The details of Bryce's new look...

I've had friends go through this crazy, pass-the-illness-back-and-forth thing in the winter and always thanked my lucky stars our family hadn't had to do that. So, I guess it was just our turn.

Alright, let's see....

-Two weeks ago I got sick on the weekend, but was feeling pretty good by Monday, no big deal.

-Then a couple days later Bryce cried all through the night. I went and got him a couple of times and thought he was probably just acting spoiled from our long trip in Utah and was wanting some love. But the last time I got him that morning he had puked all over his crib. So we just tried to take care of him until he got over it. I don't think he actually had a stomach flu because that was the only time he threw up. I think he'd just been crying too hard or something.

-The next couple of nights he continued to cry through the night and I again thought he just needed some love since he was sick, but after a few nights like that I was kind of tired and wondered if I should make a doctor appointment for him. That day he was pretty cute all morning, so I figured he was fine. I put him down for his nap and put on a movie for Brynn and was so relieved for a chance to take a nap. I was almost asleep when he started screaming again. I was super frustrated and thought maybe he'd sleep in our bed. So I brought him in there and he went right back to sleep, but then about a minute later he started to whimper in his sleep, which turned to crying, and finally he started pulling on his ears. OOOOH!! An ear infection! This is when everyone has the opportunity to say, "DUH!!! Took you long enough!" But my kids really don't get ear infections, so I'm not quick at seeing the signs. So I got a doctor appointment for him that day (that was Thursday - a week and a half ago). The only time they had was in a half hour at their farther-away office in Mesa, which takes 35 minutes to get there, but I ran Bryce to Marty at work, who ran him to the doctor, leaving me just enough time to pick up Brynn from preschool and get home to teach piano. Marty brought Bryce home with a prescription for his DOUBLE ear infection (I felt like such a bad mom!). I thought, "Hm, busy day. Well, that's that."

-So that was Thursday, and by Saturday I was feeling pretty sick again. But Marty was out running errands all morning, so I was "on duty" a lot of the day. I was still feeling pretty sick Sunday, but I'd gone for so long not teaching my Beehives, I just really felt like I needed to go to church, so I just tried to ignore being sick all day. Meanwhile, Bryce had still been up crying almost every hour or two for basically a week at this point and had started developing a hacking cough.

-So on Monday, I was starting to feel better for the second time, but not much improvement for Bryce. I had talked to a friend at church who got her little girl an antibiotic for an ear infection the same day we did and was pretty much fine at that point. So I made a second appointment for him Monday to see what was going on. His ears were starting to look somewhat better but his lungs weren't sounding good. The doctor tried his best to listen to his lungs, but Bryce was screaming and trying to get out of there, and he is STRONG! He said Bryce sounded like he might be just starting to get pneumonia. He said the safest thing would be to write him a prescription for a much stronger antibiotic, but it's harsher and would probably upset his stomach. So I took it home and stewed over whether or not I should fill it, or just keep going on the first one, as he was acting pretty cute and happy most of the day. Also on Monday, Marty came home after school feeling sick, flopped down on the bed, and slept the rest of the day. Great.

-Tuesday, Marty got a sub, which he NEVER does. It's a little tricky finding a sub for seminary. For some strange reason, people aren't just lining up, waiting around all day to VOLUNTEER to take on 150 teenagers. :) He couldn't find a sub in time for his first class, so he had to go in, and when he got home he spent the whole rest of the morning trying to find a sub for his last hour. Finally, his wonderful secretary offered to find him one, so he went to sleep and slept the rest of the afternoon. I had never seen him so sick our whole marriage! Bryce had had YET ANOTHER horrible night but good day. Finally Tuesday evening I was sick of mulling over the stronger prescription and decided to fill it (especially after going to mutual that night and talking to a bunch of other moms about respiratory problems!). When I got home for YW that night at about 9:15, Bryce was still up crying and I thought I'd made a good decision and gave him the first dose of that.

-On Wednesday my poor husband was doing horribly, but was able to find a sub pretty easily so that was nice. Our family doctor was full that day, so we decided to go ahead and take him to urgent care. The kids had had their fill of doctor offices, and as usual, they asked us to bring him in right away, which was at lunch time, and of course the kids hadn't had lunch, so we dropped Daddy off and had lunch at Taco Bell. We picked up Marty to find out he had a pretty awesome case of bronchitis and took him home. So I spent another afternoon at the Walmart pharmacy. Who else has to spend over an hour waiting for their prescriptions to be done? I know Walmart is cheap, but I think I'm done there. At this point it's been over a week since Bryce has slept well, so I sadly kissed another chance for a nap good-bye, but at least had a really fun date there with Brynnie-Pie. I came home just as Bryce was waking up and started to cry! Because as HAAAARD as I was trying to ignore it, I was sick again. Or maybe I never actually got over what I'd had Sunday. But it didn't matter, because I'm the mom and was learning that I couldn't really call a sub! Wednesday we got through the day. Marty slept from 3:00 that afternoon until the next morning. I can't imagine how sick he must have been! And Bryce and I had our TENTH night of crying together! He just wasn't getting better. So...

