Easter 2014 - Grayson's First Easter

I know what you're thinking: Easter? Really? Come on, it's JUNE for cryin' out loud!  

Yeah,yeah, I know...but somehow I haven't blogged about anything important...or really, anything at all, since like February. So when I was browsing through my photos and saw these I thought, now or never. 

So it's now.

Easter this year was not the greatest. The day started out just fine. It was beautiful and sunny, and we went to the Armenian church to attend their Easter festivities. We saw the husband's family, Grayson got to meet a zillion people, we hung out for a bit and chatted, then we headed home to meet up with my dad. 

Oh man, these pictures of G and all his cousins crack me up! 

Quite possibly the only smile of the day....look at those poor eyes. How did I not know something was up??

We went out to grab a bite to eat, and Grayson was just so fussy the entire time. Earlier that day I had told A (remember, husband is now going by "A" on the blog...when I remember, that is) that he felt hot and I was a little worried. He told me it was probably just from being out in the sun and he was fine. Well, I noticed again that he was a little warm when we were on our way to lunch, but he always gets hot when he's been in his carseat, so I kind of brushed it off as that being the reason. 

After we got home from our lunch with Papaw, I kept trying to make it a fun Easter - but it just wasn't really working. As the day went on I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't ok. He was dragging around and not playing like normal. He obviously wasn't himself. He was so not into his new Easter toys and was super duper clingy to me. After a bit I kind of decided to just give up on the fun and start in with the cuddling, which seemed to be much needed.

Our sad attempt at a family photo...

After my dad left a couple hours later I finally took his temperature and it was so high! I can't remember what it was now, but it was over 100...I'm thinking around 101 something the first time I took it. My child had never been sick (aside from a tummy virus) at this point, so I kind of started freaking out. Plus, I felt AWFUL that I basically ignored the signs all day. Ugh, talk about mommy guilt. 

His temperature kept climbing as the night went on, and I really started panicking. It got up to 103 and I decided it was time to call the after hours doc. She assured me that fevers in babies aren't near as worrisome as they are in adults and to just give him tyelenol or motrin, maybe do a cool rag on his arms and hands, and watch him. I felt a teensy bit better, but not much.

All in all it took the poor guy around three or four days to kick whatever it was that he had. We ended up going into the doctor and she said it was just some type of virus, but there wasn't a way to really tell exactly what it was. It was so, so sad to see my baby in that condition. Totally broke my heart!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that his birthday was the Thursday following Easter. So we made it 11 months and three weeks with not a bit of sickness, then he just felt absolutely terrible leading up to the big day. Fortunately he started feeling better Wednesday and was basically back to his normal self when he woke up on his birthday. 

So, needless to say Grayson's first Easter wasn't exactly what I imagined it would be. We didn't hunt Easter eggs, he didn't care too much about anything in his Easter basket, and he was a big old grump all day long - for good reason! Even though it wasn't picture perfect, it sure did make me appreciative for that sweet baby's health!

The Bug

In my last post I mentioned that Grayson had been throwing up on Thursday night....well, he kept it going throughout the night until right around 1 AM. Poor guy came down with some kind of stomach bug I guess, and even though the throwing up only lasted that night, he's still been having tummy troubles for several days. The great thing about that baby is that he is pretty much happy no matter what. Aside from the times he was actually getting sick, he's acted no different. AND, he's teething! Two of his top teeth have broken through, and two are right on the verge. He's such a champ! Still, seeing your baby in that condition is no fun for a mama. Broke my heart a little!

Friday we luckily didn't have any showings on the house, so we stayed in and just let him rest, which I'm sure was needed. I also got to experience de-vomiting a house for the first time - let's just say, I'm not a fan. Most definitely NOT a very glamorous side of motherhood.

