I'm Back!

Spring Break is over, Colin is back at school, I made it to the grocery store and now I am going to update the blog. I should be cleaning the house and doing laundry. "Should" is the key word there.

A LOT has happened since my last post, most of which involves me being sick. At the beginning of March, I came down with the worst illness that I have ever had. It took me 3 full days before I realized that things were really bad and I finally went to the ER. After lots of tests, I finally found out that I had colitis, an infection of the colon. I got IV fluids, pain meds, anti-nausea meds and two antibiotics that made me really feel like death. That was tough...I had to take them 3 times a day for 14 days, despite the fact that they made me sick as a dog. I won't lie, there were a few days there when I thought that something might be really wrong. It was the first time in my life that I felt what it was like to have a "long term" type illness that doesn't get any better. It made me very thankful for my health and very sad for those that battle disease on a daily basis. I ended up back at the doctor with my vision failing and hardly able to function. I was dehydrated, all my veins had collapsed because of it, and I had to sit for 3 hours with a tiny butterfly IV that they finally managed to get in the top of my hand. That was the low point, but about 5 days later, I was much better. THANK GOD! I was sick for 15 days and now, two weeks after the low point, I am still not 100%, but close to it. My stomach is still upset more than it should be and I don't eat a whole lot. But that, I can handle. :-) I have another appointment with a digestive health doctor next week and will hopefully know more then. I am back to being happy, functioning in society, and overall feeling good. And I am saying a little prayer that I NEVER have to take those damn meds again! Whew!

During this long time of illness, Colin was amazing. We didn't go anywhere and he basically spent 3 weeks entertaining himself while I whimpered on the couch that I couldn't play. NOT fun. He was a rock star and really took care of me. He knew that I was sick and did things on his own that he never would have normally. He even had to go with me to the doctors office that day and played quietly for the whole 3 hours! The nurses brought him snacks and even apples and grapes from their own lunches because I couldn't leave without the IV fluids. They were so great and I am beyond thankful for the whole office! Thank you, Dr. Buffington! Colin really showed me how wonderful he is and what a helpful boy he is growing up to be. I was also reminded that I am blessed with the best friends that anyone could ever have. All of my friends were so worried and all offered to bring dinner and take care of Colin. We had an outpouring of prayers and love from everyone!

Finally, the fog of sickness has cleared and we are enjoying the WONDERFUL Texas springtime! The weather is beautiful, and we are spending lots of time outside. We had a fun park playdate for St. Patrick's Day, an afternoon at our friend Heather's house and a fantastic Friday lunch at a Mexican place with an attached playground for the kids! That place was awesome...the ability to sit and enjoy lunch while your kids play is priceless! I actually ended up with a bit of a sunburn that afternoon and it felt GREAT! It feels great to be back in the land of the living! :-) There will be more posts to come very shortly with Colin updates and pictures! He started his first ever team...Blastball!

Colin's ROUGH Week!

Yet another week has past since my last post, but I promise that I had good reason this time! I was back to single mama status for 11 days with Jer on his trip to Europe and insanity ensued as usual. Things went downhill last Saturday morning. Colin was in very poor spirits all day, but I assumed he was in a bad mood because his dad was gone. The older Colin gets, the more upset he gets about Jer leaving town. I chalked up his bad mood to that and carried on with our day. Our good friends were throwing a 2nd birthday party for their son on Saturday night and I really thought it would cheer Colin up. Sadly, I could not have been more wrong. I had to go solo to the party, obviously, and after about 15 minutes I really really needed a second pair of hands. Colin was in such a bad mood...he was crying endlessly for no reason and things that normally would not bother him were only making things worse. There was a beautiful display of cupcakes on the kitchen table and Colin went to reach for one. When I told him we had to wait a bit, he completely lost it (and knocked my full wine glass out of my hands). I tried to get him back on track by taking him outside to play and at that point he spotted the beautiful pool in the backyard. He made a beeline for it and I had to snatch him up rather quickly, which startled him...thus pushing him past the point of no return. I have never seen him this upset in all his two years. It was unsettling to say the least. At this point, I was heading into panic attack mode. Dinner was being served and it was a packed house while Colin was screaming and laying on the floor. In an effort not to completely ruin the party, I literally ran out the door with my poor child in tow. I thought to regroup in the car, but Colin continued to scream bloody murder, so we just drove straight home. I left the party without even a nod to our host and felt horrible about it!

