Sick days

This time, for me.  I'm not sure what happened, but the first day off of work I was sick, and it never really let up until now.  That Friday I didn't get out of bed until noon, and was back in bed by 5.  The next day, I moved to the sofa in the spare bedroom and watched a bunch of old Cary Grant movies.  It would've been heavenly had I not been so ridiculously nauseous.

Izzy spent most of the day in there with me as well, watching movies.  It was nice and snuggly, for the most part.  Joacim was kind enough to take her out of the house for awhile and visit Shelby Street Diner (without me, sadly).

 I even got a little snuggle in with Rosie.

But the beautiful thing about all of this resting was NO SWELLING.  And for anyone that's reading my other blog, you'll know how truly awesome this is to me.  :)

I experienced it all, but today, for the first time, I'm feeling human again.  I can eat, breathe, and I'm not required to sit down every 5 minutes.  That's progress, I'd say.

Eau de Vapo-Rub

This house NEEDS to be quarantined.  Nothing in or out for 2 or 3 days.  We are a sick sick sick bunch.  It all started almost 2 weeks ago.  Izzy went to bed on a Thursday night and complained that there was something in her hair.  That's when I discovered this:

Yes, totally gross, but this indicates that the tubes are probably still working.  Joacim called the doc that Friday and spoke to the nurse practitioner and they agreed that as long as it was draining and not hurting, we'd leave it alone for now.  BIG MISTAKE.

Fast forward to a Wednesday of last week and she's starting to sound like Bonnie Tyler (Total Eclipse of the Heart????) after a night out at the bars.  I was working from home on Thursday because my feet were so swollen, so I kept her home with me to get some rest.  She started to get a fever, and it just went downhill from there.  We ended up taking her to the doctor on Friday and got her some drugs.

Unfortunately, that was probably a little too late.  She must've been pretty contagious, because Joacim and I were BOTH feeling it coming on Sunday night...cough, scratchy throat...you name it.  He was smart and went to the doctor yesterday AND stayed home today.  I am the not-so-smart one and have gone to work and NOT gone to the doctor.  I'm in the middle of a project at work, and it's been hard to get away.  And I completely regret it.  My chest is heavy...it's hard to breathe, my skin hurts, I've got the chills, and I'm coughing like there's no tomorrow.  Joacim's still not feeling better, but I think at least Izzy is.  Unfortunately, that also means she's got more energy, of which both of us put together can't match.  So, she is being babysat by Netflix tonight.  It's not a great parenting night, but she's sitting her next to me, quiet (which is MUCH better than the harmonica playing that was going on earlier).  Wish us luck (or send a helper!)

I think I look like a shar pei.....

I've been suffering through a sinus infection the last couple of days.  I woke up  feel crappy on Tuesday morning and promptly went to see my doctor.  Drugs were given, and I spent most of the day and night lying down.  Then Wednesday, I woke up with my throat STILL sore and coughing, so I stayed home again.  I could tell by last night that the medicine was working, so I was fully prepared to go to work this morning.  But when I woke up, my left eye was a bit....well, crusty.  I asked Joacim if it was swollen, and the look on his face said, "Are you kidding me?  You look like a freak!"  Ok, he didn't actually SAY that, but I'm pretty sure he was thinkin it.  Anyway, this is what I saw when I looked in the mirror.

Now, my first thought was WTF????  SERIOUSLY..What the HELL is going on???  Then I was thinking that maybe it was pink eye, or worse yet, something terribly wrong with my kidneys.   OMG....they were driving me CRAZY!!!!  Dry, itchy, heavy, achy....awful.

Thankfully, another visit to the doctor relieved my serious worries.  Apparently, it's all part of my sinus infection.  I've NEVER had this happen before, but I'm glad to know what the heck caused it.  He switched one of my meds, prescribed some drops and some horizontal rest to help gravity get my sinuses back in order.  It's all slowly working, but I still think I look like a freak.  And even though this day started off sucking, it got pretty awesome when Izzy came home and gave me this :

How SWEET is this??  Thank you Christina, Roena and Lindsey....you guys are the best!

