High-Low weekend

Saturday, we all had a blast hanging out with my sister and her family at Maryland Day 2013. Tahira's a Maryland alum, and her hubby attended for two years before transferring to Morgan State (which is near our house in Baltimore).

The kids got to run around, eat junk food, and frolic in the grass.

The boys got to sit in a real police car, with its lights flashing (ZOMG!), and talk to real policemen, and also hang out in a tractor/bulldozer contraption thingy.

They had ice cream three times in one day (kids' best day ever!) First they had a Popsicle that turned their lips green, then a cup of soft serve and finally a scoop of creamy deliciousness from the University's own dairy. Dean said to me at one point, "Mommy, I loooove ice cream." He's a boy after my own heart.

And they got a skateboarding lesson!! (They were totally stoked about this and cannot stop talking about how they rode on a skateboard. They have been "riding" their guitars and Clair's xylophone at home ever since, saying "Watch me skate!" But you would never ever know it from watching these two stoic boys in this video).


At the end of the day, after our third helping of ice cream, we gathered in a grassy spot by the Dairy, under the trees, and relaxed while the kids played. It was really a lovely day. To commemorate the sweetness of it all, we decided to take family photos.

Here's my sister's beautiful family:

Hot mama!

 And here's what happened when we tried to take a family photo:

Madness and hilarity.

Everyone was fall-on-your-face tired when we got home, so Lester had the inspired idea to pick up Mexican take-out from Los Amigos and put everyone to bed.

But then we realized that poor Clair was burning hot. Her temperature was 102.5 and she was crabby. Here's where the "low" part of the weekend comes in.

We medicated Clair and put her to bed, but around 4 a.m., she woke up screaming. I picked her up and couldn't believe how hot she was. The poor baby was so hot, she even touched her hand to her chest and said, "Ott!" I peeled her out of her pajamas, gave her water, and took her temp -- 102.8.

The next morning, after a fitful sleep, we noticed her breathing was ragged. I took her to the pediatrician -- they have weekend emergency hours, thank God -- and he prescribed albuterol. Clair fought that mask so much, the doctor and the nurse both were amazed at her fiestyness. They called her a "firecracker" and said that she was worse than trying to ride a bucking horse. She really performed.

So when it was time to do her treatment again at 4, I just skipped the mask and used the tube we use for Cary, sat her and her brothers in front of Yo Gabba Gabba, and got her to sit (somewhat) still that way. (Note: I now have two children on nebulizer treatments...)

But by the middle of the day, we realized her fever wasn't going down, it was going up instead. She was listless, refused to eat all day, and had vomited twice.

Here's how miserable and hot and weak my poor sweetie looked all day:

Talk about a heart-breaking look.

When I took her temp after she threw up again and the thermometer read close to 104, I called the doctor again and he advised us to try ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen, give her more water and see if it helped.  I was skeptical, of course. But I guess I am learning that Dr. Bodnar knows what he's talking about (most times).  Because it did help, a bit. Half an hour later, she perked up just enough that we could see the old Clair in there somewhere, and Lester and I have never been so relieved to watch our child smack at her brothers. :-)

Needless to say, we did not get to go water-taxiing, so the boys' Synapse Checklist remains unchanged. Sigh. But it was worth it to stay in the house, so we could hold and rock Clair all day long, and try to keep her comfortable.

She barely slept last night, though, and she vomited again this morning. So I'm keeping my sweetie in my prayers today that she will kick this thing really soon. I've got a big weekend planned for the two of us girls (we're going to Atlanta!!) so I need my baby girl to be back to normal.

Worrisome things abound

After Cary's fine rash and blotchy patch on his face refused to go away, I made an appointment for him at the pediatrician.

Dr. Bodnar said Cary's got extremely dry skin, and although he wouldn't go so far as to say he has eczema, the blotchy patch on his face is a form of it. So we now have switched to a new soap and a new lotion, Cetaphil, and we have to lather him up with it twice a day. He prescribed a stronger medication for the blotchy patch, which has to be applied three times a day. And Dr. Bodnar urged us to start bathing the children every other day, instead of every day as we had been doing. (That's one recommendation I can cheer about.)

While he was there, Dr. Bodnar could hear Cary coughing and listened to his chest. Picking up on some wheezing, he has now declared my poor Cary asthmatic. (This is the third or fourth time Cary's gotten wheezy when he has a cold.) So now, he's on a nebulizer treatment two or three times a day.

When I told my sister this news, she reminded me that doctors say that asthma, eczema and allergies tend to go together -- the Big Three. So I guess we should now be on the lookout for any allergies Cary might have.

Additionally, Cary's had a fever for the last two days and has been fairly cranky about it. Dean's had a fever too, but has been more pleasant -- until this morning. I checked them both when they woke up and Cary's temperature subsided some, but Dean's jumped up a degree to 100.8. And now both of them are crankypants. The whining, people. Good GRIEF.

