The last time I posted, we had had "A Strange Day." That was the start of what turned out to be a nasty bout with bronchitis for me. It's now 11 days later and I'm still coughing. We were supposed to go to the Pumpkin Patch with friends on Sunday (10/12), but I spent the day in bed with fever. I spent the nights of the 13th and 14th laying awake and coughing. I actually went to the guest room so that Rudy could sleep. On Wednesday, the 15th, I went to the doctor and ended up with a ZPac, which helped but didn't knock it out totally. I also got some fabulous nighttime cough medicine. If hydrocodone had a fan club, I'd be a member. It turned out to be the only way I could stop coughing long enough to sleep. Caleb has also had a cough for quite a while. We thought the antibiotics after his surgery would solve the problem, but he's still coughing and now his nose is running too. Aaaggh! Silver lining: he doesn't have a ear infection! Rudy was a super-dad during all of this. He took full responsibility for Caleb while I had fever and continued to take care of him most of the week since I was feeling so crummy.
I had the day off on Friday, the 17th and it was a busy day! I took Caleb to school and came home to do laundry and pack for our trip to Hot Springs. We also had the carpets and living room furniture cleaned to rid ourselves of the remants of having an indoor dog and potty-training a toddler. Yeah!!!! After the Sears guy left, I called Stacy and met her for a quick trip to the Hammonds center craft fair and lunch. We went to get Caleb at school and came home to meet Rudy. Not long after he got home, we hit the road for Hot Springs. We made it there without any trouble. It was one of Caleb's easiest trips in a while! Hallelujah!
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Hot Springs. Mr. L was at deer camp, but came home on Sunday morning before we left. Rudy played golf at Hot Springs Village with Chad on Saturday morning and Mom played with Caleb while I slept in. Unfortunately, Caleb hasn't taken too well to sleeping in the "big bed" with siderails at Lala's and one of us ends up having to sleep with him. Again...thank goodness for hydrocodone. :) Shortly after I got up, Aunt Harolyn came by to see us and then Pepapa and Anna Joyce came over. Caleb and Mom spent some time outside collecting acorns for Pops to feed the deer. I went shopping while Caleb napped and got an outfit to wear Saturday night. When I got home, Rudy was there and got ready to go over to Little Rock. We went to dinner and then to UALR for the Air Force Band Concert. Our friend, Chris was playing a trumpet solo, and it was our first time to see him play professionally. I think the last time I saw Chris play was at our wedding 10 years ago! After the concert, we all went over to Chad & Ronni's house for a little bit and then Rudy and I drove back to Hot Springs. When we got home, Caleb was sound asleep in Lala's bed. I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed that snuggle more.
On Sunday, Mom treated me to a special birthday lunch! She made my favorites: crawfish ettoufee and chocolate pie! Yum! After our early lunch, we hit the road for home. We made a short stop in Ft. Smith to see Jan and her friend Sue, then came home.
Of course, in our family, it seems that someone always has to be sick. Rudy woke up during the night Sunday with a stomach bug. He went to work on Monday, but came home early after a trip to the doctor. He was officially quarantined to the bedroom until this morning.
Sunday night, I went to bed at 9:30, thinking I would get a good night's sleep to prepare for a busy week. No such luck. Caleb woke up at 12:00, crying. I put him in the guest bed with me and we both went back to sleep. He woke up at 2:00 and whined/cried until I had to get up at 5:45 to get ready for work. I put him back in his bed at some point during all of that and he cried so hard, I thought he was going to be sick. So, I started the week on minimal sleep. This week is parent-teacher conference week for me, so I knew it would be busy. I left school at 4:30 on Monday and picked up Caleb. We went to the grocery store and then came home for dinner, bath, play and bedtime. I admit...I bought him a new movie at the store so we could have a low-key night. It worked. I put him to bed at his regular time and then had some work to do. It was midnight before I could get to bed. Of course, Caleb woke up at 12:30 screaming. I thought I was going to cry, but my Mom abilities kicked in and I sucked it up. He kept saying that his ears hurt. I gave him some pain medicine from his surgery and he went right back to sleep. Again...I love hydrocodone. We both slept most of the night and made it to school on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday was a LONG day for me. After school, I had parent-teacher conferences until 6:45. On Monday night, I had called our fabulous superhero babysitter, Kelly and worked out a way for her to take care of Caleb for me on Tuesday night. She came by my school and got my carseat, then went to Caleb's school to get him. They went to an early dinner at McDonald's and then came home to play. Rudy was still quarantined. When I got home, Caleb and Kelly were playing happily. Caleb told