When will this sickness circle be gone???

I'm ready for this sickness to be exorcised from our lives. We've been dealing with this for three weeks now, and I'm done. The first week it was Izzy with a fever that just wouldn't go away. Finally, after 5 days, it was gone. Then I got it, only I didn't have a fever; I got a nasty sinus infection instead (which seems to be par for the course when I'm on these damn meds).  I finally went to the doctor and got an antibiotic, but it didn't really kick in for about 6 days, and I'm not really sure I've got it beat yet.  So let's see...that was the Friday before last.....then Izzy woke up this past Tuesday morning with a 103 deg fever. When I got her out of bed it was if she had fallen asleep on a heater! This fever wouldn't go away either so I took her to the doctor and got her some meds. We're still fighting the fever, but I'm hopeful that she'll be well enough to go to daycare tomorrow. She's becoming super whiney and I think she needs the structure and routine of daycare to snap her out of it.





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Sick....again :(

Seriously????  Again????  Or is it that I never truly get over it in the first place?  I felt this coming on yesterday, but when I woke up this morning, I felt as though I had swallowed sandpaper.  My throat didn't hurt so much, but it was really really rough.

Thank goodness Joacim was kind enough to let me sleep so long.  It was his turn to take care of Izzy this morning (and she woke up at 7:30...again), but I got to sleep in until 11:00.  That may sound like a really long time, but I still woke up feeling as though I didn't get enough sleep, and I went to bed at 11:00 last night!  This has GOTTA be the meds...it's just not normal to be this tired and sick all the time.  I'm drinking tea, resting, getting the humidifier ready.  I've just had it.

How much longer will this last?

You know, I don't think we've had but one full week of a healthy Izzy since Christmas break, and last week was no exception. Joacim stayed home with her on Wednesday and I got Thursday. She just has these fever that won't go away fully. Every time I think I've got it under control, it comes back. It's a low grade one, usually, but it was up to 102 on Wednesday. By Thursday, she was feeling better...still a low grade fever off and on....but I'd still rather keep her at home if I'm able to. I'm just thankful that she wasn't feeling awful and whiney...









Yeah, I know...some of the photos are out of focus, but I think they convey movement, no? She's so fast :)
I also got her a little haircut on Thursday. She was looking a little raggedy...no photos of the actual haircut because she was a bit scared, but here's a cute little video of her on the way there....chatty cathy

She went to daycare on Friday, but when I picked her up, I noticed a TON OF GUNK coming out of her right ear. I was worried that it was another ear infection (would've explained the fever and all), but her doctor said that the tubes were doing their job and draining everything out, so that's good. It's still draining today, but it seems as though she's still feeling OK. She does have a slight fever again, so we'll see how she is when she wakes up tomorrow.

OK, I'm starting to not like daycare so much

Sooooo, since our vacation has been over and Izzy's been back at daycare, she's had 2 1/2 sick days. And I'm guessing, based off of her behavior tonight, that she'll have another one tomorrow. Thank goodness Joacim and I have jobs that provide us some flexibility when it comes to staying home/working at home, but STILL! Joacim picked her up tonight and said that there were a bunch of kids in there, snot running down their face, pulling at their ears. Now, I know that other parents MIGHT not have the flexibility that we enjoy, but KEEP YOUR KIDS HOME IF THEY'RE SICK!!!! Seriously, people...Izzy has been a bit of a nightmare this week after coming home! Tonight, she basically cried from the minute she walked in the door until 7:00, when she was crying to go "night-night". I was telling Joacim the other night how it was so strange/funny that we've gone from her physically shaking when we put her in her crib to begging us to go "night night" in the span of 2 1/2 weeks. I DO hope that there's nothing else going on here...I mean, she's had a low-grade fever on and off all week. I'm attributing it to teething, since I've got nothing else right now. Hopefully she wakes up in a good mood tomorrow morning!

