Meet Carter Tabony. This is Carter after he's let loose with a piece of peanut butter toast. It almost looks like one of those thin villanous mustaches and a lil' soul patch goatee. I've been seeing a lot of things smeared all over Carter lately. Everybody around here has been sick forever. Strike that. I'm told it's been less than a week. Well, anyway, since Arden came along 3 weeks ago, Cierra's been handling her at night and I've got Carter. So you'd think I've got it too easy, wouldn't you? I'm not so sure. Carter's had 2 different colds during this period, including a sore throat that kept him up half the night, morning diarrehea for most of the past week, and a cough so energetic it keeps setting off his gag reflex. I keep waking up to a series of screams and coughs, only to run into his room in time to see him blow lunch and dinner all over his sheets. Often I get him hosed down, the sheets taken off and changed and I'm just staggering back to change my shirt when I hear him go off again. Is it wrong to train your kid to sleep in a poncho on a plastic tarp? Last night it happened again at 3:30 and I could not get back to sleep the rest of the night. I got him put to bed tonight and 15 minutes later I'm running in from the garden (the monitor's got range) to witness another scene from the Exorcist. This time Cierra had stuffed him full of blueberry smoothie for dinner so for one terrifying moment I thought he was throwing up blood. The purple stain soaked through the sheets and onto the pad and pillow so I'm currently putting OxyClean through its paces. Oh, he really hates this. It's just torture for both of us. So unfair to watch it happen over and over.... Grrr. I get him clean and give him a hug and put him back for more of the sleep he needs to get better. 
Arden's been spitting up a little more than usual too as part of all this. She might be a little more irritable too. Plus, she and Cierra have been treating thrush with genitian violet, a purple dye (more purple!) that give her an adorable purple lipstick (Goth Baby) look and, when smeared around by her little hands, a five o'clock shadow. Hobo Baby!
Aunt Kaelie came to visit her new neice right around the time that Flumageddon started a week ago. She only stayed a night but I think we still managed to make her one of our growing list of victims. Mwha ha ha hack cough wheeeeeeze. Sorry Kaelie, we hope it was worth it. 
Arden is Daddy's little girl. Whenever I get her on my chest, she usually calms right down and drifts off to a wonderful, peaceful sleep. Those are precious moments. Everyone keeps commenting how Arden looks exactly like me. Looking at the above picture, I have two reactions to that....1. They're absolutely right. That is almost scary.
2. How sad for Arden. I am so sorry, sweetie. Tell Mommy's genes to start resequencing or something. They have to take charge in this situation!
2b. Wow, I know you're sick Hunter, but that's no excuse for looking like that. If you were slouching around a medical facility instead of slowly denting that couch, somebody'd be putting an oxygen tube in your nose and parking you next to the defillibrator.
No pictures, please! I'm trying to sleep here. Arden has a hammock style bed called the Amby which lulls her back to sleep battery-free. She does pretty well in it. There was one moment early on when Carter tripped over the support for the thing and fell against the bed, setting it swinging wildly in a crazy motion. I ran over, expecting Arden to start screaming at any second. She was asleep, peacefully enjoying her very first thrill ride. 
Let us give paws for a moment to be thankful for Carter's good attitude as he soldiers on with this illness. Carter's Oma and Opa (that's Grandparents to the rest of us) and his Aunt Alexis sent him a tickle monster book. I'm supposed to wear the gloves and tickle him as we read, but he likes wearing them and we love the look. 
Caught: One Hobo Baby. Found this one trying to stow away in an empty boxcar. Book her! 
Even though he's had such a rough time being sick all week, Carter has lots of happy moments every day. Here he is (admittedly looking a bit dazed) having picked a flower.... 
... auditioning for the cover of Family Fun.... 
.... Decorating the front steps with his sidewalk chalk.... 
... and popping out of our overgrown shrubbery with a delighted "Boo!" On a final note this week, I've been writing this blog for over 2 years now, and I monetized it at some point during the first year. I don't do it for the money at all, I do it so that all of our friends who want to see what is going on in our lives can, because if I had to keep up with everyone... well, let's just say that I am terrible at time management. Google just sent me an email or pop up window or something that said I should do it, and I was like, "Money? Sure, I could use me some of that. I mean, if you're just giving it away in exchange for pictures of cute kids and rambling prose."
So I did that and forgot about it until just now. I clicked in to look at my stats. Over 4,000 page views later, I've earned a total of... buckle your seatbelt... $2.47. Think I'll keep my day job as a lunatic gardener.
Get well soon, Carter! We dealt with our own erupting toddler a couple weeks ago, but your sickness sounds like much more of an ordeal.
ReplyDeleteHunter, let me pass along a tip from another blogger in case it interests you: double sheeting the crib. She puts a pad and a sheet down, then another pad and another sheet. When the top set gets soiled, she can take it off and put sick kiddo down on the bottom set quickly, without a mattress wrestling intermission.
Sounds nice, but I haven't tried it myself yet. And it won't do much good if the little one has not yet sufficiently recovered to be placed in a clean bed again. ;) Extra towels are our friends.