Friday, November 4, 2011

Halloween 2011

Well, Halloween 2011 didn't go exactly as I had hoped since I had not one, not two, but three sick kids on Halloween! Madalynn and Jack missed school with the remains of a stomach bug and colds/bronchitis. Poor Lillie Claire didn't escape the sickness either. She started being sick at about 3 or 4 that afternoon.
Madalynn and Jack recovered enough for Jeremy to take them trick-or-treating that evening though.

We always go to the Moreheads neighborhood since we live out by ourselves and would have to spend the two allotted hours of trick-or-treating just driving around. We did usually stop by Calumet to see Bill and Linda but, of course, we didn't do that this year. Sweet Mr. Bill bought the kids each a sack full of candy anyway.
Jack was a race car driver and Madalynn was a queen.

I didn't worry with a costume for Lillie. She had a very cute outfit to wear, but since she was sick no one got to see it.

Jeremy and the kids took a quick trip around the block and came on back home since Madalynn wasn't feeling well again.
She has come to the door during the night and before bed pretty much every night this week and said she thought she was going to puke. I don't understand it. I don't think she is sick, but has some super amped up gag reflex. That and the ability or inability as it were, to not stop thinking about throwing up. Jack on the other hand, barely talks about it even when he is sick as a dog.
As I said, poor Miss Lillie was sick too.She rarely spits up to amount to anything, but Monday night was different. I had called the pediatrician earlier in the afternoon because I had the feeling she was getting sick. They recommended giving her 2 oz of pedialyte every other feeding. She took 2 oz. at about 5:30pm, and went to sleep. I fed her again about 8 and later she spit all that up. I fed her some pedialyte after that but she promptly spit that up too. So before I knew it, it was midnight and she hadn't kept anything down since 5:30. So I called the UK Pediatric Triage and asked what I needed to do. The nurse that answered was super nice. So after speaking to her, I ended up staying up till 2 am because they recommended alternating between feeding her just a half an ounce of pedialyte, then nursing for just a few minutes every 15 minutes for the next two hours. I did and she was able to keep the food down so I was glad to do it. It is very scary having a tiny baby sick like that. Neither of the other kids was ever that sick that little.
Lillie Claire also turned 6 weeks old on Monday! I can't believe how big she is getting!!!

Let's hope next year we actually get to carry her trick-or-treating!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Well, I keep thinking I will get into a groove and have a routine...well not yet. I now have a 7 year old, a newly 5 year old and a 6 week old today.
Lillie Claire is getting a little more used to life on the outside every day. She doesn't have to be held 24/7 anymore. Her upset stomach has resolved itself for the most part. Nursing has gone great. She usually only gets up once a night now. She will fall asleep in the car seat, the swing, sometimes the playpen or the changing table. My only real complaint is that she doesn't want to go to sleep at night like at the normal going to sleep time. I am pretty sure I let her get too tired, but it is hard to put her to bed early when you have older kids running around and when the girls share a room. So I end up nursing her and trying to put her to bed, she goes to sleep for a few minutes, then is back up and we do it all over again. Last night I attempted to let her "cry it out" for a while. She was fed, dry, warm so I let her cry it out in the crib for a while. Well, as soon as we turned off the TV, that wasn't going to work since the girls room is right next door to ours. So I took her to the swing downstairs, I didn't turn it on though. I have a trip to Tennessee in less than two weeks so I am trying to avoid needing a swing, since I won't have one while I am there. She cried for a little while, fell asleep for about 30 minutes, then woke back up around midnight and I went down and fed her again. I put her in the crib and she slept until about 5 am.
In the meantime, I had another kid wake up puking. Joy! I have slept on the couch at least 3 nights in the last 4. I was majorly sick about 2 am Saturday morning. Then Jack was sick Saturday and then Madalynn had it about 2 am this morning. I am holding out hope that Lillie and Jeremy don't get it. I think the big kids are well enough now to go trick-or-treating although the thought did cross my mind to just offer to buy them a bag of candy and call it good. I am sure they would not go for that.