I want to go back and talk to you guys about yesterday. It was a really hard day, but a few bright things happened in the evening that I wanted to share with you!

1. My mom brought us supper. It was SUCH a relief not to have to think about making food, and while Laela wailed through supper (as she did for 90% of the day) everyone else ate good, full meals without complaining. Thank you, mom!!
2. Sometime during supper, Dekker’s ear cleared!! I could tell right away that he was SO much happier, and felt more confident and happy. Having a sense kind of drop off had really freaked him out, as it would any of us, I think. We saw the same thing a couple of years ago when his vision failed and he had to patch his good eye. It was such a relief for him to get that sorted out and have his senses back up to snuff. (Spoiler alert! Now that its the next day, that kids whole face is draining out of his nose, and it is sooooo gnarly! Wiping that thing is a full time job!)
3. After kids were bathed and jammies were on, a friend from across the street dropped by with a big plate of desserts and treats for us! This was SO sweet because baking is one thing that I just didn’t get to do a whole lot of this year, and I’ve been disappointed about that. We are no longer lacking in sweets around here. Also, I so much appreciated that she was brave enough to drop by and visit with us and all of our sick kids for a few minutes. Its a ballsy move when we’re all so under the weather, yet we are so thankful for anyone brave enough to stick their head in here! We feel less like hermits, haha! (Now that I know you read this, I feel like I’m talking about you when you’re in the room 😉)

Thank you for caring about our family and contributing in the ways you all have! We feel loved and cared for and thought of. Thanks, friends and family, for not forgetting about us when it seems we’ve been tucked away out for SO LONG. We don’t desire to be so closed off, but we also really don’t want to spread illness. Please understand that we’re not trying to hide, but rather to be smart for our family and considerate of yours!

I hope your celebrations will all be starting very soon, if they haven’t already! My family is currently Christmasing, so off I go!!

For the last three or four days, Dekker has been deaf as a post. I won’t even sugarcoat it. Just out of the one ear. I’ve asked him many times if his ear hurts, and he insists that it does not, but that the one just isn’t hear as well as the other. It sounds a bit made up, but we’re having a LOT of conversations that go like this:

Dekker: See what I built, Mommy?
Me: What is that?
Dekker: Thank  you.

Sure, that makes sense to happen once in a while, but its happening a lot more. Also, Dekker is asking to leave the table three or four times because he can’t hear me answer him, and I imagine that will get old fast for him as well. These, along with a number of other examples, finally brought me to the conclusion that he needed to go to the doctor. It could just be from all of his congestion, being that all that face business is connected to the ears, or it could be a reboot of his recent ear infection. Its in the same ear, so I didn’t want to leave it too long if damage was being done.

I called Dr. Guselle’s office yesterday and they said she was off today, but they could get me in with someone from her group. I would always prefer to see Dr. Guselle, but for this, I trusted pretty much anyone to be able to look in his ears and see if there was an infection or not. Basic stuff. So yes, I agreed to see whoever could fit him in. We got an appointment for 2:00.

Now that this afternoon is winding up, I’m winding down from his appointment. His stupid, stupid appointment. Did I get the information I went for? Yes. Dekker does not have an ear infection. His ears are simply plugged because his whole face is loaded with fluid from his cold. This is good news. But MAN! If I had been a first time parent, that doctor would freaked me out!!

I asked him if there is anything we can do at home to encourage his ears to drain/pop/whatever, and he told me there wasn’t. He said it could last months, so speak up. If he starts saying it hurts, or his ears start pussing, he may have burst an eardrum. He told me to give it a month and if he hasn’t had relief, I should bring him back and we’ll get him in line to get tubes in his ears. I was very polite, but asked “Already? Like, after one ear infection? Doesn’t it have to be a common problem before people talk about tubes?” He was quick to defend his information, and just spouted off how it was a simple procedure. So I smiled and nodded and let his say his piece. Then we left. His single piece of advice to me was “speak up.”

