The ick

I feel like I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. This week has been exhausting. Remember how we thought both kids had strep? Well Stasa's culture was the only one that came back positive and they did Lexi's twice and both times it was negative, but since her major symptoms were vomiting and a mild fever and Stasa had it, they diagnosed her with strep and sent us on our way with two prescriptions of Amoxicillin. Stasa responded immediately to the meds and bounced back like she always does. Lexi did not.

She spent all of Sunday alternating between vomiting and blowing out diaper after diaper. Then Tom reminded me that she had been having diarrhea the week before. So we quit worrying about food (food? ha! she hadn't eaten since that Saturday morning anyway) and focused on forcing fluids and monitoring her intake and output. Tuesday wasn't the best day. She ended up only drinking maybe 5 oz of fluid and had one 1/2 oz pee. After a call to the advice nurse we were sent to the ER. They ended up testing her and she was borderline dehydrated and had low sugar levels so she got an IV of glucose and then another of saline. They wanted a stool sample, but of course she didn't cooperate while there. They sent Tom home with a container to collect a sample and told him to bring it in the next morning.

Tom did as they said and got the sample, packed up the poop cup and Lexi, and drove back out to the hospital Wednesday morning. Then the hospital sent him on a wild goose chase, with the cup of poo and Lexi in tow, all over the place and every department gave him the run around. He was told that we weren't given the right type of container for a stool sample and that since the sample was from Wednesday and not Tuesday (the day she was in the ER), our insurance wouldn't cover the tests. Really? So he handed them the poop and told them to dispose of it and came home. I can't say I blame him. They took the poo cup and in turn gave him a bag of little mini containers to collect a new stool sample.

I came home mid-day Wednesday to relieve Tom and finish my work from home. Lexi was just going down for a nap and woke up after about an hour because she blew out of another diaper. She was inconsolable and finally calmed down while laying on me. I just propped her up on my chest and kept working and after awhile realized she hadn't moved or whined. I pulled my phone out and snapped a quick pic of her face and saw that she was passed out. Poor thing. I worked with her in my arms until Tom left to get Stasa. I kept holding her until my arms went numb and then transferred her to the couch.



Thursday morning I took her in for a follow-up at our pediatrician's office. Lexi dropped about 3 pounds and between the not eating and all of the vomiting and diarrhea I wasn't that surprised and neither were they. We saw one of the nurse practioners, who we love, and she was kind of ticked off that the urgent care put her on the antibiotic without a positive strep test and without doing any other tests. We got permission to throw out the Amox for Lexi since she didn't have any strep symptoms. After checking her over, she said Lexi looked great and it would probably take a couple of days for her appetite to come back. We still don't know what she had, but it was obviously some sort of virus and I'm just thankful that she's feeling better and is her normal self again. She woke up this morning with a full wet diaper, which she hasn't done in over a week. I never thought I would get so excited over what's in my child's diaper, but I did.

And they're sick again

I guess I should be grateful that when my kids get sick they coordinate it so they both get the same thing at the same time. It started on Saturday evening. I noticed Stasa was talking a little funny so I got a flashlight and checked her throat. Sure enough, swollen and red tonsils. She didn't have a fever and was acting like her normal self, although she did have a slight rash on her chest.

Both girls went to bed as usual last night and Tom and I stayed up piecing together a black and white puzzle of the New York City skyline. Yeah, party on!

Around 3ish Stasa came in our room and I just pulled her into bed because I was way too exhausted to even roll out of bed. I did eventually roll out for my middle of the night bathroom break and put the baby monitor on before I got back in bed. I woke up again around 5ish to Lexi whining, but when I saw the time I opted to turn the monitor off and let her go back to sleep. At some point Tom got up and put the monitor back on.

It was past 8:00 when Stasa woke me up and we heard Lexi singing in her room. Stasa went to open her door to let her out. All we hear over the monitor is "OH MY GOD LEXIA. Don't move. Poop everywhere. MOMMY!"

I looked over at Tom and thought "come on!" I prepare myself for the worst only to be hit with something even worse than poop: PUKE. Puke everywhere. I'm guessing that when she was whining around 5:00 was when she puked. I felt awful that she had been sleeping in it. Tom came in and took Lexi in for a bath while I striped her bed and cleaned everything up.

We took both girls in to urgent care since I had a strong suspicion that they both had strep. Sure enough, I was right and they're both now on antibiotics for the next 10 days. Two hours after giving the girls their first dose, Lexi got sick all over herself and the floor. So up we went for bath #2 of the day (and bath #3 in less than 24 hours) while Tom cleaned up the mess on the floor. I knew it was coming, too. I heard her stomach gurgling and then about 10 minutes later she started coughing.

We spent most of the day trying to keep her hydrated and after the second puke Tom made everyone a banana smoothie. We were hoping that would help stop her up a bit because between these little stomach emptying parties she was busy blowing out of her diaper.

Well after she finished her smoothie the stomach gurgles started again. I asked if she was feeling sick and she said yes, so I took her into the bathroom. We cuddled on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet. I told her to put her puke in the potty and sure enough about 10 minutes after we went in she stood up, leaned over the toilet, and let it all out. As soon as she was done she proudly looked up and said "I puked in the potty!" So much nicer than having it all over the floor.

