A day in our life...: What a week....

Here are out two cuties. We dressed

them in their Christmas outfits to get a early Christmas picture for calendars I make every year through shutterfly.com. I think it turned out ok, except Little Man looks like a not-so-little-man....oh, wait, he isn't little!! The dude is huge! He is more than half the size of his big sister!

There is alot to write, so I will just go chronologically, so as to not forget anything/anyone. When I last left off, both kids had colds, and I was constantly wiping noses. I would have rather had runny noses, compared to what we are dealing with now! We ended up heading to DH's family on Wednesday night. In the middle of the night on Wednesday, Bug started with a fever. She was up alot that night, and we (I) was too. She cried alot, most of the night. Now, in hindsight, I think what was happening, was that she would go to suck her thumb in her sleep and because of the blisters in her mouth, it would hurt and wake her up. I am pretty sure I didn't get more than about 4hrs of sleep. The fever continued through Thursday, with cold symptoms. During the day, though, when she was playing with her cousins, you wouldn't even know she was sick. She was happy, and running around. Thursday at lunch, Bug "bit her tongue" and started to cry. Of course, we didn't think much of it. Later in the evening, she complained of her tongue hurting, and I looked and saw a very small white spot on the tip of her tongue, again not thinking much of it (it looked like a canchor (sp?) sore). I went on to share a piece of apple pie (and a fork!) with her. Thursday night was another 3hrs-of-sleep-for-me-night (due to her screaming, and only wanting me to hold her), and by morning, DH and I were ready to go home (a day early), and get Bug to an urgent care to see what the heck is wrong with her. In the meantime, I noticed a few small red spots on her hands. I just figured it was her dry skin, from washing all the time (potty training).

Anyway, we decided to pack up and head home. We made a few stops in the neighboring town--the cemetery where my Grandma is (for a Thanksgiving visit), and the Sweet Shop for some yummy chocolate, and then we hit the road. We made it to the urgent care four hours later. We were waiting for the doctor to come in, and we were goofing around (again, not acting at all sick!). Bug stuck her tongue out at me, and it was COATED with white stuff. NASTY. Turns out she has/had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (for the sake of the rest of this blog, it is HFMD). YUCK! I of course freaked out, thinking she said "Hoof and Mouth Disease" (what cows get!). After she calmly told me that ALOT of toddler's get this, and not to worry, I stopped freaking out. It is a virus, so there is nothing to do but wait it out. So, for the time being, Bug gets to eat jello, pudding, popsicles, yogurt and soup. Basically, anything that doesn't hurt her mouth to eat.

That being said, I feel like putting Little Man in a bubble! I am trying to keep Bug away from LM as much as possible--which is very hard to do. She loves him so much, and is ALWAYS kissing, hugging, and smothering him (in a good way, of course!). HFMD is transmitted through saliva, (or the liquid in a broken blister) so the things not allowed now in our house: sharing utensils/cups, sharing hand towels, kissing on the lips (Sorry, Babe!), sharing toys that were slobbered on, sneezing, drooling, etc. I just don't want LM to get this. A main symptom of HFMD is loss of appetite, because of all the blisters in your mouth. Can you imagine a baby having that, when all they do is suck on a bottle??? From everything I have read, and what the doctor has said, Bug shouldn't be contagious anymore. Each day that LM goes without a fever is a blessing! I guess with HFMD, the fever comes before the blisters, and once you have the blisters and/or have been fever free for two days, you aren't contagious. I am not risking it though--we have a wedding out of town this weekend (that Bug is the flower girl in), and I don't want us all to be sick and eating popsicles for our meals (and not able to attend the wedding)!

So, other than that, Thanksgiving was nice with the in-laws. We had a wonderful meal, and good times with family. It was kind of weird for me, though, because I was worried about Bug most of the time (and had a major lack of sleep), and when I wasn't thinking of her sickness, I was missing my family and especially my Grandma. Grandma loved Thanksgiving....she was so genuine about being thankful for all that God had blessed her with in her long life....and not just on Thanksgiving, every day. It was commonplace to hear her talking about all the good she had in her life, in spite of having been widowed twice (once when she was young with three young children). She was such a blessing to us, and not a day goes by that I don't think of her. So, it was an interesting Thanksgiving for us...in lots of ways.

There is a bit of a baby boom going on--My brother's girlfriend is pregnant, due in mid-June, and my sister called last night to let me know that her and her husband are expecting and due in late July! Lots of new babies!! We are so happy for both of them--and pray that everything goes well.

As I finish typing this, we have received about 5 inches of snow so far. It isn't going to stop till the morning either....Good times! Here are some pictures from the last week. Enjoy!

Grandpa, Erin and Andrew playing the Wii

Aunt Tracy giving Bug a "airplane" ride

LM and his cousin, Erin. LM is about half the size of Erin--and she is 6yrs old!!!

LM and his Daddy

This is a funny picture--LM was crabbin' and got a handful of Bug's hair, and pulled. This picture is the result...

Doesn't she look miserable?? This was taken on Friday night. She was mad at me for putting band-aids on all of her blisters (if they break, they are VERY painful, and the liquid from the blisters will spread the virus).

This was taken tonight. We decided to be goofy, and roll her hair up in foam rollers. It was cute, and reminded me of when my Mom and Grandma would roll up my hair when I was little. Of course, the rollers only stayed in about an hour, because she wanted them "OUT MAMA!".

Here are a couple of pictures of LM after his first official hair product treatment. I was getting sick of the "frizzies" and dry broken off hair on the back of his head. I now use a dab of "Silken Child" moisturizing creme to his hair, dry or wet, and this is what it looks like afterwards. It just keeps his hair more moist, thus, reducing breakage. Nice, perfect curls. Ahhhh, no frizzies!