Thus, Monday wasn't a fun day and I couldn't have made it through without all of Eric's help with the boys (who did everything for them AND took them swimming at the YMCA so that I could get more rest), but I survived. I was so achy from the illness (sinus infection I believe) that I spent that night on the couch so that I could sit up a little while I slept. Then, early Tuesday morning I had a little visitor. Avery, who is our early riser, came to the bed when he woke that morning and when he discovered that I was not there he came downstairs to find me on the couch. Knowing that I would likely tell him that the sun had not woken up yet and therefore he should go back to his bed he attempted to be sneaky by tip-toeing down the stairs and then quietly running behind the couch where I could not see him. I truly think he thought he had tricked me, but I surprised him with an attempt to catch him behind the couch.
When he realized that he was found, he snuggled up with me for the remainder of the morning...after heading back upstairs to get us each a buddy to snuggle with.
After the sun woke up we all continued on with a normal day. I headed back to work and Eric and the boys went to school, work and daycare per the usual. That evening when I picked up Asher he asked if we could get pizza for dinner so that we could get the box that he decorated at school from Marco's Pizza. Although I had worked that day I still had basically no appetite and pizza really didn't sound good to me, but the notion of not having to cook anything for dinner DID sound VERY appealing to me so that is what we did! :)
The remainder of week 173 seemed to go rather normally. No one else showed signs of getting my illness other than some coughs and stuffy noses and we simply continued on with our every day life...
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| Wednesday FB Post: The hardest decision of the day Every.Single.Morning #decisionsdecisions#everyonelinesupalltheirun |
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| Wednesday night FB Post: And the other tough decision of every day...what bedtime story to read... #decisionsdecisions#bedtimestalling |
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| Thursday night: Eric reading a story that he had written and illustrated for a friend's son several years ago. |
When the weekend came, everything still seemed to be on the up-and-up. We worked to de-Christmasfy our home, the boys and I enjoyed a friend's birthday party, I got to do some (alone-time) shopping and then we had a family dinner at HuHot.
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Saturday FB Post: Have to make sure we put the right one away in the attic... |
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| Avery wanted in on the action too! "Sit Avery!" |
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| "No Avery, I said sit...not lay down!" (Just like his sister-pup) |
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| Asher's first piñata experience. |
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| Avery's first piñata experience. |
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| The birthday crew for Elias' 7th birthday. |
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It’s the little things...  |
While we were at HuHot enjoying our family dinner. I noticed that Asher's cheeks were very red and that he could barely keep his eyes open. As soon as we got home I took his temperature and sure enough he had a fever. We had not escaped the illness after all. :( He was so tired that he immediately went to sleep and since we had used up all of our children's Tylenol and Motrin when Avery had been sick over Christmas we did not give him anything before bed and hoped that he would be able to sleep through the night. That, unfortunately, was not the case. We were both up with him for a good chunk of the night as he suffered through his own chills, sweats and aches combine with nightmares. Finally, at 2:45 am Eric headed to Meijer to pick up some medication for him. He took a dose as soon as Eric returned home and then was (thankfully) able to sleep for the remainder of the night.
Since we had one sick child (and assumed we would likely have another shortly) we spared the other families at church and stayed home on Sunday to close out week 173.
On Monday (the start of week 174) Asher's fever was almost gone. However since he had had a fever for most of the day before we kept him home from school for the day with Eric.
That evening, Asher was feeling better but Avery was warming up with his own fever. So, on Tuesday The Plague continued and it was my day to stay home with a sick little boy for the day. We had a very lazy day home together admiring the freshly fallen snow, snuggling, watching movies and crafting a little. The morning went quite well but after nap time everything changed. Avery woke up from his nap burning up with a fever of almost 104 and was miserable. I called the pediatrician, but was not able to get an appointment for him so instead the two of us headed to the hospital walk-in-clinic where our little man was stripped down, given more meds to lower his fever, fed orange juice and a large orange popsicle and then tested positive for the flu and strep throat with a bonus of early ear infection signs. :(
Avery and I had arrived at the clinic at around 3:45 that afternoon and at 7pm we were FINALLY able to go home. When I got home, I realized that Asher's fever had returned with a vengeance, so with everyone exhausted put the boys to bed and then put ourselves to bed shortly after. As Eric and I crawled into bed we admitted to one another that on top of both of the boys getting sick we too were not feeling well. Sure enough we both spent the night with fevers and chills (yep that was round 2 for me!).
On Wednesday all four of us stayed home together as one big sicko family! Eric did have a couple of meetings that he had to go to, but the rest of the day we all just slept and watched Netflix...lots and lots of Netflix...seriously I never thought I would have to binge watch Rescue Bots!! There is only so much kid TV that a person can watch! None of us really had any energy all day and we suffered through high fevers and chills all day long.
On Wednesday all four of us stayed home together as one big sicko family! Eric did have a couple of meetings that he had to go to, but the rest of the day we all just slept and watched Netflix...lots and lots of Netflix...seriously I never thought I would have to binge watch Rescue Bots!! There is only so much kid TV that a person can watch! None of us really had any energy all day and we suffered through high fevers and chills all day long.
