Upside Down

I couldn't be a nurse.

Sure, I can take care of my kids for a few days while they are sick. It's the mommy in me that allows me to do so, but even my "mommy-ness" has it's limits. After so long, all my empathy and understanding and gentleness and kindness just gets sucked dry.  I start feeling like a caged animal. I want to claw at my skin and run screaming out the door... My hat is tipped to the nurses and professional caretakers to the sick and elderly. I just couldn't do it.

I just wrote a big long post, and then realized it was almost the exact same thing I wrote last week. whoops.

So where I left off was on Friday.  Hubby was feeling better, but on Saturday he relapsed and was back in bed for 2 more days. He finally went back to work on Tuesday. Port thankfully started feeling better on Sunday, but it was at the peak of Kiddo feeling bad so it was pretty frustrating for him. He wanted to run around the house after being cooped up and immobile for most of about 4 days, and Kiddo could barely move. Port would cry and cry that he wanted Kiddo to run - it was truly pitiful.

Kiddo was still spiking a fever off and on all day Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday he finally seemed to be heading back to his normal little self, but for some reason he had almost completely lost his hearing. He said his ears didn't hurt or feel full, but we had to yell right in his face for him to know what we were saying. I thought I was going to be able to send him back to school on Thursday, but then right before bed on Wednesday night he spiked a fever again. It shot up to 104.5.

I was at the end of my patience and sanity by that point. I had been dealing with 3 sick people for a week. I got very irritated with Kiddo - not one of my finer moments for sure. Thursday morning I was done and defeated, so I called the doctor. Turns out he has a massive double ear infection caused by a mycoplasma infection. The boy had walking pneumonia. The doctor said that is probably what all the boys had - most people get over it on their own and it presents itself in very much the same way the flu does.  And they are normally misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all because it goes away in a week or so. But in Kiddo's case, the ears presented the infection and it was clear that was what he had. So, he got a big ol' dose of antibiotic and is starting to feel better. His hearing was a lot better yesterday, but today it seemed to be gone again. He went back to school on Friday (after missing 5 school days and being sick for a whole week!) but he was totally exhausted by the time I picked him up.

And Port was doing fine all week until I brought him over to my friend's house for a bit while I took in a meeting with a bride.  When I picked him up he was warm. Today his nose was running all day and this evening he had a lot of goop in his eyes. I cannot do this again!

Tonight Kiddo started talking about wanting to go to bed at about 6PM. That is not a good sign either.

Me? Well, so far I seem to have escaped it. I started running a fever last Friday. That day I went to the grocery store and bought a 2# bag of clementine oranges.  I finished off the bag on Saturday and bought another. I just kept eating oranges - every time I could think about it; every time I walked into the kitchen I peeled one. And I hate oranges. I am a huge fan of citrus, but I have never been able to eat oranges very often.  But I did; I ate them all day for days. Each one was like a shot of afrin - they would clear up my sinuses and they made me feel so much better.

And I never got sick. The fever stopped Friday night and I was spared this nasty thing that took down my whole family. So far, so good. I am still eating them, just not as often. I am kind of getting sick of them. In the last week I've consumed probably 7 pounds of the clementines. Ick.

I may be glowing orange by Monday.

Until,
D :)

Fever

Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick.

That's what we are over here at the Fry household.  Ugh.

I had a FANTASTIC time in San Antonio at the Imaging USA convention.  I will have to give you a recap soon when I can put two thoughts together. Right now I am fighting a fever and severe sinus pressure, so forgive me if this doesn't make a lick of sense.

So when I got back Tuesday night, the boys were in bed. When we got up the next morning, Port had a little barky cough for about an hour. I was a bit concerned, but Hubby said he hadn't noticed that either boy was feeling bad, but he did say that Port had fallen asleep several times on Tuesday in random places.