We drove home after that, but made a quick stop at our local drugstore. I spoke to our pharmacist and he gave me a few ways to help encourage his face to drain. He agreed it may take time, but also agreed that the doctor we had seen had gone to our worst case scenario pretty quickly.

Now we’re home, hoping for the best as soon as possible. If anyone has any experience with the SUPER plugged ears for extended periods of time, and has some great surefire way to fix them up, please let me know your experiences! This is pretty new for us, and it goes against my grain to have my voice raised constantly when talking to my kids. I work hard enough not to raise my voice.  We can use all the help we can yet.

I won’t lie. Today has been tough. Beyond everyone being sick, its just been a struggle, for lots of reasons that I don’t want to hash into. Solly helped immensely by sleeping until 2:30 from this morning when I saw him briefly around 7:30. While I love having him up and around with us, being baby-free helped with a few things.

I just took a mild emotional blow and have decided to hide upstairs indefinitely. Thank goodness Brady is home now, and can cover for me while I bury my head under the covers.

This has just been something of a day that feels free of all positives. So I will keep some of those grouchies to myself and try again tomorrow. Wish me luck!!!

Does anyone judge people’s levels of sickness based on their sick moustaches? It isn’t accurate across the board but there is still something there, I think. So here you have it. Our moustache report.

Everyone started lulling for the day around 11:15am. As in we went into the quiet rooms and found the kids laying awake in their beds.

In case you missed it on Facebook, Dekker didn’t go to school today, which I am SO disappointed about, because he is missing his first ever school Christmas program. I woke Dekker up from school, and it took a LONG time. I slowly convinced him out of bed and got him to the table for breakfast. He was barely coherent, and the only time he made much sound was when he delivered big, deep, wet, chesty coughs. Lots and lots of them. He was snotty and coughy and so very miserable. I knew almost right away that it just wasn’t going to happen. I put his cup in the fridge and put him back to bed. No argument from him. He fell asleep right away.

Now that he’s up and at ’em, having slept more, he is in slightly higher spirits. But I have to keep reminding myself to actually look at him. He is still so snotty, and those coughs are just awful. It would horribly inconsiderate of me to send him to school for the program. So I do think he’s on the upswing, but he’s far from recovered. His moustache doesn’t make him look like a pervert at all!! Lol!!

Laela was still totally cuddled under her covers when we went to get her. She is probably in the best shape today. Her nose is running less and her moustache is even healing up.  Of course, she is still coughing a ton, and seems a bit tippy and off balance, but she is back in a better-ish mood. After breakfast, Brady was loading some dishes into the dishwasher and she came up to him and between sniffles, asked “Need help wiss anysing?” Totally on her own accord! She was quite disappointed that he was finished, so I brought her downstairs and we threw wet socks into the dryer together. It was cute. Nice to see her be able to open her eyes again, and be goofy.

Rowan is in the roughest shape today, by far. I can’t remember ever seeing his eyes so swelled shut, and he probably can’t remember ever seeing, period. He is coated with boogers, coughing a ton, and is just SO very wiped out. Poor monkey. I doubt he’ll be up and around much longer but he’s having a moment of positivity, and we’re rolling with it. I’m SO thankful that he’s as good natured as he is, and almost always lets me wipe his nose drama-free. However, he stinks. He needs a bath badly. That will, however, remove his sick moustache, as it is a different variety than his older brother and sisters.

Solly has no moustache to show you! He is still baby faced, which is not at all ironic. He is so friendly and still looking so healthy, but he is sooo gurgly with phlem and spit and thanks to this fun cold symptom, he has vomited sizeably a handful of times. Just milk not going all the way down effectively, but it still sucks. I know he’s not flu vomiting, but he’s also not getting as much to each/drink these days. Merp. On a separate note (TMI, poop talk) we were pretty sure Solly had some kind of minimal bowel obstruction recently, and that appears to have been resolved! Without going into details, clearly he is getting enough fluids to heal at least part of his sick little body.

Brady has an achy body and I woke up with a cold. Sooooo continue to pray for us! We are SO excited to be helping lead a good amount of music at our church’s Christmas Eve service, and while the message is more important than the actual sound, we’d love to be in better health that day, to lead people as effectively as possible. Don’t forget about us, and be praying, if you feel so inclined.

