Riding the Struggle Bus Into 2018

So it's been a rocky start to 2018 for our family. Our poor baby Thatcher has been sick for the entire month of December and went on a hunger strike last weekend. Saturday morning we went to the farm to finally celebrate Blakley Family Christmas. This is actually a pretty early Christmas celebration for that clan, truth be told. Thatcher woke up feeling miserable and was coughed till he threw up a couple times, but he's been miserable so we got in the car. As the day went on it became obvious that we were in the middle of a baby hunger strike. I had to dig through the file folders in my brain, back to how to get a baby to drink, anything, when they don't want to. It took a lot of work, but I kept him somewhat hydrated and remember a few tricks, but by five on Saturday he'd peed twice. The rule is three diapers in 24hr period and then you go to the ER.

Other than Thatcher trying really hard to buy a trip to the ER Blakley Christmas was lovely. We got great gifts, everyone played well together, it was warm enough that the kids could play outside some without dying, and we had a delicious food as always. Thatcher stayed inside all day, but everyone else explored the outdoors somewhat. Brendan was tasked with making a pillory as an assignment for school (I have no idea why and we had been instructed to be super supportive as B was already stressed out by this project). So the Uncles helped him make that, MJ and Zane helped Grandma break ice and refill bird feeders, and the little boy played with their robots. E and Ro also created a new game called Hide and Feet which is like hide and seek only from what I can tell you hid in generally the same area every time and the other person just has to locate your feet. In true little boy fashion they played this happily for a solid hour. Their personalities are perfectly suited for each other and I love watching them entertain themselves.

I cannot believe this sweet baby girl is going to be one year old in a few days. She's an absolute joy and I just adore her.



By dinner time it was touch and go as to whether T would need to go to the ER and after dinner Rowan threw up. Rowan never throws up so decided we should head home and left giving everyone our deepest apologies for the stomach bug that we had no doubt just gifted everyone with. This is what happens when my kids go to daycare. They go for a day or two and are sick for a week. It's infuriating. It is my personal pet peeve when people bring their sick kids around mine so I felt terrible knowing I had inadvertently done this, getting everyone sick.

When we put Thatcher to bed Saturday night I consulted all my nurse practitioner friends and decided if he woke up with a dry diaper and didn't eat we would take Thatcher to the ER in the morning. He woke up with a dry diaper and didn't eat. I packed a bag to go to the ER. Keep in mind my personal rules for taking my children to the ER are as follows:

1. They are bleeding from the head. Even this isn't 100% true because Rowan had a gapping hole in his chin and went to a pediatric urgent care to get stitches, no way I was braving the ER for that.
2. Their is a bone sticking out of their skin. It has to be a break I think would require surgery.
3. Respiratory distress
4. Lastly, dehydration that I think would require an admission with IV fluids. That's what I thought we were looking at.

So we paced the house, I texted friends at work to see just how bad the ER was and I weighed out the risk of severe dehydration with being exposed to every single respiratory virus known to man the moment we walked into the ER. He eventually peed and drank some tiny amount so we wait. Sunday afternoon I took him to urgent care. I thought they'd probably send me to the ER or potentially rehydrate him there. In the end he still had raging ear infections, this was seventeen days on antibiotics at this point, and they gave him an IM shot of Rocephen which in theory should have cleared it right up. We went home and for the second straight day he only had three diapers, I continued to stress.

Meanwhile Zach and I were waiting for our turn of the stomach bug to come around. Mom, E, Abbey, and Brenday were all already down with the bug. Zach had to drive to St. Louis on Monday/Tuesday for another chapter in the on going legal debacle concerning our old house. We assumed that he would be vomiting the whole way there or potentially in the court of law, while I would be here with a child who might have to go to the ER while I was vomiting. The good Lord stepped in and none of these things happened. Zach and I miraculously did not get sick. I didn't feel great, but never actually threw up. T went back to the doctor on Monday for his 9 month "well" visit. His ears still looked terrible, he got another IM Rocephin shot. Zach took him back Wednesday for one last dose. His ears were somewhat improved, but not completely cleared up.  Yes, we're working on getting this kid ear tubes, but that involves referrals to specialist, specialist appointments, and all the hopes to jump through so maybe by summer he can get some tubes

This month his face has started to look a lot like Rowan's. Rowan's facial features on Zane's head and body I think is the final verdict for what T is going to look like, with randomly dark hair.

This was after his second shot, when I thought he was starting to feel better, only to find him laying down, cuddling his stuffed Pope Francis doll. He really has been quite the trooper through all of this. He's slept great with raging double ear infections, which is a minor miracle. He has also be playing and having a grand old time, but does occasionally just lay down and give up. Poor baby.









In the midst of his month of illness he has lost a pound, weighing in at 22lbs 7oz almost 30inches long. The past few days he has begun to take whole bottles again and last night even started to eat real food. He definitely isn't eating or drinking as much as he had before all this craziness, but I think we've made a turn for the better. He's huge and doing all the things a nine month old should do. Also during all of this terribleness Thatcher has learned how to walk. We have officially entered toddle town at our house and it's just the cutest thing you could ever. I can't imagine how well he'll walk once his ears clear up and his equilibrium is back to normal.

 This facial injury also occurred right about the time I thought he might be feeling better. He fell on Miss Fritter, from Cars 3. She's a big bus with bull horns and T took a horn to his face. Also he has been surviving on a diet exclusively comprised of puffs for the past three weeks.

 

 His process for learning how to get from sitting to standing quickly has involved a lot of downward dog.

 Alice and T had their first play date as fellow walkers yesterday. It was amazingly hysterical. They toddled around each other and briefly played the slowest game of catch ever. They passed a ball back and forth for a few minutes. They are unbelievably adorable and are going to be best friends.



 

The other news of the new year is that Zane is back in school so we are back to the grind stone of studying and reading religiously. He is reading chapter books and enjoying reading to himself sometimes these days. This morning at their weekly assembly he got two math buttons (they have a catchier names than this but I can't remember it) for getting thirty addition problems (addition magician??) right in three minutes and thirty subtraction problems (subtraction action??) right in three minutes. The majority of first grade all got these buttons. I felt bad for the handful of kids who didn't get any. I was mostly impressed by this since we have spent little to no time working on math facts this year. To celebrate we took his free ice cream cone certificates that he gotten for meeting his reading goals last nine weeks and got ice cream to celebrated his math buttons. What a smart kiddo I have.

 

 

The new year also means that this kid is eight months away from starting kindergarten and it was time to really put the nose to the grind stone when it came to his learning. Rowan and I have fought tooth and nail about learning time for the past year. It's been a huge battle usually ending in me giving up and him crying. When I would tell him it was time to practice letter or numbers or anything at all he'd turn into a limp noodle who couldn't remember how to hold a pencil let alone remember his letters. I knew that he knew what I was asking him and was just acting dumb so he could get out of work. Well we are trying hard to change that now. We've done well this week with learning time everyday. He's super smart when he decides he wants to work at it. I am terrible at teaching kids how to read, but slowly we are making progress. Today we made a "I'm learning how to read" song, vaguely to the "we're going to the zoo" song of yesteryear. He has begun to get excited when he remembers things and is proud of the progress he's making. Hopefully we can keep it up in the coming months. 

 

That's all the news from this neck of the woods. I think everyone is on the mend. Zach is still fight a cough that I have now also gotten, but that's par for the course. I'm working this weekend while the boys work on Zane's pinewood derby car and next weekend we race!!!!!!!!!!!!