Some sleeping issues have arisen again

I don't know what happened....seriously have no clue. Izzy's always been a pretty good sleeper. I mean, we can put her to bed awake, and within a few minutes she was OUT. And she'd sleep the whole night through...I'd usually have to wake her up the next morning.

And then last Sunday came and EVERYTHING changed.

We tried to put her to bed, and she SCREAMED...like I haven't heard her scream before, and every night has been a battle to put her to bed. Not only that, but she also doesn't stay asleep. We might actually get her to bed (because we've sat with her until she's fallen asleep and then laid her in bed) but she's usually awake within a couple of hours....screaming again. I mean, it's blood-curdling!!! And I don't understand it. I don't know if she had a nightmare, or if this is a phase (which is the one I'm leaning towards) but it's been awful. She has either ended up in our bed or I've slept with her in the spare bedroom every night since last Sunday.

The WORST was last Wednesday night. We got her to bed (finally) but she woke up 3 hours later. I had just gotten out of the shower, and was piddling around. I figured she had lost her pacifier and was completely awake, so I putzed around a little, moved my alarm and water bottle into the spare room, got a magazine to read....just puttering. But then I opened the door. And I smelled it. Yes, vomit. EVERYWHERE. This was 10 times worse than the last time she did this....whole food. She must've done it in her sleep because there was a big pile of it, and it was all over her face and the back of her hair. Poor thing....I felt so guilty for being so slow!!! We got her in the bath, cleaned up her room, and I slept with her in the spare room. Well, slept isn't quite the word..she ended up throwing up 4 more times...all of which hit me in some way or another. She must've felt awful...and she was so confused as to what was happening. I mean, she'd be completely asleep, then raise her head and throw up. Awful...truly truly awful.

I didn't get much sleep that night, and I had a big presentation (well, big for me) to some important folks at work the next day. For anyone that knows me and presentations, you'll understand why I was nervous. I'm terrible at them. I don't know why....I just get soooo nervous! But apparently, I've found the key....just don't sleep. I was so tired that I just didn't get nervous...no worries at all, and the presentation went really well! Thankfully Joacim could stay home with her! I was a bit worried about that because she's been SUCH A CLINGY MONKEY TO MAMMA!!! All week long....I couldn't be more than an inch from her. and just being close wasn't enough....she HAD to be held. Joacim tried everything, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. I think she's gotta be in a separation anxiety phase right now...hopefully a short-lived one at that!

And keep your fingers crossed that this sleep thing is short-lived too!

Sick little girl....

I picked up Izzy from daycare on Tuesday, and I noticed she felt a little warmer than normal. Not REAL hot, but definitely a low-grade fever. Miss Cathy mentioned that she had been really clingy during the afternoon, and that she didn't nap very well, so I knew that ISR lessons weren't going to be a lot of fun for her (and they weren't). I had an appointment to get my hair cut that evening, so Joacim had her fed and put to bed before I got home! What a treat!

Izzy woke up the next morning, a little warmer than before. She's been very congested lately, and she's been sleeping with a humidifier to try to break it up. She was drinking her bottle in the morning and started coughing up all this mucous (yes, I know...gross). I freaked out a little (and so did she :), and since she was still running a fever, I decided to keep her home for the day. And THANKFULLY I did, because about an hour later, we were standing in her bedroom doing something that I can't remember, and she started vomiting everywhere. And we both kinda stood there like "what the heck is happening"...it was all over the carpet, her jammies, her socks...EVERYWHERE. And it smelled TERRIBLE. She threw up all of her milk from breakfast. I got her in the bathtub, and she just sat there looking pitiful. Actually, she was pretty pitiful the entire day. I've never seen her so subdued...EVER.

At one point, she was sitting in the office with me while I was editing photos...just sitting in her bean bag chair with her blankie, book, and teddy bear.



