A Very Long Week

This past Monday started out fantastic. I set a new goal of getting up at 6:45AM every morning so that I was up before the boys. They usually get up between 7AM-7:45AM. Since I was about six months pregnant, I have been sleeping until they got up, but then it feels like it takes forever for me to get showered, dressed, make up done, breakfast ready, and school started. So I set a goal to get up and get my day started before they get up.

Monday morning, Nathan's alarm went off at 6:20AM. I nursed Alanna in my bed since she was already sleeping next to me, and then once she was back asleep I got up. It was about 7AM at that point. I showered, dressed, did my make up, did my hair, made homemade baked peanut butter oatmeal, did my devotions, had a cup of coffee, cleaned up the house a bit...and still the boys were sleeping. It was 8:30AM at this point! I felt great! So much had been accomplished already and the boys were still sleeping.

The rest of the day went pretty smooth. The boys got up, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast together, did school, played outside... we just had an organized, relaxed, enjoyable day...

Then Tuesday Morning Began...

Alanna had a doctor's appointment for her three month check up at 10:40AM. At around 8:30AM, Liam threw up all over the couch. Great! Any of you who are close to me know that Liam has had a really, really tough few months.

Back in September he got a staph infection which ended up with him having surgery at KidMed, then taken the emergency room, hooked up to an IV and admitted for 24 hours. He went on a super strong antibiotic to get rid of the infection. I believe it was this staph infection that has led to all the other sickness he has been dealing with since then. I believe his immune system got weak from the antibiotic and he just became susceptible to getting every little thing out there. About two weeks before Alanna was born, he started getting sick again. It turned out to be Scarlet Fever! I thought that Scarlet Fever was unheard of any more but apparently not. Liam broke out in a terrible rash, got a high fever, double ear infections, and a sore throat. When Alanna was born, he still wasn't looking completely like himself. At her two week check up, they saw he still had the ear infections. In January Liam woke up one morning with a few bumps on his back. I thought they were some kind of spider bites but after two weeks of them not going away and about 20 more bumps showing up, I realized it had to be something else but I wasn't sure what. Turns out, it was CHICKEN POX. Seriously... he had the vaccine! His doctor said that in rare cases, especially when a child has a weak immune system, they can get a mild case of chicken pox between the time they get the vaccine and the booster when they are four. By the time I got him checked and realized what they were, he wasn't contagious any more. So if your kid got chicken pox and we go to the same church...sorry!!! I really didn't know he had them! Then about two weeks ago, he got another cold and started getting really cranky. I assumed he had another ear infection so I gave him ear drops and hoped he would start feeling better soon. He was eating, playing, sleeping pretty well, so I assumed he was ok....

Which brings me back to this past Tuesday Morning.

So he threw up. His face was so pale and he was so upset that he was now covered in throw up. I cleaned him up and called the doctor to see if they could fit him in with Alanna's appointment. Thankfully they could. I thought maybe he had the flu. He threw up one more time before we left. Any of you who have little kids or once had little kids, know that a two year old doesn't know how to tell they are about to throw up. So throw up was all over the kitchen floor. I cleaned it up and we left for the doctors. I pulled into the doctors' office parking lot about fifteen minutes later and was so thrilled he had not thrown up in the car. My happy thoughts came all too soon. I opened my door and heard Liam moan and then he threw up...all over himself and his car seat. Thankfully it was contained to just his seat and not all over the van floor. I was SO thankful that I had remembered to bring him a change of clothes and a trash bag for possible dirty clothes.

I hated watching him feel so bad. I pulled him out of the car, took off his clothes in the parking lot, and began to wipe off his hands and face. He was pale and shaky but all he could do was worry about his beloved crocks! They had throw up on them and he kept crying saying "got throw up on my crocks." Liam LOVES his crocks and wears them pretty much every day so this was quite a tragedy for him.

We finally made it into the doctors' office about ten minutes late. Not bad for the morning I had just had. Of course they were SUPER busy that morning. We waited for almost 30 minutes to be seen. I read several chapter's of Charlotte's Web (we're reading this for school right now) to the boys while we waited. Liam was more interested in opening and closing the Sick Waiting Room Door about a thousand times, than listening to the story though. I kept having to bring him back into the room, so I finally got smart and closed the door and stood in front of it while I read so that he couldn't get out.

We were finally called. The doctor said he didn't have the flu... YAY the one good thing that had happened all morning. But he did have another double ear infection which was causing him to throw up. She said they were bad and since he was throwing up she highly recommended an antibiotic through a shot rather than orally. I agreed to it, but didn't realize until after he had the shot that he would have to come back for TWO MORE SHOTS. It was a three shot series antibiotic that had to be done over the course of three days! And this shot hurts. His little leg got swollen and it hurt him so bad.

So, I spent Wednesday and Thursday morning at the doctors. Needless to say by the third day, Liam had figured out what was coming and wasn't too happy about it. He handled it so well though and I was so proud of him. Ruy, Liam, Alanna, and I were all very much over spending three mornings in a row at the doctors. It threw off our whole day, our whole routine, our whole school schedule, and was very stressful.

To give the kids a break from all the craziness, we spent a few hours Thursday afternoon at the Children's Museum with my best friend and her girls (who are also home-schooled). It was a much needed activity for all of us. We left in time for Liam to get a nap and then Ruy and I finished up school together. We ended the night VERY happy that Friday would be a normal day... no shots, no doctors, no going anywhere...just a normal day at home.

I'm going to try to start my getting up at 6:45AM again tomorrow...

I am praying for a relaxing week.

Did I mention that I'm going to start potty training Liam tomorrow???

I must have lost my mind. :)

Here are a few pictures from this past week! Enjoy!

Liam with the world's longest train. He gets really angry when it "crashes" every time it goes around a corner.

I will miss his sweet chubby fingers so much when he is grown.

After a very long morning at the doctors... Ruy read his history book to me while we baked C.C cookies. I love this about home-schooling. We just laughed, ate too much cookie dough, and looked at the globe for the countries he was learning about.