Week 46 was another hectic one. Filled to the brim
with sickness. Oy!!!
On Monday, I dropped the big girls off at daycare and
had to fill out Olivia’s medical form for her eye drops. Normally we just work
around the school-day, but these new drops have to be put in every 4 hours so
we can really see if they’re helping. After dropped them off, I stopped back at
home…I had to wait for their school to open, so I could call and find out what I
needed to do for her to get her drops there as well. Again, I had to fill out a
form – so I stopped into school, and finally was on my way to work. Meanwhile,
Christian had a morning meeting with some management, and officially accepted
the night manager position. They met his salary requirement, and it sounds like
he’ll be starting at 8:00PM, which works out well for our family (so he can be
around for dinner, some of their summer sports, etc.). It’s kind of scary, and
overwhelming – a big change for the family, but I know it’s what he needs to do
to push his career further. He’s not too excited about it, but hopefully it
will be an easy transition. We’re not sure when he’ll start, but they’re hoping
to get somebody in to train in the next couple of weeks so that he can make the
move. Ch-ch-ch-changes! I had a really busy day at work, and ended up leaving a
tad early. Tonight, Olivia had to get her stitches taken out, and I wanted to
make sure we got to the clinic at a reasonable time. I picked the big girls up,
and off we went. Once we checked in and were taken back, it literally took 5
minutes for them to come in, get them out, and send us on our way. And, it
already looks AMAZING!!! I seriously hope we can get this thing to heal up
well. I think she will lose part of her eyebrow, but it shouldn’t be too
terrible. And, again, she did great. Not even a flinch! Such a tough girl. Now,
if we can just get her dang pink eye under control, we’ll be good to go! After
the appointment, we stopped at Target to get some Vitamin E oil and a sunscreen
lip balm at the suggestion of the doctor, to help lessen the scarring, and
grabbed a few groceries. We settled in at home and started dinner, eating as
soon as Christian and Eliza arrived home. We cleaned up, watched some TV and
played with the girls. We started the evening off rough – lots of drama and
fighting and acting up, but we turned it around and ended up having a really
fun night – listening to some music, dancing around and enjoying some family time
before bed.
Stitches out, my brave girl!
On Tuesday, Olivia’s eye was still not looking
better. It was SUPER red, beyond bloodshot red, watering a TON, and she’s
become really sensitive to light. In the mornings she hasn’t been able to open
her eyes for a good 15-20 minutes at all because she says it hurts so bad. The
school nurse ended up calling me this afternoon with some concerns, worried
that maybe it’s not pink eye after all. I definitely agreed. It’s not getting
better whatsoever, but it’s not crusty or goopy or anything like pink eye. So
frustrating!! So, after picking the girls up from daycare, we were right off to
Urgent Care to get her checked out. Taking all 3 girls to Urgent Care is pretty
much a nightmare, but that place can get so backed up, I didn’t want to wait
for Christian to get home. Of course, as expected, they drove me INSANE the
entire time we were there. Eliza was whining and clingy, the other two were
bugging each other, climbing on everything and not listening again. Trying to
talk to the doctor was nearly impossible. Again, like conferences last week, I
was so embarrassed by their behavior. UGH! After getting the details from me,
and thinking through some options, the doctor left the room to do some thinking
and a little research (in quiet!). When she returned, thankfully, the girls had
gotten themselves under control and we had an actual conversation. She said it
was for sure not pink eye, she didn’t see any scratches or anything on her eye,
and didn’t think it was an infection…it wasn’t swelling or showing any signs of
infection. She ended up diagnosing her with “Uveitis”, or “Iritis”, apparently
a pretty uncommon condition, especially in children. OF COURSE, Olivia is the person
who gets all of the weird, unusual, rare conditions. She got new drops, AGAIN,
and was put in the queue for an emergency ophthalmology appointment if it’s not
significantly better in 24 hours. Stress, stress, stress, stress! All I could
do was hope this was FINALLY it, and she would finally be on the mend. We
started her drops right away, and finally settled in at home for dinner and
some relaxation. I had Olivia sleep with me, so that I could get her up during the
night and give her the drops…we wanted to keep her on a strict schedule for the
first couple of days, and then she’ll be able to do every 6 waking hours after
that.
On Wednesday, Olivia woke up already looking MUCH
better. HALLELUJAH, I think we finally have it figured out!! It was still a little
red, swollen and sensitive, some of which is probably still gash related, but
it was NOTHING like the last few days. She even said she felt much better…in
fact, she said that we should always see that doctor because that doctor know
what she was doing. LOL, poor thing, she’s been through so much. Today was Veteran’s
Day, which is a paid Holiday for my work, so after dropping the girls off at
daycare, I had the house all to myself, all day long. SOOOO needed! I ate,
watched some shows, played on my phone and just enjoyed some personal time.
