Ugh...

The tummy bug passed through our house last weekend. Gratefully, it only took 1 hostage so far... (Eli!)

He was pitiful. I got to thinking & I don't think Eli has ever had this bug. But he woke up Saturday night/Sun morning about 1am crying & when I walked around the corner he cried, "Mommy, I frowd up! I frowd up, Mommy!" I then turned around & hollered for Randy, saying, "We've got VOMIT!" I am not the vomit go to person in this family. I pay my dues in plenty of areas, but vomit has never been one of them. To say it is my phobia would be an understatement. Thankfully, Eli is a pro at hitting the trash can or toilet, so other than the initial episode (when I think it caught him off guard & it was all in the hallway AND his bed), he only hit the carpet or bedding 2 other times. Regardless though, there was plenty of laundry & lysoling going on around here for days! The first day consisted of this...

Randy snuggling with him on the couch & Zack wondering what was wrong (& getting nasty looks from Randy for sniffing all in their faces while they rested!)
Day two still consisted of snuggling on the couch, but this time he had fever & just wanted to have a TV watching marathon...Thankfully, it passed within about 48 hours & other than a very low appetite, Eli is back up to normal speed again! Praise!

What a New Year!

So far 2009 has been FAR less than exciting. New years eve, just moments (literally like 60 seconds) before Rebecca & Todd arrived for dinner, Eli threw up all over the kitchen floor. This began days & days of sickness that i am so ready to be over at this point! Eli went on to eat dinner & kept it down, slept great that night & was fine all day new years day. However, New years day, Jackson woke up with fever & kept it for 2 days. New Years night, Eli randomly threw up again just at dinner time (before eating really)! And then slept great all night, woke up FRiday, ate breakfast, then 45 minutes later threw up again. At that point, we were wondering what was going on. He was eating, sometimes keeping it down for a whole day & then randomly having vomiting spells. But so far we are 48 hours with no vomiting from Eli. However, after Jackson's 2 days of fever, one day of lethargy, he vomited at bedtime last night, then slept great, & has kept all food down today. WHAT IS GOING ON? There is no pattern here & it seems to me that in the previous years of tummy bugs, that they knock you off your feet for about 24 hours & then you are fine. So what do my kids have? Today, Eli has eaten everything in sight (literally sneaking food out of the fridge) but Jackson is still reserved about eating, only taking a few bites before being done. I tried Noodle Soup for lunch hoping that he would at least get some strength back since he has been laying all over the house still. And all this sickness & being couped up together is making me feel sick! I don't know if i have just sat around too long, or if i am getting something, but i slept terrible last night, with bouts of nausea, but never got sick (praise God for that!). But i just feel run down & worn out myself, when i haven't done a thing (except lots of puky laundry!) So i am hoping with the start of a new work week tomorrow, everyone will get back into the swing of things.

Here are the boys "drinking" their noodle soup with a straw! They thought this was funny!

poor things...

Well, once again.... the boys (& adults this time) are sick! I just had to take this picture of Eli yesterday morning. He climbed into bed with me after waking up just before Randy left for work. The child can't breathe! He is so stopped up, but he wasn't ready to get up so he drifted right back to sleep in the bed with me.... and i got to hear him breathing through his mouth! This pretty much sums up how we all feel.....

This same afternoon, both boys went to the pediatrician & Jackson has an ear infection & Eli has a sinus infection. So they are both now on Amoxicillin- twice a day! Honestly, it wouldn't be a holiday week if we didn't have to travel with refridgerated antibiotics, now would it? This is classic! If only the doctor would prescribe something to clear my sinus', then we would be better all around. So for now, the Advil Cold & Sinus is doing the trick..... I must say though, that i am truly thankful that Eli's ears were clear (but a little taken aback that Jackson's weren't- he has only ever had one other ear infection, but Eli gets them chronically!) The doctor also suggested we put Eli on Children's Claritin because they are starting to think he has allergies.... bummer....

Praise the Lord! His Ears are CLEAR!!

Oh, how i am so excited & thankful today! I took Eli back to the doctor for an ear recheck & much to my surprise, they were clear! The Lord was looking after him for sure because we had a TOUGH go of it with that antibiotic & i would venture to say that we got less than a quarter of the overall 10 days worth of doses in him. He hated the taste & would gag, spit it back out, or just clamp down so hard that we couldn't get it in him. I even tried hiding it in ice cream, cool whip, & pepsi & STILL he spotted it & wouldn't get it in. I finally gave up trying & figured when we went back in today they would just have to give him a shot if they were still infected, but PRAISE be to GOD they are CLEAR! I can't tell you how much of a relief this is & i pray that they continue to stay healthy with the summer months coming up so we won't have to get tubes.

Mommy Guilt

I am sure i have many more years of mommy guilt coming my way- but right now i feel pretty guilty since i took the pacifier away from a SICK child. And the reason Eli FINALLY got it back was because he screamed half the night or so we thought it was about the paci- but it was because he had an ear infection! And on top of that, he also has croup to boot! Poor guy! I guess we never got rid of the ear infection fully from 2 weeks ago or else he has just developed another one! (sigh) This illness thing is quite frustrating & this time the dr. said that if he continues to keep them then we would have to think about tubes. But for now we are sitting tight since this is technically only his 3rd one- but boy have they been doozies! So 10 more days of antibiotics (plus 3 days of steroids for the croup) more sighing....

Ear Check in....