It seemed like a rocky season of illness and challenges for so many people on so many different levels. If you aren’t praying for us, that is fine. But pray for whoever God lays on your heart. We all need support in different ways. We’re all doing our very best.

Dekker and Laela are in reasonable shape this morning. I think I may even be ballsy enough to send Dekker to school tomorrow. Solly and Rowan, however, seem to be down for the count. Neither are fevered, barfing, or unpleasant to be around. But both are sleeping SO MUCH.

I have seen Rowan for a total of 45 minutes today, and thats on the high end. I know it was less than an hour. He slept in like crazy, and I finally went in to see what the good word was around lunch. He was awake, laying quietly, chewing his blanket. He didn’t actually want to leave his bed, but it didn’t take too much coaxing. He took forever to eat a small amount of lunch (yes, I pumped fluids. I know the rules) and when I let him out, he walked to the living room, dropped onto his bum, and just cried and cried. I asked if he wanted to go back to bed and he cried “yaaaaa!” and reached up his arms. Sooo that was a quick sell, and I haven’t seen him since. I would find it alarming if Dekker hadn’t been the exact same way. I’m SO thankful that my kids sleep more when they’re sick.

Solly is the same story. He was up for a slightly longer stretch than Rowan, but he’s so miserable when he’s awake. He needs comfort, but he’s twitchy, and can barely breath and drink at the same time, so he’s just over it. I understand how he feels. I’m over it too.

With the big kids still snuggled up and zoned out in the living room, and the little boys napping 98% of the day, I’ve been getting my gift wrapping on! I’m not done, but I took a god bite out of it today and I’m really happy with that! I have had to let a few of my goals for the season roll off my back this year, which has been hard, and with that, I’ve had to get past my distain for starting a task and having to finish it another time. I hate that. But I think I mostly hate it because I don’t trust myself to finish it then. Sometimes, that side wins, because I’m human, but instead of being angsty about silly things like that, maybe my efforts would be better spent on becoming a more trustworthy person, even if the person I feel I’m failing is myself. Whatever. Now I’m rambling. I just need to cut myself some slack, thats all.

So I got a bunch done, and then I slid down behind the island to check something on my phone and ended up laying on the floor. It took a LOT to get my butt up off the floor and be a grown up again. But I did it. As that “grown up,” I moved my butt to a couch and am hanging in the living room with the kids, blogging and watching Chuggington. There could be worse ways to spend the day 💜

Last night was so much smoother than the night before, and for that I am SO thankful!! Solly got up twice, and Dekker came up one time because he had woken up completely disoriented and couldn’t find his water bottle. It was where it always was, but he was SO exhausted and sick, poor thing, just couldn’t figure it out. Once he was settled back in, we didn’t see him for the rest of the night.

The sleep helped a TON, and while it goes against our grain completely, Brady went in to work this morning for 6:00am. It really doesn’t feel like a weekend at all, but this saves our week. Brady will have a nice short day tomorrow, and will have the day of Dekker’s Christmas program off! Woot! Let’s just keep praying that Deks is well enough to go be part of it!

Updates on the kids! They were disasters first thing this morning. Dekker cried probably ten times in the first half hour he was awake. About everything. Laela coughed. His chair moved. He didn’t like the color of his spoon. Reeeaaally reasonable stuff. Once he finally ate something, though, he perked up a bit and seemed to be in better shape.

Rowan was totally chipper in the morning. He has some snot issues, but no fever like his older siblings. He made lots of jokes, showed of a ton of new words, and told Solly that he loved him.

Laela was in the worst shape this morning. She can barely open her puffy eyes. I lay her down on the floor to change her diaper and she just closed her eyes and lay all limp. Even after breakfast, she cuddled up on the couch and proceeded to consistently cough and wiped her nose on her toys. I would remind her to cover her mouth, or use a Kleenex, and she would just bawl, worsening the situation, of course. Finally, I just put her back to bed. She was not impressed, but she also hasn’t made a sound in there for close to three hours, so I think mommy was right.