Eventually, I started working on my list of things to do. I cleaned up the living
room, did a little rearranging, went through/organized the bathroom, got most
of the kitchen cleaned up, and packed up the Halloween decorations, finally!
AND, I photographed all of the girls’ art projects that I’ve saved to date. A
friend suggested that I photograph their art, and keep those (maybe eventually
make a little memory book) rather than saving all of the actual papers and projects.
I was ALL over that idea, and finally started the process today. We’ll be
spending the next couple of weeks getting the house ready for Thanksgiving. We
still have to do the REAL cleaning, and get the basement picked up, but today
was a start. Then, everything started to hit the fan….again. I picked the girls
up from daycare just before closing time. We got all the way home, when Olivia
realized she had forgotten her backpack at school. Of course, her eye drops are
in her backpack, so we had to speed back there before they locked up,
thankfully making it just in time. She ran in, grabbed it, and we made our way
back home. Just ask we pulled into the garage, I heard a strange noise….then
some shock out of Olivia…following with her exclaiming that Eliza had thrown
up, and that she was STILL throwing up. I ran around to her side of the van,
and sure enough, she and her chair were covered in throw up. I cried. I
literally, literally stood there outside of the van, and cried. I mean, how
much more can we (really, I) deal with?! I was so exhausted and overwhelmed and
it was just one hit after another. I finally got her out of the chair, wiped
her down, and started cleaning out her chair. We were still cleaning up as
Christian arrived home. While I finished, he took her in for a quick bath. I
started dinner, finished doing laundry, and she threw up again a little later,
while sitting on the couch. She still wanted to eat, so still being hungry, I
was hoping it was just a freak incident. Maybe carsick from running around back
and forth to daycare, who knows. We ate, cleaned up, and the big girls got
their bath. Eliza was in the bathroom with them, and ended up throwing up all
over the bathroom floor. Back in the bath she went, and Christian cleaned it up
while I finished getting them washed up and ready for bed. Olivia slept with me
again, to continue her drops, and thankfully Eliza ended up sleeping all night
long, no issues or concerns, no more throwing up. She never had a fever or any
other signs of illness, so fingers crossed it was nothing.
I took the photo on the left this morning, to show how crazy fast her gash is healing. Isn't that amazing?! But, you can also see how swollen her eye is, how she can barely open it. It was so sensitive to even the littlest bit of light. So glad I took her back in.
On Thursday, we were up and at em. Everybody seemed
fine…Eliza was in good spirits, Olivia was looking great, I felt like we were
hitting a new stride. The girls were off to daycare, we were off to work, and
the day progressed. Until around 10:00, when daycare called because Eliza had
thrown up. Clearly, not a fluke at this
point. I packed up some work, embarrassingly told my boss that I had to leave…again,
and picked Eliza up. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood. We settled in at home,
played for a little while, hung out, and she eventually fell asleep on my lap. I
put her down for a nap, and did some work while she slept. And man did she
sleep….I ended up having to wake her up to pick the big girls up from daycare
in the evening. After working for a while, I did some dishes, cleaned up around
the house, picked the girls up, and met Christian back at home. We had dinner
and a pretty relaxing night. No more throwing up from Eliza, or anybody else
for that matter, she slept well, and all seems to be going well. Bit, I said that
last night too, so who knows!
Friday was my Friday off, THANK THE LORD!!!! Christian
was off to work, the big girls were off to school, and it was just Eliza and me
for the day. We stopped at Walmart for a few things, and then just hung out
around the house for a while. I did some more cleaning, slowly getting the
house ready for Thanksgiving, but mostly just relaxed. Eliza was a little
crabby, but no more incidents and not too horrible. We picked the big girls up,
grabbed some dinner, and got ready for the big girls’ first night of
gymnastics. That place was SUCH a madhouse, I couldn’t believe it. They were
separated by ages, and went through all of the different stations (trampoline,
bars, balance beam, vault, floor). Thankfully Christian was able to meet us
there and help me keep Eliza under control. The girls absolutely LOVED it, I
think gymnastics will definitely stick. They both actually did really well too…if
I don’t say so myself, I think they were the best in their age groups,
especially for their first time. The uneven bars were both of their favorites
(though, they just do the bottom bar, obviously). After class, we made our way
back home for the night. The girls had a snack and watched a little TV before
settling into bed…we weren’t far behind. Eliza had a rough night, would not
stay asleep for anything, so we were pretty darn exhausted.
