Two-for-One Tuesday!

Two-for-One Tuesday? No, I won't be selling anything today, I'm just planning to post TWICE! There's a lot to post about from the past week, plus I'm hoping to finally post my first post in the "The Things They Don't Tell You About Caring for an Infant" series. So here goes the first post:

Last week I wrote about our upcoming trip to Virginia Beach to watch our friends compete in a marathon. We were so excited about the trip--so excited to see them accomplish such a big goal. Then Jack developed a fever Wednesday afternoon. I noticed when we went to the park Wednesday morning that he seemed a little unexcited, but I figured he was just sleepy. After his afternoon nap, though, he woke up hot. I thought it was probably just warm upstairs, but when Kraig came home and we finally found the thermometer, his temp was 102.6. Immediately, I was a little concerned. He's never really had a fever. So I gave him the appropriate dose of Tylenol and then waited to check again in an hour. After an hour, his fever was even higher. We stripped off his clothes and put him in a lukewarm bath in the kitchen sink. Eventually, it came down to below 102, but he fought the fever and sleep all night long.

In the morning, his fever was still in the 102's, so I called the doctor. By the time of our appointment, 10:30, his fever was gone. He weighed in at 18lbs 5oz, and we went to our room to wait on the doctor. While we were waiting, the nurse did a flu test. Our doctor, who I love, came in and checked all the usuals and then confirmed that the flu test was negative. I was relieved until she said, "Actually, it would have been easier if this was the flu." Since his fever was so high, over 104 once, she needed to run a gamut of tests to rule out something more serious. So, she wrote us orders and told me to take Jack to the pediatric wing of the hospital. Not so reassuring. Since he was still eating well, however, she said they wouldn't have to keep him overnight. She left and we packed up to leave the office.

Originally, I had intended to leave Kate at the church with Kraig, but we were running very late that morning and I took her with me instead. She is normally terrified at the doctor's office and cries literally the whole time. Thankfully, she had been a big, brave girl and didn't cry once. I was sure I wouldn't be so lucky if I took her to the hospital. So I called Kraig to tell him what was going on and he came to take Kate back with him. I'm so thankful that he can be flexible at the times that we really need him to be. Once Kate was gone with Kraig, I headed down the street to the hospital, calling a few people on the way.

We got to the hospital and settled into the right place a little before noon. We sat around for a while, during which time Jack finally fell asleep; he was well overdue for a nap. Not long after he fell asleep, they came to take us to radiology for a chest x-ray. It took a while, but they got what they needed and we headed back to peds. After we got back, the phlebotomist came into draw blood. Poor little guy did the best he could, but I could tell he felt like all the smiling faces were betraying him. After that they put in a catheter to get a urine sample. I'm guessing they should've done the urine first, because I'm positive he peed when they stuck him with the needle. Next, they gave him a shot as a preventative measure in case there was a bacterial infection. Finally, they were done and we went to a quiet room to nurse. He was too upset to nurse well, though, and he kept biting me. We headed out and he was asleep before we left the parking lot.

The doctor called later in the evening with some of the test results, and we heard the rest at a follow-up appointment on Friday. All the test were negative, thankfully, so they decided it was just a virus. He was fever-free most of Friday and has been fine since. He never really acted sick, thankfully. We were finally convinced that he was fine and we could still head to the beach on Saturday.

We worked on laundry the rest of Friday and then put the kids in the tub to get ready for bed. It was a little earlier than usual, so after bath time we came back downstairs for a snack. Kate wanted an apple. I peeled one for her and cut it up. She sat on my lap eating it out of a bowl. And then she puked. She had said all day long she didn't feel well, but she acted fine and I chalked it up to the fact that Jack was sick and getting extra attention. Clearly, she didn't feel well. After she was done and we got her cleaned up and changed her clothes, she went to lay on the couch with her daddy. And then she puked again. All over Kraig. It was ugly. Once we got them both changed and cleaned up, she laid back down on Kraig. I think she puked once more, but then she fell asleep on Kraig. He eventually put her in her bed. She woke up twice in the night, but never to be sick. Clearly, we weren't going to the beach. I called and cancelled the reservation. Naturally, she woke up just fine on Saturday. Like nothing had ever happened. We stayed around the house in the early part of the day to make sure she was fine and then headed to the mall to walk around and grab some dinner. I was so mad that we'd changed our plans, but there was no telling that Kraig and I weren't going to be sick soon, too. So far, so good.

We didn't make it to the marathon, but the guys finished and did a great job! They raised a ton of money and they finished the race in 4 hours and 21 minutes, I believe. We're super proud of them for following through on their commitments.

On top of all that excitement, Wednesday was my 27th birthday. Kraig did a great job of making it a special day. He made me cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We had to change our dinner plans since Jackson was sick, but we had gone out Monday night for my technical birthday dinner. We ended up with Burger King. Haha. He also brought me a delicious chocolate cake, and rather than give me a present, he sent me shopping for some much needed clothing. I'm down 46 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, so I literally have nothing that fits anymore. I went shopping Sunday afternoon and scored 4 tops, two skirts, a pair of capris and a pair of shorts. I was super excited. I never do that well--especially at one store! I'm so thankful to have a few things that fit well now and even more thankful that they're much smaller than my old clothes. I'd like to lose around 19 pounds more. We'll see how that goes. It's time to kick it back into high gear before summer comes!

Anyhow, long post about our crazy weekend. Hope your weekends were more calm! And now....to work on the next post!

"It's the Most _____ Time of the Year"

Today's fill-in-the-blank? Sickly, perhaps. Illness has once again stricken the Bishop household.