They've both been out of school since Tuesday, and I figure I'll just keep them out tomorrow too. Apparently, a lot of kids in their class are sick, so perhaps I can keep them away from the other germ-generators long enough to rid our house of this bug once and for all.

Meanwhile, I am really worried about our nanny, Michelle. She's having some quite serious personal issues and I worry about her emotional state. I also worry that 1) She'll be distracted and depressed when she's with the kids and 2) She'll very soon need to find other work that will pay better and offer medical benefits.

This makes me so, so sad, I can't even tell you. I love Michelle so much. She's such a good, kind, giving, funny person and she has been amazing with and for our kids. I knew we couldn't keep her forever -- she's ambitious and talented and wants more for her life. But I had really hoped Clair would get to benefit from her love and care until she was at least 2 and ready for pre-school. And the boys -- who have been with her since they were 9 months old -- truly think of her as family. As do I.

She hasn't said she's leaving us, but she has mentioned that she is conflicted about what to do. And as much as I really want to, we just can't afford to pay her any more money. And honestly, even if we could eke out a few extra dollars, it wouldn't ever be enough for her to really support herself.

So I'm going to have to look for other alternatives, none of which, frankly, will ever be as sweet and comfortable as what we have going now. So I'm bummed. And worried about Michelle. And worried about Cary and his myriad afflictions.

One bit of good news (I'm almost afraid to say it, because you know how this works): I think I've finally figured out the secret to a full night's sleep! Two melatonin and a baby monitor turned down so low I can't hear all of Clair's moans and groans. (But I can hear if she is truly in distress.)

So -- YAY for that. Because all of these worrisome things seem much more manageable when I'm not dog-dead tired.

My first photo retraction

I caught a lot of flack about posting the photo yesterday of the boys on their potties. Lester was good-natured about it, but let me know that he wasn't thrilled. Angel made me worried about weirdos lurking around every mouse-click. And sooo many people on Facebook said my kids would hate me for that picture later, I actually started to get sad thinking about it.

So I took it down.

I want this blog to be honest -- our family, warts and all. But I don't want to embarrass my children unnecessarily. And I certainly don't want to compromise their safety. So I'll admit that I made a mistake (even though I thought the photo was cute!) and move on.

And just to even the score, here's a picture of me this morning, no make-up, sick as a dog (AGAIN!), in my bathrobe, in bed:

Lovely, no? I especially love my double chins and Kimora Lee Simmons neck rolls on full display. And what you can't see are the balled-up tissues strewn all about, or the half-eaten oatmeal on my nightstand, or the laundry that needs folding all over everywhere.

Seriously. Can it just be spring already? I have never been sick so much in my life. Excuse me while I go blow my nose -- again.

RSV, ear infections and other loveliness

There is a pox on my house.

Saturday we discovered Clair has an ear infection and RSV. She's on antibiotics for the ear infection. She's sleeping poorly.

Yesterday, on one of the most exciting days in recent history, I spent the day at the doctor with Cary and at my own doctor. Cary, it turns out, also has RSV (but his ears are clear, thank God). And I have an upper respiratory/sinus infection. Cary got albuterol; I got antibiotics. Last night, I had drainage from hell -- I seriously could not breathe. Between that and Clair not sleeping well, I got very little sleep.

And then this morning, when Lester woke the boys up for school, Dean cried and told him his ear hurt. When I hugged him and asked him what was wrong, he said his neck hurts (that means his throat). Lester took his temperature and it was slightly elevated (100.2) but when I called his doctor, he said to just see how it goes today. When I dropped Dean off at school, his head felt really hot to me. And he was sullen and slightly whiny. So I guess we will just see how the day goes. If I end up having to take him to the doctor today, I guess I would not be the least bit surprised.

I am sick of sickness. Have I said that already? Ugh!

In other news, what little I did get to see of the inaugural festivities moved me to tears. And Cary and Dean thoroughly enjoyed watching the parade. They danced and jumped and banged on their drums, saying, "Look Mommy, I'm a marching band!" And whenever they caught a glimpse of Barack Obama, they whooped.

Also this weekend, Clair climbed up all the stairs while I was outside putting a carseat in the car and scared the living CRAP outta me. Once again, I was completely caught off guard by her reaching this milestone.

And also...this happened -- many, many times:

In sickness and in health, folks, time keeps moving on.

Sick of being sick and tired!

I am sick.

I got some mutant version of the flu (all-over achiness and exhaustion, but no fever) on Wednesday. I've been home, in bed, pretty much ever since. Today is the first day my fingers have felt normal enough to even type. Isn't that weird? Seriously, even my teeth were sore. Such a bizarre little bug.