She finally seemed to feel a little better, but was walking around like a drunkard because she was just so exhausted. While Tom and Stasa ran out to grab dinner, Lexi curled up in my arms and passed out. For the night. My poor little boo boo.

Stasa still sounds horrible, but acted like her normal self for the majority of the day (minus the exhaustion meltdown she had right before bed). Both girls are staying home tomorrow and hopefully they'll actually manage to eat something (and keep it down).

Here's what my day looked like.
(technically from Saturday):


Refusing to eat dinner on Saturday

Happy four years!

First things first. As of this past Friday, I've been blogging about our family life for four years. That's a lot of life we're sharing. ; )

When we returned from Virginia Beach we were hit hard with a nasty stomach bug. We thought Stasa had food poisoning, but then Tom came home early on Monday feeling nauseous and then spent Monday and Tuesday emptying his stomach. And then it hit me on Thursday and I traded in my bed for the comfort of the bathroom floor on Thursday and Friday. So.much.fun. Thankfully that's behind us and ::knock on all types of wood:: Lexi managed to stay bug-free.

We spent this past weekend with family - mine, his, ours. Tom's family was and still is in town to attend his Uncle Ed's burial at Arlington National Cemetery and my family got together to welcome back Pete and say farewell to Joe and Sharlene. It's been a family packed weekend. Stasa, in particular, really loved it. She loves big parties and seeing all of her family all at once. And Lexi finally warmed up to Joe and sat with him during the fireworks show.




Stasa has also spent a lot of time with her Aunt Natassa, whom she adores. Last night she was in tears when we left Tom's parent's house because she didn't want to leave "her 'Tassa." She finally cheered up, but only because we told her she would see Natassa again the next day. I'll have to definitely remember to take some pictures of Stasa with "her 'Tassa."

Celebrate Alice

My aunts and uncles planned a surprise birthday/celebrate Alice party for my grandma down in Tidewater this past weekend. Since the party was on Sunday, we decided to drive down a day early to let the girls have some time at the beach. Tom wanted to get on the road by 5:00 am, but we stayed up a bit too late watching one of the Harry Potter movies and didn't leave until closer to 6:30 am. I sat in the back of the car with the girls to keep them entertained since we'd be in the car for four hours, which worked out pretty well. Stasa and I slept a good part of the trip and even Lexi took a short nap. They both kept themselves entertained with the pile of books we brought with us. 

We finally made it to Virginia Beach only to be greeted with grey skies. Lucky for us it was still warm, though a bit muggy, so we parked and headed out to the beach to let the girls play.

Stasa was apprehensive of the water at first, but quickly warmed up to it and loved "jumping" over the waves, a fun little game I wish I hadn't started - my arms were t.i.r.e.d. after 20 minutes of that. Lexi HATED the water, even with me carrying her in and it took some time for her to calm down after that, but once she did she was completely content sitting in the sand and digging. I'm pretty sure she could have happily played there for hours. We stayed and played for almost two hours only to have the beach closed due to an electrical storm. 

(It was so weird how the sky in the background was so ominous and grey and the sky above us was blue and sunny.)

So we left and grabbed a bite to eat at a terrible Mexican restaurant that was horrendously overpriced. Their only saving grace was their frozen margarita and pina colada machines. 

While we were at lunch we heard that they closed the beach for a minimum of two hours. Since it was already after lunch time, we strolled the boardwalk in search of ice cream, found some amazing soft serve, then headed over to our hotel for a shower and quick nap. Well, Tom and I managed to get a nap while the girls played and watched cartoons.

That night we met up with a work friend and his family for some good old fashioned fried chicken from Moseberth's. I went to grade school with one of the girls who now runs the place and hadn't been there in ages. Tom said it was probably the best fried chicken he's ever had.

Then it was party day. We got up, had a bite to eat, showered, dressed, packed and headed over to Portsmouth to kill some time until the party started. We stopped at a Harley store so Tom could pick up a Portsmouth Harley shirt (representing my hometown!), then picked up some coffee and donuts before heading over to a playground to let the kids burn off some energy. Though by then Lexi had fallen asleep, so it was just Tom and Stasa enjoying the playground. 

Finally, around 11:30 or so we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house for the party. Their house is gorgeous and has so much beautiful light streaming in. It's right on the river, too, so if you walk out on the pier you can see and hear both the river lapping and the cat-o-nine tails blowing in the wind. RELAXING. What was not relaxing was having Stasa declare that her tummy hurt and then her throwing up allllllllll over their leather couch and floor. And then again outside. And again in the car on the ride home. :-/

But the party was nice and it was great seeing so many of Grandma's friends who I haven't seen in ages. So many of them looked mostly the same and even recognized me, though it probably helped that I was toting around my mini-me. I think Grandma really enjoyed the party, too, and she was quite surprised, so much so that she didn't even recognize her own sister when she walked through the door. 