Kate had something stomach related Sunday. Jack started sounding like he was getting a cold on Tuesday. Last night, Kate woke up screaming in the middle of the night with a horrible, barking cough. I suspected she might have croup, and I was right. We took both kids to the pediatrician today. Jack seems to just have a cold. They checked for RSV, but it was negative. Kate has croup and her strep culture was negative today. Oh and my throat is sore and my nose is running. Lovely. They sent Kate home with a prescription for a steroid and albuterol (and, thank you, spell check, but I don't mean butterball).

Back to the Kate waking in the middle of the night story: We came home from church last night to find out that the electricity was out. We lit a few candles and sat around hoping it would come back on. We were sure Kate wouldn't go to bed without any lights on. We were right. We finally decided to make Kate a bed on the loveseat and Kraig would sleep with her on the couch. Once everyone was settled in, it was at least 10:30. And right when things were calming down, the lights came back on. Eventually, though, we all fell asleep. Then around 1:30, Kate woke up and didn't go back to sleep. I don't know if she was scared because of the way she felt or what, but she was nearly inconsolable. She'd ask for something, get it and then scream that it wasn't what she wanted. A minute later, she was begging for the same thing again. She was a mess. She decided she wanted to play, so we played. When she was done with that, it was clear she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. We finally turned on Super Why and she laid down like she might settle down. I headed back to bed to be near Jack and quickly fell asleep. Kraig was not so lucky. He dozed off and on, but was constantly awakened by a little girl who didn't want Daddy to be asleep. What time did Kate finally fall asleep? 6 a.m. Did she sleep in this morning? Not really. Did she nap extra long? Not at all. Did she go to bed early tonight? Absolutely. We'll see how the night goes.

Situations like this are so difficult. Kraig and I both need to be at church on Sunday, but I can't leave the kids in the nursery if they're sick. Jack hasn't been in the nursery for a full Sunday yet. There's always a willing hand to take him. Kate's not so easy (or easy to keep quiet). I'm praying that she'll be feeling a lot better for Sunday. She can always hang out with the teens in the teen service;) I think she'd rather be there anyhow! I'm very thankful, though, that Kraig was able to go to the doctor with us. It's not fun to drag both of them in there when they're not sick. It's December 1st and I'm already ready for winter to be over. I haven't even seen any snow yet!

In other news, Kraig and I started a diet on Tuesday. I'm actually finding it difficult to get in all the calories I need to eat. It's already starting to show on the scale, which is great, but much too quickly since I'm thankfully still breastfeeding. The goal is to lose 10lbs by Christmas and I don't think either of us will have any issue with that. The hard part will be to not gain it all back during the Christmas travels and celebrations. I'm guessing eggnog is terribly full of calories, fat, and everything else you don't need to binge on. That being said, I need to eat!

Happy December 1st!

P.S. The power was out again today from around 5-7p.m. It made making dinner impossible, but Subway was still open!

Yeah, baby. We've got it.

The common cold. It's always such a joy when this time of the year comes around, and I get a cold. It's been an entirely different thing, though, since I've been a parent. I think Kate had one cold that lasted the entire winter when she was first born. Last Wednesday, she started getting congested. I knew it was coming. It came and spread quickly. By Saturday, Jackson was sneezing and snotty. Sunday afternoon (thankfully after the morning worship service), I started feeling it, too. Kraig, thus far, has managed to avoid it. Not sure how. Kate seems to be doing better and Jack really only has minor symptoms, thankfully. I think I've got it the worst, but life goes on when you're a Mommy. It's not been terrible, but it definitely impeded my progress on my goals list for last week. Here's last week's list. Red things got done. Yellow things got done most days. Black things are going back on the list for this week!

Last week's goals:
1) Dust the house towards the end of the week
2) Mop the kitchen/bathrooms (Friday or Saturday)
3) Vacuum as needed (and on Sunday)
4) Clean up the kitchen after meals/before bed
5) No computer time until Kate's naptime (yes, I'm breaking this now)
6) Pump breastmilk at least once a day to stock the freezer with
7) Cook chicken for the freezer and make stock to freeze (Wednesday)
8) Prep the menu and grocery list for next week
9) Bake cookies for Sunday night teen life groups (Saturday or Sunday)
10) Do one load of laundry per day, start to finish
11) Sort through the kids clothes, putting away the ones that are out of season or the wrong size
12) Work on Kraig's birthday stuff
13) Read to both kids everyday
14) Do something artsy with Kate everyday
15) Potty training!
16) No more snacks after 8pm
17) Get some exercise at least twice

This week's list is similar.

This week's goals:
1) Dust the house towards the end of the week
2) Mop the kitchen/bathrooms (Friday or Saturday)
3) Vacuum as needed (and on Sunday)
4) Clean up the kitchen after meals/before bed
5) No computer time until Kate's naptime (yes, I'm breaking this now)
6) Pump breast milk at least once a day to stock the freezer with
7) Prep the menu and grocery list for next week
8) Bake cookies for Sunday night teen life groups (Saturday or Sunday)
9) Do one load of laundry per day, start to finish
10) Sort through the kids clothes, putting away the ones that are out of season or the wrong size
11) Finish Kraig's birthday stuff--it's Saturday!
12) Read to both kids everyday
13) Do something artsy with Kate everyday
14) Potty training--once she feels better
15) No more snacks after 8pm
16) Get some exercise at least twice

Hopefully this week's list goes better!! If you made a list last week, how did it go?

I haven't forgotten...

Dear Blog,

I have not forgotten about you. Unfortunately, the plague has taken over my house. First the daughter, then the husband and now the Mommy. They were so sweet to share. There's not much else to share. Doctor's appointment to hear the baby on Monday! Can't wait!

Hoping to return to you soon,
Stacy