A little sister tablet time. They're so cute!
I had to document this. Last year, every book Olivia brought home from the library was about animals. ALWAYS. Now, she's bringing home Zac Efron books. I mean, I don't blame her, but that's hilarious.
First night of gymnastics!
On Saturday, Christian was off to work, and I was up
early with the girls. We watched some movies, hung out, and I was not feeling
well at all. I just felt SOOOO sick to my stomach…it was turning, and I was
having pain and could not eat or drink anything. I fed the girls, and other
than that barely left the couch. It was obvious, whatever Eliza had, was
hitting me now. Eliza was super crabby and clingy, and the big girls were
fighting non-stop. I was SERIOUSLY losing my mind. Amelia started saying that
her tummy hurt, but I was sure she was just faking and trying to get out of
eating. My mom ended up picking the big girls up for an overnight…she was
supposed to take them last weekend, but with Olivia’s injury and the pink eye
she didn’t want to risk catching anything. She picked them up, I got Eliza down
for a nap, and I settled into bed myself for some rest. Not too long after, my
mom ended up calling me from the mall, and sure enough, Amelia had thrown up.
UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH! No faking, she was indeed sick. So, she brought her back
home. She threw up a couple more times, luckily my mom was there to help deal with
it, and finally settled into bed with me for some rest. My mom made her way back
to the mall with Olivia, but we weren’t able to sleep too well, because Eliza
kept waking up from her nap, screaming and crying, and then falling back
asleep. Christian FINALLY got home from work, and took her outside with him and
his friend, Lorenzo, to finish up the last of the yardwork. He was in the midst
of doing the last mow for the season, when the belt on the riding mower
snapped. What next?!? So, he borrowed our neighbors mower to finish, and took
care of Eliza. Amelia woke up after a nice long nap, feeling quite a bit
better. Definitely not 100%, still couldn’t eat or do too much, but no more
throwing up. We watched some movies and relaxed on the couch…Christian and I
had dinner…well, I forced a little bit down, and we had a quiet night. Amelia
slept with me tonight, still not feeling too hot, and Eliza had another rough
night. Our house is just a disaster!
A little morning nail-painting. So many nails to paint in this house...
Sick cuddles for both of us.
Eliza was happy to see Amelia, she doesn't like when her sisters are away.
On Sunday, our bad luck continued. I was feeling
quite a bit better…still some stomach turning, but no more pain or anything.
Amelia was WAY better, even ate a little bit. Eliza was still super crabby and
needy, and I have no idea what is going on with her. Her eyes were a little
crusty when she woke up, so I REALLY hope she’s not getting pink eye now. We
had breakfast, watched some movies, and I ran to the store for a few things. While
there, my mom called me…sure enough, Olivia was up most of the night, and she’d
been throwing up all morning. IT’S NEVERENDING!!!! This sickness is NEVER going
to end. So, not feeling 100% myself, I rushed off to pick her up. She threw again
after I got to my mom’s…so left quick when she finished, hoping to get home
before it hit again. She never did throw up again, though she felt like she was
going to a couple of times, but she spent the day laying on the couch, getting
pains and cramping all day long. My poor baby – I think she got the worst of
it. I had her lay on a heating pad, which seemed to help, and gave her some
medicine. She ended up taking a pretty decent nap, but would wake up just
writing in pain. I did as much laundry as I could between issues, and Christian’s
dad stopped over to help him fix the mower. With that done, he finished
swapping out the yard shed cleaned up the garage (yay, we can finally park in
there again!) and we were officially winter ready (yard wise). After some
dinner, I was off with Amelia to swim class. Olivia had to miss again, poor
thing! Amelia did really well, and we were out nice and early again and back
home. I finished working on laundry, and folded clothes while I watched The
Walking Dead and some Hulu again. Olivia slept with me tonight, and kept “whining”
and crying out randomly. When I would ask her what was wrong, she would say
nothing, and act almost as if she didn’t know she was doing it. She later woke
up, in the middle of the night, acting like it was time to party. She was noticeably
feeling much better, and probably sick of laying down, but I did finally get
her back to sleep. Eliza had a SUPER rough night, up literally almost all night
long, and finally slept for a little while with Christian out on the couch. I
seriously don’t know what is going on with that girl. I feel like I’ve been
blaming her misery on teething for so long, but I have no idea if that’s
actually it or not. She never has a fever, there’s never anything actually
wrong with her, so it’s just a mystery. I don’t want to age her, but I can’t
wait until she’s old enough to start telling us what is wrong with her. Right
now, I’m just DYING for a good nights sleep!
