Sterilization

No, not the kind you're thinking of. Okay. Maybe. It doesn't involve a scalpel. It involves bleach, lots of it. It's all over my house killing this bug.

We all succumbed to this super virus. That's what I'm calling it. Let's recap. Izzie fell ill Wednesday night, to the point of me talking about trips to the emergency room. Scary stuff. Todd, of course.. Sorry hun, fell ill next. That was Friday morning. Garrett, we sent with my mom Friday to get out of our germ infested house. Little did my mom and dad know, it was our secret weapon to attack their fortress. Literally. He vomited in their living room. I called off from work. I had a couple people literally almost tell me that if I didn't that I would probably be reported to someone. I don't know who, but it sounded serious. Not that I needed talked into it. I knew Todd was in no form to do the "job." That was wiping bare hineys and catching throw up. And what do you know... I started getting sick about midnight (glad I called off).

I experienced this first hand. I seriously felt like I was going to die. Worse than child birth type pains. Worse than 9lb 8oz child birth type pains. That's bad. What makes it worse is that you have two toddlers depending on you. "Mommy, carry me!" I could barely lift my body off the bed, let alone carry an almost 40lb 3 year old. I felt so bad for her .. And him ... And me. Thankfully, miraculously, Todd watched the children Saturday until almost 5pm! I slept almost the entire time. I basically knocked myself out with whatever I could find (phenergan) in order to hopefully sleep away my crazy gut wrenching pains.

Izzie was still throwing up Saturday. She actually threw up Monday as I was sterilizing the house, but I think it was more motion sickness due to a car ride to pick up dinner. She had been doing well, until we sat at the dinner table. She didn't even eat. This reminds me of the IHOP story. When she was about one, she puked at IHOP at the table. Yes, she did. It's ones of things that was absolutely horrifying for us at the time, but now we can laugh at. Izzie is a little "puke happy." She's always had a wonderful gag reflex. Actually, both my kids do. Yay for us!

Did I mention our little secret weapon did the trick for my parents? Both were getting sick Sunday.

I'm declaring this that crazy stomach virus, super bug in the news, the Norovirus. Haven't heard of it? Please, look it up. Then, don't leave your house. Lastly, pray for my babies that they get better. I can't stand them being sick. It's so sad. Thanks.

Another One Bites the Dust

Oh gosh. I wrote about this horrible stomach virus Izzie has last night. She is on the back end of it now. She only vomited two or three times Friday. I didn't think I would ever be happy about my child only vomiting two or three times, but I am! Compared to twenty times the first night, we will take two or three any day!

I cleaned the house like a crazy lady Thursday afternoon, especially the main living areas of our house: the kitchen, the living room, our bathroom and some of the bedroom, and guest bathroom (which was used as the vomit cleaning station). I had already changed our sheets plenty of times already. I need to do it again today though, if I have the energy.

Well, Fridays I usually sleep in a little or take an afternoon nap because I work nights as a nurse on Friday and Sunday. That didn't go so well. Todd had been up most of the night in the bathroom then started vomiting later that morning. Instead of coming to get me, he called my mom to come pick up the only child still well, Garrett. Izzie was in bed with me napping. She has slept so much, since becoming sick! I woke up right after she came, because I heard all sorts of commotion (the dog, doors opening and closing, Garrett screaming). She had already left. I sent Todd to the spare room, where I had been making him stay anyways. I put on my nurse's cap (just kidding I really don't have one haha) and found some zofran/phenergan and started giving him medicine, etc. I called my mom to check on Garrett. She said she would be home in a little bit.

Well, she came back sooner than expected, because Garrett started projectile vomiting. My poor baby. He vomited two more times after she left. If you haven't ever seen an 18 month old vomit, it's the saddest thing. They don't even know what to do or what's going on with their poor little bodies. With the Ped's permission, I got some zofran in him.

I had to call out tonight. There was no way I was abandoning this sinking ship, although I did think about it. I'm the only one left standing. I'm in bed with Izzie and our lovely "puke bowl" (every parent should invest in one of these). I have the monitor on the loudest I can get it. I was going to let Garrett sleep with us, but it wasn't working out. I am just waiting for the sound to come from the monitor and I'll be running. Todd is all alone in the spare bedroom, which I believe he is very thankful for.

