Travels, Strep, Ear Infection, Good Bye April!

Travels, Strep, Ear Infection, Good Bye April! April 30, 2018

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 3:38 pm

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks since I last shared with you. April has been a full month to say the least. We partied hard with many play dates and visitors over to see our new home.

I made the mistake of thinking that I hadn’t been home with a sick kid in a while and then BAM! The boys went down. We went down to see my nephew, Carson, play baseball a few Saturdays ago. We were all excited for the cousins to play while watching Carson. Graham, however, didn’t join in the fun. He just cuddled into Jeremy & I’s laps and sat on us through the whole game. Talk about a warning sign. When we got home, Graham had a low grade fever. He didn’t really didn’t have any other symptoms. Just some snot from time to time, so we didn’t feel a rush to take him into the doctor. He would play happily for a while and then he would be flat somewhere resting. It was difficult, but we left for Network Conference last Monday even though Graham was still having fevers. Network Conference was in Vancouver, WA this year. It was nice to have a short trip there. Part of our staff rented a house together. It was fun to sit up and talk with them after the evening sessions. It was a great way to connect in a causal way and deepen our relationships. Graham’s fever remained through our trip and when we got home we decided to take him to the doctor on Thursday. Turns out Graham had strep throat. Poor kid. He got antibiotics and perked up quite quickly.

Thursday was a day for the record books. Not only did Graham need to go to the doctor, but Owen came down with something as well. Owen developed a fever and by 9:30am on Thursday morning both of my boys were sleeping on the couch. It was crazy. I’ve never had them both fall asleep at the same time on the couch. I got the boys into their beds and prepared for the sick day ahead of me. Owen threw up twice. I’m happy to report he has learned the knack of throwing up in the toilet and he made it both times. I was seriously concerned for our new couch and new rug at the onset of his tummy issues. I was really wrestling on Thursday with my weekend plans. I was supposed to leave for Ladies Retreat with my church on Friday and be gone through Sunday. I couldn’t imagine leaving Jeremy with two super sick kids. Thankfully, once Graham got his medicine, he bounced back quickly and was a happy camper on Friday morning. Owen, however, struggled through the weekend. He was just a bump on a log. He didn’t move from the couch and had no energy. While I felt bad leaving Jeremy was a sick kid, Owen was a super easy kid to watch because he didn’t do anything but lay there. Graham was a happy clam because he didn’t have to share the toys and he played by himself all weekend while Owen rested. Even though the boys were in good hands with Jeremy, it was hard to be away from them with illness in the house. I got home yesterday afternoon and we took Owen into the aftercare clinic. He for sure has an ear infection and they decided he might have strep. Since you can treat strep and an ear infection with the same antibiotic they didn’t test him for strep and went forward with the meds. Now that Owen has a couple doses of medicine in him, he is back to his happy, normal self. I let the kids destroy the house this morning because it was just so nice to see them able to play together again after over a week of illness.

I’ve spent my day disinfecting everything and catching up on the laundry. April has been a full month. I looked at my calendar and there were only a few days this month where I had no plans. We’ve spent the month either having people over or running busily around the PNW. On Friday the 20th before all the germs settled in, I enjoyed a full day at home with nowhere to go. It was amazing. I sorted through hand-me-downs for Graham and organized his dresser with new options. I’ve been proud of myself for keeping up with meal planning this month. I’m getting into a new routine of writing out our meals one week at a time. I need to be brave and experiment with some new recipes since I can make about 7 different meals. Other things I’m adapting to… cleaning the new house. I haven’t gotten back to my routine of cleaning on Wednesdays. It’s landed more on Sunday/Monday this month. I was worried about the time it would take to clean a bigger house and another bathroom, but it hasn’t been too bad. Better than I expected actually. It’s good thing I love to clean. I’m also adapting to traveling to and from our new location. The big change for me is I don’t use the freeway much anymore. All my usual spots are best accessed by back roads. It’s weird. We also live in a spot where were there are lots of ways to get to the house and they all take about the same time to get there. I guess that gives us options and variety, but I’m not quite used to it yet.

And that is the end of April wrap up! It’s been a wonderful first month in our home. My travels were fun, but a bit dampened by concern for sick kiddos. I’m very curious to see how May pans out. I’ve had so much fun with visitors, play dates, cooking in my new kitchen and settling into my new household routine. I can only hope that May is just as joyful as April.