I would scream if I could...

I have strep throat.

This Is Not Funny At All

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and feeling kind of sluggish. I chalked it up to a couple of nights in a row of Caleb waking up during the night and needing help to get back to sleep. By mid-morning, I was feeling much worse and by the afternoon, I could hardly focus my eyes. I took my temperature and had a low-grade fever. By the time I got home, I had a fever of almost 101. I called Rudy and he took Caleb to the mall to play and for dinner. I managed to sit in the recliner for a while and got caught up on 3 weeks of Project Runway before I couldn't stand it anymore. I started shivering and aching and had to climb in the bed with my warm PJ's and the thermometer. I've been here ever since. I know it doesn't make any sense to get mad about being sick, but I am. That's just all there is to it. I'm furious about the fact that I'm sick again. Now I'm out of sick days and if I have to miss school tomorrow (highly likely), I won't get paid for it. I'm tired of being sick.

An Update for the Scrapbook Calendar

2/14 ~ Valentine's Day: It was a beautiful day, so Caleb and I played outside after school. We went for a wagon ride and blew bubbles in the driveway. Rudy was asked to substitute for the conductor of the U of A Campus Band, so he was a little late coming in. When he got home, we went out to dinner at Acambaro. 2/15-17 ~ A trip to Hot Springs: We drove down to Hot Springs on Friday after school. Caleb was awesome in the car and didn't really fuss much until the last 30 minutes or so. That's when I really wanted to start fussing too, but I didn't think it would be a very good example. :) On Saturday, Aunt Harolyn came over to visit and then we took Caleb to meet Drs. Jim and Elaine McNiece. Mom, Mr. L. and the McNieces have been friends for years! After that, we took Caleb up to the backside of the racetrack so that he could see the horses. Mr. L. has a friend who is a horse trainer, so we were able to go back to his barn, where Caleb could really get up close and personal. Caleb loved it! Last year, he wasn't so sure about those big animals, but this year, he was enthralled. He even reached out to pet them.

We had a relaxing weekend with Mom and Mr. L. and enjoyed our visit tremendously, but it was time to pack up and head home on Sunday.

2/18 ~ I was out of school on Monday, so I took advantage and made 3 doctor appointments. I got all of my systems checked out and given the go ahead and also managed to get a pedicure while I was at it. It was a busy - but productive - day.

2/23 ~ Aurick's 6th Birthday Party: Caleb was invited to his first Chuck E Cheese birthday party on Saturday. I took him when he woke up from his nap and he had a great time. He even danced with the big kids! I was so proud. I may never forgive Stacy for introducing him to Chuck E Cheese's...just kidding! The best part was that Caleb wasn't afraid of the costumed Chuck E. I was happy to see that, because we're taking him to his first Razorback basketball game on Saturday and I sure would like to get a picture of him with at least one of the mascots!

A GREAT doctor visit

We went to see Dr. Harmon today for a re-check on Caleb's ears and respiratory system. Praise Be...we got a good report. He said that everything is completely okay. We were so excited!!! So - we're not going to have to get tubes this year. However...the first ear infection he has, we are going straight to the ENT and requesting that he put in tubes immediately. Dr. Harmon agrees with that gameplan and we're going with it.

Stomach Flu...again

Back in early September, I wrote a post about our family having the stomach flu. I hoped I would never have to write another one. Yet, here I am - just 5 short months later, reliving the whole thing.

Here's how it all went down...
We all survived the respiratory junk that hit us at the end of January. It cost us a fortune in medications and nearly cost us our sanity (remember the steroids?), but we survived intact. Jan was up for the weekend, so we went out for a nice dinner at Cafe Rue Orleans on Friday night. We thoroughly enjoyed it - as always. Friday and Friday night, Caleb had a little bit of diarrhea, but we chalked it up to his antibiotics and didn't think much of it. On Saturday, Jan agreed (quite willingly) to keep Caleb so Rudy and I could have a day out together. We decided to take a chance on getting tickets at the arena for the Arkansas vs. Florida basketball game, so we went to Fayetteville. We did manage to get pretty great seats and had an absolutely fantastic day together. We watched the game, celebrated the big win with the other crazy fans, went shopping and went to dinner. Rudy even bought me a new iPod for Valentine's Day! Before the game, I commented to Rudy that my stomach didn't feel very good, but I just thought it was because I was hungry. During the game, I started to feel a little queasy and almost feverish, but I pushed it off because I was having so much fun. Rudy called a few times during the day to check in with Jan and Caleb and she said that they were having a great time, but that his diarrhea hadn't stopped and that he was developing a terrible diaper rash. She called us at dinner and said that we should probably come home pretty soon, because he was absolutely miserable and needed some really strong diaper cream to stop the rash. We left as soon as we could and stopped at Walgreen's for diaper rash treatment. When we got home, poor Caleb was in terrible shape. His diaper rash was so painful that he just couldn't be consoled during diaper changes. We were still blaming the antibiotics for his troubles...