She laid like this for 2 hours, dozing in and out of sleep, listening to George Winston....
She didn't end up getting physically sick anymore that day, but she definitely wasn't feeling well. We finally got her fever to break that evening, but not before it went up to 102F (that was a bit worrisome!). We both decided that it would be a good idea to keep her home on Thursday as well, just to make sure she got over whatever she had, so Joacim stayed with her. She ended up taking a 4 HOUR NAP! Wow, he gets soooooo lucky!!!!
I'm happy to report that she's feeling better (no fever for the last 36 hours) but she's still clingy and not eating very well. I hope she makes a full recovery this weekend!!!

Our first big-girl sickness...

Last Friday we had dinner with my old college roommate Carrie. We were going out for sushi, so I decided to feed Izzy before. Nothing special...just some scrambled eggs (have I mentioned that the list of things she'll actually eat is shrinking???). Well, she ate all of the eggs and has some fruit, and seemed fine. We went to dinner, had some nice conversation, came home and gave her a bath and she went to bed.

Well...around 2am, she woke up crying. Joacim had the monitor, so he looked at her through the screen, and then said she was going back to sleep....yeah, not so much. She was still crying so he got up to check on her and all I heard was, "JENN!!! COME IN HERE!!!"

Ok, that's not something you want to hear....EVER. Because it's never good. I jumped up out of bed and ran to her room, and the smell of vomit nearly knocked me to the floor. I have a BIG gag reflex, and it was all I could do to keep it down. But, when it's your little one, you just muster through and get to work. We got her undressed, I gave her a bath while Joacim cleaned up in her room. She was soooooooo pathetic looking. Completely confused as to what was going on, and unable to be satisfied. After we got her cleaned up, I dedided to sleep with her in the spare room, because the only way she would sleep was laying on me. Soo, off to bed we went. I didn't get much sleep...she was awake at 6am....happy. OK, I'm happy she was happy, but couldn't she have been happy..say...around 10am??? I mean, was that too much to ask??? I didn't want to feed her anything quite yet (except for water), so I did my best to entertain her in the room so we didn't wake Joacim up.
Murphy came in to join us...doesn't he look like the saddest dog in the world??? I swear, if they had a contest for it, he'd win. Not that I'm proud of that..

He did a good job of entertaining her. He's getting so good being with her...he lets her pet him and she plays with him. It's so much fun to watch. They were both crawling all over the bed. She was COVERED in dog hair...kinda gross but what can you do?

FINALLY!!! She sleeps....awwww...she's so cute that I almost forgot she woke me up with vomit. :)



She was kinda cranky the whole day, so I thought I'd take her out to her pool. Unfortunately, even this didn't work..

Here's a really cute shot of Murphy. He doesn't look as sad here, does he?

double ear infection and snow day and funny bath!!!

Izzyboo was feeling kinda puny on Sunday, so I stayed home with her on Monday and took her to the doctor, and found out she has a double-ear infection. Now, I'm glad she's the type of kid to just be a little fussy when she's sick...she likes to keep to herself. I guess it's not all that bad...i mean this is only her 2nd confirmed ear infection, so no worries yet.

And, as the trend goes...once Izzy gets sick, then I get sick. This time is no different. I woke up Tuesday morning with the all-too-familiar scratch, sore throat...followed by the nose that is so stuffed that if I were to be kidnapped and duct tape put over my mouth, I would die because not one single molecule of air can get through. I went to work anyway, and took Izzyboo to daycare, but it was an early day. The daycare called and let me know that Izzy wasn't feeling all that great, and we had a big snowstorm on the way, so I left work a little early so I could get her and beat the storm. And I'm so thankful I did!!! We ended up getting almost a foot of snow!!! Here are some photos...







I was then sick with the nasty cold on Wednesday, which is kinda good because there's no way I could've made it out of the garage and through the neighborhood. So, Izzy and I just hung out all day. We did have another little photo session...here are some cute shots:

This is one of my favorites..




And this one too...such a great little smile..





I found these photos too...had completely forgotten that I took them, but too cute not to show...



Izzy is also VERY close to crawling...she's getting close to being mobile, and she's starting to pull herself up on things, as you can see by the following evidence:


This photo is completely overexposed...but you get the idea...