A couple of hours into Wednesday morning, Port started running a fever. This kid does not do fevers half way.  When he gets one, it comes on fast and strong and HOT. Before I knew it he went from fine to glassy eyed, teary and red.  I started the Tylenol, Ibuprofen rotation. And let me tell you, if I wasn't on time with it almost to the minute his temperature would shoot right back up immediately.  Without meds, he was running right at 105 degrees, with meds he cooled down to a balmy 102.  Poor guy, he was miserable.  It's funny though, even when feverish he still wanted to play; he just couldn't do much for very long.  He did alright that night but Thursday morning was running a very high fever once again.

Hubby started feeling bad Wednesday night. It started with him as more of an allergy type thing.  He had a hard time at work on Thursday. By the time he got home Thursday evening he was a walking zombie. He went straight to bed and spent most of the evening there.  Port was still running a super high fever - just before bed time it spiked again despite the meds and I ended up putting him in the tub for almost an hour to cool him down. After that he felt much better and even started running laps around the house.  Kiddo started complaining that night of an earache, so I loaded him up with some ibuprofen right before bed.

Hubby couldn't sleep at all and laid in bed moaning for a few hours before moving out to the couch. At about 3:30 AM, Kiddo got up to go to the bathroom and didn't make it.  Hubby was so out of it (I think he was running a super high fever) all he could do was wake me up and then go back to moaning on the couch.  I got Kiddo cleaned up, gave him a dose of Tylenol (because he was running a fever at that point) and put him to bed in the spare room and went back to bed. I decided right then that Kiddo wasn't going to school today, so when we got up finally it was well after 8.  Thank goodness for the extra sleep; I think we all needed it.

Port's fever was back down to low grade today without meds and he felt so much better. He got upset a few times because he wanted to run but Kiddo couldn't run with him. He just didn't understand it. Hubby spent most of the day in bed and is feeling much better now.

I started running a fever this afternoon, but I am doing my best to fight it. I really don't want to go through what Hubby went through.

Kiddo's fever began spiking this evening - poor guy, he could barely walk when I put him to bed. I didn't want him trying to navigate the ladder to the top bunk, so I laid out sleeping bags on the floor for both of the boys to sleep in.  Kiddo was so miserable; I could barely get him off the couch.  Hopefully tonight was the worst of it and he feels better in the morning. Hopefully everyone feels better before it hits me fully.

Because it will hit - and I don't know if I'll be able to power through this one.  Mommas should never get sick.

Until,
D

Old Things New

Gosh I can't believe it's been over a week since I blogged here.  I apologize for the absence.  Things have been pretty crazy around here, as usual, and I am finding I am so tired in the evenings that I can't really complete a thought on a blog.  I haven't been really feeling up to par either, so I am particularly tired most days.

Anyway, the excitement this week - Kiddo lost tooth number 3. It was pretty funny because his 2 adult teeth that are growing in take up more space than the 3 he lost, so when the tooth fell out I couldn't really tell where it came from!  Poor kid; I hope he is ok with having crooked teeth for the rest of his life.

It has been bitterly cold here (and by bitterly cold, I mean below 70). I am about done with it.  I don't mind staying in the house all day, but for some reason, when it's cold outside I get cabin fever much quicker than usual.  I guess when I do actually go outside, I need it to be sunny and warm.

This weekend I am headed to San Antonio for my first ever photography convention. I am all scheduled up with classes and workshops and I just can't even begin to express how excited I am. I will be away from the family for 3 1/2 days, which will be...well weird.  I mean, it will be great, and I know I will enjoy it immensely, but I will also miss my guys something awful. I don't know how parents deal with being away from their children for long periods of time - I don't think I could do it. 3 days seems like a lot to me, though I know it's really nothing.

So my goal is to take lots of pictures and some videos and make this thing super fun - so don't be surprised if you see a bunch of stuff from me on line for the next few days. Speaking of, here is a quick shot I took of a 4-wheeled "senior" that I found while I was out on a high school senior photo session last week.