Meanwhile, I've been able to rest, thank God, because 1) Michelle is here during the day with the kids and 2) Lester has arranged his schedule to be home when Michelle gets off. So I have been able to nap, and rest, in my darkened room. I am so grateful, and blessed. And boy did I need it.

But this does not mean all has been easy.

Except for Lester, the whole house is sick. Cary, Dean and Clair have a nasty cough. Cary's coupled his cough with an off-and-on fever. Clair's paired hers with a majorly stuffy/runny nose that keeps her up all night. The boys haven't been to school in two days. Everyone's been in their pajamas, skulking around, clingy and needy.

When I ask the boys in the morning how'd they sleep, Dean says, "I was keep coughing!" Poor thing.


The kids and I have been battling sickness of some kind since before the holidays. And I was pretty sure I was as sick as a person could possibly be when we were traipsing around New York City, in the freezing cold. But this last flu-like thing put me under.

Michelle has been sick, too -- with a horrible cough and congested lungs for over a month. And just today she said, "Oh no. My body is starting to feel achy. Even my fingers feel sore." I nodded, with sad understanding. I know where Michelle's gonna be this weekend.

I'm seriously tired of being sick -- and tired. Can it just be spring already?

Sheesh.

P.S. In other news, Dean jumped on a library book Cary was reading yesterday and ...tore it. Of course. Ugh!!
P.P.S. A lot of folks have suggested sleep sacks for Clair, to prevent her from suffocating herself at night. Question: Will she still be able to move around freely at night in them? She is a really active baby. I seem to remember sleep sacks being more for smaller babies. Did you guys use them for your nearing toddler-hood babies, too?

I'm dreaming of NOT having Sickmas

Today, Cary had to stay home from school because of a 101-degree fever that started yesterday afternoon and lingered into this morning.

This was how he looked all morning. Awwww.

This also meant Dean had to brave the big, wide world of pre-school by himself for the first time.

Both boys did great! Cary cried a bunch at first when he realized that he wasn't going to get to go to school with Dean, but the promise of TV-watching soon cheered him.

And Dean, ever the good little brother, brought him popcorn home from school to make him feel even better. "I bringed Cary popcorn because Cary had to stay here because Cary is SICK!" he said when I called home to check on them both.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on with Cary -- he says his "neck" hurts (he means his throat) -- but I hope by the grace of all things good that it doesn't go coursing through the entire Davis family. I am so looking forward to some much-needed time off after this week, and I'd hate to be sick on my staycation. Also, who wants Christmas to be Sickmas? Bah humbug!

Especially after seeing THIS preview of how adorable Christmas is gonna be with Clair around this year!

OMG. Seriously, y'all.

 Awwwww!

My friend Monica took these and other photos when she came to visit this weekend -- after filling her belly with cheese grits. And I must say, it sure doesn't suck having friends who you love to gab with and drink brandy-spiked-eggnog with -- and who just happen to know their way around a camera and a flash!

 

When you say, "kiss," she leans in and eats your lips!

Dean accidentally broke a bulb and was so horrified about all the slivers of red and gold glass on the floor, he refused to put on other ornaments without adult supervision. It was really cute how serious he was about getting those bulbs on the tree intact!

Seriously, ya'll! Look at that face!

No sir. It doesn't suck at all!

Monica, I LOVE YOU, girl!!!

Ho-ho-ho!!!!!

The weekend in pictures...

This weekend, the whole family got dressed up to go to an 11 a.m. wedding.
(People with multiple children will know what kind of preparation that entails.)

But we did a terrible job taking into account the fact that Saturday was also the frikkin' Baltimore Marathon. So we were literally thwarted at every turn by roads closures and runners. Literally.

Thankfully, we were in two cars, so eventually, Lester just went on to the wedding himself and the rest of us turned around, went to the Red Canoe and had a muffin. All dressed up and slightly irritated, yes. But then... pumpkin muffins! Holla!

The boys looked sooo handsome in their button-up shirts and sweaters. Too bad they were covered in muffin 5 minutes later. Also, these heels were killing me! Ugh!

Lester said the wedding was really authentic and beautiful and it made him a little sentimental. This is the text message he sent from the reception:

Awwwww!

Later, Matty-Matt came to visit!

Of course, I had JUST put Clair and the boys down for a nap. So Clair missed her BFF. But at least that meant I got to have Matty all to myself!! He's AWESOME.

Matthew brought his Mom and Dad, too. And his big brother Russy, who absolutely loved, loved, loved Sara!

Russy and Sara ran and played non-stop. Do you hear me? Non-stop.

Russy played with the cat so much and so hard, as soon as he left, this happened:

Now I know what I have to do to get Sara to chill the eff out. Get a 5-year-old!