The next morning we packed up and left for my parents house...I decided that he needed a change in scenery and I needed another set of hands! The drive was great and Colin seemed just fine at first, but he woke up that night with a screaming fever. By the time morning rolled around, Colin and I were the first arrivals at Direct Care to see a doctor. The pediatrician took one look in his ears and cringed, calling me over to look for myself. It was HORRIBLE! Both ears were severely infected to the point that it gave me chills! Colin got a shot of antibiotics immediately and we were sent home with an oral prescription as well. He was completely lethargic for two days...he did not get out of bed at all. I certainly had my answer for his bad mood the weekend before! The poor little man was sick as a dog and I had no idea! We ended up staying at my parents house for a few days longer, but we are finally back home now. Colin is still sick..he took two naps today (unheard of!) and spent most of the day laying in bed with me ( REALLY unheard of!). He is obviously better than he was, but is still far from 100%. Today was his last day of antibiotics and he now has a red rash all over his stomach, legs and cheeks. I think this is from the meds, but I still plan to take him back to our pedi on Monday morning to double check his ears and make sure he is totally well. I don't like that he still feels so exhausted and under the weather. Hopefully he will be a new man tomorrow.

The good news is that Jer is home! It is so great to have our little family back together! I was able to go out shopping this afternoon...my sister is having her baby shower next weekend and I had a blast getting to finally shop for girly stuff! I am like a kid in a candy store! YEA FOR BOWS!! :-)

This Week...UGH!

In an attempt not to be overly dramatic (which I suppose I can be at times), I will say that this week has not exactly been a piece of cake. Colin has been dreadfully sick all week long. I woke up with it on Monday and have been an utter mess myself. Toddler illness takes me down like nobodies business! Colin spent the better part of the week only napping while laying propped up on my chest while I tried desperately not to cough and wake him up. I have been feeling absolutely horrible and I know that I could have knocked this out with a couple of days in bed, but I think we all know the chances of that happening. :-) He has been crying so much in the past few days that I took him to the doctor again today. The little guy has been so miserable and inconsolable that I started to really freak out. He screams and tries to crawl up me, almost like he is writhing in pain! The pedi told me today that his throat is totally raw and that was probably causing the severe pain and resulting tantrums. He does not have strep and she thinks he just had one hell of a virus to get over, but all is well. After screaming through the entire doctors visit, he finally fell asleep in his bed when we got home and took a good nap. He was in much better spirits when he woke up and I think we have turned the corner. Thank goodness!! Everyone say your prayers!

I still feel like a mess and I am going to bed as soon as I publish this post. Colin and I have been home bound all week and I hope that tomorrow we can possibly get back outside again. We both seriously need some fresh air. Between Colin and I being so sick, I have not worked out at all since Saturday. I am sad that I won't have big loss numbers to report tomorrow, but I have followed my diet like a good girl, so I still feel proud! I will weigh tomorrow morning as scheduled and report back! With the way this week is going, I probably gained 10 lbs. ;-)

Weekend Update...LATE!

We had the makings of a wonderful weekend, but things did not exactly end well. I took Colin to the park on Friday and we had a great time. He finally got in the sand box and loved it! He has been terrified of sand, so this was a big deal! I have been working out religiously and eating right for several days now, which has been bolstering my mood. I always find the first few days are the hardest and I am happy to have some momentum going. On Saturday we had dinner with our good friends Jeff and Natalie and their kids. Our boys are the same age and we have been close friends for several years now. They live about 45 minutes away from us, which keeps us from spending much time together now that everyone has kids. It was SO GREAT to see them on Saturday and we had dinner at Cristina's, which is one of our favorite places. The best part of the evening was having their oldest daughter with us. She is such a big girl now and Colin adored her. She kept the little ones entertained for a good portion of dinner, which was such a blessing! Even though Colin got antsy and did end up making a huge mess, I still had time to drink almost one whole margarita first, which is unheard of. :-) I had a salad at dinner and worked out extra hard that afternoon in preparation for my "cheat" drink. It was totally worth it! Colin ended up getting out of his high chair, pulling his bag of animal crackers out of the diaper bag (which I did not see him do) and dumping the whole bag across the crowded room. Lovely. He also started throwing silverware, which signaled the end of dinner. It will be very nice when dinners can actually be longer than 20 minutes again!