Saturday we had a couple of showings on our house, so we went with our realtor and looked at a few and then went to visit A's parents. When we got home A started feeling kind of gross, so he decided to go to bed around 9. At some point he made the mistake of saying something along the lines of "You can't catch anything from a baby!", probably when I said "I hope you aren't getting Grayson's stomach virus!".

Well, I think you all know what happened. He was in bed alllll day Sunday. I felt awful for him. Luckily he's not one of those guys who acts like he's dying when he's sick, so he wasn't demanding, but I still tried to take good care of him. Luckily my mom got here Saturday night to stay with me while A's traveling, so she was able to watch Grayson quite a bit.

It seems like Grayson and A are both almost back to normal, and I'm hoping and praying that I side-stepped it somehow and didn't catch anything. I've sanitized just about every inch of the house, so I should be good.

It has got me thinking though, how do you handle more than one sick child? Like, that has to be the most miserable thing EVER. I'm exhausted, and I didn't even really do that much more than normal. I can't imagine two or three kids throwing up and cleaning up that mess, having to comfort them all....it just sounds so hard! Hopefully when I have more than one they just miraculously will never be sick, like ever, but somehow I doubt that...

OH, and here's one of my favorite pictures ever. Both my poor sick guys. I love it.

Sicky.

So this week has been...a bit of a challenge. Arsen left early Monday morning for a business trip, the first he's been on since Grayson entered the picture. He traveled quite a bit while I was pregnant, so I know the drill, but add a baby to the mix and things get interesting.

A little background for ya. We decided to sell Arsen's car awhile back in order to get an SUV. Since he works from home and I stay home, there's really no need for two cars at the moment. His car is in Oklahoma where my dad is trying to sell it for us. When we found out he would be traveling, we thought no big deal, I'll just drive him to the airport Monday and pick him up Thursday.

Well...then the ice storm happened. There was no way I was getting my baby out in that mess. When he left Monday, the roads were still really, really bad...so we decided that he would take the car and I would just be without one for the week. Still, since we were iced in I thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal, plus my mom was coming to visit on Wednesday night, so it would really just be three days.

That face...it kills me. 

And then....I got sick. Monday I felt pretty yucky, but nothing too bad. I thought it was maybe allergies or sinus problems. Tuesday I felt a quite a bit worse. I thought probably an actual sinus infection going on, which always sucks. Then, after a horrible night of sleep for G and myself, I woke up Wednesday morning with a headache, a fever, and what I'm thinking is another case of mastitis. Are you kidding me?

Thankfully, Arsen's mom came over for a couple of hours Tuesday and Wednesday, so I was able to shower and nap for a bit. And then last night my mom got here. But the rest of the time...oh my, that was rough. It is insane how much energy it takes to entertain a seven month old baby for somewhere around 12-14 hours a day. I've already covered how clingy he is right now, so I've had him hanging off of me all day every day while I'm feeling pretty gross. It was exhausting. It made me want to cry multiple times. It made me so thankful and appreciative for my mom, my mother in law, and most importantly, my husband, who helps me more than I think I ever realized. And it made me think, how on earth do the single mamas do it????

When I'm hit with these tiny, insignificant challenges that really throw me for a loop, it makes me realize how incredibly blessed I am at this point in my life. Being sick and taking care of a baby is seriously one of the most exhausting things I've done, but oh my gosh there are so many things in this world that I could be dealing with. If this is my "hard time"...I mean, come on. I'm a lucky, lucky lady.

So I've got my fingers crossed that I miraculously feel amazing soon and things can get back on track. Arsen gets home tonight and I can't wait to see him, and my mom is here to help me today. Tomorrow night we're planning on going to the Reliant Lights Your Holidays celebration that we planned on going to last Friday (it was rescheduled because of the ice), and I'm hoping my mom and I can get our Christmas shopping done. If only I can kick this pesky little sickness it sounds like a pretty good time to me!

Well This is Lame....