me he had to go potty, so I took him. My heart sank when I realized that he had diarrhea. I just knew that he had gotten Rudy's virus and we were in for another few days of misery. After a few more trips to the bathroom, I finally got him to bed. I called my principal and told her I wouldn't be at work on Wednesday and settled in for another long night. I got to bed at about 10:15 and, as expected, Caleb woke up at 2:00. Again, he told me his ears hurt. I gave him more pain medicine, took him to the bathroom (no diarrhea!) and we climbed in the bed. The pain medicine wasn't as effective this time. He fussed and cried and whined for over an hour while laying in the bed with me. He finally fell asleep around 4:00. We got up at 8:00 this morning and he played and watched TV while I dozed on the couch and counted down the time until his nap. After lunch, I finally got him in HIS bed for a nap and started some laundry. Then I hit the bed and slept like a rock until Rudy got home. Rudy woke up Caleb and took him to his follow-up appointment at the ENT. I went to school to get some work to bring home. I'm not sure why - it's not like I've even looked at it tonight! I guess I just needed to get out of the house and that made me feel productive. When I got home, Caleb was playing and Rudy had dinner almost ready. It has been a pretty good night. Rudy has felt so much better and enjoyed playing with Caleb tonight. He put him to bed not long ago and we've agreed to let him cry a little longer tonight before going to rescue him.
Everyone is going to school tomorrow. Rudy and I both have parent-teacher conferences and I have someone coming to my school to watch Caleb and another teacher's child. Good heavens, I hope it's a better day.
Now...for the update from the ENT. Nothing. He told Rudy absolutely nothing. He said that Caleb's ears looked fine. He wasn't worried about anything. He suggested a steroid for the inflammation that may be causing the ear pain, but Rudy turned it down. Caleb doesn't handle steroids well. We'll just keep giving him Tylenol and Motrin. Rudy said that Dr. Lee considered another round of antibiotics, but decided against it. I guess we're just going to have to ride this storm out with a test of patience.
Caleb's whining is ridiculous, but I don't know how much of it is because he doesn't feel good and how much is him being a pain. He will throw a holy fit and whine and cry, then look at me and say, "Mama, I not crying anymore." Usually, when he whines, I ignore him or tell him that I can't hear his words when he's whining. When it's the middle of the night, I tend to cave a little quicker. I'm just too tired to deal with it at 2:00 in the morning. I know I shouldn't get him out of his bed and sleep with him in the guest bed. I know that goes against every logical parenting rule. But...usually that cycles through about 2 or 3 nights every month or so. Not a big deal. Now, this has been going on for almost 2 weeks. It's not just getting old - it's old already.
I know I've written a lot of negativity in this post, so let me finish with some positives.
- Caleb has learned some pretty amazing things the past few weeks at school. He's starting to pretend a lot and his language has exploded once again.
- There is a child in his class that likes to try to scare the other kids by talking about ghosts and monsters. With Halloween coming soon, we've been tying to tell him that ghosts and monsters are pretend. When he starts talking about them at night when he goes to bed, I spray some air freshener that we call "monster spray" and he seems okay.
- As usual, he sings a lot. The new favorites are "Where is Thumbkin" and "Old MacDonald."
- Yesterday, Caleb walked into the living room with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders and told me that he was a princess. I thought that was pretty funny.
- Last Monday, he told me that it wasn't raining, it was just sprinkling.
- With all of the fall decorations out right now, he likes to point out all of the "squarecrows."
- When he is in the car with Rudy, Caleb likes to "help Daddy drive" by pretending that he is holding a steering wheel. He actually turns it the right way most of the time.
- He also likes to tell everything "Happy Birthday" - especially Taco Bell and the cows that we pass on the way home. That's a game that he and his Daddy made up one day and he's holding on to it.
- Caleb has started playing with his toys by "making them talk." He'll hold an Elmo figurine and say, "Hi, Elmo" then, "Hi, Caleb."
- Caleb's sense of direction seems pretty impressive to Rudy and me. He knows which way we turn to get places and if we don't go that way, he gets upset. He can also guess where we're going based on which way we're going.
- And, to make things truly positive...I would venture to say that Caleb is now fully potty-trained. He goes days between accidents. When we were in Hot Springs, I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said no. He then went into the bedroom, closed the door and wet his pants. I asked him why he did that. He said he "want to play, not sit on the potty." That's a pretty good sign to me that he can control his bladder. He's just being two.
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