Sunday morning is when things went downhill...I noticed Colin coughing on Saturday and sure enough, he woke up with a high fever on Sunday. This has been the sickest I have ever seen him...even when he had that horrid stomach bug, he was in good spirits between being sick. This illness has knocked him down! He spent literally all day Sunday laying on the couch in my arms, which is so VERY unlike him that it scared me to death. I ended up at the children's urgent care place that afternoon and found out he has an upper respiratory infection with fever. I was certainly glad to hear it was not more serious. Colin continued laying on the couch yesterday as well and his fever spiked last night. He is still feeling yucky today, but is walking around and being more active. He has been a bear this morning and I know he is sick of the house. I took him to the park down the street to give him a change of surroundings, but after swinging for about 5 minutes he started to cry. I pulled him into my arms and he put his little head on my shoulder! HOW SAD!! So here we are, back home and watching The Wiggles. I hate seeing Colin feel so bad!!!! I also caught this crud from him, but it is not like I can go lay in bed. I soldier on!

It should also be noted that Colin does not want to eat anything, so I went through the Sonic drive-thru to bribe him with something extra yummy. You will all be proud to know that I did not order anything for myself, nor have I had one single bite of the delicious goodies I got Colin. YEA ME!! :-)

Here is a great picture of the kiddos from Saturday night...Austin, Lydia and Colin. SO SWEET!

Sore Throats and Bounce Houses

Well, I feel like hell in a hand basket. UGH. Last night my throat was scratchy and then I woke up at 3:00am feeling horrible. My throat is on fire. FIRE. This cannot be stressed enough. I was just bragging to Jer a few days ago about how well I have been lately. There goes that! Colin then chose today of all days to end his long nap streak. Of course. :-) I am pretty sure that I caught this lovely bug at one of our kid outings last week. I have extremely bad luck with any illness incubating in a toddler. I get sick whenever I get around large groups of kids. I need some kind of vaccine to hang out with kids under 5 years old. I sincerely hope that I feel much better tomorrow.

I took Colin to another bounce house place today (I know, sucker for punishment right here) and he had a good time. This place only had bounce houses and no other forms of entertainment, so Colin got bored with it pretty quickly. I was hoping he would bounce off some energy while I sat quietly in a chair, but that is not exactly how things worked out. He kept coming over and pulling my shorts in an effort to make me play. After chasing him through a couple of giant bounce mazes, I felt worse and decided to call it a day. We came home and had a quiet dinner and he still seems to feel okay for the time being. I sure hope he does not get this, too!

We had dinner at Jer's parents house last night and we had a great time. Colin loves to play with the weenie dogs and most especially with his grandmother's beautiful piano. She always puts him in her lap to bang the keys, but for the first time yesterday he picked out single notes instead of just banging the whole time. I have, of course, decided that makes him a genius. :-) Jer's mother is a very gifted concert pianist, so maybe Colin inherited that gene. I suppose we shall see...I took piano lessons for two years before deciding to quit at the ripe old age of 12. Let's hope he has her initiative and not mine! :-) Here are a couple of pictures from the afternoon:

Runny Noses

Well, Colin has a cold and I am not happy about it! We are finally over the stomach flu and here we go with a nice snotty cold. Colin has been sneezing all afternoon and is obviously congested with one heck of a runny nose. I am starting to have a hard time taking Colin out to play in public places because he literally gets sick almost every time he is around other children. For example, I am pretty sure he caught this cold during the Halloween carnival since Jackson also has come down with it. Since Colin stays home with me, he has been remarkably well, which is a blessing. However, when we venture out to public playgrounds, he has no immunity at all to the germs. I need to stay on top of hand washing and just try to keep his hands out of his mouth while we play outside. Good luck on that! :-) I know that I can't keep him locked up inside all winter, but I really hope that we can avoid getting sick every single time we venture out!!

Monday - Tuesday Updates

Well, Colin threw up again all over the place last night before bed. He had been having such a great day, too! I thought we had turned the corner, but not so much. He was acting just fine, although I did notice that he was not very hungry at dinner. He seemed okay, so I decided to give him a bottle at bedtime...bad idea. It was not pretty. I was rocking him at the time and now we have to have the cushions on my beautiful glider replaced because the stupid covers don't come off. Trust me, there is no salvaging the ones we have. Needless to say, it was not a good night. I ended up in tears simply because it is making me crazy seeing Colin sick like this.

I called the nurse this morning to ask about getting more nausea meds and they called back and told me they wanted to see him in the office. So we went for another doctor visit. After a ton of questions, we were basically directed to wait and see. They sent me home with five plastic vials and all kinds of instructions for poop samples. If he is still sick by Thursday, they want to see the poop in the office. Once again, he seems better....I am really hoping that last night was honestly the end. He went to bed tonight without issue, thank goodness!! He seemed happy this evening, so my prayers tonight are that he is done with this. I sure don't want him to miss Halloween!!

The big question is where did he get this? The only place he really could have gotten it was one of the playgrounds we went to last week. I know I can't keep Colin inside like a hermit, but I would really like to after this one!! UGH!

