Round 2

The sickness has now passed it's way around and made it to Evan. We got up this morning and as I was making bottles for the babies Kevin appeared in the kitchen with Evan curled up in a ball in his arms. I was instructed to "feel his head" and sure enough - hot. I finished making the bottles and took them to the boys while Kev took Evan's temperature: 101.3. I gave him a dose of children's Motrin and set him up on the couch with his green blankie (the one he chews on), his Thomas blankie, his "brown clues" pillow (it has brown paw prints on it that he thinks are Blue's clues), a cup of juice and a bag of fruit loops.

Throughout the morning chaos, I'd frequently feel his forehead to spot check his temperature and it always felt a little warm, but not crazy hot. Eventually it was time to put the boys down for their morning nap and these past few days have had me incredibly exhausted, so of course I was really jonesing for a nap. I packed up Evan's camp and brought it into the bedroom. I set him up with an episode of Team UmiZoomi while I dozed off for a few minutes. I was actually able to squeeze in almost half an hour - not quite as long and refreshing as I really was in need for, but I'll take every spare minute I can get.

The babies woke up and were ready for lunch. Evan wanted to stay and watch some more Nick Jr, so I left him in our bedroom. After I got the boys all set up with their highchairs and food I went to check on Evan and ask if he was hungry. I cracked open the door to find my bug passed out sprawled clear across the middle of the mattress. I figured I'd let him be since he probably wasn't hungry anyway.

About an hour later I hear a very pathetic, "mommmmmy, moooommmmmy...." coming down the hall. I was in the kitchen when he found me and he practically fell to the floor of exhaustion. I picked him up and he was a little ball of fire. I rushed him over to the thermometer and boom - just like that he had gone from barely a fever at all to 103.4 in about an hour. It had only been 5 hours since his last dose of Motrin, but we didn't have any Tylenol in the house so I decided to give him another dose an hour early. It brought things back down to a somewhat decent level and he started acting kind of normal again.

He seems pretty fine as long as he's doped up. But, man, can you tell the second the meds start to wear off - poor guy completely crashes. I hope tomorrow is better for my little man, he's had it pretty rough today.

Why Is Someone Always Sick?

Kevin hasn't been feeling well this weekend. We went out for breakfast (successfully!) and headed to Toys 'R Us to take Evan to a Thomas and Friends storytime. He was too shy to be read to in a group of strangers, so he collected his BOGO 50% off coupon and proceeded to pick out two new trains. By the time we left the store Kevin headed out to the car while I stood in line and waited to make our purchases. When I got outside there was a nice puddle of vomit outside of the driver's side door and I was informed that I would be playing the role of chauffeur for the rest of the trip.

So there I was, yet again taking care of the whole family by myself. We had a ton of plans to get crap done around the house this weekend, but they were obviously put on hold. I was also really looking forward to being able to relax a little...but yesterday and the previous week had me absolutely exhausted. Oh, did I mention that Evan woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was horrible the whole day Saturday? Or that Carter developed a fever and was extremely fussy? Or that Brennan must have found his way into a bottle of caffeine pills or something - incredibly hyper!? Or that my house was filthy - it literally looked like someone had come in to rob the place - random things everywhere and not a clean fork to be found?!

Thankfully, Kevin was feeling a little better today and let me take a nap to recharge the old batteries. I don't think I could have made it otherwise. Carter woke up fine this morning, but soon the fever and fussiness were back for a second round. I'm not sure exactly what's going on. My first thought was teething, since our total tooth count between both of them remains at zero...but the fever was, in my opinion, much too high for that to be the case. I'm hoping it's not another ear infection, but their track record speaks for itself.

I have to take them to their ENT specialist appointment tomorrow for review and see if the doctor thinks they need tubes or not, so keep your fingers crossed that his answer's a "no". The good news is that if Carter does have an ear infection, we'll catch it pretty quickly. The downside of twins - double the copay, and in this case the specialist copay. Goodbye $100...

