally done some 'day in the life' posts, but apparently there's a fun link-up to do this quarterly. And y'all know how much I love following along with bloggy rituals. So here we go! The documenting of last Friday! 

Stats:
Allena is 34 1/2
Brent is 34 2/3 {gotta show he's older!}
Trent is 5 1/2
Drew is 2

6:40 am - Alarm goes off. I really need to start getting up earlier but haven't managed it yet. In a perfect world I would get up at 6:00 and do a little cleaning, dinner-prep, work, whatever...but yeah...that hasn't happened yet. In other news, Drew slept through the night! She's about 50/50 right now, so it was a great surprise to get woken by my alarm and not her. Not that I got a great night's sleep - allergies are killing Brent and he's snoring at night...meaning I poke him a lot and we occasionally get in arguments at 3:00 am with all sorts of 'I'm going to kill you if you don't stop snoring' threats from me. #wifeoftheyear

6:55 am - Get out of bed. Damnit, now we're going to be late. Proceed to actually fix my hair and put on a little bit of make-up because I'm working at a friend's house today! We have a slurpee obsession so I can guess where we'll go today. {Spoiler alert: 7-11}

7:15 am - Go wake-up the kids. It's rare for them both to still be in their beds at this time. T's eyes were open, but he wasn't quite ready to get out of bed. D was awake too and jumped with with several stuffed animals, ready for her milk! We nurse for about 20 minutes.

She has the best morning faces and hair.

7:20 am - Trent sneaks in our room trying to scare Brent. This is a new game for them, hilarious. I bribe Trent with being able to look at my phone {he's obsessed with looking at toys on Amazon making his birthday wish list} by telling him to get dressed first. He complies!

Negotiating to not have to put on socks yet. Mom wins by saying 'You can't look at my phone until you have on socks.'

Today's birthday list request

7:30 am - Drew wants to put her clothes on too since her Bubba is dressed and has 'her phone'. {Seriously, she has quickly learned the apps on my phone and constantly asks for it. I am just boggled with how quickly she went from no interest in my phone/videos to loving them.}

7:45 am - No success with her going potty, but she's promised not to tee-tee in her panties {a current battle...girlfriend knows how to hold it and go on the potty and I swear does it out of laziness/stubbornness and will say 'tee-tee in closet' and pee on Trent's floor. [Insert angry mom face here.]} I debated putting the picture of her on the potty on here, but I just couldn't do it. Too many little girl parts visible.

8:00 am - After bribery, kids eat their hodge-podge breakfast {I have my mini-me's in the morning who don't want to eat right away but alas we have to get it in...} of squirty fruits and cornflakes {Trent} and pecans, raisins, carrots, and sausage {Drew} and watch 10 minutes of YouTube nursery rhymes while I load the car.

8:05 am - Get Drew dressed. Still no pottying but she tried twice.

8:10 am - Leave 10 minutes late for school, get kids juice and sunglasses for the ride. Weirdos.

The flash was on forever so Trent was blinded.

And keeping it real with my trashcan on wheels back seat.

8:28 am - Arrive at school. Drop-off lane is awesome and gets me back on the road in 5 minutes with hugs, kisses, and no tears!

Drew walking with Ms. Becki. Trent had already sprinted to his classroom.

8:35 am - STARBUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9:00 am - Work party at my friend Karin's house. She left my company a few months ago and is now working with some other former co-workers at a local accounting firm. It's been hard not having her at my company, but we've still managed to have some work dates. Conference calls ensue for the next 2 hours.

Learning about some upgrades to our reporting system.

We are all in awe of the new functionality and geek out.

11:30 am - Debated lunch options with Karin. Realize that she got a new chandelier above her kitchen table that Brent and I considered for the new house. Took a picture to send to Brent for a little laugh.

11:45 am - Head to the new house {which is 5 minutes from Karin's house} to meet Brent to look at the closet layout.

12:00 pm - Look at our gorgeous house coming together. Give Karin a tour {she loves it, duh}.