SICK SICK SICK!!!!!!!!!!

I am here and alive. BARELY. This has been the worst five days ever. After I wrote my last post, Colin woke up on Thursday morning literally covered from head to toe in vomit and diarrhea (sorry in advance for this gross post!). I spent the whole day cleaning his room from top to bottom. The poor little angel was so sick and it literally broke my heart. By Thursday night, I just managed to get Colin into bed before it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have can honestly say that I have not been that sick in probably 12 years or so. After several hours of throwing up, I called my mom in a panic. My saint of a mama got in her car and drove to me in the middle of the night. She arrived at 3:30 in the morning and it was the most wonderful moment of my life. Before I knew it, she was putting ice cold wash clothes on my forehead and scurrying around me making everything better. Thank the Lord above for Mama's, that is all I have to say about that. I was up sick for 12 hours straight, so no sleep for me. Friday is a complete blur of my mother taking care of both of us. Colin was better on Friday, but woke up throwing up again yesterday morning, so we spent the better part of the day at the children's urgent care place. Once we finally made it home, we had to disinfect everything in the whole house. Then my poor wonderful mother comes down with it late last night! UGH!!!!! Seriously, this is HORRIBLE!!! Jer just got home from his work trip a couple of hours ago, so I am sure that he will have it by tomorrow, although I am sure praying that he somehow avoids it.

Colin is not well, but he is getting better. He has not thrown up today, which is such a blessing. He got some great pills from the doctor yesterday that melt on his tongue to help with the nausea and vomiting and those have been a huge help. I can't wait for him to be well...it kills me to see the light out of his eyes like this! I feel like our house is under siege at the moment!! I do feel much better today, so that is good news. What a MESS!!!

The Yuckies!

Colin was violently ill for the first time ever tonight and I am still recovering from it myself. He had been acting strangely all afternoon, turning down his milk, waking up screaming after a 20 minute nap and then turning around and napping until 5pm. He was not feverish, but not himself at all. At dinner, he just sat in his high chair and looked at his food. He would not even touch it, much less eat a bite. I was thinking about how strange that was when all of a sudden the poor little guy just started throwing up. It is mind blowing how very much can come out of such a little person. I pulled him out of the chair and ran him into the bathtub where I stripped him down and started cleaning him up. Jer is out of town this week for work, so I had to take care of it on my own. He was rather pale, but seemed to perk up a bit and even smile after I got him clean. I put his pj's on and then had to lock him in the back of the house so that I could clean up the chair and floor. Once I got the mess taken care of, I took Colin back into the living room and we sat on the couch reading books and relaxing. I waited almost two hours and he has not thrown up again, so I went ahead and put him to bed. I can tell this will be a night that I sleep with one eye open hoping that he does not get sick again. It breaks my heart to see him sick like that! I hope he just ate something that did not agree with him, but we shall see.

I immediately thought of my mother tonight as I was covered in vomit. :-) I remember being sick when I was little and my mama being right there to hold my hair and change my sheets and wipe my face with a cool cloth. She always made everything better and never gave a second thought to how gross things were. I vaguely recall one night where she must have emptied a trash can several times before I moved to just lay on the bathroom floor. She sat there with me all night bathing my face in cool water. Tonight I feel like I got my first chance to take after her and give back what she gave to me. I was reminded that nothing (even really icky things) fazes a mama taking care of her baby when he needs her.

Hello Again!

I am really behind on the blog this week! The week seemed to quickly get away from me with Colin being under the weather. He is on a very slow road to recovery...the messy diapers are still with us, but he seems to be having about one less acid diaper a day. I took him out for a haircut today, which he was a rock star for yet again! He got to sit in the firetruck chair and ring the bell, which pleased him to no end. He is still not back to his old self yet...he lays his head on my shoulder a lot and needs plenty of extra attention. Hopefully we will have more exciting things to report as he gets to feeling better! I hope you are all having a wonderful week! :-)

14 Months Old and Trying to Get Well!

Colin is officially 14 months old as of a couple of days ago...he was so sickly this weekend that I totally forgot to write about it! On Sunday we took him over to his Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house (Jer's parents) for lunch and some play time with their wiener doggies. He had a great time playing and was in good spirits, but crashed and burned when we got home. His stomach aches keep waking him out of his naps and his horrid poops are still going on!! We went back to the doctor today because the diarrhea is not improved at all, although the number of them has gone down from about 15 on Saturday to 6 today. The doctor checked him out and he is still not dehydrated (thank the lord he loves Pedialite!) and doing okay. We have to keep up with the bland diet and Pedialite for the time being. She said if the diarrhea does not go away by Wednesday, we will have to do some kind of cultures on his poop or something to that effect. I am praying he is better tomorrow!! I am starting to think that he might have picked this up at the petting zoo last week. He barely touched the little goat on his head, but I forgot to immediately wash his hands afterwards like an idiot. I just don't know where this mess came from, but I wish it would go away!!