Solly has a cough :/ Which is sad. He doesn’t really want to eat or drink, but can be convinced if I can muster the patience. He is a TOTAL peach still, which is refreshing and fun, but I’m sad that he’s under the weather with the others.

Praise the Lord, Brady is home for the day, and will have a shorter day tomorrow too. Its so much nicer to have some backup when the laundry is behind, the cleaning is constant, and there are still jobs to do before Christmas arrives! I’m feeling, at least for the moment, like we might have some of this under control. Please, Lord, let it be so!

After I wrote yesterdays morning post, I received a call from the school that Dekker had thrown up during their Christmas concert practice. Apparently three kids threw up within four minutes. I called my mom, she came by to sit with the other kids, and I drove over to snag Dekker.

I found him in the office with his teacher. He was sitting on a chair with a bucket in front of him, and she was crouched down, talking with him. He had dirtied up his hoodie and his shoes, so they were bagged up for him, and his coat was on, as he was quite shivery. His teacher said he had been very brave and hadn’t even cried or gotten worked up. He was matter of fact, and just told it like it was. His main concern was that it was a special lunch day, and he was anticipating the pizza, chips, and chocolate milk that we had ordered him in advance. Of course, all of that was already in his backpack, ready to come home.

It says something pretty wonderful about the school, and his teacher, that he wasn’t panicked or scared when it all went down. Not very long ago, he would have been completely freaked out by throwing up, not to mention in front of most of his school!! He was clearly cared for very, very well, and feels safe there. That helped my mama heart a lot.

So I took him home and tucked him in on the couch for the rest of the day. All was well.

Then came the night. Solly is clearly feeling something as well, because he was up four or five times. We got about an hour of sleep between each wake up, and the few times he gave us a slightly longer stretch, Dekker came up to our room. The first time he came, he threw up and shook and struggled a little bit. He didn’t actually throw up the other times, but I think he was scared he would, since he felt so sick. So Brady and I were up about eight times last night, which is virtually unheard of. So needless to say, he and I are completely trashed today.

Its the same story for our kids. Laela is pouring snot, coughing up a storm, as she sits in one place and stares. Dekker has been sleeping on the couch for maybe an hour so far? Rowan woke up quite late into the morning (maybe 10:30-11:00) and has been napping for a couple of hours this afternoon already. Solly is the one who still physically appears healthy, but he sucks at sleeping today! All of his naps have been short and seemingly half-assed. Doesn’t he want to sleep??? Crazy kid! At least he’s happy when he’s awake and not a total zombie like the rest of us.

If you think of our family and feel like praying, we could REALLY use a better night tonight. Brady has to work for a chunk of this weekend (which is SO sad for me!) and it was going to be today, but thanks to the awful night, we bumped it to tomorrow. Working Sunday always feels so much harder than working Saturday. So please pray for a better night for him going into tomorrow, and for me to have the strength to be a fabulous mom to my little sick family when he’s not around to help. Even though we’re all somewhat ill, this is a really special time of year, and I want us to be able to enjoy it well together.

Stay well and healthy, friends! This “constantly being sick” thing is for the birds.

This is a very short story but I can’t not post about it. I am SO proud of Dekker. He made what I considered to be a very grown up decision yesterday, and I really wanted to brag him up a bit, and to have this in our family records so he can look back one day and see how grown up he was at the young age of five.

A couple of days ago, Dekker brought a candy cane home from school. He told me he won it for being SO good at the actions for the song they were learning. He told me everybody won, and said it was so nice that everyone had been so good at it. That alone made me melt 🙂 When does competition kick in? I hope never. I love this innocent perspective stays forever. We put the candy cane on the island and said he could have it later on. He was fine with it.

We all forgot about it until yesterday. He found it after supper, and very politely asked if he could have it as dessert. I thought about it, and hesitated for a second because of the time. It was bedtime in about a half hour. I said to him “Its pretty close to bedtime, so how about I give you a piece of it, and you can finish it up a different day?”