How gorgeous is that rock and sheet rock?

Don't you love Brent's work uniform?

12:30 pm - Head to 7-11 for a slurpee! Take a selfie!

12:45 pm - We agree on Chipotle for lunch.

1:15 pm - Back at work! Emails, conference calls, spreadsheets, rinse, repeat. I realized I didn't update my service journal all week {oops}, so that was a special moment. Guess I'll be doing that this weekend. :/

2:35 pm - End of our work date - time to get the kiddos! I was stressing because my last conference call was running long, and I left {per usual} 5 minutes late. Listened to my favorite radio show {The Bobby Bones Show} on podcast. The show used to be local to Austin on a Top 40 station and slowly grew in syndication. About 2 years ago it switched to country, and I mostly can't stand Nashville country, so I love to listen on podcast. I can skip Luke Bryan but still hear the show? Sign me up!

2:40 pm - Was driving on mental auto pilot and get on the wrong highway. Repeat 'eff, eff, eff, eff, eff' for about 3 minutes as now I'm going to be really late to get the kids.

2:55 pm - Arrive at school! My kids aren't the last on the benches, so I'm not the latest parent. Whew!

3:00 pm - T wants to 'go somewhere'. I decide we can stop at a nearby park we haven't been to in ages. I really think it's been about 2 1/2 years since we've been. It's a really awesome park but HUGE, so once Drew Baby came along and Trent's sensory was at its worst...this park was not in the cards.

3:05 pm - Sign at the park announces it's closed for a week. I call my sister. 'SAHMs know these things like parks being closed. Where is another nearby park?' She directs me to a park about 5 minutes away. She gives me clothes AND directs me to new parks? Best sister award!

3:15 pm - PARK!!!!! And there's DUCKS!!!! I decide to tempt fate and leave Drew in her panties. She goes in the park potty {that was pretty disgusting}.

4:30 pm - I decide we have tempted the potty fairies enough and head home. Talk to Brent, and he went back to the house and bumped into the builder, so they're going to talk about the fireplace, something with the refrigerator space, and the closets.

4:45 pm - Get home. Drew has peed in her pants. She picks a...unique outfit. Decide to let the kids watch a few videos and eat snacks so I can get my time entered and my service journal updated.

5:30 pm - Daddy's home! We talk about the house while the kids play together. Seriously I am amazed at how well they play together. Drew is obsessed with Trent, and he is usually so willing to play with her. He might hand her a Nerf gun and expect her to run around and shoot aliens with him, but she's game for anything as long as it's with her Bubba.

5:45 pm - Drew pees AGAIN while standing on the dishwasher. I decide it's time for her bath. She pitches a fit and earns a spanking. She usually loves playing in the bathtub and has bathtub crayons that can keep her in the tub for easily 30 minutes, but she's NOT feeling it tonight. No pictures for that, ha.

6:00 pm - Everyone is happy again! Trent looks at books on my kindle and Drew gets her babies ready for bed.

6:05 pm - We take a little stroll around the apartment.

6:30 pm - Drew's bedtime. She's been rubbing her eyes, so we decide to put her down a little early. We read books, sing, nurse...lights out!

Wearing a pair of Mayer's 'jamas'.

7:00 pm - It's weird for me to do something on a Friday night. I usually like to be at home. But Allison and I are powering through our movies, so we meet go to see Whiplash.

Grainy, dark theater selfie

10:30 pm - After a gab session outside the theater, I head home.

10:45 pm - Brent's still up so we chat well past midnight. It's nice to just sit and have a conversation with him because it seems rare these days with jobs, kids, house building... Well worth the tiredness on Saturday!

And there you have it! Our Friday!

The First Last 48: A Timeline

The last 2 days have just been some that make you shake your head and laugh at all the insanity. These are the days that make me wonder how I will ever convince Brent we should go for another baby! Or if I am insane for wanting another. {Brent, zip it!} Let me share...

