The Motherload

Well, it's proven to be an interesting month. Not many pictures but had to share all this to get it out of my system. And move on. I walked into our bathroom the other day to find Max stirring the un-flushed toilet water with my hairbrush. Another Glamor-Mom moment. So I'm off to replace it, but first I'll vent. You can humor me and read, or scroll to the end to see a picture of their cute butts. Either way.

Let's see, it all started with Lila's dislocation. Matt was playing a game with her where he kind of tossed her onto the couch by her forearms. We later learned (in the E.R.) that radial head dislocation is the second most common dislocation in kids under 5 because the 'heads' in their elbows are mostly cartilage (as seen on her x-ray). Did I mention this happened on the Sunday evening of a holiday weekend? They told us there would be a 3-4 hour wait in the Emergency Room. It was PACKED. We got there at 7:30 which is was already her bed time. Turned out we only had to wait two, and mom and dad met us there, thank god. I was also a bit paranoid they were going to sick the cps social worker on us, but our ER doc turned out to be a mt. biking buddy of Matt's. PHEW. We got home around 10:30 but Lila milked it for days, holding her arm and wouldn't move/use it. You can imagine how Matt felt. Poor guy.

We had a week or so of no drama after that and then the sickness started. First with Lila, then Max to follow. Fevers, coughing, runny nose, weepy eyes. All four of us were up all week at night b/c of their coughing fits. Lila got better but Max got worse. His eyes were horrible. He was waking up in the morning thrashing around and screaming, terrified b/c he couldn't open his eyes until I hot compressed them over and over to loosen the solidified mucus. We finally ended up in Urgent Care and Lila checked out fine (though she was on about day 10 of coughing), but Max's lungs were rattling and they were concerned about pneumonia. Wonderful. So we're watching his breath like hawks. They also did a swab of his eye. Oh, and they were weighed. Max 27 lbs., Lila 32. Two years and 5lbs difference. I don't know if Lila's little or Max is big. Someone asked me the other day if they were twins. ?

Okay, I digress. That night all seemed 'normal', when 30 minutes after Lila's in bed, she starts screaming. I run in to find her acting like a crazed chimpanzee scratching her head madly and screaming that she itches. I'm thinking lice. I sit her on the table in the kitchen under the light, checking her head and Matt says, 'look at her shoulders'. She's got big raised welts, well, before long, everywhere. Pretty soon her face is red and swollen. Matt runs to the pharmacy and I'm rubbing her with Caladryl and Googling and trying not to panic. Okay, it's just hives - fully body though, and not a drop of Benedryl in sight. But they warn that their faces usually don't get it, and if they do, and if it doesn't respond to Benedryl within two hours, it's an E.R. visit. So we keep her up past ten watching her, and yes, thankfully her face de-swelled. Turned out she had an allergic reaction to the Eucalyptus oil we put in her humidifier. Good to know.

A few days later we got the results back and Max had HIB in his eyes (!) That's the Influenza that causes meningitis.(!) You know, of the brain. And his eyes are, you know, in his head. Very VERY CLOSE to his brain. Can you say nervous wreck? This is also the day that Matt was leaving for a convention in Vancouver WA four hours away. For the week. Did I mention I hadn't been feeling so hot myself? Any self care at this point has gone totally out the window. Oh yeah, and poor mom - turned out on day 10 of what she thought was the flu, she finds out SHE had pneumonia. So we'd had to stay completely away from them this whole time. Anyway, after a few paranoid and sleepless days Max's antibiotics kicked in and he seems fine. They both have lingering coughs, but seem otherwise healthy.

Thank you to everyone for your offers of help and well wishes and dinner (Katy!). I felt, if not isolated, very supported. I myself could use a day-cation. Anyway, onward and upward. Here we go into February, and I can TASTE the changing of the seasons. I'm planting flowers - worth every penny. Second or third frosts be damned. May the next time you check the blog you see only pictures without the diatribe or drama. I'll get to it when I catch up. And may this find you all, if nothing else, healthy. Here's to the coming Spring!
xo
(This is our visual and proverbial End of it. Or in this case Ends.)
Also - people. Do me a favor and please COMMENT. Seriously - it feeds the blogger! Thank you to those that do - you know who you are!

Also, go to Josh and Gretchen's blog to see some really cute pics of Zoe and Lila at Lila's ballet class! (link is to the left)