I saw New Year’s 2013 going much differently. ?? We were going to be celebrating with my family and having a grand ole’ time welcoming in the New Year. ??Not.

If you are not in the mood for reading a case of the whines, than skip this post cuz that is all I got today. ?? On Christmas Eve, I thought Tori’s eyes looked funny. ??I chalked it up to holiday exhaustion. ??Not so. ??By Christmas morning, she was spiking a fever and on the couch where she remained for about 5 days. ??Her temp would be at about 104.5 every night and was only getting down to 102.5-103.5 WITH alternating motrin and tylenol every 4 hours for a few days. ??One night, Jim and I watched her until 1:00 AM deliberating an ER visit. ??She looked AWFUL. ?? Her little body just doesn’t have a lot of reserves and she has been hospitalized two times in January for viruses taking their toll on her. ??I am thankful to report that she is on the mend now (but still fatigued and coughing).

That wasn’t all of it of course. ??Not in a house of six. ??By Christmas night, Tanner came down with it, then Troy the next day, then Ty the day after, then Jim, now me. ??It has been a doozy of a week. ??Everyone (but Jim) has an awful cough still but only Troy and I seem to be in the active virus stage still. ??Troy was still having fevers SEVEN days later, yesterday. ??I took the above picture this morning and he looks much better in the picture than he did in person because the bags under his eyes looked a lot worse in real life. ??The light flattered him and made him look less puffy than he is. ??He is still sneezing, coughing, running, crying, crying, crying, sleeping, cuddling, tethered to more than one pacy at a time, low appetitite..etc. ?? If it goes on much longer with him, I am going to have to take him to the Dr because he is really getting taxed at this point. ??His excema is AWFUL at the moment too. ??Terrible! ?? ??Jim and I didn’t get it as bad as the kids but I already had a cough from being really sick at the beginning of December so this illness tanked mama’s reserves too. ?? Jim stayed home from work on New Year’s Eve so that he could be Daddy on Duty so that I could sleep. ??I am so lucky to be married to a man I can co-parent with! ??Such a blessing to get to close the door and go back to bed and know that Daddy will have four kids well managed.

It has been like a peds unit around here. ??Our countertop was filled with medication for infants, children’s, adults, daytime, nightime, ear thermomenter, digital thermometer, and even a chart on the fridge we had to keep updated for everyone’s alternating drug schedule. ??Pure craziness. ??We missed Christmas with my family and New Year’s Eve celebrations as well. ??B.U.M.M.E.R. ?? ??Hopefully, Troy will turn a corner soon and that Tori nor Troy will go into pneumonia. ??I still see that as a risk.

I had a scare with Ty too while he was sick. ?? I sent the following note to my family on 12/29 so I thought I would copy it here (you would be surprised how often I have to look up stuff on my blog for medical records):

…He has been on the couch most of the day and his main complaint has been that his head hurts (other kids didn’t say this).?? He has been sleeping for the last hour or so with bright pink cheeks though his fever was only 101 ish or a little less – not bad.???? He stirred, and Jim asked him to take his glasses off.?? He starting talking to us and not making sense.?? At first, we thought he was delirious but I ruled that out because his fever wasn’t that high.?? He started talking about “levels” and it was obvious he was talking video game stuff (like being INSIDE the game).?? Then he looked at me and said “I am scared!”.?? So then we thought maybe he was talking in his sleep and was coming out of a dream.?? I am not so sure of that though either because even after he could answer questions about who he was, where he was, and his age, he then starting asking me weird questions again like “where are we going” (in a more frantic tone).?? On top of this, his eyes were jittering a little bit when he was looking at me.?? He then started complaining of the headache again and told us that we were far away again.?? He hasn’t complained of Alice In Wonderland symptoms in a long time.???? So…I don’t know what to think.?? He is still experiencing AIW and so I told him to go back to sleep and try to sleep the vision issue off.?? He is back to sleep now.?? I have no idea what to think of that but I don’t like it!?? Sheesssshh this is a nasty virus.

He ended up having AIW symptoms 3 more times during this illness but didn’t have the associated confusion. ??One time, he actually had symptoms come on while he was just sitting there watching tv. ??I was supposed to schedule an MRI for him last year to check on this but we didn’t end up doing it because his symptoms went away after a few months. ?? Think I will be revisiting this topic in 2013 because I need to figure out if this is a migraine issue or a seizure issue. ??My brother David told me he witnessed a petite mal seizure with Ty a few months back while he was playing a game but he didn’t mention it to me because he thought I was aware of Ty having petite mals. ??I wasn’t! ?? I did wonder about that when he was a toddler but we could never catch it when testing for it.

To lighten the mood a bit…

This is a recent drawing by our little artist Tori. ??She drew this picture of her brother Ty. ?? Total keeper. ??And yes, she did spell her name totally backwards. ??She doesn’t always do that but often she does. ??I am watching her closely for dyslexia. ??I am suspicious about it (but I hope I am wrong).

I have heard “You guys are hurting my feelings!” (directed at her brothers) several times today. ??Coming from a household of all boys growing up and then having four (very non-emotional) boys in this home, it is really weird to have anyone talking about “feelings” around here. ?? That is not a phrase I have heard. ??Pretty much ever. ?? It’s a little bit hysterical to hear it actually. ?? By the fourth time today though, mama’s response was pretty much “get over it!”. ??We are all TOO tired around here and very grumpy. ?? Praying next week will be better. ??I pretty much have lost hope for this one.

Whine…whine…whine…