On the downhill...we hope!

For all of you wonderful sympathetic friends and family (sympathy is almost as good as healing!)...
...Asher was fully himself today. Still speckled, but the hives mostly looked like they were on the wane rather than new and angry like yesterday. Some of the hive patches from yesterday were so severe that he was bruised this morning! He was happy today, and that was a major relief because...

...Owen had a very rough day. He threw up a couple times (3rd day!) and just laid around and was irritable and moaning most of the day. Poor guy. He tolerated apple flavor pedialyte a lot better than grape; wish I'd tried that earlier! He wanted supper even though he didn't eat much once I got some bland choices in front of him...but the presence of appetite was marked improvement, so I hope he's on the downhill of this!

...Reuel is better already and my cold seems to be letting up surprisingly early.

Hallelujah! Just a couple weeks back I was kind of in a rut of disgruntlement about feeling like all I ever do is run a hamster wheel...clean, cook, bath, bed, laundry, and repeat. My attitude has been checked and I am now ready to return with gratefulness to the ordinary. Ordinary is quite spectacular, really! Trials are a gift, recognized only in hindsight :) And I do know this wasn't the biggest trial in the world. I'm a complainer :P

I just so happened to remember that I had a little Playmobil set stowed away from Christmas...when we discovered there were a few too many purchases for Owen and held it back for a rainy day. Yay! The kids had a blast with the tiny pieces of a workshop set, pretending with the tools, setting up the workbench, and it really turned Owen's attitude around for a little while. After I don't know how many solid days in the house now, a little something new was awesome.

Thanks for thinking of and praying for us!

Day 3

Please forgive the play-by-play description of our sick days. Just skip this if you're a reader, and tired of hearing the details! I think I like to look back at what we go through and remember the realities...that, and the saying about women using 30,000 words a day and men 20,000; men using theirs up at work, and women not getting to start on their quota until hubby walks in the door...true in our house!! So sometimes instead of calling a girlfriend I like to write :) Esp. since Reuel walked in sick tonight too :P All 4 down for the count, though I'm still waiting for the intestinal delights.

Well, if I thought the last 2 days were rough, I was a real wimp. Today was worse by far. Asher had his energy back like a switch had flipped. He is past the vomiting, just the diaper blowouts and the hives now. Oh, the hives. I am going to put a picture or two at the end of the post but they are pretty nasty...fair warning. I recalled the ped. today and he said stay the course w/ Benadryl (which seemed to do NADA!) and see if it's better in 48 hrs. Asher was ANGRY, irritable, and itchy. He seemed even more crazy agitated and mad after a Benadryl dose (as opposed to sleepy) but I was afraid not to give it to him. So...rough day. Owen was still vomiting today, and just wanted to snuggle and rest like Asher did the last 2 days. Thus, the problem. Asher learned in 2 days of coddling that he got picked up, cuddled and treated like the prince while he was suffering, and he was not about to let his throne go to Owen today. Combined with his general discomfort, the now-energetic and demanding toddler spent the day screaming, throwing things and trying to claw Owen's eyes out every time Owen tried to sit in my lap. Owen, now lethargic, was being so patient and just waiting for me to deal with the problem at hand, but doubled over and moaning most of the day. Yikes! Well, they're in bed now and we're all alive...as long as it doesn't hit me overnight I can probably make it another day. All the way through Friday would do me in. How do you get help though? You can't exactly ask someone to come over and expose themselves to the plague. Tonight Reuel is lethargic and in bed, and there are 5 mountains of laundry which must be done, or else burned as toxic waste. Is my character stronger yet? Does complaining disqualify me from the character-development? :)

OK, here's the ugly pictures. So I remember what little man went through, and maybe someone reading will find it useful to learn what a hive network looks like.

OK, I am in a hurry, so the photoshop censoring is a bit rough :)

In the oatmeal bath

Yikes!!

p.s.

Nearly forgot...when Asher perked up, we needed to get some soup, gatorade, and bread.  It was nice just to get out and drive.  The grocery store was next to the dollar store, so I let the kids pick out a $1 present for their sick day.  Owen just couldn't decide what he wanted...too many choices.  I asked him if he wanted one of quite a few cool 'guns' that shot foam disks, or darts, that sort of thing.  His response:  "No Mommy.  Those shooting toys are not really nice and kind, and I want to be kind to other people and not think about things that would hurt people."  Wow.  The stomach flu as morality teacher?  Can't help but give your boy a hug when he's that kind of sweet!  But where did he get the idea that guns could hurt people in the first place?  Male instinct?

Uncle!

Uncle!  I am crying it!  Last night as I woke up periodically feeling my throat start to get sore...then sorer and sorer...and my nasal passages swelling shut...I thought, "Oh boy, tomorrow's not going to be a whole lot of fun with a sick Asher and now a sick me."  But when I woke to Owen's peculiarly piercing screams (that boy knows how to express displeasure!!) and found him ralphing on the upstairs carpet, well, that's when the I knew it was going to be a character-building day.  Nothing like two GI-sick kids to keep you from focusing on your own discomforts!