In other news, Jer lowered Colin's crib to the last notch today. The crib has three levels and has been set to the middle one for some time. It was past time to lower it since he climbs with ease now and could easily have toppled out. I have been resisting simply because I hate to mess with anything related to sleep. I was nervous as hell about it today, but Colin went to sleep tonight with no problem. The crib seriously sits on the floor now!!! It is SO LOW! Gone are the days of my pretty crib all dressed up in it's finery...now it sits practically on the ground with no more bells and whistles. It look so strange to me, but I know I will get used to it. Jer pointed out that the next time we change the bed, it will not be a crib at all anymore, but a toddler bed! So of course I am now all emotional about it. :-) I can't believe how big my little man is.


Here is a picture I took of Colin after dinner tonight. It is not a good quality shot, but he is offically 14 months old, so I had to get a quick picture. He is such an angel baby!!

Poop Update

Colin is still really sick. I stopped counting acid poop filled diapers after I got to ten and there were more after that. His stomach is a complete mess, his naps were impossible, and he starts to cry every few minutes. I hate that he feels like this and there is nothing I can do about it!! He just went to bed and I pray that tomorrow will be the day that he feels better. He is still drinking his Pedialite and I am watching him like a hawk for signs of dehydration. He has been running a slight fever all day, but nothing to panic about. (I keep chanting that in my head) I had no idea that gastroenteritis could be this horrible. At least he is not vomiting. I am thankful for that!!!

So now I am seeking advice...Colin has been on clear liquids for more than 24 hours now and his diarrhea is no better at all. I was told by the pedi to totally avoid dairy while he has this bug, but he is sure missing his milk bottles!! Would any of you try soy milk instead? Colin loves soy milk, but I am wondering if I should avoid that, too. Do you think that it would also be rough on his tummy since it is still protein? I would love to let him have a bottle in the morning that is something other than Pedialite, but lord knows I don't want to make things worse. Have any of my mommy friends been through this one? What do you think?

Tummy Aches

Is there anything worse than your baby being sick? Well, of course there are technically worse things...but this is indeed horrible. Colin has a stomach virus and has had severe diarrhea for two solid days now. We went to the doctor today and sure enough, the virus is making it's rounds in our area. The pedi said she has seen it all week in her office. We think he caught it when I took him for a picnic in the park a couple of days ago. He was playing around lots and lots of little ones and probably touched something infected. Besides the horrible tummy ache, he has had no less than 10 horrible diapers today and this brought on a bleeding...yes, bleeding...diaper rash the likes of which I never thought possible. It takes my breath away. He screams so hard when I take him into his room to change his diaper that he made himself hoarse today. It is breaking me into a thousand pieces, I swear. The pedi told us that Colin can only have broth, rice, bananas, and Pedialite until we clear this up. We have a prescription for the rash, but it is not doing a damn bit of good since he has these acid filled diapers every five minutes. The only bit of good news is that Colin loves Pedialite. He has never had it before and he drank over 40 ounces (I kid you not!) since we got home from the doctor. That is really great news because I can at least stop worrying so much about dehydration. I hate how powerless I feel right now...to see Colin screaming in agony and writhing in pain is torturing me. I want to make it better and I just can't!! I really hope that tomorrow is better. He had rice and bananas for dinner and has not had any thing else in his system besides the Pediatlite since lunch. I am hoping that another full day of the special diet will help his tummy. It better!!!!

A No Good Very Bad Day

Today was a huge disaster of a day. My little man had the worst day he has ever had in his short life! We have been very lucky with Colin...he has never actually been sick. He has had a couple of light colds and teething has been hard on him, but that is all he has had to deal with. Today, my little man felt HORRIBLE. I felt so bad for him! The spots themselves are very small and don't itch, but he was miserable today. He basically cried all day long. He arched his back and screamed every time I tried to put him down for a nap. He ended up getting only about 30 minutes of sleep collectively all day. Nothing seemed to make him happy and he kept walking up to me and laying his head on my shoulder. Poor baby!!! I hate hate hate it when I can't make Colin feel better. It was a long battle of a day and thankfully he went to bed very easily since he was simply exhausted. I sure hope that he feels better tomorrow...it breaks my heart to see my happy little man feeling so yucky!!