Thankful to be healthy!

Oh my. The past two weeks have. been. awful. Our house has been plagued with constant and varied illnesses. I have not stayed inside so long and watched so much tv in my life. If you feel like a more detailed accounting, feel free to keep reading, if not, just look at the cute pictures and call it good! ;)

This was Sunday, right as Bruce was getting over the stomach bug, and catching the cold. Isn't he cute though? The counter is his favorite spot to be right now. He feels like he is part of the action while I am working in the kitchen. Also, those pretty flowers are  from my sweet Husband, who bought them for me because he knew I was stressed out from taking care of my sick baby while not feeling 100% myself. David is very good to me!

Bruce LOVES blackberries. They are on sale this week for $1 a container, and he will sit and eat them with both hands. He literally will not stop until I take them away (which makes him cry) or the container is empty. Dave bought 4 containers for Bruce because it is just so fun to see him enjoy them soooo much. Plus the poor boy hasn't had much to bring him joy in the past two weeks. I am limiting the amount he eats each day though. I don't want any stomach issues to start up again! Look how skinny his legs have gotten! Not many rolls left... :(

Now, on to the 'fun' details:

David started the party two weeks ago with a terrible stomach bug that kept him home from work for a day and a half. It was bad. Poor guy was down and out for a good 36 hours. Two days later Bruce started showing some symptoms of the same bug, but not quite as severe. 

This was Saturday. By Tuesday it was time to make a doctor appointment. Between the vomiting, excessive diarrhea and 102 fever I actually called the overnight nurse hotline to make sure I didn't need to take him to the ER. I was worried about dehydration mostly. She informed me that you only need to take him to the ER if his fever gets to 105 - which seems freakishly high to me - by the time my one year old got to 105 I would be scared about serious physical damage, or if he stops producing tears/cries inconsolably for more than one hour.
Anyhow, we made the appointment Tuesday morning and the pediatrician said that half the city of San Antonio had the bug. Adults were recovering in 24-48 hours, but in children they were seeing it last 3-7 days. She gave me some diet changing advice to help with the diarrhea and sent us home.

Bruce's bug lasted 9 days. Poor baby. He actually kept pretty high spirits until the last day or two, when he was hit with a horrible cold. I initially thought it was just a little runny nose, because he was pretty happy but by noon Sunday he was miserable. We left church after first hour. This time I was the one who shared his illness. We both had fevers by Sunday evening, coughing, sneezing and I was vomiting.  Poor Bruce was up most of the night crying. It is a hard thing when you can't give them any medicine! Dave and I checked CVS, Walgreens and HEB, there is nothing safe to give a child under the age of two.

This is where I get to be the guilty parent. Dave suggested that I take Bruce to the doctor Monday but I didn't because I figured they would tell me the same thing as the week before - wait it out, there is nothing to do for him. Monday night Bruce's fever spiked again and he would wake up screaming in pain every few hours. Tuesday morning we went in to his doctor. Turns out the poor child has a double ear infection AND croup.

I am just so grateful that
1. I took him in the second time even though I felt foolish going back twice in a week and
2. that they gave him medicine for both the croup and the infections

Today he seemed to feel much better. He even played outside for a little while! I can tell how miserable he has been because for a little boy who LOVES to run around outside, the past week he hasn't let me put him down, even at the park. It has been such a long, exhausting bout of sickness. Bruce had his first stomach virus, cold and ear infections all within 12 days. He has lost a pound and a half - which is a lot when you only weighed 25 pounds to begin with! He hasn't been eating much, and has been losing most of what he was eating through the stomach bug. Needless to say we are ALL ready to be healthy again!

I am just praying that his immune system has enough time to re-charge before he is exposed to something else. We totally missed Halloween this year. He was too sick to go to the ward Trunk or Treat. I made Bruce a cute costume, but he hasn't been happy enough to even try it on. Maybe tomorrow we can get a picture or two - it won't fit him next year, that is for sure!

Sorry for the long winded post. I guess I just wanted the world to know that we've had a hard time lately. BUT things are looking up! :)

That's all I have! Goodnight!