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| This is the first time that Asher has ever put himself down for a nap. We realized we hadn't heard anything from him in a while and when I went to check on him I found him passed out on the couch like this. |
On Wednesday night my and Asher's fevers both spiked to around 104 so we all headed over to the walk-in-clinic again. When Avery and I had been there the day before it was mostly empty but unfortunately that was not the case on this particular evening. Instead, the waiting room was completely packed! It took us about an hour and a half before we were called to take vitals and then we had to go back out to the waiting room for another twenty minutes or so until they had a room for us. When we finally got a room, we waiting another 3+ hours to see a doctor, get our flu swab results, take a chest X-ray for Asher (which turned out clear) and then wait for the results of that. In the meantime Eric and Avery went home while I tried to ignore the chills that I was having and dealt with an over-tired sick little boy who desperately wanted to be at home in his bed. It was a rough time but finally at around 10:30 (5 hours after we arrived) we were released and sent home after both tested positive for the flu and me also getting an antibiotic for a chest infection (although I actually think it was a sinus infection, but the care that evening was distracted at best). Asher and I ran to the van as fast as we could to escape the wind and single digit temperatures, and when I got into the van the running and cold air had constricted my lungs forcing me into a cough fit which set off my gag reflex. I tried everything I could to not throw up in the van as I drove while Asher was asking from the back what the strange noises were, but to no avail....let's just say I was very thankful that I hadn't eaten anything in more than 24 hours and to be able to quickly grab a large handful of Kleenexes before I destroyed the inside of my van.
On Thursday things began to turn the corner. The entire family stayed home for the day again but Eric and the boys were feeling more energetic. They all still had fevers, but they were no longer as high as they had been. I thought I was feeling better when I first woke up that day too. I headed downstairs with more energy than I'd had in a few days and enjoyed chilling on the couch while the boys played for the first time in two days. Unfortunately though about two hours later my fever spiked again and I spent the rest of the day in bed feeling awful all over again.
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| Avery reading to me before nap time. |
On Friday, Eric was fever free and went to work. The boys and I stayed home together again but we were all doing much better. Both Asher and Avery were back to normal with only low fevers and while I still had a moderate fever, and was low on energy I was at least feeling good enough to be out of bed. We spent the morning playing legos and watching movies in the living room and then in the afternoon I was feeling good enough to begin to tackle the mountain of laundry we had accumulated and start to pick up the house a little (which had been completely neglected while we were down and out throughout the week).
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| “It’s mommy and daddy snuggling” #oldschoollego #growingoldtogether |
Finally, it was the weekend!! We had survived an awful week and things were finally turning a corner. The boys were all fever free and I was finally down to a low grade fever. It was a good thing too because Saturday was the day of Monster Jam!! For Christmas I had gifted all of my boys tickets to go see Monster Jam together and all week Eric and I wondered if they would be able to use the tickets or if we should try to find someone else to purchase them. Thankfully they were able to go and as an added bonus I was able to have a few hours at home to myself (I had hoped to run some errands but still had very little energy so instead I enjoyed a nap and some quiet TV all by myself!).
Video: Asher's "Motion" Picture
On Saturday morning Asher asked me to draw with him, so we sat at the table and drew several animals to make our very own "movie" (light/shadow show).
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| Avery preparing for Monster Jam |
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| The picture of Avery above reminding me of this picture of myself a long LONG time ago! |
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| Brothers & their Lego creations! |
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| All set for Monster Jam!! |
While at Monster Jam, I'm told that the boys had a good time. The only downside was that it was a bit repetitious and also that it was during nap time and the boys had been sick for the week resulting in tired little boys. Eric said that he wasn't even sure if Avery was going to be able to stay awake for the whole thing but he apparently was entertained enough to fight through the tiredness. The drive back home from Milwaukee however was a different story!
(2) Videos: Monster Jam
When I asked Eric if it was worth it to go to Monster Jam he said that the look on Asher's face when the trucks came out almost brought a tear to his eye...so yes...it was worth it! :)
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| Avery's face in this picture (& above)... |
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| My face a long time ago. A lot of people say that the boys are all Eric, but I'm not convinced! |
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| Now this is one tired little boy!! |
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Saturday FB Post: We girls are chillin’ at home while the boys are gone.  ❤️ 🐶 #furstborn #bigsis#thequietisdeafening |
When the boys arrived home later that afternoon (with milkshakes for all), they excitedly told me all about their boys' day with Daddy and by 5:30 that evening they were both asking to go to bed!!
We headed to bed earlier than normal and got a good night of sleep and then it was finally Sunday! We made it through the week and were all fever free. The Plague was finally gone!! We skipped church one last time to try to contain the germs as much as possible, shared a lazy day home together and then finished out the week ready to start a new, healthier week!
That sounds miserable! Hopefully you guys can stay healthy the rest of the winter!
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