I went to bed late Saturday night with a splitting headache and woke up Sunday morning with THAT FEELING. I laid there in misery for a while before I made my first sprint to the bathroom to throw up. That continued throughout the morning and went downhill from there. I definitely had the stomach flu. (In the meantime, Jan had to go help her mother take her father to the hospital. Grandpa's health has been really poor this past few months and he needed some pretty significant medical attention.) Rudy took over taking care of Caleb who obviously had more than just the antibiotics upsetting his stomach. Caleb was a different child than I have ever experienced. He cried at the top of his lungs all day long. He had to be held constantly and could not be satisfied by anything at all. I couldn't lift my head off the pillow without throwing up, so Rudy was completely exhausted by noon. We also knew that the way things were going - there was no way Caleb would be going to school on Monday and that I probably wouldn't either. That's when we decided that we needed to call for backup. I called my mom and she agreed to come up and take care of Caleb. She made it to the house at about 5:00 - just about the time the flu hit Rudy. I was as sick as I have ever been on Sunday night. I could not walk from the couch to the bed by myself. Mom was amazing (as usual) and did everything in her power to take care of Caleb and me and managed to get all of our laundry done at the same time. Somehow, Rudy managed to go to work on Monday. Mom left after going to Wal Mart to get prescription diaper cream for Caleb and Gatorade for me.

Monday and Tuesday nights, Rudy had concerts at the middle schools, so it was just Caleb and me. They were both very trying nights. We were both tired, both still not feeling great and both cranky. That doesn't make for a very good combination. But - we survived and our whole family had a great night last night. Rudy had another concert tonight and Caleb and I had one of the best nights together that I can remember. We played and read books and had dinner together. It was a complete turnaround. I'm praying that we are through being sick for a while and that we can enjoy some time together this weekend without any of the distractions of being sick, tired and cranky.

Do Tears Freeze?

So, we thought we'd be super-parents and take Caleb out to play in the snow yesterday. After all - kids love snow and he seemed to think it was pretty awesome last year, even though he was only 8 months old. Here's how it all went down:

All morning, Caleb went to the window and said, "'no" (his attempt at "snow") and laughed and looked in absolute amazement. So...after Caleb woke up from his nap, we started the bundling. We all put on a couple of layers and asked Caleb if he wanted to go outside. His normal response of, "'side! 'side! 'side!" was a pretty good sign that we were headed out for some fun! At first, his eyes got big, then he managed a half-smile. Then I picked up some snow and let Caleb touch it. He REFUSES to wear gloves or mittens, so I didn't push that too hard. Even though there wasn't much snow, we got out the sled and Rudy pulled Caleb down the sidewalk a couple of times.

After that, things went downhill fast - and I'm not talking about sledding. Caleb freaked out. He cried when we tried to go for a walk, when we tried to go inside and when we tried to put him in his wagon. He was so upset! I asked him if he wanted to go inside and he cried harder. I asked him if he wanted to play and he cried. I'm embarrassed to say that it took me WAY too long to figure out that Caleb's idea of "outside" was very different from what he was experiencing and he was not handling it well. When I asked Caleb if he wanted to go outside, he expected to go out and find grass and concrete and sunshine. Even though he could see the snow through the window - that was just not his idea of what happens when we go "outside." We finally came in and stripped off the outer layer of clothes. He calmed down after a while and we went on with our normal lives...inside the house.

We have a 2nd snow day today and we are NOT going outside.