As Don posted, the kids had a rough time of it that last week or two with a nasty stomach bug.  Last Saturday was the first time I’ve been up past midnight in a very long time.  I only wish it was because I was out having fun with friends.  Watching a lab tech fish around to try to find a vein in your baby’s arm while you and a nurse try to hold her still is NOT a good time.  Anyway, even after the stomach issues seemed gone, Alex was refusing to finish bottles. Actually, he was refusing to drink more than an ounce or two.  So of course I got all worried and read on the internet and posted on my message boards looking for advice.  I didn’t get much help.  Now, out of nowhere, the kid is not only downing all of his bottles in record time, he’s fussing when they are done like he wants more.  I can’t win.  I know if I make the bottles bigger, he’ll go back to drinking less than half and the rest will be wasted.

I think Alex and Avery are both trying to make up for lost calories now.  For all three meals today, I had to end them because they’d been in their highchairs so long, just shoveling food in non-stop.  Breakfast was twice as much oatmeal as usual, plus yogurt with bananas mixed in.  Lunch was an hour of double handed chowing on lima beans, an apple cereal bar, raisins, and goldfish.  And dinner was turkey ravioli, green beans, cantaloupe, and veggie crackers.  And the quantities – dear lord help us when they’re older.  We’ll both need second jobs to keep them fed.

Avery has developed a lovely case of separation anxiety over the last couple of weeks as well.  She flips out whenever I leave her sight, even if it’s for a few seconds to grab my shoes before a walk or something.  For the last 3 4 (I hear her crying again now) nights, she’s also woken up at night, which she never does.  She just wants me to come and rub her back…for an hour… until she falls back asleep.  Twice I’ve literally given her the shirt off my back to cuddle with because it smells like me, and it’s worked.  The books say it’s normal at this age, but it sure is making life harder around here.  The one babysitter we’d found to come on Thursdays when I have to leave at 3 to tutor quit this week.  At first she said the money wasn’t really worth the drive, so we offered to pay her 1/3 more – a 33% raise.  Apparently, Avery cried for a full 90 minutes while I was gone Thursday, though, which sealed the deal on her not really wanting to come back.  I have no idea what we’re going to do now.  I know it’s hard to deal with, but I have to tutor in order to afford to be a stay at home mom, and I actually need someone more often this summer because I have more job offers.  I think once the kids see someone regularly and get used to her, it will be much better, but we can’t seem to get to that point.  And I worry about someone getting frustrated with the tears and doing something awful in the meantime.  It’s like I can’t win.  We have such a hard time finding a sitter, and financially it doesn’t make sense for me to have  one more than once a week, but if someone’s not here more than that, how will the babies learn to remember and trust and like her?

Wow, sorry it’s been such a long time since the last post.  I’m happy to report that everybody is finally healthy at home.  I guess our last post was telling how Alex was fighting croup.  What we didn’t post was that he went from that into a nasty virus (rota virus Jen says).  That provided a nice week of puking and nasty diarrhea.  With all that fun stuff we were concerned with Alex getting dehydrated because he couldn’t keep anything down.

Well, he got through it and seems much better now.  And, as you can guess, Avery picked it up right as he was finishing up.  So, she went through the stomach virus and seemed to not have as bad of a case as Alex did.  She was just limited to diarrhea luckily. But, she was refusing to drink any extra while sick so she ended up being dehydrated.  So, last Saturday night Jen took her to the hospital so she could get some fluids.  Once she got that she seemed to kick the bug rather quickly.  She’s back on normal foods pretty much again and seems to be back to her old self for the most part.

The weather has been nice so far this week which is perfect timing for the kids getting better.  Jen has been taking them on daily walks in their wagon or in their cars (pictures to come).  Finally seems like spring is here (wahoo!)  Actually, it feels more like summer.  I think we’re switching to a 2 season cycle here or something, winter and summer.

Anyway, just wanted to get a quick post out to update on what’s new with the kids.  We’ve been busy and haven’t posted enough and haven’t uploaded a lot of new pictures lately.  Check back soon for more updates!

Poor Alex. He can’t catch a break. He finally got past the worst of his teething troubles, and now he’s got croup. It started Saturday night, when I went in to check on him before bed, like I usually do, and he was laying in his crib, wide awake and burning up but not crying. It was creepy how he was just laying there looking dazed. He had a fever over 102, and when Tylenol didn’t bring it down, I called the pediatrician in the middle of the night. It didn’t seem like anything other than the fever, so we didn’t go to an urgent care place. By Sunday night at bedtime, he had a runny nose and sounded so congested that he couldn’t sleep. We tried everything – bringing him into our bed, sleeping with him upright on my chest in the recliner, holding him… it didn’t matter. He slept in 45 minute increments at best all night. It was so scary listening to him unable to catch a breath, wheezing and coughing. It reminded me of the newborn days, and why I don’t miss them. A quick trip to the ped. got him diagnosed Monday morning, and he seems much better now. He’s whiny and fussy and wants to be held, but the stridor sound is gone when he breathes in. He’s totally hoarse, though. Nothing sounds as pathetic as a baby who’s trying to cry but can’t. Don is getting over a cold, Avery has a runny nose, and my throat has that tickle that tells me a cold is on the way. Hopefully we’ll all be on the mend soon.