correction

Add two more antibiotics to the picture in my last post as we now have another diagnosis in the house of strep throat. Influenza....the gift that just keeps on giving. (Wyatt and Sadie both being treated for strep!)

Poster family for getting your flu shot

Doesn't this look like a place you'd like to be right about now??


As you can tell by the title of this post, we have been struck with influenza. Yes, I said it.....I.N.F.L.U.E.N.Z.A. And for those of you that don't get a flu shot because you think the flu isn't that bad, let me just say you clearly have never had it. It is horrific! And we didn't get flu shots this year because I was waiting for everyone to be healthy at the same time--BIG mistake.
So hear is a bit of a rundown on what the last few days have looked like for us....

Sunday--Blake wakes up with fever of 102, everyone else feeling fine

Monday--Blake still has slight fever and really, really crabby so we go to the doctor's office to make sure it isn't an infection....sure enough, his left ear was infected but hadn't started to drain yet (kids with tubes in their ears aren't immune from infections but their ears will drain when it is infected)...start Blake on antibiotics

Tuesday--Blake wakes up with drainage from both ears, eyes and nose....Wyatt wakes up with fever....climbs to 104..call the doctor and they want me to bring him in...wake everyone up (they had all finally fallen asleep)...carry both Blake and Wyatt in to the doctor's office (quite the scene)...Sadie still feeling fine...sit in waiting room for about 20 minutes (Blake crying the entire time and Wyatt falling asleep on me)...get called back....Wyatt endures strep test (gagging the whole time) and influenza test (equivalent of giant Qtip getting stuck up both nostrils)....strep test negative...doctor says if it is influenza, we won't treat because Wyatt has no history of asthma...then I add the interesting caveat that I am 8 weeks pregnant (trying to tell the doctor without the kids hearing because we haven't told them yet..more on that news to come)....her eyes light up and she says, "well then, we will definitely treat Wyatt with tamiflu if he is positive for influenza"....come home with exhausted kids....get the call that Wyatt does have influenza and they call in tamiflu, tell me to expect a few days with fever followed by sore throat and/or cough for up to 2 weeks (great!)

Wednesday--Blake wakes up with horrific cough....is awake for about an hour then falls asleep on me...naps for about 1 1/2hr and then repeats the cycle....Wyatt's fever a bit lower but the sore throat begins to kick in and he is in serious pain....Sadie now complaining of a sore throat so she is quarantined to her room (I think she enjoyed the Sprite and DVDs in her room and wasn't in near the pain of her brothers)....call the nurse regarding Blake's cough....she is horrified when she hears him over the phone, definitely sure he has influenza.....I begin to realize that he started the influenza on sunday with the fever and just happened to have an ear infection on top of it....talk to doctor and they want Blake to be seen immediately due to his age and the nature of his cough....send us to his ENT first to make sure his tubes look fine (we hadn't made it back in for his post-up since he's had so many ear infections still)......Load up all the kids again (begrudgingly) and head to ENT.....ENT says his ears look fine but he needs to be seen in Pediatrics for his cough/lungs....send us down the hall to peds (not our normal pediatrician but I am not about to drive to a different location)....after much discussion considering the week we've had and again, telling the dr. I am "gestationally at 8 weeks", they listen to Blake and decide we need a chest Xray and nebulizer treatment....we've never done nebs in our family and boy was it rough...I begin holding the mask up to Blake's face (this will last 5-7 minutes) and he begins screaming....I brace him down with my arms and legs and hold the mask over his face....Sadie starts crying because she thinks I'm hurting him...I tell the kids to wait in the hall...Wyatt just wants to be by me (even more so since he can't be because I am pregnant but he doesn't know that) and Sadie is crying for Blake....after neb treatment we go to get the chest X-ray....they have to put Blake in a 'harness' contraption to hold him still with his arms over his head...he begins screaming again and Sadie begins crying again...I have to tell Xray tech again that I am pregnant and I have to leave the room completely...wait for a few minutes to meet with doctor again....and finally good news! Blake's chest Xray looks clear and the nebulizer treatment didn't work (a good thing longterm because that means we aren't dealing with asthma, but not great because this cough could last for weeks). Doctors decide to call in tamiflu for Sadie as she appears to be at the beginning of the influenza. Blake is too far in, as tamiflu is only effective if used within 48 hours of the first symptoms. We leave after being there for 2 hours with 3 exhausted kids to pick up Sadie's prescription. CVS calls me and tells me their computers are down and they can't fill her prescription (I go there because they have a drive-thru) so I call the doctor back and they call it in at Target=no drive-thru and have to unload all three kids again to go in and get prescription.
Blake goes to bed at 6pm (poor kid) and Wyatt and Sadie are back in their rooms eating their dinner and watching DVDs. Sadie begins coughing and I immediately know what's coming next (Matt was upstairs trying to help out the kids so that I could get a break from being exposed again and again).....before I can get up there, Sadie throws up due to her cough. We wash her sheets and get her a bath, then get both Wyatt and Sadie to bed. I am exhausted!!