After the party we took off for home with Jeff and David hitching a ride. We ended up hitting horrible traffic thanks in part to the regular old Sunday-coming-home-from-wherever traffic and the huge storm we drove into. Oh and we had to stop a couple of times to get food and gas and to let some of our travel companions relieve themselves *cough*David*cough*. We ended up getting home around 9:30, quickly put the girls to bed and then I unpacked everything and stuffed all of our clothes and beach things in the washer before heading to bed myself. I kept Stasa home on Monday just to monitor her and she was 100% better once she woke up in the morning, but then poor Tom came home in the afternoon with the same symptoms Stasa had. I'm crossing my everything that Lexi and I stay healthy. 

Sick Stasa

They say it's just an ear infection, but her fever has yet to break and it's starting to worry me. We're monitoring her overnight and if it doesn't stay down we'll be taking a trip to the ol' ER. She definitely doesn't feel great, but I think she's milking it a bit, too.

The Sick Attacks...aka why we've been MIA

It's been a little chaotic around here the past week or so. Stasa woke up one night coughing so hard she puked so I took her in to see the doctor the next day. And let me note - she had no other symptoms beyond a slight runny nose that just started and the cough. No fever. No whining. No appetite loss. Nothing.

She tested positive for RSV.

So she stayed home and we started nebulizer treatments every 4 hours during the day and every 6 at night and were told to come back in a couple of days so they could check her lungs. We were also told to monitor Lexi since RSV spreads fast and that we shouldn't be surprised if she ended up with it. Which she did. Between both kids, we've gone to the doctor for follow-ups every other day. Seriously. So many visits to check their lungs. And we're finally getting out of the woods. Both girls were cleared for daycare this week and we're weaning them off of the nebulizer. Just in time for Christmas.

Needless to say, it's been a looooooong week home with both girls. Thankfully Tom and I were able to tag team so we could both get some work done, too. And during that week, Lexi mastered a new trick. Standing Baby. She can stand all by herself for about half a minute and she's cruising like it's her job. Little sister is FAST.

I'll leave you with these pictures as I have to frantically clean the house before guests start arriving. Oh yeah, and wrap presents.





TEETH!



"I'm workin, Mommy. I work with Daddy."


Baby cruisin':

Oh, goodie

Stasa woke up and promptly puked. And then puked again 30 minutes later. Looks like we've just bought ourselves a visit to the doctor tomorrow.

Updated: After ralphing the second time, she was totally fine and ready to party. Literally. And since she woke up her normal self, we sent her to daycare and she was completely fine all day. Fingers are crossed that we have no more "episodes" tonight or tomorrow.

It's apparent you're a parent when...

...you've spent the majority of your Saturday catching vomit coming out of your almost 3 year old. Oh how life has changed. We thought it was food poisoning since she was ralphing minutes after eating (and drinking), and she was fever-free and her usual high energy happy self. Besides the puking, we spent the morning and early afternoon playing and puttering around the house. She woke up from her nap ravenous and quickly ate a snack and drank some water...and managed to keep it down. 

We kept it low-key on Sunday, too, and played around the house...painting self-portraits...

I traced her body, traced and cut out her feet, and she glued all the parts on. Tom did the majority of the painting. She's pretty smart and got most of the parts in the right spot. Especially the car.

...playing with Play-doh...

I was told that was a baby snake that was sleeping on its mommy.

...taking a walk...

Stasa asked if we could take her to the play place at the mall and we promised we would after her nap. You know she remembered when she woke up. Kid doesn't forget anything. So off we went and she ran around happily by herself. 

After the mall we did more of the same: hung out at home. 

Girls and goats

Wonder what a sick Stasa looks like?


Yes, she still chews on her blanket(s) - I have no idea how to break that habit. At least we've got her down to only chewing on them at nap and bed time (and when she's sick). Her cheeks are pinkish (as are her arms and legs) from fifth disease. The good news is, she's much better. This kid truly has 2.5 speeds: On, Off, and Sick. And as soon as she's on the mend, she back to On.

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The other night Lexi was so smiley, so I decided to take advantage of her good mood and set up my seamless paper for a quickie photo shoot. In hindsight I should have either waited until Stasa was napping or for a time when Tom wasn't cooking dinner. Oh well, I managed to get a couple of decent shots of Lexi before Stasa crashed the show.


Can you tell she wasn't feeling too hot?



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My goal today was to get us out of the house for awhile since Tom would be at the Skins game most of the day (and night). I woke Lexi up from an early nap (in the hopes that she would then nap longer in the afternoon) and we headed out to the Reston Zoo.

Self-picked outfit, natch

I had never been to the Reston Zoo, but figured we'd try it out since it's local. Turns out it was the perfect choice for a 2 1/2 year old. It's small - only a few animal exhibits, but so easy for a small kid to navigate on their own and easy for parents to keep an eye on them while they do. Of course we spent the majority of our time in the barn, feeding the goats and sheep. It was pretty much Cox Farms revisited. She got all sort of upset when this huge sheep snatched her feed cup, flipped it up, and ate all the food.

Blurry greedy sheep eating all of the food

Other than that incident she had an absolute blast.