Illnesses Abound

I got a stomach bug and started showing symptoms of it Saturday night (4/9). It was not fun to say the least. I was soothing Rhett back to sleep when the urge to vomit rushed over me. I set him down on the bed, he started crying and ran into the bathroom. I called for Ted to help soothe the baby as my body was in the process of expelling my dinner from earlier that day.

Fast forward to Tuesday night (4/12), the kids and I arrived home after work and daycare. We went through our normal routine of bathing, and feeding Elle dinner or a snack depending on how much she ate at daycare. I also usually give Rhett a small dinner, but we didn’t even make it that far before he started vomiting all over his bedroom. He ended up vomiting six times in three hours. 😦 Poor baby.

Wednesday I stayed home with both children. I kept Elle out of daycare in case she was carrying the bug also. I didn’t want anyone at daycare to get it because it’s not been fun. Rhett and Elle did well the whole day stomach-wise. Rhett got crankier as the day progressed and I noticed that his lips looked chapped. I was worried that it was because he was dehydrated since he wasn’t eating very well (and I don’t blame him because I didn’t eat a full meal until about the third day after started vomiting).

As the afternoon wore on, I noticed the spots on his lips were turning white and my spirits immediately sunk. He has thrush. Ted took him to the doctor the next day (4/14) since it was already too late in the day to get him to the doctor. Luckily, I had the medication we needed to start treating the thrush.

This poor family has been through so much this year already with the illnesses and doctor visits. Ever since we got out the of the hospital from Rhett’s attack, we’ve seen our pediatrician at least once a week. Elle saw her about a week before Rhett this time around because she had a sinus infection. I’ll be glad when we are all illness free. 🙂

Lots to Report

Rhett started crawling in the last week (3/7/11). He isn’t crawling on all fours, but he is definitely mobile. He’s doing the army low crawl, but he is surprisingly good at it. He can get pretty much anywhere he wants. I watched him crawl all across the living room floor today. From the entertainment center to the couch, in the play room, in his room, in my room. It’s amazing how quickly children master these skills.

Yesterday (3/12/11) morning he waved bye with both hands and said “bah bah.” So “bye bye” is officially his first word. He has been babbling like crazy lately so I wouldn’t be surprised if a few more words follow soon. Elle’s first word was mama around seven months of age. It’s funny how very different their first words are.

Friday night (3/11/11) after my company’s awards banquet was the first time that he ever reach his arms out for me. Ted and I came to pick up the children from Travis and Amber’s and he was totally happy with Amber’s mom, Brenda, but when he saw me he started crying and reaching. Talk about getting a ton of sympathy from mommy when he wasn’t even unhappy in the first place.

Elle has decided that she wants “to be a fashion designer when [she] grow[s] up.” This came about because I commented on how creative she is when it comes to dressing her dolls and making clothes for them out of paper. She also reinvents belts into necklaces or headbands. I said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you became a fashion designer.” Then she said,”Uh huh! I want to be a fashion designed when I grow up!” Then she ran to her daddy and exclaimed that she was going to be a fashion designer.” It’s too bad her name is already a name brand of clothing. 🙂

Elle had her first sleep over (1/23/11) at her cousins’ house. Amber said she did really well. She got a little sad but was a big girl. Elle was supposed to have another sleep over with them 3/11/11, but ended up calling us crying. 😦 It broke my heart that she was so sad.

I found out that I am officially allergic to dogs. My shingles were successfully treated and no one else in the house contracted it.

Ted is making a job move soon and we are praying that it’s the right move for us.

We are still working on selling the house.

Shingles

That’s what I have. Some key points about shingles:

• It usually happens in older people. We’re talking 50+ due to a weaker immune system at an older age.
• It’s the adult version of chicken pox.
• And from an except of a really great article summarizing shingles, “After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus that caused the illness does not completely go away; it lies dormant in the nerve cells that run parallel to the spine. For reasons not fully understood, the virus can become reactivated after a long period, sometimes decades. When that happens, you’ve got shingles, also called herpes zoster.”

I have a feeling that stress of an infant and toddler, lack of sleep compounded by recovering from a few colds led to a weakened immune system that wasn’t able to fight off the infection.

So I’m on medication for seven days as of Tuesday and hope to be fully recovered very soon so that I can get back to “normal.” I’m just praying that I didn’t pass the infection onto Rhett or Elle as chickenpox. Elle has been vaccinated against chicken pox, but Rhett has not as the vaccine is not usually administered until 12 to 18 months.