Please, say a prayer for my kids and Todd to get better quickly! I'm talking like tomorrow! Also, I've been feeling nauseous since this whole thing started. Cleaning poo and vomit doesn't help. Did I mention that I got poo'ed on by Izzie the first night?? Oh yes, it's true. Anyways, I'm starting to feel worse. I'm trying to breathe deep and get through it. I'm fighting it as I write. Telling myself that I am NOT sick! I have to take care of everyone else, I don't have time. There is no one else to help. Think about it, who wants to come into this germ infested house to help wipe little hinies and clean puke that is highly contagious? I can tell you right now, no one.

So, say a prayer. Thanks :)

The Stomach Virus

It all started 10pm Wednesday night for Izzie. She went to sleep saying her tummy hurt and then woke up 30 minutes later, in our bed, throwing up all her dinner. Poor baby. I've never seen someone throw up so much in 8 hours. She threw up 20 times!!! I debated taking her to the emergency room, but everyone I asked said to wait it out. So we did. Yes, I'm a nurse, but I work with a lot of older people, who have had strokes. It's so different when it is your own child, too. I called our Ped's on call nurse two times talking through the situation. I sent Todd to the spare bedroom, because someone needed to get some sort of sleep. We changed the sheets on our bed about 4x. We had our designated "puke bowl" and were using towels the best we could under her. I eventually had to put a diaper on her, poor thing. She hated it! She kept telling me how she was a big girl. She's been potty trained for a year and hasn't worn a pull-up or diaper since. It was a must though! Her daddy made the mistake of taking it off later that afternoon.

I took her to the doctor that morning as soon as they would let us come in. Of course, they told us it was just a stomach virus. Ugh. I hate that word, "virus." That means going to the doctor was a waste of time basically. They gave us some Zofran, but Izzie really refuses any and all medicine unless we hide it very well in some juice.

Last night and this morning (Friday), she's only thrown up twice which is soooo much better than what she had been doing. We actually got 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Woo hoo!

I've been cleaning like crazy. Lysoling every little surface I can, over and over again. I just hope everyone else stays healthy. Todd and I have been feeling a little nauseous, but you tend to feel that way after cleaning up throw up for 24 hours plus.

Pray for my little girl. I've never been so worried as I was that first night. I wish I could've taken her place.

Shopping

One of Izzie's favorite things to do is go shopping! She loves just getting out of the house and having a little girl time, too. Although, shopping is sometimes required to include baby brother. She is okay with that. She just likes to have a little one on one time. I like it, too. I like having alone time with both of my babies. I have that time with Garrett when Izzie goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays right now.

I had some Christmas money that I was given to go shopping with. It is hard to find time in our busy lives to just be able to go shopping. I finally found time yesterday. It was just going to be me and my sister Tori, but I kept thinking all day that Izzie would really love to go as well. So, I decided to bring her with us. She was so excited. I kept whispering to her all afternoon that we had to keep it a secret.

We didn't go by her favorite store, Target, but we did go to the mall. She was happy to get a milkshake, ride the carousel, sit in one of the little car buggies, ride a few of the quarter rides, and build-a-bear. Do you think she is spoiled much? She loved build-a-bear. She had done it once before, but she was much younger. She really got into it this time. She answered all the lady's questions, who was helping her fluff the rabbit she picked out. She wanted to pick out a little outfit. We picked a tutu. She even named her rabbit. Aunt Tori was surprised when she answered "Peter Cottontail!" We shortened it to just Cottontail, since he was really a she wearing a tutu.

We ate at her favorite place. "Welcome to MOE's!!!" She ordered her "cheese sandwhich" (aka a cheese quesadilla) and then she reminded the lady making it that she had to put a paper in the plastic basket, with chips, a cookie, and Sprite. She's such an oldest sibling, making sure everyone knows how things are supposed to be and keeping everyone straight haha. Sounds a little familiar to me. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Izzie is a shopper. She is always window shopping. She will show me something and say "Mommy, I want this for my birthday!" I don't have the heart to tell her that it is ten months away. Don't worry, she gets plenty before her birthday anyways. :)

She can talk anyone into taking her shopping. Her favorite victims are her Mimi and Nina. They normally take her without hesitation. She's got them wrapped around her pretty little finger.

I think this shopping thing is going I cost Todd and me later :).

Happy New Year!

We spent the night safe at home with our babies. I wouldn't have wanted to spend it doing anything else. We ordered take out and did absolutely nothing. Garrett went to bed around 8pm, despite our neighbors firing fireworks off literally a few feet from our front door. Izzie went to bed around 10pm, but woke up around midnight for a kiss. She wasn't very happy about the new year at that time, since her mom and dad accidentally woke her.

We had a great 2012. I hope and pray God blesses us with an even better 2013 for us and our family and friends. Lots of memories to be made this year.

