ick

On Monday, all three of my kids got runny noses, sneezes, etc - classic colds. The last cold we had started during Thanksgiving break and followed the domino effect - first, Little B, then Miss C, Baby J and finally me. Those were a LONG few weeks as this was also when I had eliminated tons of food from my diet to figure out Baby J's allergies...Oh, and it was SO the cold-that-never-ends, it went on and on my friends; some people started getting it not knowing what it was....

Monday, I dreaded what the week would hold - would it be better to have it all at once and be done or would it take forever to go away and I'd be stuck with three miserable kids for two weeks? Five days later, I'd have to say it's definitely better all at once - after all, they can all get up in the same 1 hour window in the middle of the night (while my husband was working late, no less) and then follow up with a variety of problems: Little B is weathering it fairly well, truth be told - sneezing, dripping nose, and hanging in there, thank goodness. But Miss C was really fun - wheezing at 2am which ultimately took us to the doctor yesterday morning since her last round of wheezing was so long ago that her inhaler was very expired (she's not an asthma patient...yet). I'm just grateful they gave me a sample to get it started and it seems that's all we'll be needing, no extra meds. She's doing much better today. Then there's Baby J He is puking mucous this morning. Oh fun. And he wakes up miserable in the night with some coughing and sneezing. Overall, though, he's on the upswing, too...which means day five and we're well past the worst of it. I cannot tell you the relief that brings me.

Especially since I got food poisoning yesterday. Well, I'm feeling fairly certain it came from Wednesday night's pulled pork at a nearby BBQ restaurant (we had to make an ill-timed trip to W-mart and that was close by). Something didn't set right after that meal and by last night - boy howdy, nothing was set right. My her0, my husband got home right before the fun really began and then he got a taste of my nights in true form: how often Baby J wakes up, how as the morning draws closer he can't be laid back down and so it goes. I told him that over the holidays he let me sleep in and helped a ton around the house (which drew much compassion and kindness and "I don't know how you do it - I'm going out of my mind" scenarios, though he's always very nice about it anyway); last night, he got to see the other side that led up to my double exhaustion every day - the constant waking up all stinkin' night long. I was just too weak to hold Baby J and it made me dizzy to carry him over to his crib. And so, my husband was awake every time the little one was. At first, not so bad. Then, before 4am he could no longer fall deeply asleep and would stand and scream as soon as we laid him down. After half and hour, he willingly fell asleep next to my husband - though a little later he woke up and puked which began that part of the fun. By 5am, my husband just got up. We took turns holding Baby J until he had been sacked out so long he slept in his crib without flinching.

This sleep thing - it's something we're trying to figure out. His tummy is bothering him in the early hours, we think, and have started a little extra meds (per the dr) to soothe it, but since he is a "crib sleeper" versus in our bed like the other two, the early hours of nursing and being moved back to his crib are too much transition. We don't know how to solve it - and giving him his "own" space seems, well, difficult. Which child should he share a room with, etc? Sigh. That's it's own post for another day perhaps.

Today - I'm so weak. So sore. Still not done making potty trips. I really hope my mom can come help out - at least you can't catch food poisoning and the colds are on their way out the door.