Easter weekend - filled with food, fun & family. Egg coloring, egg hunts, candy, Easter baskets, getting together with family, getting dressed up for church - all a part of the fun Easter weekend. Unless you lived in our house this weekend!
It began Friday in the early morning hours, somewhere around 1:00am - Averley is crying. I go & nurse her back to sleep, back to bed I go. 2:15am - Averley is crying. I go & nurse her back to sleep, back to bed I go. 3:15am - Averley is crying. I go in to give her her pacifier, she's burning up. I go get the Tylenol, give her a dose, nurse her back to sleep. I'm exhausted at this point. She wakes up again at 6:30am - still very warm. Declan wakes up with a cough & a slight fever. And so it begins.....
Friday:
Declan starts out with diarrhea & a temp of 100.4. Averley has a temp of 101.5. This day wasn't too bad, Averley slept quite a bit but Declan only napped for an hour.
Friday night into Saturday morning:
Kids are in bed by 8pm. Declan sleeps through the night with the occasional cough disturbing his slumber - but ends up sleeping 13 hours. Averley is up so many times throughout the night I lost count. At one point Ryan is up with her for an hour as she sleeps on his chest until the dishwasher that was on a delayed start turns on & wakes her up. Ryan had stripped her down to just her diaper because she was so hot - when the dishwasher woke up her he noticed she had pooped & it had gotten all over his shirt, pants, the couch & her. Diarrhea. Yuck. I wake up & take over to give him a break. Throughout the night we just keep rotating each time she would wake up.
Saturday:
We called the pediatrician's office & found they were actually open! Declan had acquired a croupy cough & Averley's temp topped out at 102, Declan's at 101.4. We took the kids to the doctor around 10:30am. Ears look fine, breathing sounds ok, throats look good - only thing is they are running this fever, have diarrhea & Declan's cough. We were told they more than likely have a virus that hits children across the nation around this time of year. They had seen a lot of it that week (along with strep throat). They gave us a prescription for a steroid for Declan to help with the inflammation of his vocal cords & told us to continue what we were doing. Gave us some things to look for in case they didn't get better but for the most part we just have to wait out the virus.
Saturday night into Sunday morning:
Declan slept through the night again. Averley was up around 2am, I gave her some Tylenol, then she was up again at 3:15 for an hour with Ryan, again at 5:30am with me - at this time she actually fell asleep in my arms while I was rocking her. I tried to sleep in the chair in her room with her but it was just way too uncomfortable. I put her down, she wakes up but I leave the room. I guess she fell asleep because I didn't wake up again until 7:30am.
Sunday:
Oh man - today was the culmination of lack of sleep for everyone. I don't know if there was a point during this day that Declan was not whining about something. But it wasn't his fault....he was over tired. We had Easter lunch at Ryan's Aunt's house at 1pm - only we didn't actually eat until 1:45pm. Had we known lunch was going to be LATE we would have stayed home a while longer & let the kids take a nap. Declan was so tired he didn't even want to eat - would have much rather cried. Poor guy. They both fell asleep on the car ride over but woke up as soon as we opened the van doors. By the time we got home at 2:30 both kids were exhausted, crying & I was at my wits end. I was frustrated that we weren't given a heads up about the late lunch, I was tired from lack of asleep, I was annoyed by all the crying - I needed a nap myself. Thankfully Ryan was okay with my taking that much needed nap. I slept for about 2 hours - I probably could have slept longer if I didn't feel a little guilty about taking that nap.
My side of the family was having Easter dinner at my brother's house - I drove over to drop off a broccoli casserole & pick up some left overs for us. I called everyone in the house & not one person answered the phone....I was already feeling sorry for myself & then nobody answering their phone just made me even more sad. By the time I got there I was about ready to crack. My mom, sister & nephew met me at the door & I was so into how awful my whole weekend had been that I couldn't even crack a smile & say Happy Easter to my nephew. Ridiculous! I couldn't even really make eye contact with anyone or I would have burst into tears right there. I got hugs from my mom & sister, grabbed my food & left.
I let it out on the drive home - I let myself cry. I didn't realize how not being with my family on a holiday made me feel. Just thinking about how much fun they were having while I was at home with crabby, sick kids. Then I started feeling sorry for myself again. Pathetic!
I was so thankful when the kids went to bed - EARLY! I don't think I could have taken much more. I'm certain there will be more days/weekends/holidays just like this one & patience for these trying times probably comes over time. I am so thankful the weekend is over.
It is now Monday - Averley woke up with no fever. Declan is still crabby but I am putting that on the steroids he is taking, which this is the last day for them.
I'm sure nobody really cares to read my hour by hour weekend, haha - but this is really more to have documentation than anything. Some day the kids can read this & see everything they have put us through! haha :)~ I love my kids!
April 25, 2011
April 21, 2011
So many thoughts.....
Well, its been a while since I last posted. The reason being - I've been busy. In all of my free time I have been working on a secret project that still has to remain a secret until I finish it. I will post pictures as soon as it is finished. What kind of project you may ask? Well, that is a secret too. If I tell you what kind of project it will give it away. So - look for my big reveal in a few weeks. YES - it is/has taken me this long to work on it & get it finished!
On to my next thought: Breastfeeding!
A while ago I blogged about the struggles I have had with breastfeeding. How I didn't really enjoy it & it was just difficult for me so I moved on to pumping & feeding from a bottle except at night. About a month after that post I met with someone & she talked to me about the importance of having the baby at the breast & the little extra stuff that happens with the baby's saliva & some other stuff I don't really remember.
