Catch Up

I apologize for slacking! I guess it's time to catch up now. I've tried several times to sit down and write, but I never get very far before being interrupted, and then I never finish.

Let's see, where to start?

Back in November, Shad and Little Man had the flu (unconfirmed H1N1). After giving Little Man one dose of Tamiflu, his fever broke within a few hours. Once his fever broke, he acted perfectly normal. Shad, OTOH, had the flu for 12 DAYS, with a fever for about 10 of those! We normally travel for Thanksgiving, but spent it at home this year with Shad's dad, who brought us Cracker Barrel to eat (very yummy, btw!).

Christmas was nice, although it was looking like we'd be sick again when the week first started. I had a sinus infection that wouldn't go away and Little Man ended up at the doctor on Dec. 23 after complaining that his ear hurt. He ended up with a pre-ear infection (not actually infected, but very red and swollen)! Thankfully, we caught it early enough and got him on a Z-pack. He and I were both feeling much better by Christmas Day.

Little Man's big gift from Santa was a big boy bicycle. From Mama and Daddy, he also got the GeoTrax airport, remote control truck and car combo and a few small, miscellaneous things. Here are a few pictures (you can click on them to make them larger):

Christmas card


Our outside decor


Decorating the tree


His gift from Santa (notice he's holding Blacky)


GeoTrax from Mama and Daddy


Remote control car and truck


Shad's netbook (this was a lemon, so had to swap for a different one)


Riding his bike in the cold and wind


He got toy guns from Granddaddy


After Christmas, we had the opportunity to go to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl down in Atlanta to see the UT Vols play the Virginia Tech Hokies. That was on New Year's Eve. We took Little Man with us and spent one night down there. We all had a lot of fun! Here's a picture from that:



Our 2010 has been going smoothly so far. There's a couple of newsworthy events to write about. First of all, we signed Little Man up to play t-ball this spring. As one of our friends, who's also one of the commissioners stated, "It's like herding cats!" We look forward to watching Little Man learn how to play. Hopefully, he'll develop a love of the game like his Mama and Daddy!

The 2nd thing worth writing about is that we booked a CRUISE for October! Shad and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in December. We took our very first cruise for our honeymoon back in December 2000. We LOVED it! Unfortunately, after returning home, real life set in and we've not been able to afford another cruise. We decided around our 8th anniversary that we would start saving and, by golly, we were going on another cruise for our 10th anniversary! It actually only took about a year to save (thanks to Obama and his tax relief), so last week, we booked our cruise to the Western Caribbean (Grand Cayman and Cozumel) on Carnival's Inspiration for October 4-9. I'm so excited!!! Of course, we still have just short of 8 months left. Boo! I'm using that time, though, to research, find tips and figure out what excursions we want to do and who to do it with (Carnival or a local tour guide). Our first cruise was to the Bahamas and, after finding out how expensive the cruise line's guided tour was, we opted to do our own thing. Thankfully, we found a local tour guide that gave us an excellent, cheap tour of Nassau (including the Atlantis Hotel). I'd like to do my homework beforehand, though, this time. I've been visiting Cruise Critic's message board and found a thread with little known tips. So, I've been making my own list that I will, eventually, post on here. The thread on Cruise Critic is over 103 pages long, though, and I've only made it to Page 10, so I've got a LONG way to go yet!!!

It sure would be wonderful to get away on a cruise right now! We've been dealing with more snow that I remember getting in quite a while! Schools have been closed so much that many systems have run out of snow days. I don't remember having so many different times that we've had accumulations. The most we've had in this area was about 3-6" back at the end of January. We were able to take Little Man sledding for his first time. He absolutely HAD. A. BLAST! Here are a couple of pictures of that:





We've currently got about 1" on the ground now, but that's enough to stop life. Schools were already closed today for Presidents Day, but they'll be closed for snow tomorrow. The preschool I teach at goes by the City school calendar, so since they're closed, we're closed as well. This makes Snow Day #3 or 4 (I've lost count) for us. I wish I could say this is the last snow of the season, but we very well could get more into March or even April! Hopefully not, though!

So, that's pretty much what's been going on the last few months around here. Hopefully I can start doing a better job of posting on here!

Oink Oink! The Piggy Flu Has Come For A Visit!