What happens when tiny, immature brains are exposed to insanely large amounts of television programming?  I'll let you know when the results are in on my experiment.  Asher laid on me like a limp noodle all day, and Owen did alright until I let him drink 2 oz. at once, at which point it multiplied into way more than 2 oz. on the floor.  Well, whatever, we made it through the day.  Asher actually turned a corner at about 4pm, kept food and liquid down, and then at 5, he was the fussiest curmudgeon I'd ever met.  He was absolutely hateful and mean and I had no idea how to put him at ease.  I noticed his ears were bright red and he was really rubbing them so I made a late Dr.'s appt. (after having canceled one 2 hrs prior when he turned the corner) and by the time we got there...hives.  His chin and eyes were covered in little hives.  By the time we left the office...lips like Angelina Jolie's (literally, like 3 times the normal size), eyes almost swelled shut, itchy tongue, arms, legs, neck, everything.  He was MISERABLE and screamed the whole way home.  Dr. H thinks it's hives that can come along w/ a virus, often just a day or two before recovering from the virus.  Benadryl was the only recommendation, unless he starts having trouble breathing (praise the Lord, it hasn't gotten to that!).  I am just so grateful and feel very watched over that I happened to have him in to the Dr. for what I thought was ear infection (though that seemed very strange).  I think we would have been panicky about the hives at home, not having been through those before, or wouldn't have caught them since he would have been in bed for the night by the time they came on.  Yikes!

His little lips are still puffed, and he doesn't look like himself!  Prayers for him that it's passed by morning.  2 days of this is enough, thank you!

Sick Asher

Oh, my little tater tot is so sick.  It started with diarrhea and throwing up (in the bath, oh yeah) at 6 or so last night.  After a clean-up and jammies, he *melted* into the mattress shortly thereafter and slept all night.  He slept great all night, no messes.  Then he was up at 5am.  He was fussy, but not crazy, and usually if we go to him, that's the end of the night's sleep.  So we let him fuss for 5 or 10 minutes and he went back to sleep for an hour, and then woke up fussy again.  TERRIBLE DECISION!!  We should have known right away something was wrong when he was fussy at 5, but I guess sleepiness + being accustomed to letting our kids get themselves back to sleep were to blame.  When we got him up, he had had some mess in his diaper, and it basically turned into an acid burn on his skin, and he wouldn't even walk around early this morning, just collapsed on his belly on my legs.  Well, it wasn't just the skin getting him down.  He threw up more today, and was really a limp doll.  I even called the ped. because he was so not himself, but he didn't have any dehydration signs.  He spent the *entire* day either sleeping or being held and laying his head on my shoulder.  Owen couldn't even get a laugh from him!  Owen said at one point, "I like to be a really good big brudder when babies are sick in dis house.  I just want Asher to have his smile on!"  We kept sips of liquid, bites of jello and maybe 1 saltine down him today and he did perk up after the jello just a bit.  At bedtime and naptime though he was asleep before he hit the mattress just from a 1 minute walk around the room with me, and let me tell you, that has never happened with either of my kids.  Wow.  Well, Asher is either sicker or a more pitiful sick person than Owen ever was...never seen the like of it!  Hope it's a 24 hr. bug and asymptomatic by tomorrow. 

Would rather have told of my mom's visit this last week, and all the fun had.  She and Owen saw Toy Story on Ice at Boston Garden, we did various and assorted fun activities during the week and she babysat some nights for us, which was GREAT!!  Don't know how much more there is to tell, but I'm bushed from a day of baby-holding and cleaning/sterilizing!!  Speaking of, I forgot a funny.  Apparently, before work this morning, Reuel told Owen to wash his hands if he touched Asher.  Because let me tell you, Owen washed his hands about 35 times today.  If he so much as brushed Asher, he announced that he needed to wash his hands.  Very sweetly at one point he said, 'Mommy, I am going to pat Asher because he's not feeling good.  It's OK.  I can just wash my hands after that so I don't get sick.'  Owen is very terrified he's going to start up-chucking after watching Asher, and is decidedly against it :}

Aspiring hipster?

I don't know if Asher was inspired by my recent visit to hipster-zone Williamsburg/Greenpoint with Megan, but he got hold of the crocheted headband I bought from a street vendor, and combined with a pair of lenseless old sunglasses, I think he came up with quite a fashion forward combo.  I guess he can't really pull off a hipster look...too chubby.  Owen was quick to follow his lead. (Debbie, now you know what's coming in the mail for you... :)

 

Owen asked me to cut out some shapes for him from paper and proceeded to make this Valentine's day mouse from them...he told me "please cut 2 legs, mommy," and so on.  Nice creativity!

Bye!

Asher, almost 19 mo.

Seriously, is my baby nearer to TWO than one?!!!  Life is moving at light speed.

Asher had his checkup this morning.  Owen stayed home with Mom so Asher got a rare spotlight moment.  He was on his A game...giggly, energetic, ready to jump in anyone's arms and give hugs, his happy life-loving self.  He got rave reviews all around; a full ego-buttering.  Dr. Hoder accused him of being a mountain goat...not far off!!  He is so strong I could hardly hold him through his vigorous protest of all forms of poking or prodding.

Stats
Head circum:  97%ile
Length: 40 %ile (overall, wobbling around the 50 line)
Weight: 25lb; 40 %ile

So, we thought he was overweight, but Dr. H says, "Not at all!"  Nice to know.  The boy has a seriously big cranium though!