The boys have been such a mess today.  Port has been acting out all day - to the point that I am ready to put him on the curb.  We hosted my father in law for two nights this week while he worked on some stuff on his property and I think all that excitement was just too much for both my little guys.  I am not sure Port has slept at all for two days.  Today came to a head with Kiddo when I had to completely separate him from his brother by making him stay in my room with the door closed. Every time they were within 5 feet of each other they were fighting over something. I kept pulling them apart and they kept seeking each other out; little magnets! As soon as Kiddo was hidden away, Port went looking for him - and they had just been at each other's throats minutes before! Some down time apart did Kiddo a bit of good, but Port was still a mess.  He ended up tantruming (I know, not really a word) to the point of needing a time out, twice.  During the second one he worked himself through it to the point of calming down, and when I brought him out of his room to apologize and get some cuddles, I picked him up, he laid his head on my shoulder and promptly fell asleep. Poor little dude.

He woke up just before dinner time and was still a mess. A fun bath and some butter cake with fluffy chocolate icing made it a little better though. ;-)

I took the above image of him when I had the great, great pleasure of grabbing a quick lunch with my high school prom date!  Mark happened to be in town on business and he invited me to lunch. It was so great to see him again - I think it's been about 10 years (was the last time at Mike's wedding??).  I think I only said a couple of stupid and/or embarrassing things, so overall I think it went well.  I wish we'd had more time to chat. Unfortunately I had to rush off after only an hour so I could be on time to pick Kiddo up from school.  Next time, I think we should get both our families together - with our 2 boys and Mark and Tanya's 3 girls together it should make for quite the interesting evening!

I would post a picture I took of Mark during lunch, but I was only able to snag one and his eyes were closed.  You lucked out this time, Mark, but I will get you next time. ;-) Thanks again for a great afternoon!

There is a ton more I could say but I really don't want this to be a brain dump post. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Until,
D :)

Clever Love

2011 has been quite the year already.  Not a whole lot has changed so far - the house is still a mess (and probably even worse than usual because all the new stuff is E-VRY-WHERE.  I am catching up on work stuff (I think), sort of, I guess.  I managed to get some organization done on my desktop computer's hard drive and on a couple of external hard drives as well.  I organized most of my client photos from last year.

So yay me.

heh

Anyway, the boys are adjusting to the "back to school" routine by screaming and whining at all hours of the day and night, asking to go to bed early, falling asleep during story time and then screaming, laughing, crying and playing for hours after the lights go out. whee!  It's fun around here.

Port had some fun with the cat today. She was not amused.  

This evening as I was preparing dinner, Kiddo asked me (as he usually does) what we were having.  I told him we what we were having exactly and he replied (as he usually does) with, "What?" So I simplified it and told him chicken and pasta, to which he replied (as he usually does) with, "awww man, again!?!?"

As I am sure you can guess, I don't particularly appreciate that response so I sent him to his room.  And in a brilliant parenting move I thought I would teach him a lesson (you sense the sarcasm here, right?). When dinner was ready, I fixed plates for everyone and set the table. The boys (all 3) were playing in the kids' room and I called them to dinner.  Kiddo's plate had nothing but 2 pieces of plain white bread on it.

Kiddo asked me why he had bread and in my most dramatic voice I informed him that if he was going to complain about what I cooked for dinner, then I was no longer going to cook for him.

I expected shock. Maybe tears. If I was lucky, he'd pitch a fit. His response?

"MMMM! I love bread!" and he happily devoured both pieces and then bounced up from the table and took his plate to the kitchen.

*sigh*

Some coolness here though - we have a new addition to the family.  He's very pretty...in an old, rusty sort of way.

And he has a great smile.

I can't wait to get him to participate in a photo session. I think he will really shine in front of the camera.  Again, in an old, rusty sort of way. 

Speaking of old and rusty, I am back to being a red head. I love being a red head - I just wish it wasn't so hard to maintain.  My hair does not want to be red right now. But I will color it into submission.

I will. For a while at least.

Until,
D :)