Long Week

"It's been a long week," Mike said tonight -- and it's only Tuesday!

But Mattie has been really sick since Saturday morning, with lots of congestion, cough, and a fever. He has pretty much just wanted to be held non-stop, poor baby. We took him in to the urgent care hours at the pediatrician on Sunday, and our regular doctor was on duty. She tested him for flu and strep and they both came back negative, but she was a little concerned because the time course of the symptoms wasn't typical for a cold, and he was clearly not at all himself -- he was just glassy-eyed and didn't move from my shoulder. They tried to give him both Tylenol and Motrin in the office because she wanted to make sure his fever would go down, but despite his illness, he completely fought that (literally, it was a wrestling match to hold him down and pry his mouth open) and once they did get most of it down, he threw it back up again a few minutes later. So they just sent us home, but have us on a fairly aggressive regimen of alternating Tylenol and Motrin to keep the fever under control. Of course, he's drinking barely anything (just enough to stay hydrated), so he hasn't ended up getting the medicine as frequently as he should. (And he hasn't been eating solid food over the last few days, either, except for a couple of Cheerios and puffs.)

Mike thinks Mattie was doing a little better today; at least, he had a few hours in the afternoon when he was willing to play a little and sit in his high chair.

So the cough has been waking him up about every 45 minutes during the night, so we haven't had a regular night's sleep for the last few nights, either -- and although James so far seems to only have some sniffles and a much milder cough, he's woken up between 3 and 5 AM the last two nights as well. (He's been very cute and cheerful when he's woken up, but then he stays up for an hour!) Ugh!!

And on top of all that, 1) it's the first week of the semester, 2) I had a project deadline on Monday that I was racing to meet, 3) I have not one but two dinner commitments this week for work, 4) we're having winter weather with icy roads making travel a hassle last night and this morning, and 5) Mike found out on fairly short notice that he has to travel for work tomorrow and Thursday as well. (He almost never has to travel -- maybe once a year or so. What are the odds it would be when everything else is going on, too?) So thank goodness the boys' former babysitter N was willing to come over and help us out with bedtime tomorrow, when Mike will be gone and I'll be at work late. She's saving our bacon! :)

In more cheerful news, James's new word is "mop." Taking after his brother! :)