“Its ok if now isn’t a good time, mommy. How about we try again tomorrow?”

😮

I asked “Are you sure?” and he said “Ya, thats fine with me, mommy.” Totally. Happily.

This may seem like a small, insignificant conversation to some, but to me, it shows great maturity! He asked for candy, I agreed, but he could tell I wasn’t 100% sold, so he graciously offered that we could try again later. That is restraint. That is consideration. That is intelligence, and trust that mommy knows best. I was so impressed with him, and now I am anticipating giving him a good chunk of that candy cane when he gets home, because you’d better believe he deserves it! Though I don’t even think he knows that. I don’t think he expects it. I think he just made a good call, and I am SO proud of him.

Great job, Dekker!! Thanks for trusting me, and not being impatient about your treat. Great listing, my dear!!

Laela did NOT wake up in a puddle of vomit larger than her body today! In fact, she woke up in no vomit at all!! We’re calling that a success. She was a slow moving, sweaty mess, but she ate a decent breakfast and moved straight to the couch.

Since then, she’s perked up a bit. We read some stories, and I worked at her to keep drinking fluids. Now that both little boys are napping, and Dekker is at school, she is off the couch, playing Lego. Sort of. She’s sitting beside the Lego, anyway, and watching a bit of tv. She is liking the quiet time, as am I.

So I think she is officially on the mend! *knock on wood* That was a quick one! *knocks much much harder on aforementioned wood* Can we pleeeaaase be done being sick now until after Christmas? Dekker’s ear infection treatment is wrapped up, and no one has HFMD anymore. Please, Lord, let this be it!

When I woke up, my house was quiet. I made a bit of a plan of what to accomplish, but it was going to be pretty relaxed. I had a miraculous wave of energy and motivation yesterday, and I completed my Christmas baking! This was a big thing off my list, and even though I didn’t bake as much as I had hoped to originally, we have a sheet cake, and a double batch of homemade oreos. That plus a Ziploc bag full of shortbread and other cookies, I think we’re good for treats. So I was feeling good about the day, and thinking a few menial tasks would be simple enough to accomplish.

And then I went into Laela’s room. She was laying flat in her bed, awake, but very calm. I asked her if I had woken her, and she said “Um…ya. My bed is wet.” I looked at her sheets, and sat they were quite wet. “Wow! You must have peed a lot in the night!” I said to her. She agreed. But when I hugged her, she wasn’t wet. She was crusted over. Then I looked closer.

I’ll spare you the picture, but there was vomit everywhere. The smell started to set in then. It was insane. “Did you throw up?” I asked. Her lip quivered a little bit, then stopped, and she said she had. A very brave little girl, she was. Right away, I stripped her down and put her in fresh jammies. She’ll obviously need a bath later with fresh jammies yet again, but I just needed a temporary fix. She said she felt ok, but she was a bit shaky in her hands and on her feet. I asked if she was hungry for breakfast, and she said she was. So I sent her to the table to wait. My kids always set the table, but I wanted her to just be still.

I went into the boys room, and Rowan was still cashed out. Dekker came out to breakfast, though, and we poured Cheerios and milk.

Then Dekker offered to pray. We pray lots with our kids, and for the most part, they’re memorized prayers that the kids have picked up. I still love that they pray, because even if they can’t fully understand the idea of God and his greatness and role in our life, I think the habit is wonderful. So Dekker held Laela’s hand, and prayed “Dear Jesus, thank you for the breakfast. Let us have a good day….. and please help Laela feel better. Amen. Whoo!” That warmed my heart extra, because I think he’s really getting what praying is! He didn’t just recite a prayer. He prayed for Laela in our current circumstance, which at least so far this morning, he hadn’t witnessed me do out loud. God is good, and He is working in my family.

Laela ate maybe a quarter of her usual breakfast, but was very thirsty. I convinced her after a cup of milk to drink water. I tried to explain to her to take little sips, but she’s three, and was thirsty. So she chugged.

