One sick kiddo

Our youngest niece (Grace will be two in March)

Spending time with cousins is very special, particularly as we often go two years without seeing the ones from Turkey, and we usually see the ones from Chicago only one or two times a year. The only downside to such visits is that typically we arrive healthy and all or at least some of us leave sick. Last year we were really sick. It had been many years since I had that high of a fever. Oliver's illness after our visit to Maryland last year resulted in an extra trip to Philadelphia as his surgery had to be postponed. This time around Nadia and I came through unscathed aside from being tired from sleep deprivation. Paul has a GI bug, and Ian has a mild respiratory plus GI bug (he has thrown up several times over the course of the day). Oliver definitely was hit the hardest. Yesterday after his nap I could tell he was coming down with something, Before bed he was given Tylenol for his fever and a breathing treatment. Paul rocked him at midnight for 45 minutes, and when I went to get him when he woke up at 3:00 I knew we had a sick puppy because his fever was much higher and his respiration rate was very high (at least 60 breaths a minute). His entire abdomen was moving with every breath.

It took awhile for Paul and I to get dressed, pack up our bags, and load the van as one of us was holding Oliver at all times. I found a flashlight, which was helpful in locating items around the house while not waking up anyone. I had woken Joe up at 3:30 to find out where the Tylenol was located, and I woke up my mom at 4:45 to tell her we were about to leave. We weren't able to say goodbye to anyone else. Yesterday both Ian and Oliver had been telling me they wanted to go home. When I said not for two more days, Oliver once asked if he could go to Grandma and Pop Pop's house (Paul's parents). On the other hand, Nadia shed many tears this morning over the fact we were leaving. She really wanted to stay and play with her cousins some more! I tried to encourage her with the reminder that Aunt Wendy's kids were also leaving that morning, but that wasn't any consolation to her. I wasn't happy to see her crying, but it did warm my heart to see how much she loves spending time with her extended family!

I got these nieces matching purple dresses for Christmas!

One advantage of leaving at 5am on a Saturday is that we hit NO traffic. We could have made it home in record time if it wasn't for the fact that I was so tired (having been up since 3am) that I took a wrong turn at one point and didn't discover it until we had gone 15 miles in the wrong direction. I was going the route I used to take the first 12 years I lived in PA, but that is not the route we've used the past 6 years. OOPS! Also, we made a couple of stops for gas, breakfast at McDonald's, and a potty break at a gas station for Ian and Oliver. I got an English muffin with grape jelly for both Ian and Oliver, but Oliver didn't eat a single bite and Ian only ate about 1/4 of his English muffin. Paul, Nadia, and I ate our breakfast, but we all decided that we REALLY prefer Dunkin Donuts. I have no desire to have breakfast at McD's again for a long time if at all possible. Due to these stops and my wrong turn, we didn't arrive at the Pediatrician's office until 9:15 (we could have gotten there at 8:15 otherwise). They took us right back. Oliver's O2 level was at 92%, which in the past has been deemed low enough to be admitted to two different hospitals and not high enough to be discharged from four different hospitals, but the Pediatrician was okay with it today???

Our youngest nephew (3 months) with my mom's almost 20 year old cat

He heard wheezing so he had me give Oliver a nebulizer treatment in the office, and he listened to his lungs again after the treatment. He said the treatment improved the situation by about 20-30%. He gave me a prescription for an oral steroid to take two times a day for seven days and gave a prescription for a twice as strong dosage of one of the two nebulizer medications. He told us to give that one twice a day and the other one every 3-4 hours. On the sheet he listed the diagnosis as acute asthma. His fever wasn't very high at the doctor's office, but it went back up again later today (to 101 degrees). He has had a few sips of milk today, and that's all he's consumed other than a couple of small pieces of candy. He doesn't like the taste of the steroid. He threw up after I gave him a bit of it, so the next time I stuck a piece of chewy candy in his mouth while I gave him the rest of the dosage, and that did the trick. It stayed down! Unfortunately that trick didn't work this evening, We tried mixing some in yogurt and some in milk, but he refused to eat any yogurt or drink any milk. He was very lethargic this morning, but he has had some spurts of energy since then which has been encouraging. He has insisted on being held most of the day by Paul or I. At dinner time he had no desire to eat  but instead asked to take a nap, and I put him in his bed and he slept for 45 minutes. I tried to get Ian to eat a couple of crackers and a banana for dinner (Paul, Nadia, and I had lasagna), but that was a mistake as he threw up a lot after that.

We had planned to leave tomorrow around 1pm. My dad is preaching at their church tomorrow morning, and Micah is being dedicated tomorrow. I've never attended a baby dedication for any of my nieces or nephews. Then we planned to stop at Paul's aunt's house on the way home as the Christmas party for that side of the family is supposed to take place at 3pm tomorrow. I don't think any of us will leave the house tomorrow unless we need to take Oliver to the ER. I'm praying that Oliver will bounce back quickly, and that if he needs oxygen it will be obvious to Paul and I. Hopefully he will eat and drink more tomorrow and also consume the steroid from now on.

When I put Oliver to bed twice a day I always tell him I love you (among other little sayings like "sweet dreams"). Last night for the first time EVER he responded with "I love you" after I said to to him. Oh that was just SO priceless! He did it again today at his dinner time nap and also at bed time. It totally melts my heart! On a comical note, when he saw the new comforter on his twin mattress he said "Santa brought it!" We do not talk about Santa bringing gifts in our house so I have no idea where he got this idea, but it definitely cracked me up. All three kids really like the comforter, and I have to admit it is a much higher quality than any of the comforters on the other three beds in our house. That makes me feel better about how much I spent on it. It matches the other things in his room perfectly. I declare that to be a winner! We're not using the bed skirt yet since the mattress and box spring aren't on a bed frame yet, and I didn't get around to ironing the valences for the window, but the comforter and pillow sham are now in use. My baby is growing up! I don't plan on putting him in a pack and play again in the future. Ours has been moved to the basement for guests along with the three twin air mattresses we received as gifts on Thursday.

My brother (Maurice), my oldest niece (Jenna), and my mom