Today--Wyatt wakes up at 5:30am with horrible cough (similar to Blake's yesterday), give him tylenol and ibuprofen and he's back to sleep until around 7:30....Blake and Sadie wake up around 7am....Blake seems a bit better, Sadie seems a bit worse....now dealing with Wyatt complaining of not wanting to stay in his room, being tired of being sick, wanting to be by me....Sadie sad because she can't go to the Woodbury Daddy/Daughter dance with Matt tonight and wanting me to hold her constantly (which I can't)....Blake walking around and playing a bit, which is a good sign.....Wyatt and Sadie upset that I can touch Blake and not get close to them....feeling like I can't win! (trying to keep this baby safe, trying to care for my sick kids as best I can, trying to keep their germs at bay....etc)

All this to say....
#1 Please be praying for us. Matt leaves to speak at a conference tomorrow morning through Sunday.

#2 GET YOUR FLU SHOTS!!!!!! Never again will we miss ours. NEVER.

#3 Thank goodness for this stuff........


And I obviously need to get more....see how low that is getting!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is always a fun holiday, but I think it's even more fun for Matt as he gets to spoil both his girls with flowers and gifts. This year Matt got Sadie her own flowers (which she has proudly displayed in her room) and her very own pandora charm bracelet, just like her Mommy's.

notice the careful display of her bracelet

The next day I caught her in her room looking at the Tinkerbell card Matt had gotten for her and she said, "Mommy, I just love looking at it. It's so pretty." And she was so excited to show all her friends at BSF her new bracelet that her Daddy got her. Wyatt also mentioned to us that he's excited to get her another charm for it for her upcoming birthday!

100th Day of School

The 100th day of school is a pretty big deal and this year, it also fell on Valentine's Day! So it was a pretty big day and they packed a lot into a half-day of Kindergarten. Wyatt and Gracie were so excited to show off their '100' hats.



They also drew some cute pictures of what they thought they would look like when they were 100. Unfortunately, we saw them during parent/teacher conferences but they are still at school. Once Wyatt brings his home, I will post it.

Update::
Here it is!

yes...more

so the update for today....

took Blake in to the doctor yesterday and his ears are infected. Again. Got him on antibiotics but this morning when he woke up, he had 'drainage' (i.e, nasty, green goo) pouring from his nose, both ears, and his eyes....seriously, the kid looked horrible. Took me about 30minutes to get him cleaned up and put drops in his eyes, both ears, and get him his antibiotics, just in time for him to need his diaper changed again, which is so raw from the frequency of changes he's been having. We will be seeing his ENT next week!

Wyatt woke up with a fever around 3am and is in bed sleeping as we speak.

We have my parents dog here who has only eaten once in the last 5 days since they left and seems to need to go out at the most inconvenient times. (feel bad the for the dog but she has taken a back seat to the kids)

And poor Sadie is feeling just great but in need of some serious attention after the past few days.

On the bright side:

We have antibiotics! A wonderful thing!

Wyatt is old enough to rest in his room with a DVD player so as not to infect everyone else (thanks Jen Lundquist!!)

Sadie and i are not sick.

My parents and sisters and brother-in-law are all safe in New Zealand. In case you haven't heard, New Zealand just suffered one of the worst natural disasters they have ever had and the earthquake took place in Christchurch, the city my family just left one day earlier.

My parents dog did eat once!

I slept for 4 hrs in a row and then another 2hrs so I am feeling much better.

This too will pass (right?)

more...really?

SO it's Sunday morning and I am sitting at my computer (not my usual sunday morning activity!) And I'm sure you could guess why.....yes, Blake is sick again! I just cannot believe it..the poor kid and I am sorry to say, but poor me! Can't we catch a break?!

He woke up last night around midnight with a fever (I'm guessing around 102) and wouldn't sleep unless I was holding him. So I spent from around midnight until 8am in the chair in his room, attempting to catch some ZZZs while making sure Blake slept and didn't wake anyone else up. He's not doing much better this morning and despite my love of winter, the blizzard outside, which is supposed to drop up to 12 inches on us, isn't helping my optimism about getting rid of sickness in our house!

The only solace I have found in all this is that I have several friends with kids about the same ages as Blake who seem to have the same struggle this year. And even our doctor's office has said they have seen a record amount of sickness this year that just seems to linger....hoping for some warm weather soon!!

Mr. Big Stuff

Matt often calls Blake "Mr. Big Stuff" because the kid tries so hard to do what his big brother and sister are doing. Often times he is successful, but you can tell when he's proud of himself and thinks he really is 'big stuff'....this was one of those moments.....



He got to sit and eat his breakfast at the big stools with Daddy. And he loved it!

6 inches

6 inches....yes, that is how much Sadie has grown this year. I took this picture when her friend Meryl was over and they were playing dress-up, mostly to show just how tall Sadie is. Lately when we have been in stores, people have asked if she's 4 or 5yrs old. When she says, "I'm 3!" they look to me to see if she's really being honest. But as we prepare for our trip to FL in a few weeks, I pulled out her summer clothes from last year and not one thing fits her! She is getting so big so quickly! And you don't notice it until you go back and compare her size now with what she was wearing last summer....it's really remarkable!