Thursday
2:15 AM - Trent wakes me up scaring me half to death asking me to help him blow his nose because it's stopped up. We blow his nose and he goes back to sleep.
2:30 AM - Trent is back. He wants to get in bed with us.
2:30 - 2:55 AM - He snorts, sniffles, and rubs his toes up and down my legs. I get up and go get in his bed.
5:00 AM - Drew wakes up blazing hot. #awesome

*Normal morning routine follows, but Brent stays home in the morning so I don't have to wake up Drew for a ride to school.*

9:00 AM - Drew wakes up and fever is gone!

*Spend morning trying to work and entertain baby.*

4:00 PM - Entire family goes to look at house. Lots of progress happening! Rain though so everyone is muddy! Trent falls down and gets a cactus thorn in his leg.
5:00 PM - On the ride home, Trent won't stop his extreme sniffling routine, and Drew is singing Love is an Open Door. Brent and I just laugh.
7:30 PM - After making Trent stand in a shower for 20 minutes trying to clear his nose, we try to use a sinus rinse. He repeatedly squirts himself with saline water in the eye. Hilarious.

Friday
7:15 AM - Wake Drew up who is clammy feeling. Decide to see if my mom can watch her just in case she is still not 100%.
7:45 AM - Drew begins barfing. Yup, I'd say she's not 100% yet. [Sidebar: This is the first time in 5 1/2 years of parenting I've had a kid throw up.]
8:00 AM - Brent takes Trent to school. The barfing continues. Operation wash everything and use Thieves oil on everything begins.
11:00 AM - Still barfing and now the school calls to pick up Trent for behavior. Sigh.

Let the good times keep on coming!

Go the **** to Sleep: A Timeline

Last night was super fun {you can't detect sarcasm through writing all the time, so let me just state clearly I AM BEING SARCASTIC}.

1:30 AM - Trent comes into our room, and I let him get into bed with us thinking it's morning, and he's woken up for the day. Oops.
2:00 AM - He won't stop fidgeting, so I go with him into his bed.
2:30 AM - I leave his room because he STILL won't stop fidgeting.
2:35 AM - Sister starts crying. She lays back down.
2:45 AM - She's up again and calling 'Mama, mama', so I go in and nurse her. I'm a wimp.
3:15 AM - Trent is back in our room! He promises to not fidget {sure thing, kid}.
3:45 AM - He uses my back as a pillow.
4:15 AM - Trent's finally asleep, and I put him back in his bed!
6:00 AM - Brent's alarm goes off.

Good morning!

A Diagnosis...Oh Wait, a New Diagnosis...and a Treatment Plan...Maybe?

Well. I didn't think our week could get much worse. I was oh so wrong.

*I apologize in advance - this is going to be super duper crazy long!*

So where I left off, we were heading to a pediatric orthopedic doctor. During that appointment, I noticed his fever was back {boo}. This doctor {Dr. Kahn} agreed that it was unusual for transient synovitis to be worsening after this many days and wanted to get a new set of x-rays to see if anything would show up that had developed since his set on Monday. During those x-rays, I could see a big difference in his abilities - Monday it was a little hard to straighten his leg, Wednesday he was writhing and screaming and bawling. I cried too. They couldn't see anything on the x-ray, so Dr. Kahn wanted to send us to Dell Children's Hospital to aspirate Trent's knee. {Essentially, he would make a small incision in his knee and drain some fluid. The amount of fluid and what was in it could tell us a lot.} He said normally it would be an in-office procedure but due to Trent's pain level and attitude {not good to say the least}, he wanted to put Trent under general anesthesia.

So to the hospital {next door} we went.

Hungry, thirsty, tired, grumpy, hurting...waiting for the aspiration

We got over to Dell Children's at 3:00 and the procedure was scheduled for about 6:00. Trent had eaten 1/4 of a grilled cheese sandwich by this point and was cut-off from all food and liquids. His fever was consistent at 102 and he started to BEG for something to drink. He cried, wailed, screamed... He called Dr. Kahn 'the worst doctor ever' and that this day was 'the worst day ever'. Even at his most pitiful, he is still adorable. Meanwhile, Brent had become responsible for getting Drew from school and to my parents and then packing clothes/necessities for us both and for Trent. He arrived at the hospital about 5:00. Right about then, PBS stopped showing cartoons, and things got really ugly. There were not enough distractions in the world. At 5:50, we walked Trent down the hall and said goodbye to our little guy. I started crying as we walked away - I kept thinking it could be the last time we saw him alive.

