May 1, 2009

Just when you think the whole family is getting back to feeling good again, another one bites the dust, so to speak. This morning, Nick woke up with a funny sounding voice, a croupy sounding cough and a runny nose. I decided to have the boys take a one hour nap for many reasons and, when he woke up, he was running 103.1 temp and sounded croupy. I gave him some ibuprofen and sat in the steamy bathroom with him for a little while and then he and Ben watched a movie.

I checked his temp again after the movie and it has come down a bit, although it is very hard to get a good reading because I am using a digital thermometer that goes under the tongue. On a side note, we have the kind that you rub across the forehead and the kind that you put in the ear and we have not been very happy with the accuracy/consistency of any of them.

The dad is bringing home a flu test kit so we can test him, just to be sure, although since the dad didn't test positive for the flu and it seems we have all (except Ben) had the same symptoms, I am doubting it is the flu. I am really dreading having to do this test though. I have had this test done and they stick this thing so far up the nose that it really hurts and brings tears to your eyes. Nick is not going to be a happy camper about it. But the dad says we need to make sure, just in case he might have the flu so we could treat him.

In other news, I am keeping the house alarm set all day, even when we are home, since someone out there has my keys. My brother stopped by today to drop something off and I forgot to turn the alarm off before opening the door. Unfortunately it was not one of the two doors that allows for a short grace period to turn off the alarm before the very loud alarms go off. It made quite a ruckus and the boys were still napping, although it was almost time for them to wake up. It was really not a big deal but it really shook me up, for some reason. The alarm monitoring company called and I actually started crying on the phone, much to my dismay:).

Side note: As I am writing this, the boys are playing something, although I can't really tell what. Nick keeps running into the library and pushing buttons on the play microwave and then he runs back and bows his head and says a pray "Dear Lord, thank you for this food, Amen." and then he runs back to the library. I guess he must be fixing a meal and then praying before eating.

Yesterday they both rode their trikes into the living room and Nick was saying "Ben, let's go to your house". The he asked Ben "This you house?" and Ben said it was and wave his arm around and said the whole thing was his house. Nick said, "It so pretty. Who build it?" and Ben said "My workers." and then Ben said "Old King Cole." It was an interesting conversation. They have such vivid imaginations.

Today they were building blocks together. They are both getting to be very good block builders these days. I was in the kitchen working and heard Nick say "Ben, that's pretty?" (I think he wanted Ben to compliment what he had built and then Ben did in response.) Then Nick said about what Ben was building, "That's berry high!" and Ben said "yeah."

This morning we finished our first chapter book. Thanks so much for the recommendations. I am going to check into them, since we all really enjoyed reading this one. They were asking me every day to read some more of it.

After we finished our book, they wanted to "do school" so we did some mazes, cutting and folding from our Kumon books. They really are not much into coloring, even with the coloring that is in the Kumon book, which to me looks like a pretty fun, easy thing to do (three balloons of different colors, each with a white circle in it and they are to color the white circle the same color as the rest of the balloon). It seems that is always the book they don't want to do. They like the cut and paste books the best and they enjoy doing mazes and some of the other activities in the books from the Critical Thinking Company.

Well, the dad is home so I had better get with it. Time for the late afternoon / evening shift:).

Update:

Nick sounds really bad when he breathes and we are concerned he might not be getting enough air. The dad got medication and then went back to his office to get his pulse-ox machine (not sure how this is spelled but that is how it sounds). The dad made it back home and Nick's levels tested fine (98%). But the dad agreed that Nick sounded really bad (Nick was sleeping by this time) so he went back upstairs with his stethoscope to listen to Nick's chest. When the dad came back down, he said that Nick had coughed and then had sounded much better. His chest sounded fine and everything seemed to be more in his throat. So, that's a big relief and the dad and I will both sleep better tonight, knowing Nick is breathing fine. I won't be surprised if his fever spikes again and wakes him up though. But if that is all we have to deal with tonight, I'm ok with that. Hope you have a good night.

Update:

The flu test came back negative, thankfully. I really thought it would and that he has what the dad and I both have already had but it is good to confirm it is not the flu. Nick actually did very well with the test, so that was a relief too. We have already sat in the steamy bathroom twice and plan to do it again before bed. Little Nick hardly has any voice left and his cough (and sometimes his breathing) makes me cringe. The dad just went out to get a prescription filled for a steroid, just in case Nick might need it tonight. We are concerned about his breathing.....that said, he has done this before and has always slept good at night with no trouble so, hopefully, we will not need anything. Nick is much more cuddly when he is not feeling as well. That part I enjoy. They are both so busy these days, I don't get as much cuddle time as I once did:).

Ben is the only one in the family that has not caught this yet and they drink and eat after each other quite often so it is probably just a matter of time. Once that happens, we will all have had both of these crazy viruses that are going through our household right now and we will hopefully all be well again. We are just finishing up using eye drops in Ben's eye from the other virus, as he was the last one to catch that too.