So I've been basically stuck in bed for the last 2 1/2 days. Apparently I have mastitis, which is this crazy infection you can get while breastfeeding. So that's been great. Thankfully my mom is here watching Grayson for me, because there is no way I could have done it myself over the last couple of days. I pretty much feel like I have the flu, plus intense pain at the area where the infection is. Just when you feel like breastfeeding couldn't get any easier, something like this comes in and knocks you down a couple notches....boo! On top of that, Arsen has been working insane hours all week. Yesterday he worked from 7:30 am to almost 11pm...plus he doesn't stop to take a lunch or dinner break or anything. Luckily he's here at home, so it's not as bad as it could be, but we still don't see him at all and he is working SO hard. This hasn't been my favorite week, I'll just put it that way.

Also, this past weekend my mom and I went to a bunch of garage sales and resale shops and loaded up on things to get crafty with. I've been searching for something fun to do that could help me contribute some money, and I really love refinishing furniture and things. I'm working on a credenza/buffet type thing for my kitchen right now, and I decided it would be fun to do this for some profit as well. So we got all of this stuff, I got all excited and started working on things on Tuesday and morning...and by Tuesday afternoon I was in bed feeling horrible. Just a minor setback, but frustrating for sure.

On the upside, I've been able to enjoy lots of good cuddly naps in bed with G. I rarely take the time to just lay and relax, and this has forced me to do just that. I'm getting majorly antsy, but I know it's best to just let things run their course. I've got my antibiotic from my Dr. to start this afternoon, and hopefully I'll be back to normal in a day or two. One of my best friends from my hometown is coming to visit this weekend, so I'm looking forward to some fun with her. She and I typically will sit around for hours just laughing and talking about all the crazy things we've been through together, so it should be a good relaxing weekend.

Since I didn't have much of an update or anything, I'll just leave you with some of my recent favorites from Instagram. If you don't already, you can follow me on Instagram here. Fair warning: it's mostly baby/dog pictures :)

When it rains...

I've noticed that when something unfortunate happens in life, it typically doesn't end with just that one thing. I wish I knew what the reason for that was...

The past couple weeks haven't been the best. But, they haven't been the worst either, so should I really complain? After getting my lovely sinus infection (which continues to drag on with a disgusting cough), this pesky eye infection that I've been fighting on and off for over a month came back with a vengeance yesterday. By the time I got home from work and was able to take my contacts out, I could barely tolerate having my left eye open. It got worse over night, to the point that I actually had to miss work and go to the eye doctor today. Man, I'm making a great impression at this new job! Missing twice in two weeks from all my random illnesses.

On top of that, Addie developed a strange little white patch on her neck about two weeks ago. Of course I started panicking and wanted to take her to the vet immediately, but I tend to overreact. In a major way. One morning about a year ago she was limping around when she woke up. I tried to touch her foot and she freaked out. I called in to work, took her to the vet, paid a couple hundred dollars....the verdict? She probably caught her toenail on something.

We had her groomed over the weekend, so her skin is really easy to see now. Arsen was looking at her belly yesterday morning and noticed that her skin has gotten darker. A LOT darker. As in it went from soft pink to a dark charcoal grey, almost black. So of course my panic went from minor to "ohmygodmypoorbabydogisdying!!!!!" I started doing research and came across something hideous called black skin disease, and many other scary things.

I took her in to the vet today, and he says it could be either hyperpigmentation from aging, or a problem with her thyroid. He had to take some blood....man, can that little dog scream. About 4 different vet techs came in to see what happened to her to make her scream so loud. The vet was laughing so hard he could barely do the test. She is so incredibly dramatic! So he sent it off for testing, and we'll know in the next couple days whether it's her thyroid or not.

Sigh. Not only has it all been stressful, it's been expensive too. But hopefully, HOPEFULLY, it's over. Don't bad things come in threes? Sinus infections (we will just group mine and Arsen's together), eye infection, weird doggie issue....surely it's over now.

Pouting After Her Tragic Vet Visit