Addie's Injury

You might want to skip this post if you have a weak stomach. For real.

Last Thursday I was running on my treadmill while my girls were upstairs watching the Disney channel. I often run while they are awake (2-3 times a week) and they know not to come near the treadmill. Most mornings I pop in my headphones and rock out while I'm running but for whatever reason I decided to watch the Today show instead. This turned out to be an inspired decision!

About 20 minutes into my run Addie came downstairs and was playing behind the treadmill. She started screaming and I turned around to see her hand caught under the treadmill belt. I have no idea what she was doing to get it under there but I jumped off the treadmill and pulled her hand out. Had my headphones been in, I probably would not have heard her! Poor, poor baby. The skin on her middle finger was hanging off where it had been rubbed away by the treadmill. A huge blister was already forming where the skin had been. It looked awful. I immediately called Allen and my pediatrician. The Ped told me to keep it clean and bandaged and to call if it showed signs of infection. It's been a rough week with that little finger. She hates wearing a bandaid and having it washed so I'm constantly having to fight her to keep it clean. I can also tell it hurts because she cries if she bumps it or uses it for anything.

And here it is a week later:

This picture really doesn't do it justice. It looks about 100 times worse and grosser than this picture represents. I do have to say that it is kind of fascinating to watch her little finger heal. The human body is really amazing. Needless to say, I've made a firm commitment to never run on my treadmill again when she is awake.

Scene from this morning

It's been one of those mornings. Addie is sick again. Poor thing. She just has not been her self the past few days. She won't eat and whines constantly unless she is being held. I took her to the doctor yesterday and they assured me she just has a cold. Early this morning when I went in to get her she was covered in throw up. I gave her a quick bath, changed and sanitized the crib and went to get the big kids up. Makenna had wet the bed (which has only happened a couple other times in her life) so I gave her a bath and stripped/sanitized her bed. We got Carter to school without further incident.

I got Miss A down for her morning nap and she promptly threw up again. So I started the routine of bathing, cleaning and sanitizing again. In the mean time, Makenna decided she was hungry and took matters into her own hands. This is what I found after I had gotten Addie cleaned up and back down for her nap:
I had already toasted the toast for her but she brought everything upstairs and had turned on a Disney Channel show. I so love this girl!

Poor Addie. I think sick babies are the saddest thing in the world. Worse than little kids since they can't communicate their needs. I hope she's on the mend!

Does anyone else feel like they're having a hard time prioritizing this holiday season?! I have SO many things to finish and find myself doing random non holiday related projects instead. Like scrubbing all the tile on my hands and knees last night at midnight. Or choosing yesterday to balance the checkbook that hasn't been touched in months. I have seriously GOT to get my act together!

Day 13

I am on Day 13 of having sick kids! Which also means it has been 13 days since I've had any sort of break. It's been a long (almost) two weeks.

It all started two Wednesdays ago when M started to complain about her ear hurting. A day later A was pulling on her ear and getting more fussy. I was able to get them both on antibiotics the next day and hoped for the best. By Sunday M was a disaster - hoarse, coughing, feverish. We went to Sacrament Mtg. so we could see the primary program and then I brought the girls home from church. M missed school on Monday and only attended for the last hour on Wednesday so she wouldn't miss the Halloween party. By Thurs. she seemed to be pulling out of it and mostly just had a cough. I thought maybe we were out of the woods.

Friday (Halloween) morning I noticed that A was getting hoarse. Uh, oh. If you've never heard a hoarse baby, it's pretty cute (but sad nonetheless). At first she seemed ok and was having fun discovering her new "voice." By the time we hit the ward party, I could tell she was actually sick. She had a fever and was stuffed up. Saturday I kept M home from dance and let Al handle the soccer game alone since A was really sick. By the afternoon she was having a hard time breathing. We kept taking her into the steamy bathroom to try to clear her out but it wasn't helping.

I ended up at the ER with her on Saturday evening because her breathing was getting more labored and the steam wasn't helping. Luckily we have a pediatric ER close to our house so they were able to get her right in. She received two breathing treatments and some steroids and was breathing a ton better almost immediately. They kept us for several hours to observe her (have you ever been in the ER with a tired/sick/hungry baby? Miserable!) and then sent us home. She has been a lot better since but is still clearly sick.

On Sunday morning Carter woke up with a fever. Al kept all the kids home from church while I attended stake conference by myself. He has all the symptoms of the other kids and is now home from school for the 2nd day. This is a slooooow moving illness. It's been 2 weeks since M showed her first signs and she's still coughing a lot.

I'm burned out of being cooped up in the house. We haven't been much of anywhere except for a few errands. Today I might take the kids out to lunch just for a break. Anyway, this isn't particularly exciting for anyone to read but it's what we've been up to around here.

On a related note, our little bruiser has finally broken the 15 lb. mark at nearly 9 months. She was 15 lb. 2 oz. when she was weighed at the ER. I was stunned that she is still so tiny. She seriously eats like a horse. She must have inherited my super stellar metabolism that I enjoyed once upon a time! {Both other kids were around 15 lbs. at 2 months}. The weight range for most 6-12 month clothes starts at 17 lbs. She's our peanut!

And since this post is going on and on anyway (and I'm complaining a bit), can I just say how tired I am of my older two fighting these last few days. They've gotten the teasing/bugging each other bit down to a science. I've had to split them up more than once! Ugh.