At about 7:00, we were allowed to go back to recovery, he was done! And alive! {I might be a smidge dramatic but I think most mamas would have felt the same way.} He was on pain meds and just coming to from the anesthesia and was thrilled to get to drink lots and lots of apple juice. We got to our assigned hospital room, got Trent settled and as comfortable as possible. 

We found out that Dr. Kahn was not able to get much fluid from his knee or his femur or tibia {where he also tried to take cultures} so a bacterial infection was unlikely {consistent with Monday's diagnosis}. The plan was a potential MRI the next day and the general pediatrics team would discuss potentially starting an antibiotic as a precaution as sometimes a bacterial infection shows up later.

General pediatrics came in and decided to hold off on antibiotics since all signs were pointing to this not being bacterial.

A few Netflix videos later and we got Trent to bed. Brent ended up going home due to his exhaustion from being up with Trent half the night the night before.

Wednesday night was a little rough - T didn't like the morphine administering process because it burned going into his IV and he was just overall uncomfortable. Plus, doctors and nurses kept coming in repeatedly.

Thursday was another day in hell. At 9:00 AM, the nurse let me know T was scheduled for an MRI at 'lunchtime or a little after' and to cut-off all liquids at 10:00. I couldn't get him to eat anything {consistent with his appetite all week}, but he had been drinking quite a lot all morning {yay for small victories!}. Well, noon rolled around, then 1:00. The MRI got pushed to 3:00. Then 4:00. Then 4:30. You get the drift. We had another round of begging for food and drink. Crying. Yelling. Begging. Repeat. Right before we headed back down to the surgery wing, he spent 20 minutes repeatedly whimpering 'Mommy...Mommy'. :(

Luckily, on the way down, he started to doze off and fell asleep while we waited another almost hour for the actual procedure. So thankful for that blessing! We had the same anesthesiologist and she was happy to see our guy asleep compared to his reaction to us telling him he'd breathe some 'bubble gum air' the day before. Haha.

The whole process from start-to-finish of the MRI was over 2 hours. When he finally came out of recovery, he was not our docile little sleepy boy from the night before but so angry and out of it. An extra dose of morphine seemed to help a little and back to our room we went. He was too groggy to eat but drank a lot again. Another great quote - the nurse figured out he liked salty food {because he wailed when offered a popsicle} and she said she could get him some goldfish. He looked at me and cried 'Don't you remember? Those have GMOs!!!!' Yes, my little hippie boy, they do. ;)

He fell asleep back in his room and continued to doze while I pumped {I had a good collection going in a freezer somewhere in that hospital by this point} and got ready for bed. T wanted me to stay again, so Brent geared up to leave. And of course, 10 minutes later, the nurse comes in to tell me he needed to have a pelvic x-ray. Luckily, she advocated for Trent and said they were bringing it to us because originally they wanted Trent to go BACK down to surgery. I could have kissed her.

When the x-ray technician came in and Trent was awakened, he was not happy {and who could blame him}. Everything she did to his leg was torture and I flat-out refused one position {oh sure, let's put a boy who can't move his knee at all in a frog position}. It took awhile to get Trent calmed down {including another dose of morphine} and a freakout when he realized he had a diaper on from the MRI {'but I'm not a bbbaaabbbyyyyyyy!'} and he went back to sleep.

Another general pediatrics doctor came in and told me we had a potential diagnosis based on the MRI. Legg-Calve-Perthes Syndrome. It is a childhood hip disorder initiated by a disruption of blood flow to the ball of the femur - depending on the severity of the condition, treatment has a wide range of plans and luckily we caught Trent's early because some of the more severe cases are irreversible. Oh. And remember those cultures from Wednesday? One of them was growing bacteria...so we officially also had a bacterial infection. Geez.