Well...

The "new plan" isn't going so well. And you know what's sad? When I check the blog of my personal training company and think to myself "what the hell, they haven't updated since March 17?!" and then I realize, hmmm...I haven't updated mine in a while either, log in, and see that it's been one day longer than theirs in comparison.

I think I'm a pretty good FAIL when it comes to my existence in the blogosphere, but I'm okay with that. I can't be good at everything, now can I? I mean, there has to be one thing that I'm not good at, and this is it!

Okay, maybe that's not it. I'm also crappy at keeping up with laundry, keeping a clean house in general, staying organized, remembering things (I think this is mommyhood related though, I was good at it pre-kids). This list in neither cumulative nor exhaustive - I have many more FAILS to my life story and I'm sure you would love to hear about them ALL someday, right? ;) Right, probably not.


I took the boys back in to see the pediatrician this past Monday for coughs that weren't going away and general yuckiness. They still had ear infections, so we bumped them up to a stronger antibiotic. They seem to be doing tons better on this new prescription and are a lot happier this week. They have now exceeded their quota on ear infections though, so we have appointments on April 19th with an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist to see if they have a future with tubes or not. Hopefully not, since spring has started coming around the doctor is thinking this might be the end of their crappy ear infection "season".

The babies had evaluations with our teacher from the school district's Parents as Teachers program. Usually we just kind of do playtime lessons and she gives us some handouts on things they should be doing at their age and suggestions on what to work on with them. Ms. Jenny has always said Evan was the smartest kid she had ever worked with, but she was also really impressed with both of the babies too, it turns out they are both "above average" for their age. Brennan was a tad more advanced than Carter, but we already suspected/knew that since he is the one that seems to hit and master developmental milestones sooner than the C man.

It was kind of funny, Ms. Jenny suggested we start doing 3 to 6 piece puzzles with Evan. I just kind of gave her that look and she said "you're kidding me right? How big are the puzzles he's putting together right now?" I told her 25 pieces...but he does need a little bit of help sometimes with some of the trickier areas. She's always amazed with that kid, and so are we. Mom and dad are super proud of their little guy!

Evan was sick and stayed home yesterday. He threw up several times that morning while on the way to school, so Kevin drove him back home and he got to spend the day with Mommy. He seemed better towards the later part of the morning and was running around the house causing the usual raucous.

It was back to school today for him and Kevin called a little later giving me the usual update on how he had a hard time with getting him into school, etc. We got some really sad news this morning: Evan's best friend at school had his last day yesterday and he missed it. :( I have to admit, I cried when Kevin told me. It's just so sad to think about.

I was about to ask Kevin to see if he could stop by the office and get the family's address or phone number, or some other form of contact information when he told me that they are leaving the country. Furcon's mom is from Turkey and the whole family is packing up and moving to her home country. Evan didn't even get to say 'goodbye' to him (and just so you know, I'm crying again typing this out).

Furcon was one of the very few things that Evan looked forward to when it came to school, which leaves us in a whole new pickle now. It makes me realize that Evan really is growing up, and that this will happen to him many more times in his childhood and even in his adulthood. It's a fact of life that friends come into our lives and they also leave them.

Some of my mom friends have suggested that maybe this is a good thing, that he won't be traumatized by any 'final moments' with his best friend or that he won't associate any bad feelings with school for taking his friend away, but it doesn't really make me any less sad for my growing boy. I know he won't remember this when he turns 21 or 10 or probably even next week, but I think that makes all of this even more sad - that it will be like his friend Furcon didn't even exist. And this stage of his life didn't even exist. His two year old mind is pretty likely to not remember his first best friend, Furcon, once he has forgotten about him and moved on - and he was such an important part of his life!

We all loved you Furcon, for helping shape who our little boy is now today. We'll all miss you, but I know deep down somewhere, Evan holds a special place in his heart for you. I'd like to think that tiny little spot will always be yours.