New daycare, Hannah's birthday and sickness

Hello all! Sorry for the long time between posts again...it's been quite a couple of weeks. Once we got back from vacation, Izzy started her new daycare, and I have to say that, even though it's only been 2 weeks, we've been thrilled with how well things are going. They REALLY seem to care about Izzy's well being, and have already taken the time to notice things about her (like the fact that she plays with the tags on her blankie, or that she likes to check herself out in the mirror ;) I hope this continues!

Unfortunately, the thing about switching daycares is that it sometimes brings a whole new round of sickness with it, and this time was no exception. Last Monday morning, Izzy didn't quite seem herself, but she wasn't really feverish or anything. She had some eye and nose drainage, but nothing majore...but when Joacim strapped her in the carseat, she spit up a bit, and that was all I needed to decide it might be best to stay home with her. And thank goodness I did...as the day went on, she started to develop a low-grade fever, and was just all-around pathetic. She was such a little whiner..poor thing. I think I held her for 5 straight hours in the afternoon....every time I tried to put her down (even if she was completely OUT!) she would wake up and whimper. My left arm was feeling the burn! We gave her some tylenol before she went to bed and that finally broke her fever, so we went back to business as usual the next day. I could feel myself getting sick at work though, and sure enough, the next day I was. Whatever Izzy had, I got ten-fold. I hope this isn't how it's going to be forever, because I never (ok, RARELY) ever get sick, and I've already missed 4 days for myself since being back from leave. I'm not setting a good trend here. I'm attributing it to the new daycare, and the fact that I'm not sleeping very well, therefore not able to recuperate very quickly. Hopefully that's the last bout!

The weekend before we got sick, though, we were able to go to Stony Creek farm for my friend Rebecca's daughter's birthday. Stony Creek is a fantastic little place on the north side of Indianapolis, and they were having a fall festival, with lots of games and fall foods (warm cider and caramel apples!!!!). We had a lot of fun hanging out there, and getting to see some other friend's kids too! Here are some photos...

Here's Izzy as Merlin:


Here's the birthday girl, Hannah, with her new shoes!


Here's my friend Liza and her son, Cristian:


And here's my friend Heather and her little girl, Hailey:


And here's a sad little attempt at a family portrait:


I had to balance the camera on a blankie that was on top of the stroller. The sunspot really aggravates me on this one, but I'm going to try to pretend that it doesn't exist!

We installed Skype this past week too, and have been enjoying talking to Joacim's brother and mom and dad. It's been great to see Joacim's new niece, Gwen, and to have his family see Izzy. I guess our webcam is pretty good and they get a pretty clear picture of her. Unfortunately, Izzy's not much for performing in front of the camera, but I think they just enjoy watching her.

Work has been CRAZY busy! In the last 2 days I've been at work, I think I've sat at my desk less than 2 hours total. With meetings and pumping, there isn't much time to do anything, and I feel so rushed all of the time. I wonder if this is how I'll feel forever...never seems to be any time to just sit and breathe....

Izzyboo and I went to our Swedish lessons again tonight. It was much better, and I feel like I'm definitely going to get something out of this. I won't be fluent, by any means, but I should be able to get a much better idea of the pronunciation, which is really hard for me. The teacher, Sarah, has a beautiful accent that is much easier to imitate than Joacim's.

Well, my dear husband just made me some hot chocolate, so I'm going to enjoy it. Hope everyone is doing well! Go Colts!

Bubbles, feet, sickness, and Light the Night

Whew...time is F-L-Y-I-N-G! Can't believe it's October tomorrow, and boy does it ever feel like it outside! I had to wear a sweatshirt when I was walking Murphy tonight because it was so chilly. I've decided that I'm going to try to embrace fall this year. Normally, I HATE this time of the year because it signifies the end of summer. However, after realizing that I rarely went outside this summer because it was so freakin' hot, and because I'm no longer 23 years old and running around in a bikini, I no longer really LOVE summer....sooo, I welcome Fall this year with great big open arms.