Sleep Thursday night was even worse. His fever, which broke Wednesday morning, came back in the middle of the night, so we had a battle over taking chewable Tylenol. We also had a meltdown at 5:00 AM for 30 minutes over a booger. Yes. A booger. IV antibiotics also got started at some point {maybe 4:00?}.

Friday morning didn't start off well - who can blame a kid who is going on almost 48 hours with a diet of 1/4 a sandwich and some chips?

Another battle over morphine and the result though was worth it!

I don't know which combination of drugs finally started to work {at this point he was on Tarodol, Tylenol, Morphine and an antibiotic plus IV fluids}, but his sweet and sassy personality returned and he wanted to eat {albeit only a little bit of dry Rice Krispies} and play with all the Transformers we brought from home. Yay!

Dr. Kahn {who had checked on Trent several times and seemed to lose his 'worst doctor ever' status with T} called to tell me a little more about Perthes syndrome and said due to how it looked we were in more of a 'wait and watch' pattern. That was amazing news!

At this point about 8 doctors came in the room {and Brent} and we began another discussion. The bacterial infection. It was classified as Strep Group B and further tests would be run to determine exactly which type, so a general antibiotic that killed about 70% of Group B would be started and as we figured out which exact type, tweaks would be made to the antibiotic. He would need them intravenously and for 6-8 weeks at home {IV or oral to be determined}. Perthes syndrome might actually NOT exist - it might just be the bacterial infection. {Anyone else's head spinning?} A doctor from Infectious Diseases would come by to discuss the bacterial infection further.

I went home shortly after this discussion to get Drew from my parents and spend the night at home with her. T wanted me to be with him, but I knew Drew was needing me {my mom said she kept rooting around on her!}. Brent texted me tons of updates throughout the afternoon, and T continued to seem to make great progress. He even went to the bathroom on the potty {instead of into a special bottle in his bed}! Unfortunately, on the way back to bed, his IV got snagged and ripped out. There was a 30 minute {and 2 attempts} battle to get it reinserted and it was stabilized with a splint. T had been fighting a nap all day, but this was just too much. 

Taking a much needed siesta.

A doctor from Infectious Diseases came to tell Brent more about the Group A {not B} Strep Trent had. They were going to adjust his antibiotics to a cocktail that would include amoxicillin {which he is ALLERGIC to} and Benadryl due to his allergy. It still could be potentially tweaked from there, duration/delivery is still unknown and we should expect to be in the hospital until Monday.

Whew.

That brings me to now.

I plan to go back up in the morning and will stay again tomorrow night, past that we don't have a plan. We're just taking everything one day at a time.

It has been hard for me to be away from Drew, and then I feel guilty for being upset about being away from her, but I have never been apart from her overnight. Luckily, a very sick looking little girl in the hospital put things back into perspective for me, and I am trying not to feel sorry for myself but be thankful for all our abundance of blessings. Trent may be sick, but he's not SICK. Drew spent 2 nights with grandparents that I know she will BEG to stay with for years to come. She was loved on and spoiled and only nursed 8 times in the 6 hours we were together, haha.

Enjoying a Babs-made breakfast - doesn't seem to be missing me, huh?

If you made it this far, you rock! Overall, we are all doing good. Tired for sure. A little frustrated at the process even if we understand it. Sad for our hurting little guy. Afraid of our Toys R Us shopping trip when we get T home {ha}. Amazed at the blessings we have around us - our family of 4 might not be together but we're TOGETHER. We have grandparents and siblings and friends willing to do anything for us. And as Hagan said today - every day that the 4 of us are alive and together and sleeping under 1 roof {okay that day might not be today but you get my drift} is a day to praise God and view as a blessing. 

So I choose to be thankful for my family of 4 and all our abundance of blessings. And I of course will keep everyone posted as this journey continues before us! Prayers welcome!!