-Thursday, I was already planning to take Bryce back to the doctor for a third time, but when he woke up with a horrible rash all over his body, and what I was pretty sure was labored breathing, I made the appointment as soon as they opened. The first bit of bad news came after I explained that he had not had a fever for a few days and we had no other choice but to assume that Bryce was most likely allergic to penicillin. Which will be, let's be honest, a big pain in the butt the rest of his life. And secondly, he had bronchulitis(?) (which is the virus that can turn into RSV), and he was just too wheezy for comfort. Which is the story of this sad machine we use every few hours. So, like an absolute walking zombie, I took Brynn back to Walmart for our fourth round of prescriptions. I took her to the toy section and sat there on the dirty, disgusting floor and tried not to cry again. I was so sick! But she was an angel as always, and she's so stinkin' delightful to spend time with. We got home, once again, right as Bryce was waking up, and so I missed my 11th chance for a nap after my 11th night sick with no sleep. So I was pretty much at my wits end on Thursday. I canceled all my students and started looking up plane tickets to see just how out-of-our-price -range it would be to fly my mom out for the weekend. Although I wasn't real serious about it, because as luck would have it she was under the weather, herself. So I admitted defeat with my kids crying all around me. And then four or five people called in about a 15 minute period just to say hi, and how are we doing? and do we need any help? And so I got a lot of good advice, a WONDERFUL meal, and lots of offers I figured I'd make good on. That night Marty started coming back to life right in time. I put the kids in the bath with a very indulgent amount a bubbles, grabbed my pillow and blanket and laid down on the floor by them. I didn't make it back to my bed until after Marty had gotten them washed and down to bed for the night, and he helped me up. I figured if I could get a SINGLE NIGHT of sleep I might finally get over this thing. So, yes, I did take a bunch or Tylenol PM, and the next thing I know Marty's waking me up because Bryce is crying, but HALLELUJAH! He can't get Bryce because it is morning and he's headed of to work! I finally got some sleep!

-SO, Friday was much better now that I could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel! And Bryce was doing better at keeping the mask on after he realized as long as he kept it on he got to watch Thomas and get a mini-Popsicle at the end. In fact, those incentives might have been TOO good after he started going to the machine on his own and asking for Thomas. (That's actually a little tip I got from Melissa years ago after seeing her boy willing to wear the mask as long as he got to watch a movie - thanks, Melissa!) I got a little crazy and actually did my dishes that morning! We'd had just about enough of eating cereal from tupperware with measuring spoons. :) But after doing the dishes I felt like I had just run a marathon and decided I would finally LISTEN to my body and take it easy. I don't think a single person in the world could have convinced me to load up my kids and go anywhere, so thank heavens no doctor appointments. We got to just take it easy in our messy house, which is what we are doing today also, Saturday. At least Marty doesn't have a small fireside planned at our house tomorrow. OH, WAIT!!!! :) We'll get to the house later. :) They'll forgive us!

So what did I learn these last TWO WEEKS? (So that I don't have to do this again anytime soon)

Hm, to listen to my body and not "run faster than is needful." And how do I do that when my whole family is sick? By asking for help, dummy! The time things finally turned around for us is when we got help. Which brings me to my next realization, even if we lived next door to my mom, she can't fix everything because she gets sick sometimes, too. So I am not allowed to get discouraged over not living close to family. I've found a real sense of empowerment and independence I haven't had as much in my life until we moved out here, but enough is enough! Being independent doesn't mean doing everything without at least a little help from the ward family. And my standards can't be quite the same when I'm sick. I should have spent less time worrying about my house-cleaning on Monday and Tuesday when I wasn't quite as sick, and more time trying to get better. Also, having a healthy family doesn't make me a good mom, and having a sick family doesn't make me a bad one. I feel like I've tried even harder than usual to keep my family germ-free and this still happened, so there ya go. These things just happen. And I should probably stop waiting around for our family to be perfect. I was frustrated because we just had another substantial health set-back last month, but I guess with four people, someone will often be ailing somehow. Plus, Bryce and I sure have had a lot of bonding time together the last couple of weeks. Last night he kept telling me thank you (at totally random times) and showering me with kisses. I went ahead and took it as a tender mercy that a 20 month old was able to show appreciation to his mom like that. :) Plus a few other lessons, but those ones are personal. :) Deep breath..... And time for more Thomas! Thanks kids, for allowing me a chunk of time to get his out of my system!

And here are some sweet pics of the best big sister ever. The other thing that helps Bryce to sit still is when Brynn sits with him. And she is always more than happy to!

Finishing popscicles and snugglin.'

By the way, Brynn never really did get sick. She got a cough, but no fevers and she never complained about being sick or acted sick. Which surprises me when I see these pictures. :)

The end!