SUPERBOWL CHAMPS!!!

I realize I am a few weeks late on this, but I couldn't leave it out! And Wyatt has been wearing his Aaron Rodgers jersey at least twice a week since the big win!

(yes, I realize that Blake and Sadie are wearing old Favre jerseys. But hey, he will go down in history as a great Packer who brought a Superbowl home to Titletown AND I wasn't going to go buy something new just for this game.)

Love the look on Blake's face here!

Wyatt's 1st Kid Party

This year we had Wyatt's first real birthday party with friends. We have been delaying this for as long as possible, and although we probably could have made it another year or two, we decided that the kids will get to have a 'party' every other year. So this year Sadie won't have one, but next year she'll get to have one and Wyatt won't. Hopefully this will ease the planning/costs for us while giving the kids something to look forward to and not just expect.
Wyatt wanted to have his birthday at Perpetual Motion, a local gymnastics place. And we couldn't think of a better place to take 10 boys on a freezing cold day to get some energy out! And all the parents appreciated it as well because they spent a full hour running/jumping/playing.....needless to say, they were beat! But it was so much fun! And we ALL had a great time.

This guy was in heaven....I wish I could take him there for an hour everyday! He loved being able to explore and I didn't have to worry about him getting hurt.

...stretching....

..there was lots of this....

..and this pit was half the reason Matt was all for the party--Matt was dying to jump in there and bounce around (he was possibly more excited about this than Wyatt)

The kids were getting ready to race across..

..then the search for the missing basketballs...

..poor Sadie kept up quite well, but this part was tough!

..getting some water and then heading right back out on to the gym floor..

..the kids were so sweaty and had an absolute blast!!

These two had the time of their lives...not sure who had more fun, Blake or Matt!

..watching the big kids...

..attempting to push Sadie off the ball he wanted..

..exhausted!

...he loved trying to walk off these things, despite the fact that they were about a foot off the ground...

...doesn't this look like a blast? I think they should have adult open gyms there!

..Blake had to sit out and observe this one...

..I was so proud of Sadie and how well she kept up with the boys!

I had to include this picture because there were actually 2 kids buried under these blocks when I took this picture!

Part of their birthday celebration was to have Wyatt sit in the blocks and all the kids threw their blocks up in the air and said, "Happy Birthday Wyatt"

Wyatt's choice....a spiderman cake

We had such a great time at perpetual motion and Matt is already trying to convince Sadie to have her party there next year! It was great...all we had to do was show up with the cake and they took care of the rest. They even wrote down which gift was given by each kid and cut the cake for us....I was actually free to take pictures and enjoy the time with Wyatt and the other kids. Plus, I couldn't imagine having 10 5-6yr old boys in my house. Maybe Wyatt's next party will be tubing or sledding, because the winter birthday provides a serious challenge with the energy of these boys!!

On to the second hand...

Well, that is what Wyatt pointed out to all of us on his birthday...he now has to use his second hand to show people how old he is. So it's a pretty exciting birthday!!

We took him to school that morning to help him get all his treats in to his class and it was fun to watch him go through his morning routine at school. (His friend Lawson even made a card for Wyatt and put it on his locker!)

He was so excited to wear the Aaron Rodgers jersey that Nani and Pops had sent as well as the "I'm 6 today" sticker that was in the card we got him. (We told him he could open his gifts from Nani and Pops and Uncle Rob and Aunt Lindsay in the morning, as they had come in the mail and had been sitting on our table for a few days. But he had to wait until dinner to open our gifts to him.)

Blake had a blast with the balloons!

Wyatt and his #6 balloon (personal selection of Sadie's)

I love how excited my kids get to give each other gifts and to make their birthdays special. So Sadie was beyond thrilled to give Wyatt the 'singing' card she had picked out....I love the look on both of their faces!

(p.s. they always want to look at/buy those cards and I always say no, so this was a rare treat)

Wyatt's 1st gift-his own ski helmet

#2--His own ski boots

He was so excited about trying the boots on and doing the buckles on his own, that he didn't even notice when Sadie went and got the last one out of the closet (we kept it there for fear he would immediately know what is was)

I just love the look of anticipation as my kids open gifts--especially when they think they know what it is and are really hoping they are right!

..checking out the bindings...

..and being the great big brother that he is, he let his sister and brother try them out even before he did...

...Yeah! They fit!!!! Quickly followed by the daily "When can we go?" questions

..didn't take long for Blake to figure it out either...

For the rest of the night and the next several days, Wyatt spent hours putting his boots on and clipping in to his skis, popping out of them (which he mastered by using his other ski--no easy feat) and taking the boots off....only to start all over again!

Sadie and I made fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies for dessert

(Sadie taking a bit more than a few chocolate chips!)

Showing off the New Zealand Black Caps (national cricket team) shirt from Uncle Rob and Aunt Lindsay, along with his ski boots.....he was torn about which to wear to school first, but the Rodgers jersey won out. He wore this the next day to school and was so proud when we skyped with Rob and Linds and Rob had the same one on!

It was a great birthday....with Wyatt's first 'kid party' a few days later!