Well, this morning was the last of the ear rechecks, & yes Eli had to get the third and final (FINALLY) shot of Rocephin. His right ear was "beautiful", but his left ear was still a little red & had fluid around it so we had to get the last shot. They don't want to recheck for 7-10 days (Whew!). I should buy stock in the pedaitrician's office, huh? No picture of his poor little leg today, he was a screamer for me this time & i think he is pretty fed up with the whole doctor's office / shot ordeal. Can you blame him? It wasn't a pretty sight & he didn't want to wait for the 15 mintutes we were required to in order to make sure he didn't have a reaction. Sooo, the wait was loud & embarrassing (i'll just leave it at that!)

Eli Update...

Well, i took little man back into the doctor today for a recheck on his ears & possible second shot. They checked the ears & said they were still infected, a little better, but still infected. Sooooo, they had to do another shot. However, Eli handled it much better today than Wednesday (as did his mama). I was prepared with a pacifier & he was glad to accept it outside of the car or his bed! The nurse made me feel a little better about the situation today too. When i told her that he had limped around Wednesday & was pulling at his leg all day, she said it could have been from the fact that they include numbing medication in the shot to help with the pain (since the injection isn't the worse part, but the medicine actually hurts) & that the tingling could have felt weird to him. That totally made sense & eased my mind a LOT. Eli also recovered much quicker from the initial pain of the shot too, only crying until they found him a sticker. He has been so often to the doctor lately that he starts pointing to the cabinet where the stickers are as soon as the doctor walks in the room! We still have to go back in over the weekend to the weekend clinic on Sunday morning for another recheck, which i am praying will show clear ears so they won't have to do this a 3rd time! They gave us the option of Saturday or Sunday, but i felt like an extra day for the medicine to clear the ears up was the better choice, rather than going back tomorrow, ears looks only a little better & getting a 3rd shot. So hopefully i made the right choice & there won't be a relapse as the nurse put it!

Today he got a red bandaid........on his right leg instead.....

Also, just so you know, my kids do wear pants! I know there seems to be a lot of pictures of them without, but somedays they just leave them off after their naps. I mean, who can get cozy under blankets with jeans on? Makes me claustrophobic to even think about it!

Will it ever end????

i keep patting my boo boo....

Again....... we went to the pediatrician AGAIN today! I don't think i posted that, after the pink-eye-associated-with-a-virus incident with Jackson, that Eli got hit hard with it all. Jackson had an ear infection, pink eye, & a bad sore throat & then days later (even on the Omnicef for HIS pink eye) i had to take Eli back in because he was running crazy fever (like up to 102.5 with fever reducer!) The verdict? "oh it's just the virus he has & his body is responding worse than jacksons did." (AS USUAL). He did this up & down fever for 4 days, and then the coughing began the next day. So this morning when he couldn't even eat breakfast for all the coughing & choking, i took him BACK in. Well, now (even still on the Omnicef) he has a double ear infection! And the coughing is just a side effect from all the drainage down his throat (although, from the looks of it, most MUST be coming out of his nose!!!) So the doctor (whom i didn't care for too much) gave me little to no options except these: Augmentin for 14 days or a hefty shot today & then come back for a second & possibly third hefty shot of a different kind of antibiotic. Ummm, i literally cried in the doctors office like a blubbering idiot (the stress of all this sickness, scheduling around the sickness, etc finally got to me). I didn't know what to do! Who wants to sign their kid up for a shot (or 3) but i have seen him on Augmentin & it isn't pretty. It tears his bottom out of it's frame in less than 24 hours to the point that it will bleed & to put him through that for 14 days was not a choice. So we had to go with the shot. IT WAS BAD (jackson pure covered his own ears because he was afraid to even watch!). The nurse was very frank & told me that it was going to be, & she was right. I felt so bad for him (i cried some more) & then we had to wait for 15 more minutes to make sure he wasn't going to have a reaction to the shot. The bottom line: Mommy is stressed from having ongoing sick kids for the last 2 weeks straight (& i feel like the whole year has been this way so far!), & poor Eli is walking around limping & rubbing his leg because it is still painful at the injection site. AND- he gets to do it again Friday morning at 10:30! Say a prayer that by then, he won't need a 3rd shot. And to top it all off, i think Daddy has pink eye now (& probably an ear infection or two left over from the flu) but who wants to pay 100% out of pocket when you have an HSA that has $0 in it? Looks like we are going to have to bite the bullet & take him in too.... i guess all my frugality will have to be to contribute to the HSA from now on......

Emerging from the Flu

Well, as you all probably know, the Moss house was hit with the flu last week & it was pretty miserable. Jackson started it all off yet had the mildest case of it. I took him into the Pediatrician on Tuesday morning with a hunch after a low grade fever & complaints of his legs hurting on Monday. Sure enough, that little swab test came back positive. And then 36 hours later, Mom & Dad were laid out with it! Luckily, Eli did not get it (the doctor gave him Tamiflu to prevent it)! We felt like terrible parents, letting the kids do pretty much whatever they wanted around the house as long as it was safe & quiet! Let's just say, they got enough tv for a whole month i am sure! Here are the only pics from last week which was mostly a fog.....

Jackson did pretty well the whole time as long as he had Motrin... He even wanted to go out to play for a bit....

Eli had no worries all week (except maybe a few "when are you going to feed me?" thoughts!)... Randy didn't pick up his Mandolin for literally 4 days... (that is bound to be a record...) This was the first day he felt like a little jam session on the porch (poor little bags under his eyes!)

And i am not sure he brushed his hair for a few days either.. Hee Hee