 A
nd still later, we all went to a playdate at Stacey's house. It was a ton of fun and noise and baked ziti and apple pie and ice cream. We loved every minute of it (except for the minutes when Cary was crying and Dean was screaming. But other than that...)

Kelly and Clair (who was starting to get sick, I think.) Also, Clair has no idea but she is sitting next to her future husband!

My friend Kelly came to the playdate with my sweetie-pie Naomi, and when it was time to leave, this happened. Unprompted. And repeatedly.

Check out Dean's form. Some things can't be taught, people.

We have always said that these two are betrothed. From the womb, we have said this. And Dean just keeps proving that we were right. Check out this photo from August, 2011. I think this might also have been unprompted. But even if it wasn't, you see who responded to a directive to "Give Naomi a kiss," and who just stared into space.

Why does Naomi always have the same face when Dean rolls up for a smooch?

Saturday night, Clair got sick. She had already been a bit snotty -- as are all the rest of us -- but overnight, she got so bad she couldn't sleep, and we had to suction her out at 4 a.m. FUN!

All day Sunday, she was miserable and barely napped. I felt sure she'd sleep at night, because she was so tired at dinner, she fell asleep in her highchair! (This would never have happened with C&D. They never slept anywhere but their beds. Ever.)

But she was so phleghmy and snuffly and coughing and hacking all night, she couldn't sleep. Even when I brought her in our bed, she was slightly happier because she got to lie on me and be comforted, but she literally kept us up just about the whole night. MORE FUN!

Lester stayed home with her today because I am super-swamped at work. I felt so bad leaving my poor sick baby. This is pretty much what she looked like when I left.

Finally, finally getting a little bit of rest, poor thing.

But later this morning, Lester sent this picture of her all cleaned and dressed and I feel much better that she feels much better! (Hooray for smartphones!)

Such a happy baby girl -- even when sick!

Now, let's see how tonight goes.  (Anyone want to invent some Baby Sudafed+Ambien? I'll be your first investor.)

Weekend re-cap

I left my cell phone at home and Lester gave me his cold over the weekend, so I'm discombobulated and out of sorts and that means this blog post will be super short.

Weekend re-cap:

Saturday, my sugars were out of control and I felt wiped out the entire day, so I stayed on the couch most of the time and found creative ways to entertain the boys from there.

Sunday, I met up with Beth!!!!! We had brunch and dished about marriage and babies and life, and it was so much fun. She's sooo great. I'm so glad I started this blog so I could meet people like her! Did we take any pictures, you ask? Ummm...of course we did not. We were too busy stuffing our faces and laughing.

Sunday, late evening, I started feeling like I was getting sick. I tried to ignore it. Then, as I'm lying in bed watching Fair Game (a movie about the Valerie Plame story), I started having back-to-back Braxton Hicks. By the time I started counting them, I got up to NINE in an hour.
So I called the on-call doctor, who said to drink a ton of water and watch it for two more hours, and if there were six or more into the third hour, to come to Labor and Delivery. The next hour there were six. And the next hour, I have no idea, because it was way past my bedtime and I fell asleep. I don't think there were that many, though, but I did have to get up and pee 8,000 times because of all the water I drank. 15 contractions in two hours? Weird, right? I have no idea what that was all about.

I was glad that I had monitoring the next day, so I could get a cervix check.

Monday, I was full-blown sick. I went to my monitoring session at the perinatal center feeling headachey and sore-throaty and generally sore. I slept so hard through monitoring, I actually snored. (Embarrassing!) But at least my cervix looks good (nice and closed) and the baby seems fine. I even got a new picture of her where I think she looks like Dean.

Did I bring the picture to scan here? No, of course I did not. Sigh.

Being sick was annoying because I had big plans for Monday, including finally taking down Christmas decorations and putting up some of the decorations in Curve Ball's room. But I slept most of the day (this is the benefit of having an awesome husband) and when I woke up, I was feeling sluggish and unmotivated.

But... Lester took the boys to the grocery store and I just couldn't waste that alone time, no matter how poorly I felt. So I rushed, rushed, rushed and took down just about all the Christmas decorations (don't ask if they're packed very well) and managed to straighten up the toys and miscellaneous stuff around the house while they were gone.

And then, when the boys went to sleep, I did manage to put up what will be the main centerpiece of decor in Curve Ball's room. It took more than 90 minutes to do, and there was a lot of reaching and bending and standing, so I gave up around 9:45 and came to bed.

I watched the last half of the Republican debate with Lester and afterwards was out like a light. And there's my weekend.

Did I take any pictures of Curve Ball's room? No, of course I didn't. But I'll post again tomorrow and I'll have a photo then. I promise.

So...tomorrow, a picture of Curve Ball and a picture of the progress I'm making in her room. But no picture of me and Beth. You'll just have to take my word for it that we both looked FABULOUS!