Real quick news...we've decided to switch day-care providers. With all of the issues I've had with Izzy's current daycare, I feel that I'll never have that level of trust I need, so we're switching. A friend of mine from work recommended a daycare that was still close to use, so we went and checked it out last week and were very please (thanks Jenny!). I'll let you know how it goes!

Izzy's had some big "firsts" since my last update. Last Wednesday, Izzy started blowing bubbles (or raspberries, as I like to call them). And it's so cute, because when she gets mad and is crying, she blows them even harder, only through really tight, pursed lips. It's hysterical!!!! This is Izzy in the process of blowing bubbles:


And this is the end result! Look at all that slobber!!!!! And to think it's only going to get worse ;)


She's been sooo figdety lately...doesn't want to be held, doesn't want to lay on her activity mat, unhappy in the bouncy seat, REALLY ticked off in the car seat. The other day I begged Joacim to take her because my skin hurt from her rubbing her feet against it, and he decided it was story-time....so cute!


The daycare called on Friday and said that Izzy had thrown up and they thought she was sick, so I went to get her. The entire drive there I was just figuring that she probably ate and had a big burp and that was it, but I had planned on taking a 1/2 day anyway to hang out with her, so no biggie, right? Well, I picked her up from daycare and she seemed fine. We went to visit Joacim at his work and she was a big fussy, but I just assumed that she wanted to eat, so I took her home to feed her, with plans to go to the zoo afterword. Well, it wasn't more than 10 minutes after we had been home that she vomited all over me, and I mean ALL over. And with vomit in my bra and underwear, and it in her hair and ear, she looks up at me and smiles...priceless. She managed to do this 2 more times during the afternoon. About an hour after we got home, I started to feel 'dizzy'. It then proceeded to become what I would call the worst hangover I have ever had. I never got sick, but I wanted to just to feel better. I asked Joacim to come home early because I was worried that I couldn't take care of her, which he did (thankfully!) He was actually holding her, standing in the sunroom, and she pooped so hard that it actually shot out of the back of her diaper...as we were watching, and plooped right on the rug! And we got another smile after that! :)

I wasn't feeling the greatest, but we invited my nephew, JT, to come and stay with us Saturday night, with plans to go to the zoo on Sunday. JT is VERY polite when he's staying at other peoples house, and he said I was a great cook (we had pot roast), so I told him he can come back ANYTIME :) He LOVES Joacim, and he seems to really respect and listen to him, which is great to see. He even asked Joacim to help him floss. Now I ask you, what 8-year old boy do you know that flosses?


Unfortunately, the trip to the zoo also didn't happen, because Joacim woke up sick on Sunday. Whatever this little virus was, it managed to hit all of us this weekend. I ended up taking JT back home early on Sunday, and then Izzy and I went shopping so we could stay away from home and Joacim could get some sleep.

Once we got home, the weather was so nice outside that I decided to have a little photo shoot with Izzy. As I mentioned early, there were a lot of first this week, and another one was Izzy finding her feet. I kept wondering why her socks were always half on her feet when I picked her up from daycare, and Joacim saw her pulling on them the other day. Now, as soon as we lay her down, up go her feet

Looks like she's flipping me the birdy!


More bubbles...


Look at her concentrating!


I finally got her to look at me in this one...


And this one I was just darn lucky! This is my new favorite photo...


Supposedly, Izzy rolled over TWICE at daycare today (from her tummy to her back), but I haven't seen it yet (and I'm a bit jealous that they got to see it first) that I'm pretending it didn't happen. :) I'm going to try to get her to do it tommorow, as she was in no mood for it tonight.

Also, and this is pretty important, Joacim and I are walking in the Light the Night Walk on October 11. This is an event to raise funds for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. For those of you that don't know, I lost a younger cousing to Leukemia, so this cause is near and dear to my heart. Please take a moment to check out my personal page and donate. It's for a good cause!!!!