As I’m sure you can imagine, as I was coming up the stairs from throwing her bedding in the laundry, she had thrown up again. Because I know you’re dying to know, it was mostly water! It appeared that she was keeping her cereal down pretty well! Also, she had managed to barf before making it to the carpet, and because she had barfed on her feet, she hadn’t moved from her spot. She simply said, “I threw up again, on the floor. My feet are dirty, too.” She was so calm, which I found really impressive! When all was cleaned up, I lay a blanket down on top of my beloved living room carpet, and asked her what she wanted to do, whether it be to play, to sit on the couch, to read stories, etc. She went to the blanket and knelt down on it. She set her water bottle beside her and smiled at me. “Come sit with me?” She agreed that I could make a cup of coffee first, and then we sat and had something of a tea party.

The mood lifted, but she was still determined to just sit on the floor. Wearing her new necklace seemed to make her feel a bit better about herself. Isn’t it funny how early that starts? How feeling a tad put together makes you feel a bit more stable?

We read book after book. These pictures came after reading “Baby Happy, Baby Sad.” Apparently these are the saddest and happiest faces they can make. Laela’s sad face is pretty bang on, I’d say.

Rowan finally woke up mid-morning. Laela agreed that I could go get him, so I headed in. He was standing and happy. I asked him if he was sick today. “Nooooo.” What about healthy? “Yay!” He understands so much, which makes things like this a bit easier! I pulled Ro out of bed and started his diaper change. Laela wandered in, as she always does when I get Rowan.

*whispers* Hi, Wowan.
*whispers* Hi.
*whispers* I’m sick today.
*whispers* Uh ohhhh…
*whispers* See my necklace?
*whispers* Wow! Pitty!

Its probably my favorite interaction I’ve ever witnessed between those two. Rowan understood so much, and they both just whispered and visited. I loved it!

Ro ate breakfast while we continued with our day. Laela started saying that her throat hurt, which I believe, because throwing up has that effect. She obediently drank little sips of water and she needed to, but opted to move to the couch. I got her the sickie blanket and a fresh smaller blanket to snuggle, like she has in bed. Once again, she was insistent that I sit by her. I had to deny her the one time, as both Solly and Rowan needed some assistance at the table with yogurt. She understood. When I did make it back to her, I sat beside her and stroked her hair, and this is what I hear.

“Mommy is a princess. Mommy and Laela are beautiful princesses. I love everybody. I love Daddy. I love Mommy. I love Dekker. I love Wowan. I love baby Solly. I love myself. I love everybody, and everybody loves me too. I just want to be nice.”

She isn’t wrong about being nice. Laela has not milked her sickness at all. She is a champ! When Dekker asked to play Lego, Laela had said she didn’t want to play Lego today. I told her that was more than fine, and she could just cuddle up. When I said to Dekker that he could pull out the Lego once his links her tidied, Laela insisted on getting out of her cocoon on the couch to help. Once it was done, she went back to the couch. Again, from her, “I just want to be nice.”

Laela occasionally switches to laying on the floor, and then back to the couch in the blankets. I think she’s trying to regulate her temperature. She has a very mild fever, and I can tell she’s unwell, but she is amazingly self aware! I’m so pleasantly surprised by how calm she has been through all of this!

After eating a tiny bit at lunch, she is back to the couch. Its definitely a tv day around here, but I’m not being too hard on myself about that. She needs to zone and rest her achy body. Even when she’s more upbeat and chipper, she’s a bit shaky, so I can tell she’s weak and likely aching a bit. She is such a strong little girl.

All of this being said, I am SO thankful for the amount of things I accomplished yesterday and the day before. At the end of both days, I was so annoyed at how tired I felt, and how little I had to show for my efforts, but looking at my list now, just about all of the big jobs are crossed off! Thank you Lord for the burst of energy you gave me yesterday evening! I’m not sure what today would have looked like if I had a longer, looming list!

Please keep us in your prayers, if you feel so inclined. This has been the sweetest sick day I could have imagined, and while I’ve actually loved certain aspects of it, I don’t desire that everyone else starts barfing right away here.

Off to get the stuffies out of the laundry…