The other half of the flu

So I mentioned in my blog last week that Guy and I didn't seem to have as dire an illness as Nico's. Well, the weekend brought with it all the goodies that we're sure Nico had also experienced. Guy and I were pretty much at the same stages of everything at the same time. So our fevers went up (Guy always beat me there, though. His got up to 102.6 and I think my highest was 101.4) and the chills and the body aches started. Guy had a rough cough that hurt his chest quite a bit, and I started getting sinus pain right off the bat.

On Saturday night we both laid down on our bed with Nico between us and let Nico play on the iPad while we both rested and took turns parenting.

On Sunday, the Grandparents Salisbury were kind enough to go shopping for us to get us a few needed essentials. Toilet paper, for one, since that is what we use for kleenex. Bananas (can't be without bananas!) a neti pot for myself, and a few other things. They also brought Jimmy Johns! Nico fell asleep a few minutes before they showed up, having stayed awake during his entire nap playing in his bed :) So here's a rare picture of Nico sleeping on the couch.

I ended up with a sinus infection that is being treated by antibiotics. Guy had a follow up appointment with our doctor on Monday and he very kindly let me take over his appointment so I could get looked at. My very first sinus infection! It settled in my right ear for a few days until my ear started draining. Wow, painful! The pain has been moving around my face quite a bit. I feel for Guy, who told me that what I was describing was how he feels a lot of the time with his chronic sinusitis. 

Guy thought he might be getting an ear infection, but it waned, thank goodness. We're all on the mend now, and have finally gotten back to our normal routine, be it filled with lots of toilet paper still! It's nice to see Nico slowly returning to his old self.

One setback we've had is in the realm of potty training. Nico has had a lot of accidents, and seems to now have something personal against the potty. We're being diligent with the underwear, though. He does still wear a diaper at night. One thing he has learned to do is when I ask him to get up on the stool to help me with dishes, he tells me he has to go potty. We get to the hallway and he shakes his head and turns around, intending to go play. He whines and protests when I tell him to go back to the stool and stand up on it, he gets to the stool and then tells me he has to go potty again. We went back and forth a few times before I figured out he was trying to get out of helping with the dishes! He only did this for 2 mornings. I think we've all just been a little more stressed and emotional with all our bodies have gone through, so I understand the difficulty of restarting our routine. It was hard for me, too!

I tried a new recipe for Nico that turned out to be a SUCCESS! Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Bites. He calls them cupcakes and he seems to enjoy eating them just as much as he enjoys eating regular cupcakes! They are very easy. He ate 6 of them the first day I made them. He's also become a fan of raw red and orange peppers. I think I'll try more raw veggies with him, since he dislikes the steamed veggies so much.

And then, a random picture of Nico stapling his cookie. I thought this was very innovative.

Welp, I guess that wraps up February! I wonder what exciting new things March will bring??

Sickness, and a Double Ear Infection

On Friday we went to visit Allicia and Evie at their house for a small play date with a few other moms and babies. Nico always has fun over there, he goes straight to the train table and starts playing. I tried to pick a picture where everyone else is obscured a bit :)

Later on Friday, Nico using a pen to help get his micro machine car out of a lego. He watched me do it once, so he put the car back in the stuck spot so he could try himself.

For a few days before this I had noticed that Nico was coughing every once in a while. Maybe twice a day or so. I thought it might be the season that was causing him some phlegm, but on Friday night he started coughing more. He woke up Saturday with a fever (101.6) and wasn't quite his normal self. We watched Netflix all day. He didn't have much of a runny  nose, but he was coughing and it was a very wet cough. He woke up on Sunday feeling a lot better, still coughing a lot but his fever had gone down to under 100. We skipped church.

On Sundays we always get to see Grandma and Papa Salisbury. They come by to drop off the eggs they get for us from their farm co-op in Nampa. They are the best eggs we've tried, Nico definitely prefers them to any others! Lately they've also been bringing Nico his favorite treat - a #12 unwich no mayo from Jimmy Johns! He always asks for more before he's even done eating.

Monday, I thought we were out of the woods with his cold, he ate a hearty breakfast and our day was started. But he became really whiny shortly after breakfast. Nico isn't much of a complainer, so it was strange to see him so intent on needing to be cuddled. He cried whenever I left the couch for any reason. For a time he would only stop crying if I was carrying him around the house (flashback to baby Nico!) He couldn't sleep without being held, so we spent the whole day on the couch with intermittent walks around the house. He would get worse whenever I would turn off Netflix, so I just left it on. He let me watch whatever I wanted (The Lorax, The Tale of Despereaux) without complaining. Although on occasion he did get up enough energy to sign "sheep", meaning that he wanted to watch Shaun the Sheep.

He slept in bed with me on Monday night for about half the night. Tuesday morning I was hoping he would feel better, but when I went to get him in the morning, he had a bloody right ear! I woke Guy up and we decided we better go to Urgent Care. Guy stayed home to try to sleep (yeah right! Poor Guy, he stayed awake the whole time, he was worried) and I took Nico to Urgent Care. Temp at the doctor's office was 102.6. She looked in both ears and saw that the right one had a perforated ear drum, that's where the blood had come from. She told me that in the old days, the way to heal an ear infection was to let the ear burst like that to drain the fluids, then it would heal. The problem was in the way it healed, the scar tissue could be a problem and cause problems with hearing. His other ear was just starting to get an infection, so she prescribed antibiotics to keep the other ear safe. Nico had never had antibiotics before, but we filled the prescription and started giving them to him on Tuesday night. We got a compounded prescription, where they just mix the active ingredients with water and a suspension agent, so that we wouldn't also be giving him unnecessary additives, preservatives, flavorings and sweeteners that are in commercial antibiotics for kids. We are mixing the liquid with a bit of warmed honey before giving it to him, and he is taking it without any problems.

I kept him with me in bed on Tuesday night for a few hours, just because I was nervous after giving him the antibiotic. But he did fine. The doctor said that it would take 48 hours before the antibiotic would build up to a level in his body to be able to fight the infection, but he woke up Wednesday morning with a temp of 98.9! Much improved. It did go back up to 99.7 for most of the day, but that's still pretty good. He ate an egg for breakfast, which is substantial compared to the few days before that. Also on Wednesday I gave him his first dose of the probiotic I purchased for him. The antibiotics will be killing off even the good guys in his gut, so we are going to replenish them. I started with half a capsule by opening up the capsule and putting the powder on a spoon and then just asking him to open his mouth. Nico loved it! He asked for more so I figured I'd give him the whole capsule. The entire capsule is one child sized dose anyway, I was just trying to start slow. But if he asked for more, I figured why not!

And today, Thursday, he has had no fever, but is still coughing and snotting. Guy and I have caught the dreaded cold/flu as well. It doesn't appear to be as dire as Nico's version, though.

Well, that's it for this week. (That's enough!)