A quick update. McKenna is almost better, she went to school today. She was so excited to, "I don't want to be sick anymore. I want to go to school and see Miss Collins!" Having a teacher she adores is wonderful. It makes all the difference in the world.

Avery's still sick, at first we thought she had strep on top of it. But the rapid strep test was a false positive. Her fevers are slowly getting better. The stinky thing is she has another bowel obstruction. She got so dehydrated she plugged right up. I'll get her moving again. I'm good with 'code brown.' But, she has minimal croup right now. The new meds she is on seem to be working.

Shaun is still really sick. He got RSV on top of the flu. Double whammy. He's lost 5lbs now. The doctor was debating putting him in the hospital because of the weight loss but decided against it, mostly because 1 I'm a paranoid nurse and know when to take him in, 2 there are far, far worse germs in the hospital right now. (Meningitis and pertussis is going around. Luckily Shaun's immunized against the latter.) And, 3 I am a paranoid nurse and don't want him in the hospital around the nasties. So, we are doing outpatient respiratory clinic where we take him in to get deep suctioning. So far, he hasn't needed nebulizer treatments. It looks like we have another week of him being sick. I take him back to the Dr on Monday to make sure he is going in the right direction. He may need to go on long term meds like Avery to protect his lungs. We'll see.

I am doing better. It is exponentially easier having only 2 sick kids as opposed to 3. That, and I have had sleep the last few days.

Ahhh McDonald's!

Sometimes, I just love McDonald's. Can I just tell you that now. Today it was a life saver.

The kids are all 3 sick at the same time. They all have scary high fevers. Shaun in 0.5 away from having to be in the hospital, Kenna 0.2 away from a hospital trip. And, I've had to work these last 3 nights. (Oh, have I told you I have a new manager? I think she escaped Satan's dungeon.) So, today I think I slept 15 minutes at a time, and it was with Shaun lying on my head, Avery across my legs, and Kenna curled up in my armpit. Lots of Tylenol and Motrin being doled out. Avery decides to start throwing up this afternoon. Kenna won't drink any more, and Shaun starts to have a hard time breathing and his fever kept creeping up even with meds. Normally I can deal fine with it, but on no sleep? By the time Aaron got home, I was almost hysterical.

(Oh yeah, and my butt head manager had to call me this afternoon, too. Our hospital is currently being audited, and last night at work, I failed to catch something another nurse missed, 4 days ago. Since I am the one who normally catches these things, it's my fault, of course. And she devil is considering holding me responsible, and what am I going to do to fix it? You know, why am I not doing her job? One more thing to my emotional breakdown.)

I was about to wrap Shaun up and take him outside to open up his airways, when my Honey shows his true genius, "why don't you take Shaun to get McDonald's and leave the window open on the drive?"

End result? A small break, return to sanity, and much better kids. The cold wind opened Shaun up and actually brought his fever below 102. Kenna chugged the powerade. And Avery didn't puke the chicken nuggets. Strange considering that was one of the few things I kept down when I was pregnant with her. Think she was born to not puke nuggets?

Today, I am really grateful for McDonald's.



Funny end story. Because McKenna's fevers have been so high, she's been a little loopy. Sat night, she didn't wake up all the way to go to the bathroom. Avery stopped her from peeing on the stool, so she peed in the garbage instead. (And I was at work and didn't have to clean it!)

I'm finally writing

So, our computer crapped out on us. It took forever to get rid of the nasty virus. The $#%$ virus wouldn't even let us wipe out the computer and start over again. And, of course, it was the first time Trend Micro saw the virus, so they were stumped as well. Aaron and I were frantically trying to move pictures to flash drives and not copy the virus at the same time. We've got hundreds to sort through. And, of course, I didn't bother transferring in any sort of order.

Eventually I may post pictures. In the mean time, I am ADDICTED to facebook. So much easier to put pictures on! I've been sending a bunch form my cell phone to that. As far as Christmas pictures go, don't expect much. I made the mistake of putting Aaron in charge of taking those. So I don't think there is a single one in focus. sigh

The snow here is starting to melt. It's been warm, like 40's to 50's I think we may actually hit 60 this week. At least it's not 2 degrees anymore when I get off work. I'm really looking forward to not scraping off my car. I don't care how much you bundle up, 9 degrees with fog hurts deep down in your bones!
The kids are sad for the snow to be gone, they never entirely finished their snow fort, and we didn't go sledding nearly enough.

The kids are growing fast, Shaun can say about 3 words, and he signs about 6, so he is sprouting. Avery is excelling in school, as always. She's too smart for her own good. And Kenna is just as big a goof as always. She tells me all the time how Avery might be older, but she is funnier.

I though a month was too long to post, so a quick note would be in order. I love you all!