Running on E

It's been awhile since I had the time to actually sit down and write. OK I had the time, just nowhere near the mental capacity to form coherent thoughts and write them out correctly. I'm still trying to catch up...ha! That's funny. With a 3 month old who doesn't sleep and a 2 yr old who likes to get out of bed in the middle of the night several times looking to watch tv or get a refill on chocolate milk...catch up? Well I have to hold on to some form of hope that it happens sooner than when Soren hits the age of 18 or I'll probably end up in a Happy House surrounded by several nice men in pristine white lab coats. Actually, now that I think about it, that sounds kind of nice. Maybe I could even get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep!

So last Monday Xavier came home complaining about a weird tummy. By evening he had a mild fever which meant no school the next day. By Wednesday we decided to take him to the Drs as his list of symptoms began to grow and wouldn't you know it, he was diagnosed with H1N1 and Pneumonia. I swear when we went into the Pediatric office he wasn't looking too bad, but by the time he got the official word he had just plummeted to complete and utter sick! So I took the poor kid home and got him in bed, went out to get his medicine prescription filled and stopped at Blockbuster to stock up on movies. Keeping him in his room, liquidated and medicated was the easy part. The hard part came in keeping everyone away from him!!

Since Ashe has asthma and H1N1 is bad for kids with pre-existing conditions, J and I decided to keep him as far from Zavi as possible... which proved IMpossible! No matter how hard we tried to keep him off Xaviers top bunk I would find him there within the hour. I understood Ashes reasoning's. Zavi was miserable and Ashe wanted to comfort him. Zavi had Indiana Jones playing on the lap top and Ashe wanted to watch too. Zavi was playing Star Wars on his DS and Ashe wanted a turn. Ashe was bored and wanted to annoy his brother as it is his duty to do so.

On top of this I also had to keep everyone sanitized and away from Soren. As a baby he was also in the category of OMG DO NOT GET FLU!!!! So J and I reverted to Purelling everything and anyone who walked by. Want to look at Soren? Wash your hands. Want to talk to Soren? Wash your hands. Want to get within 45 feet of Soren? Wash your hands!!!

Then came medication. I felt like Nurse Ratchett the entire time as I doled out Tylenol, Motrin, Tamiflu for Ashe, antibiotics for Xaviers pneumonia, Airborn and Cold Eaze for J and myself. My kitchen counter made Targets Pharmacy look amateur in comparison. I kept tally both mentally and on scraps of paper who had what when, temperature readings, etc.

Add on top of all this nights. Zavi waking up in the middle of the night trying to cry from being in pain but having no voice. I would go in and rub his back until he finally passed out. Then Ashe would wake up with a stuffy nose and demand wipes for his nose and butt (why his butt I have no idea but we just ran with it to keep a happy family.) Soren decided to want to wake up every hour to nurse a few nights and then J started feeling bad and got sick himself. At this point I had to stay healthy and keep going. J was down for the count. because he was sick I had Soren duty nonstop. I love the little bugger to death, but it got to be hard when I had to keep him in my arms and try to diffuse a fight between Zavi and Ashe (who would decide to climb up on Zavis bed and try to steal the laptop) while holding Soren at arms length outside in the germ free hallway.

It was like this All. Week. Long. By Saturday night I passed out at 9:30pm. I could not speak properly, I couldn't even complete a thought if my life depended on it. I realized trying to keep Soren in his crib was ludicrous right now as if he stayed in bed I could just roll over and nurse him without missing a beat. So he's back in our room for now. Anything to sleep.

Sunday Xavier was perfectly fine again. J is still a little under the weather but not too horrible. He's been a doll and despite being sick has allowed me to wake up late during the weekend to try and catch up. I know hes being nice but I also think it's because he knows how bad the atmosphere can get in here with a tired cranky wife and mom. It's another survival tactic. I love that man. Xavier finally went back to school today full of pep and vigor. Ashe, Soren, and I seemed to have been spared from the flu (knock on wood). But I really need one day sans kids to just crawl in bed in ratty PJs, my godawful looking purple fuzzy socks, and my favorite quilt and just zonk out and not worry about little feet pattering to my door, slowly opening it and crawling into my bed to ask in a concerned voice "MOMMY WHATCHA DOING????"

I wonder if the Happy House has their number listed in the phone book?