Both Little Man and Shad were diagnosed with the flu...Type A...probably H1N1. We'd have to send it down to the CDC to be confirmed. That would cost $300 and insurance won't cover it, so we're left assuming it's H1N1. Oink Oink!

Shad's on Day 2. Little Man's on Day 1. I'm praying that I'm not next!!! Both started on Tamiflu this evening. Hopefully, it'll get them feeling better soon!!!

For those of you interested...Little Man's preceding symptoms:

For the last few days, he's had a clear, slightly runny nose, really no nasal congestion and a dry cough. We recently ran out of his Allegra, so started giving him Claritin. I assumed it wasn't working and he was having allergy issues since that's his normal reaction to allergies. Nothing that caused me to worry.

The fever started around lunchtime today (Wednesday, Nov. 18). While working childcare at church, he became flushed and warm. I chalked it up to the fact that he was running around and playing. However, he was still warm when we got home (approx. 12:30), so I took his temperature. It was then 102.1!!! Shad was actually at the doctor's office at that very moment. He later received the flu diagnosis, so called to tell me. I got Little Man into Dr. L (Dr. T was out of the office) where they swabbed his nose (he DID NOT like that!). The test came back positive for Type A flu. It's not confirmed, but Dr. L believes it's H1N1.

Little Man was so pitiful when I put him to bed tonight! I was laying next to him, holding a cold, wet washcloth on his forehead and he started hallucinating. :( He was asking what that green stuff was on the tv. The tv in his room was off and he was facing the wall when he asked. Poor thing!

I did learn something new today: a fever of 102.1 is considered "mild!" Apparently, anything between 97 and 100.4 is "normal." Umm, when my child feels like he's on fire and is hallucinating, I don't consider that mild!!!!! His fever has gone as high as 102.4 when I've checked. Thankfully, the Tylenol has brought it down to the 99-range the one other time he took some (he's only taken 2 doses and is now sleeping)!

At this point, I'm only dealing with a bronchial infection. I had flu-like symptoms (fever, aches, pains, lethargy) back on Sunday evening (Nov. 15), but I woke up perfectly fine on Monday morning. I haven't had a fever since then. I've been told by my doctor's office that I didn't have the flu since it was so short-lived and that I shouldn't be contagious unless I have a fever (I've been on an antibiotic for my bronchial infection for almost a week). I'm praying that I don't catch it next and that Shad and Little Man get well soon!!!

BTW...Little Man weighed in at 31.4 lbs at the doctor's office!

First Trip to the Emergency Room

Well, at 3 years, 10 months and 5 days old, Little Man made his first trip to the Emergency Room. It was the middle of the night on Tuesday, October 20. He'd gone to bed without any problems and was feeling perfectly normal. The only sign of anything out of the ordinary was a slightly crusty nose Tuesday morning. However, he had absolutely no problems with it during the day. Around 2:00 AM Wednesday morning, he woke up in a panic and unable to breathe very well. Between gasping for air and coughing like a seal, it was quickly determined that he probably had Croup.

The first thing we did was try to get him calmed down. Then, we wrapped him in a blanket and took him outside in the cool air. Those two things helped quite a bit, but he still had labored breathing. So, we decided to make a trip to the ER for a breathing treatment of Epinephrine.

We got there and were seen right away. He was put in a room where we did a whole bunch of waiting! Apparently, he was 1 out of 4 kids there with Croup at the same time! They gave him the Epinephrine as well as a dose of Prednisone (steroid). They also took a chest x-ray, which came back okay. So, 2 hours later, we were sent home with the diagnosis of Croup and a prescription for 3 more days worth of Prednisone.

We got home and Little Man went back to sleep right away. Unfortunately, even though he was awake for over 2 hours in the night, he was still up by 7:00 AM! Blech!

Thankfully, that was the only signs of the Croup. He was perfectly fine on Wednesday; he ate normally and played normally. It was very weird; I definitely think it was a result of so many prayers for him! He did have a stuffy nose and slight junky cough, but nights were perfectly fine. The cough was completely gone within a few days and the stuffy nose cleared up about a week later.

At least it wasn't the H1N1 virus!!!!! (Knock on wood!)

Here are a couple of pictures from the ordeal: