Baby You're Sick

I should have known better than to think that Liam would escape Cold/Flu/RSV

season unscathed. It started about a week and a half ago with his allergies. At that time I increased his benedryl from just at night to every 6 hours to help combat the symptoms. I also tried keeping him inside. Problem was every time I turned around big sister or daddy had let him outside. Still he seemed fine.

But of course he had to go to a doctors office where I am sure he must have

caught something on top of his allergies. That or he caught it when we had to run out to the store. We've tried not to take him out of the house for this very reason. I know some of you probably are thinking that you can't keep a kid sheltered and secluded inside the house for that many months. Which we usually do from late September to at least April. We've tried very hard and you're right. It is pretty darn impossible to NEVER take him out somewhere along the way but we try. And we do this for his own health.

It seems to never fail. A soon as Liam gains some weight back, he gets sick, stops

tollerating full feeds and looses all the weight it took 6 months to gain. We are very blessed that he hasn't ended up in the hospital over this yet. This time last year, a cold landed him admitted in the hospital for at least 5 days minimum. Thanks to the synagis shot protecting him from RSV, when he caught RSV in January 2013 he was able to fight it off at home. Too bad they don't have something that works that great against colds.

I'm assuming he caught a cold but with Liam when his allergies get severe enough he has the same symptoms so it's very hard to tell. I know the last two night, last night more than the night before, was pretty bad on him. Last night he was up every hour on the hour. He ran a low grade fever and coughed the whole night. He was miserable. I gave him Motrin at bedtime, then again at 3 am and that kept the low grade fever away. Milk of Magnesia helped his upset tummy but not his diaper. I had to continue to change his diaper every few hours last night because it gave him the runs. Good news is it helped him tolerate 45 mls an hour of feeds. His normal rate is 80 mls per hour so you can be sure he's loosing weight as each hour passes. If I can just get that cough to subside he would be able to tolerate more.

Unfortunately he's not the only one in the house not feeling 100%. Big sister Lanie Bug is having allergy issues of her own. She has been very hard to keep inside. It's been a fight. She hates being inside, especially when someone is outside. Daddy has been outside all weekend working on the car and she wanted to be right there playing the entire weekend. Even though she felt worse that night from it. I told her this morning there was no way she could go outside today because she had school tomarow. That if she did she would get worse and not be able to go to school. Her eyes got huge and she agreed to stay inside. She hates missing school. If only it was that easy to keep Liam wrangled lol.

On top of no going outside, all doors are staying shut today so allergens don't come inside.
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate allergies. I too have been suffering. I finally figured out why my face kept breaking out. I am allergic to the concealer I was using. It's been a few days since I've worn any and my face it clearing up now. My nose and throat are suffering from the pollen and dust in the air. It's winter yet the last few days have felt like late spring/early summer. We had some rain last week but it wasn't enough to clean out the nasty air. I swear socal is the worst place for any with allergies or asthma to live. It's time again for the air purifiers to come out.
 
Of course with two "sick" kiddos, I've been on germ patrol. Lysol
everything. And in doing the sanitizing and cleaning everyday for the last week I've realized how very small our house is. With the kids getting bigger the place seems to be getting smaller. I thought as they got older it would be easier to keep the place clean and everything in its place but I was so very wrong. Instead the kids make more messes and getting them to clean up is a headache. Every little mess seems huge because this place is so small. This weekend I felt like the walls were closing in on me. I thought maybe we had too much stuff and started trying to figure out what we could get rid of. Then I realized that it's because we have no storage in this house. What I need is a professional organizer to come in and revamp everything or lots of money to do it myself lol. Our house didn't feel this small when we moved in.

Oh well, like in all things, I'll find a way to make it work.

In other news:
Liam is ready for a big  boy bed!!
Yep, you read that right.
Liam is ready for a big boy bed!!
hehehe
I love saying that.
My task today is to tackle Liam's room and organize it.We need to get it ready for a toddler bed,
and toys need to be picked up and put up.
Justin and I have to decide now if we're going to go buy him a character toddler bed from say Walmart or Target or if we just want to build a short base to put his mattress on so it's low to the ground for him and to just make it last until he is ready to be moved to a twin bed. To put a twin bed in his room would be difficult with all his medical supplies. I would have to store them somewhere else and we've already tackled the fact that this house is really small so there really is no where else to put them.

Anyhow,
I'm exhausted from lack of sleep.
Waiting for my coffee to kick in.

<3 aubin="" p="">

Uninvited Visitor

So again our house has been bombarded with an uninvited visitor. I am 99% sure this one is only here to visit LanieBug. Her allergies have been acting up since wensday and as of last night I am positive its turned into an ear infection and possible sinus infection. I am grateful that it cannot be shared to Liam but hate seeing my baby girl sick. Last night she was running a low grade fever. I checked her temp throughout the night and thankfully it stayed away after some Tylenol. However this morning it was back until she took another dose of Tylenol. I ran to the store and got her orange juice, animal crackers (she said she was nauseous), chicken noodle soup, Popsicles, bananas, more Benedril, cough and cold (just on case), a doodle board (to see her smile), and flentones multivitamins. In retrospect, I should have started her on vitamins when Liam was born so she wouldn't get sick as often and spread it to her brother. Knowing that she's getting ready to start kindergarten with alot of other kids its for sure that she's going to catch some buggies and bring them home with her to share. I'm hoping to strengthen her immune system to that it happens less. I also started giving Liam the same multivitamin because his immune system needs assistance even more that big sister. This situation brings to mind several tips for those of you with CDHers or other chronically ill young children with older school age kids:

1) When your school age child gets home from school make it a rule that they must immediately change their clothes into clean "play clothes" and put their school clothes in the laundry room. This will help the germ from spreading to everything they touch or sit on. 

2) Make your school age child wash or sanitize their hands when they come home before touching anything. I' have them wash, change, then sanitize to be safe. 

3) Shoes carry alot more germs than most people realize so keeping them out of reach of your young baby or chronically ill child is a smart idea. 

*Lanie tends to touch the soles of her shoes for some odd reason so I'm always having to explain why she shouldn't and make her wash her hands. 

*Remeber if you have a toddler that walks that their shoes are also dirty so they aren't safe to play with. I know it can take some adjusting to remember that its not cute when baby plays with his shoes anymore because he's been walking around in them. It's something that I frequently forget with Liam being a new walker. 

4) If one of your kiddos does get sick, keep them away from everyone else. Germs spread fast. Trust me I know how hard that can be. Liam loves to be with Lanie all the time and so they both end up suffering when one gets sick. 

* Keep masks in the house so when one does get sick they have to wear one to keep their germs to themselves. They sell them at Walmart, any drugstore and the dollar tree. We keep them on hand at all times. You can always let them color on the mask to make it fun for then to wear. That's been a huge hit in the past at my house. 

5) When someone gets sick start pushing orange juice and anything with vitamin C to the whole family. Vitamin C can help prevent healthy kids from getting sick and can help sick kids fight off the germs. 

6) Use Lysol disinfecting air spray to keep the bugs from spreading. We spray the house down atleast once a day because of Liam. We also use the disinfecting wipes on everything: counters, door handles, cell phones. I clean my phone at the least once a week. 

I hope these tips help cut down on buggies in your home and if you have a tip Id love to hear it!