So, I went home & tried it again. I grabbed Averley, sat down on the couch & attempted the dreaded task of breastfeeding that I just didn't enjoy. Averley latched on like it was nothing & we had the best breastfeeding experience ever. HALLELUJAH! As long as she continues to latch on so easily & nurses well I am DONE pumping!
Two months later & we are still exclusively breastfeeding....AND ENJOYING IT! I get it now - I get how a mother & child has that bonding time. I get why some mom's don't want to give up that night time feeding. I get how personal it is. I get how mom's love breastfeeding. It took me this long but I SO get it now.
Nursing Averley to sleep at night, watching her eyes slowly shut, listening to her cute little hums as she drifts into sleep, her arm flailing around like a crazy lady praising Jesus & then it smacking onto my chest leaving a little red hand print, her cold hands on my warm skin, her tiny sharp fingernails scratching places that I don't want scratched as she kneads my boob trying to get the milk faster, our eyes locked onto each other - I smile at her, she grins at me as milk dribbles out the sides of her mouth. I love it...I love it all. Why did I miss out on this in the beginning?? It is so beautiful!
On to my other thoughts......
Declan & his ABC's!
Declan is beginning to repeat letters & it is SO stinkin' cute. Watching the way he moves his cute little mouth to form the letters is something I could watch all day. When he says 'O' his little lips move to one side of his mouth & his sweet little voice sounds adorable. He loves the letter 'T' & 'O' - he will find those 2 letters on our fridge magnets & bring them to me.
He has also added a few more words to his vocabulary. He now says pawpaw for Grampa (yes, I know that is spelled wrong but that is what it is!). He says 'Bell' for Annabelle. We think he said Ashton today too....not sure though :)
He is at the most fun age right now. Wrestling around, cuddling, dancing, wanting to be independent. Loves to be outside when the weather permits. SO very much looking forward to the summer.
Averley
She is a rolling machine - which frustrates her to no end because she sometimes isn't wanting to roll but crawl & instead...she flops over onto her back. Then she cries out of frustration. Its pretty funny. She will be on her belly, pull her legs in, butt up in the air & then for some reason will start to go onto her side & then FLOP, onto her back. She's almost there - it wont be long & she will be crawling all over the place.
We are going to start feeding her some table food as long as what we are having can be "gummed" :) She loves shoving those little puffs into her mouth by the handful & ate a graham cracker today pretty well. Maybe its time for little pieces of food!
I think that's all for now - hopefully I will be able to write more often if I can get all the kids down for naps at the same time like I did today! Woohoo!
On to my next thought: Breastfeeding!
A while ago I blogged about the struggles I have had with breastfeeding. How I didn't really enjoy it & it was just difficult for me so I moved on to pumping & feeding from a bottle except at night. About a month after that post I met with someone & she talked to me about the importance of having the baby at the breast & the little extra stuff that happens with the baby's saliva & some other stuff I don't really remember.
So, I went home & tried it again. I grabbed Averley, sat down on the couch & attempted the dreaded task of breastfeeding that I just didn't enjoy. Averley latched on like it was nothing & we had the best breastfeeding experience ever. HALLELUJAH! As long as she continues to latch on so easily & nurses well I am DONE pumping!
Two months later & we are still exclusively breastfeeding....AND ENJOYING IT! I get it now - I get how a mother & child has that bonding time. I get why some mom's don't want to give up that night time feeding. I get how personal it is. I get how mom's love breastfeeding. It took me this long but I SO get it now.
Nursing Averley to sleep at night, watching her eyes slowly shut, listening to her cute little hums as she drifts into sleep, her arm flailing around like a crazy lady praising Jesus & then it smacking onto my chest leaving a little red hand print, her cold hands on my warm skin, her tiny sharp fingernails scratching places that I don't want scratched as she kneads my boob trying to get the milk faster, our eyes locked onto each other - I smile at her, she grins at me as milk dribbles out the sides of her mouth. I love it...I love it all. Why did I miss out on this in the beginning?? It is so beautiful!
On to my other thoughts......
Declan & his ABC's!
Declan is beginning to repeat letters & it is SO stinkin' cute. Watching the way he moves his cute little mouth to form the letters is something I could watch all day. When he says 'O' his little lips move to one side of his mouth & his sweet little voice sounds adorable. He loves the letter 'T' & 'O' - he will find those 2 letters on our fridge magnets & bring them to me.
He has also added a few more words to his vocabulary. He now says pawpaw for Grampa (yes, I know that is spelled wrong but that is what it is!). He says 'Bell' for Annabelle. We think he said Ashton today too....not sure though :)
He is at the most fun age right now. Wrestling around, cuddling, dancing, wanting to be independent. Loves to be outside when the weather permits. SO very much looking forward to the summer.
Averley
She is a rolling machine - which frustrates her to no end because she sometimes isn't wanting to roll but crawl & instead...she flops over onto her back. Then she cries out of frustration. Its pretty funny. She will be on her belly, pull her legs in, butt up in the air & then for some reason will start to go onto her side & then FLOP, onto her back. She's almost there - it wont be long & she will be crawling all over the place.
We are going to start feeding her some table food as long as what we are having can be "gummed" :) She loves shoving those little puffs into her mouth by the handful & ate a graham cracker today pretty well. Maybe its time for little pieces of food!
I think that's all for now - hopefully I will be able to write more often if I can get all the kids down for naps at the same time like I did today! Woohoo!
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