Fussy McFussersons

That's what the babies have been this last week...and still are. One, if not both of them, are always crying - ALWAYS. Unless I'm holding them, but gee wouldn't that be wonderful if that's all I had to do during the day?

I'm not sure if it's their ears still, or maybe teeth that are getting closer but I have had enough. Add on top of that a two and a half year old who no longer likes going to school and playing with his friends and you've got one exhausted mama.

Evan's been crying for me in the mornings and seems so sad to be leaving that the past two days we've let him stay home with me. Kevin and I have a pretty big decision that needs to be made and I think a certain mini-someone is forcing the issue. It's so hard to get anything done with two infants in the house, but when Evan stays home with us it's even more difficult. In fact, nothing gets done and the house looks worse when Kevin gets home than what it did when he left.

I also feel terrible because Evan is pretty much parked in front of the tv all day, not good. I honestly feel like he enjoys school once he gets over the two minute crying fit that goes down when daddy drops him off. I mean, seriously...he has friends to play with, he gets to play outside, go to the school's gym, color, paint, glue stuff, read books, etc. and I have no time to do that stuff with him when he's home. It makes me so sad to think how bored he is with me and that I know he craves more attention and time, but I just don't have it. Although, maybe he really would rather be home doing a whole bunch of nothing if it means being around his mom. I don't know. But I do know that keeping him home would save us one thousand dollars a month, wouldn't that be nice?

I know there are plenty of other MoMs who have a toddler and twin infants or twin toddlers and a newborn, etc. and they make it work...I mean, I technically make it work too, but I'm constantly struggling with "what's best" for Evan - and I still don't know the answer. Is there one?

Ear Infections

When will they stop? The boys were getting more and more fussy and all of the other usual signs indicating they might be headed towards ear infections. I waited about a week to see if the cold-like symptoms would subside on their own, but to no avail. Conditions continued to deteriorate, so I made the call to our pediatrician this morning to squeeze them in.

After a mad dash to get everyone ready and fed AND to the doctor's office in less than 35 minutes (I can't believe I actually did it!) my suspicions were again confirmed. The doctor is putting them on Augmentin this time around as opposed to the usual Amoxicillin. Hopefully it works for them, we'll see I guess.

I asked her at what point we begin to discuss tubes, so she went back through their charts. She said she is hopeful they won't be getting anymore, since the cold and flu season is drawing to an end, but that we would probably have to have that talk if they end up with one more before May.

Tubes aren't the end of the world, but I can't wrap my head around the possibility of sending them both into surgery. My poor little babies, they just aren't feeling well and that makes me a sad mom today.

Yesterday

Brennan figured out how to pull up on things already, even with his brother getting in the way of things. They are both getting faster at crawling and I have to say, it is getting really difficult to keep track of where they are and what they might be (or are) getting into.

I told Kevin earlier today that it's time to bring the baby jail back out from when Evan was little. I think we'll take the dining room table to the basement or garage for a while and set up the "cage" in there with Ev's train table.


Brennan is in the green and gray, and Carter is in the monkey outfit.

New Plan

I'd love to start keeping up with this a little more and adding pictures, something I was a little afraid to do for a while. Moms in the multiples community know that it's no secret there are more than a few crazies out there obsessed with "stealing" our lives and making them their own by taking pictures of our kids and leading others to believe they are theirs...starting their own blogs and making up stories, sometimes incredibly tragic.

I'm normally a pretty laid back person, but images of my babies have been something that I found myself abnormally protective of. I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to share my beautiful kids with the blog world...even though not too many people actually read my blog.

In order to do this, that means I'll have to start actually taking more pictures of them! I hate to admit that most days I'm busy being too busy and the camera is the last thing on my mind. Hopefully I can change and make the time to capture those wonderful memories.

On that note, I leave you with this:I turned around one day while changing diapers to find this...Evan managed to crawl into it on his own!
And finally, Carter in the green bumbo and Brennan in the blue. Aren't they cute?