A Christmas Toy

This is what I was talking about in my previous post. When only one version of something is given, it can cause trouble. This a version of the cozy coupe, Garrett received from his Nina and Grandaddy. Izzie was a bit jealous. So, they adapt to the situation and figure out how to work it out so both of them can ride. This cozy coupe has a trunk area. I guess technically it's the truck's bed. Garrett opens it and stands in the back while holding on to the top. Izzie then drives the car around. This is a broken arm waiting to happen or something. Garrett is trouble. Good thing he never really gets "hurt." He always bounces right back up from a fall. Not that I want him to test this theory with the truck!!!

Christmas

Ok, I'm skipping Thanksgiving. I know. It's Todd's favorite holiday. I can't decide if it's mine. I like Christmas just as much. We had both of our families at our house again this year. It was great and uneventful. We had some wonderful family time and that's what it is all about.

Christmas! Wow. Ok. Every year that goes by as a parent this holiday gets better and better. Izzie is remembering things from the past year and asking questions about the new year. Garrett was excited and curious, too, mainly about the lights and the Christmas tree.

We had our elf from the North Pole, Buddy, come visit the whole month. He would go back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa in what he saw the kids doing, good and bad. He would then come back to the house and hide in a different spot to watch the kids again. Izzie and Garrett, both, woke up every morning yelling "buddy!" around the house, looking for him. Garrett even found him first a couple times. Buddy was lots of fun. I liked to remind them during the day that Buddy and Jesus were watching them and their behavior. It didn't really help, in fact some days I swore they acted even worse. Oh well. It is the stage we are at. The kids are trying to figure out how to play nicely together. It's also hard to reason with a one year old and why he shouldn't grab his sister's toys from her hands.

Christmas Eve was spent with the in-laws first to celebrate Christmas. We then went over to my parents just for a little bit for our traditions. Christmas morning is the first time, since Izzie has been born that we stayed home in the morning. We are setting our own traditions as a family now. That afternoon, my family came over so we could exchange gifts and have Jesus' birthday cake. Aunt Brooke and Kurt came down from Asheville. It was great being with them even if it was only a couple days. Izzie really misses them.

The kids were spoiled rotten by all. Izzie would say "oh my goshhhhhhh" with every gift she opened. I don't normally like her saying that, but she was so excited that all I could do was giggle. It's really not bad, but I just don't like it coming out of her. Garrett loved all the presents, too. Santa brought Izzie a big Melissa and Doug princess castle. He brought Garrett a rocking horse. I thought that the horse would be a bigger hit than the castle, I was wrong. We did learn that they need to get very similar things, even though they are a boy and girl. If they don't, then they fight over the one thing that they both don't have a version of. It wasn't too bad. They both did well and tried to share. It's all a learning process as a parent and child.

We were all spoiled. It was a great holiday season in this house. We packed all the Christmas stuff up before the new year. I told Izzie that we had to say goodbye to Christmas for now, but it would be back soon.

Having Great Grandparents is Awesome!

We have had two visits this fall and winter so far from Izzie and Garrett's great grandparents. They are my mom's parents. They are in their 70's, but you would never know. They get around like a young newlywed 20 year old couple. They take a million trips a year all over the country to see family. We should be the ones going to see them haha! Maybe we should take a vacation up to Loudon, TN, to see them soon. We love them and the mountains. Match made in heaven.

They spoil the kids rotten with love and affection and presents. Each time they have brought balloons with them, because they are one of Garrett's favorite things. They also were secretly hoping he would warm up fast. He walked right up to them like he sees them everyday. Grandma bought Izzie a memory game and started teaching her how to play. Reminds me, I need to get it out and work with her on it.

It's also nice that I get to spend time with them, too. They love Todd, which makes me happy. I'm glad they approve of my decisions. My grandpa actually married us, some of you might remember. I just knew my dad would cry too much during the ceremony haha! It helps having a couple pastors in the family. My grandpa did wonderful.

This past visit in mid-December was just as great. They came for lessons on how to use their new iPhones. Yes, you heard right. They are using iPhones. I'm a little upset they haven't facetimed me as much, just kidding. They brought Izzie and Garrett, yes you guessed right, a bunch of balloons and a HUGE stuffed animal dog. I mean this dog is the biggest stuffed animal I have ever seen. My kids have some pretty large stuffed animals, too. They played on him the whole weekend.

Izzie often asks about where her Grandma and Grandpa are. I always tell her they will be back soon, because I know they will. We are blessed to have them.