2014 - Week 50

Well, following yesterdays’ events, I was clearly off of work today. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest, but I was able to keep some food down and get off of the couch, so that’s a plus. I also didn’t want to send Olivia or Amelia to school/daycare, not knowing for sure what was going on or if they were really feeling better. Christian was feeling alright and was off to work, and brought Eliza to his parents’ house as usual. She still wasn’t feeling the best, but I thought it would be quieter for her over there, and good for her to be away from us just in case. Even though I wasn’t feeling the best, I was I was determined to make my day at home a productive one. While the girls rested, played together, watched some videos and took a nice long nap, I got a lot of chores done. I did piles and piles of laundry, wrote out thank you cards from Eliza’s baptism a few weeks ago, got our final Christmas decorations up (and the storage totes back down in the basement), ordered our latest family photos to hang up in the living room, got the Christmas cards ready to go and I even got a couple hours of work in (to get some rush stuff that I didn’t want sitting done). At least the day didn’t go to waste, I can’t really be mad at that! Finally, I got dinner going, Christian arrived home with baby and we settled in for the night. While Olivia and Amelia seemed pretty much back to normal as the day went on, Eliza did throw up a few times at his parents’ house. But, she otherwise seems to be in wonderful spirits, so it’s kind of strange. She was happy, laughing, playing – probably the happiest we’ve ever seen her honestly. Hopefully we all have whatever was plaguing us out of our systems now, and everybody can get back to where they are supposed to be tomorrow!

Tonight, Buddy arrived, apparently heading into battle with the ponies!

Tuesday started off alright. I was back to work. Still not feeling 100%, but I wasn’t in pain anymore and I had a little more energy, so things were looking good. Olivia and Amelia seemed completely back to normal, so off to school they went. At this point, we were really just hoping Eliza was feeling better. She had a pretty good night, but with an infant there’s no real way to tell if they’re better or now – it’s just a wait and see game. My work was crazy busy, especially after a day off, so I spent the entire morning catching up on e-mails and routing things that were sitting. I did get a call in the late morning letting me know that Eliza had a watery, greenish blowout, and if she had another she’d have to be picked up. Sure enough, around noon, it happened again and I had to leave to get her. I have a feeling this is not going to be the best week ever. She fell asleep on the way home, and actually slept for a couple of hours, so I was able to eat some lunch and finish up a few work tasks that I really needed to get done. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, watching some TV and just hanging out. Eliza was pretty crabby, so I didn’t want to drag her back up…so, Christian picked the big girls up on his way home (literally AT closing time, whew!). We had some dinner and a quiet night at home after all of that chaos. While Eliza was crabbier than usual, there weren’t any more throwing up or diaper issues, so we had our fingers crossed, again, that she would be feeling better the next morning.

Buddy surprised the girls with "Polar Express" night...some hot chocolate, some s'mores trailmix and the movie. Fun! 

Wednesday was another busy day. It was work at home Wednesday though, so I had that going for me. We started off the morning blind again, hoping that Eliza was doing better. Christian was off to work, and I dropped the girls off at daycare. As I brought Eliza into the infant room, the teacher looked at me kind of confused, and called the Assistant Director into the room. I started to panic a little, and she told me that Eliza was not supposed to go back to daycare today. Oh my gosh I felt like such an idiot! I know when they had a fever, or something like pink eye, you have to wait 24 hours, but apparently, when they throw up or have the watery, diarrheaish diapers, it’s also a 24 hour wait period. She did agree to keep her since other than the diaper issue she was happy and in good spirits all day, but said if she had one issue, she’d have to be picked up and kept home tomorrow. So, I was on my way back home – feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. The day ticked on, hour by hour, and I was on edge all day long. Daycare did end up calling around 4:00 – they said she did have a watery, greenish blowout, but was otherwise happy and doing great, so they were going to let that one go – but, if she had another, she’d have to be picked up. Luckily, I picked them all up a little after 5:00 and there weren’t any more issues. This is just so crazy – I don’t know why she can’t just kick whatever the heck she has going on, but I feel so bad. The girls and I stopped at Walmart on our way home – picked up the photos I ordered, a few groceries, and some new Christmas stockings. Christian met us at home…we had dinner, a little family time and the girls were off to bed. Christian and I spent the evening personalizing our new stockings before bed, and I just LOVE them. I’ll probably have to redo mine next year, my letters got a little too hot, but the stockings were super cheap, so that’s OK.

Poor Buddy. The girls' BFF's were getting jealous of all the attention Buddy has been getting. We arrived home just in time to save him...

