Long Night

We had a brutal night last night. Noah had a fever around Christmas, but it went away. He had complained of an earache, but it also went away. The earache came back with a vengeance last night. He first came into our room at around 10:30, which was only rough because we had just started to fall asleep. We gave him some Motrin and sent him back to bed. Then he came back around 2:00 and was really miserable. We tried warm compresses and Amanda made a solution with olive oil, garlic, and tea tree oil. These things helped a little bit, but he was still pretty miserable. He finally fell asleep, though poor Amanda couldn't move with him up against her.

We all woke up to Amanda's alarm at 7:00. She had set this so we could get up for church today (ha!). We were trying out the alarm through Pandora and were heartily greeted with this to wake up. That was a shock, to say the least. Noah didn't even notice.

I got myself up and started doing my morning stuff when I heard Lily come out of her room. She threw up twice and had some diarrhea. So that pretty much did her in as well. The good news is that Amanda and I didn't feel sick. We just felt tired.

I took Noah to the urgent care where he was promptly diagnosed with an ear infection. We started him on his amoxycillin and I think he is on the road to recovery.

Lily has started feeling much better. We're not sure what happened there, but she ate a good lunch and has been listening to an audiobook all day on her iPod. Noah is also feeling better and has been enjoying unfettered electronics. We do make allowances when sick.

As you might imagine, today has been a pretty mellow one here. I did squeeze a run in before the skies open up later. This isn't really how I wanted to finish up my vacation from work, but apparently God had plans that were different than mine.

Sick Day

It's been a slightly rough day here. Last night Lily was really congested and complained about some symptoms that sounded like the onset of a bad cold. Today it was confirmed and she stayed home from school. The problem is that Amanda is now starting to show some early signs. Fortunately, it is nothing too debilitating, but Lily is going to stay home tomorrow after having a 102 fever tonight. The good news is that the little Peanut is pretty resilient and doesn't really seem to be too bothered. Right now they're watching The Voice.

This came at the end of a really fun weekend. Of course, Thanksgiving was fun with family and good food. Friday night the kids spent the night with the McKenzies so Amanda and I could go see Catching Fire, which was excellent.

On Saturday they brought the kids back and we all watched the Michigan game, which ended up being much more thrilling than we thought it would be. The McKenzies went home and then there were a couple of naps during the first half of the Auburn game. We all watched the end of the game together over a makeshift dinner and everyone agreed that it was well worth our time to watch it.

On Sunday we had some new friends over from our new church. There is some Polish heritage with Amanda's friend, so it gave me an excuse to make stuffed cabbage. It was a little risky making something new for guests, but between an online recipe and my own intuition I have to say that it came out great. I'm pretty sure the secret was including some good kielbasa from the Meat House. Nothing like a house that smells like cabbage and garlic!

The good news is that Noah and I seem to be OK. I feel slightly off, but I think I'm going to dodge this. Noah seems completely nonplussed. The highlight for him is that we spent time yesterday and today working on a video game. Good times for Pook.

Long Night

Our Friday night was one of those nights that come with the territory of being parents. First, I got paged for work at around 10:30. This was not too big of a problem as I went back to sleep very quickly thereafter. But then at 11:45 we heard Lily in the bathroom. She came to our room saying that she had thrown up. When Amanda got up to check on her I asked if she needed help and of course I was hoping that she would tell me she didn't. Unfortunately, she needed help.

Lily not only threw up, but it was all over her bed in a puddle. It was on her sheets, her bedding, and her dog. Amanda started getting the laundry going while I gave the dog a mini-bath. It was pretty gross having vomit all over his head. Of course, he didn't mind!

Lily wanted to snuggle with Mommy, which I fully supported. Our bed is probably big enough for the three of us, but I decided that it would be better to take my chances elsewhere. I climbed into Noah's top bunk and then had to make the bed in the dark. I had stripped the sheets when Noah threw up and we never remade it. That was interesting. I eventually settled down and went to sleep.

My phone went off again around 2:45, but I was able to settle back down after that. Nevertheless, it was not a good night's sleep. I waited in bed until Noah started to stir and then I brightly said, "Good morning, Pook!" He wondered, "What are you doing in my top bunk?" with a big laugh. That made the night all worth it.

Long Night

We had a pretty rough one last night. It started at 9:45 when I got a page from work. Since I was not asleep that wasn't so bad, but it did keep me up a little bit later than I intended.

Then at around 1:00 or so we heard Noah crying. I ran to find him going to the bathroom to throw up. I got him cleaned up, calmed down, and back to bed. We heard him crying again around 2:30 and Amanda took that one. She brought him back to bed with us. Sleeping with him in the middle of the bed is not so great, but we managed. He woke up and threw up again around 5:00. Fortunately, he gave us some warning and I got him to the toilet. It breaks your heart when your little one asks, "Why can't I feel better?"

Noah is going to stay home from school today. I'm going to suggest bonus electronics to take his mind off his tummy. If that doesn't cheer him then he is really sick.

Bitten by the Bug

It seems that the flu bug has decided to pay us a visit. Amanda apologized to Lily this morning about her punishment for throwing up. She threw up a lot of water this morning before she even had any breakfast.

Noah was in a much sunnier mood this morning, though his back was really hot. We’re enjoying some unseasonably warm weather this week. We had a nasty storm last night with lots of stuff blown around. The rain really pounded the windows at times. I was glad to have put some fertilizer down Monday evening!

A Slightly Better Day

Yesterday was slightly better than Monday, but not significantly so. Now it seems that Amanda is battling the early stages of a cold. It didn't help that we had a cool, dry night last night and she woke up with a raging sore throat. I asked Lily to be particularly good for Mommy today. I have doubts about whether she did that.

I start my semester tonight. Today is the beginning of my final semester of Greek. Tomorrow will be the Foundations of Biblical Counseling. I have to do a Personal Improvement Plan for the counseling class. This is one project that I suspect Amanda would be glad to help me with. Not so much that I have so many glaring flaws (though I'm sure I do that I don't realize) but that it's always nice when a spouse wants to improve and asks for help.

Noah continues to do well. Amanda introduced peas yesterday. She even sings the "Peas, Glorious Peas" song to him. He is not wild about the baby food form of peas, but I guess he is eating them. It seems to me that we could do homemade baby food with peas like we did with sweet potatoes.

It's refreshing to have such a good little eater. By the way, it seems that Lily cannot get enough kielbasa. She absolutely loves it!

Good News!

Lily had no fever yesterday. She doesn't quite have her full appetite back yet, but at least she isn't feverish anymore. It seems that every time she gets really sick we get to the point of saying, "If she's still sick tomorrow we'll go to the doctor" and she gets better that next day. We're very thankful for that.

I have an idea to take Lily camping tonight. We'll have a campfire, cook some hotdogs, and I'm sure she'll play with some rocks. It should be a fun time if we do it. I am, however, a bit concerned about the 30% chance of rain tonight. Fortunately, the place where we'd camp is very close and we can make a gametime decision.

Fever

Poor Lily has been battling a fever since early Monday morning. She will feel boiling hot and then we'll give her some Motrin and she'll be OK for a while. What's incredible is that her temperature was nearly 103 tonight, yet she was still pretty perky.

If she's still feeling low tomorrow we'll take her to the doctor.