On Thursday, after a pretty good night, we thought we were out of the woods. I dropped the girls off at daycare and I was off to work. I got a call around 11:00 that Eliza had projectile vomited, big time, was running a fever and had to be picked up right away. Seriously guys, I wanted to cry. Like really, seriously, REALLY wanted to cry. While it was really hard leaving Eliza and returning to work (and is still hard, honestly), I’ve still never imagined myself as a stay at home mom. Moments like this, I really wish I were. While it’s exhausting all on its own, I’d love to be able to just stay home with my kids when they’re sick – not have to worry about leave time, about work piling up, about how it looks. One day I’ll have leave time saved up again, ONE DAY, and then I’ll at least feel a little more comfortable. Until then, it all just adds to the pain of having sick kids. Luckily, today, Christian was actually able to take the afternoon off and pick her up. While my work is super flexible and it’s really not a big deal to leave or call in, his work is much more strict about taking time off, so it’s not often he can do that. I felt this huge sense of relief wash over me when I got the text from him letting me know he was on his way. She ended up taking a nice, LONG nap for him, so he had a pretty quiet afternoon with her. I picked the big girls up after work and we made our way home. Eliza was tired all evening, wasn’t eating much, and still had a fever on and off all evening/night. My poor baby, I just hate it. I wish I could just take it all away from her! As I left work today, I was able to mail our Christmas Cards, the Thank You cards and Olivia’s birthday party invitations, and I was feeling very grateful that tomorrow is my Friday off, because things weren’t looking too good.

Buddy surprised the girls this morning with our new personalized stockings. Love!

As mentioned, Friday was my day off…thank God. One less thing to worry about during all this chaos! The big girls were off to school, Christian was off to work and I settled in for a day with Eliza. She woke up shortly after Christian left, and she was really was cranky and upset most of the day. She didn’t nap well, she threw up (majorly) twice throughout the day. It was just not a good day, at all. So, I spent most of the day on the couch with her…comforting her, trying to distract her, trying to get her to sleep. I was able to watch a majority of, and finish, “American Horror Story” though, so at least I had that going for me. I was pretty stressed out over poor little Eliza though, I’m not going to lie. To make matters worse, Christian had to work extra late. So, I picked up the big girls and made some dinner while trying to deal with the cranky baby. The Christmas lights weren’t working, so once he was finally home, Christian was stuck outside trying to get those up and running again. I swear, it’s always something! Needless to say, after eating and a little family time, we were all off to bed pretty early.

Buddy, up to his old tricks! He drew on our family picture, and the girls found it hilarious, as always.

My poor sick baby, taking a bath to clean up. Love her rolls!

Saturday was a busy day. Christian was off to work and everybody was up and at ‘em bright and early. No rest for the weary! Eliza did seem to be doing a little better today though…she was a little crabby, but no throwing up, no fevers. Fingers crossed!! We did start giving her some pedialite today though…she has been waking up dry in the morning, hasn’t been peeing much, and with all of the throwing up and bathroom issues, we’re starting to worry about her becoming dehydrated. Poor baby. Shortly after Christian got home from work, my mom picked the girls up and they were off to spend the night with her. She was finally feeling better and hadn’t been able to spend any time with them for quite some time, so they were all pretty excited. As soon as she picked them up, I was off to do some shopping. I ran to Hallmark and Target – picked up a few Christmas gifts, some groceries and a few other things, and then made my way home. Other than a couple of gift cards, I’m officially done Christmas shopping – WOOT!! Christian and I had some Thai food for dinner, I wrapped some more gifts and we watched a couple of movies, “Need for Speed” and “Sex Tape” – we liked both of them, so it was worth it, but I knew that I would be paying for our late night in the morning!

Buddy arrived tonight with baking ingredients to make my favorite cookies! YUM! 

Sunday was another busy day around the house. Eliza was up pretty early, so I started laundry right away. I did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and did a little picking up around the house. We had a late breakfast /early lunch and watched both of the “Purge” movies while we waited for the big girls to come home. They didn’t end up coming home until about 3:00, so we had a pretty quiet day! Always welcomed, that’s for sure. I made some baby food this evening – apples, pears, yams and bananacado. Pears were new this round, and we gave her some for dinner – I’m a little worried that she may have had a little reaction to them, but we’ll have to see tomorrow when she has them again. Other than that, and being a little tired, she had a pretty good day. Again, no throwing up and no fever, regular stools, she ate pretty good. Hoping we are FINALLY past all of this sickness. It sounds like the world is being plagued by a really horrible strain of Influenza this year, so I’m feeling pretty grateful that (so far) we just had this stomach bug. Hopefully the Influenza spreading all over will somehow miss us! After some dinner and getting everybody settled in for the evening, Christian was off to a friends’ house to watch the soccer game, so I got the girls to bed one by one and spent the evening resting. What a week/end!

Buddy brought us our 2014 singing snowman tonight, I love these things!

Sister time, Eliza is going to take over that thing in no time!

Baby food making night!

Until Next Week! XOXO